keyboard shortcut photo and transition

Roberto-Goncalves wrote on 3/8/2025, 12:02 PM

Hi,

keyboard shortcut to change photolength ? and to transition length?

(At first, if it exists, I didn't find it!)

Thanks!

Xara photo & graphic designer v17,v18 and v20(lifetime)

i7-8565U CPU & 1.80GHz / 16GB RAM / Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 /Windows 10 Pro 22H2 / PowerDirector 4 years v12,v13,v15 Vegas MS Platinum 3 years v15,v17 Magix Movie Studio Platinum v2023,v2024 / VPX16 Ultimate

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 3/8/2025, 2:31 PM

@Roberto-Goncalves

Hi

The Change photo length and transition length options are not listed in the List option of the Shortcut settings therefore cannot be assigned a shortcut.

Not all menu items/options have a shortcut assigned to them, the List  option in the Shortcut settings dialog will give you a complete list of all features that can be assigned shortcuts.

If you assign a shortcut that is already in use you will get a warning.

HTH

John EB

VPX 16, Movie Studio 2025, and earlier versions 2015 and 2016, Music Maker Premium 2024.

PC - running Windows 11 23H2 Professional on Intel i7-8700K 3.2 GHz, 16GB RAM, RTX 2060 6GB 192-bit GDDR6, 1 x 1Tb Sabrent NVME SSD (OS and programs), 2 x 4TB (Data) internal HDD + 1TB internal SSD (Work disc), + 6 ext backup HDDs.

Laptop - Lenovo Legion 5i Phantom - running Windows 11 23H2 on Intel Core i7-10750H, 16GB DDR4-SDRAM, 512GB SSD, 43.9 cm screen Full HD 1920 x 1080, Intel UHD 630 iGPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB GDDR6)

Sony FDR-AX53e Video camera, DJI Osmo Action 3 and Sony HDR-AS30V Sports cams.

Roberto-Goncalves wrote on 3/8/2025, 2:50 PM

Hi,

Well, I was afraid that this was real!
There are "many" options that allow useless assignments!
In my opinion, these 2 should be extremely relevant!
I hope that whatever move the new management makes, the necessary functionalities can be part of it!

I include here the functionality of placing a filter to search either by the name of the operation or registered key and they could even innovate by offering keys that are available for assignment! With so much "intelligence" available it shouldn't be difficult!

Thanks!

Xara photo & graphic designer v17,v18 and v20(lifetime)

i7-8565U CPU & 1.80GHz / 16GB RAM / Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 /Windows 10 Pro 22H2 / PowerDirector 4 years v12,v13,v15 Vegas MS Platinum 3 years v15,v17 Magix Movie Studio Platinum v2023,v2024 / VPX16 Ultimate

johnebaker wrote on 3/9/2025, 4:41 AM

@Roberto-Goncalves

Hi

. . . . In my opinion, these 2 should be extremely relevant! . . .

The gain in time saving/convenience for these options, depending on the editing workflow used, is IMHO minimal

. Depending on which part of my workflow I am in, I have the options of using several different devices in addition to the keyboard and mouse, the most useful being a shuttle device. Mine is a Contour Shuttle which can be programmed for multiple programs.

. . . . I include here the functionality of placing a filter to search either by the name of the operation or registered key . . . .

The assigned shortcuts are in the PDF manual, page 329 onward and are grouped according to function..

. . . . they could even innovate by offering keys that are available for assignment! . . .

The key combinations to use are at your own discretion, the functions that currently have no assigned shortcut, listed in the Short cut settings, List option, can have whatever key combination you wish assigned to them, excepting of course certain Windows shorcuts such as Ctrl + Alt + Del and those which open other programs on demand.

I have swapped several keyboard shortcuts to suit my workflow eg:-

  • Mouse mode defaults Single track (8) and All tracks (7), I have swapped to make the order more, IMO, logical.
     
  • Trimmer Editor (key N) and Trimmer single object (key Shift + N) I swapped as I use the Trimmer single object regularly and the Trimmer Editor infrequently. - these 2 functions can also be used for transition and image length, and more, as well.

If you have not tried these, @browj2 covered the use of the: Trimmer - single object trimmer

it applies to all versions of MMS and VPX.

I cannot find a Trimmer editor tutorial by John CB.

John EB

Last changed by johnebaker on 3/9/2025, 4:48 AM, changed a total of 3 times.

VPX 16, Movie Studio 2025, and earlier versions 2015 and 2016, Music Maker Premium 2024.

PC - running Windows 11 23H2 Professional on Intel i7-8700K 3.2 GHz, 16GB RAM, RTX 2060 6GB 192-bit GDDR6, 1 x 1Tb Sabrent NVME SSD (OS and programs), 2 x 4TB (Data) internal HDD + 1TB internal SSD (Work disc), + 6 ext backup HDDs.

Laptop - Lenovo Legion 5i Phantom - running Windows 11 23H2 on Intel Core i7-10750H, 16GB DDR4-SDRAM, 512GB SSD, 43.9 cm screen Full HD 1920 x 1080, Intel UHD 630 iGPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB GDDR6)

Sony FDR-AX53e Video camera, DJI Osmo Action 3 and Sony HDR-AS30V Sports cams.

AAProds wrote on 3/9/2025, 5:12 AM

@Roberto-Goncalves

Roberto, there's no point in getting annoyed here. Put your ideas to Magix via the Support link at the top of this webpage.

It is easy enough to get a searchable printout of all the keyboard shortcuts (if the PDF manual is not to your taste): In the keyboard shortcuts box, click List, then Copy and you can paste it into a text document.

I do sympathise with your "Change Photo Length". It would be nice to have a keyboard shortcut because I am often finetuning the length of various photos when doing a slideshow to music and when I have differing numbers of people in the images: more time for more people.

All my forum comments are based on or refer to my System 1.

My struggle is over! I built my (now) system 2 in 2011 when DV was king and MPEG 2 was just coming onto the scene and I needed a more powerful system to cope. Since then we've advanced to MP4 and to bigger and bigger resolutions. I was really suffering, not so much in editing (with proxies) but in encoding, which just took ages. A video, with Neat Video noise reduction applied, would encode at 12% of film speed. My new system 1 does the same job at 160% of film speed. Marvellous. I'm keeping my old system as a capture station for analogue video tapes and DV.

System 1

Windows 11 v23H2 severely modified by Openshell and ExplorerPatcher

Power supply: 850W Cooler Master (should have got modular)

CPU: Intel i7 13700K running at 3400mhz, cooled by a Kraken 2x140mm All In One liquid cooler.

RAM: 64gb (2x32gb sticks) G.Skill "Ripjaws" DDR4 3200Mhz

GPU 1: iGPU UHD 770

GPU 2: NVidia RTX 3060Ti Windforce 8gb

C drive: NVME 500gb

Bluray Burner: Pioneer BDR-212D

Various other SSD and HDDs.

Monitor: 27"/68cm Samsung, 2560 x 1440, 43 pixels/cm.

MEP 2021 version 20.0.1.80

Movie Studio 2025

Magix Video Easy version 7.0.1.145

System 2

(Still in use for TV and videotape capture)

Windows 10 v22H2

CPU: i5-750 at 2670mhz with 12gb RAM

Onboard IEEE1394 (Firewire) port

GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4770 (512mb) which is ignored by MEP

Hard drives: C Drive 256gb SSD, various other HDDs.

Monitor: Dell 22"/56cm, 1680x1050, 35 pixels/cm

MEP 2021 version 20.0.1.80

Movie Studio 2023 version 22.0.3.172

VPX 12

browj2 wrote on 3/9/2025, 8:18 AM

@Roberto-Goncalves

Hi Roberto,

+1 to be able to add a shortcut to get the Change photo length interface screen. I suggest that you ask Magix to add this capability - we all should ask.

You can also use the Object Trimmer (shortcut Shft+N) to change the photo length, but this can affect adjacent clips, depending on the type. Also, the left and right time displays show 00:00:-1:-1 instead of the actual number of frames, probably because a photo is just 1 frame repeated. The bottom left and right arrow groups change the duration, but like I said, they affect adjacent clips and transitions, if any. It would be nice if Magix changed the behaviour of this, but it can still be used to your advantage.

As for Transition length, as John EB has pointed out, use/learn to use the Edit Trimmer (shortcut N). You have much better control than the other popup window, and you can see the results of what you are trying to do, go to the next/previous transition, etc.

There is a file of Shortcuts_EN.pdf that comes with VPX. You'll find it under:

C:\Program Files\MAGIX\Video Pro X16

There are also German, French and Dutch versions.

Print it out and mark up in red any changes that you make.

I use the Contour Shuttle Pro and have my most often used shortcuts programmed on it, with several banks of shortcuts, depending on what I am doing.

@johnebaker

Hi John EB,

I covered the Object Trimmer in Tutorial 035:

and the Edit Trimmer in Tutorial 037:

At the very bottom of the Shortcuts list are track colours. I assigned NumPad 1 to 3 to get default, Orange and Brown. They don't work right. If you open the dropdown on the track and just select Default, then they work but only for the last track that had a change made by using the dropdown. Selecting a track - turning it on - has no effect, that is, using the shortcuts will still only modify the colour of the previously changed track using the dropdown. Ideally, one should be able to select the track and the shortcuts work for that track.

I would raise a ticket but as this is minor and, given Magix' poor performance on correcting the Project Temp Folder problems, I would not expect anything to be done.

OBSCURE or REDUNDANT COMMAND

On the list of shortcuts, under Insert, is "Intelligently insert (Intelligent ripple)" with no shortcut and no way to get this from any menu that I could find. So, I assigned it a shortcut NumPad 8. It seems to do the same thing as Multitrack Ripple (3) - insert at the playback marker and rippling all tracks, including music on track 5. The thing is, using it changes the icon in the toolbar and right-clicking on it no longer works. I have to use 1 to 5 to get the proper menu access back. I wonder if this is supposed to do something that I don't understand. Probably best to avoid this.

John CB

John C.B.

VideoPro X(16); Movie Studio 2025 Platinum; Music Maker 2025 Premium Edition; Samplitude Pro X8 Suite; see About me for more.

Desktop System - Windows 10 Pro 22H2; MB ROG STRIX B560-A Gaming WiFi; Graphics Card Zotac Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX-3060, PS; Power supply EVGA 750W; Intel Core i7-10700K @ 3.80GHz (UHD Graphics 630); RAM 32 GB; OS on Kingston SSD 1TB; secondary WD 2TB; others 1.5TB, 3TB, 500GB, 4TB, 5TB, 6TB, 8TB; three monitors - HP 25" main, LG 4K 27" second, HP 27" third; Casio WK-225 piano keyboard; M-Audio M-Track USB mixer.

Notebook - Microsoft Surface Pro 4, i5-6300U, 8 GB RAM, 256 SSD, W10 Pro 20H2.

YouTube Channel: @JCBrownVideos

johnebaker wrote on 3/9/2025, 11:52 AM

@browj2

Hi John

Thanks for the link I will add it to the list.

. . . . under Insert, is "Intelligently insert (Intelligent ripple)" . . . .

Odd that there is no menu item for that, however it works better than then having to switch to the mouse multi-track ripple mode 'select and press a key' to insert at cursor position, with no change of mouse mode.

I have assigned 'A' to it.

John EB

VPX 16, Movie Studio 2025, and earlier versions 2015 and 2016, Music Maker Premium 2024.

PC - running Windows 11 23H2 Professional on Intel i7-8700K 3.2 GHz, 16GB RAM, RTX 2060 6GB 192-bit GDDR6, 1 x 1Tb Sabrent NVME SSD (OS and programs), 2 x 4TB (Data) internal HDD + 1TB internal SSD (Work disc), + 6 ext backup HDDs.

Laptop - Lenovo Legion 5i Phantom - running Windows 11 23H2 on Intel Core i7-10750H, 16GB DDR4-SDRAM, 512GB SSD, 43.9 cm screen Full HD 1920 x 1080, Intel UHD 630 iGPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB GDDR6)

Sony FDR-AX53e Video camera, DJI Osmo Action 3 and Sony HDR-AS30V Sports cams.

browj2 wrote on 3/9/2025, 12:30 PM

@johnebaker

Hi John EB,

As far as I can tell, it does the same as Multi-track ripple (3). If you use your shortcut, you'll have to press 1 to get back to automatic insert and to get right-click access to the import button icon on the toolbar.

In going through the list, I see that my additional Windows Arrangements show up. I have more than 3, to which F10, F11 and F12 are assigned. I added shortcut, but I wonder what would happen if I deleted one of the others. I won't try it, just wondering.

John CB

John C.B.

VideoPro X(16); Movie Studio 2025 Platinum; Music Maker 2025 Premium Edition; Samplitude Pro X8 Suite; see About me for more.

Desktop System - Windows 10 Pro 22H2; MB ROG STRIX B560-A Gaming WiFi; Graphics Card Zotac Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX-3060, PS; Power supply EVGA 750W; Intel Core i7-10700K @ 3.80GHz (UHD Graphics 630); RAM 32 GB; OS on Kingston SSD 1TB; secondary WD 2TB; others 1.5TB, 3TB, 500GB, 4TB, 5TB, 6TB, 8TB; three monitors - HP 25" main, LG 4K 27" second, HP 27" third; Casio WK-225 piano keyboard; M-Audio M-Track USB mixer.

Notebook - Microsoft Surface Pro 4, i5-6300U, 8 GB RAM, 256 SSD, W10 Pro 20H2.

YouTube Channel: @JCBrownVideos

johnebaker wrote on 3/9/2025, 3:45 PM

@browj2

Hi John

. . . . it does the same as Multi-track ripple (3) . . . .

It does better, the selected media is inserted immediately upon pressing the key.

Using Multi track ripple, you either have to press the insert to timeline icon

or drag the media to the timeline

. . . . have to press 1 to get back to automatic insert . . . .

True, also the Intelligent insert is missing from the mode list which you also cannot access via the ... once used.

John EB

 

VPX 16, Movie Studio 2025, and earlier versions 2015 and 2016, Music Maker Premium 2024.

PC - running Windows 11 23H2 Professional on Intel i7-8700K 3.2 GHz, 16GB RAM, RTX 2060 6GB 192-bit GDDR6, 1 x 1Tb Sabrent NVME SSD (OS and programs), 2 x 4TB (Data) internal HDD + 1TB internal SSD (Work disc), + 6 ext backup HDDs.

Laptop - Lenovo Legion 5i Phantom - running Windows 11 23H2 on Intel Core i7-10750H, 16GB DDR4-SDRAM, 512GB SSD, 43.9 cm screen Full HD 1920 x 1080, Intel UHD 630 iGPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB GDDR6)

Sony FDR-AX53e Video camera, DJI Osmo Action 3 and Sony HDR-AS30V Sports cams.