Diana's Top Ten FCP 7 Features
#7 Improved Markers
You know those little post-it note pads that come in multiple colors? Ok, admit it now. Do you ever color-code your notes? Maybe yellow notes are financial, pink ones are hot to-do items. Well with Final Cut Pro 7, you can now use color to label your markers in a very similar way. There are several other marker improvements as well.
Choosing Marker Colors
There are 8 marker colors, all waiting for your own personal organizational touch. You can still add a marker by pressing the letter M, and you can still open the Edit Marker window by pressing M when the playhead is over an existing marker. But in Final Cut Pro 7, the Edit Marker window now displays 8 different colors.
New Edit Marker Window with 8 Marker Colors
Maybe you want your notes about audio fixes to be orange, or your color correction notes to be purple. If you know what color marker you want to apply, you can use a different shortcut, Shift plus the marker color number. For example, to apply a yellow marker, press Shift–3, since it's the 3rd marker color. (These shortcuts are easily searchable in our iKeysToGo iphone app for FCP 7.)
But wait–there's more! What if you wanted to apply the yellow marker color and open the Edit Marker window at the same time? No problem. Just press Shift–Option–3. A yellow marker is added at the playhead position in the Timeline and the Edit Marker window opens. You can even use this shortcut on the fly–and enter a marker name–as you screen a sequence! This also works on a source clip in the Viewer.
Viewing Marker Colors
What happens when you're ready to address all the color correction notes in your sequence? Well, you can view whatever marker colors you want. Just make the Timeline window active, and choose Edit > Project Properties. Deselect all but the Yellow marker checkbox and you will see only the yellow markers in the Timeline. A clear focus for your next set of tasks!
New Edit Marker Window with 8 Marker Colors
Relocating Markers
Using markers has become so flexible in Final Cut Pro 7, that you can now drag a marker from its current location to a different location. Just hold down the Command key, then drag the marker with the Selection tool to the new location. The playhead will jump to the marker and drag along with it.
Rippling Sequence Markers
Before Final Cut Pro 7, editors would have to make a choice about whether they wanted a note to stick with a clip in the sequence, or a location in the Timeline. This was because If a clip was deleted, the remaining clips would be rippled forward but the marker would stay put, throwing off any sync between that clip and the marker. Now there is a new button in the Timeline button bar–the Ripple Sequence Markers button. When this is active, any ripple deletes performed in the sequence will pull up the markers by the same amount the remaining clips are pulled up.
New Ripple Sequence Markers Button in Timeline Button Bar
Printing Markers
And we're still not done yet! Ever want to walk out of a session with a list of all your sequence markers? See what still needs to be done on your masterpiece? Or know what the timecode references are for all the key moments in your sequence? Now you can. With the Timeline window active, choose File > Export > Markers List as Text. Then open the saved file in Numbers or Excel and you've got a great reference to use during your editing or even afterward for archival purposes.
Export Your Sequence Markers
Markers in Final Cut Pro 7 can add a lot of possibilities to your edit session. Color code them with sequence or clip label colors and you can add even more possibilities to your organizational workflow.
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