Category Archives: Absolute Essentials

The “SHIFT-Q Lifestyle”

By Shortcutter | Published: Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Consider the lowly SHIFT Q shortcut: You probably know that it brings up the System Settings panel. Big deal, right? Well, it really is a big deal to me and it’s the first command I hit every single time I open Final Cut Pro. In fact, using the System Settings panel effectively is, for me at least, one [...]
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If You’re Not Using I and O, Start Today!

By Shortcutter | Published: Monday, July 19, 2010
This set of shortcuts, which all work together, is pretty basic, but if you’re not using them for some reason, you absolutley need to start and if you’re an FCP newbie, this is probably one of the most important habits to form early on. Learn it, live it. The proper workflow for setting up a rough [...]
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I View N as the King of Shortcuts

By Shortcutter | Published: Saturday, June 19, 2010
Although it’s an incredibly basic keyboard shortcut that I think probably 95% of FCPers utilize, this blog’s mission is to present and discuss every keyboard shortcut there is and even though the N key, which toggles snapping on and off is widely known, it bears mention here as, for many people, this shortcut is the [...]
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Snap that Playhead Around Efficiently

By Shortcutter | Published: Friday, June 11, 2010
In addition to knowing how to switch windows (or “focus”), you need to know how to quickly position your Playhead without using the mouse. These two initial skills are critical because if you’re not using them, you break up the rhythm of shortcut workflows and the shortcuts you do use won’t seem very rewarding. You [...]
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Should You Customize Your Keyboard Shortcuts?

By Shortcutter | Published: Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Today’s entry presents a shortcut that I feel should really never be used as it raises the important “meta issue” of keyboard customization. Final Cut Pro provides an excellent mechanism for customizing keyboard shortcuts via the Tools>Keyboard Layout>Customize menu. There’s even a shortcut to get to it: OPT H, but please don’t use it! While keyboard remapping [...]
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Reluctant Coverage of the Space Bar

By Shortcutter | Published: Saturday, June 5, 2010
Here’s a rudimentary Saturday shortcut and one that I almost hate to cover.  In another post, I dubbed N (turn snapping on and off) the “King of Shortcuts” and some shortcut aficionados might wonder why I overlooked venerable Space Bar (or “Spacebar”). Surely it is used much more and it’s a huge, impressive, conveniently [...]
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Navigating Around the FCP Interface

By Shortcutter | Published: Saturday, May 29, 2010
To use keyboard shortcuts in Final Cut Pro effectively, you need to know exactly where you are in the interface at all times. The results of using certain shortcuts often differ depending on which window (i.e., Browser, Viewer, Canvas, Timeline) is active or, to use the more correct term, has “focus” at the moment. Therefore, [...]
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Use Those Arrow Keys To Move Around!

By Shortcutter | Published: Saturday, May 22, 2010
Here’s a Saturday essential: aside from scrubbing with J, K and L, the best way to fly around your timeline is often by using the simple Up and Down Arrows to surf from edit point to edit point. It’s a good habit to use these keys to position yourself because, and this is the key thing [...]
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Saturday Fundamental: Use JKL to Scrub Your Clips!

By Shortcutter | Published: Saturday, May 15, 2010
It is surprising to me how many FCP editors I meet who have not actually formed the habit of using J, K and L (known as the “Transport” or “Tape Transport” controls) to navigate backwards and forwards (scrub) in clips. Most of these slowpokes are inclined to grasp the mouse with one hand while the index [...]
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The Best Shortcut of Them All

By Shortcutter | Published: Tuesday, May 11, 2010
If you lay out a rough cut by opening clips from the Browser into the Viewer, trim your clips there using shortcuts and send them down to the timeline using F10 (for “Overwrite” edits) then you, my friend, are a shortcutter. I have called N (toggle snapping) the “King of the Shortcuts” because it is easy to [...]
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