Keyboard Shortcuts

CuePoints is much faster once the keys are in your hands. There are two kinds of shortcut: the ones you set yourself, and the ones that are fixed.

Shortcuts You Set Yourself

Everything to do with playback and cues is yours to assign, under Settings. Click an action, press a key. These are the defaults:

Skipping By Different Amounts

The arrow keys have three sizes of step: ←→ on their own is small, Shift + ←→ is medium, Command + ←→ is large. How big each one is, in frames or seconds, is set under Settings.

Hold Option while skipping and your selected cues move with the playhead.

Number Keys For Cue Types

The first ten visible CuePoint Types get the number keys 1 to 0, so dropping a cue is one keypress. This is the fastest way to work: the keys are under your fingers, there's nothing to remember, and nothing to assign by hand.

Because it follows what's visible, hiding a cue type shifts the numbers below it up. If you rely on muscle memory, decide which types you show before the show, not during it. On a shared project the numbering covers only the types you have access to, so your keys stay sensible when other departments' types are hidden from you.

This is Auto-populate numeric shortcuts under Settings. Turn it off and you can assign every type by hand instead.

The Control Key While Dragging

Dragging a cue on the timeline normally takes the playhead with it, so you hear where you're putting it. Hold Control to swap that behaviour for the drag you're doing. Which way round it works by default is Update playhead when moving cue points on the CuePoints pane.

Fixed Shortcuts

These belong to the application and can't be changed.

File

Edit

Tracks, Cues And Tools

In Boxes And Menus

Settings

CuePoints > Settings… > Shortcuts

Arrow Key Skip Timing

The three sizes of playhead nudge, each with its own unit, Frames or Seconds:

• Arrows Left / Right: the small one. Keep this tiny, a few frames, for landing a cue exactly.

• Shift + Arrows: the medium one.

• Command + Arrows: the big one. A few seconds, for getting across a track quickly.

Frames is the precise unit; one frame is the smallest step there is. Seconds is the fast one. A setup that works well: arrows = 1 Frame, Shift = 10 Frames, Command = 5 Seconds. Small, medium, large, so your fingers learn one pattern.

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

A table with two columns:

• ACTION: things CuePoints does, like play, stop, or go to the next cue.

• CUE TYPE: your cue types, like Lighting or Sound. The shortcut drops a cue of that type wherever the playhead is.

Click an action or cue-point type, then press a key to assign it. To change one, click it and press a different key. To take one away, click it and press Delete.

Auto-Populate Numeric Shortcuts

On, and the top 10 visible cuepoints are numbered automatically, 1 to 0. Off, and you assign every type by hand. Why on is the better default, and the one thing to know about it, is under Number Keys For Cue Types.

Choosing Your Keys

Pick keys you can find without looking at the keyboard. During a run your eyes are on the stage, and a shortcut you have to hunt for is slower than the mouse.