Changing your Default Transition

Some projects require the use of one transition repeatedly.  If you are working on a project for an extended period of time, changing the default transition to something more practical can be a great time saver.  By default, Final Cut uses a 30 frame (or 1 second) cross dissolve. To change this default transition to something else, you need to follow these steps. 

First create or select the transition you would like to be your NEW default.  Double click on it to load it into the viewer.  In the top right hand corner of the viewer you will see a hand icon over top of a transition icon. We are going to drag this item over to our browser, but first we need to select the effects tab in the browser.





Once you have the effects tab highlighted twirl open the favorites folder.  Now we are ready.  We go back to the viewer and in the top right hand corner you are going to to see the icon with the hand over top of the transition.  



Drag and drop this icon over top of the favorites folder in the browser.  Almost there.  You should now see a transition symbol added to that folder.  Now you can right click on the icon (or control click if you don't have a two click mouse or that feature isn't enabled in your preferences.)  and from the drop down box, select the option "Set Default Transition".



Your are all set.  Now you can use your keyboard shortcut of "Command T" to quickly apply your new default on any cut point!

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