This article was first published in the November, 2009, issue of
Larry's Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe.

ZOOM YOUR ZOOMING

Simon Morton, from somewhere near London, writes:

Firstly can I say how brilliant your training videos are, very informative and very well taught, not to mention very amusing. Normally I loose the will to live during training videos, but yours are great, though my wife looks at me very strangely when I repeat your expressions like 'hootie- kazootie'!

Anyway, I have final cut studio 3, and really like the new "zoom in on playhead in timeline". However, I would love my mighty mouse trackball (scroll up) to control the "zoom in on playhead in timeline", and scroll down to control "zoom out on playhead in timeline". So basically rather that going to click a custom button in the button bar that I have set up, zooming in and out of the playhead can be done from the mouse.

P. S. In the spirit of international cooperation, can I suggest some
cockney rhyming slang for your next training video. Here are some
expressions you could slip into the video to keep us Brits attention:

• "Would you adam and eve it" = would you believe it
• "the button bar is your best china plate" = the button bar is your best mate/ friend
• "make sure you have your auntie Nelly set up correctly" - make sure you have your telly set up correctly

Larry replies: Simon, I have two Brits working here with me in the office and they were VERY impressed with your Cockney rhyming slang.

To solve this puzzle, you need to assign an FCP keyboard shortcut to the Zoom In and Zoom Out on Playhead functions. You do this inside FCP using Tools > Keyboard manager.

Once these functions have been assigned to a keyboard shortcut, go to the Apple logo > System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse and assign that keyboard shortcut to the buttons on your mouse.

Now, whenever you push that button, you'll zoom in, or out, at the location of your playhead in the Timeline. (Note: this shortcut is only available inside Final Cut Pro 7.)

Larry Jordan is a post-production consultant and an Apple-Certified Trainer in Digital Media with over 25 years experience as producer, director and editor with network, local and corporate credits. Based in Los Angeles, he's a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America.

The information in this article is believed to be accurate at the time of publication. However, the author assumes no liability in case things go wrong. Please use your best judgment in applying these suggestions.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. This newsletter has not been reviewed or sanctioned by Apple or any other third party. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned here for editorial purposes only.

Links to my website home page or this article are welcome and don't require prior permission.