Pinnacle Systems Instinct - 3.0 User’s Guide

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Avid® Instinct

User’s Guide

Version 3.0

™

Legal Notices

Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Avid Technology, Inc.

This product is subject to the terms and conditions of a software license agreement provided with the software. The product may only be used in accordance with the license agreement.

Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following United States Patents: 5,267,351; 5,309,528; 5,355,450; 5,396,594; 5,440,348; 5,467,288; 5,513,375; 5,528,310; 5,557,423; 5,577,190; 5,584,006; 5,640,601; 5,644,364; 5,654,737; 5,724,605; 5,726,717; 5,745,637; 5,752,029; 5,754,851; 5,799,150; 5,812,216; 5,828,678; 5,842,014; 5,852,435; 5,986,584; 5,999,406; 6,038,573; 6,069,668; 6,141,007; 6,211,869; 6,532,043; 6,546,190; 6,596,031; 6,747,705; 6,763,523; 6,766,357; 6,847,373; 7,081,900; 7,403,561; 7,433,519; 7,671,871; 7,684,096; D352,278; D372,478; D373,778; D392,267; D392,268; D392,269; D395,291; D396,853; D398,912. Other patents are pending.

Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following European Patents: 0506870; 0635188; 0674414; 0752174; 1111910; 1629675. Other patents are pending.

This document is protected under copyright law. An authorized licensee of Instinct may reproduce this publication for the licensee’s own use in learning how to use the software. This document may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, for commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this document or providing support or educational services to others. This document is supplied as a guide for Instinct. Reasonable care has been taken in preparing the information it contains. However, this document may contain omissions, technical inaccuracies, or typographical errors. Avid Technology, Inc. does not accept responsibility of any kind for customers’ losses due to the use of this document. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.

The following disclaimer is required by Apple Computer, Inc.:

APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THIS PRODUCT, INCLUDING WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.

The following disclaimer is required by Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics, Inc. for the use of their TIFF library:

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software [i.e., the TIFF library] and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that (i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in all copies of the software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS-IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

The following disclaimer is required by the Independent JPEG Group:

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

This Software may contain components licensed under the following conditions:

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation, advertising materials, and other materials related to such distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed by the University of California, Berkeley. The name of the University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. This software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of Daniel Dardailler not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. Daniel Dardailler makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose without fee is hereby granted, provided that this entire notice is included in all copies of any software which is or includes a copy or modification of this software and in all copies of the supporting documentation for such software.

THIS SOFTWARE IS BEING PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY. IN PARTICULAR, NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR AT&T MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE MERCHANTABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.

The following disclaimer is required by Nexidia Inc.:

Manufactured under license from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, U.S.A. Patent Pending.

The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:

Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

The following disclaimer is required by Ray Sauers Associates, Inc.:

“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code equivalent of “Install-It,” including by reverse assembly or reverse compilation, Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. shall in no event be liable for any damages resulting from reseller’s failure to perform reseller’s obligation; or any damages arising from use or operation of reseller’s products or the software; or any other damages, including but not limited to, incidental, direct, indirect, special or consequential Damages including lost profits, or damages resulting from loss of use or inability to use reseller’s products or the software for any reason including copyright or patent infringement, or lost data, even if Ray Sauers Associates has been advised, knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages.

The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:

“Videomedia, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.”

“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by Videomedia, Inc. and V-LAN ver. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use of this software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players and the like.”

The following disclaimer is required by Altura Software, Inc. for the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample Source Code:

The following disclaimer is required by Ultimatte Corporation:

Certain real-time compositing capabilities are provided under a license of such technology from Ultimatte Corporation and are subject to copyright protection.

The following disclaimer is required by 3Prong.com Inc.:

Certain waveform and vector monitoring capabilities are provided under a license from 3Prong.com Inc.

The following disclaimer is required by Interplay Entertainment Corp.:

The “Interplay” name is used with the permission of Interplay Entertainment Corp., which bears no responsibility for Avid products.

This product includes portions of the Alloy Look & Feel software from Incors GmbH.

This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/).

This product may include the JCifs library, for which the following notice applies:

Avid Interplay contains components licensed from LavanTech. These components may only be used as part of and in connection with Avid Interplay.

Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. This Software and its documentation are “commercial computer software” or “commercial computer software documentation.” In the event that such Software or documentation is acquired by or on behalf of a unit or agency of the U.S. Government, all rights with respect to this Software and documentation are subject to the terms of the License Agreement, pursuant to FAR §12.212(a) and/or DFARS §227.7202-1(a), as applicable.

Trademarks

003, 192 Digital I/O, 192 I/O, 96 I/O, 96i I/O, Adrenaline, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AME, AniMatte, Archive, Archive II, Assistant Station, AudioPages, AudioStation, AutoLoop, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Active, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel, Avid DNxHD, Avid DS Assist Station, Avid Liquid, Avid Media Engine, Avid Media Processor, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, Avid Remote Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, AvidRAID, AvidShare, AVIDstripe, AVX, Axiom, Beat Detective, Beauty Without The Bandwidth, Beyond Reality, BF Essentials, Bomb Factory, Boom, Bruno, C|24, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Cineractive Engine, Cineractive Player, Cineractive Viewer, Color Conductor, Command|24, Command|8, Conectiv, Control|24, Cosmonaut Voice, CountDown, d2, d3, DAE, Dazzle, Dazzle Digital Video Creator, D-Command, D-Control, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, Digi 003, DigiBase, DigiDelivery, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Development Partners, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, Digidesign TDM Bus, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiPanner, DigiProNet, DigiRack, DigiSerial, DigiSnake, DigiSystem, Digital Choreography, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTest, DigiTranslator, DigiWear, DINR, DNxchange, DPP-1, D-Show, DSP Manager, DS-StorageCalc, DV Toolkit, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, EM, EveryPhase, Expander, ExpertRender, Fader Pack, Fairchild, FastBreak, Fast Track, Film Cutter, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, Frame Chase, FXDeko, HD Core, HD Process, HDPack, Home-to-Hollywood, HYBRID, HyperControl, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, iKnowledge, Image Independence, Impact, Improv, iNEWS, iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelligent Content Management, Intelligent Digital Actor Technology, IntelliRender, Intelli-Sat, Intelli-sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, InterFX, Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS Expander, ISIS, IsoSync, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, KeyRig, KeyStudio, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, LFX, Lightning, Link & Sync, ListSync, LKT-200, Lo-Fi, Luna, MachineControl, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move | media, Marquee, MassivePack, Massive Pack Pro, M-Audio, M-Audio Micro, Maxim, Mbox, Media Composer, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, MediaFlow, MediaLog, MediaMatch, MediaMix, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaServer, MediaShare, MetaFuze, MetaSync, MicroTrack, MIDI I/O, Midiman, Mix Rack, MixLab, Moviebox, Moviestar, MultiShell, NaturalMatch, NewsCutter, NewsView, Nitris, NL3D, NLP, Nova, NRV-10 interFX, NSDOS, NSWIN, Octane, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, Ozone, Ozonic, Painterly Effects, Palladium, Personal Q, PET, Pinnacle, Pinnacle DistanTV, Pinnacle GenieBox, Pinnacle HomeMusic, Pinnacle MediaSuite, Pinnacle Mobile Media, Pinnacle Scorefitter, Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio MovieBoard, Pinnacle Systems, Pinnacle VideoSpin, Podcast Factory, PowerSwap, PRE, ProControl, ProEncode, Profiler, Pro Tools|HD, Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered, Pro Transfer, Pro Tools, QuickPunch, QuietDrive, Realtime Motion Synthesis, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger, Reel Tape Saturation, Reprise, Res Rocket Surfer, Reso, RetroLoop, Reverb One, ReVibe, Revolution, rS9, rS18, RTAS, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, Scorefitter, ScriptSync, SecureProductionEnvironment, Serv|LT, Serv|GT, Session, Shape-to-Shape, ShuttleCase, Sibelius, SIDON, SimulPlay, SimulRecord, Slightly Rude Compressor, Smack!, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter, Solaris, SoundReplacer, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie, StreamRAID, Strike, Structure, Studiophile, SubCap, Sundance Digital, Sundance, SurroundScope, Symphony, SYNC HD, Synchronic, SynchroScope, SYNC I/O, Syntax, TDM FlexCable, TechFlix, Tel-Ray, Thunder, Titansync, Titan, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan,

TL Drum Rehab, TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, tools for storytellers, Torq, Torq Xponent, Transfuser, Transit, TransJammer, Trigger Finger, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Velvet, Video the Web Way, VideoRAID, VideoSPACE, VideoSpin, VTEM, Work-N-Play, Xdeck, X-Form, Xmon, XPAND!, Xponent, X-Session, and X-Session Pro are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Footage

Arri — Courtesy of Arri/Fauer — John Fauer, Inc. Bell South “Anticipation” — Courtesy of Two Headed Monster — Tucker/Wayne Atlanta/GMS. Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior. Eco Challenge British Columbia — Courtesy of Eco Challenge Lifestyles, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Eco Challenge Morocco — Courtesy of Discovery Communications, Inc. It’s Shuttletime — Courtesy of BCP & Canadian Airlines. Nestlé Coffee Crisp — Courtesy of MacLaren McCann Canada. Saturn “Calvin Egg” — Courtesy of Cossette Communications. “Tigers: Tracking a Legend” — Courtesy of www.wildlifeworlds.com, Carol Amore, Executive Producer. "The Big Swell" — Courtesy of Swell Pictures, Inc. Windhorse — Courtesy of Paul Wagner Productions.

Arizona Images — KNTV Production — Courtesy of Granite Broadcasting, Inc., Editor/Producer Bryan Foote. Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior. Ice Island — Courtesy of Kurtis Productions, Ltd. Tornados + Belle Isle footage — Courtesy of KWTV News 9. WCAU Fire Story — Courtesy of NBC-10, Philadelphia, PA. Women in Sports – Paragliding — Courtesy of Legendary Entertainment, Inc.

News material provided by WFTV Television Inc.

Avid Instinct User’s Guide • 0130-07604-03 Rev A • May 2010 • This document is distributed by Avid in online (electronic) form only, and is not available for purchase in printed form.

About This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Viewing Help and Documentation on the Interplay Portal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Avid Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Chapter 1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

The iNEWS Newsroom Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Overview of the Newsroom Computer System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Asset Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Starting Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Logging In to Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Disabling Desktop Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Exiting Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Automatic Backup of Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Working with MultiRez and Dynamic Relink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Understanding the Application Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Video Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Voice-over Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

The Storyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Directory Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Research Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Navigating to a Folder That Contains a Selected Asset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Updating the Application Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Setting an Automatic Timeout for Interplay Assist and Avid Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 2 Working with Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Using the Directory Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Creating a Shortcut to a Directory or a Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Removing a Shortcut to a Directory or a Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Opening a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Creating a New Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

The Research Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Display Customizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Changing the Font. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Modifying the Display of the Research Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Hiding and Showing Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Saving a Custom Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Opening Multiple Tabs in the Research Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Editing Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Adding and Rearranging Text in a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Copying Locator Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Splitting Text into New Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Marking Text As Presenter Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Marking Text As Closed Caption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Adding a Production Cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Deleting a Production Cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Marking Text As Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Marking Text As Normal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Formatting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Read Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Support for iNEWS Hyperlinks and Story Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Saved and Locked Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Saving Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Locking, Closing, and Deleting Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Offline Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Saving Stories in Offline Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Restoring Stories in Offline Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Restoring a Story after a Timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Searching for Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Defining the Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Using the Search Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Chapter 3 Working with Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Working with Remote Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Opening Media Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Creating and Deleting Media Folders and Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Moving, Copying, and Duplicating Clips or Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Customizing the Research Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Changing the Research Panel View Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

The Research Panel Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Media Column Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Sorting Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Moving and Rearranging Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Hiding and Showing Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Adding Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Selecting Values for a Custom Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Selecting Asset Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Displaying Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Creating New Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Enlarging or Reducing Column Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Renaming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Adding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Viewing Thumbnail Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Modifying Writable Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Saving a Custom Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Opening Multiple Tabs in the Research Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Viewing Locators and Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Overview of Finding Media Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Performing Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Keeping Your Search Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Chapter 4 Story Building Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Video Monitor Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Loading Clips in the Video Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Monitoring Audio and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Playing Video Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Using the Position Bar and the Position Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Using the Step Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Playing a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Scrubbing Through the Storyline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Playing Footage with the J-K-L Keys (Three-Button Play) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Using Timecode to Find a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Using the Zoom Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Marking and Cueing Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Video Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Marking In Points and Out Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Dragging In Points and Out Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Cueing the Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Reviewing an Out Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Video Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Sequence-Building Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Adding Video to a Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Creating a Story with Video Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Working with Video in the Storyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Adding Video Clips to the Storyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Replacing Video Clips in the Storyline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Deleting Video Clips in the Storyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Story Segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Adding and Deleting Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Rearranging Segments by Dragging and Dropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Splitting Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Adding Copy to the Script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Using Trim Mode to Adjust the Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Using Auto Trim Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Extending Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Extending Clips On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Saving Your Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Chapter 5 Using Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Before You Begin Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Recording Voice-over Narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Creating the Voice-over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Recording Voice-over Narration to Multiple Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Using a Voice Clip for Voice-over Narration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Using Natural Sound and Sound-on-Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Adding Sound-on-Tape Tracks to the Storyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Disabling and Enabling the NAT Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Overriding the Default NAT and SOT Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Adding SOT Audio to B-Roll Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Inserting a SOT Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Adding B-Roll Footage to a SOT Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Creating Audio Overlaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Adjusting Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Monitoring Audio Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Adjusting Audio Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Working with Two Tracks for NAT and SOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Adding Audio Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Setting the Audio Dissolve Duration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Enabling Center-Panned Sound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Chapter 6 Exporting Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Send to Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Exporting Stories for Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Setting Working and Target Audio Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Exporting a Story to an Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Checking Out a Sequence from Avid Interplay Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Checking Out a Sequence from the Avid Interplay Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Appendix A Using Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

General Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Video Monitor Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Storyline Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Directory Panel Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Research Panel Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Shortcuts for Foreign Language Keyboards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Using This Guide

Avid® Instinct™ is a tool for producers, writers, and journalists that allows them to write Avid iNEWS part of a larger newsroom computer system that includes an iNEWS server and an asset manager, which gives the user access to text and media used in creating stories for broadcast.

This guide contains all the task-oriented instructions, conceptual information, and reference material you need to use the story-creation features of your Avid application.

This guide is intended for all Instinct users, from beginning to advanced. You should be familiar with your Microsoft producing news broadcasts.

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.

stories and put together simple audio and video sequences. Avid Instinct is

About This Guide

This guide is designed to consolidate all the information you will need to take advantage of the many options that your Avid Instinct application offers.

The Contents lists all topics included in the book. They are presented with the following overall structure:

Windows® XP operating system, and with recording and

• Chapter 1, “Getting Started with Avid Instinct,” describes the overall organization of the iNEWS environment and the general features of the Instinct application.

• The main body of this guide follows the natural flow of your work, with clear and comprehensive step-by-step procedures.

• An appendix summarizes the keyboard shortcuts available to the user.

• Finally, a detailed Index helps you quickly locate specific topics.

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

> This symbol indicates menu commands (and subcommands) in the

(Windows), (Windows only), (Macintosh), or (Macintosh only)

Bold font Bold font is primarily used in task instructions to identify user interface

Italic font Italic font is used to emphasize certain words and to indicate variables.

Courier Bold font

A note provides important related information, reminders, recommendations, and strong suggestions.

A caution means that a specific action you take could cause harm to your computer or cause you to lose data.

A warning describes an action that could cause you physical harm. Follow the guidelines in this document or on the unit itself when handling electrical equipment.

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

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

This text indicates that the information applies only to the specified operating system, either Windows or Macintosh OS X.

items and keyboard sequences.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

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

mouse action. For example, Command+Option+C or Ctrl+drag.

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using your Avid product:

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 the latest information that might have become available after the documentation was published:

- If the latest information for your Avid product is provided as printed release notes,

they are shipped with your application and are also available online.

- If the latest information for your Avid product is provided as a ReadMe file, it is

supplied on your Avid installation CD or DVD as a PDF document (README_product.pdf) and is also available online.

You should always check online for the most up-to-date release notes or ReadMe because the online version is updated whenever new information becomes available. To view these online versions, select ReadMe from the Help menu, or visit

the Knowledge Base at www.avid.com/readme.

3. Check the documentation that came with your Avid application or your hardware for maintenance or hardware-related issues.

If You Need Help

4. Visit the online Knowledge Base at www.avid.com/onlinesupport. Online services are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Search this online Knowledge Base to find answers, to view error messages, to access troubleshooting tips, to download updates, and to read or join online message-board discussions.

Viewing Help and Documentation on the Interplay Portal

You can quickly access the Interplay Help, PDF versions of the Interplay guides, and useful external links by viewing the Interplay User Information Center on the Interplay Portal. The Interplay Portal is a web site that runs on the Interplay Engine.

You can access the Interplay User Information Center through a browser from any system in the Interplay environment. You can also access it through the Help menu in Interplay Access and the Interplay Administrator.

The Interplay Help combines information from all Interplay guides in one Help system. It includes a combined index and a full-featured search. From the Interplay Portal, you can run the Help in a browser or download a compiled (.chm) version for use on other systems, such as a laptop.

To open the Interplay User Information Center through a browser:

1. Type the following line in a web browser:

http://Interplay_Engine_name

For Interplay_Engine_name substitute the name of the computer running the Interplay Engine software. For example, the following line opens the portal web page on a system named docwg:

http://docwg

2. Click the “Avid Interplay Documentation” link to access the User Information Center web page.

To open the Interplay User Information Center from Interplay Access or the Interplay Administrator:

t Select Help > Documentation Website on Server.

Avid Training Services

Avid makes lifelong learning, career advancement, and personal development easy and convenient. Avid understands that the knowledge you need to differentiate yourself is always changing, and Avid continually updates course content and offers new training delivery methods that accommodate your pressured and competitive work environment.

For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications, courseware, and books, please visit www.avid.com/support and follow the Training links, or call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843).

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

Avid Instinct provides you with the tools needed for writing iNEWS stories and building simple audio and video sequences to go with those stories. Instinct runs as an iNEWS client and is tightly integrated with both your iNEWS system and your asset manager. The application uses a script-based editing tool and a vertical story layout — called the Storyline — to organize your story elements.

Video and audio source material comes from your shared storage and is accessed by the asset manager. Instinct can search and browse the media database, and it can access media stored on your Avid Unity Working remotely eliminates the need to copy the information to a bin or folder.

Avid Instinct requires a license from your Avid Interplay system. For more information on

licenses, see the Avid Instinct ReadMe and your Avid Interplay documentation.

Instinct has the essential features to access the iNEWS server and be a part of an iNEWS environment. In addition, the application allows you to do the following:

• Create stories

• Add video and audio to your story

• Work with multiple resolutions in a single story

™

MediaNetwork or Avid Unity ISIS® shared storage systems.

• Record voice-over narration

• Adjust audio tracks

• Export your story to a playback device or to an Avid editing system such as Avid NewsCutter

The following topics discuss some of the basic features of Avid Instinct:

• The iNEWS Newsroom Environment

• Starting Avid Instinct

• Logging In to Avid Instinct

• Automatic Backup of Stories

• Understanding the Application Layout

• Navigating to a Folder That Contains a Selected Asset

Adrenaline

™

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

• Updating the Application Display

• Setting an Automatic Timeout for Interplay Assist and Avid Instinct

The iNEWS Newsroom Environment

Instinct provides producers, writers, journalists, directors, and various technical personnel in a newsroom with an array of tools to make their jobs easier. The following topics provide an overview of concepts and terms used in the newsroom environment and some general information useful in understanding how Instinct is integrated with a full, digital broadcast solution:

• Overview of the Newsroom Computer System

• Avid Instinct

• Asset Manager

Overview of the Newsroom Computer System

The data you and others in your newsroom create — stories, scripts, news rundowns — are saved in a database on the iNEWS server. The iNEWS server is maintained by your system manager, and Instinct works as a client of the iNEWS server. The Instinct systems in your newsroom are linked together via a network so they can share information. When the iNEWS server receives new information — such as additions or changes to stories — that information can be accessed by clients connected to the server. This enables each system to access the most recent versions of stories and program rundowns, thereby allowing you to work faster and more efficiently.

Avid Instinct

Avid Instinct refers to the basic story building application that runs on the computer on which you work. From Instinct, you can create stories, edit scripts, and access wire stories. You can access media from the media server attached to your network, and you can use that media in your stories as you build a sequence that can then be sent to playback or edited further by video professionals in the newsroom.

Asset Manager

The iNEWS Newsroom Environment

In addition to running as a client of the iNEWS server, Instinct also runs as a client of an Avid Interplay provide access to shared media. The Avid Interplay system allows you to use all of the media clips available to you in a workgroup environment. As you build your story, you can use Instinct to browse and to access the media clips managed by Interplay, add the media clips to your story, and then save your sequence so that others can access your work.

Media clips reference the actual media files, which are stored on your Avid Unity shared

storage system.

Your Interplay administrator must set some site and user settings before you use Instinct. These settings are stored on the Interplay server and are used by Instinct when retrieving media objects managed by the Avid Interplay Engine. Site and user settings include the following:

• Video format (used as the default for stories you create in Instinct, the Video format must be set to either specific NTSC or PAL formats, or any format)

• Source and Storyline audio patching (used for mapping audio tracks)

• Audio parameters (target workspace for voice-over recording, audio rate, ducking volume, audio file format)

• Target and working resolutions

• User permissions for sending stories to playback and for modifying settings

• Avid Interplay Transfer settings

™

server, which uses an asset manager called the Avid Interplay Engine to

These settings must be set by an administrator. For more information, see the Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Interplay Archive Engine Administration Guide or the Interplay Help.

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

Starting Avid Instinct

In addition to running as a client of Avid iNEWS and Interplay, Instinct accesses shared media stored on either an Avid Unity MediaNetwork system or an Avid Unity ISIS system. Avid Unity client applications should already be installed on your system; however, if you are not certain if the necessary software has been installed, see your system administrator.

To record a voice-over or to send material to playback, you need the following:

• An Avid Unity account with write access to at least one shared-storage workspace

• A workspace to which you have write access. This workspace is specified in the Editing Settings tab of the Application Database Settings in the Interplay Administrator, in the option “Media Creation Workspace.”

If your Windows username and password exactly match the Avid Unity username and password, access to the workspace is automatic. If your Windows username and password do not match, you need to log in through the Client Manager (for Avid Unity ISIS) or the Connection Manager (for Avid Unity MediaNetwork). See your system administrator for more information.

Before you start Instinct for the first time, the administrator for your Avid Interplay system must specify site settings for your system For information on Interplay settings, see the Avid

Interplay Engine and Avid Interplay Archive Engine Administration Guide.

Logging In to Avid Instinct

After Instinct launches, the Server Login dialog box appears. You must log in and select an asset manager and an iNEWS server before you can begin working on the application. In most instances, you only need to specify the asset manager and the iNEWS server the first time you launch Instinct after installation.

To log in from the Server Login dialog box:

1. Click the Start button, and then select Programs > Avid > Avid iNEWS Instinct. The first time you start Instinct, the License Agreement dialog box opens. You must

click Agree to accept the Avid license agreement. After the application initializes, the Server Login dialog box opens.

2. If your user names or your passwords for the asset manager and the iNEWS server are different, select Separate Login.

The Server Login dialog box expands to allow you to log in with separate user accounts on the asset manager and the iNEWS server.

Disabling Desktop Compositing

Separate login option

3. If necessary, enter the name of the Avid Interplay server in the Asset Manager Server text box.

4. If necessary, enter the name of your iNEWS server in the NRCS Server text box. If you do not know the name of the Interplay or the iNEWS server, contact your system administrator.

5. Type your user name in the User text box.

6. Type your password in the Password text box. Interplay passwords are case-sensitive.

7. Click the Login button. If the log in fails, the Server Login dialog box displays an X next to the server to

indicate a failure. Click the Login button again to retry. If the failure persists, see your system administrator.

The Avid Instinct main window appears.

Disabling Desktop Compositing

For proper playback in Interplay Assist or Avid Instinct on Windows Vista or Windows 7 systems, desktop compositing must be disabled. (Desktop compositing supports Aero desktop themes that include transparent window borders and other effects.)

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

Interplay Assist and Avid Instinct automatically disable desktop compositing when you launch the application and restore desktop compositing when you close the application. Alternatively, you can select a non-Aero desktop theme or disable desktop compositing through a system setting. These alternative methods prevent a brief flash from appearing when the application disables desktop compositing.

To disable desktop compositing:

1. Access the Control Panel.

2. Do one of the following:

t Click System and Security, then click System. t In Classic view, double-click System.

3. Click “Advanced system settings.”

4. In the System Properties window, click the Advanced tab.

5. Under the Performance area, click Settings.

6. Uncheck “Enable desktop composition.”

Exiting Instinct

To exit Avid Instinct:

t Select Exit from the File menu or press Ctrl+Q.

If you exit Avid Instinct, and attempt to open it immediately afterwards, you might get a message that another instance of the application is already running or is still exiting. Wait approximately thirty seconds and start the application again.

Automatic Backup of Stories

Avid Instinct automatically creates a local backup version of a story in case of a system crash, with “.backup” appended to the story name. If a story is open when Avid Instinct crashes, the next time you log in, a message is displayed, asking if you want to restore the locally backed up story.

• If you select Yes, the backup story is opened and added to the iNEWS queue. If you then want to replace the original story with the backup version, delete the original story and rename the backup version with the name of the original story.

• If you select No, the backup story is not added to the queue.

Working with MultiRez and Dynamic Relink

MultiRez (a term derived from “multiple resolutions”) allows you to associate a clip with multiple media files of different resolutions. For example, you can associate the same audio clip with both low-resolution MP2 and uncompressed PCM, and the uncompressed files can be associated with more than one sample rate or bit depth. MultiRez works with both audio and video files.

When you work with MultiRez, you can easily switch between the different resolutions. This switching is referred to as dynamic relink. Dynamic relink is useful when you want to work with low-resolution media (working resolution) and create your final output in high-resolution media (target resolution).

Your Interplay administrator sets dynamic relink options in two locations in the Avid Interplay Administrator: in the Editing Settings tab of the Application Database Settings and in the Instinct/Assist User Settings. If dynamic relink is enabled, the following relink options must be changed from the default value (“not set”) before the functionality is applied to a site or a user:

Option Setting Description

Dynamic Relink (Editing Settings tab, Application Database Settings)

Send to playback (Editing Settings tab, Application Database Settings)

Video Settings (Instinct/Assist User Settings)

Audio Settings (Instinct/Assist User Settings)

Enabled or Disabled Enables or disables Dynamic Relink.

Target resolution, primary

Audio Target Resolution

Working Resolution Sets the user’s working video resolution.

Working Resolution Sets the user’s working audio resolution. If

Sets a resolution for output to a playback device. The default is DV 25 411.

Sets an audio resolution for output to a playback device. The default is PCM. Also sets the Sample Rate and Bit Depth of the audio for playback.

the working resolution is set to PCM, you can select a sample rate and a bit depth for audio clips.

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

When your Avid Interplay administrator enables dynamic relink, Assist or Instinct loads video and audio clips in your working resolution. When you send a sequence to playback, the media clips are automatically relinked to the target resolution. If dynamic relink is disabled, Assist or Instinct loads clips using the resolution the media clips are currently linked to, and Instinct does not relink media when you export it.

For more information on Avid Interplay settings, see the Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Interplay Archive Engine Administration Guide or the Interplay Help.

To check if dynamic relink is enabled:

1. Select Help > About Avid Interplay Assist or Help > About Avid Interplay Instinct.

2. Click the MultiRez tab, and check that the Dynamic Relink Enabled option is set to Yes. MultiRez Enabled is also displayed and should be set to yes. MultiRez enabled means

that the application is capable of using MultiRez and dynamic relink.

3. Click OK.

Understanding the Application Layout

Becoming familiar with the layout of Avid Instinct will help you navigate through the application more quickly.

All of the work you do within Instinct is performed from the main window. From this window, you can navigate through your system, open queues and stories, edit and print scripts, browse media, assemble video and audio clips, prepare sequences, and search the database.

Instinct can display in both the traditional landscape mode and in portrait mode. Portrait mode allows you to take optimal advantage of the vertical layout of Instinct. See the Avid Instinct ReadMe for a list of supported video cards and video drivers that allow you to use portrait mode display.

Understanding the Application Layout

Video monitor

Storyline panel

Directory panel

Research panel

Voice-over controls

The main elements of the Instinct main window are labeled to guide you in the tasks that go into creating a story. The Instinct main window is made up of five components, which are described in the following sections:

• “Video Monitor” on page 26

• “Voice-over Controls” on page 26

• “The Storyline” on page 27

• “Directory Panel” on page 28

• “Research Panel” on page 29

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

Timecode

Display buttons

Clip or Story name

Play and Mark buttons

Step buttons

Record button

Video Monitor

The Video monitor appears at the top of the main window. It displays the active video clip or sequence, along with the story name (or slug). Display buttons at the top of the monitor allow you to switch between the raw video (Source), the full sequence (Story), and the active clip in the Storyline (Trim). You can use the Play buttons, Mark buttons, and Step buttons to play, cue, and mark the clip as you create your story.

Voice-over Controls

You use the Voice-over controls for recording voice-over narration. You can set the input source and monitor the volume when you record audio.

The Storyline

Media column Story body

Story Form

Edit buttons

Production column

The Storyline is divided into three main parts:

• The Media column, a vertical layout of your story where you add and delete media clips as you build your story

• The Story body, where the text of your story appears and where you can edit and format the script for your story using the Edit buttons

• The Production column, which displays production cues containing playback instructions for devices such as video machines, still stores, and character generators.

Understanding the Application Layout

The Story Form appears at the top of the Storyline. You can set the Story Form to display or remain hidden as you work. The iNEWS server provides the Story Form headings.

To hide the Story Form:

t Select Story > Hide Story Fields.

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

Directory Panel

The Directory panel lists the contents of the news and media databases you are accessing. The iNEWS tab includes all of the stories, scripts, assignments, rundowns, and notes stored on your iNEWS server. Using the tabs at the top of the panel, you can also view media stored on your media database.

iNEWS Tab: The iNEWS tab is your guide to iNEWS. It contains the directory or file structure of the iNEWS server. The iNEWS tab is one of the primary elements that make up the Instinct layout, and it can display the following kinds of information:

• Directories — Like file drawers in a file cabinet, directories are storage spaces. Directories can contain more directories (subdirectories) or queues. Directories do not contain stories.

• Queues — Like folders in a file drawer, queues are storage places within the iNEWS tab which allow you to view information in detailed categories. Stories are contained in queues.

• Rundowns — Rundowns are a special type of queue, one that contains timed-out lists of stories indicating the order in which they will run during a news program.

Some broadcast facilities refer to rundowns as lineups.

• Stories — Stories in iNEWS are documents found in queues in the iNEWS database. They can contain any type of information you need to save — from news stories to contact names and addresses. You can display an iNEWS story in its entirety in the

Research panel; however, because Instinct stories also contain media clips, you can display only the text of the story script in the Research panel. To see all of the elements of your story, you must open the story in the Storyline.

Media Tab: The Media tab displays all media folders accessible to Avid Interplay. Using a tree view, the Media tab shows you the following types of information:

• Directories — Directories are storage spaces that contain media folders. Directories do not display individual clips, which you can view in the Research panel.

• Media folders — Folders contain either other folders or the individual media files, such as video clips, that you use when building your stories.

Research Panel

The Research panel is where your active content is listed. It contains all queues, which allow you to open stories in the Storyline, and it lists all selected projects and media folders and catalogs managed by your asset manager. You can load stories and media from the Research panel, which keeps track of your assets in a tabbed window with iNEWS assets on the left of the Research panel and media assets listed on the right. You can also view logging information contained in locators and restrictions added to media clips.

Understanding the Application Layout

You also use the Research panel to access Instinct search functions. When you start a search, a Search tab opens in the Research panel. The Search tab allows you to search the iNEWS and the Interplay databases for all stories and media files that fit the search parameters you specify. You can also search any indexed queue or directory on your iNEWS server. Results for both media and iNEWS searches display in the Research panel.

You can change the display properties of the iNEWS tabs of the Research panel by using the

keyboard shortcuts described in “Modifying the Display of the Research Panel” on page 42.

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

Navigating to a Folder That Contains a Selected Asset

You can use a command to navigate (go to) to a folder that contains a selected asset. You can also navigate to the folder that will hold the current story when it is saved.

To navigate to a folder that contains a selected media asset:

1. Right-click one of the following and select Open Enclosing Folder:

- An image in the Video monitor (Source mode or Trim mode)

- A clip in the Storyline

- An asset in the Research panel (any tab). The Open Enclosing Folder dialog box opens and displays a list of folders that contain

the asset.

2. Select a folder and click OK. The folder is selected in the directory tree and the contents of the folder are displayed in

a tab in the Research panel, with the selected asset highlighted.

To navigate to an Interplay folder in which a story will be saved:

t Right-click an image in the Video monitor in Story mode and select Open Enclosing

Folder. The folder is selected in the directory tree and the contents of the folder in which the

story will be saved are displayed in a tab in the Research panel. If the folder does not exist yet, the directory tree opens to the nearest location and no contents are displayed.

Updating the Application Display

If material is ingesting as you are working or other people are working in the same project, you might need to update the application display to see the latest content.

To update the application display, do one of the following:

t Select View > Refresh all. t Press F5.

The Directory panel, the Research panel, the Storyline, and the Video monitor update to the latest content. In the Research panel, this includes only the tab in front if you have more than one tab. Tabs that are behind the active tab don’t update. If you try to update before a previous update operation has completed, Instinct ignores the second attempt. Search result tabs are also not updated.

Setting an Automatic Timeout for Interplay Assist and Avid Instinct

To refresh the tabs that are behind the active tab:

1. Click the tab you want to update to bring it to the front.

2. Select View > Refresh all. The tab updates to the latest content.

To update the Research panel:

t Click the Refresh button.

To update a search result tab:

t Execute the search again.

Setting an Automatic Timeout for Interplay Assist and Avid Instinct

An Interplay administrator has the option of letting Interplay Assist and Avid Instinct automatically time out after a specified period of inactivity. This feature helps in license management, because it enables an unused license to be freed up without the administrator manually finding and closing inactive applications on user desktops.

If a timeout period is set, and the application does not detect any activity during that period, the application displays a message that asks if you want to quit. Click Yes to quit, or click No to keep the application open. If you do not click Yes or No, the application quits in twenty seconds.

The default setting is one hour. This setting applies to the entire database.

To set the timeout period:

1. Start Interplay Administrator and log on to the database for which you want to set the automatic timeout.

2. In the Application Settings section of the Interplay Administrator, click the Application Database Settings icon.

3. Click the Application Defaults tab.

4. Select the database (AvidWG).

5. In the Assist/Instinct - Defaults section, enter a value in hours for the Automatic Timeout option. Decimal values are allowed. For example, for a timeout period of one and a half hours, enter:

1.5

If you do not want a timeout period, enter 0 (zero).

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

6. Click Apply. The timeout period begins the next time you launch the application.

2 Working with Stories

Avid Instinct lets you create, view, and modify stories located on an Avid iNEWS™ server, access media clips managed by the Avid asset manager, and record voice-over narration for your stories.

You use Instinct to connect to an iNEWS server to access story scripts, which then allows you to build stories on your Avid system. When you open a story, you can make formatting and content changes on your local system instead of moving to an iNEWS workstation to do the script editing. After you have made changes to the story, you can save the changes, which are then available to others using the same server.

You can build a sequence in Instinct, selecting your media from clips stored in a shared storage environment. You can create copy, and then match your script to your footage by trimming the audio or video. You can then send the story to playback or hand it off to an editor working with an Avid editing application, such as Avid NewsCutter Adrenaline, who can then refine the media sequence and add titles and effects. For more information on accessing and arranging footage, see “Working with Media” on page 61.

The following topics describe how to use Avid Instinct to create and build stories:

• Using the Directory Panel

• The Research Panel

• Display Customizations

• Editing Scripts

• Read Times

• Support for iNEWS Hyperlinks and Story Links

• Saved and Locked Stories

• Offline Mode

• Searching for Information

2 Working with Stories

Shortcut Server

name

Using the Directory Panel

The Directory panel provides you with a guide to both the iNEWS server and the asset manager. It contains the directory or file structure of the servers, displayed in tree view, and you use the panel to locate and open queues and remote assets. When you open Instinct, the Directory panel displays the contents of the iNEWS directory by default.

The following topics provide more information about using the Directory panel:

• “Creating a Shortcut to a Directory or a Queue” on page 34

• “Removing a Shortcut to a Directory or a Queue” on page 35

• “Opening a Story” on page 35

• “Creating a New Story” on page 38

Creating a Shortcut to a Directory or a Queue

You can save time accessing stories you use often by creating shortcuts to directories and queues in the Directory panel.

To create a shortcut to a directory or a queue:

1. Click the iNEWS tab of the Directory panel.

2. Navigate to the directory or the queue.

3. Right-click the name or icon for the directory or the queue, and select Create Shortcut. The shortcut appears in italic above the iNEWS server name in the Directory panel.

To rename the shortcut:

1. Right-click the shortcut name, and select Rename Shortcut. The Shortcut Rename dialog box opens.

2. Type a new name for the shortcut.

3. Click OK.

Removing a Shortcut to a Directory or a Queue

To remove a shortcut to a directory or a queue:

t Right-click the shortcut name, and select Delete Shortcut.

The shortcut is removed.

Opening a Story

The iNEWS tab of the Directory panel displays the contents of the news database stored on your iNEWS server. It lists all available directories and queues in a hierarchical file structure. You use the iNEWS tab to browse directories and queues, and you can then open a queue — a list of stories — in the Research panel. The story script appears in the Story body area of the Storyline, which remains blank until you open your first story.

Using the Directory Panel

In the iNEWS tab of the Directory panel, all folders are closed when you first log in, which indicates closed directories. Folders and queues within a directory are indented below that directory. You can open and close directories by clicking the plus sign (+) next to the folder.

You cannot open queues and stories that have user locks applied to them at an iNEWS workstation. If you need to access a queue or a story that has been locked with either a Key lock or an Easy lock, see your iNEWS system manager.

To open a story:

1. Click the iNEWS tab of the Directory panel.

2. Navigate to the directory you want to open. For information on using keyboard shortcuts to navigate the Directory panel, see

“Directory Panel Shortcuts” on page 159.

2 Working with Stories

Closed directory

Expanded directory

Queue

Story list

Story Preview area

3. Do one of the following to open the folder:

t Click the folder. t Click the plus sign (+) next to the folder.

The iNEWS tab displays all queues and subfolders contained in the selected directory.

4. Click the queue you want to open. The stories in the queue are displayed in the Story list in the Research panel.

5. Locate the story you want to open, and do one of the following:

t Double-click the story name. t Select the story, and press Enter.

The story appears in the Storyline.

Using the Directory Panel

You can view the story’s script in the Story Preview area before you open the story by clicking the story name in the Story list. Media, formatted text, and production cues do not display in the Story Preview area.

2 Working with Stories

Creating a New Story

Before you can create a new story, you must open the queue in which the new story will be located. When you create a story, usually the story is blank; however, its contents depend on what attributes are defined in the story form for the selected queue. For information about story form attributes, see your iNEWS system manager.

When you have created a story, you cannot use Instinct to change its location within the queue. You can rearrange stories only from an iNEWS workstation.

Site settings determine the default project type for the story — either an NTSC or a PAL format. If your site is set to work with both NTSC and PAL projects, you can specify the project type when you create your story.

To create a new story:

1. Open a queue.

2. Select the row in the Story list below where you want Instinct to place your story. If you do not select a row, Instinct places the new story at the end of the queue.

3. Do one of the following: t Select File > New Story.

t Press Ctrl+N. The New Story dialog box opens. If you have a story open that you have modified, a

message box asks if you want to save the changes in the open story before creating a new story.

4. Type a name for the story in the Story name text box.

5. Select a format from the Video Format list (the video formats available to you are set by your Interplay administrator).

6. Click OK. The new story is created and placed above the selected row in the Story list. The new

story has a blank text box in the Story body.

The Research Panel

The Research panel provides basic information about the stories listed in the selected queue. The following table describes the column headings for stories in the Queue list. For a procedure on how to select column headings, see “Hiding and Showing Columns” on

page 43.

Heading Description

Page Lists the page number, typically assigned by the show producer for each story (this

allows, for example, stories to be identified by the area of the show to which they belong)

Name Lists the name of the story (sometimes called the “slug”) on the iNEWS server

VideoID Lists the media, tape, or video identification number of the sequence, which is used

to reference the story to the sequence for playback (for example, by Avid iNEWS ControlAir

Status Lists the playback status of the media sequence, as communicated by the control

system (for example, cued, playing, unavailable, ready)

Audio Lists the estimated time for reading a story in minutes:seconds, which can be

estimated by the newsroom system or entered into the field by a user

™

)

Tape Lists the time for any portions of the story not read by the presenter (for example,

sound bites), which are either computed by the newsroom system by adding up any run times listed in the Story body or entered directly into the field by the user

Total Lists the total duration of other timing fields (audio and tape/run time) in

minutes:seconds

You cannot sort the columns in the Story list.

2 Working with Stories

Update button

Display More buttonItem count

In addition to the data organized by the column headings in the Story list, the Research panel displays the following information about queues and stories:

• Refresh queues: When a queue has the refresh trait enabled in iNEWS, the iNEWS update notification service allows you to see which queues have been modified during your work session. If a user makes a change to the active queue in the Research panel, the Update button next to the queue name becomes active. If you click the active Update button, or if you press F5, Instinct updates the queue.

• Non-refresh queues: Some queues in the iNEWS database typically do not have the refresh trait enabled — for example, wire queues. If a non-refresh queue holds a large number of entries, the Story list displays only the first 200 items and the Display More button is active. To view the next 200 items, click the Display More button next to the item count.

The refresh trait can be set only from an iNEWS workstation. For more information on the refresh trait, see your iNEWS system manager.

Display Customizations

You can change the font used in the Directory panel, the Research panel, or the Storyline. You can also set the Research panel to hide the Story list or the Story Preview area, and you can create a custom view in the Research panel.

Changing the Font

You can change the default fonts and font sizes for the following areas of the Instinct interface by using the Fonts menu options:

Interface Area Fonts Menu Option

Story body Story Body

Story Form Story Fields

Directory panel Media/iNEWS Browser

Story or Media list List

Display Customizations

Font changes are saved as user settings and do not affect other Instinct systems accessing the iNEWS server or the asset manager.

To change the font in Avid Instinct:

1. Select Preferences > Fonts > [font option]. The Select [font option] font dialog box opens.

2 Working with Stories

The dialog box allows you to select and preview options other than Font and Size, but those options do not take effect in the application; you can change only Font and Size.

2. Select a font and a size, and then click OK. The font in the interface area you selected changes.

To restore the default fonts in the Instinct interface:

t Select Preferences > Fonts > Restore Fonts to Default.

Modifying the Display of the Research Panel

You can modify the appearance of the Research panel to hide the Story Preview area or to split the Research panel horizontally (so the Story list and the Story Preview area display on the right and left of the panel) or vertically (so they display at the top and bottom of the panel).

To modify the display properties of the Research panel, do one of the following:

t Click in either the Story list or in the Story Preview area, and press Alt+Z to zoom in on

the area you want to view (zooming in hides the unselected area).

t Click anywhere in the Research panel to make it active, and press Alt+H to display the

Story Preview area to the right of the Story list.

t Click anywhere in the Research panel to make it active, and press Alt+V to display the

Story Preview area below the Story list.

Hiding and Showing Columns

You can select headings to be hidden or displayed in the Research panel.

To hide a column:

t Right-click the column heading and select Hide this Column.

When you hide columns, they are listed on the menu below the Hide this Column option.

To display a hidden column:

t Right-click a column heading and select Show [heading].

Saving a Custom Layout

Any time you modify a column, the Research panel maintains the custom layout for the individual queue during your current work session even if you switch queues. When you quit your session, the customized layout is lost unless you save it. You can apply saved layouts to any display in the Research panel. The application uses the last saved layout to display queues in the Research panel. You can also save separate custom layouts for the iNEWS tabs and for the media tabs in the Research panel.

Display Customizations

The Research panel also saves the default layout which appears when you first open Instinct. You cannot save or delete the default layout.

To save a layout:

1. Open a queue.

2. Modify the display or the columns according to preference.

3. Click the Layout menu, and select Save Layout As. If you want to save changes to an existing layout, click Save Layout.

The initial layout name is “Default.” Once you save a layout, the Layout menu displays the saved layout name.

2 Working with Stories

Layout menu

The Enter Column Layout Name dialog box opens.

4. Type a name for the custom view, and click OK. The layout is saved and added to the list of layouts in the Layout menu. You can select

any of the saved layouts from the Layout menu.

To change to another saved layout:

t Click the Layout menu, and select a saved menu from the menu list. If you select

Default, the Research panel reverts to the layout that appears when you first open Instinct.

To delete a layout:

1. Click the Layout menu, and select the layout you want to delete from the menu list.

2. Click the Layout menu, and select Delete Current Layout. A confirmation box opens.

3. Click Yes. You cannot delete the Default layout.

Opening Multiple Tabs in the Research Panel

Queue tabs Close

button

Pin button

When you open a new queue, it replaces the current queue in the Research panel. If you want to keep the contents of more than one queue open at a time, you can save the queue display as a tab in the Research panel and then open the new queue as a separate tab. This way, you can keep multiple queues open at once.

You can have a maximum of 10 tabs open in the Research panel at one time.

To open multiple queues in the Research panel:

1. Click the active tab in the Research panel, and then click the Pin button. The queue is saved as a tab in the Research panel, and the Pin button changes from a

horizontal pin icon to a vertical one to indicate the tab is saved.

2. In the Directory panel, click a new queue. The queue opens as a new tab in the Research panel.

Editing Scripts

To close a tab in the Research panel:

t On the tab you want to close, click the Close button.

Editing Scripts

You can use Avid Instinct to perform basic editing functions on your story scripts, eliminating the need to do the work on an iNEWS workstation and saving valuable time in the writing process.

Only one user can edit a story script at any given time. If a second user tries to edit a story that another user is working on, the second user receives a message that the story is locked by another user. When a user edits a story script, Instinct puts an edit lock on the story, indicated by an edit lock icon above the story next to the duration display, and removes it

2 Working with Stories

Edit Lock icon

when the user saves and closes the story. (You can also manually unlock an open story; see

“Saved and Locked Stories” on page 54.) Edit locks prevent multiple users from making

changes to a story at the same time.

Modifying any element of your story, including the video sequence, causes Instinct to place an edit lock on it. For information on modifying the video sequence, see “Story Building

Basics” on page 87.

The following topics describe how you can edit your story script:

• “Adding and Rearranging Text in a Story” on page 47

• “Splitting Text into New Segments” on page 48

• “Marking Text As Presenter Instructions” on page 48

• “Marking Text As Closed Caption” on page 49

• “Adding a Production Cue” on page 49

• “Deleting a Production Cue” on page 51

• “Marking Text As Machine Control” on page 51

• “Marking Text As Normal” on page 51

• “Formatting Text” on page 52

Adding and Rearranging Text in a Story

You can modify the script of your story by typing new text in the Storyline. You can also cut, copy, paste, and delete text.

To add text to a story:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

2. Click in the Story body, and type your new text.

To rearrange the text in a story:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

2. Select the text you want to cut, copy, or delete.

3. Do one of the following:

t Right-click the text, and select the appropriate command. t Press Ctrl+X (cut), Ctrl+C (copy), or Delete.

To paste cut or copied text:

1. Position the cursor in the story where you want to paste the text.

Editing Scripts

2. Do one of the following:

t Right-click, and select Paste. t Press Ctrl+V.

Copying Locator Text

You can copy the timecode and text from a locator and paste it into another portion of the interface. For example, you can copy and paste timecode and locator text into a segment in the story.

To copy locator text:

1. Display a clip with locators in the Research panel and click Show Locators at the top of the panel.

2. Right-click the clip and select Copy Locator Text.

2 Working with Stories

Segment before splitting Segments after splitting

Splitting Text into New Segments

You can also rearrange the text of your script by creating splits. A split divides the text at the point marked by the cursor in the Story body into two segments.

To create a split segment:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

2. Type or paste your script in a segment in the Story body.

3. Select the segment that contains your script.

4. Click in the Story body at the point in your script where you want to split the segment.

5. Do one of the following:

t Select Story > Split. t Press Ctrl+].

A new segment is created.

Marking Text As Presenter Instructions

Presenter Instructions appear in red, allowing the presenter who reads the story on camera to differentiate the instructions from the actual script. Using this formatting option, you might

tell the presenter that the following lines are a voice-over to accompany footage.

To mark text as Presenter Instructions:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

2. Select the text you want to mark.

3. Click the Presenter Instructions button. The text changes to red, indicating Presenter Instructions. Text marked as Presenter

Instructions is not included in the read time of a story. For more information, see “Read

Times” on page 53.

You can also click the button before typing text.

Marking Text As Closed Caption

Your story can also contain text marked as Closed Caption. Closed-captioned text is green in the Story body. Like Presenter Instructions, the presenter does not read this text on camera.

Text marked as Closed Caption is not included in the read time of a story. For more information, see “Read Times” on page 53.

To mark text as Closed Caption:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

Editing Scripts

2. Select the text you want to mark.

3. Click the Closed Caption button. The text changes to green, indicating that the text is closed captioned. You can also click the button before typing text.

Adding a Production Cue

Production cues are playback instructions for devices such as video machines, still stores, and character generators. When you insert production cues, they appear in the Production column. In addition, a Production Cue marker appears in the story text to indicate where each production cue belongs in the story. Instinct stories can include a maximum of 256 production cues. If you attempt to save a story with more cues, Instinct warns you that any production cues over the 256-cue limit will be lost.

You should not rearrange or edit Instinct production cues from within Avid iNEWS.

2 Working with Stories

Production Cue marker Production

Cue text box

Production columnStory body

To insert a production cue into your scripted story:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

2. In the Story body, move the pointer next to or within the text where you want to place the production cue.

3. Do one of the following:

t Select Story > Insert Production Cue. t Right-click in the text and select Insert Production Cue. t Press Alt+Insert.

A blue Production Cue marker appears within the Story body, and a blank box opens in the Production column.

4. Type the cue information in the text box. To mark cue information automatically as Machine Control, type an asterisk (*) at the start of the line. For information about Machine Control, see “Marking Text As Machine Control” on page 51.

Deleting a Production Cue

If you want to delete a production cue, you must delete the Production Cue marker, not just the text within the Production Cue text box.

You should not delete Instinct production cues from within Avid iNEWS.

To delete a production cue:

1. Select the Production Cue marker in the Story body.

2. Do one of the following:

t Press the Delete key. t Right-click the Production Cue marker and select Delete.

Marking Text As Machine Control

You can mark text in the Production Cue text box as Machine Control; however, you cannot mix Machine Control text and other text on the same line in the text box.

The Machine Control button and the machine control text are blue. Any line in the Production Cue text box that starts with an asterisk (*) automatically is marked as Machine Control.

Editing Scripts

You can mark text as Machine Control only in a Production Cue text box. See “Adding a

Production Cue” on page 49.

To mark text as Machine Control:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

2. Select the text in the Production Cue text box that you want to mark.

3. Click the Machine Control button. The text changes to blue, indicating that the text is for machine control. You can also click the button before typing text.

Marking Text As Normal

If you have marked the text as Presenter Instructions or Closed Caption, you can mark the text as Normal to remove the formatting. Normal text is included in the read time of a story.

To mark text as Normal:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

2. Select the text from which you want to remove the formatting.

2 Working with Stories

3. Do one of the following:

t Click the Normal button. t Press Ctrl+Alt+N.

The text changes to black, indicating that the text contains no formatting. You can also click the button before typing text.

Formatting Text

You use either the formatting buttons or the shortcut menu to change the format of story text.

To format new text:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

2. Do one of the following:

t Click the Bold, the Italic, or the Underline button. t Select Format, and then select Bold, Italic, or Underline. t Press Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, or Ctrl+U.

3. Type the text.

To format existing text:

1. Select the text you want to format.

2. Do one of the following:

t Click the Bold, the Italic, or the Underline button to deselect it. t Select Format, and then deselect Bold, Italic, or Underline. t Press Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, or Ctrl+U.

To remove text formatting:

1. Select the formatted text.

2. Do one of the following:

t Click the Bold, the Italic, or the Underline button to deselect it. t Select Format, and then deselect Bold, Italic, or Underline. t Press Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, or Ctrl+U.

Read Times

Read time

Video to add to match read time

Video to trim to match read time

Avid Instinct calculates the read time of a story by using the number of words in the story and the read rate in words per minute (wpm) of the presenter.

The default wpm rate is 180, but it can differ according to the settings for the particular story. For example, if the presenter listed for the story has a read rate of 150 wpm, Instinct calculates the read time based on that read rate and displays the read time of each segment next to the script for that segment. If you add a video clip to the segment that does not match the read time, the segment displays either how much video you need to add or how much video you need to trim in order to fill the read time.

Read Times

The Presenter text box in the Story Form determines the read rate. If you want to change the wpm rate for the presenter, you must make the change through the iNEWS workstation. If you want to change the presenter for an iNEWS story, you can edit the name in the Presenter text box and save the change.

Avid Instinct does not include Closed Caption or Presenter Instructions text in the read time. Only text marked as Normal (including bold, italic, or underlined text) is calculated.

2 Working with Stories

Support for iNEWS Hyperlinks and Story Links

Avid iNEWS v3.0 includes the ability to add hyperlinks in a story body. These links launch into an Internet Explorer workspace within the iNEWS application, or into the user’s default browser outside of the iNEWS application, depending on the the user’s setting. If you are working in a story in Avid Instinct, you can click a hyperlink and it will open in the your default browser.

Avid iNEWS v3.0 also includes the ability to add a story link in a story body. Clicking this link in iNEWS creates a new workspace displaying the linked story. If you are working in a story in Avid Instinct, you can click a story link and the following occurs:

• The queue that contains the story is highlighted in the iNEWS tab in the Directory panel.

• The queue and the story are displayed on a new tab in the Research panel.

• The story is loaded into the storyline panel.

Saved and Locked Stories

When you save a modified story in Instinct, it is important to remember that the story is actually saved on the iNEWS server (and the media sequence is saved by the asset manager on the Interplay server at the same time). Therefore, use caution when saving a story because your changes might affect others who access the same story.

Since Instinct places an edit lock on open stories, only the user who opened or created the story can save it. Other users can view the story, but they cannot modify it. When you save and close your story, other users can access it and make changes. If you want to remove the edit lock but keep the story open while allowing other users to work on it, you can unlock the story manually, and then lock it later when you need to make changes to it.

Instinct saves the media sequence in the media database at a location that mirrors the location of the story in the iNEWS hierarchy. However there are some characters — for example, manager hierarchy. For seamless integration, you should not use special characters when naming the story. For more information on special characters used when saving sequences in the database managed by the asset manager, see “Saving Your Changes” on page 119.

If you save a story in Instinct, and then use an iNEWS workstation to move or copy it, you can open the story from its new location on the iNEWS server. In this case, Instinct creates a new media sequence when you save the story with the asset manager.

*|\:"<>/?

— that are legal in the iNEWS hierarchy but are illegal in the asset

Saving Stories

Saving your story to the iNEWS database preserves any modifications and allows you to continue working on the story.

If you have edited but have not saved a story, an asterisk is displayed in front of the story name. After you save the story, the asterisk disappears.

To save changes, do one of the following:

t Select File > Save Story. t Press Ctrl+S.

The story is saved, remains open, and keeps the edit lock.

Saved and Locked Stories

Locking, Closing, and Deleting Stories

You can close your story while still logged in to the iNEWS server, which allows other users to access and modify the story, or you can simply unlock the story so others can edit it.

When you manually lock a story, a dialog box opens and asks if you want to save the modified story. If you choose to save, the story is saved and keeps the edit lock. If you choose not to save the story, the story closes without saving and keeps the edit lock.

If you unlock an unsaved story, a message asks if you want to save the modified story before removing the edit lock.

Opening a new story also closes the active story. If you made changes on the active story, a

message box asks if you want to save your changes before opening the new story.

To unlock or lock a story manually, do one of the following:

t Select Story > Edit Unlock. t Select Story > Edit Lock. t Press Ctrl+E.

To close a story:

t Select File > Close Story.

2 Working with Stories

To delete a story:

1. Select the story in the queue displayed in the Research panel. You cannot delete an open story.

2. Do one of the following:

t Select File > Delete Story. t Press Ctrl+Delete.

A dialog box opens asking you to confirm the deletion.

3. Click Yes. The story is deleted from the queue.

Offline Mode

If you lose your connection to the iNEWS server, you can edit and save a story script on your local drive. Instinct saves the story as an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file in an offline folder, or you can save the story to a user-defined location. This allows you to continue working even if you cannot access the iNEWS database. When your network connectivity is restored, you can then update your story on the iNEWS server.

If you lose your connection to the asset manager, you can save edits to the media sequence once you reconnect to the network.

Saving Stories in Offline Mode

When you save a story in offline mode, the story is saved as an XML file that you can use later to update the story stored on your iNEWS server. The default location for offline stories is a subfolder (named “Offline”) within the application folder — for example, C:\Program Files\Avid\Avid iNEWS Instinct\Offline. You can also specify another location and a file name for the saved story.

To save a story in offline mode, do one of the following:

t If you want to save your story to the default location, select File > Offline > Save Story. t If you want to save your story to a user-defined location, select File > Offline >

Save Story as, and then navigate to the appropriate location in the Save As dialog box. You can change the default file name by typing a new name in the File Name text box.

The story is saved to your local system.

Restoring Stories in Offline Mode

When you reconnect to the iNEWS server, you can update the story stored on the server with any changes you made in offline mode.

To restore a story with changes made in offline mode:

1. Open the story you want to restore (see “Opening a Story” on page 35).

2. Do one of the following: t If you saved your story using the Save Story option, select File > Offline >

Restore Story.

t If you saved your story using the Save Story As option, select File > Offline >

Restore Story from, and then select your story from the location where you saved it and click Open.

The Story body in the Storyline is updated with any changes you made while working in offline mode.

3. Do one of the following:

t Select File > Save Story. t Select File > Close Story.

Offline Mode

The story is updated on the iNEWS server.

Restoring a Story after a Timeout

If you leave your Instinct session unattended for a long time, Instinct performs the following operations:

• Saves the current story in Offline Mode.

• Returns you to the Instinct login screen.

Instinct creates a backup story in case of a system crash. See “Automatic Backup of Stories”

on page 22.

To restore the story you were working on:

1. Start Instinct and open the story you were working on.

2. Select File > Offline > Restore Story.

2 Working with Stories

Indexed folder

Indexed queues

Index icon

Searching for Information

Stories you work on are saved on the iNEWS server. Often you need to search the server database for specific stories, or you might find it necessary to search through all the stories for a specific topic. You can use the Search command to search for information in the iNEWS database; however, you can only search in indexed queues and folders (marked with an Index icon).

For information on iNEWS index functions, see your iNEWS documentation.

Defining the Search

You can search for words or numbers, alone or in combination. If you search for a single word or number, the system searches for stories that contain the text. You can also use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard in order to search for either a separate word or a word used as part of a longer word. For example, if you search for “bill*,” the system locates stories with the words “bills,” “billion,” and “billboard” as well.

The search is not case-sensitive. For example, if you specify the word “aids,” the system locates the words “aids,” “Aids,” and “AIDS.”

You cannot refine your search by excluding words, searching for literal strings, using

Boolean operators, searching the results of a search, or specifying the number of hits.

Using the Search Command

Instinct displays search results in a tab in the Research panel. Each new search replaces the previous search, but you can keep your search results open by “pinning” the tab. The results of a next search then display in a new tab.

To find stories in a folder or queue:

1. Click the iNEWS tab of the Directory panel.

2. Navigate to the indexed folder or queue you want to search.

3. Do one of the following:

t Select File > Search iNEWS. t Right-click the queue, and select Search. t Press Ctrl+Shift+F.

The iNEWS Search tab opens in the Research panel.

Searching for Information

4. In the Text text box, type the text you want to locate.

5. Click the Search button. Results are displayed in the Story list in the Research panel. Results displayed in the

Research panel reflect the maximum number of results from the iNEWS database allowed by Instinct (300 results). The actual number of matches for your search term might be higher. If your search returns the maximum number of results, you can limit your search and start a new search.

To keep the search results tab open:

t Click the Pin button.

The tab remains open, and the subsequent search opens in a new tab.

2 Working with Stories

3 Working with Media

Avid Instinct runs as a client of an Avid Interplay server — which uses an asset manager called the Avid Interplay Engine to provide access to shared media — just as it runs as a client of the iNEWS server. The asset manager maintains shared media files available to all clients. You use Instinct to connect to Interplay in order to browse the media accessible to your workgroup and to access shared media files over the network. You can then add the media to your story, arrange it to fit your script, and save the story as a sequence on the server, allowing others in your workgroup to access the sequence using the same server.

The Media tab of the Directory panel allows you to view media folders accessible to Avid Interplay. The Media tab displays the assets of any selected folder as a collection of folders containing media files that you link to over the network, and you can use the media files in these folders as you build your story in the Storyline.

Media assets are stored on the Avid Interplay server. If you are disconnected from the server — for instance, if either the server or your network connection fails — you cannot load or search for media, and you cannot save changes to the media clips in your sequence. If you experience problems with your connection to the server, see your system administrator.

The following topics explain how you can use the media files managed by your asset manager as you work with Instinct:

• Working with Remote Assets

• Customizing the Research Panel

• Overview of Finding Media Objects

Working with Remote Assets

You collaborate with others in your newsroom by accessing stories and media assets stored remotely in folders on the iNEWS and Interplay databases. The media assets always reside on the Interplay database to ensure consistent project management for all users. You use the Media tab of the Directory panel to access these remote media assets, and you use the Research panel to display information about the media.

3 Working with Media

Media folders

Avid Interplay server

You access media assets from folders, not directly from projects. If your media assets are

assigned to a project only — for instance, if you use Avid CaptureManager media clips to a project — you need to create a subfolder on your asset manager and move media assets there in order for Instinct to see them. For information on configuring CaptureManager to capture media to a folder, see the Avid CaptureManager User Guide.

Media Assets can carry two different kinds of markers:

• Reservations: Reservations protect assets from deletion and moving. Media assets protected by a reservation are marked by a Reservation icon.

• Restriction locators: Restrictions indicate limitation warnings on the use of media assets. Assets that include a restriction locator are marked by a Restriction icon.

You cannot set reservations or restrictions in Instinct. A message alerts you when you attempt to use restricted media, and you might not be able to save changes to clips and sequences with some marked clips.

Opening Media Folders

In the Media tab of the Directory panel, all folders are closed when you first log in, which indicates closed directories. Media folders within a directory are indented below that directory. You can open and close directories by clicking the plus sign (+) next to the folder.

™

to capture

In Interplay Access, an administrator can set the text color of the names of media folders and assets (the default is black). Any colored text is also visible in Avid Instinct.

To view and open a directory and load the contents of a folder:

1. Click the Media tab in the Directory panel. The Directory panel displays all folders accessible to the asset manager.

2. Navigate through the media folders, and find the folder you want to open. (You can use keyboard shortcuts to move through the folder structure. For information on using shortcuts to navigate the Directory panel, see “Directory Panel Shortcuts” on page 159.)

3. Click the folder. The Research panel displays the contents of the selected folder. You need to load

individual clips into the Video monitor before adding them to your story.

To view a video clip in the Video monitor:

1. Click a folder in the Directory panel. The contents of the folder are displayed in the Research panel.

2. Click the head frame of the clip you want to view. The Video monitor displays the selected clip.

Creating and Deleting Media Folders and Shortcuts

You can create and delete folders in the Avid Interplay database to help organize your projects. You can save time accessing directories and stories you use often by creating shortcuts to folders in the Directory panel.

Working with Remote Assets

Folders must be empty before you can delete them in the Directory panel.

To create a new media folder in the Directory panel:

t Right-click a media folder in the Directory panel, and select Create Folder.

To create a shortcut to a media folder:

1. Click the Media tab in the Directory panel.

2. Navigate to a folder.

3. Right-click the folder name, and select Create Shortcut. The shortcut appears in italic above the Interplay server name in the Directory panel.

3 Working with Media

Shortcut Server

name

To delete a folder:

1. In Interplay Access, delete the contents of the media folder. You cannot delete the contents of a media folder from Instinct.

2. In Instinct, navigate to the folder in the Directory panel.

3. Right-click the icon for the folder, and select Delete Folder. The folder is deleted.

To remove a shortcut to a media folder:

t Right-click the folder name, and select Delete Shortcut.

The shortcut is removed.

Moving, Copying, and Duplicating Clips or Sequences

To move clips or sequences from one folder to another:

1. In the Research panel, select the clip or sequence that you want to move.

2. Drag the clip or sequence to the destination folder in the Media tab of the Directory panel, and release the mouse button.

When you copy clips from one folder to another, any custom columns that you created in the first folder are also copied to the second folder. The custom columns appear in the order in which you created them.

To copy clips or sequences from one folder to another:

1. In the Research panel, select the clip or sequence that you want to copy.

2. Press and hold Ctrl as you drag the clip or sequence to the destination in the Media tab of the Directory panel, and release the mouse button. This creates a link to the original clip, and hence a copy of the asset within the new folder.

To duplicate a clip:

Resize bar

t Right-click the clip or sequence and select Duplicate.

A new copy of the clip or sequence with a new Creation date is created. Assist appends a number such as .01 to the end of the name, creating a new name.

The duplicated clip refers to the original media; the media can be deleted accidentally when

the duplicated clip is deleted.

Customizing the Research Panel

You can modify how the Research panel displays information about the media managed by the Avid Interplay Engine. You can also specify the information you want to view about each media asset by customizing column headings and column displays.

For more information, see the following topics:

• “Changing the Research Panel View Size” on page 65

• “The Research Panel Display” on page 66

• “Media Column Headings” on page 66

Customizing the Research Panel

• “Opening Multiple Tabs in the Research Panel” on page 79

• “Viewing Locators and Restrictions” on page 79

Changing the Research Panel View Size

You can adjust the size of the Research panel and the Storyline to maximize the display area of the panel you need for your work.

To change the Research panel display size:

t Click the resize bar at the top of the Research panel, and drag it up or down to resize it.

3 Working with Media

The Research Panel Display

The Research panel provides you with information on all media viewed by the asset manager, including audio and video clips, graphics, and text files. An icon identifies the type of asset for each media file, as summarized in the following table:

Icon Media Object Object Description

Master clips A clip that references audio and video media files formed from

In-progress master clip A clip in the process of being captured; when the capture is

Subclips A clip that references a selected portion of a master clip

Sequences A composition created from marked sections of one or more clips or

Audio clips A clip that references audio media files formed from captured

In-progress audio clip A clip in the process of being captured; when the capture is

captured footage or imported files

complete, the icon updates to the standard master clip icon

subclips

sound — for example, voice-over recordings — or imported audio files

complete, the icon updates to the standard audio clip icon

Clips with restriction A clip containing restricted material and marked by an

Avid Interplay Assist user

Media Column Headings

You can select individual or multiple headings to be displayed or hidden in the Research panel. The following table describes the default Column Selection headings. For a procedure on how to select column headings, see “Hiding and Showing Columns” on page 68.

Heading Description

[Frame] For video clips, displays a thumbnail of the first frame of a clip (also called a head

frame); for audio clips, displays a standardized waveform

Type Displays an object icon Identifying the type of asset for each media file

Name Lists the name of the clip or sequence

Creation Date Lists the date and time the clip was logged or captured

Tracks Lists all tracks used by this media object

Customizing the Research Panel

Heading Description (Continued)

Duration Lists the length of the clip

Video ID Lists the video ID number

Tape Lists the source tape name

Comments Displays any comments added as metadata to the media file when it was originally

captured

The following topics provide more information on using columns in the Research panel:

• “Sorting Columns” on page 67

• “Moving and Rearranging Columns” on page 68

• “Hiding and Showing Columns” on page 68

• “Adding Columns” on page 68

• “Selecting Values for a Custom Property” on page 69

• “Selecting Asset Types” on page 72

• “Displaying Resolutions” on page 73

• “Creating New Columns” on page 73

• “Enlarging or Reducing Column Width” on page 74

• “Renaming Clips” on page 74

• “Adding Comments” on page 74

• “Viewing Thumbnail Images” on page 75

• “Modifying Writable Properties” on page 76

• “Saving a Custom Layout” on page 77

Sorting Columns

You can sort the information in all of the columns in the media tabs in the Research panel except the Frame column. The Icon column sorts alphabetically based on the type of media object (audio clip, master clip, sequence, subclip).

When you sort a column, a sort icon appears next to the heading for that column and indicates if the sort order is ascending or descending.

To sort information in columns:

t Click the column heading. To reverse the sort order, click the column heading again.

3 Working with Media

Moving and Rearranging Columns

To move a column in the Research panel:

t Click the heading of the column that you want to move, then drag the column to the

position you want and release the mouse button. The column appears in the new position, and the other columns shift to make room.

Hiding and Showing Columns

You can select columns to be hidden or displayed in the Research panel. You cannot hide the Frame column, which displays the head frames for media clips.

When you hide columns, they are listed on the menu below the Hide this Column option.

To hide a column:

t Right-click the column heading and select Hide this Column.

To display a hidden column:

t Right-click a column heading and select Show heading.

Adding Columns

You can add columns to the display in the Research panel in order to display additional properties for media objects. Available column headings are determined by media information stored in the media database.

Added columns appear only for the selected folder and for the current work session. If you want to use the same columns the next time you log in to Instinct, you must save a custom layout (see “Saving a Custom Layout” on page 77).

To add columns to the Research panel:

1. Right-click a column heading and select Select Working Set of Columns. The Select Working Set of Columns dialog box opens. The dialog box displays three

sections of properties as defined in the Interplay Administrator, separated by dotted lines: System, Custom, and Resolutions.

Customizing the Research Panel

2. Select the columns you want to display.

3. Click OK. The new columns appear to the right of the existing columns in the Research panel.

Selecting Values for a Custom Property

You can select a property value from a custom list for a particular column in the Research panel rather than typing it in. Your system administrator needs to first create a custom property in Interplay Administrator and then import an XML file containing the values into Interplay Administrator.

For example, you might want to specify the status of a particular asset. The administrator creates a custom column named “Status” and imports an XML file that contains status values such as Opened, Approved, and so on. In the Research panel, you can click the Status column cell for an asset and select a value rather than typing it in each time.

To select property values:

1. Make sure your Administrator has set up the custom property and imported the list of values. For more information, see “Adding a Custom Property” in the Avid Interplay Engine and Interplay Archive Engine Administration Guide.

3 Working with Media

2. Right-click a column heading and select Select Working Set of Columns. The Select Working Set of Columns dialog box opens. The dialog box displays three

sections of properties as defined in the Interplay Administrator, separated by dotted lines: System, Custom, and Resolutions.

3. Navigate to the new custom column heading, select it, and click OK.

4. Locate the custom column in the Research panel and click it in the cell for the asset you want to label.

The list of values for the property appears.

5. Select a value. The value appears in the cell.

Customizing the Research Panel

3 Working with Media

6. Select values for additional assets.

Selecting Asset Types

To select asset types and reference clips to display:

1. Right-click the Type column heading in the Research panel and select Set Type Filter.

You need to right-click the column heading. If you right-click elsewhere in the column, the

option does not appear in the context menu.

The Set Type Filter dialog box opens.

2. Select the asset types you want to display.

3. (Option) Select “Show reference clips” to display objects that are referenced by sequences.

4. Click OK.

5. (Option) Save the layout if you want to preserve your type filter settings.

Displaying Resolutions

Among the column headings you can show are the resolutions associated with the clip, subclip, or sequence (see “Hiding and Showing Columns” on page 68). The information in the resolution column describes the resolution status of the clip, subclip, or sequence.

Customizing the Research Panel

The circles indicate the following:

• Filled circle — online

• Half-filled circle — partially online

• Empty circle — offline or not available

You must click the clip, subclip, or sequence in the Research panel to accurately display the resolution status. When you click the item, the system retrieves the latest resolution status. Since the status does not automatically update, it might not be correct if you are viewing an unselected subclip or sequence.

For more information about resolution status, see “Viewing Media Status” in the Avid Interplay Access User’s Guide.

Creating New Columns

You can create new column headings in the Research panel, if you have the user privileges set in the Instinct/Assist User Settings view in the Interplay Administrator.If the new heading has the same name as a system property or a user property — for instance, FPS (frames per second) — the new column displays the properties for the heading already in the database. Also, you cannot create two headings with the same name.

3 Working with Media

To create a new column:

1. Right-click a column heading and select New Column. The Add New Column dialog box opens.

2. Type a name for the new column. The new column appears to the left of the active column in the Research panel.

Enlarging or Reducing Column Width

You can enlarge or reduce the width of any column in the Research panel. When you change the size of the Frame column, the head frames increase or decrease in size.

You must enlarge or reduce all frames in the Research panel together. You cannot change the size of an individual frame or cell.

To enlarge or to reduce the size of columns:

t Click the border of a column in the Research panel, and drag it to the right or the left to

resize it.

Renaming Clips

You can rename a clip in a folder directly by modifying the information displayed in the Research panel.

To change the name of a clip:

1. Click the cell in the Name column that you want to modify. The clip row is highlighted.

2. Click the cell again to enter text. The pointer changes to an I-beam.

3. Type the new clip name, and press Enter.

Adding Comments

You can add comments to the clip information in any media tab in the Research panel to help you keep track of details not displayed in the other columns. However, you cannot add comments to stories in the Story list.

To add a comment to the Research panel:

Comments text box

t Click in the Comments column of the clip you want to annotate, and type your comment

in the Comments text box. You might have to scroll right to see the Comments column.

Viewing Thumbnail Images

You can choose to display thumbnail images of a master clip or a subclip that is loaded in the Video monitor. Thumbnail images of a clip are time-based and are displayed every ten seconds. If you click a thumbnail, the position indicator moves to that location in the Video monitor.

You can choose to view the thumbnails in a Research Panel tab or in a separate window. Viewing in a window could be useful when you have a wide monitor or a second monitor.

Customizing the Research Panel

During Frame Chase capture, additional thumbnails are added to the view.

To display thumbnails:

1. Load a clip or a subclip into the Video monitor.

2. Select one of the following:

t Preferences > Thumbnail Viewer > Show in tab. t Preferences > Thumbnail Viewer > Show in window.

3. Select View > Show Thumbnail Viewer. The thumbnails are displayed in a separate window or in a tab in the Research panel

(click the tab to view the thumbnails). Thumbnails are displayed in a grid, with the timecode of each thumbnail below it.

3 Working with Media

If the media is ingesting, additional thumbnails appear at the bottom of the grid approximately every 10 seconds.

4. (Option) Click a thumbnail image. The position indicator in the Video monitor goes to the frame corresponding to the

thumbnail.

Modifying Writable Properties

If you have Write privileges in your Interplay environment, you can change several of the properties associated with assets, for example, Comments or Name. These are called writable properties. If you try to change a writable property that another user modified after you accessed the asset, the Property Merge dialog box opens.

Customizing the Research Panel

For example, someone else who accessed a clip in Interplay Access after you loaded the same clip in the Research panel might have changed the name of the clip on the server; when you then try to rename that clip, the Property Merge dialog box opens. The change could have been made in any Interplay application, including Instinct, Avid Assist, Interplay Access, or the Interplay Window in an Avid editing application.

You can view the original status of the writable property, your change, and the current status of the property on the server, and you can choose to update the asset on the server or to update the asset on your system. You can update the asset on the server by merging the changes; you can also can create the text of the change.

To update your asset with the change from the server:

t Select Update from Server.

The asset is updated with the change from the server.

To update the server with your change:

1. Select the version of the property you want to see in the Merged Value text box. You can select any combination of the versions:

- Original - the state of the asset before you accessed it

- Your change - this version is selected by default

- Current (on server) The versions appear in the Merged Value text box in the order in which you select them.

2. (Option) Edit the text in the Merged Value text box to create the change you want.

3. Select Submit to Server. The asset is updated with the text in the Merged Value text box.

Saving a Custom Layout

Any time you modify a column or the overall display, the Research panel maintains the custom layout for the individual folder during your current work session even if you switch stories. When you quit your session, the customized layout is lost unless you save it. You can apply saved layouts to any media display in the Research panel. The application uses the last saved layout to display folders in the Research panel.

You can save separate custom layouts for the iNEWS tabs and for the media tabs in the Research panel, but you must save the layout for each tab separately.

The Research panel also saves the default layout which appears when you first open Instinct. The initial layout name is “Default,” and once you save a layout, the Layout menu displays the saved layout name. You cannot save or delete the default layout.

3 Working with Media

Layout menu

To save a layout:

1. Open a media folder in the Research panel.

2. Modify the columns to create a custom view.

3. Click the Layout menu, and select Save Layout As. If you want to save changes to an existing layout, click Save Layout.

The Enter Column Layout Name dialog box opens.

4. Type a name for the custom view, and click OK. The layout is saved and added to the list of layouts in the Layout menu. You can select

any of the saved layouts from the Layout menu.

To change to another saved layout:

t Click the Layout menu, and select a saved menu from the menu list.

If you select Default, the Research panel reverts to the layout that appears when you first open Instinct.

To delete a layout:

1. Click the Layout menu, and select the layout you want to delete from the menu list.

2. Click the Layout menu, and select Delete Current Layout. You cannot delete the Default layout.

A confirmation box opens.

3. Click Yes.

Opening Multiple Tabs in the Research Panel

When you open a new folder, it replaces the current folder in the Research panel. If you want to keep the contents of more than one folder open at a time, you can save the folder display as a tab in the Research panel and then open the new folder as a separate tab, with a maximum of 10 tabs open at once. This way, you can keep multiple folders.

To open multiple folders in the Research panel:

1. Click the active tab in the Research panel, and then click the Pin button. The folder is saved as a tab in the Research panel, and the Pin button changes from a

horizontal pin icon to a vertical one to indicate the tab is saved.

2. In the Directory panel, click a new folder. The folder opens as a new tab in the Research panel.

Customizing the Research Panel

To close a tab in the Research panel:

t On the tab you want to close, click the Close button.

Viewing Locators and Restrictions

Locators are a type of electronic bookmark. They allow editors to find and identify specific frames in master clips, subclips, and sequences. Locators can include comments that allow editors, producers, and other users to add review or editing remarks. They are also used to mark restrictions — for example, in media clips that contain copyright requirements or other limitations for use. Users can add locators in Avid editing applications, Interplay Assist, and Interplay Access. Users can add restrictions in Interplay Assist.

3 Working with Media

You can view locator comments and restriction locators in the Logging panel, which opens in the Research panel. By default, you can see only those locators or restrictions you have added in Assist or an Avid editing application. If you have the necessary permissions set by your Interplay administrator, you can also choose to view locators and restrictions set by other users.

Locator comments appear in the Comment text box in the Logging panel, and restriction locators are indicated by red markers next to the head frames of the start and the end of the restricted section of the clip. You can search the text of locators and restrictions. For more information about searching, see “Overview of Finding Media Objects” on page 81.

Restrictions are frame-accurate. You can use the Logging panel to move to the frame marking the start or end of a restriction.

To view locators and restrictions for a clip:

1. Click a folder in the Directory panel. The contents of the folder are displayed in the Research panel.

2. Select a media clip in the Media list.

3. Select Show Locators. The Logging panel opens and displays any locator comments or restrictions.

Overview of Finding Media Objects

Logging panelStarting Restriction markerEnding Restriction marker Comment text box

Show Locators check box

To move to the start or end of a restriction:

t Click the head frame of the appropriate restriction marker in the Logging panel.

To view restrictions set by other users:

t Right-click the Logging panel outside of the listed locators and restrictions, and select

Show All.

Overview of Finding Media Objects

You find media objects in Instinct by performing simple searches, or by browsing projects, catalogs, or folders.

The most common method of finding objects in Avid Instinct is to perform a search based on attributes. Instinct searches for the attributes associated with media objects, and the more specific your attribute values are the faster the search engine returns results. Each attribute can define statistical information (such as the date) or descriptive information (such as a comment, annotation, or object name). The search function allows you to search by a date, a word, or a few characters.

The database returns the results of any search in the Research panel, which allows you to access more detailed information about displayed media objects.

Instinct also provides other less specific ways of finding objects, allowing you to browse

projects, folders, and catalogs located on both the iNEWS server and the asset manager. For information on searching the iNEWS server, see “Searching for Information” on page 58.

3 Working with Media

Typically, you conduct database searches for media objects on their associated attributes. For example, you could find all media objects that have the word “feature” in their names or other text fields, all media objects in a particular folder, or all media objects in a particular folder that have the word “feature” in their names.

The following topics provide more information about searching media in Instinct:

• Performing Searches

• Keeping Your Search Results

Performing Searches

When you perform a search, the Search controls open on a separate tab of the Research panel. Searches allow you to define your search based on four attributes. You can also specify a location to search, such as a specific folder.

Results displayed in the Research panel reflect the maximum number of results from the Interplay database allowed by Instinct (2500 results). The actual number of matches for your search term might be higher. If your search returns the maximum number of results, you can limit your search and start a new search. Since the search engine limits its search by the attributes you set, you can narrow the scope of your search by setting attribute values and this results in significantly faster searches. To get the best response times for your searches, make them as specific as possible.

The following table describes the standard Instinct attribute names:

Attribute Options Description

Tex t User-supplied text • Allows you to search all text-based attributes:

•Name

•Tape

•VideoID

• Comments

• Locator and restriction annotations

• User-created fields

Attribute Options Description

Overview of Finding Media Objects

Text Fields • Any system

property or custom metadata containing a text field

• Select All

•Clear All

Search In Allows you to search in any folder managed by the asset

Types Master Clip

Subclip Sequence

Category Site-specific list

of categories

Time Whenever

Last 10 minutes Last hour Last 24 hours Last week Last month Last year

Allows you to search in any text field you select; Name is selected by default.

manager

Allows you to specify the type of media object for your search (you must select at least one type for each search)

Allows you to specify which category to search. The specific categories listed for this attribute are defined by the system administrator.

Allows you to set a time parameter for your search (time parameters refer to the date the media object was last modified). Including a time parameter can significantly improve the response time of your search.

To perform a search:

1. Do one of the following:

t Select File > Search Media. t Press Ctrl+F. t Right-click a folder, and select Search.

The Media Search tab opens on the Research panel.

3 Working with Media

2. In the Text field, type a search term. You can specify words or characters for your search. Search terms are not case-sensitive and apply to all text attributes of the media objects in your search.

If you accept the default settings and specify no additional attributes, the search will return all clips, subclips, and sequences in the database. Setting attribute values results in significantly faster searches.

3. Expand the Text Fields field and select a system proprty or custom metadata containing a text field. Name is selected by default.

4. Expand the Search in field and navigate to the folder you want to search. If you do not specify a location, Instinct searches the entire media database. If you right-click a folder and select Search, the Search in field displays the name of the selected folder.

5. Expand the Types field and select the type of media object you want to search for. You can select multiple types. By default, all three types of media objects are selected — master clips, subclips, and sequences.

6. (Option) Expand the Category field and select the appropriate attribute to search. You can select multiple categories. The asset manager defines which categories, if any, appear in this field.

7. Click the Time menu, and select a time parameter for your search. Specifying a time parameter can significantly improve the response time of your search.

8. Click Search. Instinct performs the specified search and returns all matching records in the Research

panel.

9. (Option) To start a new search, click Reset and then repeat steps 1 through 7. For information on keeping your search results when you perform another search, see

“Keeping Your Search Results” on page 85.

Keeping Your Search Results

If you want to keep the results of your search when you perform another search, you must “pin” the search tab to keep it open before you start a new one.

To keep your search results:

t Click the Pin button.

The search is kept open as a tab in the Research panel.

Overview of Finding Media Objects

3 Working with Media

4 Story Building Basics

Once you have started a new script and collected your media assets, you can begin building your story. In the Storyline, Avid Instinct provides you with a vertical layout and intuitive tools that allow you to cue, mark, trim, and add video clips. You can also add voice-over narration and adjust audio clips. For information on using audio with Instinct, see “Using

Audio” on page 121.

The following topics introduce you to procedures that you use to build a basic story:

• Video Monitor Components

• Loading Clips in the Video Monitor

• Monitoring Audio and Video

• Playing Video Clips

• Marking and Cueing Footage

• Video Sequences

• Working with Video in the Storyline

• Saving Your Changes

Video Monitor Components

The Video monitor provides you with the controls you need to play, cue, and mark video clips as you build your story.

4 Story Building Basics

Display mode buttons

Preview window

Duration

Position bar

Play and Mark buttons

Audio meters

Step buttons

Go to Start button

Timecode display

Clip or story title

Zoom bar

The following table describes the controls available in the Video monitor:

Control Description

Timecode display In Source and Trim modes, denotes the current position of the position

indicator in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames

In Story mode, denotes the time from the beginning of the media sequence to the position indicator in hours, minutes, and seconds

Clip or story title In Source or Trim mode, displays the name of the active clip; in Story

mode, displays the name of the active story

Display mode buttons Indicates which clip or sequence displays in the Video monitor:

• Source — source clip currently selected in the Research panel

• Story — active sequence currently loaded in the Storyline

• Trim — clip selected in the Storyline

Preview window Displays the video for the selected clip or sequence

Loading Clips in the Video Monitor

Control (Continued) Description

Duration In Source or Trim mode, displays the length (hours:minutes:seconds)

between the In point and the Out point in the displayed clip

In Story mode, displays the length (hours:minutes:seconds) of the sequence open in the Storyline

Go to Start button Moves the position indicator to the start of the clip or the sequence

Position bar Displays a graphical representation of the clip or sequence length and

contains the position indicator

Zoom bar Lets you zoom in on a section of the position bar so that you can more

easily work with long clips and sequences. See “Using the Zoom Bar” on

page 98.

Audio meters Display audio volume levels and audio peak levels

Play and Mark buttons Allow you to play the video clip and to mark In and Out points

Step buttons Allow you to step or move through a clip or a sequence in increments of

1 frame, 1 second, or 10 seconds

Loading Clips in the Video Monitor

You access video clips by locating them in the asset manager. Using the Media tab in the Directory panel, you can find any video clips stored in shared projects and browse them in the Research panel. You can also find video clips by using the Search function.

You can view video clips of any resolution qualified by your system; however, you can only work with media clips that match the working and target resolutions specified by your Interplay settings. For more information on resolutions, see “Video Resolutions” on

page 100.

To load video clips in the Video monitor:

1. Locate a video clip in the asset manager. For information on locating media, see

“Overview of Finding Media Objects” on page 81.

2. Do one of the following:

t Double-click the head frame for the selected video clip in the Research panel. t Select the clip in the Research panel and press Enter.

The Video monitor displays the clip in Source mode.

4 Story Building Basics

Selected video clip

Source mode indicator

Video monitor

You can also change the aspect ratio used to display clips in the Video monitor. This is useful

when your source video includes widescreen aspect ratios.

To change the aspect ratio in the Video monitor:

t Select Preferences > Change Aspect Ratio > [aspect ratio option].

The image is resized within the Video monitor.

Monitoring Audio and Video

You can monitor audio and video in several ways. You can disable tracks so you play none of your video tracks and only selected audio tracks. You can play all or none of your video tracks and up to 16 audio tracks (source clips and sequences can include up to 24 tracks of audio; you can play only 16 at a time). Media from disabled tracks does not use bandwidth to play over the network. You can also select an audio monitoring mix mode.

Monitoring Audio and Video

Disabling tracks is only for playing in the Video monitor. Your actual media is not affected,

and the tracks are not disabled when, for example, you send a story to playback.

To set up audio and video monitoring:

1. Do one of the following:

t Select Preferences > Audio/Video Monitoring. t Press Ctrl+M.

The Audio/Video Monitoring Preferences dialog box opens.

2. Click the button in the “Video tracks enabled” area to select All or None. When you disable video tracks, Video Disabled appears in the Video monitor.

3. Do one of the following: t Click the Audio track buttons for the tracks that you want to play. You can select up

to 16 separate tracks to play.

t Click Disable All to disable all audio tracks. t Click Enable First 16 Tracks to play audio tracks A1 through A16.

4 Story Building Basics

4. Select an Audio Monitoring Mix Mode option as described in the following table.

Option Description

Mono Maps to a center pan, which creates a mono mixdown of all audio tracks and

Stereo Maps to a left/right alternating pan (odd tracks on one channel, even tracks on the

Direct Out Does not combine audio in any way; all audio tracks remain as they are in the

outputs the resulting track to two channels. This results in two identical channels of audio, each containing the original NAT, SOT, and VOICE tracks.

other channel), creates a stereo mixdown of all audio tracks, and outputs the resulting two tracks to two channels. This results in NAT/VOICE tracks (A1/A3) on one channel and the SOT track (A2) on the other channel by default. An administrator specifies how tracks are mapped in the Editing Settings tab of the Application Database Settings in the Interplay Administrator. If you are working with two NAT tracks or two SOT tracks, see “Working with Two Tracks for NAT

and SOT” on page 140.

source media and play back through separate output channels.

If you are playing back from the Video monitor through two-channel output

such as headphones or two speakers, you might not be able to detect that all audio tracks are playing. However, the source media maintains all audio tracks.

An administrator sets one of these options for mixdown and send to playback in the Editing

Settings tab of the Application Database Settings in the Interplay Administrator. See “Send

to Playback” on page 145.

5. Click OK. When you disable a track, it stays disabled for every clip and sequence you load as long

as Instinct is open. The next time you start Instinct, all tracks are enabled again.

Playing Video Clips

There are several ways to view, play, and cue clips:

• Instantly access frames or move through footage by using the position indicator within the position bar under the Video monitor

• Play or step through the footage by using the Play and Step buttons

• Cue and mark the footage by using the Mark buttons

You can also use keyboard shortcuts to play and cue clips. For information on keyboard shortcuts, see “Using Keyboard Shortcuts” on page 155.

To play the video clip:

Position indicatorPosition bar

1. Load a clip into the Video monitor. For information on loading video clips, see

“Loading Clips in the Video Monitor” on page 89.

2. Do one of the following:

t Click the Play button. t Press Ctrl+space bar. t With keyboard focus on the Video monitor area, press the space bar.

3. (Option) To stop or pause playback, click the Play button again, press Ctrl+space bar again, or press the space bar again.

Using the Position Bar and the Position Indicator

You can use the position indicator that appears in the position bar under the Video monitor to move to a specific point in a clip or sequence. This allows you to move through the video clip to locate the frame you want to cue or mark.

Timing marks are displayed in the position bar at five-minute intervals.

The zoom bar is located below the position bar. You can use the zoom bar to zoom in on a section of the position bar so that you can more easily work with long clips and sequences. For more information, see “Using the Zoom Bar” on page 98.

Playing Video Clips

A position indicator, the Video guide, appears in the Media column when you are viewing a

video sequence (see “Scrubbing Through the Storyline” on page 95).

To access frames within a clip in the Video monitor or to move through the footage:

t Move the position indicator within the position bar under the monitor by clicking

anywhere in the position bar or by dragging the position indicator to the left or right. The speed with which you drag the position indicator determines the speed at which you

move through the footage. If you Ctrl+click the position indicator, you can drag it to fine-tune its movement as you move through the video clip.

4 Story Building Basics

Using the Step Buttons

You can use the Step buttons that appear under the Video monitor to step through your footage. You can also use the keyboard to manipulate footage. For information on all keyboard shortcuts, see “Using Keyboard Shortcuts” on page 155.

The Mark In/Mark Out buttons and the Go to In/Go to Out buttons are disabled when you

are in Story mode.

To step the clip backward or forward in one-frame increments:

t Click the Step Forward or the Step Backward buttons under the monitors. t Press Alt+. (period) or Alt+, (comma).

To step forward or backward in 1-second increments:

t Click the Step Forward 1 second or the Step Backward 1 second buttons. t Press Ctrl+. (period) or Ctrl+, (comma).

To step forward or backward in 10-second increments:

t Click the Step Forward 10 seconds or the Step Backward 10 seconds buttons. t Press Ctrl+Alt+. (period) or Ctrl+Alt+, (comma).

Playing a Sequence

You can play all of the video and audio added to your story by using the Story display mode. When you play a media sequence, the Storyline scrolls automatically, keeping the video guide in view as the sequence plays.

Auto-scrolling is disabled by default if focus is in the Story body or if you use the scroll bar to change the display position of the media sequence in the Storyline. You can disable auto-scrolling manually by deselecting Story > Auto-Scroll Storyline.

To play an entire media sequence:

1. Open a story in the Storyline. For information on opening a story, see “Opening a Story”

on page 35.

2. Click the Story display button in the Video monitor. (Story mode is selected by default when you open a story in the Storyline.)

3. Click the Go to Start button to set the position indicator at the beginning of the sequence.

4. Do one of the following:

Video guide

Media column

t Click the Play button. t Press Ctrl+space bar. t With keyboard focus on the Video monitor area, press the space bar.

Scrubbing Through the Storyline

The Storyline provides you with a vertical column that contains a graphical representation of all video and audio clips added to your story. Along the left side of the Storyline, the video guide allows you to scrub through your story, just as the position bar in the Video monitor allows you to scrub through the video footage.

“Scrubbing” in Instinct entails moving through video clips. You cannot scrub through the

audio in Instinct.

To scrub through the Storyline:

1. Open a story in the Storyline.

2. Move the video guide on the left side of the Storyline by clicking anywhere in the Media column or by dragging the video guide up or down.

Playing Video Clips

The speed with which you drag the video guide determines the speed at which you move through the footage.

4 Story Building Basics

Playing Footage with the J-K-L Keys (Three-Button Play)

The J-K-L keys on the keyboard allow you to play, step, and shuttle through footage at varying speeds. This feature, also referred to as three-button or variable-speed play, allows you to use three fingers to manipulate the speed of playback for greater control.

To shuttle through the footage using the J-K-L keys on the keyboard:

1. Do one of the following: t Load a clip or sequence into the Source or Record monitor.Load a clip or sequence

into the Source/Record monitor.

t Open a pop-up monitor. t Select a clip in a bin in Frame view.

2. Use the following keys to shuttle at varying speeds:

t Press the L key to move forward through the footage at normal speed. t Press the L key multiple times to move forward through the footage at faster speeds,

as described in the following table:

Press the L Key To Play Footage at NTSC Rate PAL Rate 24p Rate

2 times 2x normal speed 60 fps 50 fps 48 fps

3 times 3x normal speed 90 fps 75 fps 72 fps

4 times 5x normal speed 150 fps 125 fps 120 fps

5 times 8x normal speed 240 fps 200 fps 192 fps

t Press the J key to move backward at the same shuttle speed increments. t Press the K and L keys together for slow forward (8 fps for NTSC, 6 fps for PAL,

and 6 fps for 24p projects).

t Press the K and J keys together for slow backward. t Press and hold the K key and tap the L key or the J key to step through footage one

frame at a time.

To slow or change play direction one speed at a time:

t Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) while you tap the J or L key.

Play slows or changes direction one speed at a time from the speed at which you are currently playing.

Playing Video Clips

0-1x-2x-3x-5x-8x 1x 2x 3x 5x 8x

For example, you are shuttling backward with the J key at 2x normal speed. Press and hold Alt and tap the L key once. Play slows to backward at normal speed (1x speed). Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) and tap L once again. Play stops. Continue to hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) and tap L once again. Play goes forward at normal speed. Continue to hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) and tap L once again. Play goes forward at 2x normal speed. Continue to hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) and tap L once again; play goes forward at 3x normal speed. Release the keys to continue playing forward at 3x normal speed.

To pause shuttling:

t Press the K key.

To stop shuttling:

t Press the space bar.

Using Timecode to Find a Frame

You can type timecode values by using the numeric keypad on the right side of the keyboard to cue a loaded clip or sequence to a specific frame. Typing a number overwrites timecode from right to left, which allows you to move to a frame near the current timecode by modifying only the timecode values on the right of the timecode display. You can navigate footage by typing timecode values in any display mode: Source, Story, or Trim.

To cue to a frame based on timecode:

1. Click in the Video monitor to make it active.

2. Type the timecode for the frame by using the numeric keypad on the right side of the keyboard.

The new numbers appear as bold text, while existing numbers appear dimmed. You can delete the new numbers by pressing the Delete key on the numeric keyboard.

3. Press Enter on the numeric keypad. The Video monitor displays the frame at the specified timecode. You can cancel the

timecode change by pressing the Escape key or by clicking outside the Video monitor.

4 Story Building Basics

Using the Zoom Bar

The zoom bar is located below the position bar. You can use the zoom bar to zoom in on a section of the position bar so that you can more easily work with long clips and sequences. For example, in a two-hour clip, you can use the zoom bar to expand the position bar to show only a few minutes of the clip.

When you open a clip, the entire position bar is displayed and the zoom control fills the zoom bar. As you adjust the amount of zoom, the zoom control becomes narrower.

The following illustrations show a two-hour clip and the same clip zoomed in to a duration of slightly more than five minutes.

Position bar for a two-hour clip (marks every 5 minutes)

Zoom bar with the zoom control filling the zoom bar

Position bar for the same clip, zoomed in

You can drag the zoom control to another part of the position bar, while keeping the same amount of zoom (the zoom factor). This action does not affect the position indicator, so the image in the monitor does not change until you move the position indicator (for example, by clicking in the position bar).

To zoom in or out on a particular area of the position bar:

1. Drag the position bar or the zoom control to an area you want to focus on.

2. Change the zoom by doing one of the following: t Click and drag either end of the zoom control. Drag in to zoom in and drag out to

zoom out.

t With the mouse pointer over or near the position bar and zoom bar, rotate the mouse

wheel forward to zoom in and backward to zoom out.

t Select View > Position Bar Zoom In or View > Position Bar Zoom Out. t Press Ctrl++ to zoom in or Ctrl+- to zoom out.

Marking and Cueing Footage

In all cases except clicking and dragging, the position indicator scrolls into view if needed and stays in view throughout the zoom.

To zoom in on an area marked by IN and OUT points:

t Select View > Zoom In on Marks.

The application zooms and scrolls so that the IN point is visible near the left end of the position bar and the OUT point is visible near the right end. In trim mode, as you select clips to trim, this function is performed automatically.

Note the following features:

• Position indicator and auto-scroll: If you play while zoomed in, the position bar maintains the amount of zoom and scrolls to keep the position indicator visible (auto-scroll). If you drag the position indicator or IN and OUT points while zoomed in, the position bar also maintains the amount of zoom and auto-scrolls. The further you move the mouse pointer from the end of the position bar, the faster the auto-scroll.

If the position indicator is not visible in the position bar when you start to play a clip, the position bar automatically scrolls so that the position indicator comes into view.

You can zoom in or out or drag the zoom control while playing. If you make the position indicator visible by zooming or scrolling, auto-scroll resumes when needed.

The position bar also scrolls if you move to a specific point in the clip, for example, by using the Go to IN or Go to OUT buttons.

• Frame-chase editing: If you zoom in on an in-progress clip, the zoom bar automatically zooms and the position bar scrolls so that your view of the position bar remains consistent as more material becomes available. Auto-scrolling keeps the position indicator visible when playing. For example, if you zoom in to view the last 10 minutes of a clip and play near the end, you continue to see the last 10 minutes of the available media for the entire capture operation.

• Maximum zoom in: You might not be able to zoom in for clips less than ten seconds long; the exact duration depends on the width of the monitor.

Marking and Cueing Footage

You can speed the story building process by marking clips with In and Out points in advance.

The following topics provide more information about marking footage:

• “Video Resolutions” on page 100

• “Marking In Points and Out Points” on page 100

• “Dragging In Points and Out Points” on page 101

4 Story Building Basics

• “Cueing the Footage” on page 102

• “Reviewing an Out Point” on page 102

Video Resolutions

Your Interplay administrator sets the target resolution for playback and the working resolution for all users. Instinct lists your working and target resolutions above the Storyline panel.

For HDV projects, select the HD1080i_60 video format.

To mark and trim footage, your working resolution must be at least equal to the resolution of the video clip you want to use, or you must have user permission settings that allow you to work with the necessary resolution. For more information about target and working resolutions, see the Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Interplay Archive Engine Administration Guide.

For more information about using different resolutions in your story, see “Working with

Video in the Storyline” on page 108.

Marking In Points and Out Points

100

You can mark In and Out points for your clips in advance, which allows you to build a story quickly by splicing the marked clips into place one after another. This provides a rough cut for your story. Even if your marks are not accurate now, you can move the In and the Out points and fine-tune the media sequence later, or you can save the story so the sequence can be edited by a craft editor in your workgroup.

Instinct creates an audio dissolve between each clip in your sequence. Because the dissolve requires at least one frame to fade out or fade in, you should not mark your In point at the first frame of your clip or your Out point at the last frame of your clip. Instead, use the Video monitor controls to step in a few frames from the beginning or end of your clip before marking your In and Out points. For more information on audio, see “Using Audio” on

page 121.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts to cue and mark clips. For information on keyboard shortcuts, see “Using Keyboard Shortcuts” on page 155.

To mark In points and Out points before adding video to a story:

1. Load a clip into the Video monitor. For information on loading video clips, see

“Opening Media Folders” on page 62.

2. Play or step through the material.

Pinnacle Systems Instinct - 3.0 User’s Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

1 Getting Started with Avid Instinct

The iNEWS Newsroom Environment

Overview of the Newsroom Computer System

Avid Instinct

Asset Manager

Starting Avid Instinct

Logging In to Avid Instinct

Disabling Desktop Compositing

Exiting Instinct

Automatic Backup of Stories

Working with MultiRez and Dynamic Relink

Understanding the Application Layout

Video Monitor

Voice-over Controls

The Storyline

Directory Panel

Research Panel

Navigating to a Folder That Contains a Selected Asset

Updating the Application Display

Setting an Automatic Timeout for Interplay Assist and Avid Instinct

2 Working with Stories

Using the Directory Panel

Creating a Shortcut to a Directory or a Queue

Removing a Shortcut to a Directory or a Queue

Opening a Story

Creating a New Story

The Research Panel

Display Customizations

Changing the Font

Modifying the Display of the Research Panel

Hiding and Showing Columns

Saving a Custom Layout

Opening Multiple Tabs in the Research Panel

Editing Scripts

Adding and Rearranging Text in a Story

Copying Locator Text

Splitting Text into New Segments

Marking Text As Presenter Instructions

Marking Text As Closed Caption

Adding a Production Cue

Deleting a Production Cue

Marking Text As Machine Control

Marking Text As Normal

Formatting Text

Read Times

Support for iNEWS Hyperlinks and Story Links

Saved and Locked Stories

Saving Stories

Locking, Closing, and Deleting Stories

Offline Mode

Saving Stories in Offline Mode

Restoring Stories in Offline Mode

Restoring a Story after a Timeout

Searching for Information

Defining the Search

Using the Search Command

3 Working with Media

Working with Remote Assets

Opening Media Folders

Creating and Deleting Media Folders and Shortcuts

Moving, Copying, and Duplicating Clips or Sequences

Customizing the Research Panel

Changing the Research Panel View Size

The Research Panel Display

Media Column Headings

Sorting Columns

Moving and Rearranging Columns

Hiding and Showing Columns

Adding Columns

Selecting Values for a Custom Property

Selecting Asset Types

Displaying Resolutions

Creating New Columns

Enlarging or Reducing Column Width

Renaming Clips