FCP to Avid help

hello,
I'm an FCP editor and I just got an editing gig that requires I work on Avid. I will begin by saying that I have worked on Avid in the past, but it was not a heavy effects/transitions laden gig. This new gig will require the quick MTV style cutting, flashy FX and transitions.

I am confident that I can pick up the clunky Mode settings in Avid and put together what needs to be done, but I need to hit the ground running with a little knowledge of keystrokes/shortcuts on the FX side of the Avid interface. Does anyone have a guide, or tutorial, or keyboard layout that you could send me? Or perhaps just some outright keystrokes for basic motion FX and graphics for the kind of promo/sizzle/EPK work you would see on Entertainment Tonight or on the E! Channel. I can do all of this stuff in FCP but I will be flying blind on the Avid. Any help would be appreciated.

Stuff like that doesn't really exist for Avid. Not that I have found. It is stuff passed from editor to editor, job to job. This is why FCP and the community it spawned is so great. SHARING. Avid users...and I am guilty of this too...are elitists and snobs and don't make tutorials on how to do things.

Just gotta explore and try things out. I know a FEW effects...I relied on the PAINT EFFECT for a lot, but it has multiple things it can do. Just play...stay longer and figure them out. Or ask another editor if they will show you (good luck...remember...SNOBS!)...no...they might show you. The FX interface is different for each plugin, but the way you get into it is always the same. Also remember you can have multiple FX layers if you OPTION DRAG them onto clips, and you can STEP (or HAVE TO STEP) thru each effect. And you can add effects to the empty layer above.

Too much to really get into.


www.shanerosseditor.com

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Loren Miller who frequents this forum probably has a bunch of keyboard shortcuts with Avid. There is also this book for Avid editors going to FCP. Just reverse your thinking as you read it.

[www.weynand.com]

There is also this web site which many of the mods on this forum contribute too.

[www.avid2fcp.com]

Happy to say the folks on this forum do a LOT of sharing.

Michael Horton
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Whats also a drag is Avid keyboards differ from version to version.

I use the Avid keyboard when I space out and forget where a function is. Also handy to have your "Command Pallette" open if you want to remap a key or two. Opening the keyboard from Bins might also help. Avid doesn't go as deep into the keyboard as FCP does, not a lot past what is visible on the keyboard and using "Shift" combo.

Cameron Young

I would just pick up a nice advanced Avid technique book. There are a lot of things that you can do on an Avid that aren't really in any manual, but an advanced book should introduce you to some of the lesser used effects palettes in Avid like the paint tool (great for masking).

Heck, just getting familiar with the 3D effects alone would be worth the price.

andy

What version? Phil's right- keystrokes vary form edition to edition. For instance, the Up Down arrow keys are hard-mapped to Enlarge Shrink timeline in Avid Express Pro. They do nothing in Media Composer 2.7 software version. Gotta map 'em to your taste.

Many effects commands come unmapped on most versions. What camshaft above says-- open the Command Palette and navigate the tabs for cool commands, map 'em to any button-- but watch out you don't wipe out commands you like right where they are.

- Loren

Today's Xpress Pro 4.x keytip:
Loop Play In to Out with Control-6 (Alt-6 in Windows)

The XpressPro KeyGuide?: your power placemat.
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