Final Cut Pro…What’s on the Menu?
What’s On The Menu? Have you ever been to a restaurant that has a menu the size of a small book? In Los Angeles, there are a few restaurants like that such as The Cheesecake Factory and BJ’s Restaurant. When I go, I sometimes enjoy rereading all the delicious options before picking one. But other times I just want to find something quick and be done with it.
It can be that way in Final Cut Pro as well. With over 840 FCP commands, it’s not always easy finding the one you want. But if you knew a little more about how each of these menus was organized – maybe get a ‘top down’ view of the bigger picture for each menu – you just might start to feel a little more comfortable. At the very least you could begin to anticipate where to look for what and speed up your editing.
So to help you find your way around Final Cut Pro’s 11 different menus, I’m going to highlight one section of an FCP menu each week. If you’re new to FCP you might ask, “What’s a section?” Click on any one of the menus and look for the faint horizontal line in between the different commands.
These lines are used to organize commands together that are either similar in nature or might be used at similar times. Rather than memorizing where each individual command lives, you can start to familiarize yourself with menus and their sections which should get you into the ballpark when you hunt for a specific command.
Since we talked about Saving, Restoring, and Reverting last time, let’s stay within the File Menu but start with that top-down, ‘big picture’ view. First of all, the File Menu is, well, all about your files. It’s not so much what you’re actually doing in the editing process or how an image might look with a sepia tone effect. The File Menu is a virtual file factory. Here you can create, open, close, save, revert, import, export, and output your files.
A lot of these options are project based. You open, create, save or revert a project file. But you might create a new bin, import a clip, or export a sequence. So the File Menu options apply to all sorts of FCP files within a project file. Talk about ’round-tripping!’ This is your one-stop shopping mall. The File Menu is where you get the groceries you’re going to use to make your video stew (sequence). And it’s also where you can freeze (or output) the stew when it’s finished. Want to make several stew servings but different sizes. Choose an export option from the File Menu. Want to add more ingredients? Import them from the File Menu, or capture/transfer them from your tape or card source. Even if your project has lost its connection to the media files on your hard drive, you go to the File Menu to find and reconnect them.
In short, the File Menu is all about the files that make up your project, including the project file itself and any files you may output or produce along the way. Stay tuned for next week’s blog where I’ll talk about the first section of the File Menu.
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For more Final Cut Pro articles and tutorials, check out Diana's site at Weynand.com
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