Now this is cool. But cool in a very very nerdy way. A hidden menu in Final Cut that gives you some way cool toys, and way more info than you’ll know what to do with. Jon Chappell shows you how to access the menu, and what everything does over at LAFCPUG. Check your hard drive’s performance or fit the Tool Bench into your layout… and more.

Read the (super geeky) tutorial here.

If you’ve tried tracking in Motion, you know it can be a real pain. Luckily, Mocha, which has been available for After Effects for awhile now, is now available for FCP/Motion. This tutorial takes you through the workaround workflow, as it’s kind of convuluted. But it looks easier with great results.

Watch the video tutorial here.

Metadata is very helpful in organizing the masses of media we have. And here’s a cool tip from Final Cut User on how to do that in Compressor. So you’re able to export your videos, and people opening it up in iTunes or another program will automatically have the author, title, keywords, etc., fields filled in.

Watch the video tutorial here.

One of the biggest plusses Motion has over After Effects is the ability to work closer with Final Cut, without the need for Automatic Duck or other work arounds. And it’s quite simple to do. This tutorial from Jiggy Gaton over at Creative Cow will point you in the right direction so you can do that thing you do.

Check the out the tutorial here.

A large portion of what you learn about Final Cut will come from experience- sitting in front of the program and actually editing. And in doing that, it can be easy to miss the simple things. Jeff from SuiteTake has this great list of “The Top-Ten Things I Wish I Knew About Final Cut Pro…Ten Years Ago.”

Watch the video tutorial here.

I was shooting an early morning rally, as the sun came up, on a pro camera with a grayscale viewfinder. Great for focusing, but when I got it back to the studio, I realized that the color temp had changed over those 3 hours as the sun rose, and I hadn’t white balanced. Richard Harrington over at Creative Cow has this tutorial that would have helped me a lot on fixing White Balance.

Watch the video tutorial here.

Transitions are a crucial tool for effective story telling (when used in moderation, and after you get those star wipes out of your system). This tutorial from FCPTips shows you how to apply transtions, change your default transition, and a very handy way to apply multiple transitions at once.

Watch the video tutorial here.