THE POWER OF THE “OPTION KEY” IN FCP

Sep 9

So here I am, all set to do a tutorial on all the fine uses of the OPTION KEY in FCP…because this key really does a lot…when I come across this old tip from Ken Stone dot net.

The Option Key in FCP 4.

Yup…FCP 4! And ALL of those tips are still VERY relevant. Only I think he left one out. If you press OPT-P when you are parked on an unrendered section of your timeline, it will play forward as fast as it can…like a RAM PREVIEW. Only without audio. So at least you can get a quick look at what your effect will look like.

Well darn it all, there goes that tutorial. But HEY…there already IS one…so read it. GREAT tips, huge time saver.

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Comments

lunelson

September 10th, 2009 at 3:50 AM

Hey Shane,

yeah that's a great article — but one thing that doesn't work for me is Command-Option-Click: I've never been able to use Command-Option click in the Timeline in FCP, because it seems to cause the mouse to grab the whole window, as if to move it. I always have to use Shift-Command-Option click; but this doesn't work for doing non-contiguous selection, like where the article gives the example of A-B rolling audio tracks….are you able to make it work?
david

September 10th, 2009 at 5:02 AM

Yup, I recently realised how much the option key rules in FCP (thanks, Lisa Brenneis!). Have to point out that the article you linked to DOES actually mention OPT-P, and I quote:
"Press Option/P while playhead is parked before a clip that requires rendering. FCP will play a RAM preview of the effect."

Good call spreading the word though – everyone should use Option more…

David
Shane Ross

September 10th, 2009 at 10:01 AM

Ah…so he does say OPT-P. Missed that.

Lunelson…Yeah, I can't get COMMAND-OPT-CLICK to work either. Maybe that changed…after all, he is talking about FCP 4.