How do you turn off a color correction?
This is the question we tackle on this week's episode of MacBreak Studio, where I show Steve Martin from Ripple Training a simple way to make toggling corrections in Final Cut Pro X much faster and easier.
When setting up for color correction, I usually hide the Library List and the Browser to create more screen real estate (Control-Command-1 is the keyboard shortcut), then bring up the video scopes (Command-7) and the Color Board (Command-6). These keyboard commands cut down on clicking around the interface and make changing the UI quick and easy.
In the Color Board itself, I usually work from right to left, first adjusting exposure, then saturation, and finally color balance. For the scopes, I find the Waveform most useful, especially when set to the RGB parade, as it helps me analyze both luminance and color balance information. For saturation I may go to the Vectorscope to check skin tones.
Most of this grading workflow is fluid and straightforward. However, as I'm working, I like to constantly toggle my corrections off and on to compare them to the original shot – or perhaps to another shot I'm matching to if I have the Event Viewer open. And here's the catch: turning off corrections requires you to leave the Color Board, going to the Inspector, and then disabling the correction (or multiple corrections if you have more than one applied).
To fix this workflow glitch, all you need to do is assign a keyboard shortcut to the Toggle Corrections command. Thankfully Final Cut Pro X has the ability to completely customize the keyboard by creating new command sets and then modifying or adding keyboard shortcuts to hundreds of different commands. I've found the fastest way to do this for color correction commands is to first create a new command set, then use the search field to search for all commands containing the word “color”. Locate the command you want, then enable the modifier keys at the top of the Command Editor until the key you want becomes available.
While you are at it, you may want to assign additional shortcuts to the other color commands, such as selecting, moving, and reseting pucks.
Finally, if you want to improve your color correction skills in Final Cut Pro X, you might want to check out our new tutorial on this very subject.