Tip of the week for editors with failing eyesight.

I just picked this up a while ago by accident, and I thought I would pass it on to others out there who, like me, are getting more and more wrinkles from squinting at the screen as time goes on.

To temporarily zoom the screen and have it follow the mouse around, hold down the control key and then scroll forwards with your scroll wheel. Once you are in as close as you need to be (and it can go so close that two or three words fill the screen) let go of the control key. Now when you move the mouse around, the screen will shift accordingly.

To get back to normal, hold control and scroll backwards.

Its a little weird to navigate at first, but after a while it's like you've suddenly got a four foot wide desktop. Great for these little text reply boxes!

Good one Jude. We do this all the time in demos at lafcpug meetings. In fact all demo Gods should know this neat trick.

Michael Horton
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Universal Access. Cmd-Shift-+ and - to zoom in and out of the screen.

HA!!! I also "picked this up" by accident last week and got annoyed at why my screen was suddenly blown up and "glued" to my mouse. But I couldn't figure out how to get out and had to restart. Now I know. Next time I'm in Australia, I'm buying Jude a drink.


www.derekmok.com

Right Tom. Good one. The only thing I hate about the Universal Access is trying to get back to normal after zooming in. Probably an option in there somewhere but the scroll wheel suits me just fine. Got a little one for the laptop.

Michael Horton
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Cmd-Opt-+ zooms in. I usually set it to about 2.5. Then Cmd-Opt-minus and it pops back out.

While I am sure that age has much to do with my failing eyesight, I place some blame at the door of the UI designer who used 8 point type in light gray on dark gray in FCP. My lack of hair I blame on a few select clients.

-V

My Eyes Thank You for that tip Jude---Jay--

Mine too! Although I use Tom's UA keyboard shortcut all the time I was shocked and delighted to see it on my scrollwheel!! Wheee! I can see, I can see...

This is nowhere indicated in the UA panel-- and the scrollwheel zoomer works even when UA is DISABLED. Awesome tip, Jude.

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:
Set Video In & Out separate from Audio with Control I & O !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Yep - it saves me on a daily basis in ProTools and FCP.

And my eyesight is still excellent - at 28. Ask me in 10 years...

Jude, you come up with gems every so often so I'm hoping you'll remember an old one - how to get the list of reel numbers and shot descriptions in the capture window into numerical or alphabetical order (when you right-click or control-click on the little boxes).
I know I've seen an explanation (like I've seen an explanation of how to get Safari Bookmarks into order - but have forgotten) it was probably you who posted it. Any chances?
Philip, Sydney

Do you mean in the browser window, Phil? Here you just make your browser window as wide as you need to to see the reel numbers or shot descriptions (you can only sort by one or the other, AFAIK) then click on the column heading. This will sort all the media in alphanumerical order using that columns fields. If you click on it again you'll see the small black arrow next to the heading title will turn upsidedown and the list will sort in reverse order.

Also, you can physically drag the columns around, so you can grab your 'reel' column and drag it all the way back to next to the 'duration' column so it's easier to see. Just click and drag the colum title left or riht to shift them.

Hope this is what you were actually asking about .

> Do you mean in the browser window, Phil? Here you just make your browser window as wide as
> you need to to see the reel numbers or shot descriptions (you can only sort by one or the other,
> AFAIK)

Actually, you can sort by a maximum of two criteria at the same time. Click on the column you want as the primary sorting criterion, then hold SHIFT and click on the second column.


www.derekmok.com

Good one Derek - didn't know that! Does it prioritize the first selection? Hmmm.. how could that work.. I'm off to play with this..

> Does it prioritize the first selection

Yep, that's the beauty of it. When I log, I sort by clicking on Reel Number, and then Media In. Makes it much easier to spot logging mistakes.


www.derekmok.com

Yeah it actually lets you do four or five layers of sort. Not that, at that point, I can really fathom what's its doing anymore. S'cool though.