Final Cut Pro: Disabling visibility and its effects on rendering
Summary
When working with multiple tracks in Final Cut Pro, you may find it useful to turn off visibility for some onscreen elements to focus on a particular area of detail in a sequence.
Products Affected
Final Cut Pro
There are two main ways to temporarily disable visibility for items in sequences: at the clip level and at the track level. Depending on the type of sequence you're working on, one method might be preferable over the other. Each has a different impact on the amount of sequence area that will require rerendering.
Clip Enable and Solo Item
By default, visibility is enabled for items in the Timeline. (To confirm an item in the Timeline is enabled, select it and see if Clip Enable has a checkmark in the Modify menu.) You can toggle Clip Enable (Command-B) to temporarily disable an item so that it will not be played back, rendered, or output with the rest of the sequence. In most cases when you've already rendered the sequence, disabling clips instead of whole tracks should minimize the amount of rerendering that will be required.
When an item is disabled, its Timeline representation will be darkened slightly, as shown below.
Note: When you disable a clip in a rendered sequence, only the duration of that clip will require rerendering.
To disable or reenable a clip (or other item) in the Timeline:
- Select the clip in the Timeline.
- Choose Modify > Clip Enable.
The Solo Clip command is a way to disable the items in the tracks above and below a selected clip so that it's isolated. In other words, you can exclude from playback any clips that overlap the solo clip.
Note: When you solo items in a rendered sequence, only the duration of the items that overlap the soloed item(s) will require rerendering.
To solo a clip (or other item):
- In the Timeline, select the clip or clips that you want to solo.
- Choose Sequence > Solo Selected Item(s) or press Control-S.
To reenable the disabled clips:
- Select the Soloed clips.
- Choose Sequence > Solo Selected Item(s).
Toggle Track Visibility
You can disable entire tracks to hide their contents during playback. The clips on a disabled track are not visible or audible when you play the sequence.
Note: When you disable a track, the duration of all clips in that track will require rerendering
To disable a track:
- Click the Track Visibility control for the track(s) you want to disable.
