cmd/Ctrl + L and K: Several uses

These keyboard shortcuts relate to selections found in the Edit Menu and are for enlarging and reducing several displays. cmd/Ctrl + L makes sense and is easy to remember because it makes things Larger. cmd/Ctrl + K well, if you speak German, then Cmd/Ctrl + K makes sense as well, because in German the word for smaller is Kleinere. For those of us that don't speak German, you'll notice that the letter K is to the left of the letter L on the QWERTY keyboard.

These keyboard shortcuts will do different things, depending on which window is active when you use them:

• Bin Window – when a bin is in either Frame View or Script View, using these shortcuts will enlarge/reduce the size of the thumbnail image for the clip.

• Timeline – will enlarge or reduce the height of tracks that have their Track Selectors enabled (on either the Source side or the Record/Timeline side). More information on Track Height is given latr.

• Record Window or Source Window – the purpose for the shortcuts here are to Enlarge/Reduce (zoom in/out) the display image. This is useful in the Effect Monitor (also known as the Record Monitor) when creating various video effects (for example, enlarging is helpful when Corner Pinning). Sometimes users find themselves enlarging or reducing the display image by mistake when they mean to use these keyboard shortcuts to enlarge/reduce the width of their timeline tracks and don't realize that the Record or Source window is selected instead. More information on this is given next.

Enlarge/reduce display image tips:

Following are a few tips that will come in handy while enlarging or reducing the display mage:

• When enlarged or reduced, a small white number will appear in the upper-right corner to indicate the zoom level (for example, 2x, or 50 percent).The normal display will not have any number appearing. So, do not be confused when you see 1x. This is relating that there is a 1:1 (one- to-one) relationship between the pixels in the video and the pixels on the computer monitor. This actually makes the image larger, and the entire image is not seen.

• When the image is enlarged, you can reposition it by first pressing, and holding, option + cmd (Mac) or Alt + Ctrl (PC). This will change your arrow cursor into a hand cursor. Then, at the same time you press the keys, hold down the left mouse button and you can then drag the image around to reposition it.

• You can quickly return to a normal display size with the shortcut option + cmd + L (Mac) or Alt + Ctrl + L (PC).

More on track height:

Let's take a look at couple of options to adjust the trackheight:

• You can also adjust the track height dynamically using the option/Alt key. Press and hold option/Alt (if Alt does not work, try the Ctrl key), then place your cursor between two Track Selectors. The resize icon will appear (a black line with arrows pointing up and down). You will be adjusting the height for the track which is above the resize icon. Hold down the mouse button and drag up or down to resize the track.

• cmd/Ctrl + K and L adjusts track height, but of you add option/Alt: option/Alt + cmd/Ctrl + K or option/Alt + cmd/Ctrl +L, then you will be adjusting the height of the Waveform, if it is displayed.