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Filed under: Tips •

Avid Gems 11

For work in audio:

In the Audio Mix tool Alt + clicking (Wintel) or Option + clicking (Mac) the Pan slider snaps it to Mid.

In the Audio Mix and EQ tool Alt + clicking (Wintel) or Option + clicking (Mac) the Volume slider snaps it to 0db.

In the timeline, Alt + clicking (Wintel) or Option + clicking (Mac) the Audio Track Monitor button selects the track for audio scrub monitoring

In the Automation Gain tool, Alt + clicking (Wintel) or Option + clicking (Mac) the Track Solo button or alt + number or Option + number (Mac) (1 to 8) at top of keyboard will mute selected track (1 to 8) .

In the Timeline, Alt + clicking (Wintel) or Option + dragging (Mac) a keyframe moves the selected audio keyframe horizontally (forward or backward in time).

For work in the Timeline:

Alt + New Video Track or New Audio Track (Wintel) or Option + New Video Track or New Audio Track (Mac) opens a dialog box with choice of track number

If you Control + click (Wintel) or Command + click (Mac) the Track Monitor icon in the Timeline, it Solos that video or audio track.

If you’ve ever wanted to use the Matchframe button without changing the previous in and out points (the default behavior places a Mark In on the frame you matched), click a segment in Timeline, and then: Option + matchframe will place the match frame in Source monitor without marking IN point at that frame.

From Effect Mode Shortcuts

To move keyframes in the Effects timeline, Alt + drag (Wintel) or Option + drag the keyframe allows you to move keyframes.

Alt + the render key (Wintel) or Option + the render key (Mac) renders directly to the last drive selected, without calling up the dialog box.

Modifiers while trimming:

Alt + S (Wintel) or Option + S (Mac) enters Trim mode at the next transition, ignoring track selection.

Alt + double clicking (Wintel) or Option + double-clicking (Mac) a segment puts the segment into Slide mode.

Control + double clicking a segment (Wintel) or Command + double-clicking a segment puts the segment into Slip mode.

Modified Bin Shortcut:

Alt + clicking (Wintel) or Option + clicking (Mac) a column cell opens a list of previous entries from the custom column. This is useful to insure that all of your naming conventions match so that when you do searches and sifts, all of the custom metadata is called up correctly. For example, if you are using a custom column to notate the appearance of a certain person in a shot and in one shot you call the person William and in another shot you label the same person as Bill, then when you search on “William” it won’t call up the shots labeled “Bill.” But if you use this tip, then you only enter a specific word once and then each subsequent time, you select it from the list, insuring that it matches each time.

Title Tool Shortcut:

To keep from getting carpal tunnel syndrome, you should know this important tip: (Alt + clicking (Wintel) or Option + clicking an object (like a word) in the Title tool switches between the Selection tool and Text tool, so you don’t have to keep mousing down to switch between them.

SUMMARY

If this column has n’t satisfied your jones for alt-behaviors, do a search in the on-line Media Composer Help for “shortcuts.”

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ps.
The ALT+T trick also works with ALT+(Mark Clip button).
You can also map the ALT function on top of it so it permanently behaves this way.

Ra-ey

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  08/26  at  01:08 AM

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You’ve mapped option and shift IN and OUT modifiers? Uggh ... that makes it more like the Final Cut Pro default keys. I shudder at the thought!

Posted by Scott Simmons  on  08/26  at  08:00 AM

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Thanks for the tips Steve. I’m a big fan of the “add option key” in the command palette. I mainly use it for the C key (copy), which transforms it to automatically copy the selected clip into the source monitor.

Avid doesn’t make it terribly obvious that the option key has been added to a key. There’s only a 2 pixel dot added to the keyboard icon. Maybe they blew their budget on the new lift and extract buttons

Posted by joshpetok  on  08/26  at  09:54 AM

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I use the mark Clip modifier all the time. That’s a great one.

As for Scott. I didn’t even know that FCP acted like that. I actually have been using this modified keystroke combo since about 1995 - long before FCP.

So I and O are mark in and out
Shift-I and O are Clear Mark in and out
option-I and O are Go to Mark In and out (which I actually don’t use very often.)

The reason I like it - and I certainly don’t deny your right to your opinion about it - is that I can keep my fingers in a single spot while hitting almost every keystroke I need to hit in the course of an edit. Now the weird thing is that I actually map JKL down a row to <>? and map IO down a row to KL. That way it’s easier to find the buttons without looking down (they’re right off the space bar that way) and I don’t have to stretch my hand up into the keyboard as far, so it’s more comfortable for long stretches. I only have to look down at my keyboard for odd keys that I don’t normally hit often. My entire keyboard is different from the default. Much of it was developed after reading Steve Cohen and Basil Pappas’s book on editing that they self-published back in the mid-90s.

Thanks for the feedback though Scott!

Posted by Steve Hullfish  on  08/26  at  10:00 AM

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Josh -

The only “pre-mapped” option button I use is the one you mentioned: option-C to automatically place a copied clip into the source monitor, ready for additional editing. If you use any of these option modified keys on a regular basis, definitely use the command console to map the little option/alt “dot” onto those keys so you have one less button to hit.

Posted by Steve Hullfish  on  08/26  at  10:03 AM

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