Pinnacle Systems DS Nitris - 7.6 User Manual

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Avid® DS Nitris

Compositing and Effects Guide

Version 7.6

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Avid

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.

The 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.

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Footage

Saturn “Calvin Egg” — Courtesy of Cossette Communications.

GOT FOOTAGE?

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Avid DS Nitris Compositing and Effects Guide • 0130-05576-02A • February 2005

Using This Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Mouse, Pen, and Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Customizing the Pen or Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Avid DS Customer Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

E-mail Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Web Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Upload Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Avid Community Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

How to Order Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Avid Educational Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chapter 1 Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Quick Recap: Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Using the Effects Tree to Composite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Relationship within the Compositing Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Working with the Layers View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Adding Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Reordering Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Renaming Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Scrolling Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Navigating Through Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Loading a Layer Effect in the Layers View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Animating Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Animating the Order of Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Adjusting the Opacity of a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Animating the Transparency of a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Removing Layers and External Mattes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Working with Mattes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Using Clips with Internal Mattes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Using Clips without Mattes in the Alpha Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Creating a Matte by Using a Keyer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Using the Shapes Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Creating a Matte on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Creating a Matte on a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Viewing Mattes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Using External Mattes in the Timeline and Layers View . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Using Matte Containers on the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Using External Mattes on Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Combining Mattes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Working with Masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Applying Channel or Pixel Masking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Using Alpha and Luma as Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Applying Blending Operations in the Layers View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Compositing with Premultiplied Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

The Science behind Premultiplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Importing Source Files with an Alpha Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Setting the Premultiplication Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Changing the Premultiplication Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Applying the Premultiplication Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Automatic Changes to the Premultiplication Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Compositing Clips over a Black Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Unpremultiplying with Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Working with Layered Photoshop Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Photoshop Layer Notes and Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Using Photoshop Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Deleting Imported Photoshop Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Processing Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Processing Layered Clips on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Processing Effect Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Applying Effects Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Applying an Effects Tree on a Clip or Track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Applying an Effects Tree as a Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Converting a Stack of Effects to an Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Applying an Effects Tree on a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Opening the Effects Tree View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Working with the Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Adding Effect Nodes to a Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Adding Clips to the Effects Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Adding or Removing Inputs To and From an Effect Node . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Connecting Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Disconnecting Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Selecting Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Collapsing and Expanding Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Removing Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Editing an Effect Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Viewing and Bypassing Nodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Folding Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Attracting or Repelling Nodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Organizing Nodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Renaming Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Renaming Input Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Displaying Tooltips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Zooming the Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Using the Birds Eye View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Saving and Loading Trees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Saving an Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Loading an Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Using the Effects Tree to Composite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Using External Mattes in the Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Compositing Two Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Compositing Multiple Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Uncompositing Foreground from the Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Combining Separate RGB and Alpha Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Unpremultiplying with Color in the Effects Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Compositing Multiple Mattes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Applying Blending Operations in the Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Mapping Luminance Variations between Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Chapter 3 Keying. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

About Keying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Using the Blue-Green Keyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Creating a Basic Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Fine-tuning the Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Creating a Spill Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Spill Subtraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Applying a Spill Subtract on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Applying a Spill Subtract in the Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Using the Chroma Keyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Creating a Basic Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Fine-tuning the Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating a Spill Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Using the Difference Keyer Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Applying the Difference Keyer on Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Applying the Difference Keyer to an Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Fine-tuning the Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Using the HSL Keyer Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Creating a Basic Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Fine-tuning the Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Using the Linear Luma Keyer Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Creating a Basic Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Fine-tuning the Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Using the Luma Keyer Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Creating a Basic Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Fine-tuning the Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Chapter 4 Color Correcting Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Setting Up the Color Correction Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Workflow: Color Correcting Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Color Correction in Avid DS Nitris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Working with Source Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Applying and Editing Tape Source Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Using the Tape Tool to Apply Source Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Using the Avid Explorer to Apply Source Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Applying Tape Source Effects on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Applying Tape Source Effects in the Effects Layout . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Editing Masterclip and Subclip Source Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Editing Masterclip Source Effects in the Effects Layout . . . . . . . . 162

Removing Source Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Loading Source Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Applying a Color Correction Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Setting the Color Correction Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Analyzing Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Analyzing Images using Histograms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Setting Black and White Points of an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Displaying Pixel Information in the Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Setting the Black and White Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Color Correcting Tonal Ranges in Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Working with the HSL Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Hue and Saturation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Gain, Brightness, Setup, and Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Gamma Corrections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Using Levels to Correct Tonal Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Input and Output Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Working with the Composite and Luma Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Linearizing Film-Based Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Working with LUTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Exporting LUTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Loading LUTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Linearizing Log-based Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

About Softclipping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Color Correcting a Dark Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Color Correction by Matching Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Using the Match Color Chip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

The Natural Match Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Correcting Inaccurate or Deficient Color Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Channel Blending Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Adjusting Curves to Color Correct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Setting Legal Luma, Chroma, and RGB Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Returning to Default Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Animating with the Color Correction Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Chapter 5 Transforming Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Applying a DVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Applying a DVE to a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Locking DVEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Transforming an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Translating an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Scaling an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Rotating an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Cropping an Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Transformation in Layers View and Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Applying a Global DVE in the Layers View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Transform Trees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

What are Transform Nodes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

What are Rasterization Effect Nodes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

What is the Difference between Local and Global Inputs? . . . . . . 213

Working with Transform Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Visualization of Sequential DVE Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Globally Transforming Multiple Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Multi-Level Global DVE in the Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Common Transformation Around a Local Axis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Corner Pinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Working with Motion Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Creating a Motion Path. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Editing a Motion Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Changing the Speed of the Motion Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Previewing an Animated DVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Chapter 6 Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Motion Tracking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Choosing a Tracking Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Stabilizing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Using the Trackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Using Multiple Trackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Selecting a Suitable Reference Point for Tracking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Setting the Search Region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Tracking Composited Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Using the Tracker in the Layers View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Using the Tracker in an Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Positioning the Reference Tracker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Positioning the Layer Tracker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Starting the Tracking Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Cropping Unwanted Parts of Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Combining Tracking with Other DVEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Tracking Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Using the Shape Tracker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Tracking a Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Tracking Control Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Setting an Offset for the Tracker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Correcting Tracker Errors when Tracking Shapes Objects . . . . . . . . . 257

Stabilizing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Using the Stabilizer in the Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Using the Stabilizer in the Layers View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

4-Point Corner Pinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Tracking Difficult Shots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Offsetting the Tracker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Correcting Tracker Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Chapter 7 Painting and 2D Titling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Workflow: Painting and 2D Titling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Applying Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Setting the Working Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Applying Graphics on the Video or Background Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Applying Graphics as a Source-Generated Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Applying Graphics on the Timeline Effect Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Applying Graphics on a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Applying Graphics in an Effects Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Using Presets in Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Loading and Saving Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Using Stroke, Text, or Group Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Setting Drawing Tool Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Setting the Paint Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Setting Brush Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Creating Custom Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Setting the Titling Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Setting the Font Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Setting the Masks Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Setting the Time Span Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Defining Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Working with Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Checking the Premultiplication Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Wireframe Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Wireframe Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Drawing Polylines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Drawing Freehand Strokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Using the Express Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Drawing Rectangles and Ellipses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Filling Shapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Using the Magic Wand Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Selecting Graphics Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Grouping Graphics Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Regrouping Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Selecting Objects in a Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Cutting and Pasting Objects in a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Locking Graphics Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Hiding Graphics Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Hiding Bounding Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Creating Clusters of Graphics Objects and Vertices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Aligning Graphics Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Editing the Shape of a Stroke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Selecting Control Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Breaking and Unifying Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Combining and Separating Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Morphing Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Changing the Slope of a Curve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Changing the Direction of a Stroke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Reshaping a Stroke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Chopping Control Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Moving a Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Scaling, Rotating, and Skewing a Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Stretching a Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Changing the Opacity of a Stroke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Working with Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Using Text from Other Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Importing HTML Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Selecting and Editing Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Aligning Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Converting Text to Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Searching for Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Creating Rolls and Crawls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Creating a Fade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Creating Handwritten and Type-On Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Manipulating Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Editing Graphics Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Copying and Pasting Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Duplicating Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Deleting Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Changing the Order of Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Transforming Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Moving Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Scaling Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Rotating Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Skewing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Setting the Transformation Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Tracking Graphics Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Transformation Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Tracking Vertices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Working in Raster Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Raster Mode Caches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Using the GOV in Raster Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Creating Mattes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Creating a Travelling Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Scratch Removal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Blending Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Blending Graphics Objects or Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Importing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Importing Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Importing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Importing Subtitles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

The DS Subtitles File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

The Header Section of the DS Subtitles File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

The Subtitles Section of the DS Subtitles File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Examples of DS Subtitles Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Processing Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Chapter 8 Paint Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Clone Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Color Blend Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Setting the Opacity of a Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Defining Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Picking a Color from an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Loading and Saving a Color Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Cutout Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Using the Cutout Effect in a Stack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Comparing the Cutout and Clone Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Dodge and Burn Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Noise Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Paper Grain Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Reveal Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Stack Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Chapter 9 3D DVE and 3D Titling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Workflow: Creating 3D DVEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Workflow: 3D Titling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Working in the 3D World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Three-Dimensional Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

XYZ Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

XYZ Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

XZ, XY, YZ Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Global and Local Coordinate Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Setting Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Using a Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Working in Direct View Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Suspending Output to the Output Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Displaying Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Showing the Safe Action/Title Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Showing Construction Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Showing the Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Showing Objects Viewable Within the Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Working in Wireframe Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Rendering Objects as a Wireframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Setting the Viewer Quality Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Working with the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Viewing Through the Alternate Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Snapping the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Viewing a Scene from Different Angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Manipulating the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Resetting the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Setting the Camera Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Defining the Camera Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Setting the Clipping Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Selecting a Projection Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Setting the Field of View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

About Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

About Drawing Tool Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Manipulating Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Selecting and Deselecting Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Moving Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Locking and Unlocking Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Reordering Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Positioning Objects at Specific Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Aligning Objects Relative to Each Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Grouping and Ungrouping Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Showing and Hiding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Changing the Visibility of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Modifying Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Adjusting the Anchor Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Scaling Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Resizing Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Rotating Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Renaming Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

Setting the Time Span . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Working with 3D DVEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Creating DVEs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Simulating a Textured Surface Using a Displacement Map . . . . . . . . 424

Applying Profile Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Extruding an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Blurring Moving Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Working with Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Creating Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Creating Squares and Rectangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Creating Circles and Ovals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Creating Polylines and Curved Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Editing Shapes and Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Selecting and Deselecting Control Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Editing a Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Opening and Closing Shapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Filling Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Removing Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Working with Compound Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Creating and Separating Compound Shapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Combining Shapes within a Compound Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Reversing the Direction of a Shape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Working with Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Creating a Text Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Using Special or Unicode Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Determining a Character’s Unicode Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Entering Special and Unicode Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Importing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Text Overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Placing the Insertion Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Resizing a Text Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Selecting and Deselecting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Editing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Formatting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Changing Fonts and Font Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Changing the Direction of Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Aligning Text into Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Adding a Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Removing a Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Changing a Column’s Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Setting All Columns to the Same Width. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Changing a Column’s Text Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Adjusting the Kerning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Adjusting the Leading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Adjusting the Paragraph Spacing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Adjusting the Text Margins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Controlling Rolling, Crawling, and Path Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Creating Rolling or Crawling Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Controlling Crawling Speed and Direction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

Clipping Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Placing and Moving Text on a Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Creating and Deleting a Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Adding Text to a Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458

Removing Text from a Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Positioning Text on a Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Orienting Text on a Path. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Controlling Object Properties Based on Path Position . . . . . . . . . 461

Working with Surfaces and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Applying Materials to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Using a Custom Material for an Object’s Surface. . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Skipping the Drawing of the Back Faces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Editing Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Changing the Type of Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Changing a Material’s Base Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Changing a Material’s Opacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Allowing Material to be Affected by Light Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Adjusting the Specular Highlight Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

Adjusting the Emissive Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

Adjusting the Shininess of a Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Simulating a Reflective Surface Using an Environment Map . . . . 469

Controlling the Appearance of Overlapping Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Positioning and Tiling a Texture on a Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Scaling a Texture on a Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Cropping a Texture on a Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Rotating a Texture on a Surface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Controlling How a Texture is Mapped onto a Surface . . . . . . . . . 474

Tinting a Texture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Working with Lights and Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Adding, Moving, and Deleting Light Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

Editing Light Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Turning Light Sources On or Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Changing the Light Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Using Colored Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Changing the Intensity of a Light Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Positioning a Light Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

Adjusting Spot Light Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

Identifying Light Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Adding Shadows to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Showing and Hiding Object Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Changing a Shadow’s Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Changing a Shadow’s Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Using Shadows to Simulate Glows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Importing and Exporting Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Working with Decks and Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Deleting Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Moving between Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Adding Objects to a Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Editing Objects within a Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Resizing a Deck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Setting the Output Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Dampening Jittery Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Chapter 10 Image Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

3D Warp Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Generating a 3D Warp Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Loading a New 3D Warp Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Creating 3D Warp Effects in SOFTIMAGE|3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Template-grid.1-0.dsc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Template-lights.1-0.dsc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Tutorial-grid.1-0.dsc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Linking the Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Using the Grid Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Using the Light Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

Editing the Model Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

Saving Your 3D Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

AVX Host Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

Channel Switcher Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

Color Space Adjustment Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Defield Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Deflicker Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Depth of Field Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Drop Shadow Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Field Invert Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

Fog Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

Frame Average Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Graphics Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

Creating Rolls and Crawls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

Creating a Fade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Optical Glow Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Outsource Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

Source Generator Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Warp Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

Creating Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Joining Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Creating Barrier Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538

Animating Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Tracking Warped Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Setting the Rendering Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

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.

This guide contains all the task-oriented instructions, conceptual information, and reference material you need to use the effects and compositing features of your system.

This guide is intended for all Avid DS Nitris users, from beginning to advanced.

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.

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

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.

Using This Guide

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

> This symbol indicates menu commands (and

subcommands) in the order you select them. For example, File > Import means to open the File menu and then select the Import command.

Margin tips

Italic font Italic font is used to emphasize certain words and to

Courier Bold font

Bold font Bold indicates a user interaction.

Ctrl+key or mouse action Press and hold the first key while you press the last

Mouse, Pen, and Keyboard

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 symbol indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple arrows in a list indicate that you perform one of the actions listed.

In the margin, you will find tips that help you perform tasks more easily and efficiently.

indicate variables.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

key or perform the mouse action. For example, Shift+Alt+C or Ctrl+drag.

This Term Means This with a Mouse Means This with a Pen

Click Quickly click and release the

left mouse button. Always use the left mouse button unless otherwise stated.

Tap the tablet once with the tip of the pen, or touch the pen to the tablet with enough pressure to click.

If You Need Help

This Term Means This with a Mouse Means This with a Pen

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.

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.

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 right-click.

Press the pen to the tablet while moving the pen.

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.

Using This Guide

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 24.

5. For Technical Support, please call 800-800-AVID (800-800-2843).

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.

Web Support

Upload Utility

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 Support Center at http://www.softimage.com/avidds provides 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 system. Online documentation, tutorials, and Knowledge Base articles ensure that you get the most out of your work with Avid DS. It's like having a dedicated Avid DS Customer Support engineer sitting at your desk!

For troubleshooting purposes, you can upload your files for Avid DS Customer Support personnel to examine. You can upload a project's archive, media files, or other necessary data. Simply zip the files that you need to upload and use a short name (for easy retrieval), such as archive.zip or Case274877.zip.

To upload your files:

1. Go to the Avid web site at http://www.softimage.com/avidds.

2. Select Contact > Upload Tool.

3. 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.

Avid Community Forum

Although the Avid DS community forum 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, and there is 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.

How to Order Documentation

You can also join other Avid forums on the Avid web site at http://www.avid.com. Select Support > Forums.

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.

Using This Guide

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).

Chapter 1

Compositing

The Compositing chapter of the Avid DS Nitris Getting Started Guide introduces you to the basics of compositing, compositing methods, and the compositing layout. It also covers basic compositing concepts such as the composite container clip and layer effects. It is important that you read and understand the Compositing chapter of the Avid DS Nitris Getting Started Guide and complete the provided tutorials before working on the procedures in this chapter.

This chapter introduces the Effects Tree as a compositing method and covers advanced compositing topics such as premultiplication, working with Photoshop files, and processing.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Quick Recap: Compositing

Here is a quick recapitulation of the Compositing chapter of the Avid DS Nitris Getting Started Guide. Below are answers to basic questions, which you

should know by now, that will help you understand the material presented in this chapter.

Question Answer

What is Compositing? The layering of two or more images together to form one new integrated image.

What is a matte? A grayscale image that defines the transparency of an image when it is

composited over another. It lets you isolate and protect specific parts of the image while compositing.

What is the difference between an internal matte and an external matte?

What is a composite container clip?

What is the Layers view? The Layers view is part of the Compositing layout. It displays the content of the

What are the 4 effects that you can apply to a layer?

What is the result area? The result area is the part of the Layers view that displays the final composite of

An internal matte is part of the image that is stored in the alpha channel. An external matte can either be created from scratch by using an effect such as the keyer, provided as a separate clip, or come from another image. For more information, see “Working with Mattes” on page 39.

A clip on the timeline that lets you layer video clips. An opened container clip displays the video clips on multiple tracks and the result is a single clip on the top timeline of the Editing layout. You can apply effects on individual clips inside the container or on the entire composite container clip.

Remember that when compositing with layers, you are working within a composite container clip as soon as you switch to the Compositing layout.

composite container clip in a layer format and lets you reorder layers, animate, add effects, and apply blending operations. For more information, see “Working with the Layers View” on page 32.

• Color Correction

•DV

• Graphics

•Keyer

all layers both for RGB and alpha channels.

Using the Effects Tree to Composite

In the Avid DS Nitris Getting Started Guide you learned about two methods of compositing.

• Simple track compositing which lets you composite in the Editing layout by adding video tracks to the timeline and placing clips on the video tracks. An advantage of using this method is that when compositing you can see your clips in context of the timeline.

• Compositing using layers which lets you work in the Compositing layout with composite container clips and the Layers view. The Layers view has a great advantage in that it provides a visual interface when layering your clips. It is also useful when importing Photoshop files as each “Photoshop” layer occupies its own layer in the Layers view as a linked image file in Avid DS Nitris. For more information, see “Working with Layered Photoshop Images” on page 65 and “Working with the Layers View” on page 32.

The third method is compositing with the Effects Tree. The Effects Tree in the Compositing layout is a powerful tool that lets you create and manage complex multi-layered effects and composites.

It shows the relationship between effects and images in a pictorial format. It is made up of nodes: the graphical representation of the input images, and the resulting output. Nodes are joined by connectors, which connect input and output ports.

Port

Output nodeEffects nodesInput node Connector

• Input nodes represent the source image from a track in the Layers view or from a clip and its effects on the timeline.

• Effects nodes represent each effect applied or added to the Effects Tree. Each effect node reads an input image, processes the image, and gives a specific output image as the result.

• Output nodes represent the output image of the Effects Tree. The result of all the nodes is fed to the output node which is displayed in the viewer.

Chapter 1 Compositing

You can build and apply an Effects Tree to a clip, track, layer, or as a transition. Each method has its advantages. For more information. see “Using Effects Trees” on page 73.

There are a number of advantages for using the Effects Tree:

• You can have complex interactions between layers

• Ability to add multi-input effects. You can apply any combination of image effects in the Effects Tree.

• You can reuse the treatment of an element repeatedly within a composite

• You can apply blending operations by using the Composite node—see “Applying Blending Operations in the Effects Tree” on page 111.

Tip: To work more quickly in the Effects Tree, use the keyboard shortcuts. Select Help > Keyboard Shortcuts. You can also set the default preferences for your Effects Tree in the User Preferences dialog box. Select File > User Preferences (Effects Tree property page).

For more information, see “Using Effects Trees” on page 73.

Relationship within the Compositing Layout

It is important that you understand the relationship between the different elements of the Compositing layout in order to work efficiently without getting lost within the layout.

It is made up of 3 significant parts that interact with each other:

• The composite container timeline

• The Layers view

•The Effects Tree

The result area and the viewer displays the final composite of all your layers and Effects Trees

The order the images appear in the Layers view corresponds to the order of the images on the timeline of the composite container

Relationship within the Compositing Layout

You can build an Effects Tree per layer letting you combine multiple images on one layer, which serves as the input to the layer above it.

Adding layers to the Layers view adds a new track on the timeline, but not in the Effects Tree and vice versa. Similarly, adding an image as input in the Effects tree adds a new track on the timeline. For more information, see “Adding Layers” on page 32 and “Adding or Removing Inputs To and From an Effect Node” on page 81.

Adding an image to the Layers view or to the Effects Tree as input, adds a new track in the timeline of the composite container

Chapter 1 Compositing

Working with the Layers View

In the Layers view, you can work with video images independently of each other. For example, you can animate, track, apply effects, or apply opacity per layer.

For more information on the Effects Tree, see “Working with the Effects Tree” on page 79.

Adding Layers

When you create a composite container clip for compositing, the clips that you select are automatically added as layers in the Layers view. You can create additional layers by placing clips on new tracks on the timeline.

To add layers, do one of the following:

t Drag a clip from a bin to the Layers view.

The clip forms a new layer in the composite and is placed on a track. Any other clips that you add to this track on the timeline are also part of that layer.

t From a bin, drag a clip to the timeline ribbon of the timeline.

Timeline ribbon

The track forms a new layer in the composite. Any other clips that you add to this track on the timeline are also part of that layer.

If you don’t want to immediately add a clip to a layer, right-click while dragging a clip from a bin to the timeline ribbon. This will create a track on the timeline. This is especially useful if you want to create mattes on the timeline and assign them later as external mattes to layers in the Layers view.

Reordering Layers

Layers are composited from the bottom to the top. You can change the order of the layers at any time during the compositing session. You can also change the resulting matte by reordering the external mattes of a layer.

To reorder layers, do one of the following:

t Drag the Layer button to a new position on the Layers view.

Working with the Layers View

Layer button

Renaming Layers

t Right-click a layer and select one of the following:

- First to move the matte to the left most position.

- Left to move the matte one position to the left.

- Right to move the matte one position to the right.

- Last to move the matte to the right most position.

If you don't want to animate layers when you reorder them, deselect the Autokey button before changing the order of your layers.

Layers and tracks are named according to the name of the first clip on the track. Layers are also named consecutively as you add them, beginning with L1 (layer). Each layer RGB thumbnail contains the name of the layer, as well as the name of its corresponding track on the timeline.

As you add tracks or layers, you can rename them. If you rename a track, its new name will also be updated in the Layer RGB thumbnail.

Although the track name is displayed in the Layer RGB thumbnail, you can only rename it from the Track or Layer Name property editors. For more information, see “Changing Track Properties” on page 772 of the Avid DS Nitris Editing Guide.

ayer name

Track name

Chapter 1 Compositing

Scrolling Layers

To rename a layer:

1. Right-click an empty area of a layer and select Layer Name.

2. In the Layer Name dialog box, type a new name, and click OK.

As you add more layers to your composite, the layers at the bottom of the timeline scroll off the bottom of the Layers view. Similarly, as you add more matte functions to a layer, they scroll to the right or left of the screen. You can scroll the layers vertically and horizontally to display any layers or mattes that may be hidden from view.

Horizontal scroll barVertical scroll bar

To scroll layers vertically:

1. Click the textured gray area (vertical scroll bar) to the left of the layer controls.

2. When the hand button appears, drag up or down to view additional layers.

To scroll layers horizontally:

1. Click the textured gray area (horizontal scroll bar) above the view switcher.

2. When the hand button appears, drag left or right to view additional mattes on the layer.

Navigating Through Layers

When working with multiple layers in the Layers view, you can navigate through the layers. This is handy when you have an Effects Tree per layer that you want to edit.

To navigate through layers:

1. Click a layer in the Layers view.

2. Do one of the following:

t Shift + Right Arrow (>) to move to the next layer.

t Shift + Left Arrow (<) to move to the previous layer.

Loading a Layer Effect in the Layers View

When working in the Layers view, you can replace the Key effect by loading an effect from the Keyer property editor.

To load a new layer effect:

1. Click a layer in the Layers view.

2. Click the Key effect.

Working with the Layers View

3. In the Blue-Green Keyer property editor, click the Load Preset button.

4. In the Load Preset dialog box, select an effect and click OK.

The Key effect in the Layers view is replaced with the loaded effect. The Key button is also replaced with an Fx button.

5. Click the layer effect button to edit the properties of the effect.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Animating Layers

When compositing clips in a container clip, you can animate the order of the layers in the composite, as well as the transparency of each layer. Once the animation is created, you can process the clip to view the animated frames in real time.

You can adjust the animated properties or remove the animation at any time, and animate the process of creating animation using the Autokey button. For more information, see “Editing Animation” on page 1049 and “Setting Keyframes Automatically” on page 1022 of the Avid DS Nitris Editing Guide.

Animating the Order of Layers

The Autokey button at the bottom of the Layers view lets you change the order of the layers over time. When the layer ordering has been animated, this button turns red.

To animate the order or appearance of the layers:

1. Use the transport controls to advance the clip to a frame in which you want the animation to begin.

2. Reorder your layers by dragging the track button of a layer to a new position.

3. Click the Autokey button at the bottom of the Layers view to set a keyframe.

When a keyframe is set, the Autokey button turns red. If the position indicator is on a frame that is not a keyframe, the button turns green.

4. Advance to the next frame in which you want to change the layer order and change the layer’s order.

Once an initial keyframe has been set, you no longer need to click the Autokey button as keyframes are created automatically when you change the layer’s order (simulating Autokey behavior).

5. Continue adding as many keyframes as needed.

Adjusting the Opacity of a Layer

There are two ways available for adjusting the opacity of a layer: Opacity, the default, which is applied before a composite and Mix, which is applied after the composite. Right-click the Layer menu and select either option. For more information, see “Layer Menu” in the Help.

Use the opacity controls to decrease or increase the opacity of a layer to make it more or less transparent when composited over other layers.

To adjust the opacity:

1. Do one of the following:

t Drag the opacity slider up or down.

t Click in the Opacity Level indicator, type a value and press Enter.

Opacity level

Working with the Layers View

Opacity slider

2. Select the check box to the left of the Opacity Level indicator to apply the opacity to a layer.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Animating the Transparency of a Layer

The Autokey button at the bottom of the Layers view lets you animate the transparency levels of a matte over time. When a layer has been animated, this button turns red.

To animate the transparency of a layer:

1. Use the transport controls to advance the clip to a frame in which you want the animation to begin.

2. Click the Autokey button at the bottom of the Layers view to set a keyframe.

When a keyframe is set, the Autokey button turns red. If the position indicator is on a frame that is not a keyframe, the button turns green.

3. Adjust the opacity control on one or more of the layers by moving the slider or entering a value in the Opacity text box.

4. Click the Autokey button again.

Depending on the accuracy you need, you can move frame by frame or set larger intervals between animated points.

You can also adjust the opacity of a layer in the Effects Tree using the Composite effect node. For more information, see “Compositing Two Layers” on page 100.

Removing Layers and External Mattes

If you want to remove a layer from the composite, you can easily delete it from the Layers view without deleting the clips on the tracks. You can also remove any external mattes that you no longer want, but you cannot remove the original matte.

To remove a layer from the composite:

t On the Layers view, right-click a layer and select Remove Layer.

To remove external mattes:

t Right-click the external matte of a layer and select Delete.

The external matte is removed from the layer.

Working with Mattes

The information in each pixel of an image is comprised of four channels (or components): R, G, B, and A (the alpha channel). When compositing, the alpha channel is very important. It specifies the transparency of each pixel, allowing portions of the foreground image to reveal or block out the background image when two images are overlaid.

There are three instances:

• The clip already has a matte in its alpha channel which is preserved when capturing.

• The clip does not have a matte and in order to use it for compositing you are required to create one in its alpha channel.

• You are provided with a matte clip to use for compositing. This clip is known as an external matte.

Using Clips with Internal Mattes

Working with Mattes

When you capture material, you can preserve the clip’s matte in the alpha channel and immediately use it for compositing.

In the example shown here, the simple compositing method has been used to layer two video tracks in the Editing layout. The video track that is being used as the foreground in the composite has a clip with an internal matte.

Clip with matte in alpha channel.

Video track used as the foreground

Video track used as the background

The result in the viewer. The composite is possible because the overlaid clip contains a matte in its alpha channel.

Chapter 1 Compositing

When compositing using the video tracks in the Editing layout (simple track compositing) and you apply a DVE or Picture-in-Picture effect to a clip, a matte is automatically created using the parameters you specify in the DVE property editor.

DVE ef fect

Foreground video track

Once you create the composite, you can enhance it by adding effects, such as color correction, blurs, graphics, and so on.

On video tracks, you cannot apply a Matte Composite operation with external mattes nor can you adjust the transparency or animate the order of the layers. If you need to perform any of these tasks, build your composite within a composite container clip. For more information, see “Using Composite Container Clips” on page 283 of the Avid DS Nitris Getting Started.

Using Clips without Mattes in the Alpha Channel

Every foreground clip must have a matte in its alpha channel to form a composite. When you import or capture clips in Avid DS Nitris, each clip will have an alpha channel. If the captured clip does not have a matte in its alpha channel, you must create one using a number of effects such as the keyer, matte, or graphics effect, in order to use it in a composite.

Clips that do not have a matte will have a full (white) alpha channel when you view the alpha channel. For more information, see “Viewing Mattes” on page 43.

You can create a matte on the timeline or the Layers view.

Creating a Matte by Using a Keyer

Keying creates a matte by keying a matte on the foreground clip based on the RGB, HSL, or YCbCr color values. You can then composite the foreground clip over a background clip, as shown here:

Blue-Green keyer effect.

Video track with

foreground clip

Video track with background clip

For more information, see “Keying” on page 117.

Using the Shapes Tools

Working with Mattes

The result in the viewer

Foreground clip

By using the shapes tools in the Matte effect property editor, you can create mattes on material that do not have mattes. You can also further use it to cleanup the alpha channel of a matte.

Foreground clip with a matte effect

Resulting composite

Background clip

Matte created with the shapes tool

Chapter 1 Compositing

To use the shapes tool to create a matte:

1. Apply a matte effect to the clip.

2. Select the Shapes tab.

3. In the Shapes Creations, select a tool.

4. Draw the shape.

5. To view the matte that you created, right-click the viewer and select Alpha Component > Matte.

The layer’s matte is displayed as a grayscale image.

For more information, see “Creating Mattes” on page 351.

Creating a Matte on the Timeline

When you want to composite an image on a video track and the image does not have a matte in its alpha channel, you can create one using a keyer, matte, or graphics effect.

To create a matte on the timeline:

1. Right-click a clip and select Add Clip Effect.

2. From the Load Preset dialog box, select a keyer, the Matte effect, or the Graphics effect.

t Keyer effects such as the Luminance or Chroma keyers extract the

alpha component based on the luminance or color thresholds in an image—see “About Keying” on page 117.

t The Matte effect lets you touch up an existing matte, or create one

from scratch—see “Matte Effect” in the Help.

t The Graphics effect lets you create your own matte—see “Painting

and 2D Titling” on page 271.

3. To view the matte that you created, right-click the viewer and select Alpha Component > Matte.

The layer’s matte is displayed as a grayscale image.

Creating a Matte on a Layer

You can create use the Layers view to create mattes on each layer which are combine to produce a final composite. You can further use the matte blending operations, see “Applying Blending Operations in the Layers View” on page 52.

To create a matte on a layer:

1. On a layer in the Layers view, click the Key button.

The Blue-Green Keyer property editor is displayed by default.

Working with Mattes

Viewing Mattes

Tip: To load a different keyer, click the Load Preset button and select a different keyer from the \Keyer folder.

2. Create your matte by keying out specific luminance or chrominance values.

The matte is displayed in the Layer Alpha thumbnail.

Layer Alpha thumbnail

Key button on the layer

A checkmark beside the Key button indicates that the key is activated. When the key is deselected, it is not used in the overall composite until you select it again.

While creating your matte, it is a good idea to view the matte from time to time.

To view the matte, do one of the following:

t In the Viewer tools, click the Viewer Alpha (Full) button.

t Right-click the viewer and select Alpha Component > Matte.

t When using any keyer effect, go to the Key property page and select the

Output Matte option.

The layer’s matte is displayed as a grayscale image.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Tip: You can also combine mattes and change how layers are composited using blend and matte operations. For more information, see“Applying Blending Operations in the Layers View” on page 52

Using External Mattes in the Timeline and Layers View

An external matte is a matte taken from one clip and applied to another.

External mattes may already exist with a clip or you can create one by adding a keyer effect on the clip. You can also use the alpha or RGB component of another clip as the external matte. In the example for “Using the Shapes Tools” on page 41, the matte created can be applied to another clip as an external matte. Sometimes, you may be provided with a matte clip that you use for compositing.

There are three methods for adding external mattes: using matte containers, using the Layers view, and using the Effects Tree. For the Effects Tree method, see “Using External Mattes in the Effects Tree” on page 98.

RGB clip

without a matte

Background clip

External matte clip

Using Matte Containers on the Timeline

The greatest advantage of using this method is that you can work entirely in the Editing layout.

The matte container lets you layer video clips on two fixed tracks: the Fill and Matte tracks. It allows you to combine separate RGB channels of an image with an alpha channel that was created from channels of another image.

Composite result

Working with Mattes

It has the following properties:

• The two tracks labeled Fill and Matte are fixed

• Tracks cannot be added or deleted

• Although the tracks can be renamed and recorded, they way they are connected cannot be changed

• Matte containers are real-time and hardware real-time

• Like the composite container, when it is closed, the result is displayed as a single clip on the top timeline.

To add an external matte using the matte container:

1. Right-click a clip in the Avid Explorer that you want to use as the background and drag it to a video track in the timeline.

2. Create another video track.

3. Right-click the clip without a matte in its alpha channel that you want use as the foreground to the second video track.

4. Create a matte composite using one of the following methods:

t Right-click the clip that you want to use in the matte container and

select Create Matte Container.

t Click the Container button in the Toolbar and select Matte

Container

You can only create a matte container from a single clip selection.

5. Click the Viewer Alpha (Full) button to see the alpha channel of the clip.

Notice that there is not matte on the alpha.

6. Right-click the external matte clip in the Avid Explorer and drag it to the Matte track of the matte container.

Chapter 1 Compositing

7. Click the Viewer Alpha (Full) button to see the alpha channel of the clip.

Notice that there is a matte on the alpha channel which has been derived from the external matte clip.

8. Step out of the container to return to the Editing layout and to see the final composite.

Using External Mattes on Layers

Tip: From inside the matte container, use the Reconnect Viewer button in the Viewer Tools to connect to the top timeline. For more information, see “Reconnect Viewer Menu” in the Help.

9. To set matte’s properties, right-click the matte container and select Matte Properties. This option is also available when working inside the matte

container. select this option when inside the container.

If you get a halo or black outline after compositing, you should check the premultiplication settings. For more information, see “Compositing with Premultiplied Images” on page 55.

You can add as many external mattes as you wish to each layer in the composite. You can also combine or blend them using matte blending operations to produce the desire effect. The mattes are blended in the order in which the appear. For more information, see “Applying Blending Operations in the Layers View” on page 52.

Tip: You can also combine mattes in an Effects Tree by using the Matte Composite or Key Combiner effect. For more information, see “Compositing Multiple Mattes” on page 109 and “Key Combiner (Alpha or Luma)” in the Help.

Working with Mattes

To add an external matte to a layer:

1. If you are in the Editing layout, make sure that the background clip on the timeline is selected and switch to the Compositing layout.

This clips forms a layer in the Layers view.

2. From the Avid Explorer, drag the clip without a matte in its alpha that you want to use as the foreground to the Layers view.

The result of the composite does not show background because the foreground clip does not have a matte

A new layer is formed in the Layers view and a new track is created with the clip in the timeline.

3. Right-click the external matte clip in the Avid Explorer and drag it to the timeline ribbon of the timeline. When you see a shadow over the timeline ribbon, release the clip.

The clip is automatically placed on a new track on the timeline, but does not form a layer in the Layers view.

4. Click the track button of the external matte and drag it to the Layer Alpha thumbnail.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Composite

result

External alpha

Track button

The clip’s matte is added to the right of the layer’s existing matte. The two mattes are combined with the default matte composite operation (Min.) and the results are displayed in the Layer Alpha thumbnail.

A layer with an external matte

Matte Expand Matte controls

Layer Alpha Original Alpha External Matte

5. To change the matte operation between the mattes, right-click the Matte control and select an operation—see “Applying Blending Operations in the Layers View” on page 52.

Tip: If the mattes are partially obscured by the viewer, use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the Layers view to see the external mattes.

6. Right-click the External Matte thumbnail (of this newly added matte) and select one of the following:

- Alpha to use the external clip’s alpha component as a matte.

- RGB to create a matte based on the RGB components of the external

clip.

Combining Mattes

You can add an unlimited number of external mattes to a layer, and then combine them to produce the desired result. When you add several mattes to a layer, the mattes are combined using Boolean logic.

To combine mattes on the same layer:

Working with Masks

1. On the layer, make sure the two mattes to be combined are arranged next to each other.

2. Right-click the Matte Controls button between the two mattes and select a blend operation.

The combined matte appears in the Layer Matte thumbnail.

For more information, see “Matte Controls Menu” in the Help.

Working with Masks

A powerful feature when compositing is the ability to apply an effect to certain channels (channel masking) or to certain pixels using a mask (pixel masking).

Masks are an image, portion, or component of an image that defines where an effect will be applied. They can come from the current image’s alpha channel, or from an external clip’s R,G,B, luma, or alpha channel.

For example, on the Masking property page of an effect, if you select the red channel in the Process box, and the alpha channel in the Mask box, then the effect will only be applied to the red channel using the alpha channel of the input clip as a mask.

Matte expand

Layer matte Original matte External matte

Matte controls

Chapter 1 Compositing

Applying Channel or Pixel Masking

When using channel or pixel masking when 8-bit precision is used, SuperBlack and SuperWhite information (full YCbCr range) is not preserved:

Effects are set to 8-bit precision when:

• In the Options property page, the Precision has been set to Auto with the sequence’s preference Precision set to 8-bit

• In the Options property page, the Precision has been set to 8-bit

• Using some DS effects that do not support 16-bit or 32-bit/Float precision (such as Impressionist or Painterly effects).

• Using some third-party effects that do not support 16-bit or 32-bit/Float precision.

The following example shows you the results using a combination of channel and pixel masking:

Original image

Working with Masks

Blur applied to RGB channels (channel masking)

as a mask (channel & pixel masking)

Blur applied to red channel only (channel masking)

Image’s alpha channelBlur applied to RGB channels, using alpha

To apply channel or pixel masking:

1. On the Masking property page of an effect, select the channels on which you want the effect to be applied from the Process box.

Channel masking options

2. From the Mask box, select one of the following:

- None to apply the effect to the entire image.

- Alpha to apply the effect using the clip’s alpha channel as a mask.

Pixel masking options

Chapter 1 Compositing

- Mask Input to apply the effect using a matte from another image or effect in an Effects Tree only.

3. From the Process box, select the channels on which to apply the effect.

Using Alpha and Luma as Mask

When compositing images in the Layers view or the Effects tree, you can apply a number of blending operations. For more information, see “Applying Blending Operations in the Layers View” on page 52. You can use the alpha or luma in the foreground image to mask the blending operation against the background.

To use the Alpha or Luma as Mask:

1. In the Layers view, right-click the blending operation under the Layer RGB thumbnail.

2. Select Use Alpha as Mask or Use Luma as Mask.

If you are working with a Composite effect node in the Effects Tree, use the alpha or luma as a mask options by right-clicking the blending operation.

Applying Blending Operations in the Layers View

When compositing clips using the Layers view or the Effects Tree, you can apply blending operations between the RGB and alpha components of the image or the matte. You can also apply blending operations to external mattes on a layer.

The operations differ between the RGB and alpha channels. Most RGB operations that you select are automatically applied to the alpha channel. You can, however, change the alpha operation separately. On a layer, the two images or mattes are combined with the default operation (Over) and displayed in the result area. For more information, see “Interlayer Alpha Menu and Interlayer RGB Menu” in the Help.

Applying Blending Operations in the Layers View

Result area

Layer operations for RGB and alpha channels.

In the Effects Tree, the blending operations are available in the Composite node. To combine multiple mattes in an Effects Tree, use the Matte Composite effect. For more information see “Compositing Multiple Mattes” on page 109.

To apply blend operations on a layer:

t Right-click the RGB or alpha operator between the two layers on which

you want to apply the operation, and select an operator from the menu.

The results of the composite appear in the result area at the top of the Layers view.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Blend Operations

To apply external matte operations on a layer:

1. Right-click the matte controls between the mattes and select an operator.

Matte controls

2. Right-click the External Matte thumbnail and select RGB or Alpha.

Compositing with Premultiplied Images

External matte set to Alpha External matte set to RGB

Compositing with Premultiplied Images

Images that contain an alpha channel could be either premultiplied or not. Premultiplication is a mathematical process where the RGB channels of an image are multiplied with their corresponding alpha channel values.

How can you tell if an image has already been premultiplied? It’s best to check with the artist if the image was premultiplied or not. But if you cannot do this, you may be able to tell by looking at the RGB and alpha channels of the image, or the results after the image is composited with another.

Chapter 1 Compositing

A premultiplied source is one which the RGB channels have been multiplied by the alpha channel. If both the RGB and alpha channels contain black in the same areas, it’s a good indication that the image is premultiplied.

RGB channels Alpha channel

A non-premultiplied source is one which the RGB channels are independent from the alpha channel. If the black areas of the alpha channel and the same areas of the RGB channel are different, it’s a good indication that the image is not premultiplied.

RGB channels Alpha channel

The Science behind Premultiplication

Having premultiplied images simplifies the compositing process as it avoids the additional operation of multiplying the RGB channels with the alpha channel. If Avid DS Nitris is given the correct indication about a premultiplied image, then the proper result is obtained when it is placed over the background. The soft edges blend well with the background and there are no noticeable artifacts.

If the incorrect indication is given, then Avid DS Nitris either applies the premultiplication operation again on an image that is already premultiplied, or does not apply it at all on an image that should be premultiplied.

The following table shows the results of composited images with different premultiplication settings. Keep in mind that the actual compositing operation, called Over, is as follows:

(RGB Foreground × α) + (1 -α) × RGB Background = Result

Type of material Set to Result

Premultiplied Premultiplied Correct.

Since you informed Avid DS Nitris that the RGB channel has been multiplied with the alpha channel, it will not perform the premultiplication.

Operation: [Foreground x α] + (1 -α) × Background

Premultiplied Not premultiplied Incorrect.

These results may cause a black line to appear around the edge of your image where it should be transparent and antialiased.

Operation: [Foreground × α] × α + (1 - α) × Background

The alpha channel is multiplied twice.

Compositing with Premultiplied Images

Not premultiplied Not premultiplied Correct.

Since you informed Avid DS Nitris that the RGB channel has not been multiplied with the alpha channel, Avid DS Nitris will do the premultiplication.

Operation: [Foreground] × α + (1 - α) × Background

Not premultiplied Premultiplied Incorrect.

These results can cause transparent areas of the foreground to be displayed much brighter than they should.

This happens because you informed Avid DS Nitris that the image is already premultiplied when in fact it is not, causing the entire foreground to be added to the background rather than just areas specified by the alpha channel.

Operation: [Foreground] + (1 - α) × Background

The RGB channel is not multiplied by alpha channel. Therefore the foreground gets “ADDed” to the background.

Chapter 1 Compositing

You can force a multiplication between alpha and RGB channels for those effects or clips that have an unpremultiplied alpha on video tracks. You must select the Force Premultiplication Output option in the Sequence Preferences dialog box. If you select this option, all effects will no longer be real-time playable. For more information see “Video Property Page (Sequence Preferences)” in the Help.

Importing Source Files with an Alpha Channel

When using computer-generated images or sequences in your composites, it’s important to indicate if the source has been premultiplied or not when you import the source file into Avid DS Nitris. You can set and change the premultiplication

The alpha channel of the circle has a matte that has softness around the edges (transparency).

If the premultiplication setting is incorrect, dark areas appear around the edges of the circle when composited over a background image.

If the premultiplication setting is correct, there is no dark halo.

Setting the Premultiplication Option

You can always set the option before importing to avoid getting unexpected results or artifacts in your composite.

To set the appropriate premultiplied option:

1. Select View > Multi-Instance Views > Capture Settings.

2. In the Media Capture panel, select the Keep Alpha option.

3. If the source is premultiplied, select the Premultiplied Alpha option.

4. If the source is not premultiplied, deselect Premultiplied Alpha.

Changing the Premultiplication Setting

If you get unexpected results after compositing an imported image, such as a halo or black outline, it may be because the premultiplication setting is incorrect. You can change the premultiplication setting after you import the file.

To check the premultiplication setting:

1. In the Avid Explorer, right-click the clip and select Properties from the Avid DS Nitris menu.

2. On the File Info tab, check if the Premultiplied Alpha option is selected.

To change the premultiplication setting in the Layers view:

1. If you are compositing in the Layers view, right-click the layer that contains the image whose premultiplication setting you want to change.

By default Auto is selected. This indicates that the material will be composited according to the clip’s premultiplication setting.

2. Select Premultiplied or Not Premultiplied from the menu.

Compositing with Premultiplied Images

Tip: If you are compositing directly on the top timeline, you can apply the Premultiplication effect on the clip to change the setting. In the Premultiplication effect, the Modify Image option will change the outgoing image's RGB pixels by premultiplying or unpremultiplying the image as necessary. For more information, see “Applying the Premultiplication Effect” on page 59.

To change the premultiplication setting in an Effects Tree:

1. If you are using the Composite node in an Effect Tree, select the Premultiply tab.

2. Select the input that corresponds to the source file that you want to change and change the Premultiplication setting.

Applying the Premultiplication Effect

The Premultiplication effect lets you change a clip’s premultiplication setting. When you import material into Avid DS Nitris, you should specify whether the material is premultiplied or not. However, if you didn’t set the

Chapter 1 Compositing

premultiplication when you imported the material or a clip’s premultiplication was incorrectly set, you can use the Premultiplication effect to change the clip’s setting.

It also lets you change a clip’s premultiplication without having to first create a composite container clip. You can use this effect to change an outgoing image’s RGB pixels by premultiplying or undoing the premultiply in the image as necessary.

You can apply the Premultiplication effect to clips, tracks, or trees.

To apply the Premultiplication effect:

1. Apply the Premultiplication effect to a clip, track, or tree.

2. From the effect’s property editor, select one of the following:

- Premultiplied to flag the clip as premultiplied.

- Not Premultiplied to flag the clip as not premultiplied.

- Auto to

Original image (note line around balloon) Premultiplication effect

maintain the clip’s current premultiplication state.

3. Select the Modify Image option if you want to change the outgoing image’s RGB pixels by premultiplying or unpremultiplying the image as necessary.

For example, if you choose Premultiplied in the Premultiplication State box, as well as the Modify Image option, then the RGB channel values will be multiplied by the alpha channel values to produce a premultiplied outgoing image. This option is useful when you work with unpremultiplied images and you need to add premultiplied information, such as antialiased text.

Compositing with Premultiplied Images

When undoing the premultiplication, Avid DS Nitris attempts to remove the influence of the alpha channel from the RGB channels. This option is useful when working with a premultiplied image and you need to modify the alpha channel information separately from the RGB channels.

4. On the Masking property page, indicate whether or not you are using a mask for the effect. By default, the effect is applied to the RGB channels. You can derive masks from the alpha of the input clip or an external matte from another clip.

5. On the Options property page, select the appropriate options.

Click the Help button for detailed information on the Premultiplication properties.

Automatic Changes to the Premultiplication Setting

An image is no longer premultiplied after you modify the RGB or alpha channels separately. When dealing with a premultiplied source, you may have to perform the operations specified in the following table:

Scenario Solution

Applying an effect to a clip that modifies the alpha channel only (by selecting the Process Alpha option and deselecting the Process RGB options on the Masking property page)

Applying a graphics effect to a clip or layer, and apply strokes only to the alpha or only to the RGB channels

Applying a key (with the Keep Original Alpha option on) or matte effect to a clip

Applying an external matte to a premultiplied source in the Layers view

To “unpremultiply” an image:

• Make sure the effect processed the RGBA channels by checking Masking property page

• “Unpremultiply” the image using the procedure below

“Unpremultiply” the image before applying the Graphics effect

Select the Force Premultiplication option from the Key property editor (Matte property page)

Before you apply the external matte, change the Premultiplication setting to Non-premultiplied

1. Apply the Premultiplication effect to the source clip—see “Applying the Premultiplication Effect” on page 59.

2. On the General property page, select the Not Premultiplied option.

3. Click the Modify Image button.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Compositing Clips over a Black Background

You can composite a single layer or several layers over a black background. Whether you are using one or several layers, the bottommost layer will always be composited over black when the Force Premultiplied Output option is selected. Avid DS Nitris provides a simple method in which you can achieve this without having to first create a black background clip.

Tip: If you want to composite against black in the video track, select the Force Premultiplied Output option in the Sequence Preferences dialog box. If you

want to composite against black using the Composite effect node, double-click the node and in the Composite property editor, select the Force Premultiplied Output option.

To composite clips over a black background using layers:

1. From the timeline, select a clip.

2. From the taskbar, click the Compositing button.

A composite container clip is created and the Compositing layout is displayed. A layer is also created from the clip.

3. If the clip doesn’t have a matte, create one using a keyer, DVE, matte, or graphics effect.

4. Add more clips and layers to your composite.

5. Right-click an empty area of the Layers view deselect the Force Premultiplied Output option, if it’s not already deselected.

The bottommost layer is composited over a black background.

Force Premultiplied Output is deselected.

Force Premultiplied Output is selected.

Unpremultiplying with Color

Often you will use clips that have been created in other applications such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe After Effects. If the captured clip consists of a foreground image (and its matte in the alpha channel), which has been composited and premultiplied with a color background, you can apply the Unpremultiply with Color effect. It recovers the original foreground image colors, especially in the semi-transparent and motion blur regions, keys out the background color and premultiplies it with a black background color, so you can use the clip for other compositing operations.

This effect can also be applied to the Effects Tree. For more information, see “Unpremultiplying with Color in the Effects Tree” on page 107.

Compositing with Premultiplied Images

To unpremultiply with color on the timeline:

1. Using the simple track compositing method, composite the background and foreground clip on the timeline.

The foreground image with a matte in its alpha channel

Background image

Chapter 1 Compositing

The composited result is displayed in the viewer.You’ll notice that dark areas appear around the edges of the text. When you view the matte, you will notice the softness around its edges.

A halo around the text indicates unwanted artifact

The alpha channel of the text has a matte that has softness around the edges.

2. Click the track’s Solo button to only view the foreground image.

Track Sol o

button

3. Apply an Unpremultiply with Color effect to the foreground image.

The Unpremultiply with Color property editor is displayed.

4. From the Effects List, select Original Color.

The Original Color property editor is displayed.

5. Click the Color Picker button.

The cursor changes to the eyedropper cursor.

6. In the viewer, select the color that you want to remove and replace with black.

7. Click the track’s Solo button off to see the result in the viewer.

Working with Layered Photoshop Images

When you capture a layered Photoshop image into Avid DS Nitris, each layer is an individual linked image file, and the layered result is imported as a sequence in the Avid Explorer. All applied blending or layer operations in Photoshop are maintained in the new Avid DS Nitris sequence. For more information, see “Capturing from Layered Adobe Photoshop Files” on page 57 of the Avid DS Nitris Capture and Output Guide.

When you place a Photoshop sequence on the timeline, the composite is recreated in a composite container clip. When you open the container clip, layers are displayed in the Layers view and on the timeline. DVEs are applied to each clip to position them according to the original Photoshop image, and the opacity of each layer is adjusted to match the opacity levels in the original Photoshop image.

Tip: Layers that were hidden in the original Photoshop file will be displayed as part of the composite in Avid DS Nitris. After importing the file, you can mute the layers that you don’t want to use in the composite.

Layers in Photoshop

Opacity settings are matched in Avid DS Nitris.

Text layers are rasterized.

Layer effects are ignored in Avid DS Nitris.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Photoshop layers in Avid DS Nitris

Opacity settings are matched

All layers are visible Outer glow layer

In Avid DS Nitris, the following Photoshop features are supported:

Feature Support in Avid DS Nitris

Color spaces RGBA 8, 16-bit and grayscale (converted to RGBA 8-bit

images)

Text layers Text is rasterized on import

Shape layers Shapes are rasterized on import

Blending modes Normal only

Photoshop Layer Notes and Tips

When you work with Photoshop layers in Avid DS Nitris, there may be times when you don’t get the same results as those in Photoshop. Try the following:

• Import only RGB or grayscale images.

• In Avid DS Nitris, try unmuting the background if it contains transparent areas and/or export the alpha channel.

DVE applied to each clip

effects are ignored

• In Photoshop, apply layer masks to the layer before you import them into Avid DS Nitris.

Here are some points to consider when working with Photoshop layers.

• Remember that text or shape layers are rasterized when you import them into Avid DS Nitris.

• When the layered Photoshop file is recreated in Avid DS Nitris, the Output Frame Size option for each DVE is turned off by default to minimize the size of the sequence. This may create some hard edges on blur and drop shadow effects. To remove these hard edges, open the DVE property editor for that clip and select the Output Frame Size option.

• Remember that effects are applied in a specific order. The order will affect the outcome of your shot. For layered Photoshop images, you should always apply effects after the DVE if you don’t want your material to suffer from hard edge cropping. For more information, see “Processing Composites” on page 68.

Using Photoshop Images

Working with Layered Photoshop Images

Once you have imported the layered photoshop images, you can apply effects to each layer.

To start using the Photoshop image:

1. Drag the Photoshop sequence to the timeline, and click the Container Clip button.

Container clip button

The composite container clip is displayed in the Compositing layout. On each clip, a DVE is applied, positioning them according to their position in the Photoshop file.

2. Mute the layers that you don’t want to appear in the composite.

3. You can blend operations between layers and create effects on each layer.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Deleting Imported Photoshop Files

If you no longer need the sequence and master clips associated with the Photoshop file, you can delete them along with the corresponding media at any time.

To delete the imported Photoshop file:

1. Select the folder that was created when you imported the file.

2. Right-click the folder and select Delete Clip & Unused Media.

A message box is displayed, prompting you to confirm deletion of the Targa files in the \Linked Layers folder.

3. Click Ye s to free up the maximum amount of disk space.

The sequence, master clips, and Targa files are deleted.

Processing Composites

Most of the composites, effects, and effect nodes that you apply must be processed to see the results during a real-time playback.

Avid DS Nitris processes each layer independently. It then combines the results from all layers to process the final composited image for each frame in your sequence.

Processing is done by selection. You can process the entire sequence or a specific object in the sequence. Processing can also occur at different stages in your sequence. When you process a sequence with complex effects, Avid DS Nitris creates caches at incremental levels. This allows you to make changes to your effects at any level without having to reprocess the entire sequence.

When processing the DVE effect, you may notice a slight difference in the quality of the realtime and the processed DVE. The difference may be more pronounced for DVEs that are partially processed (part of the clip is realtime, part is processed). In these cases, it is strongly recommended that you process the entire effect in order to remove the boundary between the realtime portion and the processed portion of the effect.

Processing Composites

The operations in the Compositing layout are processed in the following order:

An effect applied to a clip

inside the container clip.

External mattes are processed from right to left.

Layer effects are

processed from

bottom to top

Effects Tree

Effect nodes applied to the Effects Tree

Composite and blend

operations are processed

between layers from

bottom to top. The opacity

of the matte is factored

into the process.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Processing Layered Clips on the Timeline

When you layer clips on the timeline, whether it’s on the Editing layout or inside a container in the Compositing layout, the timeline ribbon will change color to indicate that processing is required. If the color is red, then you must process the clips in order to play them in real time. For more information, see “When is Processing Needed?” on page 923 of the Avid DS Nitris Editing Guide.

Highlighted areas of timeline ribbon indicate unprocessed section of the sequence.

Tip: You can preview the resulting composite before processing all frames in the sequence. To view the sequence frame by frame, press Ctrl and click Play in the transport controls.

To process the composite:

1. Select an object or specific time span on the timeline.

2. In the timeline controls, click the Process button.

Process button

3. Select the appropriate options from the Processing Options dialog box.

4. Click OK to begin processing.

A progress indicator appears at the bottom of your desktop to show the status of the process.

A progress indicator appears at the bottom of your desktop to show the status of the process. You can Cancel the process at any time, or press the spacebar on your keyboard.

You can process the container clip while it is open or closed.

For more information, see “Processing Effects” on page 921 of the Avid DS Nitris Editing Guide.

Processing Effect Nodes

As you add effect nodes to the Effects Tree, you will notice that the timeline ribbon is highlighted indicating whether processing is required. One of the methods of processing quickly in the Effects Tree is by adding a cache before processing the entire or a section of the tree.

When working with large trees, it is a good idea to add cache nodes between effect nodes to process the effects. This will let you play the effects up to the cache node in real time. For more information, see “Using Cache Nodes in the Effects Tree” on page 943 and “Creating Caches at Any Level” on page 938 of the Avid DS Nitris Editing Guide.

To process a node:

1. Right-click a connector between two nodes and select Add Cache and Process.

A cache node is added to the tree and the Processing Options dialog box is displayed.

Processing Composites

Cache node (indicated in yellow) added in Effects Tree

2. In the Processing Options dialog box, select the appropriate options.

To process more than one cache node at a time, add the cache nodes to the cache list and then select the Cache List option from the Processing Options dialog box.

3. Click OK to begin processing.

4. A progress indicator appears on the bottom of the desktop to show the status of the process.

Chapter 1 Compositing

Chapter 2

Using Effects Trees

Effects Trees are useful in creating and managing complex composites. This chapter describes how to apply and use effects trees to composite.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

Applying Effects Trees

You can apply an Effects Tree on a clip or track on the timeline or on a Layer. You can also apply an Effects Tree as a transition on the timeline. You can also work directly in the Effects Tree of the Compositing layout. For more information, see “Working with the Effects Tree” on page 79.

Applying an Effects Tree on a Clip or Track

You can build a quick Effects Tree on a clip or track when you want to apply an unlimited number of effects on a single clip or track.

To apply an Effects Tree to a clip or track:

1. Apply a clip or track effect to a clip or track—see “Applying Effects” on page 200 of the Avid DS Nitris Getting Started.

2. From the effect’s property editor, click the Load Preset button.

The Load Preset dialog box is displayed.

3. From the Load Preset dialog box, select Effects Tree.

An Effects Tree is applied to the clip or track, and the Effects Tree property editor is displayed.

4. From the Effects Tree property editor, click the Expand button.

The Effects Tree view is displayed with the input as the clip or track on which you have applied the effects tree. You can now add effect nodes to the tree. For more information, “Working with the Effects Tree” on page 79.

Effects Tree applied to clip

Effects applied in tree

Input from clip

Applying an Effects Tree as a Transition

With Effects Trees you can apply a transition between two clips that is composed of multiple effects.

Applying Effects Trees

If you build an Effects Tree on the top timeline, you can only have one image input when it is applied as a clip effect or a single-sided transition. You can have two image inputs when they are applied as a two-sided transition.

To apply an Effects Tree as a transition:

1. On the timeline, select the edit point between two overlapping clips.

2. Apply a transition, such as a dissolve or wipe—see “Understanding Image Transition Effects” on page 893 of the Avid DS Nitris Editing Guide.

3. From the transition’s property editor, click the Load Preset button.

The Load Preset dialog box is displayed.

4. From the \Image Transitions folder, select Effects Tree Transition.

An Effects Tree is applied as a transition and the Effects Tree property editor is displayed.

5. From the Effects Tree property editor, click the Expand button.

The Effects Tree view is displayed.

6. Add effects to the tree by right-clicking on an empty area of the view and selecting Add Effect.

7. From the \Image Transitions folder, select a transition effect.

In the following example, a Morph transition was added as the transition in the Effects Tree.

8. Connect the inputs to the effect—see “Connecting Nodes” on page 81.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

Clip inputs

Transition effect

Converting a Stack of Effects to an Effects Tree

When working on the timeline, you may find yourself with stacks of effects on clips, track, or the timeline. To save on screen real estate, you can convert these stacks to an Effects Tree. Another advantage for converting a stack of effects to an Effects tree is that you can save the entire stack as a preset, which you can load to another Effects Tree.

Effects Tree applied as transition

You can also select effects on clips, track, and the timeline that you want to be in an Effects Tree.

To convert a stack of effects on a clip to an Effects Tree:

1. Select the clip or move.

2. Right-click the clip and select Convert Effects Stack to Tree.

The stack of effects is replaced by one effect bar: the Effects Tree bar.

Applying Effects Trees

Tip: To convert the stack of effects of more than one clip, select the clips and press Ctrl+9. An Effects Tree bar will replace the stacks on all selected clips.

3. Double-click the Effects Tree bar to open its property editor.

4. Click the Expand button.

The Effects Tree view is displayed.

5. Optional: Save the effects in the Effects Tree as a preset. For more information, see “Loading and Saving Presets” on page 281.

To convert a selection of effects to an Effects Tree

1. Holding down the Ctrl key and select the effects that you want to be convert to an Effects Tree.

The effects need not be of one type; you can select clip, track or timeline effects for conversion.

2. With the Ctrl key is still pressed, right-click and select Effects to Tree.

The selected effects are replaced by one effect bar: the Effects Tree bar.

Tip: After you make the selection, press Ctrl+9 to convert only the selected effects to an Effects Tree.

3. Double-click the Effects Tree bar to open its property editor.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

4. Click the Expand button.

The Effects Tree view is displayed.

The new Effects Tree bar occupies the total duration of the stack of effects.

If there is an effect in the stack that has a Mix to Color effect before the conversion to the Effects Tree and has a shorter duration than that of the new Effects tree bar, the Mix to color effect will not be preserved. As seen in the effect’s property editor, the Mix to Color will be changed to Mix to Input so as to preserve its duration.

Applying an Effects Tree on a Layer

With Effects Trees, you can composite multiple inputs on a layer, and add an unlimited number of effects to these inputs. You can even add Effects Trees to more than one layer.

When you combine an Effects Tree with other effects on a layer, the tree acts as an input to the other effects. For example, if you create an Effects Tree and also use the Color Correction effect on the layer, then the Effects Tree acts as the input to the Color Correction effect and so on, working upwards through the effects on the layer.

To apply an Effects Tree to a layer:

1. Select a clip on the timeline and click the Compositing button in the taskbar.

2. In the Compositing layout, select a layer in the Layers view.

The Effects Tree view for the selected layer is displayed.

Within the Effects Tree you can now add inputs and effects to the Effects Tree. For more information, see “Adding or Removing Inputs To and From an Effect Node” on page 81 and “Adding Effect Nodes to a Tree” on page 79.

Timeline tracks input into Effects Tree

Working with the Effects Tree

Green button indicates an Effects Tree on a layer

Tip: Each layer can have its own Effects Tree. To view the Effects Tree on a layer, right-click the layer and select Effects Tree (layer).

Opening the Effects Tree View

You can open an Effects Tree view for any effect on the timeline or on a layer.

To open the Effects Tree view, do one of the following:

t On a clip or track, press Ctrl while you double-click the effect bar above a

clip/track.

t On a layer, right-click the layer and select Effects Tree (layer).

Working with the Effects Tree

In the Effects Tree, you can add unlimited effects, switch one input for another, delete effects, fold nodes, copy trees, and save tree presets. You can also save tree presets which you can apply to other clips or Effects Trees.

Adding Effect Nodes to a Tree

After you have accessed the Effects Tree view and decided where to apply your Effects Tree (on a clip, track, or layer), you can begin adding effects to it. Effects are represented as nodes in the Effects Tree view.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

To add effects to the Effects Tree, do one of the following:

t Right-click an empty area of the Effects Tree view, and select Add Effect.

In the Load Preset dialog box, select an effect.

t From a toolbar, drag a preset and place it in an Effects Tree view. When

you drag a preset from a toolbar or the Avid Explorer and place it on top of a highlighted connector, the preset is automatically inserted between the connected nodes.

t From the Avid Explorer, navigate to the \FactoryPresets folder. Select one

or more presets and drag them to an Effects Tree view.

The effects are placed in the tree in the order in which you selected them.

Tip: You can select multiple effects in the Avid Explorer (Ctrl-click) and then press Ctrl while you drag them to the Effects Tree. The effects are added to the tree already connected to one another, and in the order in which you selected them.

After you have added nodes to an effects tree, you can connect them together. For more information, see “Connecting Nodes” on page 81.

Adding Clips to the Effects Tree

When you add clips to the Effects Tree, you are essentially adding input nodes that represent the image. Note that you will not be able to view the input node unless it is connected to the output node. When adding more than one clip, you can composite them using the Composite effect node which you must in turn connect to the output node—see “Compositing Multiple Images” on page 100.

Input nodes representing clips or images

Effect Node

To add an input node, do one of the following:

t From the Avid Explorer, select a clip and drag it to the Effects Tree view.

To select more than one clip, use the Ctrl or Shift keys to select.

New inputs are added to the Effects Tree and new tracks are added to the timeline.

Working with the Effects Tree

t From the timeline of the Compositing layout, drag a track to the Effects

Tree view.

The new input node is added to the Effects Tree view.

Although you can add multiple inputs to the Effects Tree, they won’t be visible in the viewer until connected to the output node.

Adding or Removing Inputs To and From an Effect Node

You can add or show inputs (ports) in the effect node. You can also remove or hide any input. For example, the DVE effect node shows the Foreground and Background ports by default. You can add or show the Local and Transform inputs when you want to use them.

When working with dynamic effect nodes such as the composite container or the 3D DVE node, you can add multiple inputs (or ports) to the node.

To add or remove inputs or ports to an effect node:

Connecting Nodes

When you want to connect nodes, you can use kissing, twanging, sticky connection, or dragging from an output port.

To connect nodes, do one of the following:

t Kissing: Drag a node’s input port over the output port of another node, so

Starting position

1. Right-click the effect node and select Add/Remove Inputs.

2. Select the input or port that you want to show or hide.

it “kisses” the edge of the second node, and hold for a fraction of a second.

Button turns blue when connected

While holding the mouse button down, you can drag the newly connected node to another node and connect it to that one as well.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

“Kissing” second node Final result

t Twanging: Drag a node over an existing connector.

The existing connector snaps or “twangs” to the input and output ports of the node.

Tip: If you don’t release the mouse button, you can move the node away from the connector and no connection will take place. Even though you haven’t made a permanent connection, the results are displayed in the viewer. This is handy to quickly see how an effect may affect your tree. If the node has multiple ports, you can drag the node through the connector until it connects to the desired input.

t Sticky connection: Click a node’s output port and release the mouse

button. The connector becomes “stuck” to the pointer. You can move the pointer over another node’s input port and click to connect it.

Working with the Effects Tree

Click node’s output port Release mouse button and move

away from node. The connector is “stuck” to the pointer.

t Dragging from an output port: Drag a node’s output port towards the

input port of another node.

A connector is displayed from the output port and turns blue to indicate the output is connected. As you get close to the input node, the connector snaps to it. If it doesn’t, it is probably because the input node is invalid.

Click output node Drag to input node

Disconnecting Nodes

To disconnect nodes, you can rip, click a connector, click and drag a connector from an input port, or drag the input port.

To disconnect nodes, do one of the following:

Click node’s input port

t Ripping: Click a node and “shake” or “rip” it away from the other nodes,

or press R and drag a node away from another node or connector.

The selected node is placed where you release the mouse button. If there were other nodes connected to the selected node, then the connector will be joined between the two.

t Click anywhere on a connector.

The selected connector turns white. When you release the mouse button, the connector is removed.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

t Click and drag connector: Click the connector that is attached to the

input port and drag it away from the node.

The connector is removed.

To switch one input for another, do one of the following:

t Disconnect the current input node and connect the new input node to

the effect.

t Click a track button and drag it over an input node.

If the image contributes to the composite, the viewer and layer thumbnails are updated.

Selecting Nodes

You cannot switch the primary input.

There are many ways to select nodes in an Effects Tree.

To select a node:

t Click a node’s title bar.

The selected node becomes highlighted.

To select multiple nodes, do one of the following:

t Right-click an empty area of the view and select Select All.

t Hold down the Ctrl key and click the nodes (if a node was already

selected, it becomes deselected).

t Drag a selection rectangle around several nodes.

t Right-click a node and select Select Proceeding Nodes or Select

Subsequent Nodes to highlight all nodes before or after the selected node.

Collapsing and Expanding Nodes

You can collapse nodes if you want to hide the inputs and effects associated with them.

View of nodes when expanded.

To collapse a node:

t Right-click a node and select Collapse.

The selected node is collapsed, which is useful when a node contains several inputs and you want hide them to maintain as much space as possible in the view.

Working with the Effects Tree

View of nodes when collapsed.

Removing Nodes

To expand a node:

t Right-click a node and select Expand.

The selected node is expanded.

You can only delete input nodes when an Effects Tree is applied on a layer. Also, you cannot delete the primary input node (usually input 1).

Tip: You can also replace effect nodes with another. However, an effect node can only be replaced with an effect that has the same number of inputs.

To remove a node:

t Right-click a node(s), and select Delete.

The node(s) are removed from the Effects Tree. Any connections to other nodes are also deleted.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

To reset an Effects Tree:

t Right-click an empty area of the view and select Reset All.

All nodes and effects are removed except for the input and output nodes.

Editing an Effect Node

When you open an effect’s property editor from an Effects Tree, you can edit any effect in the tree. If you have multiple effects in your Effects Tree, you can select which property editor you want to view.

To edit an effect in an Effects Tree:

t Double-click an effects node in the tree.

The effect’s property editor is displayed. You can now edit the effect using the parameters in the property editor. You can also select other effect nodes in the tree directly from this property editor’s Effect list:

Effect list

Effects Trees of folded nodes are not displayed in the Effects list. However, once you expand the Effects Tree view, you can see them in the tree. Doubleclick the expanded node to display its property editor.

To add an effect to the Effect list:

t Right-click an effect and select Expose.

The effect is displayed in the Effect list. This is useful if you build a complex tree, but don’t want to expose its properties in the Effect list. If you don’t want to expose the properties, deselect this option.

Viewing and Bypassing Nodes

When your Effects Tree grows, it is handy to view or bypass certain nodes in the tree. For example, you may want to view the output of your tree without a certain effect. In this case, you can bypass the effect node that you don’t want to see.

Another example is when you apply several effects and you want to see the result up to a certain point. In this case, you can view the node previous to that point. You can only view one node at a time.

You can also select to view nodes in separate viewers. This is handy, for example, if you want to match the colors in one clip with those of another.

To bypass a node:

1. Select the effects that you want to bypass.

Working with the Effects Tree

2. Right-click a node and select Bypass.

You can also hit B on your keyboard.

The node’s output port turns orange, and the viewer updates to display the tree without the effect that you bypassed. Bypassed nodes will not be processed.

To view a node:

1. Select the node whose output you want to view.

2. Right-click a node and select View.

The output of the selected node is displayed in the viewer and the effect’s output port turns green.

Tip: If your Effects Tree starts getting large, it’s a good idea to add a cache node between some of the effects and process them. This will save you time and let you play the effects up to the cache node in real time. For more information, see “Creating Caches at Any Level” on page 938 of the Avid DS Nitris Editing Guide.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

To view an effect in a floating viewer:

t Right-click a node and select Open Viewer.

The output of the node (with any applied effects) is displayed in its own viewer.

Folding Nodes

When working with large Effects Trees, it can be difficult to navigate the tree and locate your effects. “Folding” nodes into a new Effects Tree node can help organize your view.

All output connections for folded nodes can’t be reconnected when:

• You select effects that have their output ports connected to two different nodes and try to fold them. Since a folded node only has one output port, only one of the output ports of the effects inside the folded tree will be connected to the output.

• You select nodes that aren’t in a series (for example, you have three effects and you select 1 and 3) and fold them; connection to the input node will be lost.

In these situations, you will be prompted to undo the folding to regain all connections.

Tip: In your user preferences, you can make new nodes automatically fold and group when they’re added to the Effects Tree, and automatically expand existing nodes when you position the pointer over them. Select File > User Preferences (Effects Tree property page).

Working with the Effects Tree

To fold nodes:

1. In an Effects Tree, select the nodes you want to fold or group.

Selected nodes

2. Right-click one of the selected nodes and select one of the following:

- Fold Minimal

- Fold All

Fold Minimal

The selected nodes are placed in a new Effects Tree with a red border, which only displays the inputs that are directly connected to the effect that feeds the new Effects Tree.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

Fold All

To unfold nodes:

t Right-click the folded Effects Tree and select one of the following:

- Unfold

- Unfold and Repel

The selected nodes are placed in a new Effects Tree with a red border, which displays all inputs, both connected and unconnected, from each effect.

The nodes are placed in the parent Effects Tree.

The nodes are placed in the parent Effects Tree. Any nodes that were close to the folded are repelled away from the nodes as they are unfolded.

Attracting or Repelling Nodes

When you have many nodes in an Effects Tree, sometimes it’s easier to focus on a group of nodes by pushing other nodes away from the group. You can repel or attract nodes to/from selected nodes.

Nodes are attracted or repelled by an amount that is a factor of the size of the selection. If you select a bigger node, then nodes will be repelled or attracted farther than if you select a smaller node.

Tip: You can set the amount at which nodes are repelled in the User Preferences dialog box. Select File > User Preferences (Effects Tree property page).

Working with the Effects Tree

To repel nodes:

1. In the Effects Tree, select the nodes that you want to remain stationary.

2. On your keyboard, press the equal (=) key.

All nodes in the tree are pushed away from the selected nodes.

Keep in mind that when you select nodes, they must fall together within a square region to be repelled/attracted. For example, if you have four nodes positioned in two rows and you select two nodes diagonally, then attracting and repelling will not work.

To attract nodes:

1. In the Effects Tree, select the nodes that you want to remain stationary.

2. On the keyboard, press the minus (–) key.

All nodes in the tree are pulled closer to the selected nodes.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

Organizing Nodes

When creating complex effects using the Effects Tree, you may end up with a large number of nodes all over the Effects Trees workspace. To work more efficiently and to have a clear idea of which node is connected to which, it’s best to organize your Effect Tree as you work.

There are two ways of organizing nodes:

• Arranging all nodes in the Effects Tree in a more coherent or structured manner displaying all the input, effect, and output nodes.

• Sorting a selected number of nodes, or a branch of the Effects Tree, to display how they are connected.

If you have not selected any node(s), then organizing the branch will rearrange itself around the output node. Unlike the Organize All Nodes option, you will notice that the nodes are not framed. Instead, the focus is on the selected nodes. To frame the Effects Tree, select the Frame All option.

Tip: To save vertical space in the Effects Tree, you can use the Densely Organize All Nodes or Densely Organize Branch options. For more

information, see “Effects Tree Menu” in the Help.

Command Shortcut

Organize Branch Shift + ]

Organize All Nodes Shift + [

Densely Organize Branch [

Densely Organize All Nodes ]

Renaming Nodes

Working with the Effects Tree

To organize nodes in the Effects Tree:

t Right-click the Effects Tree and select one of the following:

When you add several similar effects, such as color correction, it may become difficult to differentiate between each effect. Renaming the effect nodes makes it easier for you to locate them in a tree.

Renaming Input Ports

You cannot rename input or output nodes. However, since the second part of an input port’s name in an Effects Tree is derived from a track, you can rename the track. The name will be propagated to the input node.

To rename an effect node:

1. Do one of the following:

t Right-click the node and select Rename Effect.

t Alt + click the name.

2. Enter a new name for the node.

You can rename an input port’s name using the input’s name to help you determine the node from which an input originates.

To rename node input ports, do one of the following:

t Right-click a node’s input port name, and select Rename Input.

t Alt + click the input port name.

t Right-click a node and select Use Input Names.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

The name of the node connected to the input port is appended to the input port’s name and number. For example, if a Blue-Green keyer is connected to Input 1 of a Composite node, then the input port’s name will be displayed as Input 1 - Blue Green Keyer when you select this option from the Effects Node menu.

Tip: You can set the Use Input Names option as the default in the User Preferences dialog box. Select File > User Preferences (Effects Tree property page).

Displaying Tooltips

Tooltips are handy when you’re working with a zoomed-out tree and the node or input names are difficult to see. You can display tooltips on nodes, node input names, and connectors. You can also determine how quickly tooltips are displayed when you position the pointer over these objects.

To display tooltips on nodes, connectors, and node inputs:

1. Select File > User Preferences.

2. On the Effects Tree property page, select one or more options from the Tooltip Settings box.

Zooming the Effects Tree

Zooming the Effects Tree lets you focus on one part of your tree, which may be useful in complex trees with many effects.

To zoom the Effects Tree:

t Position the pointer over a node from which you want the Effects Tree to

zoom in or out and do one of the following:

- Press Z+right-click the Effects Tree and drag right or left.

- Press Z and drag a selection around the nodes you want to zoom in.

Press Z and click in the Effects Tree to go back to the original size.

- Press Alt+Z to zoom in on the Effects Tree or press Alt+X to

zoom out.

The Effects Tree incrementally zooms in or out each time you press the key commands.

Working with the Effects Tree

Tip: You can set the amount at which the incremental zoom takes place by selecting the Steps option in the Mouse Zoom box in the User Preferences dialog box. Select File > User Preferences (Effects Tree property page).

When you apply an Effects Tree to a clip or track, it can only use one input: from the clip or track. If you want to create a multi-input effect, apply an Effects Tree on a layer.

Using the Birds Eye View

The Birds Eye view lets you interactively move an Effects Tree to see nodes or effects that are outside the current view.

To use the Birds Eye View:

1. Right-click an empty area in the Effects Tree view and select Birds Eye View.

Close view

Darker region indicates there are more nodes and/or effects outside the Effects Tree view.

2. Drag your cursor over the light-colored region in the Birds Eye View to reveal more nodes and effects.

The open hand changes to a closed hand to show that you’re dragging the view. The Effects Tree moves accordingly to display more nodes and effects.

3. To close the view, click the Close button in the top-right hand corner.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

Saving and Loading Trees

Once you create a complex tree, you can save it as a preset and reuse it in an existing tree or apply it as a clip or track effect. When you save a tree, all the nodes that comprise the tree including the source (input), effects, and output are saved with the tree.

You can also add an Effects Tree preset to an existing tree or replace the tree with a preset.

Saving an Effects Tree

After creating an effects tree, you can save it as a preset. If you want to apply an Effects Tree preset to a clip or track, it can only have one input.

To save an Effects Tree as a preset:

1. Do one of the following:

t On a clip, track, or transition, double-click the Effects Tree effect bar.

t In an Effects Tree view, right-click an empty area and

select Properties.

2. In the Effects Tree property editor, click the Save Preset button.

3. In the Save Preset dialog box, select a folder, type a name and description

Loading an Effects Tree

If you try to save an Effects Tree from an effect’s property editor, only the current effect will be saved as a preset. Make sure you select General from the Effect list before you save the Effects Tree.

Before loading an Effects Tree, you may want to view it first.

To view an Effects Tree:

1. Double-click the Effects Tree preset node.

The Effects Tree property editor is displayed.

for your preset, and click OK.

The preset is saved in the folder you selected.

The Effects Tree Preset property editor is displayed.

Working with the Effects Tree

2. In the Effects Tree property editor, click the Expand button.

The Effects Tree view is displayed in a floating window.

To load an Effects Tree:

1. Right-click an empty area of an Effects Tree view and select Add Effect.

The Load Preset dialog box is displayed.

2. Browse through the folders and select a preset.

The Effects Tree preset is added to the current Effects Tree view. It looks like any other effect node.

3. Connect the preset node to the tree.

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

Effects Tree preset

Using the Effects Tree to Composite

The Effects Tree can be used to composite multiple images and combine multiple effects. Some artists prefer this method because it visually maps out the nodes of the tree. This section includes examples of how the Effects Tree can be used to composite images.

Using External Mattes in the Effects Tree

An external matte is a matte taken from one clip and applied to another.

There are three methods for adding external mattes: using the Effects Tree, using the Layers view, and using matte containers. For the Layers view and matte container methods, see “Using External Mattes in the Timeline and Layers View” on page 44.

RGB clip without a matte

Using the Effects Tree to Composite

Background clip

Composite result

External matte clip

To add an external matte to the Effects Tree:

1. In the Effects Tree, add Composite effect node and connect it to the background as shown here:

2. Drag the clip that you want to use as the foreground to the Effects Tree.

3. Drag the external matte clip to the Effects Tree.

4. Add the Key Combiner - Luma effect (\Tree Effects folder) to the tree and connect the nodes as shown here:

Chapter 2 Using Effects Trees

You are using the Luma channel of your external matte as a source for the alpha and combining this alpha channel with RGB channels of the clip (TextRGB)

If you want to combine the alpha channel with the RGB channels of the clip using the alpha channel of the matte as the source for the alpha, use the Key Combiner - Alpha effect. You can also open the Key Combiner property editor and select the source from which to map the output image’s alpha channel.

Compositing Two Layers

The Over effect is a real-time effect which lets you composite two images.

To composite two layers:

1. In the Layers view, click a layer to display its Effects Tree.

2. Right-click in the Effects Tree and select Add Effect.

3. From the \Tree Effects\Blending Operations folder, select Over.

4. Connect the input nodes to the Over node as follows:

5. In the Options property page, select the appropriate options.

6. Click OK to begin processing.

7. A progress indicator appears on the bottom of the desktop to show the status of the process.

Compositing Multiple Images

In an Effects Tree, the Composite effect node lets you composite upto 64 images. Open the Composite node's property editor to get a visual interface of the input images, which is similar to the Layer’s view.

100

Pinnacle Systems DS Nitris - 7.6 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Using This Guide

Symbols and Conventions

Mouse, Pen, and Keyboard

If You Need Help

Customizing the Pen or Mouse

Avid DS Customer Support

E-mail Support

Web Support

Upload Utility

Avid Community Forum

How to Order Documentation

Avid Educational Services

Compositing

Quick Recap: Compositing

Using the Effects Tree to Composite

Relationship within the Compositing Layout

Working with the Layers View

Adding Layers

Reordering Layers

Renaming Layers

Scrolling Layers

Navigating Through Layers

Loading a Layer Effect in the Layers View

Animating Layers

Adjusting the Opacity of a Layer

Removing Layers and External Mattes

Working with Mattes

Using Clips with Internal Mattes

Using Clips without Mattes in the Alpha Channel

Using External Mattes in the Timeline and Layers View

Combining Mattes

Working with Masks

Applying Channel or Pixel Masking

Using Alpha and Luma as Mask

Applying Blending Operations in the Layers View

Compositing with Premultiplied Images

The Science behind Premultiplication

Importing Source Files with an Alpha Channel

Applying the Premultiplication Effect

Automatic Changes to the Premultiplication Setting

Compositing Clips over a Black Background

Unpremultiplying with Color

Working with Layered Photoshop Images

Photoshop Layer Notes and Tips

Using Photoshop Images

Processing Composites

Processing Layered Clips on the Timeline

Processing Effect Nodes

Using Effects Trees

Applying Effects Trees

Applying an Effects Tree on a Clip or Track

Applying an Effects Tree as a Transition

Converting a Stack of Effects to an Effects Tree

Applying an Effects Tree on a Layer

Working with the Effects Tree

Opening the Effects Tree View

Adding Effect Nodes to a Tree

Adding Clips to the Effects Tree

Adding or Removing Inputs To and From an Effect Node

Connecting Nodes

Disconnecting Nodes

Selecting Nodes

Collapsing and Expanding Nodes

Removing Nodes

Editing an Effect Node

Viewing and Bypassing Nodes

Folding Nodes

Attracting or Repelling Nodes

Organizing Nodes

Renaming Nodes

Displaying Tooltips

Zooming the Effects Tree

Using the Birds Eye View

Saving and Loading Trees

Using the Effects Tree to Composite