Pinnacle Systems Motion Graphics - 2.6 User's Guide

Avid® Motion Graphics

User’s Guide

Legal Notices

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

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

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

This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and non-U.S patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The following disclaimer is required by the Independent JPEG Group:

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

This Software may contain components licensed under the following conditions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The following disclaimer is required by Nexidia Inc.:

© 2010 Nexidia Inc. All rights reserved, worldwide. Nexidia and the Nexidia logo are trademarks of Nexidia Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All Nexidia materials regardless of form, including without limitation, software applications, documentation and any other information relating to Nexidia Inc., and its products and services are the exclusive property of Nexidia Inc. or its licensors. The Nexidia products and services described in these materials may be covered by Nexidia's United States patents: 7,231,351; 7,263,484; 7,313,521; 7,324,939; 7,406,415, 7,475,065; 7,487,086 and/or other patents pending and may be manufactured under license from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation USA.

The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:

Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

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

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

The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:

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

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

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

The following disclaimer is required by Ultimatte Corporation:

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

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

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

The following disclaimer is required by Interplay Entertainment Corp.:

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

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

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

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

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

Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend

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

Trademarks

003, 192 Digital I/O, 192 I/O, 96 I/O, 96i I/O, Adrenaline, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AME, AniMatte, Archive, Archive II, Assistant Station, AudioPages, AudioStation, AutoLoop, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Active, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel, Avid DNxHD, Avid DS Assist Station, Avid Ignite, Avid Liquid, Avid Media Engine, Avid Media Processor, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, Avid Remote Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, AvidRAID, AvidShare, AVIDstripe, AVX, Beat Detective, Beauty Without The Bandwidth, Beyond Reality, BF Essentials, Bomb Factory, Bruno, C|24, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Cineractive Engine, Cineractive Player, Cineractive Viewer, Color Conductor, Command|24, Command|8, Control|24, Cosmonaut Voice, CountDown, d2, d3, DAE, D-Command, D-Control, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, Digi 002, Digi 003, DigiBase, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Development Partners, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, Digidesign TDM Bus, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiPanner, DigiProNet, DigiRack, DigiSerial, DigiSnake, DigiSystem, Digital Choreography, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTest, DigiTranslator, DigiWear, DINR, DNxchange, Do More, DPP-1, D-Show, DSP Manager, DS-StorageCalc, DV Toolkit, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, EM, Euphonix, EUCON, EveryPhase, Expander, ExpertRender, Fader Pack, Fairchild, FastBreak, Fast Track, Film Cutter, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, Frame Chase, FXDeko, HD Core, HD Process, HDpack, Home-to-Hollywood, HYBRID, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, iKnowledge, Image Independence, Impact, Improv, iNEWS, iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, InGame, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelligent Content Management, Intelligent Digital Actor Technology, IntelliRender, Intelli-Sat, Intelli-sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, InterFX, Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS Expander, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, LFX, Lightning, Link & Sync, ListSync, LKT-200, Lo-Fi, MachineControl, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move | media, Marquee, MassivePack, Massive Pack Pro, Maxim, Mbox, Media Composer, MediaFlow, MediaLog, MediaMix, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaServer, MediaShare, MetaFuze, MetaSync, MIDI I/O, Mix Rack, Moviestar, MultiShell, NaturalMatch, NewsCutter, NewsView, NewsVision, Nitris, NL3D, NLP, NSDOS, NSWIN, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, Painterly Effects, Palladium, Personal Q, PET, Podcast Factory, PowerSwap, PRE, ProControl, ProEncode, Profiler, Pro Tools, Pro Tools|HD, Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered, Pro Transfer, QuickPunch, QuietDrive, Realtime Motion Synthesis, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger, Reel Tape Saturation, Reprise, Res Rocket Surfer, Reso, RetroLoop, Reverb One, ReVibe, Revolution, rS9, rS18, RTAS, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, ScriptSync, SecureProductionEnvironment, Serv|GT, Serv|LT, Shape-to-Shape, ShuttleCase, Sibelius, SimulPlay, SimulRecord, Slightly Rude Compressor, Smack!, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter, SoundReplacer, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie, StreamRAID, SubCap, Sundance, Sundance Digital, SurroundScope, Symphony, SYNC HD, SYNC I/O, Synchronic, SynchroScope, Syntax, TDM FlexCable, TechFlix, Tel-Ray, Thunder, TimeLiner, Titansync, Titan, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab, TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, tools for storytellers, Transit, TransJammer, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Video the Web Way, VideoRAID, VideoSPACE, VTEM, Work-N-Play, Xdeck, X-Form, Xmon and XPAND! are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Avid Motion Graphics User’s Guide v2.6 • 9329-65242-00 Rev C • January 2014 (1/17/14)

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Accessing the Online Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Avid Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 1 Avid Motion Graphics Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Product Suite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

System Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

System Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Key Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 2 Graphics Design Workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Design Product Suites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Understanding the Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Adding and Removing Panes in a Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Working with Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Panes and Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Saving Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Backing Up and Recovering Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Menu Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

File Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Project Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Composition Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Preferences Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Exit Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

View Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Assets Area Pane Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Menu Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Animation Area Pane Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Viewports Area Pane Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Model Area Pane Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Layout Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Select Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Save Now Menu Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

SaveOnExit Menu Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Lock Menu Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Delete Menu Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Rename Menu Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Skin Menu Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Help Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Assets Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

StormLogic Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Library Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Adding Assets to a Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Resizing Asset Library Pane Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Effects Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Applying Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Browser Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Browser Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

In Use Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Deleting, Unused Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Renaming Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Creating Material Thumbnails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Menu Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Animation Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Bezier Curves During Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

In and Out Panes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Brother In and Brother Out Panes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Self In and Self Out Panes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Immediate In and Immediate Out Panes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Viewports Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Edit Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Program Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Preview Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Related Feature: Viewport Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Model Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Material Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Texture Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

MediaIn Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Font Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

FonFix Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Viewport Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Timer Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Form Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Data Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Excel Data Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Float3 Data Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Float Data Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Integer Data Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

llString Data Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

ODBC Data Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Python Data Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

RSS Data Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

String Data Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

XML Data Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

User Data Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Python Scripts for Automated Behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Bind Pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Capture Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Render Movie Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

System Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Light Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Pivot Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Sound Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Object Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Chapter 3 Project Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Design Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Mouse Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Keyboards and Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

About Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Project Preferences and Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Project Organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Compositions at the StormLogic Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Compositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Compositions and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Compositions and Object Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Sinusoidal Effect Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Creating Composition Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Backup Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Libraries Across Multiple Compositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Multi User Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Using StormLogic with Compositions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Presenter Group Effects with Compositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Composition Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Creating a Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Saving Projects and Compositions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Chapter 4 Avid Motion Graphics Journalist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Avid Motion Graphics Journalist Client Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Starting the Journalist Plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Avid Motion Graphics Journalist User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Template Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Graphics Database Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Creating Graphics from Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Working with Database Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Filter Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Setting the Ready/Not Ready Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Locking Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Library Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Setting the Library Graphic Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Changing the Name of a Library Graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Using Avid Motion Graphics Journalist with iNEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Graphics Organization in Journalist for iNEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

General Library Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Library Graphics with a Specific User Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Personal Library Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Page Numbers for Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Using Avid Motion Graphics Journalist with ENPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Chapter 5 Avid Motion Graphics Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Playout Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Template Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Template Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Motion Graphics Control User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Grouped Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

MetaTemplates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Project and Composition Playout Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Automation Fields Order or Tab Reorder Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Settings and Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Configuring Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Avid Motion Graphics Control Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Virtual Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Creating Keyboard Layouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Chapter 6 Avid Motion Graphics News Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

News Control User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Control Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Rundown Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Message Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Basic News Control Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Changing a Cued Graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Modifying the Position of a Graphic in a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Template Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Editing Graphics Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Adding a New Graphic to a Rundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Special News Control Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Checking Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Ready and Not Ready Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Clearing Renders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Advanced News Control Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Pauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Searching for Rundown Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Using Page Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Playing Locked Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Channel Auto-Activation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Channel Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Chapter 7 Avid Motion Graphics Operations Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Avid Motion Graphics Operations Console User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Main User Interface Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Channel Setup Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Adding Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Removing Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Reconfiguring Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

All Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Group Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Opening Avid Motion Graphics projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Action Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Edit Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

View Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Help Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Common Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Add a new Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Configure a Channel Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Open an Avid Motion Graphics Project for a Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Open an Avid Motion Graphics Project for a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Chapter 8 Avid Motion Graphics Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Avid Motion Graphics Photoshop Exporter Plug-in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Photoshop Export Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Photoshop Exporter User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Layers List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Advanced Settings for Layers List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Template Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Save Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Manage Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Tips and Best Practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Avid Motion Graphics 3DS Max Exporter Plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

The 3DS Max Export Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

The 3DS Max Exporter User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

About the 3DS Max Export Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Run Script Shortcut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Chapter 9 Avid Motion Graphics Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Avid License Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

AMG Advanced Device Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

AMG Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Avid Motion Graphics Font Package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

AMG Transcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Using AMG Transcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Deko Translator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Before You Begin... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Creating an AMG Project with Deko Translator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Deko Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Before You Begin... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Playing Deko Graphics in AMG Compositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Playing Deko Graphics in AMG Control or AMG News Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Motions with Pauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Cancelling a Previewed Graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Defining Replaceable Data Using AMG Control or AMG News Control. . . . . . . . . 331

Chapter 10 Avid Motion Graphics Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Keyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Avid Motion Graphics Design UI Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Avid Motion Graphics Control Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Chapter 11 Avid Motion Graphics Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Symbols and Conventions

Using This Guide

Congratulations on your purchase of Avid Motion Graphics. Avid Motion Graphics is the foundation for reliable, high-productivity media production. It is designed for media facilities and broadcasters using the industry's most proven real-time storage software technology, delivering stable operation, high performance media access, and class-leading value. From character generation to full 3D animations, customers can create stunning imagery with a complete next-generation creative toolset, featuring an advanced 2D/3D real-time rendering engine accelerated by the latest GPU technology.

This guide contains all the task-oriented instructions, conceptual information, and reference material you need to get started using your new graphics system. It is intended for use by those responsible for using Avid Motion Graphics in your facility.

Unless noted otherwise, the material in this document applies to the Windows 7 operating system.The screen shots in this document were captured on a Windows 7 system.

This document describes all the features available for the Avid Motion Graphics Server.

Depending on your particular configuration, your system might not contain certain features that are covered in this documentation.

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

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

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

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

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

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

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

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

If You Need Help

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

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

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

Courier Bold font

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

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using your Avid product:

1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that task in this guide. It is especially important to check each step of your workflow.

2. Check the latest information that might have become available after the documentation was published.

New information would be found in the ReadMe file available online.

You should always check online for the most up-to-date release notes or ReadMe because the online version is updated whenever new information becomes available. To

view the online versions, visit the Knowledge Base at www.avid.com/US/support.

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

items and keyboard sequences.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

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

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

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

Accessing the Online Documentation

The Avid Motion Graphics online documentation contains all the product documentation in PDF format. You can access the documentation in the Avid Motion Graphics Documentation folder on the Avid Motion Graphics installer device.

You need to download and install Acrobat Reader on your Avid Motion Graphics Server before

you can access the PDF documentation.

To access the online documentation from the installer device:

1. Insert your Avid Motion Graphics USB flash drive (UFD) with the Avid Motion Graphics software into the USB port.

2. Navigate to the Avid Motion Graphics Documentation folder, and double-click the PDF file for the document you want to view.

Avid Training Services

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

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

1 Avid Motion Graphics Overview

Avid Motion Graphics is a product suite geared for media producers in the media enterprise, professional video, and education market segments who produce graphics for several applications including news, sports, live events (concerts, houses of worship), post production, channel branding, game shows, reality TV, corporate video, and educational purposes.

Media producers must create stunning visual imagery that cuts through the clutter, streamline their workflows to reduce costs, and build strong brand recognition. The Avid Motion Graphics on-air graphics platform offers advanced design tools, powerful production capabilities, and sophisticated workflow integration, built on a revolutionary rendering engine, allowing everyone involved in graphics development to make the most of their media.

Avid Motion Graphics solutions can integrate industry-leading broadcast graphics systems and live production servers with both the newsroom and broadcast production. The result is facility-wide access to branded visual templates and elements—from traffic to the promotions department to the journalists—and a more consistent and competitive channel identity in all news, sports and entertainment programming.

This document describes the key features, product suite applications and their descriptions. Depending on your configuration, your Avid Motion Graphics system might not contain certain applications or features covered in this document. Information that applies to a specific application is covered in that particular section.

The following main topics describe:

• Product Suite

• System Tools

• System Options

• Key Features

Product Suite

The Avid Motion Graphics platform is built on a powerful rendering engine that lets everyone involved in graphics development make the most of their media. The product suite provides a foundation for a variety of media applications, including news, sports, live events, post production, and channel branding. The following table describes the different Avid Motion Graphics products.

Product Description

Avid Motion Graphics Avid Motion Graphics is a full-featured on-air

graphics system with advanced object-based design, production and playout capabilities, and workflow integration ideal for high production-value graphics creation and distribution. You can create an exhilarating visual experience with this complete next-generation creative toolset, featuring advanced 2D/3D real-time rendering accelerated by the latest GPU and I/O technology.

Product Suite

Avid Motion Graphics Production Avid Motion Graphics Production is ideal for

fast-paced news, sports and live events, Avid Motion Graphics Production is a streamlined on-air graphics system with complete 2D/3D graphics creation tools, effects, production capabilities and workflow integration. You can create stunning imagery, easily make real-time updates, and quickly play graphics to air with this next-generation creative toolset, featuring advanced 2D/3D real-time rendering accelerated by the latest GPU and I/O technology.

Product Description

Avid Motion Graphics Creation Avid Motion Graphics Creation is a software-only

graphics design application with the same advanced 2D/3D creation tools and advanced 2D/3D real-time rendering as the full-featured Avid Motion Graphics system. You can create stunning imagery with this complete next-generation creative toolset for quick transfer to the online Avid Motion Graphics system.

System Tools

The following table describes the tools that may be added to your Avid Motion Graphics system.

System Tools

System Tools Description

Avid License Control Must be installed on any computer with a licensed

component. For instance, the servers pass licenses to Journalist clients and News Control Clients.

Installed on the Avid Motion Graphics computer, Avid Motion Graphics Journalist Server, Avid Motion Graphics Preview Renderer, and any Computers running 3DS, Photoshop, MAP or Avid Motion Graphics Control.

AMG Advanced Device Manager Used for the iNEWS Command workflow or

Automation and is installed on the Avid Motion Graphics Server.

Avid Motion Graphics Control Avid Motion Graphics Control is for non-newsroom

graphics and control room operators. For those who need to control sequenced or non-sequenced graphics, and need the ability to adjust graphics on-the-fly. This application provides full graphics control for playout flexibility. It is installed with Avid Motion Graphics or on a separate 3rd party system.

System Tools Description

Avid Motion Graphics Font Package Allows use of graphics previously created in Deko

and users can create new graphics using fonts from this package in Avid Motion Graphics too.Installed on the Avid Motion Graphics Server.

AMG Transcode AMG Transcode is an application that allows you to

convert from multiple types of clips into a known usable format, which allows playback in real-time and has aligned audio.

Deko Translator The DekoTranslator is an application that allows

you to utilize your existing Deko Graphics assets and convert them into native AMG Compositions. DekoTranslator is a standalone application not requiring AMG or Deko to be installed to work correctly. However, to confirm that the all the assets required to process the Deko Graphics are available, you need some version of the Deko application. It is recommended that you use a single computer that has a version of both Deko and AMG installed.

System Tools

Deko Chart Designer Allows use of Deko graphics previously created

with Deko Chart Designer. Installed on the computer running Avid Motion Graphics with Deko Player or Deko Translator.

Deko Player Deko Player is a component of Avid Motion

Graphics that allows you to easily play your existing Deko graphics to air.

System Options

The following table describes the options that may be added to your Avid Motion Graphics system

Options Description

Avid Motion Graphics Journalist Avid Motion Graphics Journalist is for the

journalists who need template graphics for easy fulfillment of data.This application allows for use of the NRCS Integrated MOS plug-in along with flexibility in determining the level of functionality that journalists are exposed to for fulfillment of graphics data and adjustment of templates. Avid Motion Graphics News Control is also part of this installer.

Avid Motion Graphics News Control Avid Motion Graphics News Control is designed for

the news graphics operators who need graphics rundown automation with manual control. This application allows for automated graphics playout connected to the NRCS rundown, on-the-fly graphics adjustment, and third-party production automation integration. This application is part of the Avid Motion Graphics Journalist installer.

Key Features

The following table describes some of the key features of Avid Motion Graphics.

Feature Description

Real-time 2D/3D graphics rendering Graphics creation from basic CG functions up to

Deko asset preservation Saves resources, time, and money by letting you use

highly advanced real-time compositions using effects and shaders. Switch between 2D and 3D without complexity.

all the same raw file assets. Includes a translator to bring the basic components of your Deko files onto the new platform.

Key Features

Feature Description

Workflow integration Enables you to integrate graphics into the newsroom

and edit suite while transitioning to the new platform. Empowers you to create powerful newsroom graphics from advanced templates.

Object-based environment

Allows each object to contain its own parameters and animation properties, and to be combined in an infinite variety of ways.

Local or distributed controller Enables you to bring graphics to air with all

products within the Avid Motion Graphics platform. Includes full override capabilities and the fastest to air workflows.

Text editing and effects Gets you to air quickly with all the standard text

entry and editing functionality, as well as dozens of preset text effects and animations.

Primitives modeling and animation, environment lighting and atmosphere tools

Available plug-ins provide export from industry standard tools, such as Photoshop and 3D Studio Max, letting you create 3D objects and animations natively or from imported geometry with open integrations.

Intuitive user interface with 2D and 3D views Enables you to work more efficiently to create many

types of graphic assets, from character generation to full 3D animations.

Feature Description

Key Features

Enhanced materials with soft clipping planes, specular effects, bumpmapping, advanced materials, shaders and shadows

Group effects

Clips and/or video input mapped to any object including text

Control via automation, external machines, or applications

Provides a wide range of creative options to develop a differentiated look and feel for any application.

Lets you animate entire groups of objects, such as multi-line scoreboards with a variety of preset animations.

Enables you to map graphics clips or input video to any object and play in combination with timeline animations.

Interfaces with automated graphics playout control systems to automatically trigger playout in a variety of workflows.

Combine two or more templates into one uniquely identified MetaTemplate

Using AMG Control you can combine multiple templates into one MetaTemplate that has its own HouseID. This allows for ultimate graphic playout flexibility when controlling the Avid Motion Graphics playout server with any system that communicates via CII (i.e. most Automation systems).

Key Features

Feature Description

Data-driven graphics

Lets you dynamically update graphics, such as financial charts, sports scores, and election results via integration with ODBC sources, RSS feeds, XML files, and/or third-party data sources and applications.

Advanced GPU technology support Supports the latest advances in GPU and I/O

technology, as well as formats from NTSC up to 2K, including film resolutions and custom formats.

2 Graphics Design Workspace

The following describes the Avid Motion Graphics design products workspace created for those users who produce graphics and compositions, which are used for news, sports, live events (concerts, houses of worship), post production, channel branding, game shows, reality TV, corporate video, and educational purposes.

The following main topics describe:

• Design Product Suites

• Menu Bar

• Understanding the Workspace

Design Product Suites

You can use the Avid Motion Graphics design products to create graphics you want to present on-air, such as lower thirds, frames for text, clocks, leaderboards, full-screen bulleted lists, templates for interfaced data, and pops, for quickly popping partial graphics onto a master graphic. The graphics are saved as a composition. The composition contains all the objects and all the properties of those objects, including the animation.

All graphics are built in 3-dimensional space, even if they are 2-dimensional objects. multiple

objects can be grouped together to create a new object.

In the Avid Motion Graphics product suite, there are three main design applications with which graphics and compositions are created. With some feature differences, the user interface for each of these design products is the same.

For this topic, starting your Avid Motion Graphics application means whichever Avid Motion

Graphics design application you are using.

The following table describes the different Avid Motion Graphics product suites.

Product Suite Description

Design Product Suites

Avid Motion Graphics Avid Motion Graphics is one of three graphics

design applications. It is geared towards the high-end broadcast graphics designer who needs to produce differentiated broadcast graphics with the highest production value. This application has a state-of-the-art feature set allowing for advanced, real-time 2D/3D graphics creation and playout, integrations with common workflows and infrastructure, turn-key or distributed hardware and control architecture. It also has support for Deko graphics.

Avid Motion Graphics Production Avid Motion Graphics Production is one of three

graphics design applications. It is for broadcast graphics designers who need a cost-effective, easy to use, graphics solution with a w/ 2D/3D production capabilities. This application allows simplified real-time 2D/3D creation, and playout with basic effects, turn-key or distributed hardware and control architecture, and including support for Deko graphics.

Design Product Suites

Product Suite Description

Avid Motion Graphics Creation Avid Motion Graphics Creation is one of three

graphics design applications. It is for graphics departments where graphics designers need separate graphics creation for later playout. They can import and edit third-party graphics objects using the full Avid Motion Graphics feature set for creation in a software only package, which can be installed on a laptop with a powerful graphics card and plenty of memory. This application includes the Clips and Stereoscopic options and has support for Deko graphics.

No matter which of the design applications you are using to create your graphics, many aspects of the workflow are the same. You can import or create assets or movies in a project. Those assets are then used to create layers and assembled in a composition. The properties of those layers can be modified by adding effects, textures, fonts or even animation. You can preview the rendered composition and export it for playout.

Understanding the Workspace

The Avid Motion Graphics workspace consists of a layout, which is a set of five areas containing panes and tools that are installed with the product. The size and location of the areas and panes are set by default in each of the different basic layouts. Not all of the available panes are displayed in each layout, but users can customize which panes are displayed, their sizes, and where they are located in the window. Areas can be re-sized by dragging their borders horizontally and vertically and panes can be relocated, added to, or removed from any area in the workspace. You can name and save a customized layout so that it appears in the layout menu, and can be selected for use again.

The following illustration shows the default layout for the Avid Motion Graphics workspace, which appears when you first start the software.

Your user interface may look slightly different from that in the following illustration based upon

your version, options, and configuration. You are able to rearrange your workspace by dragging a tab, with a left-mouse click, to a different area, and releasing the tab when the area in which you want to place the tab is highlighted in white. You are also able to tear tabs off completely and have those individual tabs open in separate windows. A placeholder with the tab name will be held in the user interface, but no information will be held there until the external window is closed.

Understanding the Workspace

Not all of the available panes are included in each of the provided preset layouts. For instance, the Default layout doesn’t include several of the Animation, Viewport, and Model panes. As you use Avid Motion Graphics, you can customize layouts to better align them with your favorite workflows

Understanding the Workspace

In addition to the areas and panes, the application layouts feature menu bars and tools in the panes that offer additional information and functionality. The following table describes the areas and panes displayed when using the default layout.

Area Description

1 - Assets The Assets area displays different types of asset panes. The asset

panes are tabbed libraries of graphic objects, materials, and effects, which can all be used in composition creation. This area also contains the Browser and StormLogic panes to help locate and navigate different assets used in compositions, and the In Use panes, which contains all of the assets that are in use in the current composition. For more information, see “Assets Area” on page 47.

2 - Viewports The Viewport area contains the Tools, Playout, and Preview panes

and can contain more than one Viewport. This is the area where you layout your design and create your compositions. For more information, see “Viewports Area” on page 78.

3 - Animation The Animation area allows you to add timing or motion to a

composition. For more information, see “Animation Area” on

page 72.

4 - Model The Model area displays panes for used for modifying a selected

object. It allows you to change object and effect values for the assets used in a composition. The object values are the sizes and shapes of assets used in compositions. The effect values are the colors, textures, reflectiveness, and so forth, on the surfaces of the assets in compositions. For more information, see “Model Area” on

page 84.

5 - Menu The Menu Area is located directly above the Viewport and by

default contains the Tools pane. The Tools pane provides access to all of the tools you need for manipulating objects in the Viewport. There are a set of gizmos that allow you to transform objects. There are also tools for displaying statistical data and altering the Viewport.

Adding and Removing Panes in a Workspace

By default, panes are grouped into different areas in the user interface for basic ease of access. All panes can be moved to different areas, thereby creating custom layouts, depending on the user’s preferences.

To add or remove panes in a workspace:

1. Open the View menu, located at the top of your window. The View menu lists the five workspace area options: Assets, Menu, Animation, Viewports, and Model.

2. Click on, or hover over, as shown in the previous illustration, any one of the Area options in the list to display the specific panes available for that area.

Understanding the Workspace

3. Do one of the following:

t Mark the Check box corresponding to the to the pane you want to add to your area's

workspace.

t Unmark the Check box corresponding to the to the pane you want to remove from your

area's workspace.

Working with Layouts

The application is installed with some preset layout types. When you first start the application, the Default layout is displayed. You can select a different layout from the Layout menu.

The following table lists the preset layouts and their descriptions.

Layout Type Description

Animation The Animation layout provides a larger viewport in the Edit pane providing a most

efficient workspace for those users working with motion and animated graphics.

Default The Default layout exposes the most panes, for the most functionality, for immediate

use.

Design The Design layout is similar to the default view with an extended timeline intended for

the most common design workflows. This layout puts the Logic pane at the top of the Assets area so that a user can see the list of compositions they created, and can easily navigate between them as they work.

When you use a preset layout, the next time you start the application, the last preset layout that was used is the layout that displays. You can start with a preset layout and customize it. You can add other functionality by opening other panes and then saving the layout that you have created. When you save a new layout, the name of the layout is added to the list of preset layouts from which you can select the next time you start your application. Only the custom layouts that you create can be deleted from the list of preset layouts.

Understanding the Workspace

To change your workspace layout to one of the preset Layouts:

t Select a layout from the Layout > Select drop-down list.

To close a pane:

t Click the X on the pane’s tab.

To open additional panes:

1. Select the View menu.

2. Select the menu option corresponding to the pane you want to open.

The pane you select opens in the active area.

To reset a layout to its original configuration:

t Select Default from the Layout > Select drop-down menu.

To reset all layouts to their original default configurations:

t Select Reset All Layouts from the Layout drop-down menu.

To save a custom layout:

1. Select the Save Now option from the Layout menu.

a dialog box opens.

2. Type the name for your custom layout.

3. Click the Ok button.

The new custom layout now appears in the Layout drop-down list of preset layouts from which to choose.

Panes and Areas

Because of the multiple areas in to which panes may be moved, you can customize the areas in your workspace. Any single area can contain one or more panes, and when multiple panes are positioned into a single area, the panes appear in a tabular format with one pane on top of the others.

Understanding the Workspace

If the number of tabbed panes within an area exceeds the area’s space within the window, a scroll bar appears, enabling you to scroll through all of the panes.

You can move panes around to save screen space and reconfigure panes in a way that best suits your particular workflow. You can save your favorite layout and select it the next time you sign into the application. For more information about layouts, see “Working with Layouts” on

page 30.

Each pane has its own unique tools, controls and shortcuts available to the user. For instance, if

Alt+h

you are working in the Edit pane, the keyboard stroke,

displays a list of keyboard

shortcuts that can be used.

Saving Presets

From the Materials pane you can name any material object that you have used in order to make it distinct. After you have made an object distinct from an original preset, you can then drag and drop it to the Material library to save it. You can also do this with shaders, texts, and most other objects that appear in the Model pane.

Backing Up and Recovering Projects

To ensure that you can recover a project you must enable automatic backups. Enabling backups creates a backup each time you save your project. The number of stored backups ranges from zero to forty, depending on the preference set.

To enable or disable automatic project backups:

1. From the File menu, select Preferences.

2. Click the Misc Tab.

3. Do one of the following:

t Turn on backup creation and set the maximum number of backups.

t Turn off backup creation.

Understanding the Workspace

To recover a project:

1. From the File menu, select Project.

2. Select Recover and

3. Select, from the list, the backup file you want to recover.

Menu Bar

The Avid Motion Graphics user interface has a menu bar located near the top of the window. There are five menu items; File, View, layout, and Help. The following sections describe each Menu item and their options.

File Menu

The File menu contains sub-menu options for all of the actions you can perform with respect to projects and compositions within the window. For more information, see Project Menu Options,

Composition Menu Options, Preferences Menu Options, and Exit Menu Options.

Menu Bar

Project Menu Options

The following table describes the Project menu options.

Project Menu Option Menu Option Description

New Creates a new, blank project with a single default composition

Open Opens your project without loading compositions.

When using Avid Motion Graphics Control to playout your graphics select

Open. Do not select Open All to open your project. AMG Control loads your compositions automatically. Selecting the Open All option to open your project causes the rendering engine to load your composition twice.

Open All Opens your project and loads your compositions for design/editing.

Save Saves your project to the previously saved location. Using Save, without a

previous save, opens the File Loader window as if you selected the saving as option.

Save AS Opens the FileLoader window, allowing you to select the file directory and enter

a name for the project.

Export Exports your project as a single archived .zip file containing your compositions,

assets, settings, and project attributes.

Import Imports previously exported Avid Motion Graphics projects.

Import Library Imports all shared items, such as materials, textures, fonts, and timers from

another project to your current project. Items not shared are not imported.

Recover Populates a list of your automatically backed up projects.

Menu Bar

Composition Menu Options

The following table describes the Composition menu options.

Composition Menu Option Menu Option Description

New Creates a new, blank composition

Load Published .Opens the FileLoader window to the preset Admin Projects directory, allowing

you to select which previously published composition to load.

The FileLoader window will not open if the Admin Projects path isn’t

defined

Load Selected Loads one or more unloaded compositions that you have selected in the

StormLogic pane.

To select multiple compositions, hold Ctrl while LMB-clicking the

compositions you want to load; holding Shift allows you to quickly select a range of compositions. If you have a project with many compositions, or a few compositions with large files, consider using Open instead of Open All when opening your project. Then, you can use Load Selected to load only the compositions that need editing.

Load All Loads all of the compositions in the StormLogic pane, regardless of selection.

If you used Open to open your project, your compositions will not load for

editing. Use the Load All option to load all of your compositions for editing simultaneously.

Delete Selected Deletes one or more composition(s) that you have selected in the StormLogic

pane.

Deletes one or more composition(s) that you have selected in the

StormLogic Pane.

Duplicate Selected Duplicates one or more composition(s) that you have selected in the StormLogic

pane.

Menu Bar

Composition Menu Option Menu Option Description

Publish Selected Publishes one or more composition(s) that you have selected in the StormLogic

pane. You cannot publish a composition if your Admin Projects path isn’t defined.

Using the Publish Selected feature creates a (_published/user) folder in

the defined Admin Projects directory that contains the exported composition folder, .scn file, and template thumbnail. Published compositions can be loaded into projects. For instance, several graphic designers can each publish their compositions to the networked, Admin Projects directory and an art director could then load the published compositions into a single master project.

Save Selected Saves one or more composition(s) that you have selected in the StormLogic pane.

Save All Saves all of the compositions in the StormLogic pane, regardless of selection.

Export Exports the currently selected composition in the StormLogic Pane as an

archived file.

Import Imports previously exported compositions to the StormLogic pane.

Menu Bar

Preferences Menu Options

The following table describes the Preferences menu options. The Preferences options allow you to configure properties for Viewports, text, paths, desktop shortcuts, and other settings for the Avid Motion Graphics design products. For more information about preferences, see the Avid

Motion Graphics Setup and Configuration Guide.

Tabs are grouped by Project-specific and Machine-specific preferences.

Preferences Menu Option Menu Option Description

Viewports Contains Viewport attributes you can customize. You can fine tune your project’s

video format, camera aspect ratio, and rendering configuration in the Viewports tab.

Preferences Menu Option Menu Option Description

Text Allows you to enable Unicode Shaping and Spell Check features.

Menu Bar

Misc Allows you to change the default timeline length.

Preferences Menu Option Menu Option Description

Paths Allows you to set your project and asset directory paths.

The User Projects path is intended for local project storage.

The Admin Projects path is intended for sharing projects and publishing compositions. Compositions are automatically published to the Admin Projects directory.

The Common Library path is intended for sharing objects, materials, textures, fonts, an so on. Each Library Pane category must have its own folder in the Common Library directory, such as Materials – Mat Folder, Textures – Tex Folder. To use assets from the common library, set your Common Library path, close the Preference window, RMB-click in the Library Pane, LMB-click and select Show Common Library.

You cannot simultaneously view Common Libraries and Local User

Libraries.

The Common Assets path is intended for sharing picture, video, and sound files.

Menu Bar

Reduced Render Allows you to adjust the render level and type for the Edit, Program, and Preview

Panes.

Preferences Menu Option Menu Option Description

Desktop Shortcuts Allows you to create project specific shortcuts on your desktop.

Shortcut Layout associates a predefined workspace layout with your project.

Create Open Lazy creates an Open, not Open All, shortcut on your desktop for the project currently open.

Create Open All creates an Open All shortcut on your desktop for the project currently open.

Menu Bar

Machine Misc Allows you to enable video input, adjust thumbnail size, and set automatic

project saving and backup modes.

Menu Bar

Exit Menu Options

The following table describes the Exit menu options.

Exit Menu Option Menu Option Description

Exit Exits Avid Motion Graphics. If you haven’t saved your work a message displays

asking, “There are changes, Quit anyway?

View Menu

The View Menu lists the five major workspace areas and each area’s pane display options. Selecting a pane adds it to your workspace area. The following table lists the View Menu areas (Assets, Menu, Animation, Viewports, and Model) and pane display options for each.

Assets Area Pane Options

The following table describes the Assets menu options.

Assets Area Menu Option Description

Library Displays or removes the Library pane in the Assets area.

LibraryObj Displays or removes the LibraryObj pane in the Assets area

Effects Displays or removes the Effects pane in the Assets area

Browser Displays or removes the Browser pane in the Assets area

StormLogic Displays or removes the StormLogic pane in the Assets area

Assets Area Menu Option Description

In Use Displays or removes the In Use pane in the Assets area

files In Use Displays or removes the Files In Use pane in the Assets area

Python Displays or removes the Python pane in the Assets area

Menu Option

The following table describes the Menu option.

Menu Option Menu Option Description

Tools This option enables or disables the Tool bar that appears at the top of the

Viewport pane.

Animation Area Pane Options

This option is used to enable the following panes: In, Out, Brother In, Brother Out, Self In, Self Out, Immediate In, and Immediate Out. The following table describes the Animation area pane options.

Menu Bar

Animation Menu Option Menu Option Description

In The In pane animations determine how a composition’s graphics are animated

when brought to air.

jOut The Out pane animations are used when a composition is taken off air.

Brother In Brother In determines how two compositions animate on air when transitioning

between each other.

Brother Out Brother Out determines how two compositions animate off air when transitioning

between each other.

Self In Determines how a single composition transitions between itself, if the same

composition is consecutively taken to air. Self In animations are intended for use with replaceable field attributes.

Self Out Determines how a single composition transitions between itself, if the same

composition is consecutively taken to air. Self out animations are intended for use with replaceable field attributes.

Immediate In The Immediate In pane is used for generating template thumbnails for later use in

Avid Motion Graphics Control.

Menu Bar

Animation Menu Option Menu Option Description

Immediate Out The Immediate Out pane is used for generating template thumbnails for later use

in Avid Motion Graphics Control.

Custom Allows you to create Custom timelines.

Viewports Area Pane Options

The following table describes the Viewports menu options.

Viewports Menu Option Menu Option Description

Edit Enables or disables the Edit pane in the Viewport.

Program Enables or disables the program pane in the Viewport.

Preview Enables or disables the Preview pane in the Viewport.

Model Area Pane Options

The following table describes the Model menu options.

Model Menu Option Menu Option Description

Object Used to enable or disable the Object pane in the Model area.

Material Used to enable or disable the Material pane in the Model area.

Texture Used to enable or disable the Texture pane in the Model area.

Font Used to enable or disable the Font pane in the Model area.

MediaIn Used to enable or disable the Media In pane in the Model area.

Timer Used to enable or disable the timer pane in the Model area.

Data Used to enable or disable the Data pane in the Model area.

Bind Used to enable or disable the Bind pane in the Model area.

Capture Used to enable or disable the Capture pane in the Model area.

Render Movie Used to enable or disable the Render Movie pane in the Model area.

FontFix Used to enable or disable the FontFix pane in the Model area.

Viewport Used to enable or disable the Viewport pane in the Model area.

Model Menu Option Menu Option Description

Form Used to enable or disable the Form pane in the Model area.

Icon Used to enable or disable the Icon pane in the Model area.

System Used to enable or disable the System pane in the Model area.

Pivot Used to enable or disable the Pivot pane in the Model area.

Sound Used to enable or disable the Sound pane in the Model area.

Production Used to enable or disable the Production pane in the Model area.

Light Used to enable or disable the Light pane in the Model area.

Layout Menu

The Layout menu contains sub-menu options that allow you to select your preferred work layout or create your own custom layouts and save them to use over again. When you create a custom layout, it appears as a selection in the Layout menu. The Layout menu options also allow you to change the appearance (Skin) of the user interface from the default to darker color scheme.

Menu Bar

Select Menu Options

The following table describes the Select menu options.

To change the layout of your workspace, LMB-click or hover over the Select option in the Layout

Menu. Select one of the default layouts or a previously created custom layout.

Select Menu Option Menu Option Description

Animation This layout ia a default for animation work.

Default This is the default layout.

Design This is a default layout for design work.

Save Now Menu Option

The following table describes the Select menu option.

Save Now Menu Option Menu Option Description

Menu Bar

Save Now Saves your current workspace layout configuration for future use.

SaveOnExit Menu Option

The following table describes the SaveOnExit menu option.

SaveOnExit Menu Option Menu Option Description

SaaveOnExit When this option is selected, your workspace layout is saved when you exit Avid

Motion Graphics.

When a layout is saved on exit, it appears under the Select option in the

Layout Menu named, LastSchemeAMG. If you don’t rename the LastSchemeAMG layout, or disable the Save on Exit feature, the next time you open an Avid Motion Graphics and exit the session, the previous LastSchemeAMG layout is overwritten.

Menu Bar

Lock Menu Option

The following table describes the Lock menu option.

Lock Menu Option Menu Option Description

Lock When enabled, this feature locks your workspace layout. When locked you are

prevented from clicking and dragging panes from one location to another.

You can still resize panes, and add/remove panes through the View Menu.

Delete Menu Option

The following table describes the Delete menu option.

Delete Menu Option Menu Option Description

Delete Deletes previously created custom layouts. You cannot delete default layouts.

Rename Menu Option

The following table describes the Rename menu option.

Rename Menu Option Menu Option Description

Rename Allows you to rename previously created custom layouts. You cannot rename

default layouts.

Skin Menu Option

The Skin Menu lists two Unicode skins from which to choose. The following table describes the Skin menu options.

Skin Menu Option Menu Option Description

Default Same as current Default skin.

Dark This skin is a charcoal color skin.

Help Menu

The Help menu contains sub-menu options that displays product version information. and various product help sources.

Assets Area

The Assets area contains the Library, Effects, Browser, StormLogic, and In Use panes. The StormLogic pane is for managing compositions, while the other panes in this area are for composition-level asset management. Aside from the StormLogic pane, each of the other panes displays their content in a tabular arrangement by category. For instance, the Library pane has icons each of which represents a different library category. The first icon in the Library pane is the Object Library, a library category containing Avid Motion Graphics default objects; the second icon is the Material Library, a library category containing predefined materials; and so on. Aside from the StormLogic Pane, each of the panes in the Assets Area is arranged similarly. The Assets area contains the following panes by default:

• StormLogic Pane

• Library Pane

• Effects Pane

• Browser Pane

• In Use Pane

StormLogic Pane

Assets Area

The StormLogic pane displays a project’s hierarchy; by default this includes the WorkArea and a single, default composition. Using Avid Motion Graphics you can arrange compositions in a presenter structure, which makes it possible to define how compositions (templates) behave in relation to each other. For instance, you can define which templates are permitted to go on-air simultaneously, or which ones overlap and shouldn’t be aired together.

The StormLogic level (group) is locked at the root level and contains all of the compositions within a project. Additionally, StormLogic contains the WorkArea, which is where compositions are nested for the graphics editing portion of your workflow.

When your compositions (templates) are complete, meaning they’re ready for playout, they should be nested above the WorkArea, within the StormLogic level, as shown in the following illustration.

While compositions are allowed within the Storm Logic Level, they’re not allowed to be at the

same level because StormLogic is at the root level of a project, acting as a ‘group’ that contains all of a project’s compositions, assets, and parameter based Python files.

Assets Area

The StormLogic pane provides a variety of composition related functions. For instance, adding, loading, saving, publishing, deleting, and duplicating compositions, and also providing a feature for capturing thumbnails.

Some functions, however, are restricted to the Object pane in an effort to prevent accidental reordering, grouping, and other, sometimes detrimental actions with regard to composition management.

You cannot directly modify your project’s composition-hierarchy in the StormLogic pane; instead, select StormLogic from the StormLogic pane, and then navigate to the Object pane where you can rearrange and group your compositions. For more information about composition management, see Avid Motion Graphics Compositions.

The content populated in the Object pane is dependent on your current selection in the StormLogic pane. For instance, selecting a composition from the StormLogic pane populates the Object pane with that composition’s objects. This type of selection is used while editing compositions. Alternatively, selecting a group from the StormLogic pane, such as StormLogic, WorkArea, or groups containing compositions, populates the Object pane with your project’s hierarchy. This type of selection is used for adding Presenter and Presenter Group effects, animations (productions), and pivots among compositions.

Assets Area

There are helpful actions accessible in the StormLogic or WorkArea levels of the StormLogic pane, using a right mouse-click to access the menu options.

The following table describes the right-click menu options accessible through the StormLogic pane.

Right-Click Menu Option Description

Save StormLogic Saves your project’s StormLogic.

Load Published Allows you to load a previously published composition

New Composition Creates a new composition under the WorkArea disclosure.

Assets Area

There are helpful actions accessible at the Composition level of the StormLogic pane, using a right mouse-click to access the menu options.

The following table describes the right-click context menu options accessible through the StormLogic pane for the Compositions level.

Right-Click Menu Option Sub-Menu Option Description

New Creates a new composition under the WorkArea

disclosure.

Load Loads the currently selected composition(s).

Save Saves the currently selected composition(s). The keyboard

Shortcut for this action is Pressing Ctrl + S to save the composition.

Publish Publishes the currently selected composition or

compositions. You cannot publish a composition if the Admin Projects path hasn’t been defined. For more information about configuring paths, see Preferences Paths.

Delete Deletes the currently selected composition(s).

Duplicate Duplicates the currently selected composition(s).

Clone N/A

Assets Area

Right-Click Menu Option Sub-Menu Option Description

Capture Thumbnail Captures a thumbnail of the Edit Pane, in the Viewport

Area.

Anamorphic

Letterbox

Crop

Set Category Categories help to keep compositions better organized.

None Removes the previously set category for that composition.

New Opens a dialog box for naming a new category and

applying it. As new categories are created, they appear in the Set Category list along with None and New.

Library Pane

The Library pane is comprised of preset library categories that contain different objects, shapes, graphic images, materials, textures, and so on, which are the fundamental building blocks of your compositions. You can also create custom images and add them to these different libraries.

Each library category is represented by a different icon displayed at the top of the Library pane. You can select an icon to display objects in that particular library. For instance, in the following illustration the Object library icon is selected and a list of object categories is displayed.

Assets Area

Library Icon Description

Object library - this is a library of different predefined objects that can be used in compositions. The objects categories, such as Curves, Primitives, Text and others are listed here.

Material library - this is a library contains shader presets used to define the basic surface properties, such as glass, metal, plastic They determine how the light in a composition reacts on an object’s surface.Materials that can be applied to objects or text, which are used in compositions.

Texture library - this is a library of different predefined textures that can be applied to objects, fonts, and materials, which are used in compositions

MediaIn library - This is a library of different predefined media-type file objects (

.wav, . mov

, and clips) that can be used in compositions.

Library Icon Description

Font library - this is a library of different predefined fonts objects that can be used in compositions.

MediaIn

Timer library - this library contains different predefined timers that can be used with objects in compositions.

Data

Font Fix library - this is a library of different predefined font fix objects that can be used in compositions.

Pivot library - this is a library of different predefined pivot objects that can be used in compositions.

Sound library - this is a library of different predefined sound objects to which a particular sound can be assigned in compositions.

Assets Area

Light library - this is a library of different predefined light effect objects that can be applied to compositions.

Adding Assets to a Library

You can add your own materials, textures, and so forth to the various libraries in the Library pane. However, Avid Motion Graphics won’t allow you to add incompatible assets to a library, so make sure you’re adding materials to the Material Library and textures to the Texture Library.

To add your own object or group to the local User Object Library:

1. Left-click on your object or group to select it.

2. Drag your selection from the Object Pane to the Object Library.

To add assets to the Common Library:

1. From the File Menu, select Preferences.

2. Click the Paths Tab.

3. Left-click the magnify glass icon to the right of the Common Library directory field. Use the browser window to select your preferred network location.

4. Close the Preference window

5. Right-click in the Library pane to display a menu of options.

Assets Area

6. Mark the Show Common Library Check box.

Resizing Asset Library Pane Icons

The Library pane uses icons to display different types of assets.

Assets Area

You can make these Icons larger by placing the pointer over the divider line between the disclosure arrow and the name of the category, as shown in the following illustration. This works for any divider line in the user interface.

The pointer becomes a cross hair, which allows you to drag the divider line to the right, enlarging the items, and making them easier to identify.

Effects Pane

The Effects Pane is a collection of preset effects for modifying the appearance and behavior of your composition assets. You can also create custom effects and add them to these different collections. The different effects are represented by a different icon displayed at the top of the Effects pane.

Icons at the top of the Effects Pane represent the various effect categories; each category corresponds with a pane in the Avid Motion Graphics workspace. Most effects have adjustable attributes. When you add an effect, it appears under the corresponding pane. For instance, in the following illustration, highlighted object effects appears in the Object pane and highlighted material effects appears in the Material pane.

Assets Area

You can display the contents of each of the different effects collections by clicking on its icon. The following table lists the icons for the different preset effects and their descriptions.

Effects Icon Description

Object Effects - this is a library of different predefined object effects, which can be applied to objects and can be used in compositions.

Material Effects - this is a library of different predefined material effects, which can be applied to objects and can be used in compositions.

Texture Effects - this is a library of different predefined texture effects, which can be applied to objects and can be used in compositions.

Effects Icon Description

MediaIn Effects - this is a library of different predefined media effects, which can be applied to objects and can be used in compositions.

Font Effects - this is a library of different predefined font effects, which can be applied to fonts and can be used in compositions.

Timer Effects - this is a library of different predefined timer effects, which can be applied to objects and can be used in compositions.

Bind Effects - this is a library of different predefined bind effects, which can be applied to objects and can be used in compositions.

Capture Effects - this is a library of different predefined capture effects, which can be applied to objects and can be used in compositions.

Pipe Effects - this is a library of different predefined pipe effects, which can be applied to objects and can be used in compositions.

Icon Effects

Assets Area

Applying Effects

Effects are applied from the Object Effects category.

To apply an effect from the Object Effects category:

1. Left-click on the effect.

2. Drag the effect over the object you want to modify.

Modes Effects - this is a Library of the system modes.

Production Effects

Light Effects - this is a library of different predefined light effects, which can be applied to objects and can be used in compositions

Assets Area

3. Drop the effect on to the object you want to modify, as shown in the following illustration.

To delete an effect:

1. Navigate to the appropriate pane, the Object Pane is used in the following example.

2. Right-click on the effect disclosure or effect name to display the effect menu.

3. Select the Effect Delete option.

Assets Area

Using this menu, you can also reset an effects adjustable attributes by selecting the Effect Reset or enable effect dragging by selecting the Effect Drag Enable option.

Object Effects and the attributes that pertain to them appear at the bottom of the Object pane.

Browser Pane

The Browser pane displays a collection of different preset file directories and their respective folder lists, containing assets, which can be used in compositions. You can navigate to different locations using the convenient navigation tools at the top of the pane.

Assets Area

You can also use the quick navigational presets to display the lists of folders in each predefined location. Each predefined location is represented by a different icon, displayed at the top of the Browser Pane just under the navigation tools.

Navigation Tool Icon Description

Move up one drive

Select a Disk Drive

Select a Drive path

Create New Folder

You can also use the quick navigational presets to display the list of folders in each predefined directories. Each predefined directory is represented by a different icon, displayed at the top of the Browser pane just under the navigation tools.

Assets Area

The following table lists the icons for the different Browser pane icons and their names. All paths are

C:\users\<username>\Documents

Browser Pane Icon Directory Name

\dbs - database path

\obs - object path

Texture path

Audio path

plugin path

fonts path

except for the fonts path which is

C:\Windows\Fonts

\python path

\sets path

\ipf path

\desktop path

OS Browser

Browser Paths

Avid Motion Graphics allows you to set your browser paths.

To set your browser path:

1. Navigate to your preferred directory. For instance, if you’re setting the path for the texture icon, you’d navigate to where your textures are stored.

2. Right-click over the corresponding icon (for instance, the texture icon) to display the options.

3. Right-click the Set Shortcut option.

Assets Area

Now, you can access your textures by clicking the texture icon.

In Use Pane

The In Use Pane organizes composition assets into an easy-to-navigate categorical interface. The assets for the composition you’re currently editing are listed in the In Use pane. Any shared (global) assets are also listed.

Assets Area

To reduce project size and free up system resources, Avid Motion Graphics supports cross-composition asset sharing. The In Use Pane only populates project assets if you use “Open All” to load your project, or if you use “Open”, and then load your composition(s) in the StormLogic Pane.

Assets Area

The following illustration shows an example of a composition with redundant materials. The Live Bug and Breaking News graphics were created using separate materials for each of the four chevron surface objects: Live-Bug_BLUE, Live-Bug_RED, Breaking-News_BLUE, and Breaking-News_RED. Ideally, these graphics would use just two shared materials.

Depending on your system configuration most materials won’t cause noticeable delays in project

load time. However, excessive redundant materials, or a few large-file redundant materials, like those with associated video textures, can impact project load time.

Assets Area

To eliminate the redundant materials in the previous example, two materials were shared between all four chevrons, as shown in the following illustration. First, the Live-Bug_BLUE and Live-Bug_RED were applied to each of the corresponding (blue/red) chevrons.

After the previous actions complete, the blue chevrons share the material, Live-Bug_BLUE, and the red chevrons share the material, Live-Bug_RED; and, the materials, Breaking-News_BLUE and Breaking-News_RED, are unused and un-referenced. Because the unused materials, Breaking-News_BLUE and Breaking-News_RED, are un-referenced they can be deleted.

Deleting, Unused Materials

When a project is complete, it’s good practice to use the Delete unreferenced items feature for eliminating redundant materials, textures, fonts, and timers.

To delete un-referenced items from the In Use Pane:

1. Right-click over the materials In Use Pane to display options.

Assets Area

2. Do one of the following:

t Select the Delete unreferenced items option.

t Select the Delete <del> option to delete one material at a time.

The following Clean dialog box opens.

3. Do one of the following:

t Click Ok to apply to only the un-referenced focused material.

t Click Cancel to apply to only the un-referenced focused material.

t Click Clean all to apply to all un-referenced items currently in the In Use pane.

t Click Cancel all to apply to all un-referenced items currently in the in Use pane

After eliminating the unused materials, only shared materials remain in the In Use Pane.

Renaming Materials

You can rename materials in the In Use pane.

To rename materials in the In Use Pane:

1. Double-click on a material’s name.

2. Enter a new name.

3. Press enter.

Alternatively, you can rename your materials in the Material Pane using the same steps.

Creating Material Thumbnails

Assets Area

You can create thumbnails for materials that display in the In Use pane.

To create material thumbnails:

1. Do one of the following:

t Double-click the Material Preview in the Material Pane to display menu options.

t Right-click over the Material Preview to display menu options.

2. Select the Capture thumbnail <double click> option.

Menu Area

The Menu Area is located directly above the Viewport and by default contains the Tools pane.

Tools Pane

The Tools Pane provides access to all of the tools you need for manipulating objects in the Viewport. There are a set of gizmos that allow you to transform objects. There are also tools for displaying statistical data and altering the Viewport.

The following table describes the Tools located in the tool pane and lists any keyboard shortcuts that enable their use as well as clicking on the icon.

Icon Tool Name

Deselect q Deselects all objects in the Viewport. If you’re

Menu Area

Keyboard Shortcuts Description

trying to move or transform an object within the Viewport and the Viewport’s perspective changes instead, use the Deselect tool to transform your object again.

Move w Allows manual X, Y, and Z axis planar object

transformations.The Move tool corresponds to the Transformation, Displace values in the Object pane.

Icon Tool Name

Rotate e Allows manual heading, pitch, and roll

Menu Area

Keyboard Shortcuts Description

rotational object transformations. Heading: rotation about the Z-axis Pitch: rotation about the X-axis Roll: rotation about the Y-axis

Scale r Allows manual X, Y, and Z axis scalar object

transformations. Excessively or negatively scaling objects can cause undesired behavior.

Box t Allows manual X, Y, and Z axis scalar and

planar transformations using a bounding box

Object Pivot y Changes the Viewport gizmo to allow manual

adjustment of an objects center point.

Path u Changes the Viewport gizmo to allow manual

manipulation of Bezier curves. Middle mouse clicking over a curve object creates additional vectors, while right-clicking displays a menu with additional editing options.

Icon Tool Name

Display Statistics Alt + s Displays various statistical data in the

Display Global Axis Alt + e Displays X, Y, and Z axes. To adjust which

Display Camera Data Alt + i Displays camera data in the Viewport.

Display Alpha Channel N/A Displays alpha channel in the Viewport.

Menu Area

Keyboard Shortcuts Description

Viewport. Use this tool to monitor your systems performance; particle systems, 3D-objects, animations, and so on are often resource intensive.

planes appear as grids in the Viewport, navigate to the Viewport Pane and under Viewport Planes turn on or off axes.

Display Wireframe Alt + u Displays wireframes for all objects in the

Viewport.

Freeze Interface Alt + f Masks the interface, leaving only the Viewport

visible.

Reset Camera Alt + r Resets the camera to its default position.

View Camera Point of

Alt + m Displays the point of interest gizmo.

Interest

Display Safety Frame N/A Displays safety frame over the Viewport.

Icon Tool Name

Display Grid Alt + g Displays grid(s).

GridSnap N/A Auto-aligns the guide bar to the closest grid

Enable Video Input 1 N/A Enables video input one.

Enable Video Input 2 N/A Enables video input two.

Menu Area

Keyboard Shortcuts Description

intersection.

Animation Area

Avid Motion Graphics uses a variety of animation timelines, setting itself apart from traditional timeline keyframe editors, and giving graphic designers more control.

The Animation area contains various panes designated for different animation types. You can create animations within and between compositions. The Animation area is located immediately below the Viewports area.

Animations from the various timelines are also referred to as productions. For instance, the term

Self In Pane animation is interchangeable with Self In production.

Animation Area

The following table describes the Animation area control icons.

Animation Controls Description

Go to Start

Go to previous Keyframe

Play Production

Timeline

Animation Area

Animation Controls Description

Pause/Resume

Go to next keyframe

Go to end

Loop mode

The following table describes the Animation area tool icons.

The following table describes the Animation area tool buttons, which are accessible at the bottom of each of the Animation area panes (In/Out, Self In/Self Out, Brother In/Brother Out, Immediate In/Immediate Out).

Animation Timeline Tool Button Name of Tool Description

Frame window This button enables the Frame Window feature.

Auto-keyframe Automatically creates keyframes as you move objects in

the Viewport. After each movement the timeline playhead must be advanced to the next desired keyframe position.

Spline keyframing Sets keyframes to a Bezier curve, allowing you to

precisely adjust the timing and velocity of your animation. For more information about viewing Bezier curves while aminating, see Bezier Curves During

Animation

Animation Timeline Tool Button Name of Tool Description

Autofit Automatically interpolates frames between two

Bezier Curves During Animation

You can precisely adjust the timing and velocity of your animation in the animation timeline by setting keyframes to a Bezier curve.

To view the Bezier curve while animating:

1. Click to select a segment from the timeline.

2. Press the U key on your keyboard.

The Bezier curve appears in 2D on the timeline and in 3D in the Viewport. Use the 2D curve to adjust your animations velocity and the 3D curve to adjust the path of the animation.

To add keyframes:

Animation Area

keyframes, or before a single keyframe, to form a spline transition.

t Middle-click over the curve in the Viewport.

To delete keyframes:

t Select a keyframe and press the Delete key. on the keyboard.

In and Out Panes

In and Out pane productions determine how compositions (templates) are brought to air, and sequentially off air.

In pane animations determine how a composition’s graphics are animated when brought to air, if no other compositions are already on air. When there are existing compositions on air, the Brother In animation is used in place of the In pane animation.

Out pane animations are used when a composition is taken off air, if no other compositions follow.

The term Brother, means same-level, and is used in describing the hierarchical relationship

between compositions, groups, and objects.

Animation Area

Brother In and Brother Out Panes

Brother In and Brother Out productions determine how two compositions animate on air and off air when transitioning between each other. By definition, Brothers are objects or groups at the same hierarchy level.

For instance, three compositions within a group (parent) share a brother relationship. The In animation (see In and Out Panes) airs when a composition is taken to air, and the Brother Out animation is aired, in place of the Out animation (see In and Out Panes), when the second composition is taken to air. In this case, the second composition is taken to air with its Brother In animation, and if no additional compositions follow, its Out animation runs when it’s played-out.

Process Example

Step 1: Playing COMP1 runs its IN animation Step 2: Playing COMP2 with COMP1 already

on air plays COMP1’s BROTHER

OUT animation, and then COMP2’s BROTHER IN animation.

Animation Area

Step 3: Playing additional compositions repeats the animations from Step 2.

Playing-out COMP2 after Step 2, instead of playing additional compositions, will run COMP2’s OUT animation.

Self In and Self Out Panes

Self In and Self Out productions determine how a single composition transitions between itself, if the same composition is consecutively taken to air. Self In and Self Out animations are intended for use with replaceable field attributes. As new, updated replaceable field attributes are re-populated, the Self Out animation airs, followed by the Self In animation.

Self In and Self Out animations also apply to a single composition that has been duplicated (n) times in Avid Motion Graphics Control. Duplicating a composition allows controllers to manually add new data/attributes to the off air, duplicate composition, and then replace the currently on air composition without interruption.

In the following example, the Self Out animation airs, the replaceable fields receive new stock data, and then the Self In animation airs.

Animation Area

Immediate In and Immediate Out Panes

Included as optional productions, the Immediate In and Immediate Out panes are used for generating template thumbnails for later use in Avid Motion Graphics Control.

Viewports Area

The Viewports area contains panes for editing and viewing your graphics. Three panes reside in the Viewports Area; Edit pane; Program pane; Preview pane.

By default, Avid Motion Graphics opens in Edit Mode and only the Edit pane is enabled in the Viewports Area. The Edit pane functions as a virtual 3D canvas, from the perspective of a fixed camera, where you arrange and animate graphics for your composition. This is what is output when you later take a composition to air.

Viewports Area

While the Program and Preview panes can be added to your Edit mode workspace, these panes are suited for use with playout (Playout mode) applications, such as Avid Motion Graphics Control.

You can change from Edit mode to Playout mode by pressing the Playout button at the top right side of the Menu bar.

Viewports Area

You can use keyboard and mouse controls to manipulate the camera’s vector coordinates, and therefore adjust your view of the 3D environment in the Edit Pane. The following table describes the mouse and keyboard shortcuts that can be used in the Viewports area panes.

Keyboard Shortcut

Ctrl + Left-Click Click and drag zooms in the selected area. 2D Navigation

Ctrl + Middle-Click Wheel zooms in/out progressively (5% increments). 2D Navigation

Ctrl + Middle-Click Click and drag to pan. 2D Navigation

Ctrl + Right-Click Click and drag to smoothly zoom in/out. 2D Navigation

Alt + Left-Click Click and drag to roll the camera about its axis. 3D Navigation

Atl + Middle-Click Click and drag to track/pan the camera. 3D Navigation

Alt + Right-Click Click and drag to dolly. 3D Navigation

F Frames the selected object. 3D Navigation

Alt + X Changes the camera’s focus to the x-axis, and displays the x-axis

Alt + Y Changes the camera’s focus to the y-axis, and displays the y-axis

Alt + Z Changes the camera’s focus to the z-axis, and displays the z-axis

+/- Numeric Keypad Keys Modifies the size of the transformation gizmo. 3D Navigation

Description Focus

3D Navigation

grid.

3D Navigation

grid.

3D Navigation

grid.

Viewports Area

As shown in the following illustration, when you drag an object from the Library pane to the Edit pane in the Viewport area, a connection line clarifies which object you selected and where it is placed in the Edit pane. The horizontal and vertical pixel coordinates appear next to the mouse pointer, providing the exact coordinates for the location.

The Tool icons located at the top of the viewport on the Tools pane provide quick access to tools referred to as gizmos. The gizmos are used to directly transform the objects in the viewport. As you use the tools to transform an object in the viewport, the coordinates for the object are displayed in the Transformation section of the Object pane.

Tools Pane Icon Gizmo Type

Deselect (q)

Move (w)

Rotate (e)

Scale (r)

Box (t)

Object Pivot (y)

Tools Pane Icon Gizmo Type

Path <u>

Display Statistics <Alt+s>

Display Global Axis <Alt+e>

Display Camera Data <Alt+i>

Display Alpha Channel

Display Wireframe <Alt+u>

Freezes Interface <Alt+f> Snowflake

Viewports Area

Reset Camera <Alt+r>

View camera point of interest <Alt+m>

Display Safety Frame

Grid <alt+g>

GridSnap

Enable Video Input 1

Edit Pane

The Edit pane is for designing, laying out, and animating your graphics. As you edit your graphics, the composition continuously renders, in real time, in the Edit pane.

Viewports Area

Program Pane

The Program pane displays your graphics as they are taken to air via external applications, like Avid Motion Graphics Control. For more information, see Avid Motion Graphics Control.

Preview Pane

The Preview pane displays graphics that are cued for playout with external applications, such as Avid Motion Graphics Control.

Animations, particle systems, and other automated behaviors are not rendered by default in the

Preview pane. This pane is intended for ensuring the correct graphics are queued prior to playout in the Program pane.

Related Feature: Viewport Pane

The Viewport pane is located in the Model Area and provides adjustable attributes for the Edit pane, in the Viewports area, as shown in the following illustration.

Viewports Area

Model Area

The following table describes the different sections in the Viewport pane.

Viewport Section Description

Grid Section The Grid section provides Check boxs to display or hide the See through grid

feature, and to show or hide rulers. You can display or hide the X, Y, and Z plane grids by checking or clearing the Check boxes in The Visible Planes section. The Subdiv. X,Y, and Z fields are used to adjust the number of grid lines.The Alpha field, in the Grid section, is used to adjust the alpha level, or transparency of the enabled grids.

Fog Color Section The Fog Color section allows you to set the Fog Color as a three dimensional layer,

which depending on its Y-axis distance (near/far) and the locations of the objects in your composition, may appear in front of or behind your objects. A fog color appears as a blurry natural emulation of fog.

Background Section The Background Color section provides a color selector that you can use to define the

background color of the Edit pane.

Switch Camera Section The Switch Camera section is a Viewport pane effect,

Model Area

The Model Area contains panes, which list adjustable attributes and controls that appear as you add objects to your composition. The tools that are used to modify the size and shape of a selected object in your composition, as well as the colors, materials, fonts, and textures used with that object, can be found throughout the various panes in Model Area. There are also tools that allow you to add timers, lighting, binds, and much more to your composition. The following panes appear in the Model area.

• Material Pane

• Texture Pane

• MediaIn Pane

• Font Pane

• FonFix Pane

• Viewport Pane

• Timer Pane

• Form Pane

• Data Pane

• Bind Pane

• Capture Pane

• Render Movie Pane

• System Pane

• Light Pane

• Pivot Pane

• Sound Pane

• Object Pane

Model Area

Material Pane

The Material pane contains the tools and controls that allow you to add color to and modify other surface attributes of the objects in your compositions. In the following illustration, the Cylinderfront object is the focus of material work. A blue color has been applied to the object. From this pane you can adjust the shade properties specular, shininess, and emission of the material as well as the texture.

Model Area

The following sections describe the various areas in the Material pane.

Category Shortcuts

Located near the top of the Material pane are two Category Short cut buttons, as shown in the following illustration.

You can click the Library button to open the material Library category and the Effects button to open the material Effects category.

Selected Material

Also located near the top of the Material pane is the currently selected material display.

All objects have the same default material settings and are listed by their object name. In the previous illustration the name of the selected material is “Sphere”.

Gradient Icon

The Gradient icon is located under the Presets disclosure arrow on the Material pane.

Click to use the Gradient icon to change the background color of the Material Preview.

Material Preview

The Material Preview Is located Just below the color disclosure arrow.

Model Area

To capture a thumbnail of your material, right-click over the Material Preview and select Capture Thumbnail option.

You can also double-click on the Material Preview to display this menu option.

To change the Material Preview object, right-click over the Material Preview and select the Model select option. A variety of options are displayed from which to select. For instance, Data Bar, Grail, Torus, Sphere, and others.

To view the Materials Preview object from various angles, left-click and hold while moving the cursor to rotate the object.

Color Disclosure

The color disclosure area is located below the Material Preview area.

Model Area

The Color disclosure icon allows you to control the red, green, blue and Alpha channel fields. The Eyedropper icon is the color picker tool with which you select colors. There is also a Hexadecimal Color Code field, and Alpha Channel Fine Adjustment tool, Hue (H), Saturation (S), Brightness (B) controls, Red (R), Green (G), Blue (B) Channel controls. The Transparency enabled Check box enables Alpha channel and the Cull face selector allows you to control cull face settings.

The Cull face options are CullFaceOff, CullFaceBack, CullFaceFront, and CullFaceBoth

Model Area

The Cull face options hide the selected side(s) of the material. Use Cull face to reduce your resource load when working with resource-intensive materials.

By hovering your mouse over the divider bar between the preset color icons and the color gradient until the cursor changes to an expansion arrow, then left-click and drag the bar to expose additional color presets, as shown in the following illustration,

When you right-click on the color attributes, the Material pane’s color menu is displayed, as shown in the following illustration.

Model Area

The following table lists and describes the color menu options.

Color Menu Options Description

MAYT_COLOR N/A

Add key Creates a keyframe in the currently selected animation pane in the Animation area. The

location of the timeline playhead determines where the keyframe is inserted.

Copy Copies the selected color’s vector coordinates.

Paste Pastes a copied color’s vector coordinates. You can paste colors into the hexadecimal

color field, the preset icon and gradient color areas, or onto the timeline.

Paste bind Creates a bind between two fields.

Reset value Resets all color fields to their default color values.

From Script Opens the material, color script editor window, allowing manual input of a colors’ vector

coordinates.

Reset Color Palette Resets preset color palette to default color icons.

Component (Single) N/A

Help N/A

Shade Attributes

The Shade area is located below the Color disclosure area on the Materials pane.

Model Area

The Shade selector has three options from which to select; Off, Flat, and Gouraud. These options adjust how shade attributes are applied to your materials, as shown in the following illustration.

The shade area allows you to select various material shader attributes, such as specular, shininess, and emission.

Main Texture

The Main Texture area is located at the bottom of the Material pane.

The Main Texture area allows you to adjust The Mode, attributes, such as MapOff, MapUV, MapRefSph, and MapProjected. You can also make adjustments to the Scale and Offset coordinates in this area.

Unique Material Attributes

Many Avid Motion Graphics materials have unique attributes the following table lists and describes two examples.

Unique Material Attribute Description

Luma (Luminance) materials have at least one additional texture field. The First Pass Luminance texture field is listed for the material Matte Luma. Several materials have optional texture fields as well; for instance, the Use Reflection toggle box, which can be checked or unchecked to add or remove the reflection texture field.

Un-checking the Use Reflection toggle box clears the currently selected texture, and you’ll have to re-select it if you decide to use the reflection feature.

Blend materials allow you to create deep, realistic reflections by overlapping two textures by varying degrees.

To adjust the degree of overlap between textures, use the Factor slider or manually enter a value, between zero and one, in the Factor value field. Selecting Swap interchanges the Main Texture and the First Pass Blend Texture.

Un-checking the Use Reflection toggle box clears the currently selected texture, and you’ll have to re-select it if you decide to use the reflection

feature.

Model Area

Texture Pane

The Texture pane contains the tools and controls that allow you to add new textures, or modify existing textures. Selecting an object, in either the Object pane or the Edit pane, populates the Texture pane with the object’s texture attributes and controls. There are several methods for applying textures to your objects; the Texture Library, located in the Library pane, provides basic textures and a variety of texture presets.

In the following illustration you can see that when you are working in the Texture pane, The In-use textures are also displayed in the Material pane.

Model Area

To use Common Library textures, right-click anywhere in the Texture Library and select the Show Common Library option. If you don’t have a Common Library path set or if the path isn’t accessible an error window displays. For more on setting the Common Library Path, see Preferences: Paths.

Avoid using

To apply a texture to an object:

1. Do one of the following:

t Left-click on the texture, drag the texture from the Texture Library and drop it over the

t Drag and drop textures from the Texture Library to texture path fields, like those located

Also, you can access all of the applied textures for your current composition in the In Use pane's texture category

To save custom textures to the Texture Library for later use:

t Left-click and drag the texture from the Currently Selected Texture field (see the previous

illustration) and drop it in the Texture Library.

User textures appear in blue font.

To use Common Library textures:

t Right-click anywhere in the Texture Library and select the Show Common Library option.

If the Common Library path is not set or if the path isn’t accessible an error window displays.

For more on setting the Common Library Path, see Preferences: Paths.

.tif

files, instead use

surface of your object in the Edit pane, located in the Viewports Area.

in the Material and Font panes; previously applied textures are accessible by clicking the disclosure arrows at the right side of the texture path fields.

.tga

, because they require less memory.

MediaIn Pane

The MediaIn pane is used for managing your media assets (audio and video files). It displays a list of Media objects (clips or audio) coming into a composition. This pane contains controls you can use do direct the behavior of the media used in a composition.

Adding a video file to your composition creates a surface object, material, and texture. This

allows you to customize the shape, shade, and video of your MediaIn asset.

Model Area

The site disclosure displays your projects global default audio-in and video-in assets and the MediaIn assets for your currently selected composition are listed below the global MediaIn assets.

The Media File Browser field is located below the Site Disclosure area as are the MediaIn Play controls.

To share MediaIn assets between all of your compositions:

1. Do one of the following:

t Navigate to the Texture category of the In Use pane.

t Navigate to the Material category of the In Use pane.

2. Right-click over the asset you want to share. The following menu displays.

Model Area

3. Select the To Shared option.

The MediaIn pane now displays <Shared> next to the MediaIn asset in the disclosure area.

Font Pane

The Font pane is for managing your fonts, their corresponding attributes and controls. By default, when added to compositions, text objects are two-dimensional and don’t have material or texture attributes.

Model Area

To create 2D and 3D text objects with adjustable font attributes:

1. Navigate to the Library pane.

2. Add a text object from the Object library.

3. Click the Text disclosure arrow to display the various text objects (Roll, Text Sequence, Text, etc.).

4. Do one of the following:

t Left-click and drag a text object into the Edit pane, in the Viewports Area.

t Double-click over a text object to add it to your composition.

5. Do one of the following:

t Navigate to the Font library in the Library pane.

t Click the Font Library shortcut icon at the top of the Font pane.

In the Font library, there are two and three-dimensionaltext object presets from which to choose.

6. Left-click and drag a font object from the Font library onto your text object in the Edit pane

The font attributes now appear in the Font pane when the text object is selected.

You can custom-size text objects when adding them to your composition with the Shift-key.

Left-click and drag the text object into the Edit pane. Press the Shift-key where you’d like the upper left corner of the text object to start.

The following table describes the various types of text objects.

Text Object Description Example

Roll Lines of text scroll vertically similar to

text seen at the end of a movie. You can control the duration, amount of fading (top and bottom), text roll speed, and other settings.

Text Sequence Sequentially displays text inputs based

on user defined animation settings.

The example shown in this table, simulates an animation between two sequential text inputs. However, the animation occurs in place.

Model Area

Text Creates a static text object to which you

can apply two and three dimensional font objects.

Text Object Description Example

Ticker Text inputs move horizontally, from right

to left, similar to a news ticker.

Clocks: Clock Using your system’s time, this clock-text

object automatically updates in real time; HH:MM:SS is the default format.

Model Area

Clocks: Counter A counter is a clock object with the

Counter Effect applied (from the Timer Effects category of the Effects pane).

Fonts are resource intensive, because an entire set of characters must be loaded (when Latin or

ASCII modes are enabled). To reduce rendering time and overall system performance share your fonts in the In Use Pane, instead of creating multiple instances of the same font.

100

Pinnacle Systems Motion Graphics - 2.6 User's Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Symbols and Conventions

Using This Guide

If You Need Help

Accessing the Online Documentation

Avid Training Services

1 Avid Motion Graphics Overview

Product Suite

System Tools

System Options

Key Features

2 Graphics Design Workspace

Design Product Suites

Understanding the Workspace

Adding and Removing Panes in a Workspace

Working with Layouts

Panes and Areas

Saving Presets

Backing Up and Recovering Projects

Menu Bar

File Menu

Project Menu Options

Composition Menu Options

Preferences Menu Options

Exit Menu Options

View Menu

Assets Area Pane Options

Menu Option

Animation Area Pane Options

Viewports Area Pane Options

Model Area Pane Options

Layout Menu

Select Menu Options

Save Now Menu Option

SaveOnExit Menu Option

Lock Menu Option

Delete Menu Option

Rename Menu Option

Skin Menu Option

Help Menu

Assets Area

StormLogic Pane

Library Pane

Adding Assets to a Library

Resizing Asset Library Pane Icons

Effects Pane

Applying Effects

Browser Pane

Browser Paths

In Use Pane

Deleting, Unused Materials

Renaming Materials

Creating Material Thumbnails

Menu Area

Animation Area

Timeline

Bezier Curves During Animation

In and Out Panes

Brother In and Brother Out Panes

Self In and Self Out Panes

Immediate In and Immediate Out Panes

Viewports Area

Edit Pane

Program Pane

Preview Pane

Related Feature: Viewport Pane

Model Area

Material Pane

Texture Pane

MediaIn Pane

Font Pane