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383Final Cut Pro User Guide
Add the default video effect in Final Cut Pro
You can set a default video effect and quickly add it to your project clips using the
Option-E keyboard shortcut or a menu command.
Final Cut Pro comes with the default video effect set to the Color Board color correction
effect, but you can change the default effect to any video effect in the Effects browser,
including custom video effects presets.
You can also set a default color correction effect, which appears whenever you open the
Color inspector for a clip that has no color correction applied.
Add the default video effect to project clips
1. Select one or more video clips in the Final Cut Pro timeline.
2. Choose Edit > Add [effect name] (or press Option-E).
The name of the menu item changes depending on the current default video effect
setting.
Set the default video effect
1. Click the Effects button in the top-right corner of the Final Cut Pro timeline (or press
Command-5).
2. Control-click a video effect or a video effects preset, then choose Make Default Video
Effect.
Set the default color correction effect
1. Choose Final Cut Pro > Preferences, or press Command-Comma (,).
2. Click General.
3. Click the Color Correction pop-up menu and choose one of the following effects:
• Color Board
• Color Wheels
• Color Curves
• Hue/Saturation Curves
The controls for the effect you choose appear by default whenever you open the Color
inspector for a clip that has no color correction applied.
Important: When you set the default video effect to any of the four color correction
effects, the default video effect menu command (Edit > Add [effect name]) and keyboard
shortcut (Option-E) always apply the default color correction effect defined in Final Cut Pro
preferences. If the default video effect command doesn’t apply the color correction effect
you expect, make sure the effect you want to apply is chosen from the Color Correction
pop-up menu in General preferences.