Pinnacle Systems NewsCutter - 2.0 Getting Started Guide

Avid® NewsCutter

Getting Started Guide

Release 2.0

tools for storytellers®

Avid NewsCutter Getting Started Guide • Part 0130-04672-01 Rev. A • November 2000

Chapter 1 Introduction

About NewsCutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

NewsCutter Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Starting Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Starting NewsCutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Electronic Licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

How to Proceed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Using Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Opening and Closing the Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Understanding the Topic Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Getting Help for Windows and Dialog Boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Getting Help for Screen Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Keeping Help Available. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Restoring Help from the Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Using Alt+Tab to Restore Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Finding Information Within the Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Using the Contents List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Using the Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Using the Search Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Using the Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Creating a Favorites List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Using the Browse Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Printing Help Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Using Online Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Chapter 2 About NewsCutter

Basic Editing Steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Understanding the Pieces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Organizing Your Work with Projects and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

How Media Is Stored. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

The Attic Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Chapter 3 Starting Your Project

Starting NewsCutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Creating a User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Creating a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Opening an Existing Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Understanding the Project Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Working with Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Creating a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

About Bin Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Text View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Frame View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Script View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Creating a Quick Transition Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

About Trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Customizing Your Work Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Mapping Keys and Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Setting Up Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 4 Recording

Selecting Settings for Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

The Record Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

The Audio Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

The Video Input Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Recording Preparations Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Recording to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Recording and Logging at the Same Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Recording On-the-Fly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Recording from an IN Point to an OUT Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Batch Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Rerecording a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Chapter 5 Getting Ready to Edit

Using the Command Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Using the Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Mapping Buttons to the Tool Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Mapping Menu Commands to the Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Using the Keyboard Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Mapping Buttons to the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Mapping Menu Commands to the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using W orkspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Modifying Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Controlling Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Using Position Bars and Position Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Using Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

The Play Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Step Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Using Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

J-K-L Keys (Three-Button Play) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Home, End, and Arrow Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Using the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Stepping with the Mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Shuttling with the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Marking IN and OUT Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Creating Subclips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Chapter 6 Creating a First Cut

Viewing Your Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Navigating in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Using the Position Indicator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Using the A and S keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Displaying More or Less Detail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Using the Scroll Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Using the Track Selector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Selecting Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Patching Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Monitoring Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Making the First Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Using Digital Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Splicing-in Versus Overwriting Audio and Video. . . . . . . . . . 102

Splicing-in or Overwriting an Audio Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Splicing or Overwriting Video into a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Marking Clips for Storyboarding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Using the Go to IN and Go to OUT Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Moving to the Head or Tail of a Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Undoing an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Redoing an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Splicing a Shot into the Middle of a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Chapter 7 Refining the Edit

Editing in Segment Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Guidelines for Editing in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Identifying Segment Mode Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Rearranging Footage with Extract/Splice-in Mode. . . . . . . . . . 111

Removing Footage with Extract/Splice-in Mode . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Removing Footage with Lift/Overwrite Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Overwriting Shots into a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Rearranging Shots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Overwriting with the Three-Point Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Removing Footage with Lift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Basic Trim Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Trim Using Top and Tail Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Entering Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Selecting Between Trim Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Sync Locking Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Performing a Basic Trim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Dual-Roller Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Single-Roller Trimming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Exiting Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Audio Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Adjusting Audio Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Adjusting Audio Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Chapter 8 Adding Effects

Effects Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Creating Motion Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating Freeze Frame Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating Variable Speed and Strobe Motion Effects. . . . . . . . 131

Displaying the Effect Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Effect Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Transition Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Segment Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Applying Effects to a Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Working in Effect Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Adding Transition Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Adding Fade In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Dissolving Between Shots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Insufficient Footage for a Dissolve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Creating Audio Dissolves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Adding a Fade Within the Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Creating a Quick Transition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Adding Keyframes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Adding a Picture-in-Picture Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Repositioning the Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Adjusting a Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Dissolving the Picture-in-Picture On and Off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Rendering an Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Chapter 9 Creating Titles

Working with Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Understanding the Title Tool Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Adding Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Formatting Text in the Title Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Selecting Objects in the Title Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Choosing Colors and Setting Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Selecting a Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Creating a New Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Working with Title Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Creating a Title Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Using a Title Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Editing a Title Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Removing a Title Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Repositioning Text and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Applying a Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Applying a Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Saving a Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Editing the Title into the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Editing an Existing Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Chapter 10 Output

Preparing for Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Preparing Tapes for Frame-Accurate Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Previewing a Digital Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Recording a Digital Cut to Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Enabling VTR Play Emulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Chapter 11 Using the NRCS Tool

Opening the NRCS Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Understanding the NRCS Tool Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Opening a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Editing a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Formatting Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Removing the Text Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Adding a Production Cue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Calculating the Read Time of a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Adding the Story to a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Saving Changes to a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Disconnecting from the Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Index

Figures

Figure 1-1 NewsCutter Hardware Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Figure 2-1 Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Figure 2-2 Bin Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Figure 3-1 Project Window — Bin View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Figure 3-2 Project Window — Settings View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Figure 3-3 Project Window — Info View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Figure 3-4 Bin Window — Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Figure 3-5 Bin Window — Frame View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Figure 3-6 Bin Window — Script View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Figure 4-1 Record Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Figure 4-2 Audio Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Figure 4-3 Video Input Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Figure 5-1 Command Palette — Move Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Figure 5-2 Command Palette — Play Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Figure 5-3 Command Palette — Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Figure 5-4 Command Palette — Trim Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Figure 5-5 Command Palette — FX Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Figure 5-6 Command Palette — Other Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Figure 5-7 Command Palette — More Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Figure 5-8 Default Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Figure 5-9 NewsCutter Default Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Figure 5-10 Record Monitor Position Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Figure 5-11 Source Monitor Position Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Figure 5-12 Position Indicator in Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Figure 6-1 Source Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Figure 6-2 Record Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Figure 6-3 Pop-up Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Figure 6-4 Timeline Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Figure 6-5 Timeline Track Selector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Figure 7-1 Trim Mode Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Figure 8-1 Effect Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Figure 8-2 Effect Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Figure 8-3 Picture-in-Picture Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Figure 8-4 Picture-in-Picture Effect with Softness . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Figure 9-1 Title Tool Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Figure 9-2 Title Tool Color Picker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Figure 11-1 NRCS Settings Dialog Box — NRCS Tab . . . . . . . . . . 174

Figure 11-2 NRCS Settings Dialog Box — iNEWS Tab . . . . . . . . . 175

Figure 11-3 NRCS Tool — Login Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Figure 11-4 NRCS Tool Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Figure 11-5 NRCS Tool — Directory Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Figure 11-6 NRCS Tool — Production Cue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Figure 11-7 NRCS Tool — Read Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Tables

Table 2-1 Common Project Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Table 11-1 NRCS Tool Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Table 11-2 Formatting Toolbar Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the NewsCutter system and the editing process. Understanding how the system organizes tapes, clips, sequences, and other media objects helps you to edit projects more effectively. This chapter contains the following sections:

• About NewsCutter

• NewsCutter Hardware

• Starting Your System

• Starting NewsCutter

• Using Help

• Using Online Documentation

About NewsCutter

NewsCutter is a nonlinear editing workstation specifically designed for editing news stories. It offers flexibility and speed to create compelling, up-to-the-minute news stories. You can edit a story several different ways and choose the best one, or you can quickly create different versions of a lead story for three different broadcasts.

NewsCutter allows you to quickly add transition effects, motion effects, and 2D digital video effects (DVEs) for added impact, with just

a few keystrokes — even after a story is laid out.

With a linear system, you must lay down the first shot, make sure it ends at the right point, cue the second shot, make sure it starts at the right point, and then make the edit. Y ou build the sequence by making sure each transition is correct before moving to the next edit.

NewsCutter lets you assemble a sequence in any order — you do not need to edit the first shot first and the last shot last. The system’s strength is that it lets you make changes without reassembling all the edits after the change. You can update breaking stories quickly and easily, save them, and then try different versions.

The system maintains frame-accurate links between each alteration of the objects you work with and the original media files. This allows you to experiment with every edit you make through multiple generations. When you play back your work, the system immediately accesses and plays the appropriate portions of the recorded video and audio.

You can start by editing a rough version of the entire sequence. You can see how long it runs and where it drags, adjust individual edits and transitions, replace or remove shots, and tighten or extend scenes.

Because the audio and video are stored on disk, they can be manipulated and used over and over again without duplication or degradation.

NewsCutter Hardware

The following hardware components make up NewsCutter, as shown in Figure 1-1.

Video deck

Your components might differ slightly, depending on the options you purchased.

• A PC running the Windows NT

™

•Meridien

audio and video interface

operating system

• The User Interface (UI) and Playback monitors; recommended resolution 1024 x 768 with True Color or greater

• Keyboard and mouse

•Speakers

• Audio amplifier if you do not have powered speakers

• Decks or video source to input and output your work

™

• MediaDock

and MediaDrive enclosures for storing your

recorded audio and video

UI monitor

Playback monitor

Amplifier

VLX

V-LAN® VLXi®

PULL DOWN

44.1 kHz

AUDIO SYNC

kHz

POWER

VIDEO SYNC

Meridien

I/O box

Speaker

SCSI IDSCSI ID

Slots

Act

Keyboard

Speaker

Wide Dualbus Fans Pwr 2Pwr 2

Pwr 1Pwr 1

Mouse

Figure 1-1 NewsCutter Hardware Components

NewsCutter PC

MediaDock

Starting Your System

Begin your edit session by turning on the components of your NewsCutter system. If any part of your system fails to turn on, make sure its electrical cord is plugged snugly into an appropriate electrical outlet or power strip. For information on setting up your system, see the Avid NewsCutter Setup Guide.

If you fail to follow the proper sequence for starting up your system, you could damage your computer and storage drives and NewsCutter might not work properly.

Always turn on the devices as follows:

1. MediaDrives: Turn on storage drives before starting the

computer. Allow 10 to 15 seconds for the drives to spin up-to-speed before starting your computer.

2. Other peripheral hardware: Turn on all other peripheral units

except the computer. This includes:

• Monitors and speakers

• Tape decks or video source

• Meridien I/O box

3. The computer: Turn on your computer according to your

manufacturer’s instructions. The desktop appears.

To avoid damage, do not disconnect drives while your computer is on.

4. Loading the application: Locate the Avid NewsCutter Release Notes.

Read all the information in the release notes thoroughly then follow the software installation instructions.

Starting NewsCutter

To start the NewsCutter application:

t Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Avid, and click

NewsCutter.

Electronic Licensing

To accept your NewsCutter product license:

1. Read the License Agreement, and then click Accept or Decline at the bottom of the screen.

If you click Decline, the application will not start.

The agreement appears the first several times you start the application. After you have started NewsCutter several times, a new button appears at the bottom of the screen.

2. If you do not want to see the license agreement again, click Accept

and Don’t Show Again. A dialog box appears.

3. Enter the name of your organization in the dialog box, and click OK.

The Open Project dialog box appears; from here, you create a new user and a new project, as described in “Creating a User” on

page 36.

How to Proceed

The following are a few tips for taking full advantage of the NewsCutter documentation and other resources:

• Begin learning about basic procedures by using the default settings. As your confidence increases, begin to explore additional procedures and settings.

• Instead of using the standard menus to find the command you need in a window, try using shortcut menus. Using the right mouse button, click in a window to access a shortcut menu that shows the most frequently used commands for that window.

• Keep the Av id NewsCutter Quick Reference available during editing sessions.

• Make a habit of reading Avid’s newsletters, mailings, and other trade publications.

• Make use of additional training resources provided by Avid whenever possible, such as classes and instructional videotapes.

• Check the Avid Web site education area for a list of available courses.

Using Help

You can get help and background information for tasks, windows, dialog boxes, and screen objects through your Avid Help system. Your Help system is HTML-based and operates in a Web browser. You need Version 4.5 or later of Microsoft

sections describe the Help system:

• Opening and Closing the Help System

• Understanding the Topic Window

• Getting Help for Windows and Dialog Boxes

• Getting Help for Screen Objects

Internet Explorer. The following

• Keeping Help Available

• Finding Information Within the Help

• Creating a Favorites List

• Using the Browse Buttons

• Printing Help Topics

Opening and Closing the Help System

To open the Help system:

1. Choose Avid NewsCutter Help from the Help menu. The Help system appears in the default browser for your system.

2. Click the Using Help, Contents, Index, Search, Favorites, and Glossary buttons to access the information you need.

To close the Help system, do one of the following:

t Click the Close button in the browser. t Choose Exit from the browser File menu. t Navigate to another Web site.

The Help system closes.

Understanding the Topic Window

Help topics open in the right browser frame. A topic is a single page of the Help system.

The heading at the top of the topic window indicates the chapter in which the topic appears. For example, this topic, “Understanding the Topic Window,” is in the Using Help chapter. The browse buttons are also at the top of the topic. For more information, see “Using the

Browse Buttons” on page 26.

Some topics include a link to additional information about a procedure. The procedure Saving Bins Automatically, for example, includes a link to About Saving Bins Automatically. About links are always at the top of the topic.

Some topics include graphics of buttons used in the procedure explained in the topic. These are for illustration only; they do not function if you click them.

At the bottom of each topic are links to related topics, which are listed under the heading See Also.

You might also see icons and information for Notes, Cautions, and Warnings that provide important details about the topic.

Getting Help for Windows and Dialog Boxes

The Help system provides you with context-sensitive Help for windows and dialog boxes, such as tools and settings.

To get Help for windows and dialog boxes:

1. Make sure the Avid application is active.

2. Position the mouse pointer anywhere in the window or dialog box for which you want help.

3. Press the F1 key on the keyboard.

If there is no information about a window or dialog box, a Navigation Canceled message appears in the browser. Use the Search and Index buttons in the Help to look for similar functions.

Getting Help for Screen Objects

You can use What’s This? Help to find out about buttons and other screen objects.

To get help for screen objects:

1. Using the right mouse button, click the screen object (for example, a button).

A pop-up menu appears.

2. Choose What’s This? from the pop-up menu. A browser window opens that explains how to use the item. Many

windows include a link (marked by underlined text) to more information.

Keeping Help Available

When you access a Help topic and then return to the Avid application, the Help browser disappears behind the Avid system.

To keep Help available, you can use one of the methods in the following topics:

• Restoring Help from the Taskbar

• Using Alt+Tab to Restore Help

Restoring Help from the Taskbar

You can restore the Help from the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. All active applications are represented by buttons on the taskbar.

To restore Help:

t Click the browser button on the taskbar.

The Help reappears.

Using Alt+Tab to Restore Help

To use Alt+Tab to restore Help:

1. Press and hold the Alt key.

2. Press and release the Tab key, but keep holding the Alt key. A window appears containing icons and names for all the

applications currently open on your system. A box surrounds the active application.

3. Continue to hold down the Alt key and press and release the Tab key until the box surrounds the Help Browser icon, then release both keys.

Finding Information Within the Help

Your browser application opens and displays Help from the Help menu. The left frame of the Help browser includes a Contents list and buttons for several other methods of finding information.

See the following topics:

• Using the Contents List

• Using the Index

• Using the Search Feature

• Using the Glossary

Using the Contents List

The Contents button provides a list of topics covering the entire Help system.

To view the Contents list, do one of the following:

t From the Help menu, choose Avid NewsCutter Help, and then

t From a Help topic, click the Contents button.

To display a topic:

t Click the topic title in the Contents list.

click the Contents button.

Using the Index

The Contents displays only the top-level topics. Many entries link to subtopics with related information or procedures.

The Index button provides an alphabetized list of entries, like the index of a printed book.

To find topics by using the Index button:

1. Choose Avid NewsCutter Help from the Help menu and click the Index button, or click the Index button from within a Help topic.

2. From the alphabet at the top, select the letter that begins the topic you want to find (for example, click A to jump to index entries listed under audio).

3. Scroll through the topics beginning with that letter until you find the topic you want.

4. Click the number to the right of the index entry. The number indicates how many topics that index entry has associated with it.

The topic opens in the right frame of the browser.

Using the Search Feature

The Search button lets you search the entire Help system for words or phrases and then lists topics that include those words or phrases.

To search for topics by using the Search button:

1. From the Help menu, choose Avid NewsCutter Help and click the Search button, or click the Search button from within a topic.

2. In the text box, type the word or phrase that you want to find. You

can type up to three words, not including invalid words like “the” or misspellings.

3. Press Enter or click the Search button. A list shows topics that contain the word or words for which you

searched.

Using the Glossary

Do not type quotation marks or asterisks in the text box.

4. Click a topic in the list. The topic opens in the right frame of the browser.

Remember that Help includes a comprehensive index. If Search does not produce useful results for a particular search, you can often find the specific information you need quickly by using the index.

The glossary defines and explains many industry terms. Some entries might not apply to your particular system.

To use the glossary:

1. Click the Glossary button.

2. In the left frame of the browser, click the letter that begins the term or concept for which you are searching.

3. Scroll through the section to find your term.

4. Click links to see related information.

To search through the glossary (Netsca p e Navigator only):

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 in the previous procedure.

2. Click in the Glossary to make it active.

3. Choose Find in Frame from the Edit menu.

4. Type the word you want to find in the text box and click the Find Next button.

Creating a Favorites List

The Favorites button allows you to keep a list of topics you want to go to frequently.

To add a favorite topic to your list:

1. Click the Favorites button.

2. Click the Add Current button. The topic name appears in the list with a check box next to it.

To access a favorite topic:

1. Click the Favorites button.

2. Click the topic you want to visit. The topic opens in the right browser frame.

To delete a favorite topic from your list:

1. Select the topic in the list by selecting the check box.

2. Click the Delete button. The topic is removed from the list.

Using the Browse Buttons

Each Help topic contains browse buttons to help you navigate forward and backward through related topics. Your browser also includes a Back button and a Forward button.

To move forward or backward through related topics:

t Click one of the Browse buttons.

To retrace your steps backward or forward through topics you visited:

t Use the browser Back or Forward buttons.

Printing Help Topics

You can print a Help topic if you need to refer to it during a complicated procedure or for reference later.

To print a Help topic:

1. Open or click the topic to make it active.

2. Choose Print from the browser File menu, or click the Print button in the browser toolbar.

3. Select the print options.

4. Click OK.

You can print a topic by clicking the right mouse button and choosing Print from the pop-up menu.

Using Online Documentation

The online version of the books are PDF files. You can view them with the Adobe CD-ROM. The Avid NewsCutter Online Publications CD-ROM includes:

• Avid New sCutter Setup Guide

• Avid NewsCutter Getting Started Guide (this book)

• Avid NewsCutter User’s Guide

• Avid NewsCutter Effects Guide

• Avid NewsCutter Help

• Avid Products Collaboration Guide

Avid gives you permission to print up to three complete copies of each book.

Acrobat® Reader, which you can install from the

CHAPTER 2

About NewsCutter

This chapter explains the basic concepts and terminology with which you need to be familiar to edit video with NewsCutter. This chapter contains the following sections:

• Basic Editing Steps

• Understanding the Pieces

• Organizing Your Work with Projects and Bins

• How Media Is Stored

• The Attic Folder

Basic Editing Steps

Creating a sequence can be as simple as stringing several shots together without sound for a voice-over, or it can be as complex as editing a series of shots together with sound bites, narration, music with dissolves, audio crossfades, and motion effects.

You create a sequence from raw footage in three simple stages:

1. Record the source video from tape or external feed onto an external drive. You can also record your raw footage while editing the story. This process is called Record to Timeline, as described in

“Recording to the Timeline” on page 61.

2. Edit the sequence and fine-tune it by using various NewsCutter features and effects.

Use basic editing procedures to create a series of straight cuts. NewsCutter offers both film-style splice and video insert edits. Then trim the transitions between shots to create overlap cuts or to move transitions forward or backward in the sequence.

Add effects, such as dissolves, wipes, or digital video effects (DVEs). Edit multiple tracks of audio. Create or import graphic images and key them over video. Add titles and credits. Use other advanced features to create a complex sequence.

3. Output or play back your material. NewsCutter allows you to view your sequence, broadcast directly

to air, and, if necessary, record a finished copy to tape without returning to your source video.

Understanding the Pieces

Use Table 2-1 to identify the icons that you will be working with and to help you work more effectively.

Table 2-1 Common Project Icons

Icon Name Description

Project The job that results in one or more sequences; the Project window

Avid Project

Sequence An edited composition that includes audio and video clips and

Bin The window in which you organize the material to be edited; bins

Source clip The smallest media object that references your source footage.

Master clip An object that references the compr essed media.

Media file Stored, compressed digital data representing the original video

organizes all the clips, sequences, effects, bins, and media file pointers for a program or series of programs.

rendered effects.

reside in a project, and you can have multiple bins in a project.

and audio.

Source/ Record mode

Timeline The graphical representation of every edit made to a sequence,

Segment mode Editing controls for moving, deleting, marking, and editing

Trim mode Controls for fine-tuning edits and transitions with various trim

Effect mode Controls in the Timeline and the Ef fect Editor to apply, render , and

Two modes you switch between: the Source monitor displays source clips; the Record monitor displays the assembled sequence.

including effects and titles.

segments in the Timeline.

procedures.

edit effects into the sequence.

+ 172 hidden pages