Mastering the Control-Shift-V Keyboard Shortcut in Final Cut Pro: Soloing Animations

Keyboard shortcut: ControlShiftV

Once a clip has several effects with keyframes, its Video Animation editor can get crowded. Control-Shift-V turns on Solo Animation, which shows one effect at a time so you can focus.

What Control-Shift-V Does

The Video Animation editor appears below a clip in the Timeline and shows the clip's effects, such as Transform, Crop, Opacity and any filters you've added, each with its own keyframe area. With Solo Animation on, the editor shows one effect at a time instead of the whole stack.

It doesn't copy or paste anything. If you want to copy keyframed settings from one clip to another, that's Paste Attributes (Shift-Command-V), a different command.

How to Use It

  1. Select a clip in the Timeline that has animated effects.
  2. Press Control-V to show the Video Animation editor.
  3. Press Control-Shift-V to turn on Solo Animation. Only one effect's animation is shown.
  4. Adjust that effect's keyframes.
  5. Press Control-Shift-V again to show all of the effects.

When It Helps

  • Complex motion: When a clip has Transform, Crop and a blur all animated, soloing one keeps you from grabbing the wrong keyframe.
  • Short timeline space: A single effect takes up far less vertical room than the full stack.

Tips

  • Use Option-Apostrophe and Option-Semicolon to jump to the next and previous keyframe of the selected effect.
  • Press Control-V again to hide the Video Animation editor when you're finished.

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