In Final Cut Pro 7, the ripple and roll tools are great to quickly adjust edits with a simple drag of the mouse. But, what if you only need 2 or 3 frame rippled out? It’s pretty annoying to have to zoom in, and use the mouse to roll 2 frames to the right, then adjust again if it’s off. Well, there’s an easier way to do this.
Bracket Editing
Select the edit that you want to adjust either by simply clicking on it, or by pressing V on the keyboard to select the nearest edit.
Decide if you want to roll or ripple. Press U on the keyboard to toggle through roll, head ripple, or tail ripple. You can jump to the next edit with the up or down keys on the keyboard.
Press the bracket keys on the keyboard to shift 1 frame at a time. Left bracket adjusts to the left, and right bracket adjusts to the right. Add shift and it will shift 5 frames at a time.
Another hint: after you make your edit, press backslash on the keyboard right next to the bracket keys, and it will play a preview around your current time indicator. If you loop the playback (control L), it will continually play that preview. While it’s playing, if your edit is still not quite right, you can use the brackets to adjust on the fly while the preview is still playing.