Pinnacle Systems DS Nitris - 7.0 Editing Guide
Avid® DS Nitris
Editing Guide
Version 7.0
™
make manage move | media
™
Avid
®
Copyright and Disclaimer
Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part
of Avid Technology, Inc.
The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. You can obtain a copy of
that license by visiting Avid's Web site at www.avid.com. The terms of that license are also available in the
product in the same directory as the software. The software may not be reverse assembled and may be
used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement. It is against the law to copy the
software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the license agreement.
No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission
of Avid Technology, Inc.
Copyright © 2003 Avid Technology, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The Avid DS and Avid DS Nitris application uses JScript and Visual Basic Scripting Edition from Microsoft
Corporation.
Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend
U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. This Software and its documentation are “commercial
computer software” or “commercial computer software documentation.” In the event that such Software or
documentation is acquired by or on behalf of a unit or agency of the U.S. Government, all rights with
respect to this Software and documentation are subject to the terms of the License Agreement, pursuant to
FAR §12.212(a) and/or DFARS §227.7202-1(a), as applicable.
Trademarks
888 I/O, Adrenaline, AirPlay, AirSPACE, AirSPACE HD, AniMatte, AudioSuite, AudioVision, AutoSync,
Avid, Avid DNA, AVIDdrive, AVIDdrive Towers, AvidNet, AvidNetwork, AVIDstripe, Avid Mojo, Avid Unity,
Avid Xpress, AVoption, AVX, CamCutter, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, DAE, D-Fi, D-fx, Digidesign,
Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, DigiDrive, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator,
DigiTranslator, DINR, D-Verb, Equinox, ExpertRender, FieldPak, Film Composer, FilmScribe, FluidMotion,
HIIP, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, IllusionFX, Image Independence, Intraframe, iS9, iS18, iS23,
iS36, Lo-Fi, Magic Mask, make manage move | media, Marquee, Matador, Maxim, MCXpress, Media
Composer, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, Media Fusion, Media Illusion, MediaLog, Media Reader,
Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaShare, Meridien, MetaSync, NaturalMatch, Nearchive, NetReview,
NewsCutter, Nitris, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management,
ProEncode, Pro Tools, QuietDrive, Recti-Fi, RetroLoop, rS9, rS18, Sci-Fi, Softimage, Sound Designer II,
SPACE, SPACEShift, Symphony, the Avid|DS logo, Trilligent, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Video Slave Driver,
VideoSPACE, Xdeck, and XSI are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in
the United States and/or other countries.
Adobe, Acrobat, and Acrobat Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems
Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows XP are
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of
their respective owners.
GOT FOOTAGE?
Editors — Filmmakers — Special Effects Artists — Game Developers — Animators — Educators —
Broadcasters — Content creators of every genre — Just finished an incredible project and want to
share it with the world?
Send us your reels and we may use your footage in our show reel or demo!*
For a copy of our release and Avid’s mailing address, go to www.avid.com/footage.
*Note: Avid cannot guarantee the use of materials submitted.
Avid DS Nitris Editing Guide • 0130-05575-01 • September 2003
2
Contents
Using This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Who Should Use This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Using the Mouse, Pen, and Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Customizing the Pen or Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
If You Need Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Accessing the Online Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
If You Have Documentation Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
How to Order Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Avid Educational Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Avid DS Customer Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
E-mail Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Web Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
FTP Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Mailing List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 1 Working with Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Starting a Work Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Opening an Existing Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Setting User Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Managing Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Working with Avid Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Organizing Your Project Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Working with Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Changing the Bin View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Changing the Frame in Thumbnail and Script View. . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Identifying File Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Displaying File Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Customizing the Details and Script Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3
Saving or Deleting a Bin View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Sorting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Sifting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Viewing Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Viewing the Avid Event Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Sorting Columns and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Chapter 2 Working with Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Workflow: Working with Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Opening Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Creating a New Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Opening an Existing Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Importing Sequences and Master Clips from Another Project . . . . . 63
Setting Sequence Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Working with Different Qualities of Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Understanding Video Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Understanding Video Quality Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Understanding Audio Quality Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Understanding the Processing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Understanding the Working Conversion Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Saving Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Creating a Copy of a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Searching for Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Deleting Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Chapter 3 Building a Rough Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Workflow: Editing Audio and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Creating Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Preparing Source Clips for Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Editing Source Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Placing Clips on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Working on the Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Marking In and Out-points on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Using the Mark Buttons to Set In and Out-points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Using Timecode to Set In and Out-points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4
Displaying Timecodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Displaying the Source Timecodes of a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Displaying the Sequence Timecodes of a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Moving or Trimming Objects Using the Timecode Boxes . . . . . . . 126
Adjusting the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Panning and Zooming the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Changing the Ruler Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Viewing a Sequence as a Hieracharical Tree Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Playing Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Varying the Playback Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Moving to Points on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Moving to Edit Points on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Looping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Viewing Unprocessed Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Using the Position Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Switching Viewers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Setting True Video Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Zooming or Panning the Viewers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Displaying Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Manipulating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Selecting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Moving Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Renaming and Adding Comments to Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Cutting Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Copying Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Deleting Clips from the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Lifting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Extracting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Revealing Unused Material on Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Changing the Activeness of Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Using Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Displaying Locator Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Setting Reference Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Placing Locators on Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Moving Locators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
5
Deleting Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Moving to Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Annotating Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Changing the Color of Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Finding Frames, Clips, and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Matching a Frame in a Master Clip or Subclip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Performing a Reverse Match Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Finding the Bin for a Clip or Subclip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Extracting Parts of a Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Converting a Timeline Region or Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Creating Multiple Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Replacing Timeline Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Grabbing Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Creating a Master Clip from a Snapshot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Creating an Image File from a Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Rippling Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Inserting Clips in Ripple Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Editing Clips in Ripple Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Synchronizing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Aligning Clips for Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Creating a Sync Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Manipulating Synchronized Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Editing Synchronized Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Resyncing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Deleting Synchronized Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Referencing Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Creating Reference Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Converting a Container Clip to a Reference Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Processing Reference Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Chapter 4 Trimming Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Workflow: Trimming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Understanding Trimming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Methods of Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Understanding Trim Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
6
Entering and Exiting Trim Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Trimming Clips in Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Reviewing a Trim Edit or Transition in Trim Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Selecting and Breaking Edit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Selecting Trim Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Breaking and Relinking Edit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Performing a Basic Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Trimming the Edit Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Trimming with the Trim Handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Trimming Audio Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Backtiming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Snapping Edit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Trimming On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Creating Overlap Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Trimming Container Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Trimming Transition Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Understanding Slipping or Sliding Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Slipping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Sliding Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Entering Slip/Slide Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Performing a Slip or Slide Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Reviewing a Slip or Slide Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Maintaining Sync While Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Creating a Gap When Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Chapter 5 Working with Effects and Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Displaying Guides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Applying Effects on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Applying Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Cutting to a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Creating One-Sided Transitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Creating Transitions Between Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Editing Transition Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Aligning Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
7
Removing Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Using the Comparison Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Nesting Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Creating Nested Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Navigating within Nested Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Deleting Nested Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Displaying Effects in a Viewer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Opening a Floating Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Changing the Image Displayed in a Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Viewing Image Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Processing Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Chapter 6 Processing Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Understanding Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
When is Processing Needed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Workflow: Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Processing Areas of the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Processing a Single Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Processing a Region of a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Previewing Effects without Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Setting the Processing Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Processing Media at Different Qualities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Creating Caches at Any Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Understanding Processing Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Minimal Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Complete Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Example: Minimal versus Complete Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Working with Real-Time Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Playing Real-Time Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Outputting Real-time Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Remote Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Monitoring Remote Processing Jobs with the Avid DMS Broker . . 286
8
Chapter 7 Applying Image Transition Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Understanding Image Transition Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Applying a Dissolve Effect to a Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Applying a DVE Effect to a Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Understanding the Morph Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Applying a Morph Transition Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Creating Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Joining Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Creating Barrier Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Warping the Morph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Animating Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Tracking Morphed Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Setting the Rendering Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Applying a Picture-in-Picture Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Applying Wipe Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Chapter 8 Working with Time Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Understanding the Time Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Applying a 3:2 Contract Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Applying a 3:2 Expand Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Applying a Deinterlace Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Applying an Interlace Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Understanding the Timewarp Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Applying an Audio Timewarp Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Applying a Video Timewarp Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Chapter 9 Animating Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Workflow: Animating Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Creating Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Setting Keyframes Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Setting Keyframes Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Understanding the Animation Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Using the Animation Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Working with the Animation Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
9
Editing Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Editing Keyframes Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Editing Animation on the Animation Graph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Offsetting Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Copying Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Repeating Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Trimming Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Removing Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Processing Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Chapter 10 Mixing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Workflow: Mixing Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Working in Audio Container Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Audio Clips and Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Understanding the Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Changing the Mixer Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Using the Input Strips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Using the Output Strips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Using an External Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Mapping External Controls to Avid DS Nitris Commands. . . . . . . . 399
Creating a Command Mapping Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Loading a Command Mapping Set. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Building an Audio Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Creating Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Using the Surround Panner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Mixing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Fine-tuning the Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Adjusting the Mixer Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Adjusting the Mixer Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Animating the Audio Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Animating the Input Strip Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Bypassing the Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Editing the Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Deleting Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
10
Converting the Sample Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Converting Sequence Sample Rates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Converting Clip Sample Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Processing the Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Processing Clip-based Audio Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
Chapter 11 Working with Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Understanding Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Applying Crossfade Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Applying Dynamics Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Working with Equalizer (EQ) Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Applying the 3 Band Tone Control Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Applying the 4 Band Parametric EQ Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Applying the 10 Band Graphic EQ Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Applying Fade Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Applying a Gain Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Applying Reverb Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Applying a VST Host Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Chapter 12 Media Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Understanding Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Managing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Using the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Defragmenting Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Verifying Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Copying Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Moving Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Deleting Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Purging Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Example: Purging versus Deleting Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Archiving Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Creating a Device Preset Before Archiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Creating a Single Archive for a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Creating Multiple Archives of the Same Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
11
Restoring Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
Restoring a Complete Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Restoring Parts of a Project Archive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
Restoring a Project Archived on Multiple Tapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Moving Projects to Another Workstation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Deleting Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Deleting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Viewing Information about Storage Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
12
Using This Guide
Congratulations on your purchase of an Avid DS Nitris system. You can
use your system to create broadcast-quality output incorporating every
possible production element from full-speed, high-resolution footage, to
multimedia artwork and animation, to computer-generated effects and
titling.
n
The documentation describes the features and hardware of all models.
Therefore, your system might not contain certain features and hardware
that are covered in the documentation.
Who Should Use This Guide
This guide is intended for all Avid DS Nitris users, from beginning to
advanced who are interested in learning essential skills for assembling
programs of any length in the Avid nonlinear environment and finishing
high-end uncompressed, quality television programs and commercials.
This guide and the Help will be your primary learning tools for editing
procedures as you progress through early projects, and will remain your
principal source for procedures in the future.
This guide provides information on:
• Setting project configurations
• Setting sequence preferences
• Using the editing tools
• Managing your media files
Using This Guide
Symbols and Conventions
Unless noted otherwise, the material in this document applies to the
Windows XP operating system. Avid DS Nitris documentation uses the
following symbols and conventions:
Symbol or
Convention
Meaning or Action
n
c
w
> This symbol indicates menu commands (and subcommands)
t
Margin tips In the margin, you will find tips that help you perform tasks
Italic font Italic font is used to emphasize certain words and to indicate
Courier Bold
font
A note provides important related information, reminders,
recommendations, and strong suggestions.
A caution means that a specific action you take could cause
harm to your computer or cause you to lose data.
A warning describes an action that could cause you physical
harm. Follow the guidelines in this document or on the unit
itself when handling electrical equipment.
in the order you select them. For example, File > Import
means to open the File menu and then select the Import
command.
This symbol indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple
arrows in a list indicate that you perform one of the actions
listed.
more easily and efficiently.
variables.
Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.
14
Bold font Bold indicates a user interaction.
Using the Mouse, Pen, and Keyboard
In Avid DS Nitris, you can use a two-button mouse (with wheel) or a pen
and tablet. The left and right mouse buttons perform different operations.
Unless otherwise stated, use the left mouse button.
The mouse and pen operate slightly differently. All the procedures in this
guide are documented for the mouse. You can, however, easily use a pen
or the keyboard. The following table shows the terms relating to the
mouse, pen, and keyboard.
This Term Means This with a Mouse Means This with a Pen
Symbols and Conventions
Click Quickly click and release the
left mouse button. Always
use the left mouse button
unless otherwise stated.
Double-click Click the left mouse button
twice rapidly.
Right-click Quickly click and release the
right mouse button.
Drag Click and hold the left mouse
button or the wheel while you
move the mouse.
Alt+key,
Ctrl+key,
Shift+key,
etc.
Press and hold the first key while you press the second key. For
example, “Press Alt+F1” means to press and hold the Alt key
while you press the F1 key.
Tap the tablet once with the tip of
the pen, or touch the pen to the
tablet with enough pressure to
click.
Quickly tap the tablet twice in the
same screen pixel or press the F5
key to go from single to doubleclick.
Press the top portion of the switch
on the side of the pen or press the
F6 key to go from left to rightclick.
Press the pen to the tablet while
moving the pen.
15
Using This Guide
Customizing the Pen or Mouse
By customizing the pen, you can adjust the click pressure, switch
functions, and other features. For information on customizing the pen,
refer to the documentation provided with your Avid DS Nitris system.
You can also customize the mouse. For example, you can select
left-handed configuration or change the double-click speed. For
information on customizing the mouse, refer to the Windows online Help.
If You Need Help
If you are having trouble using Avid DS Nitris:
1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that task
in this guide. It is especially important to check each step of your
workflow.
2. Check for the latest information that might have become available
after the documentation was published in one of two locations:
- If release notes are available, they ship with your application.
- If ReadMe files are available, they are supplied in your Avid
application folder. ReadMe files are also available from Help.
3. Check the documentation that came with your Avid application or
your hardware for maintenance or hardware-related issues.
4. See “Avid DS Customer Support” on page 18.
5. For Technical Support, please call 800-800-AVID (800-800-2843).
For international enquiries and support services, contact your Avid
Reseller. Support offerings may vary per location.
Accessing the Online Documentation
The online library contains all the Avid DS Nitris documentation in PDF
format. If it was installed on your workstation, you can access it from the
Help menu in Avid DS Nitris.
n
16
You will need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® installed to view the
documentation online.
To access the online library, do one of the following:
t In Avid DS Nitris, select Help > Online Library.
t Insert the Drivers CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive, and select
Online Library from the main menu.
To install Adobe Acrobat Reader:
1. Insert the Drivers CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive.
2. Select the appropriate workstation and select Utilities.
If You Have Documentation Comments
We’d appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have about the
Avid DS Nitris documentation.
Please e-mail your documentation comments to:
dsdocs@avid.com
If You Need Help
Include the title of the document, its part number, and the specific section
you are commenting on in all correspondence.
How to Order Documentation
To order additional copies of this documentation from within the
United States, call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843). If you
are placing an order from outside the United States, contact your local
Avid representative.
Avid Educational Services
For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications,
courseware, and books, please visit www.avid.com/training or call
Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843).
17
Using This Guide
Avid DS Customer Support
The following sections describe various Avid DS Customer Support
options.
E-mail Support
The e-mail address for Avid DS Customer Support is:
dssupport@avid.com.
You can use it for sending bug reports, usability questions, and avidds.cab
audit reports for system analysis. All e-mails are logged in the support
database and assigned a case number. Send one support request per e-mail.
n
Web Support
FTP Support
It is mandatory that you include your SID number in the body of your
e-mail message for verification of your maintenance contract and case
logging, otherwise, response will be delayed.
The Avid DS Customer Support and Download sections at
http://www.softimage.com/avidds provide quick access to a wide range of
resources from the Avid DS teams and user community. Downloads,
including presets, drivers, and Quick Fix Engineering (QFE), provide the
latest solutions for use with your Avid DS Nitris system. Online
documentation, tutorials, and Knowledge Base articles ensure that you get
the most out of your work with Avid DS Nitris. It's like having a dedicated
Avid DS Customer Support engineer sitting at your desk!
For troubleshooting purposes, an FTP server is available for uploading
large files for Avid DS Customer Support personnel to examine. You can
upload a project's archive, media files, or other large piece of data. Simply
zip the files to upload and use a short name for easy retrieval, such as
archive.zip or Case274877.zip. You can use a Windows Command Prompt
or an FTP application to upload files to our server.
18
Avid DS Customer Support
Command Prompt Commands
Command Description
Site access ftp ftp.softimage.com [Enter]
Folder access cd incoming [Enter]
User name anonymous [Enter]
Password “your e-mail address” [Enter]
Transfer mode bin [Enter]
Upload command Put “path:\file name” [Enter]
Once the file upload is complete, send an e-mail to dssupport@avid.com
to inform Avid DS Customer Support as there is no automatic notification
when a file is uploaded on the FTP server. Please provide the complete and
exact file name (case sensitive) to retrieve.
Mailing List
Although the Avid DS mailing list is frequently monitored by Avid
employees, it is not part of the official support channels. You are invited to
send your support requests to any of the above channels when required.
If you have an e-mail account, you can join the worldwide network of
Avid DS users exchanging ideas. The mailing list has proven to be quite
useful for users, with a constant stream of new subscribers.
To subscribe, send an e-mail to majordomo@softimage.com with the
following text in the body of your message: subscribe ds. You can get
further information on using the automated list server by e-mailing
majordomo@softimage.com with “help” as your message.
You can also go to http://www.avid.com/support/forums.html, which is a
great source of information available on the Avid web site for Avid DS.
19
Using This Guide
20
Chapter 1
Working with Projects
This chapter describes how your project files and media are handled in
Avid DS Nitris. Since project organization plays a key part in the editing
process, you will learn how to create projects, and use the Avid Explorer to
organize your media into folders.
The following sections describe how to work with projects and media:
• Starting a Work Session
• Managing Files and Folders
• Working with Bins
• Viewing Events
Chapter 1 Working with Projects
Starting a Work Session
When you start Avid DS Nitris, the Open Project dialog box is displayed,
so that you can view and manage all projects anywhere on the network.
Each project has its own associated sequences. When you open a sequence,
you have access to all the master clips and custom presets in the project.
Projects contain
master clips,
sequences, and
any special presets
and/or scripts you
create.
Sequence files
contain information
about your edit
decisions, composites,
and any effects you’ve
applied to your clips.
Master clips are
representations of the
digitized media stored
on your disk array.
Master clips can be
shared between
sequences within the
same project.
22
n
By default, all projects created with Avid DS Nitris are stored in their own
folder under the DS Projects folder. It’s important that you keep all the files
related to a project inside the project folder, so that they can be archived,
restored, and/or purged.
If you’re running more than one version of Avid DS Nitris on your
workstation, new projects will be classified by version, and will be stored
in a subfolder of the \DS Projects folder. You can use the Scan Disk option
to change the project path folder, so that only the projects in a particular
version folder are displayed.
Starting a Work Session
To start Avid DS Nitris, do one of the following:
t Double-click the Avid DS Nitris icon on the Windows desktop.
t Click Start > Programs > Avi d P ro d uc t s > Avid DS Nitris v7.0 >
Avid DS Nitris v7.0.
n
Tip: If you selected the Load Last Sequence at Startup option in the User
Preferences dialog box and want to bypass this option, press Shift and
double-click the Avid DS Nitris shortcut on the desktop. This starts the
application and displays the Open Project dialog box from which you can
select a different project.
The Open Project dialog box is displayed.
You can now create or open an existing project or sequence.
Creating a New Project
When you first start Avid DS Nitris or when you want to start a new
project, you are prompted to name your project, designate a location for it,
and set the project’s preferences. Once you’ve done this, a project folder is
created at the specified location. By default, all sequences associated with
this project are saved in this folder.
23
Chapter 1 Working with Projects
To open a new project:
1. Do one of the following:
t From the Open Project dialog box, click the New Project button.
t Select File > New > Project.
Browse button
24
2. In the New Project dialog box, enter a unique name for your project in
the Project Name text box.
3. In the Location text box, type the path where you would like the
project files to reside. You can also use the browse (...) button to locate
the folder in which you want to save your project.
4. Set the appropriate preferences for your project.
Project preferences define the way your material is captured,
processed, and output by Avid DS Nitris. Once you set the project
preferences, they become the default settings for the sequences that
you create in this project.
For detailed information on setting these preferences, click the Help
button.
5. Click OK to save the project preferences.
The Editing layout is displayed for you to start building your sequence,
and the Avid Explorer displays your project as the favorite.
Opening an Existing Project
Once you’ve created a project, it is available to all other users in your
workgroup. Opening any sequence in the project gives you access to all
master clips and presets used in that project.
Starting a Work Session
To open an existing project on your workstation:
1. Select File > Open > Project.
The Open Project dialog box is displayed.
2. From the Select a Project list, select a project name.
3. From the Select a Sequence list, do one of the following:
t Click New DS Sequence and then click New Sequence.
t Double-click an existing sequence name.
t Select a sequence and click Open.
If you created a new sequence, the New Sequence dialog box is
displayed for you to set the sequence preferences—see “Setting
Sequence Preferences” on page 65.
A new or existing sequence is opened.
To open an existing project on another workstation:
1. Select File > Open > Project.
The Open Project dialog box is displayed.
25
Chapter 1 Working with Projects
2. From the Project List box, click Scan Disk.
The Scan Subdirectories for Projects dialog box is displayed.
3. Locate the \DS Projects folder on the network that contains the project
you want to open and click Select.
Avid DS Nitris searches through the selected folder and creates a
project list. You can now open any one of these projects and/or
sequences.
Setting User Preferences
You can work more efficiently by setting some personal preferences, such
as automatic saves, number of undo levels, animation preferences, and the
number of type of tracks to display when you open a new sequence. You
can also set editing preferences, such as pre-roll and post-roll frames.
After setting the preferences, they become part of your user profile under
your user name. The next time you start Avid DS Nitris, these preferences
are used.
26
c
Do not customize the fonts, windows scheme, or taskbar properties on
the Windows desktop or Avid DS Nitris may not function properly.
To open the User Preferences dialog box:
t Select File > User Preferences.
Starting a Work Session
For information about the User Preferences options, click the Help button.
Choosing a Scripting Language
Avid DS Nitris supports several popular scripting languages. To use a
scripting language with Avid DS Nitris, you must first install the scripting
engine for that language.
Although Avid DS Nitris logs commands in its History pane using
VBScript syntax, you can write and run scripts using any language that is
ActiveX-compliant. ActiveX is a technology for sharing data between
programs. Some ActiveX-compliant scripting languages include:
• ActivePerl
•JScript
• Python ActiveX Scripting
• VBScript (default)
27
Chapter 1 Working with Projects
To set a preferred scripting language:
1. From the User Preferences dialog box, select the Scripting/Logging
tab.
2. From the Scripting Language list, select your preferred scripting
language.
n
Setting Up the Command Log
No matter what language you’ve specified in your preferences,
Avid DS Nitris logs commands using the VBScript syntax.
The Scripting Language list contains the ActiveX scripting languages
whose engines are installed on your workstation. If you just installed an
engine and it’s not listed, restart Avid DS Nitris. If it still isn’t listed,
restart your computer.
Avid DS Nitris not only creates a command log in the History pane of the
Script Editor, but can also create a separate log file that is saved to disk for
each Avid DS Nitris session.
You have the option of setting a limit to the number of commands logged
in the History pane. You can also save a log file to disk, containing all
commands used in each Avid DS Nitris session.
To set the command log size:
1. From the User Preferences dialog box, select the Scripting/Logging
property page.
2. The number of commands kept in the History pane of the Script Editor
by default is 200. To modify this number, click in the Lines text box
and type a new number. To set no limit to the number, select the
Unlimited option.
28
To activate the log file:
1. On the Scripting/Logging property page, select the Log Commands to
File option to create a command log file.
A log file will be created the next time you start Avid DS Nitris.
Managing Files and Folders
2. To specify a location for the log file, type a path in the File Name
text box.
n
Avid DS Nitris overwrites the existing command log file each time you start
a new session. If you want to keep the log file, make sure you rename it
before starting Avid DS Nitris.
You can only use the logging and scripting tools to capture media.
Managing Files and Folders
After you start a project, you can organize your project files to suit your
project’s needs. When you work with files, folders, and the windows that
contain them, you are working in the Avid Explorer view.
Working with Avid Explorer
The Avid Explorer is a view that opens by default when you start a project.
By using the Avid Explorer, you can
• Navigate and view the entire contents of your workstation
• Organize a project’s clips, sequences, and effects in a tree structure of
folders.
• Capture from file and import clips from other projects
Any files or applications that you can open on your Windows desktop you
can also open in the Avid Explorer. For example, imagine that you are
working on a commercial and the producer sends you a Microsoft
document that lists the latest changes. You can open the document within
the Avid Explorer and refer to it while you are editing, without needing to
switch back and forth between application windows. You can also open
files associated with your Web browser through the Avid DS Nitris Web
viewer.
When you select a folder, the folder’s contents are displayed in a bin.
®
Word
29
Chapter 1 Working with Projects
To access the Avid Explorer:
t From the view switcher, click the Avid Explorer (Main) button.
Avid Explorer tools
Panel 1
Panel 2
Bins
30
n
You can include the Avid Explorer as a single-instance view or a multiinstance view in any views that you create.
Loading...