MC >> FCP 7 cheat sheet!

[Andrew Mckee]

I’ve taught students MC and then FCP a few times. Couple of difference I always point out are that bins can go inside bins (so you don’t need folders) and the subclips won’t allow you to trim past their limits without a command (remove subclip limits). The timeline works quite differently too. They way I think of it is as if synclock is on by default and you have to lock a track in order to stop it being affected by it.

Andrew McKee
Editor/Colourist
Avid Certified Instructor – MC5.5
Apple Certified Trainer – FCP7
Pixelwizard.net

[Kris Petersen]

Thanks! I appreciate the quick reply, great suggestions!

[Andrew Rendell]

When I started using FCP after a few years of Avid, transferring over was fairly easy but the things that bugged me were the things that are almost but not quite the same, e.g., Avid’s Add Edit and FCP’s Blade tool (position cursor then click on the tool versus select tool then position cursor and click) and the slider for zooming on the timeline going in the other direction.

[Kris Petersen]

Yes! That’s a bug I have when I go from PPro to FCP… I miss the ability to cut with a key rather than click.

I also miss the ability to trim with the keyboard using JKL and m,./ Is mouse-trimming the only way to trim in FCP?

Thanks!!

[Michael Hancock]

[Kris Petersen] “I miss the ability to cut with a key rather than click.”

Control V will add a cut to every track that has autoselect enabled.

[Kris Petersen] “I also miss the ability to trim with the keyboard using JKL and m,./ Is mouse-trimming the only way to trim in FCP?”

FCP’s trim is nowhere near as nice as Avid’s, but you can use the keyboard to trim once you have your edit points selected. , will trim one frame left and . will trim one frame right. Shift+, and Shift+. will trim 5 frames, I believe.

One thing to point out to your students, if they’re used to Avid, is that FCP’s tracks work kind of the opposite to Avid. In Avid you activate the tracks you want to effect in the record side of the patch panel, whereas in FCP you deactivate or lock tracks you don’t want to effect. Otherwise you have clip collisions and the software will actually prevent you from making the trim or moving the piece of media you want to move. The only way to get around it is to lock every track you don’t want to effect, trim, then unlock in. That’s kind of general and vague, I know, but once I wrapped my head around it I got a lot more comfortable and proficient in FCP.

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Michael Hancock
Editor

[Andrew Mckee]

Trimming works almost exactly the same as avid if you double click on an edit to get into the trim edit window. You even get JKL trimming if you select the dynamic button.

Andrew McKee
Editor/Colourist
Avid Certified Instructor – MC5.5
Apple Certified Trainer – FCP7
Pixelwizard.net

[Kris Petersen]

Thanks Andrew and thanks Michael! They help a lot, I’m about to go edit on FCP tomorrow so I’ll give those a shot. Very helpful indeed–that’s totally new information to me about keyboard trimming in FCP.

[Chris Harlan]

[Andrew Rendell] “the things that bugged me were the things that are almost but not quite the same, e.g., Avid’s Add Edit and FCP’s Blade tool (position cursor then click on the tool versus select tool then position cursor and click)”

Just FYI–In FCP 7, CTRL V works much more like Add Edit than the blade tool.