A Keyboard based Launcher for After Effects, check out Andrew Kramer’s VideoCopilot FX Console

 

So recently I wrote about the awesome Mac keyboard based launcher LaunchBar from Obdev, and now I am writing about something Andrew Karamer wrote from Video Copilot wrote for After Effects called FX Console, which is the same type of thing for After Effects, he calls it a Work Flow Plug In, and it is free.

It blows away that this is listed in their Products, but must be searched for. They really need a free section for his awesome free products, to go along with his amazing paid products, that I will write about later.

This plug in just adds a quick new way to use a keyboard to add effects & presets, and create FX Shortcuts, and export Snapshots as PNG. This is a must use plug-in that will always speed you up, and once again when I get on a machine that doesn’t have it installed, I feel stunted.

Anything that speeds up your workflow is always a good thing, and this can speed up your workflow each and every day. And because of this I would easily pay for it, but it is free. So there is no reason to not download and install it.

A Keyboard based launcher for Adobe Premiere Pro, I have written about it before, but you should check out Knights of the Editing Tables awesome Excalibur

 

So this one I have written about before, but that was before I really started using it. Now I am a big fan of keyboard based launchers and have used LaunchBar from ObDev on my mac for many years and FXConsole from VideoCopilot in after effects since it’s release (and will be writing about both in the future here) but this time it is Excalibur from Knights of the Editing Table for Adobe Premiere Pro.

This once again is a keyboard launcher for Premiere Pro, you hit a keyboard shortcut, I use option-spacebar and then you can add effects, presets or transitions from the keyboard. It works and it works great.

And the most amazing thing is being able to add transitions and then set the length all from the keyboard! WOOHOOOO!! This is from a feature I have long missed from Final Cut Pro 7 where I could different length shortcuts for Dissolve and quickly put them on. Now I can do it without leaving the keyboard!

Here I have the transition selected.

Here I have typed cross then I hit right arrow and typed 8 for 8 frames and enter.

The Cross Dissolve was added, and when I double click on it it is 8 Frames, AMAZING!

Personally this is 100% worth the $75 and I might even buy a second license to bring to work with me, that I can uninstall and bring to new locations once the Pandemic is over.

LaunchBar 6 has been released by Objective Development

Objective Development has updated their awesome all purpose launch for Mac OS X to version 6. This is an awesome program that allows you to launch applications or documents using keyboard shortcuts, but is smart and learns your shortcuts so you can quickly launch apps or do things on the computer with a few simple keystrokes. And you can do custom keyboard shortcuts for different thing, even launching an e-mail addressed to a specific person. It is $29 for a single user or $48 for a 5 user Family License.

The new version adds a new interface and themes, and is now extensible. You can do live searches of Google, Wikipedia, DuckDuckGo or dict.cc. It adds information browsing to items by hitting shift and the right arrow.

Personally I have replaced the command-space spotlight search with Launchbar (moving spotlight to ctr-space), and can hit a few simple keys to launch apps. Such as command-space ap to launch adobe photoshop. or command space apr to launch adobe premiere. It is an amazingly fast and versatile app.

Honestly it has so many features that I don’t even know, but is worth it just for it’s launching features. It will speed up your computer usage so much. Honestly I miss it whenever I am on a clients computer as it really speeds everything up. This is the power user app that you should really check out.