Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Recommended keyboard shortcuts

Premiere Pro has more than 100 keyboard shortcuts. You won't use all of them. But there are about 25 that should become a part of your repertoire. You can customize them and create additional ones to suit your needs.

To get an idea of just how vast the shortcut opportunities are, select Edit > Keyboard Customization. That opens the window shown in the next figure.

[View full size image]

Note that the Adobe Premiere Pro Factory Defaults list uses the Main Menu headings: File, Edit, Project, and so on. You can open each of those lists and find commands that match virtually everything available in the main menu.

Many mimic standard Windows shortcuts:

• Save=Ctrl+S

• Copy=Ctrl+C

• Undo=Ctrl+Z

Some others take far too much effort. For instance, when in the Source Monitor, you frequently want to target a track for an overlay or insert edit. The keyboard "shortcut" to target the audio track that's numerically higher than the current targeted track is Ctrl+Shift+=. It's a heck of lot easier simply to click on the targeted track's header.

Premiere Pro has three sets of keyboard shortcuts: Factory Default, and sets for two competing products: Avid Xpress DV 3.5 and Final Cut Pro 4.0. The latter two are to facilitate migration from those products to Premiere Pro.

Changing a shortcut

You can create a fourth, custom set of shortcuts. The more you work with Premiere Pro the more you'll want to do that. Here's how:

Most frequently used shortcuts

There are about 25 shortcuts I use all the time (including Windows shortcuts like Ctrl+C). In no time at all, the following shortcuts will become second nature to you:

• Tools Each tool has a single-letter keyboard shortcut. To remind yourself of those shortcuts, open Keyboard Customization, click the Application drop-down list and select Tools.

  You'll use these frequently. At the very least, Selection (V), Ripple Edit (B), Rolling Edit (N), and Razor (C) should be ingrained in your brain. In case you need reinforcement, roll your cursor over each icon in the Tools panel and Premiere Pro's Tool Tips will pop up, noting each Tool's keyboard shortcut.

  
  

• Backslash (\) Resize the Timeline to display your entire project. It's a great way to get a handle on where you are in the workflow.

• J and L Playback Controls. J is reverse. L is forward. Press two or three times to incrementally increase speed.

• K Multi-function, playback modifier key. Pressing K will stop playback. Holding down the K key while either tapping or holding down the J or L keys changes playback speeds.

  • Hold K while tapping JPlay in reverse one frame at a time

  • Hold K while tapping LPlay forward one frame at a time

  • Hold K and J simultaneouslyPlay in reverse slowly (8 fps)

  • Hold K and L simultaneouslyPlay forward slowly (8 fps)

• Plus Sign (+) or Minus Sign (-) and a Number To move a clip by a specified number of frames. Select the clip, then type + or - on the numeric keypad (not Shift+= or the hyphen key), followed by the number of frames (you also need to use the numeric keypad). Press Enter to move the clip.

  Note

  When viewing the Timeline panel in Audio Units, the clip will move by the specified number of audio samples.

• Home and End Moves to the beginning or end of a sequence (if the Timeline is active) or the first or last clip in the Project panel if it's active.

• Page Up and Page Down Moves to the beginning or end of the selected clip in the Timeline or to the top or bottom clip currently displayed in the Project panel.

• Asterisk () Add Marker. The asterisk key on the numeric keypad (not Shift+8) adds a marker to the timeline. I'll cover markers in more detail when we discuss exporting your project to a DVD in the final lesson.

• S Snap. Pressing S turns on or turns off the Snap feature (the little two-pronged icon in the upper-left corner of the Timeline window). You can toggle Snap on or off even while dragging or trimming a clip.

  Note

  The CTI does not snap to items. Items snap to it. The reason: If the CTI did snap to edit points, moving the CTI through the sequence would become a jumpy mess.

• T Match Frame. No matter what panel is active, pressing T will identify whatever clip the Timeline CTI is on (in the currently targeted video or audio track), load that clip in the Source Monitor and place the Source Monitor's CTI on the same frame.

  Note

  Shift+T will show that match frame in a nested sequence.

• Alt Temporarily Unlink Audio and Video. Pressing the Alt key as you click on the video or audio portion of a linked A/V clip unlinks that portion, enabling you to trim or move that portion of the clip without affecting the other portion.

• ALT+[ and ALT+] Set Work Area Bar end points (show in next figure). If you want to render or export a part of your project (I cover exporting later in the book) you need to set the beginning and end of that section. Pressing Alt+[ sets the beginning to wherever the CTI edit line is. Alt+] sets the end. You can simply drag the ends of the bar to those points as well. The Work Area Bar end points will snap to clip edit points.

  Note

  Double-clicking the center of the work area bar sets the bar ends to the visible area of the sequence or to the full length of the sequence if it's visible in its entirety in the Timeline.

  
  

• F1 Opens Premiere Pro Help.

• F9 Opens the Titler.

• Marquee Select Dragging a marquee to select a group of clips in the Timeline or Project panel should be a routine part of your workflow. Marquee selecting clips in the Timeline lets you move a whole group of clips, and marquee selecting clips in the Project panel lets you add all of those clips at once to a sequence.

• Import Folders Instead of importing a file or collection of files, you can import an entire folder. Select Import and click the Import Folder button in the lower right corner of the Import window. That creates a bin in the Project panel with the exact folder name and imports the associated files.