Pinnacle Systems NewsCutter - 7.5 Advanced Guide

Avid® NewsCutter

Advanced Guide

®

Avid

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Legal Notices

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

The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. You can obtain a copy of that license by
visiting Avid's Web site at www.avid.com. The terms of that license are also available in the product in the same directory as
the software. The software may not be reverse assembled and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the
license agreement. It is against the law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the license
agreement.

Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following United States Patents: 4,970,663; 5,267,351;
5,309,528; 5,355,450; 5,396,594; 5,440,348; 5,467,288; 5,513,375; 5,528,310; 5,557,423; 5,577,190; 5,584,006; 5,640,601;
5,644,364; 5,654,737; 5,715,018; 5,719,570; 5,724,605; 5,726,717; 5,729,673; 5,745,637; 5,752,029; 5,754,851; 5,799,150;
5,812,216; 5,828,678; 5,842,014; 5,852,435; 5,999,406; 6,038,573; 6,061,758; 6,141,007; 6,211,869; 6,532,043; 6,546,190;
6,596,031; 6,636,869; 6,747,705; 6,763,523; 6,766,357; 6,813,622; 6,847,373; 7,081,900; RE40,107; 7,403,561; 7,433,519;
D352,278; D372,478; D373,778; D392,267; D392,268; D392,269; D395,291; D396,853; D398,912.
Other patents are pending.

This document is protected under copyright law. An authorized licensee of NewsCuttermay 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 NewsCutter and NewsCutter XP. 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.

Copyright © 2009 Avid Technology, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

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:

Copyright © 1988–1997 Sam Leffler
Copyright © 1991–1997 Silicon Graphics, Inc.

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:

Copyright (c) 1989 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

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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.

Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 by Jef Poskanzer.

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.

Copyright 1995, Trinity College Computing Center. Written by David Chappell.

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.

Copyright 1996 Daniel Dardailler.

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.

Modifications Copyright 1999 Matt Koss, under the same license as above.

Copyright (c) 1991 by AT&T.

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.:

© 2006 Nexidia. All rights reserved.

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

The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:

Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

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

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

The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:

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

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

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

©1993–1998 Altura Software, Inc.

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/).

© DevelopMentor

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

JCifs © Copyright 2004, The JCIFS Project, is licensed under LGPL (http://jcifs.samba.org/). See the LGPL.txt file in the Third
Party Software directory on the installation CD.

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, 192XD I/O, 888 I/O, Adrenaline, AirPlay, AirSPACE, AirSPACE HD, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AniMatte,
AudioMarket, AudioPages, AudioSuite, AudioVision, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel,
Avid DNxHD, AVIDdrive, Avid DS Assist Station, Avid EditStar, Avid Learning Excellerator, Avid Liquid,
Avid Liquid Chrome Xe, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, AvidNet, AvidNetwork, Avid NewStar, Avid Remote Response,
AVIDstripe, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, Avid Xpress, AVoption, AVX, Beauty Without The Bandwidth,
Blacktooth, Boom, C|24, CamCutter, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Command|24, Conectiv, CountDown,
DAE, Dazzle, Dazzle Digital Video Creator, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, DigiDelivery, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine,
Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, DigiDrive, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiSerial, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTranslator,
DINR, DNxchange, do more, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, Equinox, EveryPhase, ExpertRender, Fastbreak, Fast Track,
FieldPak, Film Composer, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, FXDeko, G7, G-Rack, HD Core, HD Process, HDPack,
Hollywood DV-Bridge, Hybrid, HyperControl, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, IllusionFX, Image Independence, iNEWS,
iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelli-sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, Intelli-Sat, InterFX,
Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, KeyRig, KeyStudio, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, Lightning,
ListSync, Lo-Fi, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move | media, Marquee, M-Audio, M-Audio Micro,
Maxim, Mbox, MCXpress, Media Browse, Media Composer, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, Media Fusion, Media Illusion,
MediaLog, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaShare, MediaStream, Media Suite, Meridien, MetaFuze,
MetaSync, MicroTrack, Midiman, MissionControl, Mix Rack, MixLab, Moviebox, Moviestar, NaturalMatch, Nearchive,
NetReview, NewsCutter, Nitris, NRV-10 interFX, Octane, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework,
Open Media Management, Palladium, Pinnacle, Pinnacle DistanTV, Pinnacle Geniebox, Pinnacle HomeMusic,
Pinnacle MediaSuite, Pinnacle Mobile Media, Pinnacle PCTV, Pinnacle PCTV HD Ultimate Stick, Pinnacle PCTV Nano Stick,
Pinnacle PCTV To Go, Pinnacle Scorefitter, Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio MovieBoard, Pinnacle Systems, Pinnacle
VideoSpin, ProEncode, ProServices, ProSessions, Pro Tools, QuietDrive, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger,
Reel Tape Saturation, RetroLoop, rS9, rS18, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, Scorefitter, ScriptSync,
SecureProductionEnvironment, Session, Show Center, Sibelius, SIDON, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter,
Sound Designer II, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, Starplay, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie,
StreamRAID, Strike, Structure, Studiophile, SubCap, Sundance Digital, Sundance, Symphony, SYNC HD, SynchroScience,

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SynchroScope, Syntax, Targa, TDM FlexCable, Thunder, Titan, Titansync, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab,
TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, Torq, Torq Xponent, Transfuser,
Trigger Finger, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Velvet, Venom, VideoRAID, Video Slave Driver, VideoSPACE,
VideoSpin, Vortx, Xdeck, X-Form, Xmon, Xponent, X-Session, and X-Session Pro are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Footage

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

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

GOT FOOTAGE?

Editors — Filmmakers — Special Effects Artists — Game Developers — Animators — Educators — Broadcasters — Content
creators of every genre — Just finished an incredible project and want to share it with the world?

Send us your reels and we may use your footage in our show reel or demo!*

For a copy of our release and Avid’s mailing address, go to www.avid.com/footage.

*Note: Avid cannot guarantee the use of materials submitted.

Avid NewsCutter Advanced Guide • 0130-07986-01 • February 2009 • This document is distributed by Avid in
online (electronic) form only, and is not available for purchase in printed form.

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Contents

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Accessing the Online Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Accessing the Goodies Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

How to Order Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Avid Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Chapter 1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

User Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Managing User Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Folders and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Guidelines for Project Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Creating a Folder in a Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Managing Bins and Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Saving Bins Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Adjusting Automatic Saves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Using the Info Display to View Memory Information and Access

the Hardware Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Customizing the Avid User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Changing Interface Component Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Changing Button and Toolbar Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Using Interface Appearance Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Changing Font and Point Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

User-Customized Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Creating a New Workspace Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Linking User Settings and Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Switching Between Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Deleting a Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Assigning a Workspace Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Unity Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Understanding Avid Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Sharing Only Bins in Avid Unity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Sharing Bins and Projects in Avid Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Opening a Shared Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Locks and Shared Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Working with Locks and Shared Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Restrictions and Limitations for Locked Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Suggestions for Improving Performance When Working with Shared Bins. . . . 63

Shared Bin and Project Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Shared Bin Lock Icon Limitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Drive Filtering in Networked Workflows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Chapter 2 Using Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Using the Tools Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Using a Deck Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Deck Controller Window Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

The Command Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Understanding Button Mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Mapping User-Selectable Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

The Blank Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Modifier Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Mapping Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Activating Commands from the Command Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Using the Avid Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

The Console Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Displaying System Information in the Console Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Reviewing a Log of Errors in the Console Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Getting Information with the Console Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Using the Console Window to Access Network Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Using the Hardware Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

External Controllers as Editing Control Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

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Chapter 3 Logging: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Using Avid Log Exchange to Prepare Log Files for Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Using Drag-and-Drop Conversion for Log Files (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Using Drag-and-Drop Conversion for Log Files (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Avid Log Exchange Stores ASC Color Decision List (CDL) Parameters . . . . . . 86

Log Formats Compatible with Avid Log Exchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Avid Log Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Global Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Column Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Data Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Sample Avid Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Creating an Avid Log. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Double-Checking Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Logging Directly into a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Tips for Logging Preroll, Logging Timecode, and Naming Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Logging with Avid-Controlled Decks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Pausing the Deck While Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Using a Memory Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Logging with Non-Avid-Controlled Decks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Understanding the Pulldown Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Setting the Pulldown Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Chapter 4 Capturing Media: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Advanced Capture Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Selecting Settings for Capturing Across Timecode Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Selecting the Preroll Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Preroll Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Capturing to Multiple Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

General Settings for Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Settings for Film and 24p Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Disabling Video Resolutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Understanding Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

9

Preparing for Audio Input: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Creating Tone Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Using the Passthrough Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Resizing the Passthrough Mix Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Monitoring Audio with the Passthrough Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Changing an Audio Level in the Passthrough Mix Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Adjusting Pan Values in the Passthrough Mix Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Changing Audio Hardware Calibration Settings for Avid Adrenaline . . . . . . . 125

Calibrating Audio Input Channels for Avid Adrenaline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Calibrating Audio Output Channels for Avid Adrenaline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Audio Hardware Calibration for Avid Nitris DX and Avid Mojo DX . . . . . . . . . 127

Using the Default Audio Calibration for Avid Nitris DX or Avid Mojo DX . . . . . 127

Using a Tone Generator to Calibrate Audio Input Channels for

Avid Nitris DX or Avid Mojo DX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Using an External Meter to Calibrate Audio Output Channels for

Avid Nitris DX and Avid Mojo DX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Using the Console Window to Check Audio Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Preparing for Video Input: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Limitations When Using Consumer Decks or Decks Without

Time-Base Correctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Saving Video Input Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Saving Calibration Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Saving a Custom Default Setting for the Video Input Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Adjusting Video Levels for Tapes Without Color Bars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Using Capture Function Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Special Capture Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Logging Errors to the Console Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Opening the Console Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Considerations for Creating Subclips While Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Creating Subclips While Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Creating Timed Subclips While Capturing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Understanding Locators On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Adding Locators On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Naming a New Tape from the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

10

Controlling Decks from the Keyboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Working in Quick Record Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Quick Record Condition Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Adding Extra Text Fields in the Capture Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Mapping the Record Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Ejecting Tapes with a Button or Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Returning to the Previous Place in the Select Tape Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Understanding DV Capture Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

RS-422 Controlling a DV Device Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

FireWire Configuration Without Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

FireWire Configuration with Encoded Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Capture with No Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Capturing DV Material with Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Delaying Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Capturing in Satellite Mode or No Device Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Preparing to Capture with External Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Timed Captures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Setting a Timed Capture Session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Capturing to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Patching When Capturing to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Capturing Video Without Pulldown into a 24p NTSC Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Remote Play, Capture, and Punch-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Selecting Remote Play and Capture Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Enabling Remote Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Enabling Remote Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Setting up Your System for Remote Punch-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Using Serial Drivers with Remote Play and Capture (Windows Only) . . . . . . . 165

Modifying the Pulldown Phase After Capturing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

DV and HDV Scene Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Setting Up DV and HDV Scene Extraction Before Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Setting Up DV Scene Extraction After Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Using the Panasonic VariCam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

11

Chapter 5 Importing Files: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Photoshop Graphics Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Importing Single-Layer Photoshop Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Importing Multilayered Photoshop Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Example of Multilayered Photoshop Graphics Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Support for Multilayered Photoshop Graphics Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Preserving Layer Effects in Multilayered Photoshop Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Importing Multilayered Photoshop Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Importing Editcam Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Restrictions on Importing Editcam Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Importing Sequences from Pro Tools through Interplay (Windows Only) . . . . . . . 181

Chapter 6 Working with Bins: Advanced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Advanced Bin Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Displaying Custom Bin Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Customizing Bin Views in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Saving a Custom Bin View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Assigning Colors to Bin Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Sifting Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Sequence and Clip Information Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Creating a Summary of Effects and Source Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Understanding Sifting Timecodes or Keycode Ranges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Sifting Timecodes or Keycode Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Locking and Unlocking Items in a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Selecting Offline Items in a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Selecting Media Relatives for an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Selecting Unreferenced Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Text View: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Manipulating Bin Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Duplicating Bin Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Adding Customized Columns to a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Changing a Custom Bin Column Heading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Managing Clip Information in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Moving Within Column Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

12

Modifying Clip Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Modifiable Bin Headings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Modifying Data Directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Using the Modify Command to Modify Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Modifying Data with the Modify Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Copying Information Between Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Copying Information from Another Cell in a Custom Column. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Selecting a Film Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Tracking 3-Perf Counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Selecting an Edgecode Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Sorting Clips in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Displaying Timecodes in a 24p or 25p Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Frame Counting for Timecodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Adding Timecode Columns to a Bin or the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Adding Timecode Values to the Timecode Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Bin Column Headings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Restricted Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Displaying or Outputting Restricted Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Editing with Restricted Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Disassociating Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Viewing Restriction Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Changing Restriction Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Searching the Database for Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Printing Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Digital Bars and Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Importing Color Bars and Other Test Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Creating Video Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Creating Audio Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

13

Chapter 7 File Based Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Sony XDCAM Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Sony XDCAM EX Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

XDCAM and XDCAM EX Formats and Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Working with XDCAM HD Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Connecting the XDCAM or XDCAM EX Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Ejecting an XDCAM EX Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Panasonic P2 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Panasonic P2 Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

P2 Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Installing the Panasonic P2 Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Preparing to Mount P2 Cards as Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Setting up a P2 Card Reader (Windows only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Mounting P2 Cards as Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Copying P2 Files to a FireWire or Network Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Changing P2 Cards in the Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Sharing P2 Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Deleting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Working with Spanned Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

The Avid Media Access (AMA) Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Selecting the AMA Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Viewing Installed AMA Plug-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Understanding Linking with AMA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Linking Media with AMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Using Virtual Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Workflow for Editing XDCAM and XDCAM EX Clips with AMA. . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Working with Essence Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Workflow for Editing P2 Clips with AMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

The Import and Export Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Setting XDCAM Import Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Importing XDCAM Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Importing XDCAM EX Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Automatically Importing Proxy Media from an XDCAM Device. . . . . . . . . . . . 248

14

Importing Proxy Media from an XDCAM Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Copying XDCAM Proxy Media to a Local Drive or a Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Manually Importing XDCAM Media from the XDCAM Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Importing Essence Marks as Locators in XDCAM Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Editing XDCAM Proxy Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Batch Importing High-Resolution XDCAM Media from the XDCAM Disk. . . . . 253

Editing and Finishing High-Resolution XDCAM Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Exporting Media to XDCAM Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Exporting to XDCAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Workflow for Editing with P2 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Changing P2 Cards in the Card Reader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Importing P2 Clips and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Dragging P2 Master Clips from the Media Tool to a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Exporting Your Clip or Sequence to a P2 Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Chapter 8 Managing Media Files: Advanced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Finding a Related Media File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Relinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Relink Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Relinking and New Project Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Relinking Clips to a New Project Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Relinking by Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Relinking to Selected Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Relinking Consolidated Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Relinking Moved Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Unlinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Videotapes for Archiving and Restoring Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Archiving Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Archive to Videotape Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Restoring an Archive from Videotape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Sequence and Clip Information Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

15

Chapter 9 Script-Based Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Lined Script Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Lined Script Symbols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Lining in the Digital Realm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Script Integration Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Using Script Integration in Video Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Script Window Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Script Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Importing a Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Selecting Text Encoding for Scripts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Opening, Closing, and Saving the Script Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Displaying Clip and Sequence Information in a Script Window. . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Exploring the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Adjusting the Script Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Working with Script Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Changing the Font Used in Script Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Selecting Text in the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Script Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Removing Script Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Searching Through Script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Using Page and Scene Numbers in the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Conducting a Text Search in the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Linking Clips to the Script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Interpolating Position for Script Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Working with Slates in the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Selecting Slates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Resizing Slates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Holding Slates On Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Hiding Slate Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Showing One Take Per Slate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Moving a Slate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Deleting a Slate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

16

Working with Takes in the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Selecting Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Adding Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Deleting Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Displaying Take Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Changing the Representative Frame for a Take . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Loading Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Playing Takes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Adjusting Take Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Indicating Off-Screen Dialog in a Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Using Color Indicators in the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Script Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Placing Script Marks Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Using Real-Time Screening and Marking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Marking with ScriptSync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Loading and Playing Marked Segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Moving a Script Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Deleting a Script Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Finding Clips and Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Finding Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Finding Clips and Bins from the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Editing From the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Assembling a Rough Cut From the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Splicing a Script Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Revising the Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Interactive Screenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Chapter 10 Viewing and Marking Footage: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Using the Info Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Using the Timecode Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Adjusting the Play Delay Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Using the Tool Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Playing Selected Clips in a Loop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

17

Using Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Suggested Uses for Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Adding Locators While Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Adding Locators On-the-Fly while Playing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Finding Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Editing Locator Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Marking an Area Using Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Moving to the Previous or Next Locator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Deleting Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Using the Locators Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Viewing Locators in the Locators Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Working in the Locators Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Exporting and Importing Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Creating a Locator Text (.txt) File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Copying and Pasting Locators Using the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Printing the Contents of the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Disabling the Locator Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Sequence and Clip Information Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Creating a Summary of Effects and Source Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Chapter 11 Creating and Editing Sequences: Advanced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Phantom Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Enabling Phantom Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Adding Comments to Sequence Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Playback Performance Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Playing a Limited Duration of a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Autosyncing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Understanding Autosyncing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Creating an Autosynced Subclip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Managing Sync with Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Understanding Sync Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Syncing with Tail Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Syncing with Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Using Add Edit When Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

18

Ganging Footage in Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Using MetaSync to Synchronize Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Chapter 12 Using the Timeline: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Timeline Views: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Displaying the Timeline Top Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Displaying Timecode Tracks in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Assigning Local Colors to Clips in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Displaying Local and Source Colors in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Changing the Timeline Background or Track Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Showing Locators in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Setting the Scroll Option for the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Navigating in the Timeline: Advanced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Using the Full-Screen Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Displaying Source Material in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

IN to OUT Highlighting in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Advanced Timeline Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Bin Editing into the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Bin Editing Directly into a Sequence Using the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Editing with the Film Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Editing in Heads or Heads Tails View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Performing a Quick Edit Using the Top and Tail Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Add Edit (Match Frame) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Adding a Match-Frame Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Adding Edits to Filler Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Removing Match-Frame Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Dupe Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Activating Dupe Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Methods for Changing Handle Length in Dupe Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Adjusting Handle Length in Dupe Detection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Finding Black Holes and Flash Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Printing the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

19

Chapter 13 Working in Trim Mode: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Creating Overlap Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Extending an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Maintaining Sync While Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Adding Black When Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Trimming with Sync-Locked Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Slipping or Sliding Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Selecting Segments for Slip or Slide Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Slipping or Sliding Segments in a Four-Frame Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Performing a Slip or Slide Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Chapter 14 Working with Audio: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Audio Gain Staging and an Audio Editing Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Rendering and Unrendering Order for Audio Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Viewing Clip Gain and Automation Gain Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Bypassing Existing Volume Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Adjusting Volume While Playing a Clip Gain Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Improving Response Time When Adjusting Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Using External Fader Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Adjusting the Volume of Individual Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Adjusting the Pan of Individual Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Using an External Fader Controller or Mixer to Record Automation Gain. . . . 395

Using the Digi 002 and the Command|8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Using the Digi 002 with Avid Input/Output Hardware (Windows Only) . . . . . . 397

Using the Command|8 with Your Avid Editing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Configuring the Digi 002 or Command|8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Mapping Buttons and Menu Commands for the Digi 002 or Command|8. . . . 400

Button Layouts on the Digi 002 and Command|8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Viewing Different Controller Button Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Mapping Controller Menu Commands for the Digi 002 or Command|8. . . . . . 403

Using Digi 002 or Command|8 Buttons to Change Focus in the

Avid Editing Application Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Using a Foot Pedal as a Foot Switch with the Digi 002 or Command|8 . . . . . 405

Switching Between the Digi 002 and Command|8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

20

Using a Digi 002 or Command|8 to Record Automation Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Using the Latch Mode Feature on the Digi 002 and Command|8 . . . . . . . . . . 406

Configuring USB-to-MIDI Software for External Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Installing USB-to-MIDI Software (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Installing USB-to-MIDI Software (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Testing External Fader Controller Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Switching Between MIDI Connections on the USB-to-MIDI Converter . . . . . . 410

Troubleshooting MIDI Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Using the FaderMaster Pro and MCS-3000X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

MCS-3000X Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Using the Snap Mode Feature on the MCS-3000X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Ganging Faders on the FaderMaster Pro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Using the Yamaha 01V/96 or the Yamaha 01V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Initializing the Yamaha 01V/96 or Yamaha 01V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Configuring the Yamaha 01V/96 or Yamaha 01V to Recognize

Control Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Starting the Avid System with the Yamaha 01V/96 or the

Yamaha 01V Attached . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Switching Between Audio Mixing and Gain Recording with the

Yamaha 01V/96 and Yamaha 01V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Operating the Yamaha 01V/96 and Yamaha 01V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Soloing Avid System Channels with the Yamaha 01V/96 and

Yamaha 01V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Using the Audio EQ Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Audio EQ Tool Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

EQ-Specific Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Applying Audio EQ Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Saving Audio EQ Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Removing Audio EQ Effects with the Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Removing Audio EQ Effects with the Remove Effect Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Audio EQ Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Low Shelf Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Small Octave Range Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Using Audio EQ Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

21

Applying an EQ Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Creating Your Own Audio EQ Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Adding an EQ Template to the Audio EQ Tool Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Adjusting EQ While Playing an Audio Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Recording Voice-Over Narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Connecting Voice-Over Recording Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Recording Voice-Over Narration Using the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Understanding the Audio Punch-In Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Audio Punch-in Tool Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Audio Punch-in Tool Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Recording Voice-Over Narration Using Audio Punch-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Monitoring Previously Recorded Tracks While Recording

Voice-Over Narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Using Peak Hold While Recording Voice-Over Narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Using a GPI Device with the Audio Punch-In Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Understanding GPI Trigger Signals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

GPI Signal Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Example of Linking GPI Actions to Trigger Signals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Connecting a V-LAN VLXi Controller and GPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Configuring a V-LAN VLXi Controller and GPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Working with GPI Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Creating a GPI Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

GPI Settings Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Editing a GPI Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Deleting a GPI Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Displaying Audio Formats in Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Using Automatic Voice-Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Chapter 15 Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Understanding Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

AudioSuite Plug-Ins Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Using Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Applying an AudioSuite Plug-in to a Clip in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

Using an AudioSuite Plug-In Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

22

AudioSuite Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458

Rendering AudioSuite Plug-in Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458

Creating New Master Clips with AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

AudioSuite Controls for Creating New Master Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Mono, Stereo, and Multichannel Processing in AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . 461

Using AudioSuite Plug-ins to Create New Master Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

Using AudioSuite Effect Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins in Stereo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

AudioSuite Plug-in Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Troubleshooting AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Core AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

BF Essential Clip Remover AudioSuite Plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

Bomb Factory BF76 AudioSuite Plug-in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

Chorus AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

D-Verb AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Compressor AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Limiter AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Expander-Gate AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Gate AudioSuite Plug-In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

DeEsser AudioSuite Plug-In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Compressor/Limiter III (Dynamics III) AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Expander/Gate III (Dynamics III) AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

DeEsser III (Dynamics III) AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

EQ AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Flanger AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Funk Logic Mastererizer AudioSuite Plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Invert AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Duplicate AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Delay AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

Multi-Tap Delay AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Normalize AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Gain AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Ping-Pong Delay AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

23

Reverse AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

DC Offset Removal AudioSuite Plug-In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Signal Generator AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Time Compression Expansion AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Pitch Shift AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Time Shift AudioSuite Plug-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

Non-Core AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

Chapter 16 Exporting Frames, Clips, or Sequences and Transferring

Material: Advanced 507

Exporting With the Send To Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

Exporting Using Send To DigiDelivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Exporting Using Send To Digidesign Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Exporting Using Send to DVD Authoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Exporting Using Send to DVD One Step. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

Exporting Using Send to Sorenson Squeeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

Exporting Using Send To Avid DS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Creating a Custom Send To Template for Exporting to

Third-Party Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

Exporting OMFI and AAF Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

Exporting Through OMF Interchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

Exporting Through AAF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Selecting an OMFI or an AAF Transfer Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Exporting As an OMFI or an AAF File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

Guidelines for Exporting AAF Files to Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Exporting Projects and Bins Using AFE Files (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Exporting Video in DV Stream Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Exporting QuickTime Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

Exporting As a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Exporting As a QuickTime Reference Movie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

Using Avid Codecs for QuickTime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Exporting As an AVI File (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Installing or Copying the Avid Codecs for QuickTime on Other Systems . . . . . . . 544

Exporting from a Third-Party QuickTime or AVI Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

24

Exporting as Windows Media (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

Exporting as Windows Media Using an Avid Supplied

Template (Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

Exporting as Windows Media Using an Existing Windows Media

Profile (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

Creating a Custom Video Profile for Windows Media

Export (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Creating a Custom Audio Profile for Windows Media

Export (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551

Exporting as Windows Media Using a VC1 Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

Exporting Tracks As Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554

Exporting Frames As Graphic Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

Chapter 17 Generating Output: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Advanced Video Output Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Using Test Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Calibrating the System with Passthrough Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560

Using an XLR Adapter for Consumer-Level Analog Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

Using the Digital Cut Tool: Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Output Mode Resolution Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Outputting DV 50 and DVCPRO HD Media Directly to a DV Device . . . . . . . . 564

Selecting Output and Timecode Formats for 23.976p and 25p Projects . . . . . 565

Selecting Output Formats for 23.976p and 25p Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Output Format Reference for 23.976p and 25p Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Selecting the Timecode Format for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Outputting Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame Timecode Simultaneously

for Downstream Encoding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

Indicating the Destination Timecode Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Selecting the Video Pulldown Cadence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Digital Cuts and Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571

Changing the Default Pulldown Phase for Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572

Understanding DV Digital Cut Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572

Delaying the Sequence for a Digital Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573

Using EDL Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

25

Vertical Blanking Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Vertical Blanking Interval Line Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

Displaying and Preserving Vertical Blanking Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

Editing a Sequence with Vertical Blanking Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

Effects of Preserving Vertical Blanking Information on Compressed

Video Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

Comparison with Vertical Blanking Information on Meridien Systems . . . . . . 578

Preserving HD Closed Captioning and Ancillary Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Chapter 18 MultiCamera Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583

Understanding Grouping and Multigrouping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583

Creating Group Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584

Creating Multigroup Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

MultiCamera Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

Full-Monitor Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587

Quad Split Source View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

Nine Split Source View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

MultiCamera Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

Real-time Playback in MultiCamera Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591

Limitations on Playback of MultiCamera Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

MultiCamera Editing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

Switching Clips with the Arrow Keys During Multicamera Editing . . . . . . . . . . 593

Using the Add Edit Button During Multicamera Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593

Understanding the Group Menu for Multicamera Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594

Using the Group Menu for Multicamera Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594

Using the Multi-angle View Menus During Multicamera Editing . . . . . . . . . . . 595

Using Match Frame in MultiCamera Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

Selective Camera Cutting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

Chapter 19 Using Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

Using the Settings List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Understanding Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Defining Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603

Viewing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

26

Displaying Project Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

Working with Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

AMA Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612

AMA Settings: Bins Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612

AMA Settings: Volume Mounting Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612

Audio Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

Audio Project Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614

Audio Projects Settings: Main Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614

Audio Project Settings: Input Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616

Audio Project Settings: Output Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617

Audio Project Settings: Hardware Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Audio Project Settings: Effects Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

Bin Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

Capture Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Capture Settings: General Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Capture Settings: Batch Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624

Capture Settings: Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625

Capture Settings: OMF Media Files Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625

Capture Settings: MXF Media Files Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626

Capture Settings: DV & HDV Options Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627

Capture Settings: Keys Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628

Communication (Serial) Ports Tool Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628

Controller Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628

Correction Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629

Correction Settings: Features Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629

Correction Settings: AutoCorrect Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630

Deck Configuration Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631

Deck Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631

Deck Preferences Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633

Dynamic Relink Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634

Effect Editor Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

27

Export Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

Export Settings Dialog Box Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

Export Settings: QuickTime Reference Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640

Export Settings: QuickTime Movie Export Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643

Export Settings: QuickTime Movie Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Export Settings: QuickTime Compression Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646

Export Settings: HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

Export Settings: DV Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

Export Settings: OMFI, AAF, and AFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Export Settings: AVI (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

Export Settings: AVI Video Compression (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Export Settings: Windows Media Export Options (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . 654

Windows Media Legacy Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654

Existing Windows Media Custom Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655

Windows Media Options Video Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655

Custom Profile Audio Settings for Windows Media Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657

Export Settings: Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658

Export Settings: Graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660

Export Settings: Graphic Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661

P2 Export Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664

Export Settings: XDCAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

Full Screen Playback Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666

General Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668

Grid Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

Grid Settings: Coordinates Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

Grid Settings: Display Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670

Import Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Import Settings: Image Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Import Settings: OMFI/AAF Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674

Import Settings: Shot Log Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674

Import Settings: Audio Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675

Import Settings: XDCAM Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676

28

Interface Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677

Interface Settings: General Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677

Interface Settings: Appearance Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678

Interplay Folder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679

Interplay Server Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680

Interplay User Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680

Keyboard Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681

Marquee Title Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682

Media Creation Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683

Media Creation Settings: Drive Filtering & Indexing Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683

Media Creation Settings: Capture, Titles, Import, and

Mixdown & Transcode Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684

Media Creation Settings: Motion Effects Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684

Media Creation Settings: Render Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684

Media Creation Settings: Media Type Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685

Media Services Settings (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686

Mouse Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686

NRCS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

NRCS Settings: NRCS Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

NRCS Settings: iNEWS Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688

NRCS Settings: ENPS Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

NRCS Settings: Post to Web Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

PortServer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

Remote Play and Capture Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

Render Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

Safe Colors Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694

Script Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695

Sound Card Configuration Settings

(Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696

Timeline Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696

Timeline Settings: Display Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696

Timeline Settings: Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697

29

Trim Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698

Trim Settings: Play Loop Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698

Trim Settings: Features Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698

Video Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Video Input Tool Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Video Output Tool Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Video Output Tool Settings: Options Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701

Video Output Tool Settings: SD Cal Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703

Video Output Tool Settings: HD Cal Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705

Workspace Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707

Chapter 20 File Format Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709

Specifications for Graphics (Image) Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709

Supported Graphics (Image) File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710

Import Specifications for Supported Graphics File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711

Preparing Graphics Files for Import. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715

Frame Size for Imported Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716

Specifications for Animation Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717

Specifications for Audio File Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719

Understanding MXF Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719

Specifications for Importing OMFI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720

Working with BWF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721

BWF Information Displayed in Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721

Preparing Custom BWF Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722

Importing, Syncing, and Reimporting BWF Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723

Importing Multi-Channel Broadcast Wave (BWF) Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725

Field Ordering in Graphic Imports and Exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726

Chapter 21 Resolutions and Storage Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729

Compression and Avid Editing Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729

Monitor Display Resolutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730

Compression and Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

Resolution Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

Resolution Specifications: HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

Resolution Specifications: JFIF Interlaced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734

30

Resolution Specifications: JFIF Progressive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735

Resolution Specifications: Multicam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735

Resolution Specifications: Digital Video (DV). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736

Resolution Specifications: MPEG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737

Resolution Specifications: VC1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737

Resolution Specifications: AVC-Intra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740

Support for Uncompressed HD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740

Mixing Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741

Resolution Groups and Image Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742

Storage Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742

Estimating Drive Space Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742

Estimated Storage Requirements: HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743

Estimated Storage Requirements: JFIF Interlaced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745

Estimated Storage Requirements: JFIF Progressive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748

Estimated Storage Requirements: DV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Estimated Storage Requirements: MPEG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Maximizing Drive Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752

Managing Storage to Improve Playback Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752

Chapter 22 Film-to-Tape Transfer Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753

Understanding the Film-to-Tape Transfer Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753

Transfer of 24-fps Film to NTSC Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754

Stage 1: Transferring Film to Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754

Frames Versus Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754

Stage 2: Capturing at 24 fps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757

Transfer of 24-fps Film to PAL Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758

PAL Method 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758

PAL Method 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759

How Avid Editing Applications Store and Display 24p and 25p Media . . . . . . . . . . 760

Film-to-Tape Transfer Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762

Film-to-Tape Transfer Quality Options and Production Aids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762

31

Chapter 23 Working with Stereoscopic Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765

Acquiring Stereoscopic Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765

Setting Up Your System For Viewing Stereoscopic Material in

Three Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766

Displaying Stereoscopic Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767

Considerations When Working with Stereoscopic Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769

Chapter 24 Working with HD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771

High-Definition Television. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772

HDTV Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773

HD Workflow: Film-Based Television Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773

Offline Workflow: 24-fps Film Source for HDTV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775

Online Workflow: 24-fps Film Source for HDTV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776

HD Workflow: Video-Based Television Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777

HD Workflow: Broadcast Graphics Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779

Editing in HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780

Understanding Options for Changing the Project Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780

Changing the Project Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781

Understanding Options for Modifying the Sequence Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782

Modifying the Format of a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784

Converting a 23.976p NTSC Sequence to 720p/23.976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784

Mixing SD and HD Material in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785

Displaying Formats in a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786

Editing at 60 fps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786

Working with True 24 FPS Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787

Transcoding HD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787

Video Color Space for HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787

Working with HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787

Understanding HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788

HDV Basic Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789

Capturing and Importing HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790

Capturing HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790

Importing HDV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791

Mixing SD and HD Resolutions with HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791

32

Playing Back HDV Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791

Rendering and Transcoding HDV Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792

Outputting HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Long-GOP Splicing for HDV Encoding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Exporting to an HDV Device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Outputting HDV through Avid Input/Output Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794

Exporting an HDV Transport Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795

Exporting HDV as Windows Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795

Finishing HDV on DS Nitris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797

HDV Compatibility Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798

Chapter 25 International Character Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799

Using a Local Language Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799

Choosing a Locale on an English Language Operating System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800

Non-English Character Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800

Using Foreign Keyboard Mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804

Recommendations and Restrictions for International Character Support . . . . . . . . 805

Avid Supports English Plus One Locale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805

Entering ASCII Characters in Double-Byte Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805

Characters to Avoid When Naming Avid Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805

EDL Manager Does Not Save Diacritical Marks or Chinese Characters . . . . . 806

Traditional Chinese Big 5 Character Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807

Rebuilding the asifont.map File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807

Tips and Limitations for International Character Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807

Creating Vertical Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808

Additional Tips and Limitations for Working with International Characters . . . 808

Chapter 26 Using the MCS3 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811

Configuring the MCS3 Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811

Using the Default Button Mappings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812

Mapping MCS3 Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813

Configuring a Shifted Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815

Customizing the Maximum Jog Speed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815

Customizing the Maximum Shuttle Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816

Creating Multiple Controller Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816

33

Moving Through Footage with the MCS3 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817

Using the MCS3 for Editing Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 818

Troubleshooting the MCS3 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821

34

Using This Guide

This guide contains all the advanced task-oriented instructions and conceptual information
you need to use the capture, editing, and output features of your Avid editing application, as
well as information about file format specifications, and other supplementary information.
The Basics Guide for your Avid editing application is a companion to this Advanced Guide.
It contains all the basic task-oriented instructions and conceptual information you need to
get started using the product. The contents of this guide and of the Basics guide are also
available in the Help.

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

Unless noted otherwise, the material in this document applies to the Windows
Windows Vista
document were captured on a Windows system, but the information applies to both Windows
and Mac OS X systems. Where differences exist, both Windows and Mac OS X screen shots
are shown.

The documentation describes the features and hardware of all models and applies to both

n

the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. Your system might not contain certain
features and hardware that are covered in the documentation, and might not be available on
both Windows and Mac OS X.

®

, and Mac OS® X operating systems.The majority of screen shots in this

®

XP,

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

n

c

w

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.

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

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

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

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

(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:

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

they ship with your application and are also available online.

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.

36

If the latest information for your Avid product is provided as a ReadMe file, it is
supplied on your Avid installation CD or DVD as a PDF document
(README_product.pdf) and is also available online.

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

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

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

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

Accessing the Online Library

The Online Library for your Avid editing application contains all the product documentation
in PDF format, including a Master Glossary of all specialized terminology used in the
documentation for Avid products.

The Online Library for your Avid editing application is installed along with the application
itself.

You will need Adobe® Reader® to view the PDF documentation online. You can download

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the latest version from the Adobe web site.

To access the Online Library, do one of the following:

t From your Avid editing application, select Help > Online Library

t (Windows only) From the Windows desktop, select Start > All Programs > Avid > Avid

editing application > Online Library

Accessing the Online Library

t Browse to the Online Library folder, and then double-click the MainMenu file.

The Online Library folder is in the same location as the application itself, for example:

(Windows) C:\Program Files\Avid\Avid editing application\Online Library

(Macintosh) MacintoshHD/Applications/Avid editing application/Online Library

Accessing the Goodies Folder

Avid supplies a Goodies folder located on the editing application DVD. Access the Goodies
folder by browsing the DVD. This folder contains programs and files you might find useful
when trying to perform functions beyond the scope of your Avid editing application.

The information in the Goodies folder is provided solely for your reference and as
suggestions for you to decide if any of these products fit into your process. Avid is not
responsible for the manufacture, support, or sales of these products. Avid is also not
responsible for any loss of data or time, or any other adverse results related to the use of
these products. All risks of using such products or accessing such Web sites are entirely your
own. The Web sites listed in the Goodies folder are not under the control of Avid, and Avid

37

is not responsible for their content, any changes or updates to them, or the collection of any
personal data or information by the operators of such Web sites. All information and product
availability is subject to change without notice.

How to Order Documentation

To order additional copies of this documentation from within the United States, call Avid
Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843). If you are placing an order from outside the United
States, contact your local Avid representative.

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.

To learn about Avid's new online learning environment, Avid Learning Excellerator™
(ALEX), visit http://learn.avid.com.

38

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

1 Working with the Project Window:

Advanced

The Project window provides controls for structuring and viewing important information
about your current project. You can also modify User, Project, and Site settings from the
Project window and display a list of effects.

The following topics describe advanced features of the Project window:

• User Profiles

• Managing User Profiles

• Folders and Bins

• Using the Info Display to View Memory Information and Access the Hardware Tool

• Customizing the Avid User Interface

• User-Customized Workspaces

• Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Unity Environment

For basic information about the project window, see “Working with the Project Window:
Basics” in the Help or the Basics Guide for your Avid editing application.

User Profiles

You can establish different profiles for a single user. User profiles allow you to switch
between settings without having to log out of your system and log back in under a different
user name.

User profiles allow you to establish separate settings for different editing functions. User
“Jane,” for example, can have separate profiles for “Audio editor,” “Film editor,” or for
“Assistant 1,” “Assistant 2,” and so on.

1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

Each user profile is stored in settings files within a folder, as described in “Understanding
the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders” in the Help. User profile folders are kept in the
following folder:

• (Windows XP) drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\Avid
editing application\Avid Users\UserName

• (Windows Vista) drive:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Avid editing application\Avid
Users\UserName

• (Macintosh) /Users/Shared/Avid editing application/Avid Users/UserName

You can work with user profiles in the following ways (for step-by-step procedures, see

“Managing User Profiles” on page 41):

• Create new user profiles

• Switch between user profiles

• Return to the original user profile

• Import settings from another user or user profile

• Create a user profile on one system, export it to a server, and then import the same user
profile from another system to the new system.

When you export a user profile, you can select either a Personal or Group profile.

40

- When you select Personal, the user profile performs an auto-load and an auto-save

every time you open a project. Every time the user profile is updated, it saves the
new profile information. For example, you can create the user profile Jennie on one
system, export it to another location (a server), and then import it to a different
system. Any time you change the Jennie user profile, it updates to the server and
when you open the Jennie user profile on either system, it uses the most updated
Jennie user profile.

- When you select Group, the user profile auto-loads but it does not auto-save.

Changes made to the user profile only affect the system on which the changes were
made. The changes do not update to the server.

When exporting User Profiles in an Avid Unity™ environment, make sure the workspace

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containing the user profile has the same drive letter on all systems.

Cross-platform (Macintosh to Windows or Windows to Macintosh) user profiles can not be

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shared.

• Update a user profile with the Update User Profile option, which lets you add user
settings, such as the Send To settings options, to an existing Settings list.

For example, if you are upgrading to a version of your application that contains the Send
To option from a version that did not have that option, you can choose the Update User
Profile option to make sure the Send To settings templates appear in your Settings list.

Managing User Profiles

To create a user profile:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

Managing User Profiles

Project window title bar

User Profile Selection menu

2. Click the User Profile Selection menu, and select Create User Profile.

The Create User Profile dialog box opens.

3. Type a name in the Profile Name text box, and then click OK.

The new user profile appears selected in the menu, and the user profile name appears in
the Project window title bar.

To import user settings from another user or user profile:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

2. Click the User Profile Selection menu, and select another user profile.

3. The new user profile name appears in the Project window title bar.

41

1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

To return to the original user profile:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

2. Click the User Profile Selection menu, and select the default user profile.

If you are using a user profile other than the default and you change to another project, the

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default user settings are loaded, even though the Project window still displays your
non-default user profile name. You must reselect the user profile you want to have active.

To import user settings from another user or user profile:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

2. Click the User Profile Selection menu, and select Import User or User Profile.

3. Navigate to the user or user profile you want to import.

To export user settings to another user or user profile:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

2. Click the User Profile Selection menu, and select Export User or User Profile.

3. Select Personal or Group.

4. Navigate to the location where you want to place the user or user profile.

5. Click OK.

To update user profiles:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

2. Click the User Profile Selection menu, and select Update User Profiles.

Any settings that have been added to the upgraded version of the application now appear
in the Settings list.

To delete a user profile from your desktop:

1. Navigate to the Avid Users folder, and then select the user folder you want to delete.

For information about the location of the Avid folders, see “Using the Avid Projects and
the Avid Users Folders” in the Help.

2. Do one of the following:

t (Windows) Press the Delete key, then click OK in the dialog box that appears.

t (Macintosh) Drag the folder to the Trash.

42

3. Empty the Recycle Bin (Windows) or the Trash (Macintosh) to remove the files from the
system.

4. Close the windows, and restart your Avid editing application.

The deleted user no longer appears in the Select Project dialog box.

Folders and Bins

You can use the Project window to create hierarchies of folders and bins that reflect the
specific workflow of the current project. This structure provides both simplicity and backup
security. You can also manage system memory usage, and specify how often your Avid
editing application saves bins automatically.

Guidelines for Project Organization

Although the specifics can vary depending on your production needs and habits, the basic
principles of project management are as follows:

• Limit the number of sequences you create in each project. For instance, consider
creating one new project for each show, episode, spot, or scene.

Folders and Bins

• Limit the number and complexity of clips in each bin by creating and organizing bins in
three groups, as follows:

- Create a set of bins for the capture stage.

For example, you can create one bin for each source tape or each day’s worth of
dailies transfers to be captured to avoid slowing the system with large bins and
causing confusion between tapes.

- Create a second set of bins for organizing your project.

For example, you can create a separate bin for each segment of a video project or
each scene of a 24p project, depending on the preferences of the editor.

- Create a third set of bins for the editing stage, including:

A current cut bin for storing each work in progress (sequence)

An archive bin for keeping the original version of each cut (sequence)

A selects or storyboard bin for screening selected clips or cuts gathered from the
source bins

43

1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

A format cuts bin for storing the final cuts with added format elements such as
segment breaks, color bars and tone, slate, or countdown

• (Option) Create additional folders at the desktop level for better organization. For
example, you can create one folder for each capture bin and show cut bin, or a folder to
contain all shot logs to be imported.

• Save these files as templates for future productions of a similar nature.

A sample template of bins for a project is shown below.

Project folder

Folders
containing
bin files

Bin files

Settings file
Project file

This hierarchy allows you to have one set of bins available in the Project window during
capture and organizing, and another set of bins available during editing to reduce clutter.

Creating a Folder in a Project

To create a folder in a project:

1. Click the Bins tab in the Project window.

2. Click the Fast Menu button, and select New Folder.

A new untitled folder appears.

3. Click the untitled folder name in the Bins list and rename it.

44

Managing Bins and Memory

System memory usage increases depending on how many bins you have open, the number of
sequences in a bin, the number of tools that are open, and the size of a sequence. Using more
memory can slow system performance.

In the Bin tab of the Project window, a memory usage indicator increases and updates as you
open and close bins. Avid recommends that you keep memory usage below 80-85%. If you
exceed the recommended usage, a dialog box opens informing you that your memory usage
is high and recommending that you should close some bins and save your project.

If your system is running low on memory and you need to free up memory, you can either
close your bins or use the Clear Memory button. If you close your bins, some of your
memory remains unavailable until you exit the application because the online master clips
remain in memory. The Clear Memory button, however, closes and saves all of your open
bins and clears out any cached data of the online master clips.

Bins containing sequences use more memory than bins containing master clips. For bins that
contain a large number of sequences, you can free up memory and still keep your old
sequences. Create an archive bin and move older sequences that you do not use anymore to
the archive bin. Keep the archive bin closed.

Folders and Bins

To free up memory:

1. Click the Info tab of the Project window.

2. Click the Clear Memory button.

A dialog box opens asking if you want to close and save all opened bins.

3. Click OK.

This operation deletes cached data for the online master clips only. Memory might also
be used by other parts of the application and will not be reduced by using the Clear
Memory button.

Saving Bins Automatically

Your Avid editing application automatically saves changes to your work on a regular basis
during each session. You can modify the frequency of the automatic backups by using the
Bin settings in the Project window Settings list.

When you are working with bins, an asterisk (Windows) or a diamond (Macintosh) appears
before the bin name in the bin’s title bar. The asterisk (Windows) or diamond (Macintosh)
indicates that the changes to the bin have not been saved. After you save the bin, the asterisk
(Windows) or diamond (Macintosh) is removed.

45

1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

When autosave occurs:

• Any open bins are updated with changes made since the last autosave.

• Copies of these bins are placed in the project’s backup bin folder:

- (Windows XP) drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\Avid

editing application\Avid Attic folder

- (Windows Vista) drive:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Avid editing

application\Avid Attic folder

- (Macintosh) /Users/Shared/Avid Attic folder

The system automatically saves copies of all bins into the Avid Attic folder at regular
intervals for backup. When your work is lost, or when you want to recover an earlier version
of a bin or sequence, you can retrieve files from the Avid Attic folder. The procedure for
recovering bin files from the Avid Attic folder is described in “Retrieving Files from the
Attic Folder” in the Help.

For added security, you can save bins manually — for example, immediately after an
important edit. For more information, see “Saving Bins Manually” in the Help.

Adjusting Automatic Saves

To adjust the frequency of automatic saves:

1. In the Project window, click the Settings tab, and then double-click Bin.

The Bin Settings dialog box opens.

2. Type a number in the Auto-Save interval text box.

3. Click OK.

Setting to zero the maximum number of files stored in the Avid Attic folder as well as the

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maximum number of versions of a bin deletes existing files in the project folder in the Avid
Attic folder and prevents any backup bins from being saved. For more information about
backup options, click the Bin Settings dialog box and press F1(Windows) or the Help key
(Macintosh), or see “Bin Settings” on page 621.

Using the Info Display to View Memory Information and Access the Hardware Tool

The Info display in the Project window allows you to view system memory information and
access the Hardware tool. The items listed in this display are for information only and
cannot be changed. The Hardware tool gives a visual representation of usage for each drive
and provides operating system information.

46

Using the Info Display to View Memory Information and Access the Hardware Tool

(Windows only) You can view additional memory information through the Windows Task
Manager and Performance Monitor tools. You can view information about system activities,
such as driver messages, through the Windows Event Viewer. For information on these tools,
see the Windows Help.

To open the Info display:

t Click the Info tab in the Project window.

Info tab

To display system memory information:

t Click the Info tab in the Project window, and then click the Memory button.

The Memory window opens.

The following table describes the information your Avid editing application displays in
the Memory window:

Item Description

Objects The total number of memory handles currently used by your Avid

editing application. Objects include memory requirements of the
application, such as windows, as well as clips, sequences, and other
items associated with a project.

You can improve the performance of large projects by reducing the number of objects. To do this, close

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unused bins, unmount unneeded media drives, consolidate finished elements, eliminate old material from
the project, or divide the project into separate projects. Then quit and restart your Avid editing
application. If performance is still slow, restart your system.

Total physical memory (Windows) or
Total Mem (Macintosh)

Available physical memory (Windows)
or Free Mem (Macintosh)

Total page file The total number of bytes stored in the paging file. The paging file is

Available page file The total number of bytes available in the paging files.

Working set (minimum and maximum) The set of memory pages currently available to the application in RAM.

The total number of bytes of RAM (random-access memory).

The amount of RAM available for allocation by the Windows or
Macintosh system.

used as virtual memory by the Windows system.

47

1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

To open the Hardware tool, do one of the following:

t Click the Info tab in the Project window, and then click the Hardware button.

t Select Tools > Hardware.

The Hardware tool opens.

For more information about the Hardware tool, see “Using the Hardware Tool” on page 77.

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Customizing the Avid User Interface

The Appearance tab in the Interface Settings dialog box provides you with controls for
customizing the colors and button style of the Avid user interface. You can also change the
font and point size of the type in the various windows. For complete reference information
on the Interface Settings dialog box, see “Interface Settings” on page 677.

The following topics provide more information on customizing the appearance of the user
interface:

• Changing Interface Component Colors

• Changing Button and Toolbar Styles

• Using Interface Appearance Templates

• Changing Font and Point Size

Changing Interface Component Colors

You can use a color selection grid to change the color of interface components.

The Settings list has several Interface templates with predefined color schemes. For

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information about using the Interface templates, see “Using Interface Appearance

Templates” on page 51.

To set the color of an interface component:

1. In the Project window, click the Settings tab, and then double-click Interface.

The Interface dialog box opens.

2. Click the Appearance tab.

48

Check box

Color boxes

Customizing the Avid User Interface

The Interface components whose colors you can change are listed in the top half of the
Appearance tab, as shown in the following illustration.

Interface
component list

3. Click in the color box next to the interface component that you want to customize.

A color selection grid opens.

4. Click the color to which you want to set your interface component.

The color selection grid disappears. The color you selected appears in the color box. A
check mark appears in the check box to show that you want your new color attribute for
this component to take effect.

If you deselect an interface component by clicking the check box, the color you specify
in the color selection grid does not take effect. The color of the interface component
reverts to its default value.

5. Do one of the following:

t Click Apply to apply the changes you selected.

If you click Cancel after you click Apply, interface components retain the colors
you applied.

t Click OK to close the dialog box and put the new setting into effect.

t Click Cancel to close the dialog box.

The changes you selected but did not apply do not take effect.

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1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

Changing Button and Toolbar Styles

You can control the shading style and depth of buttons and toolbars. You can also change the
shape of buttons and the way buttons are spaced in Monitors and in the Timeline.

To set the style of buttons and toolbars:

1. In the Project window, click the Settings tab, and then double-click Interface.

The Interface dialog box opens.

2. Click the Appearance tab.

3. Select from one or more of the menus, as described in the table following this
procedure.

4. Do one of the following:

t Click Apply to apply the changes you selected.

If you click Cancel after you click Apply, your editing application retains the
selections you applied.

t Click OK to close the dialog box and put the new setting into effect.

t Click Cancel to close the dialog box.

The changes you selected but did not apply do not take effect.

Control Description Options Examples

Shading Style Controls the graphic style

used to shade buttons and
toolbars.

Shading Depth Controls the

three-dimensional
“rounding” of the buttons
and toolbars

Convex

Dim Radial

Convex Radial

Bright Radial

Percentage
values

Shading depth 5% Shading depth 50%

Convex

Dim Radial

Convex Radial

Bright Radial

50

Customizing the Avid User Interface

Control Description Options Examples

Monitor Button
Separation

Timeline Button
Separation

Button Style Controls the shape of

Controls the spacing
between the Monitor
buttons and between the
Timeline buttons

buttons.

Maximum

Moderate

None

Oval

Octagonal

Rounded

Square

Swoosh

Antique

Using Interface Appearance Templates

There are several interface appearance templates available for the Avid user interface that
have preset background and button colors.

To use an interface appearance template:

Maximum button separation

Moderate button separation

No button separation

Oval

Rounded

SquareOctagonal

Swoosh

Antique

t Click to the left of one of the named Interface settings in the Settings list in the Project

window.

The look of your Avid user interface changes.

To return to the default interface:

t Click to the left of the unnamed Interface setting.

For information on how to change the appearance of particular components of your Avid

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user interface, see “Customizing the Avid User Interface” on page 48.

Changing Font and Point Size

You can change the default font and point sizes of the Project, Bin, ComposerSource/Record
monitor, Script, and Timeline windows. You can vary the fonts and point sizes across these
windows. For example, you can set the Project window to Helvetica, 13 pt.; set one Bin
window to Times Roman, 11 pt.; and set another Bin window to Arial, 12 pt.

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1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

The following table describes the windows you can change, and where these changes are
saved.

Window Location of Changes

Project Changes the font and point size of the text in the Project window; saved as a Project

setting.

Bin Changes the font and point size of the text in the Bin window; saved as a Bin setting

(not a Bin View setting).

Source/Record
monitor

Script Changes the font and point size of the text in the Script window; saved as a Script

Timeline Changes the font and point size of clip text; saved as a Timeline View setting.

To change the font displayed in the Project, Bin, ComposerSource/Record monitor,
Script, or Timeline window:

1. Click the Project, Bin, ComposerSource/Record monitor, Script, or Timeline window to
make it active.

2. Select Edit > Set Font.

The Set Font dialog box opens.

3. Click the Font menu, and select a font.

Any font installed on the Avid system appears in the list. For information on adding fonts to

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your system, see the documentation for your operating system.

4. Type another point size for the font in the Size text box.

5. Click OK.

The new font and point size appear in the active window.

Changes the font and point size of the sequence or source clip name text; saved as a
Composer setting.

setting.

When you close the window, the last font and point size applied are saved with the
window.

User-Customized Workspaces

A workspace is the arrangement and size of tool windows displayed in your Avid editing
application. If you are accustomed to working with a particular group of windows arranged
and sized in a particular setup, you can assign them to a workspace setting that you can then
recall with a workspace button.

52

User-Customized Workspaces

For example, during capture you might want to display the Capture tool and Video Input tool
in specific locations. During effects editing, you might want to display the Effect Palette and
Effect Editor in particular locations and sizes. For information on switching between
workspaces, see “Switching Between Workspaces” on page 56.

While in a workspace, you can move tool windows or open and close tool windows. The
next time you select that workspace, the tool windows appear with either:

• The arrangement from the last time you left the workspace

• The arrangement you set for the workspace, regardless of any changes you made

You can select your preference in the Workspace Settings dialog box. For more information,
see “Creating a New Workspace Setting” on page 53.

You can assign up to eight buttons that allow you to switch between user-customized
workspaces. This is useful if there is more than one user accessing the same Avid system.
Each user can assign up to eight workspaces by using the workspace buttons. The buttons
are assigned to the workspaces in the Settings list in the Project window in the order that
they appear. For example, the W1 button is assigned to the first workspace that appears in
the Settings list; W2 is assigned to the second workspace that appears in the Settings list;
and so forth. For more information, see “Assigning a Workspace Button” on page 57.

You cannot assign certain tool windows to a workspace, such as the Hardware tool, the

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Communication (Serial) Ports tool, and the Media tool.

In addition, see the following topics for more information on customizing your workspace:

• Linking User Settings and Workspaces

• Deleting a Workspace

Creating a New Workspace Setting

To create a new workspace setting:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

The Settings list appears.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the Settings list, and select Workspace.

3. Select Edit > Duplicate.

A new workspace setting appears in the Settings list.

If you are duplicating a previously named workspace setting, a .1 appears at the end of the

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new name.

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1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

4. Click to the left of the new workspace you want to set.

A check mark appears next to the workspace.

5. Assign a custom name to the new workspace:

a. In the column between Workspace and User, click until you see a text cursor and

box. Make sure you click the Custom name column and not the Setting name.

New workspace

Custom name column

b. Type a name for the new custom workspace; (for example, Logging).

c. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh).

d. Open the windows and tools with which you want to associate the workspace.

Resize and move the windows to the location you want them to appear on
the monitors.

54

6. Double-click the custom workspace setting.

The Workspace Settings dialog box opens.

7. Select or deselect the following options, depending on your preference for the behavior
of the workspace:

Option Description

Activate Settings
Linked by Name

Continually Update
This Workspace

Manually Update This
Workspace

This setting allows you to link other settings to the workspace. For
more information, see “Linking User Settings and Workspaces” on

page 55.

This setting automatically preserves the workspace in its most recent
arrangement. Future changes to the arrangement of the tool windows
are saved.

This setting saves the workspace in its current arrangement when you
click Save Workspace Now. Future changes to the arrangement of the
tool windows are disregarded.

8. Click OK.

Linking User Settings and Workspaces

User settings can be linked to a workspace. You can create a customized workspace, set up
specific options in any Settings dialog box, and link them together by name.

For example, you can create an Audio workspace that opens the Audio Mixer tool and Audio
tool. This workspace can also open a customized Timeline (with enlarged audio tracks and
rubberbanding displays). You can also link this workspace to a Settings dialog box with
customized options selected. You do this by creating a setting and giving it the same name in
the Settings list in the Project window as the name of the workspace.

To link user settings and a workspace:

1. Create a new workspace setting.

For more information, see “Creating a New Workspace Setting” on page 53.

2. Give the workspace a custom name.

3. Click a setting in the Settings list that you want to link to the new workspace. For
example, click Timeline View. Adjust the Timeline to how you want it displayed
(enlarged tracks, audio waveform, and so forth).

4. Give this Timeline View setting the same name you gave the workspace in step 2.

User-Customized Workspaces

5. Double-click another setting, (for example, Audio). Select the new options, (for

6. Give this setting the same name you gave the workspace in step 2.

Linked setting

Linked setting

Linked workspace

For information on naming a Timeline view, see “Managing Customized Timeline
Views” in the Help.

example, Default Pan), and close the dialog box.

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1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

7. Double-click the workspace you just created.

The Workspace Settings dialog box opens.

8. Click Activate Settings Linked By Name.

9. Click OK.

All the settings and the new workspace you created are activated.

Switching Between Workspaces

To switch from one workspace to another:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

The Settings list appears.

2. Click to the left of the workspace setting you want to use.

A check mark appears next to the workspace.

You can also switch between workspaces by using the workspace buttons. To assign
workspace buttons, see “Assigning a Workspace Button” on page 57.

Deleting a Workspace

56

To delete a workspace:

1. Select the workspace you want to delete from the Settings list in the Project window.

The workspace is highlighted.

Make sure a check mark does not appear next to the workspace you want to delete. You
cannot delete an active workspace.

2. Press the Delete key.

The selected workspace is removed from the Settings list.

Assigning a Workspace Button

To assign a workspace button:

1. If you want to assign a workspace button to a palette (for example, the Tool palette from
the Fast menu) or the Keyboard, open the palette or Keyboard setting.

2. Select Tools > Command Palette.

User-Customized Workspaces

W1 button

More tab

3. Click the More tab.

4. Select Button to Button Reassignment.

5. Click a workspace button (W1 – W8), and drag the button to a location on another
palette (for example, the Tool palette) or the Keyboard setting.

The workspace button appears in the new location.

The buttons are assigned to the workspaces in the Settings list in the Project window in
the order that they appear. For example, the W1 button is assigned to the first workspace
that appears in the Settings list; W2 is assigned to the second workspace that appears in
the Settings list; and so forth.

Your Avid editing application sorts the workspaces alphabetically. The workspace
button assignments might change if you add workspaces. To keep a designated order,
name the workspaces with a number preceding the first letter (for example, 2editing).

6. Click the W1 button to display the first workspace that appears in the Settings list.

When you open the windows associated with the first workspace, they open in the
assigned locations.

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1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Unity Environment

The following topics describe how to work in an Avid Unity environment that does not use
an asset manager or Avid Interplay Transfer. If you are using an asset manager or Avid
Interplay Transfer, see the Avid Interplay Engine and Avid Interplay Archive Engine
Administration Guide and the Avid Interplay Transfer Setup and User’s Guide.

The following topics provide more information on sharing bins and projects in an Avid
Unity environment:

• Understanding Avid Unity

• Sharing Only Bins in Avid Unity

• Sharing Bins and Projects in Avid Unity

• Opening a Shared Project

• Locks and Shared Bins

• Working with Locks and Shared Bins

• Restrictions and Limitations for Locked Bins

• Suggestions for Improving Performance When Working with Shared Bins

• Shared Bin and Project Limitations

• Shared Bin Lock Icon Limitation

• Drive Filtering in Networked Workflows

Understanding Avid Unity

Avid Unity MediaNetwork and Avid Unity ISIS allow you to share bins and projects across
the network. When you place your bins and projects on Avid Unity workspaces (drive
volumes), several users can work on the same project at the same time.

For example, an editor can create sequences in one bin while an assistant recaptures media in
another bin. At the same time, other users can add audio effects or titles to other bins in the
project.

Each user can perform tasks from his or her own computer. Your Avid editing application
provides a locking mechanism to help you keep track of who is currently working in a bin.
The method allows one user to write to a bin; multiple users can read the files in that bin.

c

The lock does not prevent you from deleting the media in a locked bin if you have write
access to the workspace. It ensures only that you don’t overwrite changes to the bin.

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In an Avid Unity environment, your Avid editing application creates and stores projects and
bins on the client’s internal drive. If a user moves or saves these projects and bins to the
workspace, only one client can work on the project at a time. If two or more users are
working simultaneously on the same project, only one user can update the files. Other users
can open and play sequences but cannot make any changes to them.

For information on managing workspaces, see the clients’ Quick Start cards. For details on
Avid Unity, see the Avid Unity MediaNetwork Management Guide or the Avid Unity ISIS
Administration Guide.

Sharing Only Bins in Avid Unity

When you use shared bins, you store the project on your local computer and store bins and
media files on the shared workspace. This method allows users in a shared environment to
share only selected bins with other users. The system identifies the shared bins as follows:

• Stores the bin in a Unity Bins folder in the Project window. This folder is similar to the
Other Bins folder.

• Displays a second column of information for the bin that identifies the computer that
currently has the bin locked.

• Uses bold text to identify bins that are locked by another user.

Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Unity Environment

Sharing Bins and Projects in Avid Unity

If you share bins and projects, you create and store the project folder and bins on the shared
workspace (or copy an existing project, bins, and the related media files). Your Avid editing
application identifies information from each computer using the shared workspace as
follows:

• Creates a project folder for each computer that accesses the project. Your Avid editing
application adds the computer’s name to the folder name to create a unique name and
stores any project-specific information in the folder. This mechanism prevents users
from overwriting the project-specific data for other users.

The folder is similar to the folder created when you select New Folder from the Project
Window Fast menu. For more information, see “Folders and Bins” on page 43.

• Displays an extra column in the Project window that identifies the computer that has the
bin locked.

• Uses bold text to identify bins that are locked by other users.

• Creates a folder at the top level of the shared workspace called Unity Attic. This folder
contains backup files for each project on the shared volume.

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1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

Depending on the number of users sharing a workspace, you might want to increase the

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number of files that your Avid editing application stores in the Unity Attic folder (using the
Bin Settings dialog box).

The following illustration shows the Project window for a shared project.

Bold bins are locked
for editing but can
be viewed.

Project folders for
each user

Opening a Shared Project

To open an existing project on the shared volume:

Computer that
currently has
the bin locked

60

1. Start your Avid editing application.

2. In the Select Project dialog box, navigate to the project on Avid Unity.

The Project window opens. For a description of the elements specific to Avid Unity in
the Project window, see “Sharing Only Bins in Avid Unity” on page 59 and “Sharing

Bins and Projects in Avid Unity” on page 59.

3. Open one of the bins by double-clicking the Bin icon.

The bin appears with a Bin Lock Status button. You can click the red (locked) or green
(unlocked) Bin Lock Status button to view a history file that shows which computers
and users have modified the bin and the date and time of the modifications.

The following illustration shows locked and unlocked bins.

Unlocked bin

Locked bin

When a bin is unlocked, you have permission to make changes. You should not make
changes to a locked bin. See “Restrictions and Limitations for Locked Bins” on page 62.

The Bin Lock Status button does not appear if the bin is not on Avid Unity.

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Locks and Shared Bins

Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Unity Environment

Your Avid editing application uses a locking mechanism to help you keep track of who is
currently working in a shared bin. This allows one user to write to a bin; multiple users can
read the files in that bin.

The user who opens the bin first gets the lock and obtains write access to the bin. Your Avid
editing application uses bold text in the Project window to identify bins that are locked by
another user. When the person who owns the lock closes the bin, it becomes available for
another user to open and take the lock.

If one user has the lock and another user has the same bin open, when the first user closes the
bin, the second user must close and reopen the bin to get the lock.

You can instruct your Avid editing application to keep a bin locked even after you close it.

You can click the red or green Bin Lock Status button in the bin to view a history file that
shows which computers and users have modified the bin.

Working with Locks and Shared Bins

To open a bin without taking the lock:

t Alt+double-click (Windows) or Option+double-click (Macintosh) the bin in the Project

window.

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1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

To permanently lock a bin:

1. Select one or more bins in the Project window.

2. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl+Shift+click (Macintosh) the Bin icon, and select Lock
Project Bin.

An asterisk (Windows) or diamond (Macintosh) appears next to the user name in the
Project window. In this case, the bin remains locked even after you close it.

To unlock the bin:

t Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl+Shift+click (Macintosh) the bin in the Project window,

and select Unlock Project Bin.

The Lock Project Bin and Unlock Project Bin commands are also available from the Clip

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menu.

Restrictions and Limitations for Locked Bins

The following restrictions apply to bins that are locked by another user:

• You cannot select a locked bin for operations such as capture, title creation, and
importing. This helps to minimize the problems of modifying a locked bin.

c

• You cannot drag an item to a locked bin.

• If you drag an item from a locked bin to a writable bin, the Avid system creates a
duplicate (not a copy) of the selection in the writable bin. The original item is not
removed from the locked bin. This operation is the equivalent of duplicating a selection
and then dragging the duplicate to another bin.

• You cannot move a bin that is locked by another user.

• If you modify a locked bin, your Avid editing application does not let you save the bin to
the same name, but it allows you to save the bin to another name. However, this causes
duplicate bin IDs and might cause system-level conflicts with the contents of the two
bins. The application sees the duplicate contents of these bins and resolves the conflicts
by newest modifications (this might not be desirable behavior).

Try to avoid creating duplicate bins by modifying a locked bin. If you do create a
duplicate bin in this way, you should manually merge the changes into the original bin
and delete the duplicate bin.

The lock does not prevent you from deleting the media in a locked bin if you have write
access to the workspace. It ensures only that you don’t overwrite changes to the bin.

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Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Unity Environment

Suggestions for Improving Performance When Working with Shared Bins

The following information is provided to improve performance when working with shared
bins in an Avid Unity environment.

• Do not use the same name for your editing system machine name and your user name.
In fact, do not use the same name for security objects such as machine names, user
names, group names, and domain names. If any two security objects have the same
name, Windows might become confused and sharing might not work properly.

• Do not use the same prefix for machine names in a shared environment. No full name
can be a prefix of another name. If one of the systems has a machine name that is the full
name, and others in the environment have the prefix as part of their machine name,
problems can occur. For example, if an editing system has a machine name ABC and
additional editing systems in the shared environment have machine names ABCnn,
ABCxx, the following problems could occur:

- When the system with the machine name ABC is writing to a directory, the systems

whose machine names have the same prefix (ABCnn and ABCxx) might not be able
to access the directory.

- When the system with the machine name ABC is rendering, systems whose

machine names have the same prefix (ABCnn and ABCxx) might be unable to
launch.

Avid recommends that you do not use a common prefix for machine names. If you
must use a common prefix, make sure all the names are the same length (ABC01,
ABC02, ABC03, etc.).

• Avoid using Windows Explorer to examine, copy, or manipulate shared bin files or
shared project folders or their contents when editors are using those files or folders. If
you do, editors attempting to access those shared bins or projects may experience delays
accompanied by a progress dialog that says, “Filesystem busy, retrying (MESSAGE),”
where MESSAGE is replaced by a specific message identifying the action that is being
retried.

If the busy condition persists, and the retries are exhausted, a failure message appears.
When that happens, ensure that Windows Explorer is not being used on the shared bins
you are trying to access, and then try the operation again.

• When you have an environment where more than five users are sharing bins on Avid
Unity, Avid recommends using an Avid Interplay server in the workgroup environment.

• When an Avid Interplay server is available in an Avid Unity system in the workgroup
environment, Avid does not recommend sharing bins or projects. Use the Avid Interplay
server and the Interplay Window to share media. All editing systems in a workgroup

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1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

environment that includes an Avid Interplay server must have the Avid Unity client
software installed. The Media Tool might become unreliable if an editor in the Avid
Unity workgroup environment does not have the Avid Unity client software installed.

Shared Bin and Project Limitations

If an editor other than the creator deletes a media file, other editors cannot see that media file
go offline immediately. If an editor tries to play that file, “media file not found” messages
might appear in a monitor window, and access violation errors might occur.

Each editing application maintains a PMR file in its machine name folder inside the OMFI
MediaFiles folder or the Avid MediaFiles folder. The PMR file lists all the online media
files. Every editing application consults all the PMR files in all the machine name folders to
find out which media files are online. Whenever a media file is created, its name is
immediately added to the creating editor application's PMR file, and whenever a media file
is deleted by its creator, its name is immediately removed from the PMR file.

However, if an editing application other than the creator deletes a media file, the PMR file
that contains the deleted file is NOT updated immediately. Once the creating editor
encounters an event that causes its PMR to be updated, then all editing systems know that
the deleted media file has gone offline.

There are several ways to force an editing application to update its PMR. The simplest is to
switch to the desktop and back.

Avid recommends that you institute policies where media files are deleted by the editor who
created them, or if necessary, the deleting editors notify the editor who created the media
files that a deletion has occurred. This editor can then switch to the desktop and back, and all
other editors can see the deleted file go offline.

Shared Bin Lock Icon Limitation

Occasionally, when two editors attempt to open a shared bin at the same time, both editors
get the green lock icon. However, only one editor really has the lock, and that editor's
machine name appears beside the bin name in both Project windows.

Both editors can modify their copies of the bin, but only the editor that holds the lock, as
indicated in the Project window, can save that bin. The other editor is warned that the bin is
locked but is allowed to save a copy of the changed bin.

Avid recommends that you use the “Save Bin Copy As...” button and continue working.

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Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Unity Environment

Drive Filtering in Networked Workflows

The Drive Filtering and Indexing tab of the Media Creation Settings dialog box includes
three options:

• Filter by Resolution

• Filter by System Drive

• Filter by Launch Drive

For Symphony products and for current versions of Avid Media Composer and Avid
NewsCutter
Avid Media Composer and Avid NewsCutter
enabled, Filter by System Drive disabled, Filter by Launch Drive disabled. This caused
breakages with the networked workflows as media in new projects were being created on the
C: drive instead of the shared storage when using the default Media Creation Settings. To fix
this, all three drive filtering options are enabled by default.

Avid Xpress products and Avid Free DV default to Filtering off because these products
might not have additional drives available, especially if you are working on a laptop.

Any project brought into a networked workflow that was created with any of the filtering

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selections off might have problems with networked media creation, such as “Audio and/or
Video Mixdown” and “SendToPlayback,” because their Media Creation Settings are still
configured for standalone usage.

There are several ways for you to work around this issue. First, adjust the drive filtering
settings when switching environments, either by opening the Media Creation Setting and
switching the drive filtering settings or by creating multiple Media Creation Settings and
switching the active setting whenever you shift environments. If you always work in an
environment that differs from the defaults (for example, an Avid Xpress product always
connected to shared storage), you can create a Media Creation setting that fits your
workflow and add it to your Site Settings so new projects are created with the desired
defaults. For more information, see “Using Site Settings” on page 609.

®

products, these three options are selected by default. Some older versions of

®

products shipped with Filter by Resolution

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1 Working with the Project Window: Advanced

The default values for Filter by Resolution, Filter by System Drive, and Filter by Launch
Drive are as follows:

Product Filter By Resolution

Filter by System
Drive

Filter by Launch
Drive

Symphony products Yes Yes Yes

Media Composer

Ye s Yes Ye s

products

NewsCutter products Yes Yes Yes

Media Station PT Yes Yes Yes

Avi d Xpr ess Pro No No No

Avid Xpress DV No No No

Free DV No No No

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2 Using Tools

The Tools menu in your Avid editing application provides quick access to essential tools that
you can use in your projects. In addition to the tools available from the Tools menu, you can
also add a controller to your system that you can use as an alternative to your keyboard and
mouse for editing footage. These tools are described in the following sections:

• Using the Tools Menu

• Using a Deck Controller

• Deck Controller Window Reference

• The Command Palette

• Using the Avid Calculator

• The Console Window

• Using the Hardware Tool

• External Controllers as Editing Control Surfaces

Using the Tools Menu

You can open any of the most frequently used system tools from the Tools menu.

To open a tool:

t Select Tools > tool name.

Using a Deck Controller

A deck controller provides direct serial or VLXi® V-LA N® control of an Avid-compatible
tape deck at any time during editing. You can cue and screen footage from source tapes in
various edit modes, or when recording a digital cut, without opening the Capture tool.

To open a deck controller:

t Select Tools > New Deck Controller.

The Avid Deck Manager program is initialized, and a new Deck Controller window
opens.

2 Using Tools

Deck Controller Window Reference

Timecode display

Deck controls

Deck Selection
menu

Tape Name button

Timecode indicator

Eject

Logging controls

Mark IN

Mark OUT

Go To Memory button

Close button
Timecode display

Delete Mark IN

Delete Mark OUT

Clear Memory button

Each deck controller includes the following elements:

• The Timecode display provides information about the control status of the tape deck, as
follows:

- If the deck is properly connected and power is on, the deck controller displays

timecode when a tape is mounted.

- If a deck is not properly connected to the system or power is off when you open the

controller, the indicator displays the message “NO DECK.”

- If you turn the deck power off with the deck controller already open, the indicator

displays the message “Power Off.”

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- If you switch the deck control to Local on the VTR, the indicator displays the

message “Local.”

Information on connecting decks and cabling varies depending on the Avid input/output

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hardware device you use. For more information, see “Connecting Cameras, Decks, and
Monitors” in the Help.

• The Timecode indicator flashes green during playback or capture to indicate that the
system is receiving valid timecode from the source tape. If the indicator remains unlit,
the system is not receiving timecode.

• The deck controls provide a standard range of playback capabilities, including fast
forward and rewind, stop and play, step backward and step forward, pause, and eject.

• The Deck Selection menu allows you to specify a deck with deck control parameters
that you can customize in the Deck Settings dialog box. For more information, see

“Deck Configuration Settings” on page 631.

• The deck controller allows you to associate a tape name with the controller by clicking
the Tape Name button and selecting a tape in the Select Tape dialog box. For more
information, see “Selecting a Source Tape” in the Help.

• Logging controls allow you to log IN and OUT marks while cueing your tape.

For more information on logging, see “Logging Directly into a Bin” on page 97.

Marks you set with the deck controller are temporary and allow you to return to
timecode locations entered in the window while screening and cueing a tape. If the
Capture tool is open, however, timecodes logged in the deck controller also appear in
the Capture tool and can be entered into an open bin.

The Command Palette

The Command palette provides a central location for all user-selectable buttons that you can
map to various locations for ease of use. User-selectable buttons allow you to perform a
wide range of commands with a single click of the mouse.

The Command palette organizes buttons by editing function. Tabs are displayed for each
editing function and the buttons that perform those functions are displayed in each tab. The
functions are Move, Play, Edit, Trim, FX (Effects), 3D, CC (Color Correction), MCam
(MultiCamera), Other, and More.

The Command Palette

You can use the Command palette to:

• Map buttons to any Tool palette or the keyboard. See “Mapping User-Selectable

Buttons” on page 71.

• Map menu commands to various buttons and keys. See “Mapping Menu Commands” on

page 72.

• Directly activate a command. See “Activating Commands from the Command Palette”

on page 73.

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2 Using Tools

For information about each button in the Command palette, right-click (Windows) or

n

Ctrl+Shift+click (Macintosh) a button and select What’s This? from the menu.

For more information on logging with the Capture tool, see “Logging Directly into a Bin”

on page 97.

Understanding Button Mapping

Mapping user-selectable buttons allows you to reconfigure Tool palettes, toolbars, or the
keyboard in various combinations to suit different editing needs.

When you map buttons to the keyboard, the mapping might be specific to the current editing

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mode. For example, buttons mapped to the Page Up key or the Page Down key revert to the
default key functions when you enter Effect mode. After you exit Effect mode, the keys return
to the mapped function.

The following are a few examples of mapping buttons:

• Subcataloging clips: You can map the Make Subclip button and other clip management
buttons.

Make Subclip Find Bin Add Locator

70

• Complex layering and effects editing: You can map buttons such as Motion Effect,
Remove Effect, Fade Effect, Render Effect, Cycle Picture/Sound, Quick Transition, and
Grid (which displays Safe Title overlays).

Motion Effect Remove Effect Grid

Fade Effect Render Effect Cycle

Picture/Sound

Quick Transition

• MultiCamera editing: You can map the Quad Split, Swap Cam Bank, and Gang buttons.

Quad Split Swap Cam Bank Gang

When you remap buttons or commands, the system immediately saves your new
configuration in one of the default settings that you can open from the Project window. You
can also save, rename, and recall multiple versions of any of these settings to serve various
purposes.

For more information on multiple settings, see “Working with Multiple Settings” on page

606.

Your Avid editing application saves button configurations as follows:

• Changes to the Keyboard palette are saved in the Keyboard settings.

• Changes to the Tool palette are saved in the Interface settings.

You can change the appearance of the buttons in the Tool palette by using the Interface
settings from the Settings list in the Project window. For more information, see

“Customizing the Avid User Interface” on page 48. You can choose to identify a button’s

function with only an icon or with an icon and letters. For more information, see “Interface

Settings” on page 677.

Mapping User-Selectable Buttons

To map buttons or keys on the keyboard by using the Command palette:

1. Open a window that has a user-selectable button palette by doing one of the following:

t Activate the Playback, Source, or Record monitor in the Composer window.

t Click a button, and drag the Tool palette to open it.

The Command Palette

t Activate the Source/Record monitor or the pop-up monitor, click the Fast Menu

button, and drag to tear off the Tool palette.

t Open a clip in a pop-up monitor.

t Enter Trim mode in the Composer window.

t Open the Keyboard palette from the Settings list in the Project window.

2. Select Tools > Command Palette.

The Command palette opens.

3. Select Button to Button Reassignment at the bottom of the Command palette.

4. Click the tab from which you want to select a user-selectable button.

5. Drag the button from the Command palette to a button location on the other palette.

The Blank Button

The button in the Other tab of the Command palette allows you to replace a defined button
with an undefined button. If you do not need a specific button on the Tool palette, you can
replace this button with a Blank button.

For more information on mapping the Blank button to a new location, see “Mapping

User-Selectable Buttons” on page 71.

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2 Using Tools

Modifier Keys

You can add modifier keys to functions already associated with keys and buttons. The Other
tab in the Command palette contains the following modifier key buttons:

Button Description

For example, on a Windows system, if you map the Add Alt Key button to the Mark IN key
(I key), the function of the I key changes to Go to IN Point (which is equivalent to pressing
Alt+I). For a list of other functions that use modifier keys, select Help > Shortcuts.

After you modify a key or button with a modifier key button, you can use the default function

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of the key or button by pressing and holding the appropriate modifier key while pressing the
key, or by pressing and holding the modifier key while clicking the button.

(Windows) Add Alt Key button

(Macintosh) Add Control Key button

(Macintosh) Add Option Key button

Mapping Menu Commands

You can map menu commands displayed in the menus in your Avid editing application menu
bar directly onto any mappable button location or onto the keyboard. In some cases, you can
avoid using the menus altogether.

Before you can map some commands, you must first establish the condition that enables the

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command. For example, before you can map the Render In/Out command from the Clip
menu, you must first mark IN and OUT points in the Timeline so that the menu command
appears.

To map menu commands:

1. Open a window that has user-selectable buttons by doing one of the following:

t Activate the Source/Record monitor or the pop-up monitor, click the Fast Menu

button, and drag to tear off the Tool palette.

t Open the Keyboard palette from the Settings list in the Project window.

2. Select Tools > Command Palette.

The Command palette opens.

72

3. Select Menu to Button Reassignment.

4. Click a target button on the Keyboard palette or the Tool palette.

The pointer changes to a small white menu.

5. Select the menu command you want to map to the target button.

The initials for the menu command appear on the target button.

Menu command
mapped to a button

Activating Commands from the Command Palette

You can perform a command function directly from the Command palette. For example, you
can click the Play button in the Command palette to play the material in the Source monitor.

To activate a command from the Command palette:

1. Select Tools > Command Palette.

Using the Avid Calculator

The Command palette opens.

2. Select Active Palette at the bottom of the Command palette.

3. Click the tab from which you want to select a command function.

4. Click the button in the Command palette for the function you want to perform.

Using the Avid Calculator

The Avid Calculator helps you calculate video and film durations, and convert timecode and
film key numbers to different formats.

For example, you can:

• Convert drop-frame to non-drop-frame timecode values.

• Convert timecode durations between 30-fps and 25-fps projects.

• Convert a duration in video to the corresponding length in footage and frames for
measuring 35mm film.

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2 Using Tools

To use the Avid Calculator:

1. Select Tools > Calculator.

The Avid Calculator opens.

2. Click the Format menu, and select a format.

3. Make calculations in one of the following ways:

t Click numbers and functions in the Avid Calculator.

t Enter numbers and functions using the numeric keypad.

t Enter numbers and functions using the top row of numbers on the keyboard.

You do not need to enter leading zeros, colons, or semicolons for timecode.

To convert your totals at any time to another format:

t Click the Format menu, and select a different frame code or key number format.

If drop-frame timecode is entered into the calculator while non-drop-frame timecode is
selected in the format menu, the calculator converts the entered timecode to a
non-drop-frame equivalent (and vice-versa).

The Console Window

74

c

The Console window provides a number of features, including:

• Current system information, including your system ID number

• A log of error messages

• Detailed information about sequence segments in the Timeline or about objects in a bin

• A command to display networked drives for use as media drives

• Information after you capture or import

Do not use the programming features of the Console without guidance from Avid
professionals. Contact your Avid Reseller with specific questions. (In North America,
you can contact Avid Customer Support.)

Displaying System Information in the Console Window

To display current system information:

1. Select Tools > Console.

The Console window opens.

2. Scroll in the Console window to view your system information and ID.

The Console Window

Your system ID is on a line beginning

This feature is especially useful for finding the system ID when you need to contact
your Avid Reseller or Avid Customer Support.

System ID:

Reviewing a Log of Errors in the Console Window

To review errors logged to the Console window:

1. When an error occurs, close the message box and select Tools > Console.

2. Scroll through the Console window to find a log of the error to use when you contact
your Avid Reseller or Avid Customer Support.

Getting Information with the Console Window

The Console window provides quick access to bin information such as total duration of
selected clips or total items in a bin including hidden items. You can also use the Console
window to display information about a clip, segment, or sequence in the Timeline.

To get information with the Console window:

1. Select Tools > Console.

The Console window opens.

2. Select the item about which you want information, for example:

t In the Timeline, move the position indicator to the selected clip or segment.

t In the bin, select an object or Ctrl+click (Windows) or Shift+click (Macintosh)

multiple objects.

3. Select File > Get Bin Info or File > Get Position Info.

Information about the clip appears in the Console window.

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2 Using Tools

Using the Console Window to Access Network Drives

Your Avid editing application can access network drives that you have mapped to your Avid
editing system. Once your network drives are mapped, typing the appropriate console
command displays the mapped drive letter in the appropriate tools in the Avid editing
application.

For information about mapping dives to your computer, see your Windows or Macintosh

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documentation.

You do not need to use this feature to access Avid Unity shared network drives.

When the feature is turned on, the mapped drive letter appears in the Target Drive menu.
When you turn the feature off, the mapped drive letter is dimmed. If you quit and restart your
application, the mapped drive letter does not appear in the Target Drive menu.

To make your mapped network drives available:

1. Open the Console window by selecting Tools > Console.

2. In the Console command line, type:

alldrives 1

3. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh).

Network drives are now visible in your Avid editing application.

Typing

alldrives 2

By default, network drives are filtered by resolution when the option Filter Network
Drives Based on Resolution option is selected in the Media Creation settings. For more
information, see “Media Creation Settings” on page 683.

alldrives

in the Console window turns this feature on and off. Typing

restores the default behavior where only media drives are available.

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Using the Hardware Tool

The Hardware tool provides the following information about the system’s hardware
configuration:

• The Drives tab lists each online drive. The shaded portion of the bar graph to the right of
each drive shows the amount of storage space currently filled. The number in the bar
graph indicates the amount of available drive storage space for each drive.

If your system is connected to an Avid Unity network, you see two drives tabs, Local Drives

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and Avid Unity Drives.

• (Windows) The System tab lists the operating system, its version, service pack, and
build, and the physical memory.

• (Macintosh) The System tab lists the operating system, its version, and the physical
memory.

To check the hardware configuration of your Avid system, do one of the following:

t Select Tools > Hardware.

t Click the Info tab in the Project window, and then click Hardware.

Using the Hardware Tool

The Hardware tool opens.

External Controllers as Editing Control Surfaces

Adding a controller to your Avid system provides an alternative to using the keyboard and
mouse for editing footage. Avid supports the following controllers for this purpose:

• Digidesign Command|8™

• Digidesign Digi 002

For information about connecting these controllers, see “Connecting Serial and MIDI Port
Devices” in the Help.

For information about configuring these controllers and using them as editing control
surfaces, see “Using the Digi 002 and the Command|8” on page 396.

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2 Using Tools

78

3 Logging: Advanced

When you import shot log files or log directly into a bin, you provide your Avid editing
application with frame-accurate clip information used to capture the source footage. The
logs you create form the foundation for organizing, tracking, storing, retrieving, and
generating lists of edit information throughout your project. The following topics provide
advanced information for preparing log information:

• Using Avid Log Exchange to Prepare Log Files for Import

• Avid Log Specifications

• Creating an Avid Log

• Double-Checking Log Files

• Logging Directly into a Bin

• Understanding the Pulldown Phase

• Setting the Pulldown Phase

For more information, see “Importing Shot Log Files” in the Help or the Basics Guide for
your Avid editing application.

Using Avid Log Exchange to Prepare Log Files for Import

Log files need to conform to the Avid Log Exchange (ALE) format to be imported into your
Avid editing application. You can use the ALE utility included with your system to quickly
convert shot log files.

The ALE utility allows you to:

• Modify the text in a log file (Windows only).

• Convert log files of different formats to ALE files. See “Log Formats Compatible with

Avid Log Exchange” on page 87.

• Convert an ALE file to either an ATN or FLX file.

Any options you set in the ALE utility are saved each time you close the ALE utility.

3 Logging: Advanced

When you are converting an ATN file that contains multiple sections to an ALE file, multiple
ALE files are created. The Avid Log Exchange window displays only the first ALE file
created. The succeeding ALE files are given the same file name with incremental
numbering. For example, the file Nations1.atn is converted to Nations001.ale,
Nations002.ale, Nations003.ale, and so on. The converted output files are stored in the folder
containing the original input file.

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange (Windows)

To convert a log file to an ALE file:

1. Click the Start button, and select All Programs > Avid > Avid Log Exchange.

The Avid Log Exchange window opens.

2. Do one of the following:

t If the log file is a Final Cut Pro®, Cinema Tools™, or a Tabbed shot log file, select

File > Import > file type.

t If the log file is another file type, such as .flx or .atn, select File > Open.

The Open dialog box opens.

3. Double-click the file you want to convert.

The Import Header Options dialog box opens.

4. Select the information you want to appear in the global settings of the .ale file.

The global settings appear at the top of the .ale file.

5. Click OK.

6. Depending on the type of file you are opening, one of the following occurs:

- If the file type is recognized by the ALE utility, the file appears in the Avid Log
Exchange window.

- If the file type is not recognized, the Select File Type dialog box opens. Select the
type of file you are converting and click OK.

- If the file does not contain the Windows line-ending format, then the Line Endings
dialog box opens. Select an option from the following table.

Option Description

Display & Save Opens the file in the Avid Log Exchange window and changes the file to the

Windows format.

Display Only Opens the file in the Avid Log Exchange window, but does not change the file.

Ignore Displays the file as is without changes.

80

Using Avid Log Exchange to Prepare Log Files for Import

The file appears in the Avid Log Exchange window.

For specific information on the various file types, see “Log Formats Compatible with

Avid Log Exchange” on page 87.

7. Use the Options menu to select the tracks to include in the Tracks column of the log.

The default track selections are Log V, Log A1, and Log A2.

After you import the log into an Avid bin, the system captures all tracks shown in this
column when batch capturing.

The Track selection only works on non-ALE files being converted to ALE format.
When ALE is the incoming format, Track selection does not work.

8. Select Options > Clean if you want ALE to clean the ALE output file to eliminate
overlapping timecodes for clips.

By default, Clean is selected.

When you select Clean, the utility changes the end timecode of a previous event to be
less than that of the following event.

9. If you selected Clean, you can also select Options > Relaxed to prevent the deleting of
events that come earlier in the transfer. Relaxed is not set by default.

For example, if you transfer film footage with a timecode of 2:00:00:00 and then add
some clips at the end with a timecode of 1:00:00:00, Relaxed prevents the deleting of
events that come earlier in the transfer. This occurs when you shoot footage across the
midnight hour, the first half of the film has 24 hours, and the second half has 0 hours.

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3 Logging: Advanced

10. Select Convert > ALE.

The default output selection is the ALE format. This is the required format for import
into an Avid bin.

The Avid Log Exchange window displays the converted ALE file. The converted file has
the same file name as the original file, except the file name extension matches the
converted file format.

11. (Option) Select the original file from the Window menu if you want to convert the file
again using different options.

12. Select File > Close.

If you made changes in the editor, a message box opens.

13. Click Yes.

The converted file is stored in the same folder as the original log file.

Using Drag-and-Drop Conversion for Log Files (Windows)

Use this shortcut to convert files into an ALE file.

If the log file is a Final Cut Pro, Cinema Tools, or a Tabbed shot log file, you cannot use

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drag-and-drop conversion. Use the procedure in “Converting Log Files with Avid Log

Exchange (Windows)” on page 80 to convert files of this type.

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Using Avid Log Exchange to Prepare Log Files for Import

To convert a log file by using drag-and-drop conversion:

1. Check the options that are set in the ALE utility.

See “Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange (Windows)” on page 80. The
current options are used when you perform drag-and-drop conversion.

2. Create a shortcut for the ALE utility.

3. Open the folder that contains the files you want to convert, positioning the folder so the
Shortcut icon for the ALE utility is visible.

4. Select the files you want to convert.

5. Drag the selected files to the Shortcut icon for the ALE utility, and release the mouse
button.

6. Depending on the type of files you are converting, one of the following occurs:

- If the file type is recognized by the ALE utility, a message box opens, indicating the

conversion was successful.

- If the file type is not recognized, the Select File Type dialog box opens. Select the

type of file you are converting and click OK.

- If the file type is an ALE file, the ALE Convert Type dialog box opens. Select a file

type for the converted output file and click OK.

A message box opens, indicating the conversion was successful.

7. Click OK to close the message box.

The converted files have the same file names as the original files, except the file name
extension matches the converted file format.

For example, the .ale file name extension is added to the new file names for the Avid
format. The converted files are stored in the folder containing the original log files.

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3 Logging: Advanced

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange (Macintosh)

You can use the ALE utility included with your system to quickly convert shot logs that are
created during a film-to-tape transfer.

To convert a log file to an ALE file:

1. Select Go > Applications, open the ALE folder, and double-click the ALE icon.

The Avid Log Exchange dialog box opens.

Files you can convert Files you can generate

Clean option

Track selection

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Global Settings
Information

Convert button Quit button

Convert button

2. Select the type of file you want to convert from the Input list.

If you are not sure of the type of file, select the Automatic option. ALE will determine
the type of file based on the file name.

For a list of supported file types, see Log Formats Compatible with Avid Log Exchange.

3. Select the type of file you want to create from the Output list.

The default output selection is the Avid Log Exchange (.ale) format. This is the required
format for import into an Avid bin.

Using Avid Log Exchange to Prepare Log Files for Import

4. Select the tracks to include in the Tracks column of the log.

After you import the log into an Avid bin, the system captures all tracks shown in this
column when batch capturing.

The Track selection only works on non ALE files being converted to ALE format. When
ALE is the incoming format, Track selection does not work.

5. Select the option if you want ALE to clean the ALE output file to eliminate overlapping
timecodes for clips.

When you select Clean, the utility changes the end timecode of a previous event to be
less than the following event.

6. If you selected the Clean option, you can also select the Relaxed option to prevent the
deleting of events that come earlier in the transfer.

Relaxed is not set by default. For example, if you transfer film footage with a timecode
of 2:00:00:00 and then add some clips at the end with a timecode of 1:00:00:00, Relaxed
prevents the deleting of events that come earlier in the transfer. This occurs when you
shoot footage across the midnight hour and the first half of the film has 24 hours and the
second half has 0 hours.

7. Select the global settings information, for example, NTSC or PAL, that you want to
appear in the ALE file.

Global settings appear at the top of the .ale file.

8. Click the Convert button to open the Select File To Convert dialog box.

9. Open the drive and folder that contain the files you want to convert.

10. Double-click the input file name.

If you selected a file type, ALE converts the file immediately.

If you selected the Automatic option, a message box opens and asks you to confirm the
file type.

11. Click the button for the selected file type.

A message box opens.

12. Do one of the following:

t Click the This File Only button to convert only the file you selected to the format

you selected.

t Click the All Files button to convert all files you select in this session to the format

you selected. If you click All Files, the message boxes will not open the next time
you double-click a file.

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3 Logging: Advanced

ALE stores the converted file in the same folder as the original input file.

The original file name extension is replaced by the extension for the new format. The
.ale files can be imported only into Avid products.

Using Drag-and-Drop Conversion for Log Files (Macintosh)

Use this shortcut to convert files into an ALE file.

If the log file is a Final Cut Pro, Cinema Tools, or a Tab Delimited shot log file, you cannot

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use drag-and-drop conversion. Use the procedure in “Converting Log Files with Avid Log

Exchange (Macintosh)” on page 84) to convert files of this type.

To convert a log file by using drag-and-drop conversion:

1. Check the options that are set in the ALE utility.

See “Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange (Macintosh)” on page 84. The
current options are used when you perform drag-and-drop conversion.

2. Navigate to and then open the folder that contains the Avid Log Exchange icon.

3. Open the folder that contains the files you want to convert, positioning the folder so the
Avid Log Exchange icon is visible.

4. Select the files you want to convert.

5. Drag the selected files to the Avid Log Exchange icon, and release the mouse button.

The system converts the files to Avid format, adding the .ale file name extension to the
new file names.

Avid Log Exchange Stores ASC Color Decision List (CDL) Parameters

Avid Log Exchange can now store ASC_SOP (American Society of Cinematographers
Slope, Offset and Power) and ASC_SAT (American Society of Cinematographers
Saturation) parameters.

To view the ASC_SOP and ASC_SAT parameters in the Avid editing application:

1. In the editing application, with a bin in Text view, select Bin > Headings.

2. Click to select ASC_SOP and ASC_SAT.

3. Import the ALE file.

The ASC_SOP and ASC_SAT information appears in the appropriate bin column.

To view the ASC_SOP and ASC_SAT parameters in the EDL application:

1. With the sequence loaded in the Avid editing system, select Output > EDL.

2. In EDL Manager, select Windows > Options.

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Using Avid Log Exchange to Prepare Log Files for Import

3. Select the Comments tab.

4. Enable the Color Decision List option.

5. Select File > Get Current Sequence.

The ASC_SOP and ASC_SAT information appears as part of the edit event.

Log Formats Compatible with Avid Log Exchange

The following table lists the log formats that can be imported directly or converted for
import using Avid Log Exchange (ALE).

Log Format Requirements File Name Extension

AatonBase Conversion required .atn or .atl

Avid Log Import directly .ale

Cinema Tools Conversion required .txt

CMX EDL Conversion required .cmx

Evertz

®

Conversion required .ftl

Excalibur Conversion required .ale or .flx

Final Cut Pro Conversion required .txt

FLEx™ Conversion required .flx

Keyscope Conversion required .ksl

Log Producer™ Conversion required .llp

Log right Import directly .ale

®

OSC/R (Macintosh

OLE (Windows only) Conversion required .odb

Shotlister Import directly .ale

Tab Delimited Conversion required .txt

only) Conversion required .asc

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3 Logging: Advanced

Avid Log Specifications

You can prepare an Avid log on any Windows or Macintosh computer by using a word
processing application or a text editor. You can use the file name extension .txt, but it is not
required.

To ensure accuracy, you must follow the Avid log specifications described in this section.

An Avid log is composed of three sections, in this order:

• Global Titles

• Standard and custom column Titles

• Data Titles

The following topics contain tables that show how to enter Titles and data in these sections
to create an Avid log.

When you create an Avid log, you must follow the order precisely. The tables in these topics
follow this order.

The tables use the following conventions:

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• A Title appears in the first column, without angled brackets or square brackets. For
example, FIELD_DELIM is the first global Title.

• A <supported value> is surrounded by angled brackets. <Alternative supported values>
appear underneath, also in angled brackets. You must enter one of these values. For
example, <29.97> is one of the supported values for the FPS Title; to specify that value,

29.97

type

• A <variable data value> is also surrounded by angled brackets, but it is italicized. For
example, <timecode> is the data entry for the Start Title; type the correct timecode, in
the format

• [Tab] and [Enter] (Windows) or [Return] (Macintosh) keys are surrounded by standard
brackets.

• A column contains the word “Required” if the Title must be included in the log.

• The final column contains notes about the Title or values.

You can decide not to display a defined Title (including a required Title), except for Name.
Name must always be displayed.

The maximum number of combined global, standard, and custom Titles in a log file is 64.

For an example of a simple log file, see “Sample Avid Log” on page 95.

.

08:19:10:00

(or

08;19;10;00

, for drop-frame timecode).

Avid Log Specifications

Global Titles

The global Titles must come first in an Avid log file, and you must enter one value for each
Title.

The following table shows the format for the global Titles and the supported values for each
Title.

GLOBAL Titles: Global Titles are case sensitive and must be spelled exactly as shown. Include all required
Titles. Other Titles are optional but might be necessary for your project. The maximum number of combined
global, standard, and custom Titles in a log file is 64.

Title [Enter] or

[Return]

FIELD_DELIM [Tab] <TABS> [Enter] or

[Return]

VIDEO_FORMAT [Tab] <NTSC>

<PAL>

FILM_FORMAT [Tab] <16mm>

<35mm,3perf>
<35mm,4perf>

AUDIO_FORMAT [Tab] <22kHz>

<24kHz>
<44kHz>
<48kHz>

TA PE [ Tab ] <tape name> [Enter] or

FPS [Tab] <23.98>

<24>
<25>
<29.97>

[Enter] or
[Return]

[Enter] or
[Return]

[Enter] or
[Return]

[Return]

[Enter] or
[Return]

Required This marks the start of the global

Titles.

Required Enter TABS to show that the file is

Tab delimited.

Required

Audio sampling rate for digitizing.
You can override this for
individual clips.

Required Name of the videotape reel you

are logging. If you omit this Title,
the file name becomes the global
tape name. You can override this
for individual clips.

Required Capture rate is 23.98 fps

(23.978 fps) for NTSC, 24 fps for
NTSC or PAL, 25 fps for PAL, or

29.97 fps for NTSC.

[Enter] or
[Return]

Press Enter (Windows) or Return
(Macintosh) a second time after
entering the FPS value. This
marks the end of the global Titles.

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3 Logging: Advanced

Column Titles

The standard column Titles appear after the global Titles in the Avid log file.

You do not enter the data for a column Title along with the Title. You enter the data later, in
a separate data section.

You must include the five required standard column Titles; they are listed first in the
following table.

You can create your own custom column Titles. Enter them after the standard Titles (see the
last Title in the following table). To create a custom Title, substitute the custom Title name
for <Your_Title>. You can create several custom Titles, as long as the total of global,
standard, and custom Titles does not exceed 64.

COLUMN Titles: Column Titles are case sensitive and must be spelled exactly as shown. Note that the first five
Titles are required. Other Titles are optional but might be necessary for your project. This table lists only the
column Titles that are relevant to shot log files. Some data, such as Creation Date, is gathered by the system. The
following table does not include Titles for such data. The maximum number of combined global, standard, and
custom Titles in a log file is 64.

Column [Enter] or [Return] Required Indicates the start of the column Titles.

Name [Tab] Required Title for clip name.

Tracks [Tab] Required Title for tracks you select for digitizing.

Start [Tab] Required Title for video timecode of sync point — the

timecode IN for clip. From address track of
video.

End [Tab] Required Title for timecode OUT for clip. From

address track of video.

Audio [Tab] Title for the audio resolution (sample rate). If

omitted, the global entry for
AUDIO_FORMAT applies.

Auxiliary Ink [Tab] Title for a second ink number used for the

clip.

Auxiliary TC1 [Tab] Title for auxiliary timecode.

Auxiliary TC2 [Tab] Title for auxiliary timecode.

Auxiliary TC3 [Tab] Title for auxiliary timecode.

Auxiliary TC4 [Tab] Title for auxiliary timecode.

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Avid Log Specifications

Auxiliary TC5 [Tab] Title for auxiliary timecode.

Camera [Tab] Title for the camera used to film this clip.

This feature is used in multicamera shoots.

Camroll [Tab] Title for the camera roll ID containing this

clip.

Duration [Tab] Title for timecode Start to timecode End, the

length of the video clip.

FPS [Tab] Title for video frames per second rate for

digitizing the individual clip. If omitted, the
global entry applies.

Film TC [Tab] Title for the timecode used on the film.

Ink Number [Tab] Title for the ink number used for the clip.

KN Duration [Tab] Title for the length of the clip, expressed in

feet and frames.

KN End [Tab] Title for the ending key number for the clip.

KN Start [Tab] Title for the starting key number for the clip.

Labroll [Tab] Title for the lab roll ID for the clip. Lab rolls

are a combination of several camera rolls.

Perf [Tab] Title for the film-edge perforations format

used for 3-perf projects.

Pullin [Tab] Title for the telecine pulldown of the first

frame of the clip (pulldown phase). Pullin can
have the values A, B, C, or D.

Pullout [Tab] Title for the telecine pulldown of the last

frame of the clip (pulldown phase). Pullout
can have the values A, B, C, or D.

Reel # [Tab] Title for the source reel number.

Scene [Tab] Title for the scene number of the clip.

Shoot date [Tab] Title for the date the footage was shot.

Sound TC [Tab] Title for Nagra timecode, Arri code, and so

on, at the sync point. Syncs with the Start
timecode. Required if tracking the sync
sound. Capture rate can be 25 or 30 fps.

Soundroll [Tab] Title for sound roll ID for clip.

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3 Logging: Advanced

TC 24 [Tab] Title for 24-fps timecode.

TC 25P [Tab] Title for 25-fps timecode with pulldown.

TC 25 [Tab] Title for 25-fps timecode.

TC 30 [Tab] Title for 30-fps timecode.

Take [Tab] Title for take ID for clip.

Tape [Tab] Title for source tape ID for the individual clip.

If omitted, the global entry applies.

DESCRIPT [Tab] Title for description of clip.

COMMENTS [Tab] Title for comments about clip.

<Your_Title> [Tab] Add any category of information you want.

Add as many Titles as you want, but do not
use more than a total of 64 global and column
Titles in the file. Press the Tab key between
each Title. Do not press the Tab key after the
last Title.

[Enter] or [Return] [Enter] or [Return] Press [Enter] (Windows) or [Return]

(Macintosh) twice (do not press Tab) after the
last Title.

Data Entries

The data entries come after the Custom column Titles. The following table shows the format
for entering data. Enter a line of data in this format for every clip. Be sure to start the data

Data

section for each clip with the word

DATA Titles: The word Data marks the start of the data for each clip.

Data [Enter] or

[Return]

DATA FOR EACH CLIP: Enter a line of data for each clip. Enter the data so it aligns with its column Title. (The
data that goes with the ninth column Title must be the ninth data entry.) Be sure to enter data for all the required
values. To leave a data position unfilled, press the Tab key instead of typing data. Press Enter (Windows) or
Return (Macintosh) at the end of each line. Your Avid system supports up to four audio tracks in imported and
exported logs.

<clip name> [Tab] Required Under Name Title. Enter a clip identifier (32 characters

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Required Enter the word Data to mark the start of the logged clip entries.

maximum).

[Enter] (Windows) or

Data

[Return] (Macintosh).

Avid Log Specifications

<V>
<VA1>

[Tab] Required Under Tracks Title. Enter the tracks you want captured for the clip.

Enter V for MOS takes. Enter A1, A2, or A1A2 for wild sound.
<VA2>
<VA1A2>
<A1A2>
<A1>
<A2>

<timecode> [Tab] Required Under Start Title. Enter the video timecode for the sync point, the

first frame of the clip. Use colons for non-drop-frame (for

example, 01:00:12:20). Use one or more semicolons for

drop-frame (for example, 01;18;00;02).

<timecode> [Tab] Required Under End Title. Enter the video timecode for the last frame of the

clip.

<22kHz>
<24kHz>

[Tab] Under Audio Title. Enter the audio sampling rate for this clip only.

If omitted, global entry applies.
<44kHz>
<48kHz>

<inknumber> [Tab] Under Auxiliary Ink Number Title. Identify a second ink number

for the start of the clip.

<timecode> [Tab] Under Auxiliary TC Title. Enter a Nagra timecode, Arri code, and

so on, for the sync point. Syncs with the Start timecode.

<camera ID> [Tab] Under Camera Title. Identify the camera, using letters or numbers.

For multicamera shoots.

<camera roll ID> [Tab] Under Camroll Title. Identify the camera roll, using letters and

numbers.

<timecode> [Tab] Under Duration Title. Enter the length of the video clip, Start to

End.

<23.98>
<24>
<25>
<29.97>

[Tab] Under FPS Title. Enter the video capture rate for this clip only. If

omitted, the global entry applies. Use 23.98 fps (23.978 fps) for

NTSC, 24 fps for NTSC or PAL, 25 fps for PAL, or 29.97 fps for

NTSC.

<timecode> [Tab] Under Film TC Title. Identify the timecode used for the film,

usually at 24 fps.

<inknumber> [Tab] Under Ink Number Title. Identify the ink number for the start of

the clip.

<keynumber> [Tab] Under KN Start Title. Identify the complete key number for the

start of the clip, for example, KU 31 2636-8903&12.

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3 Logging: Advanced

<keynumber> [Tab] Under KN End Title. Identify the key number for the end of the

clip. You need to identify only feet and frames, for example,
0342&07.

<keynumber> [Tab] Under KN Duration Title. Identify the length of the clip, in feet

and frames.

<lab roll ID> [Tab] Under Labroll Title. Identify the lab roll, using letters and

numbers.

<1>

[Tab] Under Perf Title. Edit the perf for this clip only.
<2>
<3>

<A>
<B>

[Tab] Under Pullin Title. Identify the telecine pulldown of the first frame

of the clip (pulldown phase). NTSC only.
<X> (matchback
only)
<C>
<D>

<A>
<B>

[Tab] Under Pullout Title. Identify the telecine pulldown of the last

frame of the clip. NTSC only.
<X> (matchback
only)
<C>
<D>

<reel ID> [Tab] Under Reel # Title. Identify the reel, using numbers.

<scene ID> [Tab] Under Scene Title. Identify the scene, using letters and numbers.

<shoot date> [Tab] Under Shoot Date Title. Identify the date the footage was shot, in

numbers or in letters and numbers.

<timecode> [Tab] Under Sound TC Title. Identify the sound timecode at the sync

point. Syncs with the Start timecode.

<sound roll ID> [Tab] Under Soundroll Title. Identify the sound roll, using letters and

numbers.

<timecode> [Tab] Under TC 24 Title. Identify the start of the clip for 24p timecode.

<timecode> [Tab] Under TC 25p Title. Identify the start of the clip for 25p timecode

(PAL pulldown).

<timecode> [Tab] Under TC 25 Title. Identify the start of the clip for 25-fps timecode

(PAL).

<timecode> [Tab] Under TC 30 Title. Identify the start of the clip for 30-fps

timecode.

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Avid Log Specifications

<take ID> [Tab] Under Take Title. Identify the take, using letters and numbers.

<source tape ID> [Tab] Under Tape Title. Enter the source videotape ID for this clip only.

<clip description> [Tab] Under DESCRIPT Title. Describe the clip.

<clip comments> [Tab] Under COMMENTS Title. Comment on the clip.

<information> [Tab] Under the Titles you created yourself, type the appropriate

information.

[Enter] or [Return] Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh) after the last entry

for the clip.

Do not press Tab after the last entry for the clip.

Enter an additional line of data for each remaining clip.

Sample Avid Log

This topic contains a sample Avid log for an NTSC video project.

Formatting keys (such as [Tab] and [Enter] (Windows) or [Return] (Macintosh)) are shown
in brackets.

Heading [Enter]

FIELD_DELIM [Tab] TABS [Enter]

VIDEO_FORMAT [Tab] NTSC [Enter]

AUDIO_FORMAT [Tab] 44kHz [Enter]

TAPE [Tab] 001 [Enter]

FPS [Tab] 29.97 [Enter]

[Enter]

Column [Enter]

Name [Tab] Tracks [Tab] Start [Tab] End [Enter]

[Enter]

Data [Enter]

CU Josh & Mary [Tab] V [Tab] 01:00:00:00 [Tab] 01:15:05:00 [Enter]

CU Josh [Tab] VA1 [Tab] 01:15:06:00 [Tab] 01:20:00:00 [Enter]

Windows

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3 Logging: Advanced

Heading [Return]

FIELD_DELIM [Tab] TABS [Return]

VIDEO_FORMAT [Tab] NTSC [Return]

AUDIO_FORMAT [Tab] 44kHz [Return]

TAPE [Tab] 001 [Return]

FPS [Tab] 29.97 [Return]

[Return]

Column [Return]

Name [Tab] Tracks [Tab] Start [Tab] End [Return]

[Return]

Data [Return]

CU Josh & Mary [Tab] V [Tab] 01:00:00:00 [Tab] 01:15:05:00 [Return]

CU Josh [Tab] VA1 [Tab] 01:15:06:00 [Tab] 01:20:00:00 [Return]

Creating an Avid Log

You can use any word processing application or text editor to create Avid logs. However,
you must save the file as a text document (ASCII format).

Macintosh

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When logging manually, you should do the following:

• Identify the source tape for each shot.

• Document each clip’s name, start timecode, and end timecode.

This is the minimum information required to capture successfully. You can also add other
information such as comments or auxiliary timecodes. You can make a separate log file for
each videotape, or log clips from several different videotapes in one log.

Windows systems ship with a text editor called WordPad.

To open WordPad:

t Click the Start button, and select All Programs > Accessories > WordPad.

®

Mac OS

To open Text Edit:

X systems ship with a text editor called TextEdit.

t Select Go > Applications, and double-click TextEdit.

Double-Checking Log Files

To create a text document in TextEdit:

t Select Format > Make Plain Text.

To create an Avid Log by using a word processor or text editor:

1. Enter shot log information according to the specifications described in “Avid Log

Specifications” on page 88.

2. Save your file as a text file in the Save As dialog box.

You can use the file name extension .txt, but it is not required.

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The Avid editing application only accepts text files (ASCII format).

After you double-check the log, import it into your Avid editing application. For more
information, see “Importing Shot Log Files” in the Help.

Double-Checking Log Files

When importing shot logs for video, your Avid editing application compares the video
duration to the video out minus the video in. When importing film shot logs, the system
compares the key number out minus the key number in.

If the system detects a discrepancy, it reports the error to the Console and does not bring the
clip into the bin. The best way to ensure that clips are not discarded on import is to
double-check the logs for discrepancies in duration and marks.

Open the Console by selecting Tools > Console. For more information, see “The Console

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Window” on page 74.

Logging Directly into a Bin

You can log clips directly into a bin by using the Capture tool in one of two ways described
in this section:

• Log directly into a bin with an Avid-controlled deck for semiautomated data entry.

• Log manually during or after viewing of footage offline with a non-Avid-controlled
deck or other source.

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3 Logging: Advanced

Tips for Logging Preroll, Logging Timecode, and Naming Tapes

Observe the following important guidelines for preroll, timecode formats, and naming of
tapes when logging prior to capturing.

Logging Preroll

Be sure to leave adequate preroll with continuous timecode prior to IN points when logging
your tapes. The recommended minimum preroll is 2 seconds for Betacam® playback,
5 seconds for 3/4-inch U-matic® playback, and 6 seconds for DV playback.

You set the default preroll for tape playback by using the Preroll menu in the Deck Settings

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dialog box. For more information, see “Deck Settings” on page 631.

Logging Timecode

Within an NTSC project, check the timecode format of each tape (drop-frame versus
non-drop-frame timecode) when you are logging without a tape in the deck. Log drop-frame
timecode by using semicolons (;) between the hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. Log
non-drop-frame timecode with colons (:). You can set the timecode format to use in the Deck
Preferences Settings dialog box. For more information, see “Deck Preferences Settings” on

page 633.

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To change the logged timecode format, select Clip > Modify. For more information, see

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“Modifying Clip Information” on page 203.

Naming Tapes

When entering tape names in the Capture tool, consider the following:

• Tape names must be alphanumeric characters (A to Z, 0 to 9). They can include
uppercase and lowercase characters. The maximum length of a name is 32 characters.

• It is possible to have a single tape listed as several different tapes if you alter the case of
the letters. For example, if you type a single name as TAPE, Tape, and tape on three
different occasions, all three names appear. This can cause significant problems in
keeping track of clips when batch capturing, recapturing, and generating an EDL. Select
a case convention and maintain it throughout a project.

Logging Directly into a Bin

If you want your Avid system to consider master clips as coming from the exact same tape,

n

you should try to select that tape name from the Select Tape dialog box. If you do not see the
tape you are looking for, but know you have online media from that tape, you should click the
Scan for Tapes button. For more information, see “Logging with Avid-Controlled Decks” on

page 99.

• It is important that you devise a naming scheme for your tapes. For example, tapes with
similar names can be easily sorted and viewed together in a bin. However, it can be
difficult to distinguish among numerous tapes with similar names when trying to locate
a specific tape quickly. Name tapes based upon the amount and complexity of your
source material.

c

Modifying tape names and timecodes affect any key numbers entered for the selected
clips.

• If you are planning to generate an edit decision list (EDL) for import into an edit
controller for online editing, double-check the controller’s specifications beforehand.
Some edit controllers truncate source tape names to as few as six characters, while
others eliminate characters and truncate to three numbers. Alterations like these at the
EDL stage might cause the system to identify different source tapes with similar names
in the same way, causing you to lose track of source material.

Logging with Avid-Controlled Decks

When you log with a compatible tape deck controlled from within your Avid editing
application, you can automate part of the logging process by using buttons to enter
frame-accurate timecode information from the deck. This method is more accurate than
manual entry because timecodes are transferred directly from tape to the bin.

.For information about connecting a compatible deck to your system, see “Connecting

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Cameras, Decks, and Monitors” in the Help.

To log clips directly into a bin from an Avid-controlled deck:

1. Make sure the deck is properly connected and turned on.

2. Open the bin where you want to store the clips.

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3 Logging: Advanced

3. Select Tools > Capture.

The Capture tool opens. Playback from the deck is displayed in the Client monitor.

Mark IN
button

Channel
Selection buttons

Deck Selection
pop-up menu

Capture/Log Mode button

Source Tape
Display button

If you forget to connect and turn on the power to the deck before opening the Capture
tool, you can reinitialize deck control after turning it on by clicking the Deck Selection
menu, and selecting Check Decks.

4. If the Capture tool is not currently in Log mode, click the Capture/Log Mode button
until the LOG icon appears.

5. Click the Deck Selection menu, and select a deck.

For more information, see “Selecting a Deck in the Capture Tool” in the Help.

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