Smart Edit 8
Manual extension
Contents
System settings ............................................4
Saving screen colors ....................................4
Further settings ........................................4
Edit .....................................................4
Timeline...................................................4
Using the Timeline to edit audio............................6
Setting up the Timeline...................................6
Marking scenes ............................................6
Operators .................................................7
Countdown............................................7
Clipboard .............................................7
Effect stack............................................7
Importing fonts.............................................8
Audio editing...............................................8
Combining audio tracks ..................................8
Finish .....................................................8
More new and improved functions.............................9
Smart Edit 8 Manual extension
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elcome to Smart Edit 8, the new generation software
for creative video editing. Smart Edit 8 comes with
W
which will help you to create more professional and sophisticated video with your Casablanca editing system.
Having installed Smart Edit 8 on your Casablanca, you can
begin studying the following new possibilities, as detailed over
the next pages.
countless new functions and intricate improvements,
System Settings
Saving screen colors
The new Smart Edit software has improved and expanded
on the ability to change the system colors. Enter the System
Settings from the main menu, then go to Screen and Change
interface colors. Here, you will now find the already familiar
archives option for loading, saving and deleting archive entries.
Any color combination schemes can be saved here any time
and reloaded at a later stage. The archives already contain a
few standard color schemes to get you going.
Further settings
`Show often used effects´: Place a tick in this box if you wish to
see the last ten effects used at the top of the effect list. This is
a kind of `favorites´ list. The list will not be shown if you remove
the box mark
Edit
In the Edit menu, to the right of the `i´ button
beneath the Storyboard, you‘ll find a new
button for starting the Storyboard render
process. This renders all Storyboard effects
as well as the audio. This gives you the ability
to play the Storyboard during editing without seeing any
unrendered parts.
Scenes added to the Storyboard are marked with a small
triangle in the top right corner. This triangle replaces the small
dot used previously for this purpose. In addition to the triangle,
a scene in the scene bin can sport several different icons:
‚>‘ = The scene is trimmed in the IN area
‚<‘ = The scene is trimmed in the OUT area
‚x‘ = The scene is rendered, is an empty scene, has been
imported or contains rendered parts
‚^‘ = The scene is also used in the Storyboard
‚n‘ = The scene is marked
‚p‘ = This is the current scene
Select System Settings, the press “Additional Settings” to
enter a menu that allows you to make some basic set up
changes. The following new setting options have been added
with the new version:
`Volume´: This allows you to set the volume level for your connected monitor. This is particularly useful for notebook models.
In many cases, notebooks also offer a volume control slider or
knob for setting the headphone volume level.
`Sound after creation´: This setting is used for choosing the
sound that is played whenever the system is done with rendering. In addition, you can set the minimum rendering time for
playing the sound. This function is useful if you wish to use
longer rendering times for doing other things and do not want
to miss the end of the rendering process.
Timeline
With the new system software, you can make use of the
Timeline display as opposed to the Storyboard method. This is
often preferred by many professional video editors.
In the Storyboard, all added scenes are shown as a sequence
of pictures, each representing a specific scene. Effects, inserts
and titles are also shown as pictures in the Storyboard. This
allows for a very clean and uncluttered display of the sequence
of scenes and effects used. Important information such as the
length of the scene in relation to the entire Storyboard can not
be seen right away however.
When viewing the project as a Timeline, you instead see
scenes and effects as bars positioned on a time axis. The
length of the bars is shown in proportion to the length of the
entire project. In addition, you can compare scene lengths
directly with each other.
Effects and inserts are also shown as bars in the Timeline. In
order to improve the overview, they are shown as separate
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Smart Edit 8 Manual extension
bars – or tracks as we‘ll call them. Apart from the video track,
there‘s a track for the insert, image processing effects, titles
and transitions. Above the tracks, there is a time scale to help
you keep track of the time position for the scenes and effects.
The Timeline is the central element for your video editing work.
You can activate the Timeline via System Settings > Storyboard options > Mode. Depending on the settings you make,
the system switches between the Storyboard and Timeline
display mode. The Timeline is shown in the same way in the
Edit, as well as the effect menus. The audio menu additionally
shows the audio tracks.
The top part of the screen shows the Timline, which is divided
into different parts. The view depends on the settings you have
made for the Timeline. The top of the screens holds the time
scale for reading the time and position of scenes in the project.
You can change the time display type via System Settings >
Additional Settings > Timecode display.
Beneath the time scale, you‘ll find the video track. All scenes
are shown as a sequence of bars or tracks, which can be
zoomed at varying factors. One option is to zoom so that the
first and last frame of a scene is seen on the ends of the bar.
The scene name is shown in the middle. If the bar is too short
to show all elements, only the start frame is shown. If you
zoom out even further, only the scene name will be displayed.
Each scene is separated by a vertical line, representing the
beginning of a new scene. The active scene is highlighted by a
different color – and is not, unlike the Storyboard mode, positioned in the middle of the screen. In addition, the active scene
(or the active insert part) sports a bright line at the bottom.
If you position an insert over a scene, you‘ll find the insert
scene in the insert track, just below the video track. It is positioned correctly beneath the background scene. The elements
found in this track can also display frame pictures or just text,
depending on your settings. You‘ll also find that the effects are
positioned exactly at the right time position. Effects are shown,
just like the scenes, as bars with the respective effect icon.
The lowest track is used to position transitions. The display
method is the same as used for image processing effects.
As soon as you insert a transition, the video track display will
change. Two consecutive scenes will be placed `over each
other´. The overlapping area will be shown as having its own
field, at the same length as the transition. The field contains a
a diagonal yellow line. In addition, depending on the setup, two
smaller images representing the first and last frame of the area
may be shown.
`Zoom +´: Zoom into the Timeline display to improve visibility of
short clips and effects. Each click doubles the zoom area. The
time scale carries information about the currently displayed
area in seconds (s) or minutes (m).
`Zoom -´: Zoom out of the Timeline to improve the overall
overview of the project. If you are suing long scenes, a smaller
Timeline view may be more appropriate. Each click makes the
view half as small.
`O´: This button switches the view to 20 scenes wide, but at
a maximum of 10 minutes length of your project. The current
scene is shown in the middle.
`N´: This normalizes the view and the current scene uses up
about 25% of the video track space.
`Range´: This function is used to set an area length for displaying the Timeline in seconds or minutes. The time scale then
switches to the value you are using. To set the value, click into
the number field for `Range´ and use the keyboard to enter a
number.
• s for an area in seconds (1-60)
• m for an area in minutes (only complete minutes).
If you enter a number without a letter, the number will be set
up in seconds per default.
The effect menus are also shown in the same fashion using
the Timeline. The audio mix screen allows you to see the audio
tracks in addition to the video tracks at the bottom.
The Timeline offers a very fast method for switching over to
an effect menu. If you want to change or delete an effect in
the Timeline, click onto it directly in the Timeline itself. You
will then be transported to the respective effect menu with the
options for the effect you have selected. Activating an effect in
the Timeline also activates the corresponding scene. It will be
highlighted – and in addition, marked using a bright line, pointing out the connection between effect and scene. This is particularly useful when working with inserts. If you are working
with an insert in the Storyboard and wish to apply a transition
to it, the line will help you to see if the effect will be positioned
at the beginning of the insert (Storyboard scene during insert
sports a low line) or at the end (the scene has a line). If this
part of the scene shows a bright low line, the transition will be
placed between the marked and subsequent scene.
Using the timeline to edit audio
To the right of the Timeline, you can see a larger version of first
frame of the currently used scene. Directly beneath the image,
the scene name and the scene length. Underneath, there are
various settings for `Range´and `Zoom´ to help you define the
best possible overview for the Timeline part you are working
on.
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In the audio mix menu, the Timeline works very much the
same. In addition, the audio tracks are shown.
The top audio track is the original sound belonging to the
scene seen above it. If there is a transition between two
scenes, the fade between the two scenes‘ original sound is
shown by a diagonally divided area. Generally, positioning
and arranging audio in the Timeline works pretty much just
like using the Storyboard mode. Across the entire area, the
audio tracks show status bars, giving you information (via its
color) about the audio below. If the audio is rendered, and the
volume levels are adjusted correctly, it will be shown in blue. If
the audio is overmodulated, it is red. Finally, unrendered audio
is shown in yellow.
Setting up the Timeline
Marking scenes
Until now, the scene bin was made more convenient with the
aid of scene groups, or by hiding already added scenes. Now,
you can further improve and optimize the edit bin with two new
functions found at the bottom left of the screen. The buttons
`Mark´ and `Action´ belong together and allow you to comfortably sort the scenes in your edit bin. To do this, you can mark
certain scenes in your edit bin and copy or move them to another place. This makes it possible to put scenes that belong
together next to each other.
The button `Mark´ obviously marks the selected scene in the
edit bin. When marked, a scene displays a filled square symbol
above the scene icon. if you want to mark another scene, select the scene and press the `Mark´ button. You can speed up
the process by pressing the left trackball button. In this case,
you do not have to specifically select the scene first. Place the
pointer over the desired scene and press the left small trackball button. That‘s all! This marks the scene. You can also use
the Power Key (optional product) to mark the scenes faster.
The `Action´ button reveals a menu for creating an action for
the selected scene. Alternatively, you can open this menu using the right small trackball button. Depending on the number
of marked scenes, there are various actions that can be put
into effect:
In order to display the Storyboard as a Timeline, the system
requires a VGA or DVI resolution of at least 1024x768. A video
monitor can not display the Timeline. Before activating the
Timeline display, it is important that you first select a suitable
screen resolution. Go to the System Settings > Storyboard
options > to find the following options:
Storyboard – mode: This is used to switch the display between
the Storyboard and Timeline mode. The Timeline gives you two
further options: Either `Timeline´ for displaying the Timeline in
all menus or `Timeline (Mix only)´ for displaying the Timeline
only in the audio mixing screen.
Storyboard – video: You can apply a text onto the video track
which will be the name of the scene. Alternatively, you can
apply an image at the start and end of the scene. In this case,
you can change the size of the image from small, medium and
large. The images have an advantage over the text: Very short
scenes may not show the full text.
Storyboard – insert: You can apply the same settings to the
insert track as the video track. In addition, you can completely
deactivate the insert track if you do not require it.
Storyboard – Change colors: This button activates an alternative scene dispaly for the scenes in the video track. If you
activate this, scenes will be shown in altering blue colors, in
addition to the yellow separators.
`Swap scenes´: This function swaps two scenes around and is
available when you activate exactly two scenes.
`Move here´: All marked scenes are positioned behind the currently selected scene. The previous positions of these scenes
are removed.
`Copy here´: All marked scenes are copied to a position after
the currently selected scene. A duplicate is created and copied
to the new position. The original scenes remains at its position.
`Mark Storyboard´: With this function, you can mark a scene in
the Storyboard/Timeline.
`Mark scene bin´: This marks all scenes in the scene bin. This is
useful for selecting a large number of scenes. Simply activate
all scenes first, then deactivate single scenes.
`Remove all marks´: This removes all marked scenes without
processing an action.
`Cancel´: This cancels and closes the menu without processing
any action. The marked scenes remain marked.
If you mark multiple scenes in the scene bin and wish to add
them to the Storyboard, select the scene in the Storyboard
after which the scenes are to be positioned. Now click on
the “add” button and choose `all marked´. The scenes will be
copied to the Storyboard in the exact same order and placed
behind the active Storyboard scene. You can also delete the
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Smart Edit 8 Manual extension
marked scenes by pressing `Delete´. You will be asked if you
wish to delete merely the current scene or all marked scenes.
Press `All marked´ to delete all marked scenes. Use the `Undo´
button to restore the deleted scenes. Please note that you can
only restore the last 10 deleted scenes with this function. If you
deleted more scenes than 10, the remaining scenes
will be lost.
You can also mark scenes in the Storyboard, not just the
scene bin. You can do this in exact the same way as with the
scene bin.
The actions are themselves are done in the same fashion too.
Note that no scene should be activated when you want to process an action in the Storyboard – otherwise the action menu
will remain inactive.
Marked scenes remain marked as long as you remain in the
edit menu. If you exit the edit menu, the marked scenes will be
unmarked.
Operators
Smart Edit 8 offers new effect operators. The Countdown
operator and the clipboard have been expanded in their functionality. DVD-Arabesk has been moved to the main menu and
Ksebara is now found in the edit menu, under `New´.
Every effect list is now divided into different parts: The top part
is the `favorites list´, separated with the division line. These are
the effects that have been used the most recently. The list contains the 10 most used effects. It allows you to select the most
frequent effects faster. Underneath the line, you can find the
regular effect list, with all the effects installed. You can deactivate the effect favorites if you like. To do this, enter System
Settings > Additional Settings, deactivate the tick `Show often
used effects´. Place the tick again to activate the function.
picture. The current project‘s scene bin will be shown, allowing
you to select a suitable image from the available scenes. If the
background scene is shorter than the countdown, the scene
will repeat. If it is longer, only the necessary part will be shown.
Clipboard
This button is a buffer for storing scenes and clips. Select the
`Clipboard´ to enter a selection menu that allows you to place
and recover scenes from and into your current project. The top
part of this menu contains a list of all available scenes in the
clipboard. When you enter this menu the very first time, the list
will be empty. The menu contains the following options:
Add actual scene: Add the currently selected scene in the
scene bin to the clipboard.
Add other scene: Add another scene (other than the selected
one) to the clipboard.
Add scene from different project: You can add any scene from
any other project to the Storyboard. First, select the project
and then the scene from the scene bin of the project.
Remove scene(s): This option is only active if you have marked
at least one scene in the list. All scenes marked with a tick are
then deleted.
Import scene(s): This option is only active if you have marked
at least one scene in the list. All scenes marked with a tick are
then imported into your project.
Options: Here, you can set if the trimmed parts of a scene
are also affected. In addition, there is an option for importing
scenes in a different format.
Countdown
This function creates a countdown effect. For each second,
it shows a number counting backwards. You can change the
font and style used and even present a background picture.
If you want to show a background picture instead of a color
or pattern, set the alpha channel value to 0%. This makes the
selection translucent and allows you to select a background
The clipboard for audio is used in the same fashion.
Effect stack
This effect allows you to bundle as many image processing
effects in a single rendering process and apply them in one
go. Open the setting menu for this effect. In the top left of the
menu, you‘ll find a list of the effects. There are also the following menu points:
`Add effect´: Select an effect from the list of image processing
effects. This effect is then added to the effect stack.
`Remove effect´: Removes an effect from the effect stack.
`Move effect up´: This moves the currently selected effect
within the stack list to the top.
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`Move effect down´: This moves the currently selected effect
within the stack list to the bottom.
The effects are applied from the top to the bottom to the final
rendered effect. It is important in which order the effect list
is assembled. Moving effects up and down therefore has an
effect on the result. Every effect is influenced by the previous
effect. The moving preview is shown on the right menu side,
giving you an indication of your arrangement.
Importing fonts
In all menus which allow you to select a font type, you can now
also import a TrueType font. This expands on the available font
packages with single TrueType fonts from an external medium
such as a CD. Press `Import font(s)´ in the menu and select the
medium containing the fonts that you wish to import. Confirm
the selection and now choose from the available fonts themselves. This will result in a preview. Use the multi select function to choose more than one font for importing. The number
of fonts that you can import is limited to 100. Once all required
fonts have been marked with a tick, click on OK and the import
will begin. Once finished, the fonts will be added to your font
list, carrying the font name. The symbol for such fonts is an `A´
with a superscripted `x´ in front.
If you want to delete any of these fonts, click onto `Delete
font(s)´, then mark the fonts in the menu and the confirm
with OK.
sample to the audio list and name it `Mix´. From here, you can
continue editing it.
Finish
The lower part of the `Finish´ menu has been redesigned and
now offers the ability to add further overlays to your film. For
example, if you wish to add a logo to your film, or the recording date. These options are always set up for the current
project. Applying the overlay to a part of the film only is not
possible. This is only possible in DV projects, not HD projects.
You can import and position a graphic (a still image, no animation), or one of the available time formats. Use the following
settings:
Audio editing
Combining audio tracks
You can combine multiple audio tracks to once single audio
piece. This is helpful to create space if all audio tracks are in
use and you wish to use another audio clip in the project. Use
the Opt button (the audio mix menu) to combine audio tracks.
The result is a new sample that is added to the selected audio
track. The combined audio tracks are deleted. The new sample
can also be saved in the audio clipboard as a backup.
The menu for `Merge tracks´ has the following options:
`Replace in Storyboard´: Activating this option (tick is placed)
the resulting sample is added to the selected audio track
automatically.
`insert to´: This allows you to set up in which audio track the
new sample is to be placed.
`Create sample´: Activate this button (place tick) to add the
`Use graphic´: Activate this function (place a tick) to render an
image into your film. The function uses the last imported image
until you import a new one. If there is no image available, you
will be asked to select one.
`Import graphic´: If you wish to use an image (format: png
–True Color) on a medium (e.g. CD, DVD, USB stick), connect
or insert the medium first. Then, press the button to import the
image. The selection menu allows you to choose from all of the
recognized mediums. Select the storage medium and press
OK. After this, you will see the contents of the medium so that
you can select the image and import it.
`Place graphic´: The last imported image can also be freely
positioned in the film. You can also alter the size of the image
and optimize the position. It is not possible to save multiple
images on your system. You must import an image from an
external medium.
`Casablanca timecode´: This displays the time code of the
film. The format used (mmm:ss:ff or hh:mm:ss:ff) depends on
the `Timecode display´ chose in System Settings > Additional
Settings.
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`Original timecode´: The time code (recording time) of each
single scene is shown. The set `Timecode display´ is taken into
consideration.
`Date and time´: This shows the date and time from the Timecode of the orginal scenes.
`Select font´: This allows you to choose a font type and size.
You can import your own fonts for this purpose and use it for
the display.
`Place timecode´: The chose time format can be positioned.
The size of the display depends on the font you have selected.
More new and improved functions
In addition to the functions described above, there are more
improvements to be found in Smart Edit 8.
• The Image Pool now stores up to 60 images.
• The Image Pool can now be used to trim a selected scene
when saving – and thus use any single frame as the image.
Due to this, the scene does not have to be trimmed beforehand.
• The Image Pool has an improved preview display: The
translucent area is now shown as a chequered pattern background, making it easier to see.
• The menu `Edit´ > `New´ and `Audio´ > `New sample´ now
contain 4 new buttons: These allow you to choose 1s, 3s,
10s and 30s and thus to quickly choose a basic length.
• Power Key (optional product) has been treated to many other
expansions, such as a repeat function to place scenes in the
clip board.
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Smart Edit 8 Manual extension
MacroSystem Digital Video AG
www.macrosystem.de
391-10/08
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