Killer Secrets Sample

8/8/2019 Killer Secrets Sample

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It was NAB 1998 and I was sitting in one o the demo sessions. As

an Editor and Graphic Designer, Final Cuts blend o editing and

graphics capabilities intrigued me. Shortly ater the preview at

NAB, Apple acquired the sotware rom Macromedia, added Pro

to the name and released version 1 in April 1999. The application

that almost never saw the light o day was about to spend the

next ten years turning the industry on its head.

The timing o the Final Cut Pro launch was certainly auspicious.

With Steve Jobs back in the driving seat, and the groundbreaking

iMac turning heads, Apple was buzzing. DV cameras were making

high quality video aordable and Mac computers were startingto become powerul enough to process eects in real time

without additional hardware. The internet was becoming a part o

daily lie and a vibrant virtual community soon evolved to share

experiences and valuable knowledge.

Ever since that pre-release demo at NAB, I had been keeping a

keen eye on how Final Cut Pro was developing. The landmark

release o version 4 in 2003, showed me that Apple were serious

about proessional video editing sotware. I made the decision to

switch rom Avid and havent looked back since.

One o the reasons I believe Final Cut Pro has become so popular

is its wide appeal, rom the beginner right up to the proessional

editor. Its strength lies in its simplicity but looks can be deceiving.

The application contains a tremendous number o hidden eatures

and thats where this book aims to help.

Final Cut Pro Killer Secrets is a collection o tips, techniques and

reerence material that Ive learnt, discovered or stumbled upon

since 2003. The book is written primarily or Final Cut Pro 6 but

virtually all the tips will work in earlier versions. Whether youve

been working with Final Cut Pro or ve months or ve years,

I hope you nd it both interesting and useul.

My thanks to Nial Brown, Victoria Parks-Murphy, Jonathan Eric

Tyrrell, Toby Undell-Phillips and Byron Wijayawardena or their

help, support and invaluable eedback.

Martin Baker

March 2009

Introduction

INT. MUNDANE BASEMENT MEETING ROOM - LAS VEGAS

Throughout the day, a small group of people file

into the room to see a pre-release version of a newediting application from Macromedia.

DEMONSTRATOR

Welcome. Today Im going to show you a sneak

preview of Final Cut...


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http://www.finalcutters.com/?src=fcpkss-smhttp://www.finalcutters.com/?src=fcpkss-sm


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Chapter 4: Basic Editing Page 5

Mouse Jogging

This is a great time-saver when trying to locate to a rame on a source clip

or sequence. Simply move the mouse over the Timeline ruler or the image

area/scrubber bar o the Viewer or Canvas and move the wheel or ball to

jog the playhead.

Adding the Option key gears up and makes jogging even aster.

The One Second Hop

Press Shit-Let Arrow to move the playhead one second earlier.

Press Shit-Right Arrow to move the playhead one second later.

This works in the Viewer, Canvas and Timeline and i you hold the arrow key

down, it will repeat or a shuttling type eect.

Toggling Between Viewer and Canvas

You can quickly toggle between the Viewer and the Canvas by pressing Q.

I the Timeline is currently active, Final Cut Pro is smart and will make the

Viewer active on the rst keypress, then toggle between the Viewer and

Canvas ater that.


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Text Generators Shortcuts

Here are two super quick ways to load the most common text generators

into the Viewer.

Press Control-X to open the standard Text generator.

Press Option-Control-X to open Boris Title 3D.

Quickly Setting Duration in the Viewer or Canvas

Heres a super quick way to set an exact duration rom the current in point

(or rst rame o the source clip or sequence i in point is not set).

Press Tab.

Enter the required duration and press the Return or Enter key.

Play to Out Point

Pressing Shit-\ will play between the marked in and out points on a source

clip or sequence but you can also play rom the current playhead location

to the out point by pressing Shit-P.

Just like Play In to Out, this shortcut works in the Viewer, Canvas and

Timeline and is very useul or long clips where you just want to check the

out point rather than play the entire marked section.


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Locating to Timecode

Its very easy to move the playhead to a specic timecode in the Viewer,

Canvas or Timeline. Theres no need to highlight the current timecode eld

or enter colons between the hours, minutes, seconds and rames, instead

you simply type the digits in.

But it doesnt stop there. Since timecodes always ll in rom the right,any digits that arent entered are assumed to be the same as the current

timecode. In addition, by entering separators in a certain way you can

reduce the number o keystrokes required as Final Cut Pro will ll in the

blanks automatically.

For example, assuming the sequence starts at 01:00:00:00, the playhead is

positioned on the rst rame and no items are selected in the Timeline:

Digits Entered Interpreted as Moves Playhead to

4. 4.00 01:00:04:00

Final Cut Pro will happily accept a period, colon, semi-colon or comma as the

separator so 4. 4: 4; and 4, are all valid and give the same result.

I you add a number ater the last period, youre entering the rames:

Digits Entered Interpreted as Moves Playhead to

4.6 4.06 01:00:04:06

2.2.2 2.02.02 01:02:02:02

2... 2.00.00.00 02:00:00:00

Its also possible to enter relative timecodes. This can be useul i you want

to select a clip or edit and move the selection by a relative amount:

Digits Entered Interpreted as Moves Playhead or Selection

+4. +4.00 4 seconds later

-4. -4.00 4 seconds earlier


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Missing Thumbnails

I you open a project and any media les arent available (and you dont

reconnect them) then the red Media Ofine thumbnail gets shown on the

timeline clip.

A problem occurs i the media les are available again the next time you

open the project the red thumbnails are not updated and still showthose clips as being ofine.

The solution is to orce Final Cut Pro to rebuild the thumbnails which is

usually a airly quick process.

Use Spotlight to search or a older named Thumbnail Cache Files

and move it to the Trash.

The next time you open the project, Final Cut Pro will rebuild the

thumbnails or all the source clips.

Deault Number o Tracks

By deault, Final Cut Pro creates new sequences with one video and our

audio tracks. I you nd yoursel requently adding new video and audio

tracks you can change the deault settings in the Timeline Options tab o

User Preerences.

Locking Video and Audio TracksLock individual video track: Press F4 then the track number

Lock all video tracks: Press Shit-F4

Lock individual audio track: Press F5 then the track number

Lock all audio tracks: Press Shit-F5

Its also possible to Option-click on a tracks lock icon and all other tracks o

the same type will be locked.


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Changing the Height o Timeline Tracks

Change the height o a single track: Drag the divider

Change the height o all video

and audio tracks:

Shit-Drag any track divider

Change the height o all tracks

o the same type:

Option-drag any audio or video

track divider

Cycle through our preset track

heights while resetting all tracks

to the same height:

Press one o the our impossibly

small buttons at the bottom o

the Timeline

Cycle through our preset track

heights while keeping the relative

sizes o each track:

Press Shit-T or Option-click on

one o the our impossibly small

buttons at the bottom o

the Timeline

The Fast Way to Delete Empty Tracks

I youre tidying up a sequence and have many empty tracks, then deleting

each track individually may take a while. Fortunately theres a handy way to

delete multiple tracks built right into Final Cut Pro.

Choose Sequence > Delete Tracks.

Enable deletion o empty video and/or audio tracks as required and

press OK.

Choosing the All Empty Tracks option will delete all tracks that are empty,

regardless o where they are in the stack.

The All Empty Tracks at End o Sequence option is a little conusingly

named. It will only delete empty tracks i they are at the outside o the track

stack, so any empty tracks that lie between used tracks are unaected.

The impossibly small buttons get their revenge

1

2


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Track Patching

As well as the regular way o patching video tracks by dragging the source

track up or down, a super quick way to patch the V1 source track is by

simply clicking on the desired video destination track. As a bonus, i the

V1 source track was previously disconnected, it will automatically become

connected at the same time.

Track patching can also be set rom the keyboard:

Patch v1 source track: Press F6 then the destination track number

Patch a1 source track: Press F7 then the destination track number

Patch a2 source track: Press F8 then the destination track number

Its possible to disconnect tracks by using these shortcuts:

Disconnect v1: Press Shit-F6 or F6 then 0

Disconnect a1: Press Shit-F7 or F7 then 0

Disconnect a2: Press Shit-F8 or F8 then 0

Track patching can be reset to the deault v1-V1, a1-A1 and a2-A2 state by

right-clicking on any Auto Select or Lock button and choosing Reset Panel

rom the shortcut menu.

Finally, i a multitrack source clip or sequence is loaded in the Viewer, thentracks on the source are only displayed i there are enough tracks in the

destination. So what can you do i youve got a source clip with 8 tracks o

audio but only a 6 track sequence and need to patch a8 on the source to

A6 on the destination?

Simple. Right-click on the A6 destination track and youll see a shortcut

menu with all the available source tracks or the current clip in the Viewer.

Choose A8 and the track will be patched.

Beore Ater clicking V1


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Instant Play Rate

Many editors love using the JKL keys or navigating through a clip or

sequence at dierent speeds but arent aware that its also possible to

access the ast playback speeds directly rom other keys on the keyboard.

I you open the keyboard layout window (Tools > Keyboard Layout >

Customize) and search or rate youll see a list o 12 playback rates rom -6

to +6. These rates match the speeds available with JKL, so a play rate o 1 is

normal, 2 is 2x speed, 3 is 4x speed and so on, up to a top speed o 32x.

By deault, all but one o these commands are mapped to the Control-F2

to F12 keys but bewaresome o these key combinations are assigned by

Mac OS X and it always takes priority over Final Cut Pro. With this in mind,

you may want to remap these commands to use the Option key instead as

shown here.

Timeline Scrolling with the Mouse

Move the mouse into the Timeline and move the ball let or right to scroll

the timeline area. Just like mouse jogging, you can hold down the Option

key to gear up and scroll aster.

Timeline Scrolling rom the Keyboard

This is the same as paging through the Timeline by clicking to the let or

right o the horizontal scroll bar...but much aster. It also works during

playback which can be useul.

Press Shit-Page Up to scroll the timeline to the let.

Press Shit-Page Down to scroll the timeline to the right.


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The Finer Points o Timeline Zooming

Press Shit-Z to show all clips in the sequence.

Press Shit-Option-Z to zoom to selected clips.

With the Zoom In Tool selected, you can temporarily swap to the

Zoom Out Tool by pressing the Option key.

Get a close up view o the Timeline by mapping the Zoom 800%

command to a key.

This shortcut also works or zooming to 800% in the Viewer and Canvas

window so be careul that the Timeline is active!

Press Option-Minus or Option-Plus to zoom the Timeline even with

the Viewer or Canvas windows active. This can be very timesaving but

be aware that just like the Command-Minus/Plus shortcut, i there is

a clip or edit selected, then the playhead position will be ignored andthe Timeline will zoom to the selected item.

Another very welcome zoom command that was introduced with

Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 is Zoom In/Out on Playhead in Timeline. This has

the advantage that it always zooms around the playhead position

even i a clip or edit is selected. It isnt mapped to the keyboard by

deault, so you may want to remap it to the Option-Minus/Plus keys.

The Mysterious Case o the Lost Playhead

I youve ever scrolled the Timeline and wondered how to move it back to

the current playhead location, then press the Let or Right arrow buttons

and the playhead will scroll into view.


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Clip Enable

Many editors are amiliar with enabling and disabling tracks using the

green buttons, but one o the most useul editing eatures in Final Cut Pro

is the ability to enable or disable individual video and audio clips.

Select the clip or clips you want to disable.

Press Control-B

The disabled clips will be shown in a darker colour on the timeline. Pressing

Control-B again will enable the selected clips again.

A disabled video or audio clip remains in the same place but is not played

back, rendered or exported. This eature is particularly useul or trying out

dierent cutaways or music in a sequence by stacking them up on separate

tracks and enabling clips as required.

Another use or Clip Enable is or breaking links to render les i results

arent what they should be. Select the clip(s) then press Control-B twice todisable then enable the clip. The links to any render les on the selected

clips will now be broken so you can try rendering again.

Edit Jumping

The Up and Down keys move the Playhead to the previous/next edit acrossall tracks as well as the sequence in and out points i they are set. So what i

youre adding a series o transitions and want the playhead to only jump to

edits on a certain track? Heres a workaround.

Select an edit on the desired track.

With an edit selected, the Up and Down keys now select the previous

or next edit on that track alone and take the Playhead along or

the ride.

1

2

Disabled clip

1

2


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Making, Managing and Moving Markers

There are two types o markers in Final Cut Pro clip markers and

sequence markers.

Clip markers are locked to a particular rame in a source clip and can be

added either in the Viewer or to a clip in a sequence. When dealing with

clip markers in a sequence there are a ew things to bear in mind.

To add, edit or delete a clip marker you must have the clip selected.

Note that the master clip in the Browser will not update when you

add a clip marker in a sequence.

When using the Shit-Up/Down arrows or Option-M/Shit-M keyboard

shortcuts to move the playhead to the previous/next marker, the

playhead will only stop at clip markers on selected clips. I you want

the playhead to stop at any clip marker then press Command-A to

select all clips beore using the keyboard shortcuts.

I you right-click on a sequence clip then a list o its clip markers will

be shown at the bottom o the shortcut menu. Select one and the

playhead will move to it.

Bear in mind that this is a list o all the clip markers, not just those visible

in the currently used portion o the clip, so the playhead may shoot of to

some seemingly random timecode i you select a marker that isnt visible.

Sequence markers are locked to a particular rame in a sequence.

I you right-click on the current timecode eld in the Canvas or

Timeline or anywhere on the Timelines timecode ruler, a list o

sequence markers will be shown at the bottom o the shortcut menu.

Select one and the Playhead will move to it.


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For both clip and sequence markers, the ollowing shortcuts can be useul.

Press Command-` (grave key) to delete the clip or sequence marker at

the current playhead location.

Press Control-` to delete all markers on the current clip or sequence.

Press Shit-` to move the nearest marker on the let hand side o the

playhead to the current playhead location.

Press Option-Command-M to edit the nearest marker on the let hand

side o the playhead.

This last shortcut only works with sequence markers and does strange things i

clips are selected.

I youre using markers to quickly identiy interesting sections on a source

clip but want to avoid the complications o subclips, then see Fast Copying

of Timecode Fields on Page 15. This allows you to use the marker list in the

Browser as a reerence, then locate the master clip to a markers timecodeby Option-dragging it rom the Browsers In point column to the current

timecode eld in the Viewer.

Closing All Sequences

Got too many sequences open and want to clear the decks a bit? Theresno need to close each sequence individually, just close the Canvas window

and all the open sequences will be closed.


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Closing Tabs rom the Keyboard Useul Folders Time Machine or a Cli

Importing Image Sequences DPI and Video Mouse-Free Browsing Sel

Ready to Edit Importing Files or Folders Directly into a Bin Dabbling with D

Mixing Aspect Ratios Exporting Multiple Still Images Custom Video

Zip It Up Moving Items to the Top Level o a Bin or Project Fast Copying

The Complete Guide to Delete, Cut, Copy and Paste Exporting a Single Still Ima

Going Large Quickly Changing Properties or Multiple Clips Super Quic

Adding Audio Keyrames rom the Keyboard Real-Time Audio Syncing

Normalize This Quick Filters Editing Moving Clips to Start at a Speci

Counting Clips Demystiying the RT Popup Menu Adding Transitio

Previewing Non-RT Eects Scale Attribute Times Jumping to K

Comparing QuickTime Export Choices Reerence vs Sel-Contained

Nudging a Clip in the Canvas Exporting a Movie with Multiple A

Waveorms Gone AWOL? Super Fast Importing Viewing Alpha T

No Nesting Viewing Both Fields in the Canvas Interactive Point

Using Replace Edit to Sync and Overwrite Finding Timeline Clip

Super Fast Eects Editing with Playhead Sync Pasting Clips to Diere

Quickly Trimming the Previous Edit Selection Tool vs Roll Tool Trim

Recording Multiple Takes with the Voiceover Tool Mute and Solo Au

Scaling a Clip to Fit the Sequence Saving Custom Eects Fadin

Become a Blade All Ninja Slipping a Clip in the Trim Edit Window T

Alpha Types Gimme More Gain Adjusting Audio Levels During Playba

MORE TIPSIN THE COMPLETE BOOK

150GET OVER
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Final Cut Pro Killer Secrets (Sample Chapter)

Written and designed by Martin Baker

Supermeet Edition Published 21st April 2009

Publisher: Digital Heaven Ltd

www.digital-heaven.co.uk

Company registered in England and Wales:

Digital Heaven Ltd

55 Lynwood Drive

Worcester ParkSurrey

KT4 7AE

United Kingdom

To report errors please email [email protected]

Final Cut Pro is a trademark o Apple Inc.

2009 Digital Heaven Ltd

All rights reserved. No part o this publication may be reproduced

or transmitted in any orm or by any means, electronic or

mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any inormationstorage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing

rom the publisher.

Martin Baker

Martin is the Founder and Managing Director

o Digital Heaven, one o the leading third party

developers or Final Cut Pro and Motion.

Ater starting his editing career at the BBC, he worked

as a reelancer through the nineties on music concerts,

promos and graphics intensive short orm projects

using a wide variety o systems - rom tape editing to Lightworks and

Avid Media Composer.

In 2000, he set up Digital Heaven as a post production acility and

designed, specied and supervised the installation o the companys

inrastructure and edit suites in West London. As the companys Senior

Editor, Martin worked on projects or the BBC and other broadcastersusing Avid Symphony and DS. He gained extensive multicamera editing

experience through music perormances or T4 and major projects such

as The Fast Show Farewell Tour.

In 2003, he made industry headlines by switching the company rom Avid

to Final Cut Pro. Martin was responsible or post production on the iconic

weekly BBC music show, Top o the Pops or the next two years.

In the same year, he moved into sotware development and launched

a range o Final Cut Pro plug-ins. These were ollowed by a number o

highly innovative and unique Mac OS X applications including the rst

multicamera editing solution or Final Cut Pro.

Recent years have seen Martin involved in website design and

development with the launch oavid2cp.com in 2007 and a new

community site or editors due or launch in Spring 2009.

Martin has been an Apple Certied Trainer or Final Cut Pro since 2006.
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