mapping Final Cut Pro favorite transitions
Final Cut Pro has a powerful feature that lets you map up to 9 favorite transitions or filters. By mapping customized transitions to your keyboard, you can save a lot of time when applying commonly used effects.
The first step is to double click on a transition within your timeline or browser window. This will load that particular transition in the Viewer window. You can then customize it to your liking. In this example, I've created a 5 frame 'dip to color' transition using a white color.
Drag the effect icon from the upper right corner of the Viewer into the Favorites folder within the Browser window effect's tab. Since favorite transitions are sorted within Final Cut Pro alphabetically it is important that you rename your favorite transitions starting with a numerical number (01, 02, ect.).
The last step is to map your favorite transition to a key on your keyboard layout. To do this: Navigate to the tools menu and select 'keyboard layout - customize'. You will see a search area in the upper right corner of the keyboard layout. Type the words 'video transition favorite'. This will display a list of 9 favorite video transition favorite shortcuts that can be mapped to a key.
You can now press one key to apply whatever transition you need. This can deffinately be a time saving feature. Final Cut Pro users must be running the latest update which is now Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 in order for the favorite transitions to work correctly when mapped to a key.
