keyboard shortcut "Show Multiclip Angles"

Using FCP 7; What is the keyboard shortcut for "Show Multiclip Angles"? I want to toggle between multiple angles and 1-up on my broadcast monitor without going to the View drop down menu. Seems like I've done it in the past put I'm reaching a blank. In fact, I know I've done it in the past, once a year for a month every time I edit our gospel Christmas show. Always have to refresh my multicam keyboard shortcuts. :-)

Thanks so much!
Lisha

In the tradition of Hollywood Zen, Hollywood Karate and other faux mystic teaching methods, the answer is whatever you want it to be.

And without having to go through all the struggle to come to your own a-ha moment I will get to the point and say that it can be mapped to any key using the keyboard layout tool.
I don't think it's mapped to the standard keyboard layour but there is a pre-built multicam keyboard layout that you can use but it's usually easier to map the buttons you're going to need to the keyboard you are already using. Unless of course you want to keep track of multiple keyboards. But that is 36th chamber stuff.

Go to the keyboard layout tool and map it where you want and then go to the button list and put it and all the other multicam tools on a button bar above the timeline, canvas and/or the viewer and that way you can see what multicam mode is enabled. Some of the multicam tools are toggles that, when enabled, turn green in the button bars, similar to how link-selection works in the default button bars.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

A-Ha! Once I read your message it was like, 'DUH!!!!'. LOL! A little embarrassed but I'll chalk it up to long hours, lack of sleep and forgetting what I've done each year for the past 5 years on this same show which I'll go back to lack of sleep on that one. Thanks so much!!!!!

Andrew writes-

[ the answer is whatever you want it to be. ]

That's right; it's one of the 450 unmapped commands in FCP7.

- Loren

Today's FCP7 keytip:
Set a motion effect keyframe instantly with Control-K!

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450 unmapped?
that's interesting.
i think i figured out there's about a 1000 possible shortcut combinations,
so there's a lot of room to move there.

avid has about 50, which is somewhat disheartening.
hopefully that's another area where they will emulate FCP.


nick

>avid has about 50, which is somewhat disheartening.

There shouldn't be a comparison. Avid is not FCP, and there are quite some differences between the two. If we talk about customizability and functions of the 2 apps, sure, you can't customize shortcuts beyond the shift key, but there is a very bright silver lining beyond the clouds. In Avid, you can:

1) Map any menu item to a keyboard command or button.

2) You have functions such as copy to source monitor via a kb shortcut, which lets you copy a bunch of clips from your timeline, completely re patch the track order and insert/overwrite edit the copied segment. This function also effectively lets you do a back timed paste which you cannot do in FCP. So I can copy a whole scene to the source monitor, toggle to source side timeline, decide what shots and which audio tracks I want to use, and insert them in just like if I was doing a sequence to sequence edit in Avid. This is far more developed than vanilla copy and paste in FCP7.

3) You have other practical functions such as being able to edit in a 23.976 fps timeline and know your exact duration if you were to export to 25fps (by conforming frame rate at the end of the edit) or express the timecode as 29.97 DF timecode.

4) You have mappable shortcuts like tops/tails, which do not exist in FCP.

Numbers don't always matter. It's what's in the numbers that count.



www.strypesinpost.com

one of the things i relay on pretty heavily in FCP is the ability to re-map my transport keys (JKL)
now, i know this can be done in Avid, too, but it CAN'T be mapped to the number pad (at least as far as i know)
this is what i do in FCP, and mapping those constantly used commands to the farthest right of the keyboard saves me a lot of unnecessary pressure on my wrist.

the Avid alternative is to re-map to ASD, but number pad is better for me.

sure, Avid can do some pretty neat things, but i use a LOT of shortcuts... more than 50!
so i'm serious when i say that i really hope they follow FCP's lead in this area.



nick

I was just putting forward the argument that customizable keyboards and functions do not work the same way in Avid as it does in FCP. The Avid method is to map what you need to those keys.

Actually, you can map the numbers and the function keys as well, so it's over 120 hot keys (26 alphabet keys, plus 10 number keys, 12 function keys, 12 character keys, 4 arrow keys, 4 home/end/pgup/pgdwn buttons, and 1 Esc button) x2 to include the shift modifier. And you can also create customizable buttons for the ones that you don't use often. And there are quite a lot of useful functions that can be mapped. I mentioned earlier that almost any menu items can be mapped. Also, there are quite a lot of opt and ctrl modifiers that are not listed in the shortcuts menu that can also be mapped to these 100ish hot keys. There are a lot of Avid customizations that exist purely in Avid. Eg. You can set SD and non matching frame rate clips in a timeline to a different color. You can also display scene and take numbers on the clips in the timeline. You can also copy and paste data in one column into another (Eg. Clip name into log notes, timecode into aux timecode, etc.). None of these are in FCP7 or X despite the high degree of customizability that these apps claim to offer, and these are very useful for specific functions such as conforming and editing. I mean in FCP, how do you tell if you have proxy clips in your conform or online timeline? By looking at the color of the render bar? By making a new project, copying the sequence over, making new master clips and then sorting by format? In Avid, off the cuff, I can think of at least 3 different and very easy functions to do that in your editing sequence.

But I do agree that Avid needs to work on the user experience part of the app. I mean, there are a ton of very useful almost hidden features that only experienced Avid editors know about, and there are also a bunch of functions that do not conform to standard OS conventions. Eg. You cannot hold shift and scroll and have the timeline scroll sideways, instead, you can use the focus key, the position bar, the magic mouse or the trackpad to scroll the timeline sideways. For Avid, you have to conform the way you work to the Avid way, and there are a bunch of tips and tricks that may not be apparent to the user. So yes, although it is not a deal breaker, but it does mean a learning curve to many folks hoping to pick up Avid, I personally think this is one thing that Avid struggles with and I hope they will address.



www.strypesinpost.com

Nick writes-

[450 unmapped?
that's interesting.
i think i figured out there's about a 1000 possible shortcut combinations,
so there's a lot of room to move there. ]

Pretty close, I counted 900, split between mapped and unmapped. I actually included a complete list of unmapped with earlier FCP KeyGuides. Hm. I should update that.

For Avid shortcuts, I love Steve Cohen's "Avid Agility" to discover some of these power tips. I proudly claim to be the guy who pushed him to republish and update an earlier work that was circulated (and for which to this day I am grateful) as a PDF into a real book for the latest Composer. He has done that in spades.

- Loren

Today's FCP keytip:
Set a motion effect keyframe instantly with Control-K!

Your Final Cut Studio KeyGuide™ Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

sure, i agree that Avid has lots of cool things.
in terms of feature set, it seems like it's designed by people who actually edit!

thanks for the news re more shortcuts than i realised, especially the good news about the mapabilty of the number pad.

if i was paying for that avid lecture i'd feel ripped off!


and thanks, Loren.
Steve Cohen is the guy with the Splice Here blog, isn't he?
seems good.


nick

Yes; he's changed it to "Splice Now" due to a trademark conflict, but he's still chugging along. It's a good blog. He cuts the "Jesse Stone" series with Tom Selleck, popular here in the US. So he's a working editor, I like that, plus he had an interest in Final Cut Pro, until it went insane.

Best, as always,
Loren S. Miller
www.neotrondesign.com
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