making fcp behave more like vegas
 

So I'm somewhat new to Mac/FCP, though I'm familiar enough with FCP to get stuff done in it. I came from Vegas (software, not city), and there are few things that I would just LOVE to be able to do the same way. I know it's probably a shot in the dark, but here are the things I really miss right now:

-Using the scroll wheel on the mouse to zoom in/out the timeline

-Cross dissolves created by dragging clips into each other

-dragging the edge of a clip to create a fade

I don't suppose anyone's got a way to make any of this happen in FCP?

-Using the scroll wheel on the mouse to zoom in/out the timeline

nope, on FCP the scroll wheel is used to jog the playhead, it would be a good option tho, especially if it was mapped to a modifier plus scroll wheel.
for now, you can zoom in/zoom out using the Opt+ and Opt- key combo and you can also remap those keys to something more appropriate if you want to using the Tools menu > Keyboard Layout window


-Cross dissolves created by dragging clips into each other

good grief no. dissolves are a for editors that can't cut mate! try to work without dissolves, you will be a better editor for it. alright, that may be a be draconian, I dare say if thats what you're used to, and if you do a lot of dissolves then you'll feel the loss.


-dragging the edge of a clip to create a fade

in FCP you would keyframe the opacity to create a quick fade, you can do that in the timeline using the pen tool, or by holding down the option key when in the normal selection tool


can I ask why you've switched to FCP? I heard Vegas was pretty good

If you are using a mouse that came w/software (Logitech, Microsoft, etc.,) you can use the software to map pretty much anything you want to mouse buttons & wheel including zoom in/zoom out.


-A

I don't think this mouse came with software. It's a very simple microsoft optical mouse. You're saying if I had the right mouse I'd be able to zoom in/out the timeline in FCP? Do you mean simply enlarging the screen (which you can do by holding cntrl and using the scroll wheel, or something) or actually expanding/contracting the timeline?

Jeez. . .someone's an anti-dissolvenite. I do use them for video now and again, but where they're really useful is audio, for softening the subtle audio changes during cuts (in ambient noise, or if you're cutting up a talking head and putting sound bytes together, to smooth them out).


Yes, Vegas is very good, in some ways. FCP has its advantages too, I think. Even if it doesn't, I'm on a Mac now and it's a pain to use Vegas. Also, I now have access to Color and Motion. I just wish FCP had some of Vegas' intuitive simplicity, or at least the ability to configure it so that it does.

Edit:

I just played with the pen tool. Never messed with it before. I see that it basically acts like the envelopes in VEgas. VERY COOL!

>if I had the right mouse I'd be able to zoom in/out the timeline in FCP?

yep. if your mouse can be programmed to send keystrokes when you operate the scroll wheel then you could map it to the needed shortcut.


>someone's an anti-dissolvenite

oh man, you have no idea! i've even been known to reedit other peoples work just to remove the dissolves :-)

if it helps its quite easy to add an audio dissolve to a selected edit point by using the shortcut Cmd-Opt-T... and you can easily remap that to a different key if thats cumbersome.

i'd love to see Apple incorporate a great deal more of these less asked for functions into FCP. and those that don't want to use them could just disable them in a preference or just ignore them


have fun with FCP Josh. once you get used it it you'll (probably) love it

I almost cried when I tried my first audio fade, I missed Vegas so bad!

Yes in a perfect world we could take all the best from both world's and make a nice Vegas Cut Pro.

Vegas on a Mac...without bootcamp or parallels
That would be nice

Well, if Macs become a larger part of the market share (or whatever I meant to say), maybe Vegas will end up on them.

So what kind of mouse specifically does this? Is there a certain model you guys like? There's sooooooo many mice.

I bet MS has the drivers/software on it's site to allow you to map your scroll wheel to the "command+" and "command-" keystrokes so you can zoom in/out.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mo.../Download.mspx


-A

Those drivers appear to only work in Windows? Or am I reading it wrong?

In the Mac keyboard/mouse preferences, under the keyboard shortcuts, there's a section for "application shortcuts". . .does this mean you can remap stuff specific to an application (like FCP)? In mine, there's nothing to select. . .

Under the "OS" drop down menu OS X is at the very bottom. I don't have a MS mouse anymore, but when I did the software let you set global and application specific mapping. So, for example, my mouse buttons were mapped different for AE, PS, and FCP.


-A

Jeez, what a moron. Sorry. I saw the Windows Vista thing at the top of that page and essentially stopped reading. My bad.

Okay, seems that it'll let you remap what the scroll wheel BUTTON does, that is, when you click the wheel, but not the actual scrolling itself. Unless I'm missing something. Which I could be. Cause I do that. Sometimes.

For the dissolve, right click on the edit point bringing up the contextual menu...select cross fade. adjust the duration by dragging the ends of the resulting fade filter in the timeline.

It's close, but not exactly the same.

yeah, I been all up in that.