Quick Keys for repetitive actions - a tip

vicmilt wrote on 9/18/2002, 10:30 PM
Here's a good one.
I'm finishing up a video with over 100 titles in it.
Now that it's being put to bed, the client has decided on a new font for the titles. Plus could we change the 10 frame fades to 12 frames. That kind of request can kill an editor. Bring in Quick keys. It's an inexpensive macro program that is working for me in VV3 during this horrible type transition. Once I've got the basic changes programmed into Quick keys, it's a single button click, and about 10 consecutive steps are "clicked through" automatically - what a relief. So if you find that you've got a mess of things to change that will all be essentially the same movements, check this one out.

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 9/19/2002, 8:37 AM
There is a presentation graphics program called Lotus Freelance (Powerpoint competitor) that has a context menu option called "Fast format" with two sub options "Pick up attributes" and "Apply attributes". This allows you to format one text or graphics object and then apply the same changes to other text or graphic objects.

This sounds like it would be a great feature to add to VV4. The ability to copy the attributes (i.e., settings) of an event and apply them to other events. For example: If you have a collection of titles (as you suggest) and you want to change the font and color in all of them, you could change one of them and then copy the attributes (i.e., everything except the text) and then select the other titles and apply (i.e., paste) them to the other titles you've selected.

I think I'll post it to the product suggestions page.

~jr
Tyler.Durden wrote on 9/19/2002, 8:59 AM
Hi JR,

I think you are right on the money... It might be worth noting that the Vegas presets do just about what you suggest, so we are not far off.

I imagine an implementation where saving a preset offers a selection menu with checkboxes... Edit, Placement, Properties, Effects. Only what a user checks will be applied when the saved preset is selected.

You could also have the menu on the application of a saved preset, but then you would have to do it every time (ugh).



Regards, MPH


P.S. RemoteKeys is also a very useful keyboard macro that is freeware.
ibliss wrote on 9/19/2002, 9:36 AM
Just spent some time programming RemoteKeys - wish I know about it sooner! Is there any way to have more than one profile open? At the moment I have a 9x2 block of buttons at the top of the Vegas window, but I'd like to add, say, a 9x1 block at the bottom of the Vegas window (in that blank space to the left of the 'record time' box).

Mike K
Tyler.Durden wrote on 9/19/2002, 9:47 AM
Hi Mike,

I don't think RK supports running more than one profile or instance, but you can switch to another profile with a button or hotkey (as opposed to the drop-down menu), so you can get more buttons that way.

HTH, MPH

ibliss wrote on 9/19/2002, 10:45 AM
Thanks for the reply.

Mike K
vicmilt wrote on 9/20/2002, 8:15 AM
Likewise, I use a "bunch" of quick keys, rather than one grand all inclusive action. The reason is that macros are Fast and Invisible. Sometimes you can get totally unexpected results. By breaking down various multi-step problems into smaller Quick Key programs, you can keep better track of whats going on.