Pinnacle Systems Media Composer - 10.x User Guide

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Avid® Media Composer®

and Film Composer

Editing Guide

tools for storytellers®

Avid Media Composer and Film Composer Editing Guide • Part 0130-04527-01 Rev. A • August 2000

Chapter 1 Editing Overview

Editing Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Starting a Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Preparing to Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Editing a Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Chapter 2 Desktop Basics (Windows)

Working with the Desktop (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Working with Windows (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Dragging Windows Without Showing the Contents

(Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Setting Your Screen Resolution (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

About the Avid Media Composer and Film Composer

Folders (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Windows). . 40

About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Windows). . 40

Changing Project and User Names (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Deleting Projects and User Profiles (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Starting the Avid Application (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Chapter 3 Desktop Basics (Macintosh)

About the Avid Media Composer and Avid Film Composer

Folders (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Macintosh). 49

About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Macintosh). 49

Changing Project and User Names (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Deleting Projects and User Profiles (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . 51

Starting the Avid Application (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Chapter 4 Starting a Work Session

Opening and Closing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Identifying a User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Setting Up a New User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Selecting an Existing User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Selecting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Setting Film Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Selecting an Existing Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Nesting Projects in Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Opening a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Closing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Backing Up Your Project Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Saving Your Project Information (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Saving Your Project Information (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Restoring from a Backup (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Restoring from a Backup (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Ending a Work Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Quitting the Avid Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Turning Off Your Equipment (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Turning Off Your Equipment (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Mounting and Ejecting Media Drives (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Ejecting Drives (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Mounting All Drives (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Mounting and Ejecting Media Drives (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Ejecting Drives (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Mounting All Drives (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Using Context Menus (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using Context Menus (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Accessing Information from the Help Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Session Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Chapter 5 Working with the Project Window

Opening and Closing the Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Using the Bins Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Displaying Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Creating a Folder in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Creating a New Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Renaming a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Opening and Closing a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Opening Selected Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Opening Bins from Other Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Closing a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Deleting a Bin or Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Viewing Contents in the Trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Emptying the Trash in the Bins List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Managing Folders and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Saving Bins Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Saving Bins Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Using the Settings Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

About Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Defining Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Reviewing Basic Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Film Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Bin Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Interface Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Displaying Project Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Working with Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Selecting Another User. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Modifying Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Working with Multiple Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Duplicating Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Naming Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Selecting Among Multiple Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Deleting Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Restoring Default Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Copying Settings Between Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Using Site Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Using the Info Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Displaying a Project Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Displaying Usage Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Statistics File Structure and Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Importing the Statistics File into a Spreadsheet . . . . . . . . 123

Displaying Disk Space Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Viewing Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Accessing the Hardware Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Customizing Your Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Creating a New Workspace Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Linking User Settings and Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Switching Between Workspaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Deleting a Workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Assigning a Workspace Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Chapter 6 Using Basic Tools

Exploring Dialog Boxes and Menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Using the Tools Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Using the Deck Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Using the Command Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

About Button Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Mapping User-Selectable Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Using the Blank Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Mapping Modifier Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Mapping Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Activating Commands from the Command Palette . . . . . . . . . 146

Using the Avid Calculator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Using the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Displaying System Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Reviewing a Log of Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Getting Information with the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Using the Hardware Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Using the Serial (COM) Ports Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Configuring a Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Chapter 7 Organizing with Bins

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Setting the Bin Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Adjusting Pan Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Adjusting Default Pan Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Using the Center Pan Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Using Audio Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Film Scene Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

About Bin Display Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Basic Bin Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Bin Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Setting the Bin Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Selecting Clips and Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Duplicating Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Moving Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Copying Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Deleting Clips, Subclips, Sequences, and Media Files . . . . . . 171

Assigning Colors to Bin Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Adding a Color Column to a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Assigning a Source Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Assigning a Custom Source Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Limiting Color Choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Sifting Clips and Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Sifting Timecodes or Keycode Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Sifting Within a Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Locking Items in a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Selecting Offline Items in a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Selecting Media Relatives for an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Selecting Sources Used by an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Selecting Unreferenced Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Using Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

About Bin Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Customizing Bin Views in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Arranging Bin Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Saving a Custom Bin View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Managing Clip Information in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Moving Within Column Cells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Modifying Clip Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Copying Information Between Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Copying Information from Another Cell in a

Custom Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Sorting Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Displaying Timecodes in a 24p or 25p Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Frame Counting for Timecodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Adding Timecode Columns to a Bin or the Media Tool. . 204

Adding Timecode Values to the Timecode Columns . . . . 205

Bin Column Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Using Frame View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Changing the Bin Background Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Enlarging or Reducing Frame Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Rearranging Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Changing the Frame Identifying the Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Arranging Frames in a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Using Script View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Adding Text in Script View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Playing Clips in Script View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Rearranging Clips in Script View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Printing Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Gathering Format Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Preparing Digital Bars and Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Importing Color Bars and Other Test Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Creating Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Creating Video Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Creating Audio Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Storyboard Worksheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Chapter 8 Managing Media Files

Using the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Basic Media Tool Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Opening the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Deleting Media Files with the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Freeing Storage Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Consolidating Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

About the Consolidate Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Using the Consolidate Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Loading the Media Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Refreshing Media Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Backing Up Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Archiving and Restoring Media Files Using Videotapes . . . . . . . . 243

Archiving Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Archive to Videotape Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Restoring an Archive from Videotape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Finding a Related Media File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Relinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Relinking to Selected Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Relinking Consolidated Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Relinking Moved Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Unlinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Chapter 9 Using Script Integration

Line Script Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Explanation of Symbols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Lining in the Digital Realm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Script Integration Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Using Script Integration in Video Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Script Window Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Script Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Importing a Script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Opening, Closing, and Saving the Script Window . . . . . . . . . 270

Displaying Clip and Sequence Information in a

Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Exploring the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Adjusting the Script Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Manipulating Script Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Changing the Font of the Script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Selecting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Removing Script Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Searching Through Script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Using Page and Scene Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Adding a Page or Scene Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Changing a Page or Scene Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Deleting a Page or Scene Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Searching for a Page or Scene Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Conducting a Text Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Linking Clips to the Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Interpolating Position for Script Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Manipulating Slates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Selecting Slates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Resizing Slates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Hiding Slate Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Showing One Take Per Slate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Moving a Slate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Deleting a Slate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Manipulating Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Selecting Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Adding Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Deleting Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Displaying Take Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Changing the Representative Frame for a Take . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Loading Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Playing Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Adjusting Take Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Indicating Off-Screen Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Using Color Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Using Script Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Placing Script Marks Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Automating Screening and Marking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Loading and Playing Marked Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Moving a Script Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Deleting a Script Mark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Finding Clips and Script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Finding Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Finding Clips and Bins from the Script Window. . . . . . . . . . . 298

Editing with the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Assembling a Rough Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Splicing a Script Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Revising the Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Interactive Screenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Chapter 10 Viewing and Marking Footage

Customizing the Composer Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Changing the Composer Window Background Color . . . . . . . 307

Using the 16:9 Display Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Using 16:9 for 24p and 25p Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Displaying Tracking Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Tracking Format Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Setting the Font and Point Size for Monitor Displays . . . . . . 315

Displaying the Info Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Copying Text from the Info Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Displaying Timecode in the Timecode Window. . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Displaying Multiple Timecodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Composer Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Color Framing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Miscellaneous Composer Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Fast Forward and Rewind Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Viewing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Fast Frame Display in 24p and 25p Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Playing Selected Clips in a Loop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Loading and Clearing Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Loading Footage into the Playback and Pop-up Monitors . . . 331 Loading Footage into the Source, Record, and Pop-up

Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Loading Multiple Clips or Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Using the Clip Name Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Switching Between Loaded Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Clearing Clips from Monitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Resizing Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Hiding the Video in a Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Resizing a Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Customizing the Playback Monitor Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Controlling Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Using Position Bars and Position Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Using Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Play Reverse, Play, Pause, Stop, Rewind, and

Fast Forward Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Play Standby Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Step Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Using Single-Field Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Using the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

J-K-L Keys (Three-Button Play) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Home, End, and Arrow Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Using the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Jogging with the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Shuttling with the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Marking and Subcataloging Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Marking IN to OUT Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Moving IN to OUT Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Marking an Entire Clip or Segment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Creating Subclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Subclips and Audio Sync for 24p and 25p Projects . . . . . . . . . 351

Marking Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Using Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Ways to Use Locators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Adding Locators While Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Copying Locators from Source Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Marking an Area Using Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Moving to the Previous or Next Locator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Deleting Locators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Using the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Displaying Timecode or Footage in the

Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Sorting Information in the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . 359

Displaying Frames in the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Changing the Color of the Locator Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Accessing a Locator in a Clip or Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Printing the Contents of the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . 361

Deleting Locators Using the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . 362

Finding Frames, Clips, and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Using Timecode to Find a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Searching a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Using Match Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Performing a Reverse Match Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Finding a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Locating a Master Clip from a Subclip in a Sequence. . . . . . . 369

Finding a Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Chapter 11 Editing in Source/Record Mode

Entering Source/Record Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Setting Up a New Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Changing the Sequence Name and Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Setting Up Tracks for the New Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

User Preferences for Creating Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Adding Filler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Making an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Creating an Instant Rough Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Undoing or Redoing Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Editing Additional Clips into the Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Performing a Splice-in Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Performing an Overwrite Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Performing a Replace Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Single-Mark Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Using Phantom Marks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Setting One Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Adding a Second Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Lifting, Extracting, and Copying Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Lifting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Extracting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Copying Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Using the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Preserving Clipboard Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Recovering Material from the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Adding Comments to Sequence Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Playing the New Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Starting a Playback Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Playback Performance Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Playing a Limited Duration of a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Setting a Limited Play Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Playing a Sequence Using a Limited Play Length. . . . . . . 399

Fine-Tuning the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Chapter 12 Using the Timeline

Customizing Timeline Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Using the Timeline Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Additional Procedures for Customizing the Timeline . . . . . . 407

Enlarging and Reducing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Moving a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Displaying Timecode Tracks in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Assigning Local Colors to Clips in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Displaying Local and Source Colors in the Timeline . . . . . . . 411

Displaying Source Colors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Displaying Local Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Highlighting Offline Media Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Changing the Timeline Background Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Changing the Timeline Track Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Showing Locators in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Saving a Customized Timeline View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Replacing a Timeline View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Restoring the Default Timeline View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Setting the Scroll Option for the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Timeline Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Exploring the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Using the Position Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Using the Timeline Scroll Bar/Position Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Displaying Detail in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Zooming In and Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Focusing the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Using Full-Screen Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Displaying Source Material in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Controlling Movement in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

IN to OUT Highlighting in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Using Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Segment Mode Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Selecting and Deselecting Segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Selecting Segments with the Segment Mode Pointer. . . . 431

Lassoing One or More Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Deselecting Segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Performing Segment Mode Edits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

About Four-Frame Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Maintaining Sync in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Extracting/Splicing Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Lifting/Overwriting Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Deleting Segments in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Marking Clips and Sequences in Segment Mode. . . . . . . 440

Adding Comments in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Using Advanced Timeline Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Bin Editing into the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Bin Editing Directly into a Sequence Using the Keyboard . . 442

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Editing with the Film Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Editing in Heads or Heads Tails View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Performing a Quick Edit Using the Top and Tail

Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Working with Multiple Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

About Effects Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

About Nesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Using the Track Selector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Selecting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Monitoring Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Monitoring Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Monitoring Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Monitoring a Solo Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Patching Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

Locking and Sync Locking Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Locking Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Sync Locking Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Adding a Track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458

Deleting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Adding an Edit (Match Framing). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Adding Edits to Filler Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

Removing Match-Frame Edits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

Backtiming Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

Additional Offline Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Detecting Duplicate Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Adjusting Handle Length in Dupe Detection . . . . . . . . . . 464

Tracking Color Frame Shifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

Finding Black Holes and Flash Frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Finding Black Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Finding Flash Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Printing the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

Chapter 13 Working in Trim Mode

Customizing Trim Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Trim Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Using Basic Trim Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

Entering Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

Exiting Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Switching Between Quick Trim Mode and the

Playback Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Switching Between Big and Small Trim Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Selecting Trim Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Selecting Video Tracks in Trim Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Selecting Additional Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Performing a Basic Trim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Audio Solo in Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Reviewing the Trim Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Reviewing an Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Trimming On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Dual-Image Playback During Trims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Trimming During a Playback Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Creating Overlap Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Extending an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Slipping or Sliding Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Selecting Segments for Slip or Slide Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

The Slip/Slide Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Performing the Slip or Slide Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Slipping Shots in Source/Record Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Maintaining Sync While Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Adding Black When Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Trimming with Sync-Locked Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

Using the Transition Corner Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

Chapter 14 Working with Audio

About Audio Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Accessing Audio Effect Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Audio Editing Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Soloing Audio Tracks in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Using Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Smooth Scrub Versus Digital Scrub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Selecting Tracks for Scrubbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Performing Smooth Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Using the J-K-L Keys to Perform Smooth Scrub . . . . . . . . 512

Using the Mouse to Perform Smooth Scrub. . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Using Digital Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Adjusting Digital Scrub Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Performing the Digital Scrub Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Using Waveform Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

Displaying Audio Waveforms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

Muting the Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

Using the Audio Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Resizing the Audio Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Adjusting One Audio Track at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

Changing an Audio Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

Adjusting Pan Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Applying Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Ganging and Adjusting Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

Rendering an Audio Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

Modifying Pan Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

Creating or Modifying an Audio Pan/Vol Effect. . . . . . . . 527

Modifying How the System Interprets Pan

During Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

Bypassing Existing Volume Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

Adjusting Volume While Playing an Audio Mix Effect . . . . . 529

Using Audio Gain Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

Automation Gain Values and System Clip Gain Values. . . . . 531

Adjusting Volume in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Deleting Audio Gain Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Moving Audio Gain Keyframes in the Timeline. . . . . . . . 535

Using an External Fader Controller or Mixer to

Adjust Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Adjusting the Volume of Individual Keyframes. . . . . . . . 537

About the Automation Gain Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

Track Solo Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

Position Indicator Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Selecting Tracks in the Automation Gain Tool . . . . . . . . . 543

Automation Gain Tool Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Recording Automation Gain Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Using the Automation Gain Tool Sliders to Record

Gain Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Using a Keyboard Shortcut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

Using an External Fader Controller or Mixer to

Record Audio Gain Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

Using the Audio EQ Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Audio EQ Tool Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

Basic EQ Tool Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

EQ-Specific Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551

Applying Audio EQ Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

Saving Audio EQ Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Removing Audio EQ Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Audio EQ Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Low Shelf Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Small Octave Range Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560

Using Audio EQ Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Applying an EQ Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563

Creating Your Own Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

Adding an EQ Template to the Audio EQ Tool

Fast Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

Adjusting EQ While Playing an Audio Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Installing AudioSuite Plug-Ins (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Installing AudioSuite Plug-Ins (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Starting and Quitting the DAE Application

(Macintosh Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

Setting Playback Buffer Size (Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Using Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Applying an AudioSuite Plug-in to a Clip in the Timeline . . 571

Using a Plug-In Dialog Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573

AudioSuite Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Rendering Plug-in Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Creating New Master Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

AudioSuite Controls for Creating New Master Clips . . . 575

Mono, Stereo, and Multichannel Processing . . . . . . . . . . . 578

Using the AudioSuite Plug-ins to Create New

Master Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Using AudioSuite Effect Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580

Plug-in Limitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583

Troubleshooting AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583

Addressing Memory Allocation Problems

(Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584

Canceling a Render Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Addressing Error Messages When Rendering a

Plug-in Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Recording Voice-Over Narration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

Using the Audio Punch-In Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

Connecting the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

Creating the Voice-Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Monitoring the Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591

Voice-Over Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591

Fine-Tuning Audio Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591

Fading and Dipping Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

Fading Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

Dipping Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594

Mixing Down Audio Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

Displaying Audio Formats in Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

Chapter 15 Syncing Methods

Autosyncing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600

Using the AutoSequence Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602

Resyncing Subframe Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

Managing Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Editing to Avoid Sync Breaks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Displaying Sync Breaks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607

Fixing Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608

Fixing Sync in Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608

Fixing Sync in Source/Record Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

Fixing Sync in Segment Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

Managing Sync with Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610

Using Sync Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610

Syncing with Tail Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611

Syncing with Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612

Using Add Edit When Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614

Using Sync Point Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

Ganging Footage in Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616

Using Match Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618

Performing a Match Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618

Performing a Reverse Match Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Matchframing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Using Match Frame to Find Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

Chapter 16 MultiCamera Editing

Grouping and Multigrouping Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Creating Group Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623

Creating Multigroup Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625

MultiCamera Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626

Full-Monitor Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628

Quad Split Source View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630

Nine Split Source View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632

Playing a Linecut on the Source and Client Monitors. . . . . . . 633

MultiCamera Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634

MultiCamera Editing Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

Switching Clips with the Arrow Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

Cutting On-the-Fly with MultiCam Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638

Editing and Playing Back a Linecut in MultiCamera

Edit Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640

Using the Add Edit Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640

Using the Group Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641

Using the Multi-angle View Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643

Using Match Frame in MultiCamera Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644

Workflow Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Selective Camera Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Cutting On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646

Combination Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Additional Offline Editing Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Appendix A Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins

Accessing the AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650

Core AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650

Description of Core AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

Invert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

Duplicate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

Normalize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Reverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654

Signal Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654

DC Offset Removal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654

Time Compression Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655

Master Clip Mode Parallel Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

Time Compression Expansion Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

Pitch Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659

Pitch Shift Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661

EQ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663

EQ II Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663

Compressor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

Using Compression Effectively. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

Compressor Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666

Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668

Limiter Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Gate Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Expander/Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672

Expander/Gate Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

Mod Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675

Mod Delay Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676

Additional Supported Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677

Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction (DINR)—

Broadband Noise Reduction (BNR). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678

Focusrite d3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678

Maxim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678

Digidesign D-Fi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679

Digidesign D-FX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679

Appendix B Connecting an External Fader Controller or Mixer to

Your Avid System

Using the FaderMaster Pro and MCS-3000X. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682

The MCS-3000X Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683

Using the Snap Mode Feature on the MCS-3000X . . . . . . . . . . 684

Ganging Faders on the FaderMaster Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685

Using the Yamaha 01V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685

Setting Up the Yamaha 01V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686

Initializing the Yamaha 01V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

Configuring the Mixer to Recognize MIDI Control

Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688

Starting the Avid System with the Yamaha 01V Attached . . . 688

Operational Notes for the Yamaha 01V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

Soloing Avid System Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

Appendix C Keyboard Shortcuts: Macintosh and Windows Equivalents

Command Key = Control Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693

Option Key = Alt Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693

Macintosh Control Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694

Other Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695

Appendix D Using the MCS3 Controller

Configuring the MCS3 Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697

Using the Default Button Mappings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Default Navigation Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Default Function Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Mapping MCS

Configuring a Shifted Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701

Customizing the Maximum Jog Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702

Customizing the Maximum Shuttle Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703

Creating Multiple Controller Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704

Editing Footage with the MCS

Moving Through Footage in Jog Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706

Moving Through Footage in Shuttle Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706

Using the MCS

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708

Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705

for Editing Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707

Index

Figures

Figure 5-1 Sample Data File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Figure 5-2 Sample Spreadsheet Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Figure 10-1 Tracking Information Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Figure 10-2 Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Figure 12-1 Timeline Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Figure 12-2 Track Selector Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Tables

Table 4-1 Project Types for Systems That Support 24p and

25p Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Table 4-2 Help System Menu Items (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Table 4-3 Help Menu Items (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Table 5-1 Settings Scroll List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Table 5-2 Film Settings Dialog Box Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Table 5-3 Edit Play Rate Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Table 5-4 Bin Settings Dialog Box Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Table 5-5 General Settings Dialog Box Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Table 5-6 Interface Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Table 5-7 Settings Display Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Table 6-1 Navigation Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Table 7-1 Object Icon Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Table 7-2 Range Menu Items for Explicit Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Table 7-3 Range Menu Items for Implicit Ranges. . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Table 7-4 Direct Modification Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Table 7-5 Modify Command Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Table 7-6 Timecode Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Table 7-7 Timecode Frame Counts for Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Table 7-8 Bin Column Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Table 8-1 Archive to Videotape Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Table 9-1 Script Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Table 10-1 Tracking Format Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Table 10-2 Timecode Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Table 10-3 Composer Settings Options — Window Tab . . . . . . 323

Table 10-4 Color Framing Options — Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Table 10-5 Miscellaneous Composer Settings Options —

Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Table 10-6 Fast Forward and Rewind Options —

FF/REW Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Table 10-7 Shuttle Using J-K-L Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Table 12-1 Timeline Fast Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Table 12-2 Timeline Settings Options — Display Tab . . . . . . . . 417

Table 12-3 Timeline Settings Options — Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Table 13-1 Trim Settings Options — Features Tab . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Table 13-2 Trim Settings Options — Play Loop Tab . . . . . . . . . . 478

Table 14-1 Number of Tracks versus Scrub Speeds . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Table 16-1 Default MultiCam Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638

Table B-1 External Fader Controller and Mixer Features . . . . . 681

Table D-1 Default Button Mappings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Table D-2 Maximum Jog Speed Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702

Table D-3 Maximum Shuttle Speed Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704

CHAPTER 1

Editing Overview

This chapter provides an overview of the editing workflow. The editing process begins after you transfer your source material to the Avid system. For information about planning a project, digitizing your source material, and outputting your final sequence, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

For a complete overview of the capabilities of your Avid system, see the getting started guide for your Avid product.

The following sections provide an outline of the editing workflow:

• Editing Workflow

• Starting a Project

• Preparing to Edit

• Editing a Sequence

Editing Workflow

The editing workflow varies depending on your project. For example, you can log your clips before you digitize to eliminate creating and organizing bins during editing.

The following procedure lists the basic steps to edit a sequence and refers you to other resources for more information:

1. Open a project containing the digitized material.

2. Set the appropriate project settings from the Settings scroll list. See

“Using the Settings Display” on page 94.

3. Create bins to organize the project items. See Chapter 7.

4. Use the bins to create a storyboard.

5. Customize the Composer window to meet your needs. See

Chapter 10.

6. View your clips in advance and mark IN points and OUT points, or create subclips based on selected portions of your master clips. See Chapter 10.

7. Build your sequence in Source/Record mode and in the Timeline. See Chapter 11.

8. Customize the Timeline view as appropriate for your needs. See

Chapter 12.

9. Fine-tune your edits and effects by using functions of the various edit modes, such as Segment mode (see Chapter 12), Trim mode (see Chapter 13), and Effects mode (see the effects guide for your Avid system).

10. Adjust and mix multiple audio tracks and prepare for final playback or output, using the Audio tool and Audio Mix tool. See

Chapter 14.

11. Play the new sequence. See “Playing the New Sequence” on

page 395.

12. Use the Media tool to manage the media files. See Chapter 8.

Starting a Project

1. Turn on your equipment in a prescribed order and start the Avid

application (Chapter 2).

2. Select or create a new project: the job that will result in one or more finished sequences (Chapter 4).

3. Set the project settings from the Settings scroll list (Chapter 5).

1. Turn on and start your Avid system.

2. Select or create a project.

3. Set the project settings.

Settings scroll list

4. Create and organize bins.

4. Create and organize bins (Chapter 7).

5. Back up your project on a regular basis (Chapter 4).

5. Back up the project.

Project Window

Preparing to Edit

1. Batch digitize, log and digitize, or digitize on-the-fly your source material into the Avid system. See the input and output guide for your Avid system.

2. Use bins to organize the project items (Chapter 7).

3. Manage media files by using the Media tool (Chapter 8).

1. Digitize footage, creating master clips and media files.

2. Sort and organize clips in the bins.

3. Manage media files for storage efficiency and backup security.

4. Use the bins to create storyboards (Chapter 7).

4. Previsualize with storyboards.

Editing a Sequence

1. View your clips in advance and mark IN points and OUT points, or create subclips based on selected portions of your master clips (Chapter 10).

2. Build your sequence in Source/Record mode, which provides nonlinear editing controls with Source and Record monitors, and in the Timeline (Chapter 11).

3. Fine-tune your edits and effects by using functions of the various edit modes, such as Segment mode, Trim mode, and Effect mode (Chapter 12,

Chapter 13).

Source monitor

1. Screen, mark, and subcatalog footage.

Record monitor

Timeline

2. Edit in Source/Record mode and the Timeline.

3. Fine-tune edits and effects.

4. Adjust and mix multiple audio tracks and prepare for final playback or output, using the Media Composer or Film Composer Audio tool and Audio Mix tool (Chapter 14).

5. Return to editing if further adjustments are required.

4. Fine-tune audio pan, volume, and EQ.

5. Screen and continue editing as necessary.

CHAPTER 2

Desktop Basics (Windows)

Although the majority of your work is performed within the Avid application, you will need to use a few basic Windows desktop procedures. For example, you use the desktop to move projects and user profiles between systems.

This chapter describes the location of the various project files. For information about moving a project from one system to another, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

The following sections describe basic procedures involving the Windows operating system and the Avid folders:

• Working with the Desktop (Windows)

• About the Avid Media Composer and Film Composer Folders

(Windows)

• Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Windows)

• Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder (Windows)

• Starting the Avid Application (Windows)

This chapter refers to the default installation directory path for the various Avid folders. If you choose a different directory path during the installation, you must substitute that path when using this chapter.

Working with the Desktop (Windows)

For information on the Windows operating system, such as the desktop and icons, see

your Microsoft® Windows Help.

This section describes the following desktop features that you will use when working with the Avid application:

• Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (Windows)

• Working with Windows (Windows)

• Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows)

• Dragging Windows Without Showing the Contents (Windows)

• Setting Your Screen Resolution (Windows)

• Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Windows)

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (Windows)

You or your system administrator needs to create a Windows emergency repair disk (ERD) to rebuild your system configuration if it becomes damaged. You need to update the ERD any time you make a system change, like installing new software.

To create an emergency repair disk:

1. Click the Start button and click Run.

2. In the text box, type:

rdisk /s

3. Click OK.

4. Follow the instructions to create the disk.

5. Store the disk in a safe, dry, static-free location.

If you have a problem, search for Emergency Repair Disk in the Windows Help.

Working with Windows (Windows)

Each window contains a title bar (horizontal bar at the top of the window) that contains the title of the window or dialog box. On many windows, the title bar also contains the application icon and the Minimize, Maximize, Restore, and Close buttons.

The following table describes these buttons:

Button Description

Minimize Reduces the window to a button in the taskbar.

If the window contains an application, the application remains loaded and running.

To open a minimized window, click the button on the taskbar.

Maximize Enlarges the window to its maximum size.

Restores the window to the previous size.

Restore

Close Closes the window. If the window is an

application window, the application quits.

Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows)

By default, the Windows taskbar always appears on the bottom of your screen, on top of your application. You can also select one of the following settings:

• Keeping the taskbar hidden behind the application

• Setting the taskbar to appear only when you drag your mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen

You can also drag the taskbar to a different position, such as the left side of the Bin monitor.

If you keep the taskbar hidden while running the Avid application and you minimize an application such as Help, you will not see the minimized button in the taskbar.

To see the taskbar and minimized buttons:

t Minimize the Avid application or press Ctrl+Esc.

To change the taskbar settings:

1. Right-click an unused part of the taskbar.

2. Choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

3. In the Taskbar Properties dialog box, click the Taskbar Option tab.

4. Select one of the options:

t To keep the taskbar hidden, deselect “Always on top” and

“Auto hide.”

t To set the taskbar to appear when you want, select “Always

on top” and “Auto hide.”

5. Click OK.

For more information, see the Windows Help.

When working in the Avid application, you can minimize windows (such as the Project window and bins), and the icons will appear in the Bin monitor, not in the taskbar.

Dragging Windows Without Showing the Contents (Windows)

By default, Windows systems show the contents of windows when you drag them. Deselect this option to improve screen display and to avoid problems repainting the screen.

To drag windows without showing the contents:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.

2. In the Control Panel, double-click Display.

3. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Plus! tab.

4. Deselect the “Show window contents while dragging” check box.

5. Click OK.

To quickly access the Display Properties dialog box:

t Right-click an empty part of the desktop, and choose Properties

from the pop-up menu.

Setting Your Screen Resolution (Windows)

The Avid application is designed to work best with the following two-monitor screen resolutions:

• 2048 x 768 pixels

• 2304 x 864 pixels

• 2560 x 1024 pixels

A larger resolution displays more pixels and lets you view more objects in the monitors. The objects will appear smaller.

To view or change the screen resolution:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.

2. Double-click Display.

3. Click the Settings tab.

4. Under Desktop Area, drag the slider to the resolution you want.

Also in the Settings tab, make sure the Color Palette is set to True Color.

Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Windows)

Avid recommends you use the Avid color scheme provided with your Avid application.

To use the Avid color scheme:

1. Right-click an empty part of the Windows desktop.

2. Choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

3. Click the Appearance tab.

4. Choose Avid from the Scheme list.

5. Click OK.

Use this same procedure to switch to another color scheme.

About the Avid Media Composer and Film Composer Folders (Windows)

The Avid Media Composer and Film Composer folders contain the following items:

The C:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Media Composer folder and the C:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Film Composer folder contain essential operational files and supporting files. You should not touch any of these files.

• Help folder: This folder contains the Help files. For information on using the Help, see “Using Help” on page 77.

• HIIP folder: This folder contains files that support the HIIP

export protocol. HIIP allows the Avid application to export files in various standard formats.

• Avid application: The application icon resides here. Procedures for starting the application are described in “Starting the Avid

Application (Windows)” on page 46.

Managing the A vid Projects and A vid Users Folder s (Windows)

Managing projects, user profiles, and settings involves moving, copying, or deleting files and folders, and changing project or user names.

These files and folders are considered data files. Because the data files can become large, Avid recommends that the data files be stored on a drive partition other than the C drive. The location on your system of the Avid Projects, Avid Users, and Settings folders depends on your Avid software installation.

About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Windows)

The Avid Projects and Avid Users folders allow you to move entire projects or selected project and user settings between Avid systems by copying and moving files on your desktop. When you copy or move a project, the bins for that project are also moved or copied.

When you create a new project or user profile, the system creates certain files and folders.

• When you create a new user, the system creates three items:

- A user profile file (.ave)

- A user settings file (.avs)

- A user folder containing the two files

Each item is given the user name you provide. Depending on the Avid application, the new folder is stored in the folder

drive:\Avid\Avid Media Composer\Avid Users or drive:\Avid\Avid Film Composer\Avid Users.

• When you create a new project, the system creates three items:

- A project file (.avp)

- A project settings file (.avs)

- A project folder containing the two files

Each item is given the project name you provide. The new folder is stored in a location separate from the media files. Depending on the Avid application, the default location of this folder is

drive:\Avid\Avid Media Composer\Avid Projects or drive:\Avid\Avid Film Composer\Avid Projects.

Your settings are initially set to the default values. As you work, the files maintain current settings, while the project folder fills with bin files (.avb).

The location of the user folder and project folder depends on your Media Composer or Film Composer installation.

Changing Project and User Names (Windows)

You cannot change project or user names within the Avid application. You must change the names from your desktop before starting the Avid application. For information about the location of the Avid files for the project and user names, see “About the Avid Projects and Avid

Users Folders (Windows)” on page 40.

When you change a user name or project name, make sure you change the name of the folder and all the files in the folder that have the old name. The system does not automatically change the names of corresponding files in the folder.

To change a project or user name:

1. Double-click the Avid Projects or the Avid Users folder to open it.

2. Click the name of the folder you want to change.

The name is highlighted for text entry, and the arrow changes to an I-beam.

3. Change the name of the folder.

4. Double-click the folder with the new name to open it.

The folder contains profile, settings, and project files with the old name.

5. Change the old name of each file to the new name.

Do not change the name of the file MCState.avs in the users folder.

6. Close the windows and restart the Avid application.

The new project or user name appears in the Open Project dialog box.

Deleting Projects and User Profiles (Windows)

Digitized media related to a deleted project is not eliminated with the project folder. For more information on deleting media files, see

“Deleting Clips, Subclips, Sequences, and Media Files” on page 171 and “Deleting Media Files with the Media Tool” on page 231.

You cannot delete projects and user profiles from within the Avid application. You must make the change from your desktop before starting the application. For information about the location of the Avid files for the project and user names, see “About the Avid Projects and

Avid Users Folders (Windows)” on page 40.

To delete a project or user profile:

1. Double-click the Avid Projects or the Avid Users folder to open it.

2. Drag the project or user folder you want to delete to the Recycle Bin. Empty the Recycle Bin to remove the files from the system.

Deleting a project also deletes any bins that are in that project.

3. Close the windows and restart the Avid application.

The deleted project or user no longer appears in the Open Project dialog box.

Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder (Windows)

The Attic folder contains backup files of each bin in a project. For information on setting automatic save features, see “Reviewing Basic

Settings” on page 100.

To retrieve files from the Attic folder, one of the following circumstances must occur:

• You want to replace current changes to a sequence or clip with a previous version

• The current bin file is corrupted

The Attic folder contains a folder for each project. When a bin is saved, a copy of the bin file is stored in the project folder in the Attic folder. The system adds the file name extension .bak plus a version number to the bin name. The bin file with the highest version number represents the latest copy of the bin file. When you view a project folder in the Attic folder in Details view, you can also identify the most recent backup file based on the name and timestamp of creation displayed in the Modified column.

The oldest backup file is overwritten only if the second oldest backup file is more than 2 hours old.

To retrieve a file from the Attic folder:

1. Minimize the Avid application.

2. From the desktop, double-click the Attic folder located in one of the following folders, depending on your Avid application:

- drive:\Avid\Avid Media Composer

- drive:\Avid\Avid Film Composer

The Attic folder opens and displays project folders that contain the backup files.

3. Double-click the project folder that contains the files you want to retrieve.

4. Choose Details from the View menu, if the project folder is not already in the Details view.

The project folder displays the file names and their creation dates.

5. Ctrl+click the bin files you want to retrieve.

6. Drag the selected backup bin files to the desktop.

This makes a copy of the files, leaving the original files in the Attic folder.

7. Click the Avid application button in the taskbar to activate it.

8. Click the Project window to activate it, and click Bins to display the Bins list.

9. Choose Open Bin from the File menu. Select one of the backup bin files you copied to the desktop and click Open.

When you open the backup bin, a link to the backup bin on the desktop is created in the Other Bins folder.

The Avid application does not allow a bin and copy of a bin to be open at the same time. You must keep all other bins closed and open the backup bins one at a time. You might need to change the creation date to avoid conflicts.

10. Create a new bin if you do not plan to overwrite existing files.

11. Open the new bin and open the backup bin in the Other Bins folder.

12. Select the material you want to keep from the backup bin, and drag the files to the new bin.

Repeat steps 9 through 12 for any other backup bin files you copied to the desktop.

13. Select and delete the backup bins in the Other Bins folder.

14. Drag the backup bin files on the desktop to the Recycle Bin.

Once you have moved the objects, modify their creation dates so they are considered newest by the system. The creation date is modified whenever you make a change to an object and then save the bin. There is no conflict with sequences, so there is no need to modify the creation date of a sequence.

Starting the Avid Application (Windows)

For more information on using the Start menu and creating a shortcut, see your Microsoft Windows Help.

The Avid application icon is located in the C:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Media Composer folder or the C:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Film Composer folder. For most users, the desktop or the Start menu is a more convenient location for starting the application. The installation process adds a pointer in the Start menu to the Avid application.

The application will not start properly if the application icon is moved from the Avid Media Composer folder or the Avid Film Composer folder.

To start the Avid application, do one of the following:

t Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Avid, and then

select Avid Media Composer or Avid Film Composer.

t Double-click the shortcut icon.

t Double-click the application icon.

When you start the application, you might see a message box indicating there is no input or output signal. Check to ensure the Meridien™ I/O box is

connected to the system with the cables secured, and that it is turned on.

After the application starts, the Open Project dialog box appears, as described in “Opening and Closing a Project” on page 56.

If your system includes the Avid TransferManager application, you can prevent TransferManager from starting automatically by using the Transfer settings (see Ta b l e 5 - 1 ).

CHAPTER 3

Desktop Basics (Macintosh)

The Avid drive—the computer’s internal hard drive—contains a number of files and utilities you can use to organize and optimize your work. The desktop elements directly related to the Media Composer or Film Composer system (also called the Avid system) are stored in the Avid Projects, Avid Users, Utilities, and Media Composer or Film Composer folders. The System Folder also contains essential extensions and control panels.

For information on the System Folder and other Macintosh features, such as the desktop and icons, see your Macintosh documentation.

Although the majority of your work is performed within the Avid application, you will need to use a few basic Macintosh desktop procedures. For example, you use the desktop to move projects and user profiles between systems.

This chapter describes the location of the various project files. For information about moving a project from one system to another, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

The following sections describe basic procedures involving the Macintosh operating system and the Avid folders:

• About the Avid Media Composer and Avid Film Composer

Folders (Macintosh)

• Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Macintosh)

• Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder (Macintosh)

• Starting the Avid Application (Macintosh)

About the Avid Media Composer and Avid Film Composer Folders (Macintosh)

The Avid Media Composer and Film Composer folders contain the following items:

The Media Composer and Film Composer folders contain essential operational files and supporting files. You should not touch any of these files.

• Help folder: This folder contains the Help files. For information on using Help, see “Using Help” on page 77.

• Avid application: The application icon resides here. Procedures for starting the application are described in “Starting the Avid

Application (Macintosh)” on page 54.

• Settings folder: In addition to Project and User settings, the system maintains settings files in this folder that apply to all users and all projects on the system. You can copy or move the Site Settings file to other Media Composer or Film Composer (Macintosh) systems, using the procedure described in the input and output guide for your Avid system.

• SupportingFiles folder: This folder contains a series of files that add functionality to the application, such as color bars and test patterns. The system accesses most of these files from within the application. You can add third-party effects to the 3rd Party Plug-Ins folder and AVX_Plug_Ins folder from programs such as Avid Visual Extensions (AVX™) for use in effects editing, as described in the effects guide for your Avid system.

Managing the A vid Projects and A vid Users Folder s (Macintosh)

Managing projects, user profiles, and settings involves moving, copying, or deleting files and folders, and changing project or user names.

About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Macintosh)

The Avid Projects and Avid Users folders allow you to move entire projects or selected project and user settings between systems by copying and moving files on your desktop. When you copy or move a project, the bins for that project are also moved or copied.

When you create a new project or user profile, the system creates certain files and folders.

• When you create a new user, the system creates three items:

- A user profile file

- A user settings file

- A user folder containing the two files

Each item is given the user name you provide. This new folder is stored in the Avid Users folder at the top level of the Avid drive.

• When you create a new project, the system creates three items:

- A project file

- A project settings file

- A project folder containing the two files

Each item is given the project name you provide. This new folder is stored in a location separate from the media files. The default location is the Avid Projects folder at the top level of the Avid drive.

Your settings are initially set to the default values. As you work, the files maintain current settings, while the project folder fills with bin files.

Changing Project and User Names (Macintosh)

You cannot change project or user names within the Avid application. You must change the names from your desktop before starting the application.

To change a project or user name:

1. Double-click the Avid drive to open it.

2. Double-click the Avid Projects or the Avid Users folder to open it.

3. Click the name of the folder you want to change.

The name is highlighted for text entry, and the arrow changes to an I-beam.

4. Change the name of the folder.

5. Double-click the folder with the new name to open it.

The folder contains profile, settings, and project files with the old name.

6. Change the old name of each file to the new name.

Do not change the name of the file MCState in the users folder.

7. Close the windows and restart the Avid application.

The new project or user name appears in the Open Project dialog box.

Deleting Projects and User Profiles (Macintosh)

Digitized media related to a deleted project is not eliminated with the project folder. For more information on deleting media files, see

“Deleting Clips, Subclips, Sequences, and Media Files” on page 171 and “Deleting Media Files with the Media Tool” on page 231.

You cannot delete projects and user profiles from within the Avid application. You must make the change from your desktop before starting the application.

To delete a project or user profile:

1. Double-click the Avid drive to open it.

2. Double-click the Avid Projects or the Avid Users folder to open it.

3. Drag the project or user folder you want to delete to the Trash. Empty the Trash to remove the files from the system.

Deleting a project also deletes any bins that are in that project.

4. Close the windows and restart the Avid application.

The deleted project or user no longer appears in the Open Project dialog box.

Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder (Macintosh)

The Attic folder, located at the top level of the Avid drive, contains backup files of each bin in a project. For information on setting automatic save features, see “Reviewing Basic Settings” on page 100.

To retrieve files from the Attic folder, one of the following circumstances must occur:

• You want to replace current changes to a sequence or clip with a previous version

• The current bin file is corrupted

The Attic folder contains a folder for each project. When a bin is saved, a copy of the bin file is stored in the project folder in the Attic folder. The system adds the file name extension .bak plus a version number to the bin name. The bin file with the highest version number represents the latest copy of the bin file. When you view a project folder in the Attic folder in List view, you can also identify the most recent backup file based on the name and timestamp of creation displayed in the Date Modified column.

The oldest backup file is overwritten only if the second oldest backup file is more than 2 hours old.

To retrieve a file from the Attic folder:

1. From the desktop, double-click the Attic folder at the top level of the Avid drive.

The Attic folder opens and displays project folders that contain the backup files.

2. Double-click the project folder that contains the files you want to retrieve.

3. Choose List from the View menu, if the project folder is not already in the List view.

The project folder displays the file names and their modification dates.

4. Shift+click the bin files you want to retrieve.

5. Option+drag the selected backup bin files to the desktop.

This makes a copy of the files, leaving the original files in the Attic folder.

6. Click the Media Composer or Film Composer window to activate the Media Composer or Film Composer application.

7. Click the Project window to activate it, and click Bins to display the Bins list.

8. Choose Open Bin from the File menu. Select one of the backup bin files you copied to the desktop and click Open.

When you open the backup bin, a link to the backup bin on the desktop is created in the Other Bins folder.

9. Create a new bin if you do not plan to overwrite existing files.

10. Open the new bin and open the backup bin in the Other Bins folder.

11. Select the material you want to keep from the backup bin, and drag the files to the new bin.

Repeat steps 8 through 11 for any other backup bin files you copied to the desktop.

12. Select and delete the backup bins in the Other Bins folder.

13. Drag the backup bin files on the desktop to the Trash.

Once you have moved the objects, save the bin to modify their creation dates so they are considered newest by the system. The creation date is modified whenever you make a change to an object and then save the bin. There is no conflict with sequences, so there is no need to modify the creation date of a sequence.

Starting the Avid Application (Macintosh)

The Avid application icons are located in the Media Composer or Film Composer folder on the Avid drive. For most users, the desktop or the Apple menu is a more convenient location for starting the application.

For more information on making an alias and using the Apple menu, see your Macintosh documentation.

The application will not start properly if the application icon is moved from the Media Composer or Film Composer folder. To start the application from a convenient location, Avid recommends that you create an alias and place it in a convenient location.

To start the Avid application, do one of the following:

t Double-click the Avid application icon.

t Double-click the alias icon.

t Choose the application from the Apple menu.

When you start the application, you might see a message box indicating there is no input or output signal. Check to ensure the Meridien I/O box is connected to the system, the cables are secured, and that it is turned on.

After the application starts, the Open Project dialog box appears, as described in “Opening and Closing a Project” on page 56.

If your system includes the Avid TransferManager application, you can prevent TransferManager from starting automatically by using the Transfer settings (see Ta b l e 5 - 1 ).

CHAPTER 4

Starting a Work Session

Your work in Media Composer or Film Composer begins when you turn on the system, start the application, and open an existing project or create a new project that conforms to the specifications of your material. This chapter describes these and other procedures for starting a work session. There are also several techniques you can use to safeguard and restore your work if necessary. These topics are covered in the following sections:

• Opening and Closing a Project

• Backing Up Your Project Information

• Ending a Work Session

• Mounting and Ejecting Media Drives (Windows)

• Mounting and Ejecting Media Drives (Macintosh)

• Using Context Menus (Windows)

• Using Context Menus (Macintosh)

• Using Help

• Accessing Information from the Help Menu

It is important to plan your project before you edit it in Media Composer or Film Composer. For information on setting up and structuring your project, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

This chapter also provides a session check list.

For information about turning on your system, see the getting started guide for your Avid system.

(Windows only) This chapter refers to the default installation directory path for the various Avid folders. If you chose a different directory path during the installation, you must substitute that path when using this chapter.

For information on the Microsoft Windows operating system and terminology, see the Microsoft Windows Help. For information on the Macintosh features, such as the desktop and icons, see your Macintosh documentation.

Opening and Closing a Project

Each time you start the Avid application, the Open Project dialog box appears.

Users scroll list

Projects scroll list

Use the procedures described in the following sections to establish your identity as a user of the system and to select or create a project to open. You can also create additional folders within which to store projects, or you can quit the application from the Open Project dialog box.

Identifying a User

To identify a user for the project, you can either create and identify a new user or select one from a list of existing users. This user name represents the user profile, which includes the settings associated with that user. New users begin with default user settings. When you customize the user settings in the Avid application, these customized settings are associated with the user name.

The Avid Users folder is the default location for user profile files.

Setting Up a New User

To create a new user profile:

1. Click the New User button in the Open Project dialog box.

The New User dialog box appears.

2. Type your name, and click OK.

If you plan to move bins and projects from one platform to another, do not use

the characters / \ : * ? “ < > | when naming projects, bins, and users.

(Macintosh only) You can set the Use Windows® compatible File Names

option in the Avid application’s General Settings dialog box to prevent the system from accepting these restricted characters in a bin, project, or user name.

The Open Project dialog box reappears with your user name highlighted in the Users scroll list.

You are ready to select a project. See “Selecting a Project” on

page 59.

Selecting an Existing User

To select from the list of existing users:

t Click the user name to highlight it in the Users scroll list on the left

side of the Open Project dialog box.

This user profile is used when you open a project.

Directory pop-up menu

User names

Parent folder

Each parent folder containing a collection of users appears with an asterisk (Windows) or a dot (Macintosh) preceding it.

For information about the location for the user profile files, see “About

the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Windows)” on page 40 or “About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Macintosh)” on page 49.

To select a user name stored inside a parent folder within the Avid Users folder:

1. Double-click the folder to open it and display the user names.

2. Click a user name to select it.

To change the location of user profiles outside the Avid Users folder, you must use the Windows operating system or Macintosh desktop.

If the user profile you want is stored on your system outside the Avid Users folder (in another folder or on a network, for example), you can locate it by using the Open Project dialog box.

To search for another user profile folder:

1. Click the Directory pop-up menu to display a list of other locations on the system.

2. Choose a drive from the Volumes submenu, if necessary, and locate the folder.

3. Double-click the selected folder to open it. Continue to open any additional folders until the users scroll list displays the appropriate user name.

4. Click the user name to select it.

Selecting a Project

To open a project, you can either create and open a new project, or open an existing project.

You are ready to select a project. See “Selecting a Project” on

page 59.

Creating a New Project

To create a new project:

1. Click New Project in the Open Project dialog box.

2. Type the name of your new project in the highlighted text box.

The New Project dialog box appears.

For a complete description of each option, click in the New Project dialog box and press the F1 key (Windows) or Help key (Macintosh).

If you plan to move bins and projects from one platform to another, do not use

the characters / \ : * ? “ < > | when naming projects, bins, and users.

(Macintosh only) You can set the Use Windows

compatible File Names

option in the Avid application’s General Settings dialog box to prevent the system from accepting these restricted characters in a bin, project, or user name.

3. Select a project type from the Format pop-up menu, based on your source footage (NTSC or PAL) and the model of your Avid system:

- If your Avid system does not include support for 24p projects

or 25p projects, make a selection based on the source footage: NTSC or PAL.

- If your Avid system includes support for 24p projects or 25p

projects, make a selection based on the source footage or the type of film-to-tape transfer you are working with. For more information, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

Ta ble 4 - 1 lists the format options available with Avid systems

that include support for 24p projects and 25p projects.

Table 4-1 Project Types for Systems That Support 24p and

25p Projects

Project Type Source Footage Transfer

24p NTSC For film-originated or other 24-fps footage

transferred to NTSC videotape

30i NTSC For NTSC video-originated or other 30-fps footage

transferred to NTSC videotape

24p PAL For film-originated or other 24-fps footage

transferred to PAL videotape at 25 fps

25p PAL For 25-fps film footage transferred to PAL

videotape

25i PAL For PAL video-originated footage (25 fps)

4. For 24p projects and 25p projects, choose a film gauge tracking format from the Film Type pop-up menu.

5. For 24p PAL projects, choose an audio transfer rate. For information on audio transfer rates, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

6. (Option) Click Matchback and choose a film tracking format from

7. Click OK.

Setting Film Preferences

Set film preferences in the Film Settings dialog box immediately after you create a project to provide the system with important information about the type of film and audio transfer you used for your job.

the Film Type pop-up menu. The Matchback item appears only if your Avid system includes the Matchback option.

For more information about matchback, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

The system creates the new project files and folder, and returns you to the Open Project dialog box. The project name is highlighted in the projects scroll list. You are ready to open the project. See “Opening a Project” on page 65.

• For information on setting the play rate for Timeline play and setting the format and display of ink numbers, see “Film Settings”

on page 101.

• For information about the settings for digitizing in a film project, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

Selecting an Existing Project

Existing projects appear in the Projects scroll list in the Open Project dialog box.

For information about the location for the project files, see “About the

Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Windows)” on page 40 or “About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Macintosh)” on page 49.

Projects scroll list

Directory pop-up menu

To select an existing project, do one of the following:

t Click an existing project name to highlight it.

t Press the first letter of the project name on the keyboard to

highlight it. (If there are multiple projects that begin with the same letter, the first project in the list that begins with that letter will be highlighted.)

To open a project nested in a folder:

1. Double-click the folder name to open it and display the contents in the Projects scroll list.

2. Click the project name to select it.

If the project is stored outside the Avid Projects folder (in another folder or on a network, for example), you can locate it by using the Directory pop-up menu.

To locate a project in another folder:

1. Click the Directory pop-up menu and choose a drive from the Volumes submenu.

The Open Project dialog box displays all the stored folders.

2. Double-click a folder name to open it. Continue opening folders until the Projects scroll list displays the project folder you want.

3. Click the project name to highlight it.

You are ready to open the project. See “Opening a Project” on

page 65.

Nesting Projects in Folders

You can create folders in the Open Project dialog box for storing related projects. To nest a folder, you must first create a folder.

To create a folder:

1. Click the New Folder button in the Open Project dialog box.

The New Folder dialog box appears.

2. Type a name for the folder, and click OK.

The folder appears with an asterisk (Windows) or a dot (Macintosh) preceding it in the Projects scroll list.

3. Double-click the folder name to open the folder.

Any new projects you create now are displayed and stored in this folder.

You can also nest projects by using the desktop to move existing projects into folders that display in the Open Project dialog box. For more information about moving existing projects, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

Opening a Project

After you select the appropriate user and project names in the scroll lists of the Open Project dialog box, you can open the project with the selected user settings.

To open the project with the selected user settings, do one of the following:

t Click OK.

t Double-click the highlighted project name in the Projects scroll list.

t Double-click the highlighted user name in the Users scroll list.

For more information about the Project window, see Chapter 5. For more information about the Composer window, see Chapter

10.

Windows

Project window

The Composer window opens on the Edit monitor, and the Project window opens on the Bin monitor with the selected user settings loaded.

The title bar of the Project window contains the project name and user name you selected in the Open Project dialog box.

Project name

User name

Close button

Macintosh

Project window

Close box

Closing a Project

To close the Project window and return to the Open Project dialog box, do one of the following:

t Click the Close button (Windows) or the close box (Macintosh) in

t With the Project window active, choose Close from the File menu.

The Project window and all open bins close, and the Open Project dialog box appears.

Project name

the Project window.

User name

Backing Up Your Project Information

Although the Avid system automatically saves your bins, projects, and settings, you should back up these items frequently to avoid losing any of your project information due to a hard drive crash or corruption of the files. Because the storage requirements are minimal, you can back up these files easily to a variety of storage devices, such as:

• Floppy disk or equivalent drive

• Removable storage device

• Network storage device

To back up the larger media files that are created when you digitize footage, you must use a high-capacity storage device. For information on backing up media files, see “Backing Up Media Files” on page 242.

Saving Your Project Information (Windows)

To save your work on a floppy disk or equivalent device:

1. Open a window containing the destination storage folder.

a. From the Windows desktop, double-click My Computer and

then locate the destination storage drive or insert the floppy disk as appropriate.

b. Double-click the icon for the destination storage drive or

floppy drive to open it. Double-click any additional folders to target the appropriate storage location.

2. Open a window containing the folder you want to save.

a. From the Windows desktop, double-click My Computer.

Another My Computer window opens on top of the previous window.

You can also drag folders and files, and drop them in the backup folder.

b. Drag the second My Computer window away from the other

window.

c. Double-click the appropriate folder to open it.

Folder Contains

Avid Projects Project folders

Avid Users User folders

Settings Site settings file

3. Click a project folder, user folder, or settings file to highlight it.

4. Choose Copy from the Edit menu of the window containing the folder you want to save.

5. Click the destination backup folder window and choose Paste from the Edit menu of the backup folder. The files are placed in the backup folder.

6. When the system finishes copying the files, remove the floppy disk from the drive and store it as appropriate.

Saving Your Project Information (Macintosh)

To save your work on a floppy disk or equivalent device:

1. Open a window containing the destination storage folder.

a. Mount the storage drive or insert the floppy disk as

appropriate.

b. Double-click the icon for the destination storage drive or

floppy drive to open it. Double-click any folders to target the appropriate storage location.

2. Open a window containing the folder you want to save.

a. Double-click the Avid drive to open it.

b. Double-click the appropriate folder to open it:

Folder Contains

Avid Projects Project folders

Avid Users User folders

Media Composer:Settings Site Settings file

Film Composer:Settings Site Settings file

3. Drag the project folder, user folder, or site settings file to the destination storage location.

4. When the system finishes copying the files, eject the floppy disk and store it as appropriate.

Restoring from a Backup (Windo ws)

To restore a project, user profile, or settings from a backup storage device:

1. Open a window containing the backup files and copy the files.

a. From the Windows desktop, double-click My Computer and

then locate the drive or insert the floppy disk that contains the backup files.

b. Double-click the icon for the backup storage device to open it.

Double-click any additional folders to target the appropriate backup folder.

c. Click the folder or files you want to restore.

If you are restoring an individual bin or bins, you must relink them to the project from within the Project window. For more information, see

“Opening Bins from Other Projects” on page 88.

d. Choose Copy from the Edit menu.

2. Open a window containing the appropriate folder and paste the files.

a. Double-click the appropriate folder in the drive:\Avid\Avid

Media Composer or drive:\Avid\Avid Film Composer folder to open it.

Folder Contains

Avid Projects Project folders

Avid Users User folders

Settings Site settings file

b. Choose Paste from the Edit menu of the window containing

the folder where you want to restore the files.

When you start the Avid application, the restored project and user profile appear in the Open Project dialog box.

Restoring from a Backup (Macintosh)

To restore a project, user profile, or settings from a backup storage device:

1. Open a window containing the backup files.

a. Mount the storage drive or insert the backup floppy disk as

appropriate.

b. Double-click the icon for the storage drive or floppy disk to

open it.

2. Open a window containing the folder where you want to restore the files.

a. Double-click the Avid drive to open it.

b. Double-click the appropriate folder to open it.

Project folders and settings files go in the Avid Projects folder.

User folders and settings files go in the Avid Users folder.

Site Settings files go in the Media Composer:Settings folder.

3. Drag the backup copies from the storage device to the appropriate folder on the Avid drive.

When you start the Avid application, the restored project and user profile appear in the Open Project dialog box.

Ending a Work Session

To end the work session, you must first quit the application, and then turn off your equipment in the order described in this section.

Quitting the Avid Application

There are two ways to quit the Avid application, depending upon whether you have a project open or you are between projects:

• If you are working on an open project and want to quit Media Composer or Film Composer quickly, choose Exit (Windows) or Quit (Macintosh) from the File menu.

The project closes and the application quits.

• If you are between projects, from the Open Project dialog box:

a. Click the Quit button. The system asks if you want to leave

the application.

b. Click Leave to quit the application. Click Cancel to return to

the Open Project dialog box and select another project.

Turning Off Your Equipment (Windows)

When you finish using your system and want to turn it off completely, follow these steps to avoid damaging your system or media storage drives. Quit the Avid application before turning off your equipment.

To turn off your equipment:

1. Choose Shut Down from the Start menu.

The Shut Down Windows dialog box appears.

2. Click Shut down, and click OK.

3. When a message states that you can safely turn off your computer,

press the computer’s power button.

4. Turn off your speakers and monitors.

5. Turn off each external drive in the chassis, and then turn off the chassis itself.

6. Turn off all other hardware.

Never remove media drives from your Avid system when it is turned on. Shut down the computer and then remove the drives.

Turning Off Your Equipment (Macintosh)

To turn off your equipment:

1. Choose Shut Down from the Special menu. This turns off your Macintosh system. The screens on the Bin and Edit monitors become dark.

2. Turn off your speakers and monitors.

3. Turn off each external drive in the chassis, and then turn off the chassis itself.

4. Turn off all other hardware.

Never remove media drives from your Avid system when it is turned on. Shut down the computer and then remove the drives.

Mounting and Ejecting Media Drives (Windows)

The Eject command makes selected media drives inaccessible to the

On systems with multiple media drives, ejecting unused drives can improve the performance of the Media tool. You need to eject the drives before you open the Media tool.

Avid application. If the drive being ejected supports the auto-eject feature (for example, Jaz the drive.

By default, all media drives that are connected to your system are listed and can be seen by the Avid application. You can remove one or more drives from the list at any time by choosing Eject from the File menu. For example, if you want to use only some of your drives for a particular project, choose Eject to prevent other drives from appearing in the Avid application. The Eject command does not remove drives from the Windows system.

Shut down the Windows system completely before you physically remove or add drives. For information on removing and adding drives, see the setup guide for your Avid system.

drives), the command ejects the disk from

Ejecting Drives (Windows)

You cannot physically add or remove drives by using this procedure. For information about adding and removing drives, see the setup guide for your Avid system.

To eject a drive or make a drive unavailable to the Avid application:

1. With the Avid application active, choose Eject from the File menu.

The Select a Disk or Drive to Eject dialog box appears.

The scroll list displays all drives currently available.

2. Select a drive to remove. Ctrl+click to select multiple drives.

3. Click Eject.

The drives are no longer available to the Avid application.

Mounting All Drives (Windows)

You cannot add selected drives to the Avid application, but you can add all drives connected to the system, including those previously removed.

To mount all drives:

t Choose Mount All from the File menu.

All drives turned on and connected to the system become available to the Avid application.

Mounting and Ejecting Media Drives (Macintosh)

You can eject one or several drive volumes mounted on the desktop at any time from within the Avid application. You can also remount all the drives and return them to the desktop.

This is useful in several circumstances:

• If you work with drives for the backup and retrieval of low-resolution material, you can eject these drives and mount them as needed to avoid cluttering the desktop during normal use.

• If you work with an extensive array of fixed-storage drives, which can involve many partitions divided among several projects, you can selectively mount and eject drives as needed.

• If you work with the Avid Unity™ MediaNet, you might have to eject and remount icons on the desktop. See the Avid Unity MediaNet documentation for more information.

Ejecting Drives (Macintosh)

To eject one or several drive icons from the desktop:

1. With the Avid application active, choose Eject from the File menu.

A dialog box appears.

The scroll list displays all drives and partitions currently mounted.

2. Select one or more drives to eject. Shift+click additional drives.

3. Click Eject.

The system removes the drives from the desktop and can no longer access them.

Mounting All Drives (Macintosh)

Because the system cannot interface with ejected drives individually, you cannot mount selected drives. You can mount all drives connected to the system, however, including those previously ejected.

To mount all drives:

t Choose Mount All from the File menu.

The system mounts all partitions and drives that are turned on and connected to the system.

Using Context Menus (Windows)

The Windows environment allows you to access frequently used commands by using the right mouse button (right-clicking) to click an object. Your Avid system takes advantage of this feature. When working with your Avid application, right-click in a window to access a shortcut menu that shows the most frequently used commands for that window.

You can also right-click a screen object to access What’s This? Help for the object.

Using Context Menus (Macintosh)

Your Avid system allows you to access frequently used commands by using the Ctrl+Shift keys and clicking an object. For example, Ctrl+Shift+click in a window to access a context menu that shows the most frequently used commands for that window.

You can also Ctrl+Shift+click a screen object to access What’s This? Help for the object.

Using Help

You can get help and background information for tasks, windows, dialog boxes, and screen objects through your Avid Help system. The Help system is HTML-based and operates in a Web browser.

• (Windows) You need Version 5 or higher of Microsoft Internet Explorer

• (Macintosh) Avid recommends Internet Explorer Version 4.5 or higher

The Help system is also included on the Avid

Online Publications

CD-ROM.

To open the Help system:

1. Choose Media Composer or Film Composer Help from the Help menu.

The Help system appears in the default browser for your system.

2. Use the Using Help, Contents, Index, Search, Favorites, and Glossary buttons to access the information you need.

Accessing Information from the Help Menu

In addition to the Help system, the Help menu in the Avid application provides other types of online information. Ta ble 4 - 2 describes the Help menu choices for Windows systems.

Table 4-2 Help System Menu Items (Windows)

Menu Item Description

Avid Media Composer or Film Composer Help

Shortcuts Displays a list of topics that describe keyboard shortcuts for Avid

Online Books Displays the opening screen of the Avid Media Composer and Avid

Starts the Help system.

application operations.

Film Composer Products Online Publications CD-ROM, if you loaded the compact disc into your CD-ROM drive. The Avid Media Composer and Avid Film Composer Products Online Publications CD-ROM includes all software documentation in Adobe Acrobat Reader format. Use the opening screen to access any manual. For

information on getting the best performance, click “How to Use This Collection.”

Do not access a CD-ROM while you are running a

time-critical operation, such as digitize, render, or play.

Table 4-2 Help System Menu Items (Windows) (Continued)

Menu Item Description

Show ToolTips Switches the display of pop-up descriptions for buttons and tools.

You can set the time delay in the Interface Settings dialog box, which you access from the Settings scroll list of the Project window.

www.avid.com Starts the Avid home page. From this page, you can access all kinds

of information about Avid, including technical support.

www.AvidProNet.com Starts AvidProNet.com™, Avid's business-to-business Web

community and services portal designed specifically for media creation professionals. The site offers news, a reference area, an interactive community area, an exchange area, and direct links to Web-based stock media libraries.

About Displays the name and version of the product, along with license

information.

Ta ble 4 - 3 describes the Help menu choices for Macintosh systems.

Table 4-3 Help Menu Items (Macintosh)

Menu Item Description

Shortcuts Displays a list of topics that describe keyboard shortcuts for Avid

application operations.

About Balloon Help Provides an explanation of Balloon Help™.

Show Balloons Switches the display of pop-up descriptions for buttons and tools.

Online Books Displays the opening screen of the Avid Media Composer and Avid

Do not access a CD-ROM while you are running a

time-critical operation, such as digitize, render, or play.

www.avid.com Starts the Avid home page. From this page, you can access all

kinds of information about Avid, including technical support.

www.AvidProNet.com Starts AvidProNet.com, Avid's business-to-business Web

Avid Media Composer or Film Composer Help

Starts the Help system.

Session Check List

Turn on your equipment in the proper order: storage first, peripherals second, and system last. For more information, see the getting started guide for your system.

On your desktop, move any settings files, project folders, or user folders from another system into the Avid folders (if necessary) before starting the application.

Start the application.

Create new projects or user profiles, or select existing ones in the Open Project dialog box.

After finishing your work for the session, quit the application.

Back up your work before shutting down the equipment.

Turn off your equipment in the opposite order from which you turned it on: system, peripherals, and finally storage.

CHAPTER 5

Working with the Project Window

The Project window provides controls in three different display modes for structuring and viewing important information about your current project. They include a display of bins and folders associated with the project, a list of all settings, and basic information about the format of the project and use of system memory. These topics are described in the following sections:

• Opening and Closing the Project Window

• Using the Bins Display

• Using the Settings Display

• Using the Info Display

• Customizing Your Workspace

(Windows only) This chapter refers to the installation default directory path for the various Avid folders. If you chose a different directory path during the installation, you must substitute that path when using this chapter.

Opening and Closing the Project Window

The Project window opens automatically when you select a project in the Open Project dialog box.

Windows

Macintosh

Close box

Project window

Close button

Project window

To close the Project window and return to the Open Project dialog box, do one of the following:

t Click the Close button (Windows) or the close box (Macintosh) in

the Project window.

t With the Project window active, choose Close from the File menu.

The Project window remains open the entire time you are working in a project; however, it might be hidden from view by several open bins or tools.

To locate and redisplay the Project window, do one of the following:

t Choose Project from the Tools menu.

t Click in an unobstructed area of the Project window to bring it

forward.

Using the Bins Display

Bins contain the master clips that are created when you digitize source material. (The master clips are linked to the media files.) Bins also contain the sequences, subclips, group clips, and effect clips that you create during a project. From the Project window, you can view a list of bins associated with the project, and open, close, and create bins. You can also open bins created for another project.

To view a list of bins associated with the project:

Bins button

Bins icon

Fast Menu button

t Click the Bins button in the Project window.

Bins list

From the Bins list you can examine the number, names, sizes, and location of the bins.

Displaying Bins

Open/Close triangle

New folders

Trash icon

You can add folders to the Bins list in the Project window to help organize your project. You can drag bins into folders, or drag folders into folders. See “Managing Folders and Bins” on page 91.

Fast Menu button

To display the folder’s contents in the Bins list of the Project window, click the Open/Close triangle next to a folder icon. Click the triangle again to close the display.

To view a list of only the folder contents and not the folders, select Flat View from the Fast menu. The Trash icon and its contents disappear until Flat View is deselected.

Creating a Folder in a Project

To create a folder in a project:

1. Click Bins in the Project window.

2. Choose New Folder from the Fast menu.

A new untitled folder appears.

3. Click the untitled folder name in the Bins list and rename it.

Creating a New Bin

To create a new bin in a project, with the Project window active do one of the following:

t Choose New Bin from the File menu.

t Click the New Bin button in the Project window.

Performing either one of these procedures opens a new (empty) bin that is given the name of the project as displayed in the title bar of the Project window. The new bin appears in the Bins list of the Project window. A corresponding file is placed in the project folder in the Avid Projects folder, and a backup copy is placed in the Attic folder.

Renaming a Bin

You can keep the default name of the bin or rename the bin immediately. For more information, see “Renaming a Bin” on

page 86.

Each new bin that you create takes the name of the project that appears in the title bar of the Project window, numbered incrementally.

To change the name of a bin:

1. Click the bin name in the Bins list of the Project window.

2. Type a new name.

Project name

Default bin name

Opening and Closing a Bin

To open a bin:

1. Click the Project window to make it active.

2. Click Bins in the Project window.

Bin window

3. Double-click the Bin icon next to a bin name.

The bin opens in a separate window. The Bin icon becomes dimmed, indicating the bin is open.

Opening Selected Bins

To open several bins at once:

1. Click the Bin icon of one of the bins in the Bins list.

2. Ctrl+click (Windows) or Shift+click (Macintosh) each additional bin you want to open.

3. Choose Open Selected Bins from the File menu.

Opening Bins from Other Projects

To open a bin from another project:

1. Choose Open Bin from the File menu.

The Open dialog box appears.

2. Find and select the bin you want.

(Windows only) Bins have the file name extension .avb.

Never open a bin that is stored on a floppy disk or equivalent device; otherwise, the system will not be able to save your work. Always copy the bin to a project folder on the system drive before you open it. For more information, see the input and output guide for your Avid system.

3. Click the Open button.

The bin appears in the Bins list of the Project window in a folder called Other Bins. The name Other Bins appears in italics. You can rename this folder. This option is especially useful when you want to open a bin not currently displayed in the Project window.

The Other Bins folder disappears from the Bins list when you delete all the bins in the Other Bins folder. Deleting bins from the Other Bins folder does not remove the bins from the drive; only the pointers to the bins are removed.

Closing a Bin

To close a bin, do one of the following:

t (Windows) Click the Close button in the upper right corner of the

bin.

t (Macintosh) Click the close box in the upper left corner of the bin.

t Choose Close Bin from the File menu.

Deleting a Bin or Folder

You can delete bins and folders along with their contents from the Bins list. Deleted bins and folders are moved to a Trash folder in the Bins list until you empty the Trash. If you need a deleted bin or folder, you can retrieve it from the Trash. For more information, see “Viewing

Contents in the Trash” on page 89.

Only bins and folders appear in the Trash. If you select an item in a bin and press Delete, the item is permanently deleted and does not appear in the Trash.

To delete a bin or folder:

1. Select the bin or the folder you want to delete in the Bins list.

2. Press the Delete key.

A Trash icon appears in the Bins list in the Project window. The Trash contains the deleted item.

Viewing Contents in the Trash

If you need to view the contents in the Trash or decide you do not want to delete those items in the Trash, you must first move the bins and folders from the Trash.

To view items in the Trash:

1. Click the Open/Close triangle next to the Trash icon in the Bins list to list the contents of the Trash.

2. Click the bins or folders you want to keep (or view) and drag them from the Trash to the Bins list in the Project window.

3. Double-click the bin or folder to view it.

Emptying the Trash in the Bins List

You can empty the contents of the Trash that is located in the Bins list.

Emptying the trash permanently removes the bins or folders from the drive.

If you change the name of the Trash icon, you cannot empty the Trash.

To empty the Trash in the Bins list:

1. Choose Empty Trash from the Fast menu.

A message box appears.

2. Click Empty Trash to delete the bins or folders from the Trash and from your system drive.

Managing Folders and Bins

You can use the Project window to create hierarchies of folders and bins that reflect the specific workflow of the current project. This structure should provide both simplicity and backup security. Although the specifics can vary depending upon your production needs and habits, a few basic principles can help you get started:

• Limit the number of sequences you create in each project. For instance, consider creating one new project for each show, episode, spot, or scene.

• Limit the number and complexity of clips in each bin by creating and organizing bins in three groups, as follows:

- Create a set of bins for the digitizing stage.

For example, you can create one bin for each source tape or each day’s worth of dailies transfers to be digitized to avoid slowing the system with large bins and causing confusion between tapes.

- Create a second set of bins for organizing your project.

For example, you can create a separate bin for each segment of a video project or each scene of a 24p project, depending upon the preferences of the editor.

- Create a third set of bins for the editing stage, including:

A current cut bin for storing each work in progress (sequence)

An archive bin for keeping the original version of each cut (sequence)

A selects or storyboard bin for screening selected clips or cuts gathered from the source bins

A format cuts bin for storing the final cuts with added format elements such as segment breaks, color bars and tone, slate, or countdown

Project folder

Folders containing

Bin files

Settings files Project file

For information on creating Script windows using scripts for your projects, see Chapter 9.

• (Option) Create additional folders at the desktop level for better organization.

For example, you can create one folder for each digitizing bin and show cut bin, or a folder to contain all shot logs to be imported.

• Save these files as a template for future productions of a similar nature.

A sample template of bins for a project is shown below:

Bin files

This hierarchy allows you to have one set of bins available in the Project window during the digitizing and organizing phase, and another set of bins available during editing to reduce clutter.

Saving Bins Automatically

The Avid system automatically saves changes to your work on a regular basis during each session. You can modify the frequency of the

automatic backups by using the Bin settings in the Settings scroll list in the Project window.

When you are working with bins, an asterisk (Windows) or a diamond (Macintosh) appears before the bin name in the bin’s title bar. The

asterisk (Windows) or diamond (Macintosh) indicates that the changes to the bin have not been saved. Once you save the bin, the asterisk (Windows) or diamond (Macintosh) is removed.

When auto-save occurs:

• Any open bins are updated with changes made since the last auto-save.

• Copies of these bins are placed in one of the following folders as backup:

- (Windows) drive:\Avid\Avid Media Composer\Attic folder

- (Windows) drive:\Avid\Avid Film Composer\Attic folder

- (Macintosh) Attic folder

The system automatically places copies of all bins into the Attic folder at regular intervals for backup. The procedure for recovering bin files from the Attic folder is described in “Retrieving Bin Files from the

Attic Folder (Windows)” on page 43 and “Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder (Macintosh)” on page 51.

To adjust the frequency of automatic saves:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window.

The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Double-click Bin in the Settings scroll list.

The Bin Settings dialog box appears.

3. Type a number in the minutes text box for the Auto-save interval option.

4. Click OK.

You can manually save bins for added security — for example, immediately after an important edit. When your work is lost, or when you want to recover an earlier version of a bin or sequence, you can retrieve files from the Attic folder.

Saving Bins Manually

The Save Bin command appears dimmed if there have been no changes since the last time the active bin was saved.

You can manually save a specific bin, selected bins, or all bins.

To save a specific bin:

1. Click the bin to activate it.

2. Choose Save Bin from the File menu.

To save all the bins:

1. Click the Project window to activate it.

2. Choose Save All from the File menu.

The system saves all the bins for the project.

Using the Settings Display

From the Settings display of the Project window, you can view, select, open, and alter various User, Project, and Site settings, as described in this section.

To view the Settings display:

t Click the Settings button in the Project window.

Settings scroll list

About Settings

Settings button

Settings type

Three types of settings are displayed in the Settings scroll list: User, Project, and Site settings.

For information about the location of the setting files, see Chapter 2 (Windows) or Chapter 3 (Macintosh).

• User settings are specific to a particular editor. User settings reflect individual preferences for adjusting the user interface in the Avid application. Individual User settings are stored in each user folder.

• Project settings are directly related to individual projects. When a Project setting is changed, it affects all editors working on the project. Specific Project settings are stored in each project folder.

• Site settings establish default parameters for all new users and projects on a particular system. They can apply to particular configurations of equipment installed at the site (for example,

specification and node settings for an external switcher). They can also include other User or Project settings that you copy into the Site Settings window. Site settings are stored in a separate Settings folder.

Ta b l e 5 - 1 briefly describes each item in the Settings scroll list. The

table also lists where you can find additional information on a particular item, and indicates whether the item has an associated dialog box (or window) that you can access from the Settings scroll list.

“Exploring Dialog Boxes and Menus” on page 135.

Table 5-1 Settings Scroll List

For More

For information about navigating in the settings dialog boxes, see

Setting Name Description

Audio Sets the default audio pan; contains

audio scrub options.

Audio Project Sets parameters for audio setup. See the input and

Bin Sets the Auto-save and Double-click

preferences for bins.

Bin View Selects and formats the information

displayed in bins.

Information

See “Adjusting Pan

Defaults” on page 160

and “Adjusting

Digital Scrub Parameters” on page 514.

output guide for your Avid system.

See “Bin Settings” on

page 103.

See “About Bin

Views” on page 186.

Access to Dialog Box?

Ye s

Composer Configures the display and behavior

of buttons and information in the Playback, Source, and Record monitors.

See “Composer

Settings Options” on page 322.

Ye s

Table 5-1 Settings Scroll List (Continued)

For More

Setting Name Description

Controller Settings Sets the default controller, port

selection, and custom controller buttons.

Deck Configuration Configures channels and decks into

the system.

Deck Preferences Sets preferences that affect all decks

configured into the system.

Digital Cut Sets parameters for previewing or

recording a digital cut to tape. Appears in the Settings scroll list to facilitate copying settings.

Digitize Defines how the Avid system

digitizes and batch digitizes in specific situations.

Export Sets parameters for file export. See the input and

Information

See “Configuring a

Controller” on page 153.

See the input and output guide for your Avid system.

output guide for your Avid system.

Access to Dialog Box?

Ye s

No; choose Digital Cut from the Output menu

Ye s

Film Sets parameters for edit play rate, ink

number format, and transfer rate.

General Defines several default values such as

the default starting timecode for your project.

Grid Defines the grid to use when you

create effects.

Import Sets parameters for file import. See the input and

See “Film Settings” on

page 101.

See “General

Settings” on page 104.

See the effects guide for your Avid system.

output guide for your Avid system.

Ye s

Table 5-1 Settings Scroll List (Continued)

Setting Name Description

Interface Defines the appearance and function

of certain interface elements.

Keyboard Maps commands from the Command

palette to the keyboard.

Media Creation Sets parameters for video resolution

and selects the drives for digitizing, creating titles, importing, and performing audio and video mixdown.

OMM Sets the default asset manager location

and preference for logging in to your asset manager when you open a project.

Render Controls the size of imported graphics

and rendered effects to ensure that the graphic or effect will be playable.

Script Sets the default display options for

scripts imported using script integration.

For More Information

See “Interface

Settings” on page 105.

See “Using the

Keyboard” on page 342.

See the input and output guide for your Avid system

See the input and output guide for your Avid system.

See the effects guide for your Avid system.

See “Script Settings

Options” on page 267.

Access to Dialog Box?

Ye s

Serial (COM) Ports Configures the serial ports on your

system for deck control, controllers, and VTR emulation.

Timecode Window Displays various timecodes in an

adjustable window. Appears in the Settings scroll list to facilitate copying settings.

Timeline Contains the latest Timeline settings. See “Restoring the

See “Using the Serial

(COM) Ports Tool” on page 152.

See “Displaying

Timecode in the Timecode Window” on page 319.

Default Timeline View” on page 415.

Ye s

No; choose Timecode Window from the Tools menu

Ye s

Table 5-1 Settings Scroll List (Continued)

Setting Name Description

Timeline View If you save your Timeline settings,

Timeline View appears in the Settings scroll list to facilitate copying settings.

Title Style Sheet If you save a title style while you are

using the Title tool, Title Style Sheet appears in the Settings scroll list.

Transfer Sets the preference for using the Avid

TransferManager to send files to another workgroup.

Trim Customizes the Trim mode

environment.

Video Input Enables you to calibrate composite or

component video when digitizing. Appears in the Settings scroll list to facilitate copying settings.

Video Output Enables you to calibrate output for

composite or component video in a digital cut. Appears in the Settings scroll list to facilitate copying settings.

For More Information

See “Customizing

Timeline Views” on page 402.

See the effects guide for your Avid system.

See the Avid

TransferManager User’s Guide.

See “Trim Settings

Options” on page 477.

See the input and output guide for your Avid system.

Access to Dialog Box?

No; select saved setting files from within the Tim eline

Ye s

Yes; opens the Video Input tool

Yes; opens the Video Output tool

VTR Emulation Sets parameters when using the Avid

system to emulate a VTR.

Workspace Enables you to associate settings and

windows with a workspace.

See the input and output guide for your Avid system.

See “Linking User

Settings and Workspaces” on page 130.

Ye s

Defining Settings

You can use the Settings display to establish a hierarchy of settings that address the specific needs of each production phase.

For example, you can establish:

• User settings for the assistant editor: Facilitate logging,

• User settings for the editor: Include editing interface preferences

• Project settings: Reflect the specific needs of the project

• Bin View settings: Display useful columns of information for each

digitizing, and organizing projects

of the bins described in “Managing Folders and Bins” on page 91

Never use a user settings file that was opened in MediaLog™.

By establishing these settings once, and selecting the appropriate setting or bin view in context, you can save time and effort that would be spent searching for information or adjusting bin headings on-the-fly. You can also save these settings along with your template (as described in “Managing Folders and Bins” on page 91) for use on similar projects.

Reviewing Basic Settings

The following are basic system settings to review at the start of your project:

• Film Settings

• Bin Settings

• General Settings

• Interface Settings

• Keyboard Settings

100

Pinnacle Systems Media Composer - 10.x User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Figures

Tables

Editing Overview

Editing Workflow

Starting a Project

Preparing to Edit

Editing a Sequence

Desktop Basics (Windows)

Working with the Desktop (Windows)

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (Windows)

Working with Windows (Windows)

Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows)

Dragging Windows Without Showing the Contents (Windows)

Setting Your Screen Resolution (Windows)

Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Windows)

Managing the A vid Projects and A vid Users Folder s (Windows)

About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Windows)

Changing Project and User Names (Windows)

Deleting Projects and User Profiles (Windows)

Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder (Windows)

Starting the Avid Application (Windows)

Desktop Basics (Macintosh)

Managing the A vid Projects and A vid Users Folder s (Macintosh)

About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders (Macintosh)

Changing Project and User Names (Macintosh)

Deleting Projects and User Profiles (Macintosh)

Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder (Macintosh)

Starting the Avid Application (Macintosh)

Starting a Work Session

Opening and Closing a Project

Identifying a User

Setting Up a New User

Selecting an Existing User

Selecting a Project

Creating a New Project

Setting Film Preferences

Selecting an Existing Project

Nesting Projects in Folders

Opening a Project

Closing a Project

Backing Up Your Project Information

Saving Your Project Information (Windows)

Saving Your Project Information (Macintosh)

Restoring from a Backup (Windo ws)

Restoring from a Backup (Macintosh)

Ending a Work Session

Quitting the Avid Application

Turning Off Your Equipment (Windows)

Turning Off Your Equipment (Macintosh)

Mounting and Ejecting Media Drives (Windows)

Ejecting Drives (Windows)

Mounting All Drives (Windows)

Mounting and Ejecting Media Drives (Macintosh)

Ejecting Drives (Macintosh)

Mounting All Drives (Macintosh)

Using Context Menus (Windows)

Using Context Menus (Macintosh)

Using Help

Accessing Information from the Help Menu

Session Check List

Working with the Project Window

Opening and Closing the Project Window

Using the Bins Display

Displaying Bins

Creating a Folder in a Project

Creating a New Bin

Renaming a Bin

Opening and Closing a Bin

Opening Selected Bins

Opening Bins from Other Projects

Closing a Bin

Deleting a Bin or Folder

Viewing Contents in the Trash

Emptying the Trash in the Bins List

Managing Folders and Bins