Suggestion for Trim & Grabber Tools

[Brent Hahn]

Maybe it's just me being a spaz, but after this much time maybe not.

I find it really annoying to hit, say, F8 for the Grabber Tool, realize I was already using the Grabber, have it toggle to the next mode, and then have to hit F8 twice more to get back to where I started. And it's worse with the Trimmer, because there's a higher probability of screwing something up.

How about this: when you're already using the Grabber or Trimmer, if you hit the same F key once again... it does nothing! So you're using the tool you intend to use. Hit the key subsequent times and the tools toggle like they always have.

Comments?

[cneal92]

I rarely do what you discussed but, there are certainly times I'd like to "lock" a tool, so that when I switch to the smart-tool it doesn't change the version of trim tool I was using as it changes to the smart-tool (when using the keyboard shortcut).

[froyo]

Hello. Well there are at least two threads in the Post forum and a couple here on this forum that deal with this topic, so it seems like you have company. For some reason I just have not had any problem whatsoever with this. The biggest adjustment for me was when 7.3 added the Loop Trimmer tool, I just had to add one more click to get to where I was going. I often switch between the regular trimmer and the time compression trimmer, and more rarely the scrubber trimmer. It was a very, very, very small deal to me to just add one more click to switch between tools. Same with the Grabber tools. So while I personally just don't see what the big deal is, I do see that it is apparently a big deal to others.

The most requested and suggested way of solving this has been by giving the user the preference to lock certain tools out. If implemented correctly this should solve most everybody's issue. Again for me personally this would be so, so low on the list of things to fix/change that it may not even make it, but it apparently is a big enough deal to others. I would suggest filling out the online Feature Request. Good luck.

[poly915]

The most requested and suggested way of solving this has been by giving the user the preference to lock certain tools out. If implemented correctly this should solve most everybody's issue.

Agree 100%

[Brent Hahn]

The most requested and suggested way of solving this has been by giving the user the preference to lock certain tools out. If implemented correctly this should solve most everybody's issue.

I agree when it comes to Shuffle Mode. But with the Trimmer & Grabber, I use all of the modes quite a bit, and I really hate having to use dropdown menus unneccessarily, because of both speed and hand fatigue. Different issue altogether.

[duskb]

Maybe it's just me being a spaz, but after this much time maybe not.

I find it really annoying to hit, say, F8 for the Grabber Tool, realize I was already using the Grabber, have it toggle to the next mode, and then have to hit F8 twice more to get back to where I started. And it's worse with the Trimmer, because there's a higher probability of screwing something up.

How about this: when you're already using the Grabber or Trimmer, if you hit the same F key once again... it does nothing! So you're using the tool you intend to use. Hit the key subsequent times and the tools toggle like they always have.

Comments?

I do the same thing all the time and I would be willing to PAY for this feature to go away. Some of the other suggestions sound workable too.

See Digi...you don't have to add useless features...just get the old ones working right first.

Thankx for the post.
duskb

[bublabs]

I know this doesn't completely address that problem, but I like to give a big shout out to the Smart Tool. It takes a little while to get used to, but once you are used to it, it makes things *a lot* easier. Frees up my left hand to hover mostly around the lower left corner. The only time I use F6-8 is to use TCE and go back to Smart Tool.

[Brent Hahn]

... I like to give a big shout out to the Smart Tool.

Lord knows I've tried to use it. And as a client at other facilities I've seen lots of other folks use it exclusively, and sometimes fairly efficiently.

But for me, the main problem with the Smart Tool is that, unless the tracks are at least "Large," there are just way too many wrong places to put the cursor. When it comes to the need for pinpoint cursor accuracy, I tend to favor "carpet bomb" over "surgical strike." But maybe that's just me.

[Mario C]

I use the Smart Tool almost exclusively, but I still fight the toggling among the various trims tools.

I like the idea brought up in another thread of 1-hit for normal trim, 2-hits for TCE, 3-hits for the next one, etc. That way you never have to look at which one is currently selected, but simply hit the button the number of times you need for your desired tool.

[Kenny Gioia]

I've been toying with the idea of having QuicKeys override Pro Tools for those tools.

I tried it briefly making F6 be a click on the trim tool and F8 be a click on the grabber tool.

It's a bit slower to react but none of the tools will toggle thru (on multiple hits) the options which you can still do manually.