Pinnacle Systems NewsCutter - 9.5 User's Guide

Avid® NewsCutter
Editing Guide
®
Legal Notices
Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Avid Technology, Inc.
This product is subject to the terms and conditions of a software license agreement provided with the software. The product may only be used in accordance with the license agreement.
Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following United States Patents: 5,267,351; 5,309,528; 5,355,450; 5,396,594; 5,440,348; 5,467,288; 5,513,375; 5,528,310; 5,557,423; 5,577,190; 5,584,006; 5,640,601; 5,644,364; 5,654,737; 5,724,605; 5,726,717; 5,745,637; 5,752,029; 5,754,851; 5,799,150; 5,812,216; 5,828,678; 5,842,014; 5,852,435; 5,959,610, 5,986,584; 5,999,406; 6,038,573; 6,057,829, 6,069,668; 6,141,007; 6,211,869; 6,336,093, 6,532,043; 6,546,190; 6,596,031;6,728,682, 6,747,705; 6,763,523; 6,766,357; 6,847,373; 7,081,900; 7,403,561; 7,433,519; 7,441,193, 7,671,871; 7,684,096; D352,278; D372,478; D373,778; D392,267; D392,268; D392,269; D395,291; D396,853; D398,912. Other patents are pending.
Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following European Patents: 0506870; 0635188; 0674414; 0752174; 0811290; 0811292; 0811293; 1050048; 1111910; 1629675. Other patents are pending.
This document is protected under copyright law. An authorized licensee of NewsCutter may reproduce this publication for the licensee’s own use in learning how to use the software. This document may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, for commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this document or providing support or educational services to others. This document is supplied as a guide for 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 © 2010 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.
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This Software may contain components licensed under the following conditions:
Copyright (c) 1989 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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.:
© 2010 Nexidia Inc. All rights reserved, worldwide. Nexidia and the Nexidia logo are trademarks of Nexidia Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All Nexidia materials regardless of form, including without limitation, software applications, documentation and any other information relating to Nexidia Inc., and its products and services are the exclusive property of Nexidia Inc. or its licensors. The Nexidia products and services described in these materials may be covered by Nexidia's United States patents: 7,231,351; 7,263,484; 7,313,521; 7,324,939; 7,406,415, 7,475,065; 7,487,086 and/or other patents pending and may be manufactured under license from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation USA.
The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:
Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.
The following disclaimer is required by Ray Sauers Associates, Inc.:
“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code equivalent of “Install-It,” including by reverse assembly or reverse compilation, Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. shall in no event be liable for any damages resulting from reseller’s failure to perform reseller’s obligation; or any damages arising from use or operation of reseller’s products or the software; or any other damages, including but not limited to, incidental, direct, indirect, special or consequential Damages including lost profits, or damages resulting from loss of use or inability to use reseller’s products or the software for any reason including copyright or patent infringement, or lost data, even if Ray Sauers Associates has been advised, knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages.
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The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:
“Videomedia, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.”
“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by Videomedia, Inc. and V-LAN ver. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use of this software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players and the like.”
The following disclaimer is required by Altura Software, Inc. for the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample Source Code:
©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, 192 I/O, 96 I/O, 96i I/O, Adrenaline, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AME, AniMatte, Archive, Archive II, Assistant Station, AudioPages, AudioStation, AutoLoop, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Active, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel, Avid DNxHD, Avid DS Assist Station, Avid Liquid, Avid Media Engine, Avid Media Processor, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, Avid Remote Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, AvidRAID, AvidShare, AVIDstripe, AVX, Axiom, Beat Detective, Beauty Without The Bandwidth, Beyond Reality, BF Essentials, Bomb Factory, Boom, Bruno, C|24, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Cineractive Engine, Cineractive Player, Cineractive Viewer, Color Conductor, Command|24, Command|8, Conectiv, Control|24, Cosmonaut Voice, CountDown, d2, d3, DAE, Dazzle, Dazzle Digital Video Creator, D-Command, D-Control, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, Digi 003, DigiBase, DigiDelivery, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Development Partners, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, Digidesign TDM Bus, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiPanner, DigiProNet, DigiRack, DigiSerial, DigiSnake, DigiSystem, Digital Choreography, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTest, DigiTranslator, DigiWear, DINR, DNxchange, DPP-1, D-Show, DSP Manager, DS-StorageCalc, DV Toolkit, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, EM, Euphonix, EUCON, EveryPhase, Expander, ExpertRender, Fader Pack, Fairchild, FastBreak, Fast Track, Film Cutter, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, Frame Chase, FXDeko, HD Core, HD Process, HDPack, Home-to-Hollywood, HYBRID, HyperControl, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, iKnowledge, Image Independence, Impact, Improv, iNEWS, iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelligent Content Management, Intelligent Digital Actor Technology, IntelliRender, Intelli-Sat, Intelli-sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, InterFX, Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS Expander, ISIS, IsoSync, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, KeyRig, KeyStudio, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, LFX, Lightning, Link & Sync, ListSync, LKT-200, Lo-Fi, Luna, MachineControl, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move | media, Marquee, MassivePack, Massive Pack Pro, M-Audio, M-Audio Micro, Maxim, Mbox, Media Composer, MediaFlow, MediaLog, MediaMatch, MediaMix,
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Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaServer, MediaShare, MetaFuze, MetaSync, MicroTrack, MIDI I/O, Midiman, Mix Rack, MixLab, Moviebox, Moviestar, MultiShell, NaturalMatch, NewsCutter, NewsView, Nitris, NL3D, NLP, Nova, NRV-10 interFX, NSDOS, NSWIN, Octane, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, Ozone, Ozonic, Painterly Effects, Palladium, Personal Q, PET, Pinnacle, Pinnacle DistanTV, Pinnacle GenieBox, Pinnacle HomeMusic, Pinnacle MediaSuite, Pinnacle Mobile Media, Pinnacle Scorefitter, Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio MovieBoard, Pinnacle Systems, Pinnacle VideoSpin, Podcast Factory, PowerSwap, PRE, ProControl, ProEncode, Profiler, Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered, Pro Transfer, Pro Tools, QuickPunch, QuietDrive, Realtime Motion Synthesis, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger, Reel Tape Saturation, Reprise, Res Rocket Surfer, Reso, RetroLoop, Reverb One, ReVibe, Revolution, rS9, rS18, RTAS, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, Scorefitter, ScriptSync, SecureProductionEnvironment, Serv|LT, Serv|GT, Session, Shape-to-Shape, ShuttleCase, Sibelius, SIDON, SimulPlay, SimulRecord, Slightly Rude Compressor, Smack!, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter, Solaris, SoundReplacer, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie, StreamRAID, Strike, Structure, Studiophile, SubCap, Sundance Digital, Sundance, SurroundScope, Symphony, SYNC HD, Synchronic, SynchroScope, SYNC I/O, Syntax, TDM FlexCable, TechFlix, Tel-Ray, Thunder, Titansync, Titan, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab, TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, tools for storytellers, Torq, Torq Xponent, Transfuser, Transit, TransJammer, Trigger Finger, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Velvet, Video the Web Way, VideoRAID, VideoSPACE, VideoSpin, VTEM, Work-N-Play, Xdeck, X-Form, Xmon, XPAND!, Xponent, X-Session, and X-Session Pro are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
Adobe and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Apple and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Windows is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
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.
Avid NewsCutter Editing Guide • 0130-07973-02 • December 2010
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Contents

Using This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Accessing the Goodies Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Avid Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 1 Starting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Turning on Your Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Working with the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Starting Your Avid Editing Application (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Working with Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Setting Project-Naming Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Opening and Closing Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Deleting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Quitting and Turning Off Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Changing Project and User Names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Backing Up Your Project Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Avid Attic Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Using Toolsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 2 Working with the Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Overview of the Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Controlling Project Window Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Using the Bins Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Using the Settings Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Using the Format Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Working with Color Spaces in HD Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Changing the Project Color Space for an HD Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Using the Info Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Managing Bins and Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Understanding User Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Managing User Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Customizing the Avid User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
User-Customized Workspaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Shared Storage Environment . . . . . . . . 85
Chapter 3 Using Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using the Tools Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using a Deck Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Deck Controller Window Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The Command Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Using the Avid Calculator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Using The Console Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Using the Hardware Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
External Controllers as Editing Control Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Chapter 4 Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Using Avid Log Exchange to Prepare Log Files for Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Avid Log Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Creating an Avid Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Double-Checking Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Logging Directly into a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Understanding the Pulldown Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Setting the Pulldown Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Chapter 5 Preparing for Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Logging and Shot Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Importing Shot Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Preparing the Hardware for Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Selecting Settings for Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Configuring Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Understanding Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Connecting a DV Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Setting Up the Capture Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
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Preparing to Capture Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Preparing to Capture Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Capture Preparations Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Chapter 6 Capturing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Capturing and Logging at the Same Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Capturing Directly from a DV Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Capturing Audio from a Music CD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Frame Chase Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Batch Capturing from Logged Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Recapturing and Decomposing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Alternate Source Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Using Capture Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Handling Errors During the Capture Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Creating Subclips While Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Adding Locators On-the-Fly While Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Naming a New Tape from the Keyboard While Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Controlling Decks from the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Adding Extra Text Fields in the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Ejecting Tapes with a Button or Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Using Dolby E Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Delaying Audio During Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Working in Quick Record Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Capturing in Satellite Mode or No Device Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Scheduling a Capture Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Capturing to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Capturing Video Without Pulldown into a 24p NTSC Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Remote Play, Capture, and Punch-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Modifying the Pulldown Phase After Capturing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
DV and HDV Scene Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Using the Panasonic VariCam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Chapter 7 Importing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Preparing to Import Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Creating and Modifying Import Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
9
Importing Media Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Importing with Multichannel Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Importing Audio Files from a Music CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Adjusting Gain Before Importing Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Sample Rate Conversion and Audio Import. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Setting Sample Rate Conversion Options Before Importing Audio Files . . . . . . . . 278
Photoshop Graphics Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Digital Bars and Tone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Importing Color Bars and Other Test Patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Importing Editcam Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Setting XDCAM Import Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Importing XDCAM Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Importing XDCAM EX Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Automatically Importing Proxy Media from an XDCAM Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Importing Proxy Media from an XDCAM Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Copying XDCAM Proxy Media to a Local Drive or a Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Manually Importing XDCAM Media from the XDCAM Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Importing Essence Marks as Locators in XDCAM Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Editing XDCAM Proxy Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Batch Importing High-Resolution XDCAM Media from the XDCAM Disk. . . . . . . . 297
Editing and Finishing High-Resolution XDCAM Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Importing P2 Clips and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Importing Sequences from Pro Tools through Interplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Using the Drag-and-Drop Method to Import Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Reimporting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Batch Import Dialog Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Chapter 8 Working with Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Object Icons in Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Bin Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Bin Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Working with Bin Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Modifying Clip Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Working with Film Information in Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
10
Working with the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Creating a Storyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Setting the Bin Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Sifting Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Working with Restricted Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Printing Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Chapter 9 File Based Media - AMA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
XDCAM and XDCAM EX Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
P2 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Canon XF Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
GFCAM Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
RED Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
QuickTime Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
MXF Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
The Avid Media Access (AMA) Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Workflows for Editing with AMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Chapter 10 Managing Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Working with Media Files in an Avid Interplay Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Using Avid Editing Systems in an Avid LANshare Workgroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Viewing Media with a 100Base-T Connection to Avid ISIS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Understanding Drive Mounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Mounting and Unmounting Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Using the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Consolidating Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Using the Consolidate Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Using the Transcode Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Loading the Media Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Refreshing Media Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Deleting Unreferenced Clips and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Backing Up Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Finding a Related Media File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Relinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Unlinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
11
Archiving and Restoring Media Files to Videotape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Sequence and Clip Information Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
Chapter 11 Viewing and Marking Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Viewing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
Customizing Monitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
Using the Info Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
Using the Timecode Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Playing Video to the Client Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Activating and Deactivating the Client Monitor Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Selecting the Video Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
Playing Video to a Full-Screen Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Adjusting the Play Delay Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Using the Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Playing Selected Clips in a Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Loading and Clearing Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
Controlling Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
Playing Back to a DV Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
Video Quality Options for Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
Setting the Video Quality for Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
Marking and Subcataloging Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
Using Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
Finding Frames, Clips, and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
Sequence and Clip Information Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
Chapter 12 PhraseFind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Selecting your Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Starting an Audio (Phonetic) Find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
The Results Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
Filtering Your Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Find Window Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
Chapter 13 Creating and Editing Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Creating a New Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Making a First Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Creating an Instant Rough Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
12
Undoing or Redoing Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Editing Additional Clips into the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Mixing Frame Rates and Field Motion Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
Mixing Frame Sizes and Aspect Ratios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Refreshing Sequences to Use Current Clip Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Lifting, Extracting, and Copying Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Adding Comments to Sequence Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
Playing Back a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Understanding Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Fixing Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
Understanding Sync Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
Ganging Footage in Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
Autosyncing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568
Understanding AutoSequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
Adding Audio or Video to Original Videotape Using AutoSequence . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
Working with Phantom Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
Creating Video and Audio Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
Using MetaSync to Synchronize Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Chapter 14 Script-Based Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
Understanding Lined Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
Script Integration — Lining in the Digital Realm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578
Understanding the Script Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580
Working with the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
Working with Script Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
Working with Page or Scene Numbers and Searching in a Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
Linking Clips to a Script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Interpolating Position for Script Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
Working with Slates in the Script Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
Working with Takes in the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
Indicating Off-Screen Dialog in a Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
Using Color Indicators in the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
Script Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
Finding Clips and Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
13
Editing From the Script Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
Chapter 15 Using the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Customizing Timeline Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
Navigating in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
Working with Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
Working with Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
In to Out Highlighting in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Editing in Heads or Heads Tails View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Performing a Quick Edit Using the Top and Tail Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660
Working with Add Edits (Match Frames) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
Dupe Detection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Editing with the Film Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
Finding Black Holes and Flash Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
Printing the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
Chapter 16 Working with Trim Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
Trimming with the Timeline Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
Understanding Trim Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
Trim Settings Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
Timeline Trim States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
Selecting Trim Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
Overwrite Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
Ripple Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
Dual-Roller Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
Refining Trims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
Reviewing Trim Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
Trimming with the J-K-L Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
Trimming On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
Trimming During a Playback Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
Creating Overlap Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
Extending an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
Maintaining Sync While Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
Slipping or Sliding Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Trimming in Two Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
14
Chapter 17 Working with Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693
Overview of Audio Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
Working with Multichannel Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696
Displaying Track Formats in Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
The Track Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
Using Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
Audio Displays in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706
Displaying Audio Formats in Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Working with Surround Sound or 5.1 Audio
(Avid Nitris DX and Avid Mojo DX Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
Adjusting the Play Buffer Size for Audio (Software-only Models) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
Using the Audio Mixer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
Rendering and Unrendering Order for Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
Audio Gain Staging and an Audio Editing Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
Using Clip Gain and Pan Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
Using Automation Gain and Pan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
Using Live Mix Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
Fading and Dipping Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
Audio Sample Rate Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
Changing the Audio Sample Rate for Sequences and Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
Mixing Down Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
Splitting Stereo Tracks to Mono Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
Using the Audio EQ Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
Recording Voice-Over Narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
Using Automatic Voice-Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Chapter 18 Using External Audio Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
Using an External Fader Controller or Mixer to Record Automation Gain . . . . . . . 782
Adjusting the Volume or Pan of Individual Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
Using the 002 and the Command|8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
Using Mbox Family Audio Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794
Configuring USB-to-MIDI Software for External Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
Avid Pro Tools|HD Native Hardware Configuration for
Avid Editing Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
15
Using a GPI Device with the Audio Punch-In Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805
Chapter 19 Using Avid Artist Series Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
Installing EuControl Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
Configuring Avid Artist Series Controller Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
Configuring Ethernet Connections (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
Configuring EuControl Settings (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
Artist Series Controller Button Mappings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820
Customizing Avid Artist Series Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822
Moving Through Footage with Artist Series Controllers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
Automation Gain and Pan on Artist Series Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
Recording Automation Gain and Pan with Artist Series Controllers. . . . . . . . . . . . 827
Using the Latch Mode Feature on Artist Series Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
Chapter 20 Using Audio Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
Real-Time AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
Avid AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
Core Avid Audio Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
Chapter 21 Exporting Frames, Clips, or Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
Understanding Export. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922
Preparing to Export a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923
Exporting With the Send To Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 924
Send To Templates Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 928
Creating a Custom Send To Template for Exporting to
Third-Party Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930
Exporting With the Export Command or the Drag-and-Drop Method. . . . . . . . . . . 932
Customizing Export Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
Guidelines for Exporting OMFI and AAF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936
Exporting Projects and Bins Using AFE Files (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940
Exporting QuickTime Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941
Installing or Copying the Avid Codecs for QuickTime on Other Systems . . . . . . . 943
Exporting from a Third-Party QuickTime or AVI Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
Exporting as Windows Media (Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
Creating a Custom Profile for Windows Media Export (Windows Only). . . . . . . . . 946
Exporting Media to XDCAM Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 947
16
Exporting to XDCAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948
Exporting Your Clip or Sequence to a P2 Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950
Exporting as Windows Media Using a VC1 Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951
Using Avid Interplay Media Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952
Chapter 22 Generating Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
Preparing for Output: Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
Selecting the Device for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954
Selecting the Sync Source for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955
Selecting a Video Output Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958
Calibrating for Video Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958
Preparing for Converting HD Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965
Preparing for Audio Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
Preparing Record Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
Enabling Assemble-Edit Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
Using ExpertRender to Prepare Effects for a Digital Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
Using the Digital Cut Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978
Output Mode Resolution Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 987
Outputting DV 50 and DVCPRO HD Media Directly to a DV Device . . . . . . . . . . . 989
Selecting Output and Timecode Formats for 23.976p and 25p Projects . . . . . . . . 990
Selecting Output Formats for 23.976p and 25p Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
Output Format Reference for 23.976p and 25p Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
Selecting the Timecode Format for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994
Outputting Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame Timecode
Simultaneously for Downstream Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
Indicating the Destination Timecode Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
Selecting the Video Pulldown Cadence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996
Digital Cuts and Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996
Changing the Default Pulldown Phase for Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
Understanding DV Digital Cut Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998
Delaying the Sequence for a Digital Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
Understanding Passthrough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
Vertical Blanking Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000
Preserving HD Closed Captioning and Ancillary Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
17
Chapter 23 Transferring Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
Transferring Project and Media Files Between Avid Editing Systems . . . . . . . . . 1019
Chapter 24 Using the NRCS Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025
Configuring the NRCS Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026
Starting the NRCS Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1032
NRCS Tool Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033
Using the Directory Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036
Changing the Text Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039
Editing Story Text (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039
Finding the Read Time of a Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
Sequences and Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
Associating a Sequence with a Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
Adjusting the Story Timing (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
Using Associated Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
Saving Changes to a Story (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
Using the Post to Web Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054
Sending and Receiving NRCS Mail (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
Disconnecting from Your NRCS Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069
Chapter 25 Working with Avid Interplay from an Avid Editing System . . . . . . . . 1071
Working with Interplay and Remote Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1071
Administrator Settings for Avid Editing Clients. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073
Using the Interplay Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074
Connecting to the Avid Interplay Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076
Editing with Remote Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081
Managing Remote Assets with the Interplay Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094
Finding Remote Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114
Capturing Media to Interplay Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118
Connecting to Avid Shared Storage and Mounting Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1120
Dos and Don’ts for Editors Working with Avid Interplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1128
Chapter 26 Using Interplay Transfer to Export Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133
Installing the Interplay Transfer Client Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1134
Setting Transfer Settings in the Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135
Transferring Avid Assets from an Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143
18
Transferring Avid Assets to a Playback Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143
Monitoring Transfers from Within the Avid Editing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
Chapter 27 Using MultiRez and Dynamic Relink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151
Understanding MultiRez and Proxy Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151
Acquiring Media at Multiple Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153
Understanding How Clips are Associated with Multiple Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . 1157
Options for Clip and Media Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158
Understanding Dynamic Relink. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
Workflow: Editing a Film or HD Project using MultiRez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164
Considerations When Working with Dynamic Relink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170
Using the Dynamic Relink Settings Dialog Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171
Relinking in Frame Chase Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179
Using the Relink Dialog Box in an Avid Interplay Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179
Displaying Whether Media Is Available for Dynamic Relinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181
MultiRez Button Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1186
MultiRez Bin Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188
Understanding Options for Deleting MultiRez Clips and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1190
Deleting MultiRez Clips and Media from a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192
Working with Partially Online Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193
Quality Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196
Chapter 28 MultiCamera Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203
Understanding Grouping and Multigrouping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203
Creating Group Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204
Creating Multigroup Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1205
MultiCamera Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206
MultiCamera Editing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1212
Selective Camera Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1217
Chapter 29 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219
Understanding Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220
Working with Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223
Options for Moving User Settings Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229
Summary of Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229
AMA Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1232
19
Audio Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233
Audio Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1234
Bin Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1240
Capture Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241
Communication (Serial) Ports Tool Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1247
Controller Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1247
Correction Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1248
Deck Configuration Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249
Deck Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250
Deck Preferences Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251
Dynamic Relink Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253
Effect Editor Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256
Email Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258
Export Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259
Full Screen Playback Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1284
General Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285
Grid Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1287
Import Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1289
Interface Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1295
Interplay Folder, Interplay Server, and Interplay User Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1296
Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1298
Marquee Title Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1298
Media Creation Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299
Media Services Settings (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1302
Mouse Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1302
NRCS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1303
PortServer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1305
Remote Play and Capture Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1306
Render Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307
Safe Colors Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1309
Script Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1310
Sound Card Configuration Settings
(Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1311
20
Timeline Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1311
Transfer Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1314
Trim Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1316
Video Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1316
Video Input Tool Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1318
Video Output Tool Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1319
Video Satellite Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1323
Workspace Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1323
Chapter 30 File Format Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325
Specifications for Graphics (Image) Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325
Specifications for Animation Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331
Specifications for Importing OMFI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332
Working with BWF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1333
Field Ordering in Graphic Imports and Exports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1338
Chapter 31 Resolutions and Storage Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341
Compression and Avid Editing Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341
Monitor Display Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1342
Resolution Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343
Support for Uncompressed HD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1355
Mixing Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356
Resolution Groups and Image Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356
Estimating Drive Space Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357
Storage Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1358
Considerations for Managing Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1367
Chapter 32 Working in High-Resolution Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1369
Delivery Methods for Film & Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1370
Film Workflows: Editing Footage from Film Reel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371
Checklist: Editing Film Reel Footage in Media Composer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1373
Transferring Film to Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1375
Film Workflows: Editing Footage from Digital Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1385
Checklist: Editing Digital Film Footage in Media Composer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1387
HD Workflow: Video-Based Television . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1390
Producing Graphics for Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1391
21
Creating a Film-Based Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1392
Editing with High-Resolution Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1396
Working with RED Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1401
Editing with Low-Res RED Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1402
Color Management with RED Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1405
Working with HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1405
Understanding HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1406
HDV Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1407
Capturing and Importing HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1408
Playing Back HDV Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1409
Outputting HDV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1410
Raster Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1415
Raster Sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1417
Chapter 33 International Character Support (ICS) in Avid
Editing Applications 1419
Choosing a Locale on an English Language Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1419
Using a Local Language Operating System
(Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1420
Non-English Character Support (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1420
Non-English Character Support (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1423
Using Foreign Keyboard Mapping (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1427
Considerations for International Character Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1428
Chapter 34 Using the MCS3 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1433
Configuring MCS3 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1433
Default MCS3 Button Mappings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1437
Moving Through Footage with the MCS3 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1438
Using the MCS3 for Editing Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1439
Troubleshooting the MCS3 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1440
Chapter 35 Setting Up the Matrox MX02 Mini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1441
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1443
22

Using This Guide

This guide contains the task-oriented instructions, conceptual information, and reference information you need to use the features of your Avid editing application. The contents of this guide is 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 Mac OS 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. Therefore, your
n
system might not contain certain features and hardware that are covered in the documentation.

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:
®
X operating systems. The majority of screen shots in this document were captured
®
and
Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action
n
c
w
> This symbol indicates menu commands (and subcommands) in the
A note provides important related information, reminders, recommendations, and strong suggestions.
A caution means that a specific action you take could cause harm to your computer or cause you to lose data.
A warning describes an action that could cause you physical harm. Follow the guidelines in this document or on the unit itself when handling electrical equipment.
order you select them. For example, File > Import means to open the File menu and then select the Import command.
This symbol indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple arrows in a list indicate that you perform one of the actions listed.
Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action
(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 are shipped 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.
24
- 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 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 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.

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.
Accessing the Goodies Folder
For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications, courseware, and books, please visit www.avid.com/support and follow the Training links, or call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843).
25
26

1 Starting a Project

Your work begins when you turn on your system, start your Avid editing application, and open an existing project or create a new project. The following topics describe procedures for starting your work, as well as several techniques to safeguard and restore your work if necessary:
Turning on Your Equipment
Working with the Desktop
Starting Your Avid Editing Application (Windows)
Working with Projects
Quitting and Turning Off Equipment
Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders
Changing Project and User Names
Backing Up Your Project Information
Avid Attic Folder
Using Toolsets

Turning on Your Equipment

Avid recommends that you turn on your equipment in the following order:
1. Storage devices.
2. Peripheral devices (such as monitors and speakers).
3. Computer system.
4. Avid input/output hardware device.
Do not disconnect devices while you run your Avid editing application. Before you start your
n
Avid editing application, make sure you connect all your devices first.
1 Starting a Project

Working with the Desktop

You can use some of the desktop navigation features of your operating system to speed your work or customize for your convenience while you edit. You can:
Control how the Windows taskbar appears on the screen (Windows only).
Use the Macintosh Dock as a quick way to launch your Avid editing application (Macintosh only).
Use shortcut menus (also sometimes known as context menus) to quickly access editing commands.
Use standard keyboard shortcuts to navigate and select options in dialog boxes and menus.
Use the mouse scroll wheel for navigation and customize mouse button functions.
You also use the desktop for backups and transferring projects, as described in “Backing Up
Your Project Information” on page 53 and “Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders” on page 39.
For information on the Windows desktop and icons, see your Microsoft® documentation. For
n
information on the System Folder and the desktop and icons, see your Macintosh documentation.

Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows Only)

By default, the Windows taskbar always appears on the bottom of your screen, on top of your Avid editing application. You have two other choices:
Keep the taskbar hidden behind your Avid editing application
Set the taskbar to appear only when you drag the mouse pointer to it
If you keep the taskbar hidden while you run your Avid editing application and you minimize an application such as Help, you do not see the minimized icon in the taskbar.
For more information about the taskbar, see the Windows Help.
You can also drag the taskbar to the top, bottom, or either side of the monitor.
n
When you work in your Avid editing application, you can minimize windows (such as the Project window and bins). The icons appear in your Avid editing application window, not in the taskbar.
To see the taskbar and minimized icons:
t Minimize your Avid editing application.
28
To change the taskbar settings:
1. Right-click an unused part of the taskbar, and select Properties.
The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box opens.
2. Select the options you want:
t To keep the taskbar hidden, deselect “Keep the task bar on top of other windows”
and “Auto hide the task bar.”
t To set the taskbar to appear when you want, select “Keep the task bar on top of
other windows” and “Auto hide the task bar.”
3. Click OK.

Using Shortcut Menus

In addition to standard menus to find a command you need, you can use shortcut menus. Shortcut menus show the most frequently used commands for a window or a screen object.
Most shortcut menus contain a What’s This? command to access Help for the window or the object.
To use a shortcut menu:
Working with the Desktop
t Right-click a window or a screen object.

Using the Keyboard for Navigating in Dialog Boxes and Menus

To navigate in dialog boxes and menus and to select and deselect options:
Option Command
To move from tabbed page to tabbed page within a dialog box.
To move from check box to check box or from option to option in a dialog box.
To select or deselect a check box or an option in a dialog box.
To move up or down in a menu, or increment a numeric value.
Press Page Up or Page Down.
Press Tab.
Press Right Arrow, Left Arrow, or the space bar.
Press Up Arrow or Down Arrow.
29
1 Starting a Project

Using the Mouse Scroll Wheel for Navigating

You can use the mouse scroll wheel to navigate in your Avid editing application, as described in the following table. You can also set the speed to scroll with the mouse wheel, and assign functions to three additional mouse buttons, as described in “Customizing Mouse
Functions” on page 30.
Option Command
To scroll through items in a window or function area with a vertical scroll bar (such as a bin).
To move the position bar one frame at a time in the Timeline.
To move the position bar 10 frames at a time in the Timeline.
To move the slider one unit at a time in a tool or window containing a slider (such as the Effect Editor).
To move the slider 10 units at a time in a tool or window containing a slider (such as the Effect Editor).

Customizing Mouse Functions

Your Avid editing application lets you set the speed of scrolling with the mouse wheel, and lets you assign functions to three additional mouse buttons.
When you map mouse buttons, make sure that the modifier key that you assign to the button
n
and command does not already have an alternate function.
You cannot assign functions to the standard left and right mouse buttons.
Press Ctrl (Windows) or Control (Macintosh) + scroll wheel.
Press Ctrl (Windows) or Control (Macintosh) + scroll wheel.
Press Ctrl (Windows) or Control (Macintosh) + Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) + scroll wheel.
Press Ctrl (Windows) or Control (Macintosh) + scroll wheel.
Press Ctrl (Windows) or Control (Macintosh) + Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) + scroll wheel.
30
Working with the Desktop
To set the mouse scroll speed:
1. In the Project window, click the Settings tab, and then double-click Mouse.
The Mouse Settings dialog box opens.
2. Select a speed from the Vertical Scroll Speed menu.
Normal is the default setting. Normal scrolls one item at a time. Moderate scrolls two items at a time, and Fast scrolls four items at a time.
To assign functions to additional mouse buttons:
1. In the Project window, click the Settings tab, and then double-click Mouse.
The Mouse Settings dialog box opens.
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. Click the mouse, and drag the button from the Command palette to a button location on the Mouse Settings dialog box.
31
1 Starting a Project

Optimum Performance (Windows XP)

Background tasks can interrupt time-critical operations, such as capturing, playing, or rendering. Make sure that background tasks are not running while you work on your Avid editing system.
The following list contains suggestions for ensuring optimum performance when working with your Avid editing application on a Windows XP system:
It is required to turn off File Sharing. If you do not do this, you might receive Access Denied errors after you move files.
In My Computer > Select Tools > Folder Options > View, deselect Use simple file sharing (Recommended).
Disable CPU throttling.
In Control Panel > Power Options > Power schemes, select Always On.
Do not enable the Windows Display setting “Show window contents while dragging.” This setting hinders redraw performance on the Avid editing system.
In Control Panel > Display > Appearance tab > Effects, deselect Show window contents while dragging.
Enable setting to adjust for best performance.
In Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings, select Adjust for best performance.
Disable Hibernation in the Power options.
In Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate, deselect Enable hibernation.
Set automatic updates to Notify you but don’t automatically download.
In System > Automatic Updates, select “Notify me but don’t automatically download them or install them.”
Turn off the firewall for Avid Interplay.
In Control Panel > Windows Firewall > General, select Off.
Do not leave the Console window open when you edit. The Avid editing system performance slows considerably when the Console window is open.
Do not leave a Windows Explorer window open. Windows Explorer attempts to update file information.
Do not leave an e-mail application open if it is set to do periodic checks for mail.
Do not run any application that periodically “wakes up” and performs an action.
Disable screen savers.
32
Working with the Desktop
Do not keep media on the same partition where you install your Avid editing application. Avid recommends external media drives.
Always use small fonts with the display driver to avoid missing characters in the dialog boxes in your Avid editing application.
After you move a drive from one system to another, restart your system. Windows does not recognize the drive until you restart.
Ensure you do not accidentally delete locked items from your desktop.
Right-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and then, in Properties > Global tab, select Display delete confirmation dialog.
When you advance by single frames through the Timeline, deselect Render On-the Fly to enable faster response time.
In your Avid editing application, deselect Clip > Render On-the-Fly.
Do not name files with special characters (/ \ : ? ” < > | *). Windows does not recognize special characters in file names. Bin names are limited to 27 characters (not including the four characters reserved for the file name extension).
Do not schedule automatic backups at times when your Avid editing system might be in use.
Do not run any application that includes prescheduled or automatically scheduled activities, such as a calendar program.
Do not leave other applications running. Some applications, such as Microsoft Office, run background processes.
Do not allow the Find Fast background process (find.exe) to run. The process tries to update its cache of file and folder locations. Check your Startup folder, and delete the file if it is there. To locate the find.exe, select Start > Search > find.exe.

Optimum Performance (Windows Vista and Windows 7)

The following list contains suggestions for ensuring optimum performance when working with your Avid editing application on a Windows Vista or Windows 7 system:
It is required to turn off File Sharing. If you do not do this, you might receive Access Denied errors after you move files.
In Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > File Sharing, select Turn off File Sharing.
Disable CPU throttling.
In Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options, select High Performance.
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1 Starting a Project
Do not enable the Windows Display setting “Show window contents while dragging.” This setting hinders redraw performance on your Avid editing system.
In Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization > Window Color and Appearance > Effects, deselect Show window contents while dragging.
Enable setting to adjust for best performance.
In Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System > Advanced System Settings > Performance Settings, select Adjust for best performance.
Disable Desktop compositing.
In Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System > System Protection > Advanced tab > Performance Setting, deselect Enable desktop composition.
Disable Windows Defender.
In Control Panel > Security > Windows Defender > Tools > Options > Administrator Options, deselect Use Windows Defender > Save.
Disable Sidebar.
Right-click the Sidebar or Sidebar icon on your desktop > Properties > Deselect Start Sidebar when Windows starts > Right click icon and select Exit.
Disable Hibernation in the Power options.
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In Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Power Options > Change when the computer sleeps > Put the computer to sleep, select Never.
Set automatic updates to Notify you but don’t automatically download.
In Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Windows Updates > Change settings, select “Notify me but don’t automatically download them or install them.”
Turn off the firewall for Avid Interplay.
In Control Panel > Security > Windows Firewall, select Turn Windows Firewall on or off.
Do not leave the Console window open when you edit. The performance of your Avid editing system slows considerably when the Console window is open.
Do not leave a Windows Explorer window open. Windows Explorer attempts to update file information.
Do not leave an e-mail application open if it is set to do periodic checks for mail.
Do not run any application that periodically “wakes up” and performs an action.
Disable screen savers.
Do not keep media on the same partition where you install your Avid editing application. Avid recommends external media drives.
Working with the Desktop
Always use small fonts with the display driver to avoid missing characters in the dialog boxes in your Avid editing application.
After you move a drive from one system to another, restart your system. Windows does not recognize the drive until you restart.
Ensure you do not accidentally delete locked items from your desktop.
Right-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop > Properties > General tab > Display delete confirmation dialog.
When you advance by single frames through the Timeline, deselect Render On-the Fly to enable faster response time.
In your Avid editing application, deselect Clip > Render On-the-Fly
Do not name files with special characters (/ \ : ? ” < > | *). Windows does not recognize special characters in file names. Bin names are limited to 27 characters (not including the four characters reserved for the file name extension).
Do not schedule automatic backups at times when your Avid editing system might be in use.
Do not run any application that includes prescheduled or automatically scheduled activities, such as a calendar program.
Do not leave other applications running. Some applications, such as Microsoft Office, run background processes.
Do not allow the Find Fast background process (find.exe) to run. The process tries to update its cache of file and folder locations. Check your Startup folder, and delete the file if it is there. To locate the find.exe, select Start > Search > find.exe.

Optimum Performance (Macintosh)

The following list contains suggestions for ensuring optimum performance when working with your Avid editing application on a Macintosh system:
Do not select the option that puts the hard disk to sleep when possible.
In System Preferences > Hardware Energy Saver, deselect Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible.
Set sleep options to Never in Energy Saver preference.
In System Preferences > Hardware Energy Saver, select Never.
Disable screensavers.
In System Preferences > Personal Desktop & Screen Saver > Screen Saver, select Never.
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1 Starting a Project

Antivirus Applications

Antivirus programs that contain autoscanning features can interfere with the operation of your Avid editing application. Since virus scanning is a processor-and disk-intensive activity, it can interfere with capturing and playing real-time effects in your Avid editing application.
Avid recommends you do not scan files or schedule any background tasks such as virus scanning when you use your Avid editing application.
File deletion protection utilities also consume system resources and could interfere with the proper operation of your Avid editing application. These utilities automatically back up any files that you delete, even temporary files that you create and delete with your Avid editing application. This consumes a large amount of disk space.

Starting Your Avid Editing Application (Windows)

By default, your Avid editing application is located in the following folder:
drive:\Program Files\Avid\Avid editing application
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The installation process adds a desktop icon and a pointer to your Avid editing application in the Start menu.
Your Avid editing application does not start properly if you move the application file from the Avid editing application folder.
If you install your Avid editing application on a laptop computer, a dialog box might open with a message about incompatible power management schemes. Avid recommends you use the “Always On” power scheme for Windows XP and the “High Performance” power option for Windows Vista or Windows 7 when you work with Avid editing applications. Other power schemes might affect performance of editing functions (for example, capture and digital cuts).
To start your Avid editing application, do one of the following:
t Click Start > All Programs > Avid > Avid editing application.
t Double-click the Avid editing application desktop icon.
After your Avid editing application starts, the Select Project dialog box opens. For more information on the Select Project dialog box, see “Working with Projects” on page 37.

Working with Projects

When you start the editing application, the system displays the project log in window. Amongst other settings, you can determine the location of the project. Media Composer allows you work with projects in a private location or one that can be shared with other users.
The best choices for a shared structure are either Shared or External. These types of projects are created in a common location, making it easier for the Administrator to locate and delete old projects.
If you are working with projects created on local drives, then note the following:
A local project resides on the C: drive of the Avid editing system.
If the connection between the Avid editing system and shared storage is lost, the project and its contents are unlikely to become corrupt as a by-product.
You cannot login to the project from another workstation. The exception is if you are in an Interplay environment. In this case, you (or other users) must go to the Interplay Projects folder to locate the contents created in this project.
From an administration standpoint, you must clean these projects up or archive them from each editing system. At a large site this can become time consuming and needs to become part of the Administrator’s workflow.
Working with Projects
For information on the files and folders that your Avid editing application creates as part of a project, see “Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders” on page 39.
You should also back up your project information regularly to a separate storage device, as described in “Backing Up Your Project Information” on page 53.
Private
A Private Project is stored locally. It can be accessed only by the user currently logged on to the editing machine. On a Windows system, a Private Project is always stored under the user’s Documents directory. An administrator may be able to access this project if they have read/write permission to the user’s directory.
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1 Starting a Project
Private Project, under the My Documents/Avid Projects folder
Shared
A Shared Project is stored locally. It can be accessed by any user that can log on the editing machine. On a Windows system, a Shared Project is always stored in the machine’s Shared Documents directory.
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Shared Project, under the Shared Avid Projects folder
Working with Projects
External
An External Project can be saved to any directory, either local or remote. Depending on the file-system permissions set on the selected folder, other users or an administrator may or may not be able to access the project. The external option is particularly useful when you want to save the project on shared network drive to make project maintenance easier.
Avid does not support sharing bins in an Interplay environment. If you create projects on
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shared storage, do not allow editors to work in the same bin at the same time. This can result in data loss or media corruption. Instead of sharing bins, editors should use the Interplay Window to collaborate and share material.
External Project, the editor can specify the location

Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

When you create a new project or user profile, your Avid editing application creates files and folders in the Avid Projects and the Avid Users folders.
For more information about moving projects, see “Transferring Project and Media Files
Between Avid Editing Systems” on page 1019.
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1 Starting a Project
Locations of Avid Project Folders
By default, the system installs two Avid Projects folders:
Private Shared
Windows drive:\Documents and
Settings\Windows login name\Documents\Avid Projects
Macintosh Macintosh HD/Users/Mac login
name/Documents/Avid Projects
Locations of Avid Users Folders
drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\Shared Avid Projects
Macintosh HD/Users/Shared/Avid editing application/Shared Avid Projects
The Avid Users folder is located in the application folder:
Windows Vista or Windows 7
Windows XP drive:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Avid editing application\Avid Users
Macintosh Macintosh HD/Users/Shared/Avid editing application/Avid Users
(Windows only) The location of the Avid Users folder depends on the installation path for
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your Avid editing application.
Files and Folders Created For Projects
drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\Avid editing application\Avid Users
When you create a new project, your Avid editing application creates a folder with the name that you entered when you created the project. The following three files are stored within the project folder:
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A project file (.avp)
A project settings file (.avs)
A bin file (.avb)
The project folder and the three files all use the project name you provide. The project folder is stored in the Avid Projects folder.
Your project settings are initially set to the default values. As you create additional bins for the project (see “Creating a New Bin” on page 62), additional bin (.avb) files are added to the project folder.
Files and Folders Created For User Profiles
1
2
5
3
4
6
7
When you create a new user profile, your Avid editing application creates a folder for the user and two files that are stored within the user folder:
A user profile file (.ave)
A user settings file (.avs)
The user folder and the two files all use the user profile name you provide. The new folder is stored in the Avid Users folder.

Select Project Dialog Box

The Select Project dialog box lets you find and open a project, create a new project, or establish user profiles.
Working with Projects
Element Description
1 User Displays the login name of the user currently logged into the system. To change to a
different user, log out and log in as that user.
2 Folder Displays the path of the current folder. This path determines which projects appear in
the project list and where a new project is created.
You cannot type into the User or Folder text boxes.
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1 Starting a Project
Element Description (Continued)
3 User Profile Displays the name associated with the current settings. By default your Avid editing
application uses the login name. The list button changes profiles or creates a new one. For more information, see “Understanding User Profiles” on page 74.
4 Project list Displays a list of the Avid projects in the currently selected folder. Double-click a
project to open it.
5 Browse button Lets you navigate to a different folder. The projects in this folder appear in the project
list. See “Opening and Closing Projects” on page 46.
6 Folder buttons The button you select will set the location where you can browse or create projects.
Private: Local folder for the user currently logged in.
Shared: Local folder that is visible to all users that have accounts on this system.
External: Local or remote folder that any other users may have access to depending on the file permissions set on this folder.
For more information, see “Working with Projects” on page 37.
7 New Project button Opens the New Project dialog box to create a new project.

Project Types

The following table lists the format options available for your project. Depending on the model of your Avid editing application, your format options might not include all items listed here.
Project Type Source Footage Transfer Color Space
23.976p NTSC For film-originated or video-originated footage that has been shot at
23.976 fps or film-originated footage transferred on digital videotape (such as Digital Betacam
25i PAL For PAL video-originated footage (25 fps) YCbCr
25p PAL For 25-fps film footage transferred to PAL videotape YCbCr
30i NTSC For NTSC video-originated or other 30-fps footage transferred to NTSC
videotape
720p/23.976 For film-originated material transferred to videotape. YCbCr
720p/25 For video-originated material that can be captured, edited and output for
HD broadcast. It can also be captured in DVCProHD format.
)
YCbCr
YCbCr
YCbCr
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Creating a New Project

Project Type Source Footage Transfer (Continued) Color Space
720p/29.97 For video-originated material. Can be directly captured, edited, and output
for HD broadcast.
720p/50 For HDV broadcast (European broadcast). YCbCr
720p/59.94 For video-originated material. Can be directly captured, edited, and output
for HD broadcast.
1080p/23.976 For film footage transferred to videotape, or high-resolution files from
digital film cameras.
1080p/24 For film footage transferred to videotape, or high-resolution files from
digital film cameras. True 24-fps editing.
1080p/25 For film footage transferred to videotape, or high-resolution files from
digital film cameras.
1080i/50 For video-originated material, or high-resolution files from digital film
cameras. Can be directly captured, edited, and output for HD broadcast.
1080i/59.94 For video-originated material, or high-resolution files from digital film
cameras. Can be directly captured, edited, and output for HD broadcast.
Some older versions of Avid editing applications provided HD project types based on HDV
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requirements. In current versions of Avid editing applications, these are replaced by
YCbCr
YCbCr
YCbCr RGB
YCbCr RGB
YCbCr RGB
YCbCr RGB
YCbCr RGB
standard HD projects that let you specify the raster dimensions for editing and playback.
Creating a New Project
You can open a project in any format. The settings you choose for your project will dictate the format and settings for all sequences within this project.
To create a new project:
1. Start your Avid editing application.
The Select Project dialog box opens.
For more information, see “Select Project Dialog Box” on page 41.
2. In the Select Project dialog box, select the folder in which you want to create the project: Private, Shared, or External — see Working with Projects.
3. Click New Project.
The New Project dialog box opens.
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1 Starting a Project
4. Type the name of your new project in the text box.
Project names may be given certain conventions — see “Setting Project-Naming
Conventions” on page 46.
5. Click the Format menu and select a project format that matches your media and delivery requirements.
The rest of the options might change depending on the project format you choose.
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Example of the New Project dialog box
6. Set the following additional option(s), where applicable:
Option SD HD
Aspect Ratio Select either
4:3 or 16:9
The project uses the aspect ratio setting to determine the display setting in the monitors, and as a factor in determining whether material requires resizing or repositioning in sequences. For more information, see “Mixing Frame Sizes and
Aspect Ratios” on page 549
Raster Dimension
N/A The Raster Dimension menu appears only for HD projects on a
Always uses the 16:9 aspect ratio.
supported system. For more information,
Creating a New Project
Option SD HD
Color Space N/A Specifies the color space for some HD project types, either RGB 709
or YCbCr 709. For more information, see “Project Types” on
page 42 and “Working with Color Spaces in HD Projects” on page 69.
Film Available for 23.976p, 24p, 25p, 720p, and 1080p film projects.
Click the Film button and select a format for film gauge tracking from the Default Film Type menu.
Audio Transfer Rate
Matchback Available for 25i PAL, 30i NTSC, 720p, and 1080i Matchback projects only. Select
Matchback, then click the Film button and select a format for film gauge tracking from the Default Film Type menu. The Matchback item appears only if your Avid editing application includes the Matchback option
Available for 24p PAL projects. For more information, see “Audio
Transfer Options for 24p PAL Projects” on page 1382.
7. Click OK.
Your Avid editing application creates the new project files and folder, and then returns to the Select Project dialog box. The project name is highlighted in the Projects list.
8. Double-click the project name to open the project.
The Project window, the Source/Record monitor, and the Timeline open with the User settings loaded.
Project name and user name in the title bar (left) and Close button (right) in the Project window
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1 Starting a Project

Setting Project-Naming Conventions

The system limits bins and project names to 27 characters, not including the period and 3-character extension that the system automatically adds to a file name. If you plan to move bins and projects from one platform to another, do not use the characters / \ : * ? “ < > | or leading spaces, trailing spaces, or trailing periods, when you name a project, bin, and user.
(Macintosh only) If you use your Avid editing application as a standalone editor (and don’t plan to move your bins or projects to another platform), you can extend bin and project names to 31 characters. You can also choose to accept or not accept the Windows compatible file naming convention of special characters and spacing.
To use Windows compatible file names
1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.
The Settings list appears.
2. Double-click General Settings.
3. Select Use Windows compatible file names.
This prevents your Avid editing application from accepting the restricted characters in a bin, project, or user name.
To extend project and bin names to 31 characters (Macintosh only)
1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.
The Settings list appears.
2. Double-click General Settings.
3. Select Allow files names to extend 27 characters.
This extends the names of projects and bins to 31 characters.

Opening and Closing Projects

You can open a project from the Select Project dialog box, and navigate from the Select Project dialog box to find any project on your system.
If you have already created a project, when you enter your Avid editing application you can bypass the Select Project dialog box and have your last project open automatically.
If you choose to install the sample startup project and media when you install your Avid editing application, you can open this project from the Select Project dialog box. The startup project, called Avid Boston Project DV25, contains a complete sequence with rendered effects and titles, as well as all the video and audio clips used in the sequence.
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Opening and Closing Projects
Use the startup project to learn how to edit with your Avid editing application, before you capture any media of your own. You can explore the sequence in the Timeline to learn how it is assembled, and use the clips to practice viewing and editing techniques described in this guide.
If a sequence that was created in an older version of an Avid editing application contains
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effects or color corrections, you might need to update the sequence. If a sequence requires updating, the Update Sequence dialog box might open when you load the sequence. For more information, see “Updating and Reverting Existing Effects in Sequences” in the Help.
To open an existing project:
1. In the Select Project dialog box, select the folder in which the project is located: Private, Shared, or External.
For more information, see “Select Project Dialog Box” on page 41.
2. Do one of the following:
t Select a project in the Select Project dialog box, and then click OK.
t Double-click a project name in the Projects list.
The Project window, the Source/Record monitor, and the Timeline open with the User settings loaded. The title bar of the Project window contains the project name and the user profile selected in the Select Project dialog box.
To browse for a project in a location other than the default Shared and Private folders:
1. Start your Avid editing application.
The Select Project dialog box opens.
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1 Starting a Project
Browse button in the Select Project dialog box
2. Click the Browse button.
The Browse for Folder (Windows) or Project Directory (Macintosh) dialog box opens.
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Opening and Closing Projects
3. Navigate to the folder that contains the project you want.
4. Click OK (Windows) or Choose (Macintosh).
5. Select a project in the Projects list.
6. Click OK.
The Project window, the Source/Record monitor, and the Timeline open with the User settings loaded. The title bar of the Project window contains the project name and the user profile selected in the Select Project dialog box.
The next time you open the Select Project dialog box, the path you selected will be displayed when you click the External button.
To open a project automatically:
1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.
The Settings list appears.
2. Double-click any Interface setting.
The Interface Settings dialog box opens.
3. Click the General tab, select “Automatically Launch Last Project at Startup,” and then click OK.
The next time you start your Avid editing application, it opens your last project.
To turn off the automatic opening of projects so that you can select another project when you start your Avid editing application:
1. Deselect “Automatically Launch Last Project at Startup,” and then click OK.
2. Quit your Avid editing application and restart it.
The Select Project dialog box opens.
3. Select a project and click OK.
The Project window, the Source/Record monitor, and the Timeline open with the User settings loaded.
To open the startup project:
1. In the Select Project dialog box, click the Shared folder button.
2. Double-click Avid Boston Project DV25 in the Project list.
The Avid Boston Project DV25 project opens.
The footage in the Avid Boston Project DV25 project is shot in 16:9 aspect ratio. To view the
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footage correctly in monitors, click the Format tab in the Project Window and set aspect ratio to 16:9.
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1 Starting a Project
3. In the Format tab of the Project window, ensure that Aspect Ratio is set to 16:9.
The footage in the Avid Boston Project DV25 project is shot in 16:9 aspect ratio.
4. Use the Bins tab in the Project window to open one or both of the bins in the project:
- Boston Seq DV25 contains a complete sequence
- Boston Project source contains all the video and audio clips in the project
For more information on opening bins, see “Opening and Closing Bins” on page 63.
To close the current project, do one of the following:
t With the Project window active, select File > Close Project.
t Click the Close button in the Project window.

Deleting a Project

To delete a project:
1. Start your Avid editing application.
The Select Project dialog box opens.
2. Click the project you want to delete.
3. Press the Delete key.
4. If you see a message asking if you want to delete the selected project and associated bins, click OK
The deleted project no longer appears in the Select Project dialog box.
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Deleting a project also deletes any bins that are in that project.
Media related to a deleted project is not deleted with the project folder. For more
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information on deleting media files, see “Deleting Items from a Bin” on page 322 and
“Deleting Media Files with the Media Tool” on page 423.

Quitting and Turning Off Equipment

If you work in an Avid shared storage environment, your Avid editing application writes a media database file (.mdb) to the workspace where you work. Before you quit your Avid editing application, make sure that the workspace has approximately 50 MB of storage space available. Ask your Avid shared storage administrator to increase the space if you need more storage.
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Quitting and Turning Off Equipment
To quit your Avid editing application and leave it immediately:
t (Macintosh) Select Avid editing application > Quit Avid editing application.
t (Windows) Select File > Exit.
The project closes and your Avid editing application quits.
To quit your Avid editing application and view the Select Project dialog box:
1. Click the Close button at the far right (Windows) or at the far left (Macintosh) of the Project window’s title bar.
The Select Project dialog box opens.
2. Click Quit.
A message box opens.
3. Do one of the following:
t Click Leave to quit your Avid editing application.
t Click Cancel to return to the Select Project dialog box and select another project.
To view remaining storage on your media drives:
1. Click the Info tab in the Project window, and then click Hardware.
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The Hardware tool opens.
2. Click the appropriate drive tab.
For more information, see “Using the Hardware Tool” on page 104.
Quit your Avid editing application before you turn off your equipment.
To turn off your equipment:
1. Turn off the system by doing the following:
For a Windows system:
a. Click the Start button, and select Shut Down.
The Shut Down Windows dialog box opens.
b. Click the menu, and select Shut down.
c. Click OK.
For a Macintosh system:
t Select Apple menu > Shut Down.
2. If you have an Avid input/output device attached to your system, turn it off.
3. Turn off peripheral devices (such as monitors and speakers).
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1 Starting a Project
4. Turn off external storage devices.
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Never remove media drives from your Avid system when it is turned on. Shut down the computer, and then remove the drives.
5. Turn off all other hardware.

Changing Project and User Names

You cannot change project or user names from within your Avid editing application. You must change the names from your desktop before you start your Avid editing application. For information about the location of the Avid Projects and Avid Users folders, see “Avid
Projects and Avid Users Folders” on page 39.
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When you change a user name or a project name, make sure you change the name of the folder and all the files in the folder that have the old name. Your Avid editing application does not automatically change the names of corresponding files in the folder.
To change a project name or user name:
1. Navigate to the Avid Projects or Avid Users folder, and then double-click the folder to open it.
2. Click the name of the folder you want to change.
The name highlights.
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3. Type the new name of the folder.
4. Double-click the folder with the new name to open it.
The folder contains profile, settings, and project files with the old name.
5. Change the old name of each file to the new name.
Do not change the name of the file MCState.avs in the Avid Users folder.
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6. Close the windows, and restart your Avid editing application.
The new project name or user name appears in the Select Project dialog box.

Backing Up Your Project Information

Backing Up Your Project Information
Although your Avid editing application automatically saves your bins, projects, and settings, you should back up these items frequently. Because the storage requirements are minimal, you can back up these files to a variety of storage devices, such as:
•USB (thumb) drive
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
Network storage device (such as a file server)
Mass-storage device
To back up the larger media files created when you capture footage, use a high-capacity
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storage device. For information on backing up media files, see “Backing Up Media Files”
on page 437.
To save your work on a drive or on removable media:
1. Mount the drive or insert the storage media (USB drive, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM).
2. (Windows only) From the Windows desktop, double-click the My Computer icon.
3. Double-click the icon for the destination storage drive or storage media to open it. Double-click any additional folders to target the appropriate storage location.
4. Navigate to the folder that contains the project folder or the user folder you want to save.
5. Drag a project folder or a user folder to the targeted storage location.
6. When the system finishes copying the files, unmount the drive or eject the media and store it.
To restore a project or user information from a backup storage device:
1. Mount the drive or insert the removable media that contains the backup copies you want to restore.
2. From the desktop, double-click the icons for the drive or storage media and for the internal hard drive (Windows) or for the Macintosh HD (Macintosh).
3. Drag the copies from the storage device to the appropriate folder on the internal hard drive (Windows) or
When you start your Avid editing application, the restored project and user profile appear in the Select Project dialog box.
If you restore a single bin or bins, you must relink them to the project from within the Project
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window. For more information, see “Opening and Closing Bins” on page 63.
Macintosh HD/Users/Shared
(Macintosh).
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Avid Attic Folder

The Avid Attic folder contains backup files of each bin in a project. You retrieve files from the Avid Attic folder in the following circumstances:
When you want to replace current changes to a sequence or clip with a previous version
When the current bin file becomes corrupted
For information on retrieving files from the Avid Attic folder, see “Retrieving Files from the
Avid Attic Folder (Windows)” on page 54.
For information on setting automatic save features, see “Saving Bins” on page 66.
(Macintosh only) If you deselected the “Allow filenames to exceed 27 characters” option in
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the General Settings dialog box, you cannot retrieve a backup file with a file name larger than the 27-character limit. You must rename the file before you retrieve it.
The Avid Attic folder contains a folder for each project. Each project folder contains a Bins folder. When a bin is saved, a folder with the bin’s name is created in the Bins folder and a copy of the bin file is stored in the folder with the bin name. The system adds the file name extension .bak plus a version number to the bin’s file name. The bin file with the highest version number represents the latest copy of the bin file.
When you view a bin folder in Details view (Windows) or List view (Macintosh), you can also identify the most recent backup file based on the timestamp of creation displayed in the Modified column (Windows) or Date Modified column (Macintosh).
The oldest backup file is overwritten only if the second-oldest backup file is more than
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2 hours old.

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder (Windows)

To retrieve a file from the Avid Attic folder:
1. Minimize your Avid editing application.
2. From the desktop, double-click the Avid Attic folder, located in:
(Windows XP)
Documents\Avid editing application
(Windows Vista or Windows 7)
editing application
The Avid Attic folder opens and displays a folder for each project.
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drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared
.
drive:/Users/Public/Public Documents/Avid
.
Avid Attic Folder
3. Double-click a project folder, and then double-click the Bins folder.
The Bins folder opens and displays a folder for each bin in the project.
4. Double-click the folder for the bin you want to retrieve.
5. If the bin folder is not already in the Details view, select View > Details.
The bin folder displays the backup bin files and their creation dates. A backup bin file has the same name as the bin, with a number appended. For example, a bin named Source Clips might have backup bin files named Source Clips.1 and Source Clips.2.
6. Select the backup bin file or files you want to retrieve.
7. Ctrl+drag the selected backup bin files to the desktop.
This makes a copy of the files, leaving the original files in the Avid Attic folder.
To copy backup files to a new bin:
1. Click the taskbar item for your Avid editing application to restore it.
If the taskbar is hidden, see “Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows Only)” on page 28.
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2. Click the Project window to activate it, and click the Bins tab to display the Bins list.
3. Select File > Open Bin.
4. From the Files of Type list, select All Files (*.*).
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1 Starting a Project
5. Navigate to the desktop, select one of the backup bin files you copied, and click Open.
The backup bin opens. When you open a backup bin, a link to the backup bin on the desktop is created in the Other Bins folder.
Your Avid editing application does not allow a bin and a copy of a bin to be open at the same
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time. You must keep all other bins closed and open the backup bins one at a time.
6. Create a new bin.
For example, if you are retrieving clips from a backup bin called Source Clips.2, you can call the new bin Source Clips New.
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7. Select the material you want to keep from the backup bin, and drag the files to the new bin.
8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 for any other backup bin files you copied to the desktop.
9. Select and delete the backup bins in the Other Bins folder.
10. Drag the backup bin files on the desktop to the Recycle Bin.

Using Toolsets

You can use predesigned work environments (toolsets) that are suited to your most common tasks:
•NRCS
•Capture
•Edit
Effects Editing
Audio Editing
Color Correction
You can change the toolset workspace, restore it to the default arrangement, or link it to other settings. For example, you might want each toolset to appear with a different color scheme. You can also customize the NRCS toolset.
You can link the current toolset to custom User settings, or link several toolsets to named settings but leave the other toolsets linked to a default, unnamed setting.
To open a toolset, do one of the following:
Using Toolsets
t Select Toolset > toolset.
t Press one of the following key combinations:
Press To view
Shift+F8 NRCS toolset
Shift+F9 Capture toolset
Shift+F10 Edit toolset
Shift+F11 Effects Editing toolset
Shift+F12 Audio Editing toolset
Any open tools close, and the screen changes to display windows appropriate to the toolset task.
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1 Starting a Project
To customize the toolset workspace:
1. For the toolset you want to customize, select Toolset > toolset.
2. Open other tools with which you want to work, and position them where you want them.
3. Select Toolset > Save Current.
The next time you select the customized toolset, it appears with your changes.
To remove your customizations:
t Select Toolset > Restore Current to Default.
To link a toolset to another setting:
1. For the toolset you want to link, select Toolset > toolset.
2. Select Toolset > Link Current to.
The Link Toolset dialog box opens.
3. Click the Links to Current Toolset menu, and select Link to Named Settings.
4. Type the name of the other setting to which you want to link the toolset.
For more information about creating and naming custom settings, see “Working with
Settings” on page 1223.
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You can link toolsets only to User settings.
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5. Click OK.
The active toolset is linked to the custom setting you specified.
To link a toolset to an unnamed setting:
1. For the toolset you want to link, select Toolset > toolset.
2. Select Toolset > Link Current to.
The Link Toolset dialog box opens.
3. Click the Links to Current Toolset menu, and select Link to Unnamed Settings.
4. Click OK.
The active toolset is linked to all the unnamed settings in the Settings list.

2 Working with the Project Window

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 features of the Project window:
Overview of the Project Window
Controlling Project Window Display
Using the Bins Tab
Using the Settings Tab
Using the Format Tab
Using the Info Tab
Managing Bins and Memory
Understanding User Profiles
Managing User Profiles
Customizing the Avid User Interface
User-Customized Workspaces
Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Shared Storage Environment

Overview of the Project Window

The Project window is a central location for important information and tools that you need as you work on your project.
2 Working with the Project Window
Project window information is organized in tabs.
Tab Function
Bins Lets you create and open bins. See “Using the Bins Tab” on page 61.
Settings Lets you view and modify settings. See “Using the Settings Tab” on page 68.
Effects Lets you access a library of effects. See “Applying Effects” in the Help.
Format Lets you view information about the format of the project. See “Using the Format
Tab” on page 69.
Info Lets you view information about system memory usage and system hardware
configuration.

Controlling Project Window Display

The Project window opens automatically when you select a project. You can use the Project window’s tab to change the display of information in the window.
The Project window is always open when you are working in a project. However, it might become hidden behind open bins or tools.
To change the information display in the Project window:
t Click one of the tabs.
To locate and redisplay the Project window, do one of the following:
t Select Tools > Project.
t Click in an area of the Project window to bring it forward.
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To close the Project window, do one of the following:
t With the Project window active, select File > Close Project.
t Click the Close button in the Project window.
The Select Project dialog box opens.

Using the Bins Tab

When you create a project, your Avid editing application automatically creates a bin with the name of the new project, which displays in the Bins tab. You can rename this bin and create additional bins as you work in your project.
The word bin is a movie industry term that refers to a container that holds pieces of film. In your Avid editing application, bins contain master clips that are created when you capture source material. Bins also contain the sequences, subclips, group clips, and effect clips that you create during a project. From the Project window, you can view a list of bins associated with the project, and open, close, and create bins. You can also open bins that you create for other projects.

Viewing a List of Bins

Using the Bins Tab
You can view a list of bins in the Project window. The Bins list displays the number, names, sizes, and location of the bins. Bins from other projects appear in the Project window in italic.
To view a list of bins associated with the project:
t Click the Bins tab in the Project window.
Fast menu button (top) and Bins list with bin icons (bottom) in the Bins tab of the Project window.
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2 Working with the Project Window

Creating a New Bin

To create a new bin from the Project window:
1. Do one of the following:
t Select File > New Bin.
t Click the New Bin button in the Project window.
A new (empty) bin opens and is given the name of the project as displayed in the title bar of the Project window. The new bin appears in the Bins list in the Project window with a default name highlighted and a number appended to it.
2. In the Project window, click the new bin name and type in a new name.
3. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh).
A corresponding bin file is placed in the Avid Projects folder, and a backup copy is placed in the Avid Attic folder. For more information, see “Avid Projects and Avid Users
Folders” on page 39 and “Avid Attic Folder” on page 54.
To place a bin in a folder:
t Drag the bin to the folder icon.

Renaming a Bin

Each new bin that you create takes the name of the project that appears in the title bar of the Project window and is numbered incrementally.
If you plan to move bins and projects from one platform to another, do not use the characters
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/ \ : * ? “ < > | or leading spaces, trailing spaces, or trailing periods, when you name a project, bin, and user. Bin and project names are limited to 27 characters, not including the period and 3-character extension that the system automatically adds to a file name.
(Macintosh only) You can set the Use Windows compatible File Names option in your Avid
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editing application’s General Settings dialog box to prevent your Avid editing application from accepting these restricted characters in a bin, project, or user name. If you use your Avid editing application as a standalone editing application (and don’t plan to move your bins or projects to another platform), you have the option to extend bin and project names to 31 characters.
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To change the name of a bin:
1. Click the bin name in the Bins list.
2. Type a new name.
Project name in title bar (top) and default bin name based on Project name (bottom) in the Bins tab of the Project window.

Opening and Closing Bins

You can open a single bin or open multiple bins at once. You can also open a bin from another project.
Using the Bins Tab
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c
If you have the SuperBin enabled, see “Working with the SuperBin” on page 345.
Never open a bin that is stored on a removable disk or equivalent device; otherwise, your Avid editing application cannot save your work. Always copy the bin to a project folder on the system drive before you open it.
To open a bin directly:
1. Click the Bins tab.
2. Double-click the Bin icon next to the bin name.
The bin opens in a separate window. The Bin icon appears dimmed in the Bins list, indicating the bin is open.
To open several bins at once from the Project window:
1. Click a Bin icon in the Bins list.
2. Ctrl+click (Windows) or Command+click (Macintosh) each additional bin you want to open.
3. Select File > Open Selected Bins.
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2 Working with the Project Window
To open a bin from another project:
1. Select File > Open Bin.
The Open a Bin dialog box opens.
2. Find and select the bin you want.
Bins have the file name extension .avb.
3. Click Open.
The bin appears in the Bins list in a folder called Other Bins. The name Other Bins appears in italic. You can rename this folder. This option is useful when you want to open a bin not currently displayed in the Project window.
The Other Bins folder disappears from the Bins list when you delete all the bins in the Other
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Bins folder. Deleting bins from the Other Bins folder does not remove the bins from your system; only the pointers to the bins are removed.
To close a bin, do one of the following:
t Click the Close button.
t Select File > Close Bin.

Displaying Folders of Bins in the Bins List

You can add folders to the Bins list to help organize your project. You can drag bins into folders or drag folders into folders.
Fast Menu button (top), folders and folder arrows (center), and the Trash icon (bottom) in the Bins tab of the Project window.
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To create a folder in a project:
1. Click the Fast menu button, and select New Folder.
A new untitled folder appears.
2. Click the untitled folder name in the Bins list and rename it.
To show or hide the folder’s contents in the Bins list in the Project window:
t Click the arrow next to a folder icon.
To view a list of only the folder contents and not the folders:
t Click the Fast Menu button, and select Flat View.
The Trash icon and its contents disappear until Flat View is deselected.

Creating a Folder

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.
Using the Bins Tab
3. Click the untitled folder name in the Bins list and rename it.

Deleting a Bin or Folder

You can delete bins and folders along with their contents from the Bins list. Deleted bins and folders are moved to a Trash folder in the Bins list until you empty the Trash. If you need a deleted bin or folder, you can retrieve it from the Trash. For more information, see “Viewing
and Emptying the Trash” on page 66.
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Only bins and folders appear in the Trash. If you select a clip, subclip, or effect directly in a bin and press the Delete key, the item is permanently deleted and does not appear in the Trash.
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2 Working with the Project Window
To delete a bin or folder from the Project window:
t Select the bin or the folder you want to delete in the Bins list, and do one of the
following:
- If the SuperBin is not enabled, press the Delete key.
- If the SuperBin is enabled, right-click the bin name and select Delete Selected Bins. For more information on using the Superbin feature, see “Working with the
SuperBin” on page 345.
A Trash icon appears in the Bins list in the Project window. The Trash contains the deleted item.
The Trash is not visible in the Project window until you delete your first item.
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Viewing and Emptying the Trash

If you need to view the contents in the Trash or decide you do not want to delete those items, you must first move the bins and folders from the Trash.
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Emptying the trash permanently removes the bins or folders from the drive.
If you change the name of the Trash icon, you cannot empty the Trash.
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To view items in the Trash:
1. Click the arrow next to the Trash icon in the Bins list.
2. Click the bins or folders you want to keep (or view), and drag them from the Trash to the Bins list in the Project window.
3. Double-click the bin or folder to view it.
To empty the Trash in the Bins list:
1. Click the Fast Menu button, and select Empty Trash.
A message box opens.
2. Click Empty Trash to delete the bins or folders from the Trash and from your hard drive.

Saving Bins

Your Avid editing application automatically saves changes to your work on a regular basis. You can modify the frequency of the automatic backups.
You can also manually save a specific bin, selected bins, or all bins. You might want to do this immediately after performing an important edit.
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Using the Bins Tab
When you work with bins, an asterisk appears before the bin name in the bin’s title bar. The asterisk indicates that the changes to the bin have not been saved. After you save the bin, your Avid editing application removes the asterisk.
When an autosave occurs, any open bins update with changes made since the last autosave, and 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 and Windows 7
Macintosh /Users/Shared/Avid editing application/Avid Attic folder
Your Avid editing application 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.
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, see “Bin Settings” on page 1240.

Saving Bins Manually

To save a specific bin:
drive:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Avid editing application\Avid Attic folder
1. Click the bin to activate it.
2. Select File > Save Bin.
To save selected bins:
1. In the Bins tab, click a Bin icon to select it, and then Ctrl+click any additional bins.
2. Select File > Save All.
The system saves all the selected bins.
The Save Bin command appears dimmed if there were no changes since the last time the
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active bin was saved.
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2 Working with the Project Window
To save all the bins:
1. Click the Bins tab in the Project window.
2. Select File > Save All.
The system saves all the bins for the project.

Using the Settings Tab

From the Settings tab in the Project window, you can view, select, open, and alter various User, Project, and Site settings. Each setting either displays information about that specific tool or window or lets you select options or preferences associated with that tool or window. For more information, see “Viewing and Modifying Settings” on page 1223.
To view the Settings list:
t Click the Settings tab in the Project window.
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To open a setting:
t Double-click the setting in the Settings list.
To view Help for a setting:
t Open a setting and press the F1 key (Windows) or the Help key (Macintosh).

Using the Format Tab

The Format tab in the Project window lets you view basic project information, such as the video format (NTSC, for example). The information lists the options you selected in the New Project dialog box when you created the project.
For some project formats, the Project Type list lets you change the format of the project to another format that shares the same frame rate. For example, if you are working in a 1080i/59.94 HD project, you can change the project format to 30i NTSC.
Using the Format Tab
If you switch from one project type, aspect ratio, color space, or raster dimension to another
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during the course of your workflow, you might create precomputed clips that have not rendered with the quality that you need for your final output. You might need to manually purge the precomputed clips and re-render effects. For more information, see “Ensuring the Quality Level of Precomputed Clips” in the Help.
For 24p PAL projects, the Format tab shows the audio transfer rate you selected when you
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created the project. The actual audio transfer rate might be different from the display if you used the 24P Settings dialog box to change the audio transfer rate.
To open the Format tab:
t Click the Format tab.

Working with Color Spaces in HD Projects

In full HD projects, some Avid editing applications and Avid input/output hardware devices let you work in either the YCbCr or the RGB color space. Your Avid editing application uses a project’s color space setting to control how it displays video, processes most effects, and outputs sequences.
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2 Working with the Project Window
RGB and YCbCr both separate colors into three channels, but they store color information differently. When you choose which color space to work in, you need to take several factors into consideration, including the color space of your media, your output needs, and your performance expectations for your Avid editing application while editing.
The RGB color space is not available for 720p or NTSC/PAL SD projects.
Understanding the YCbCr Color Space
YCbCr performs better, but is of lesser quality.
YCbCr stores brightness (Y) separately from colors (Cb and Cr). Since humans are more susceptible to changes in light than in color, YCbCr discards half the chrominance data (one-third of the overall data) with little discernible difference to image quality. Media that uses YCbCr takes up less disk space than media that uses RGB, and less bandwidth is required to play it.
YCbCr is the only color space available for SD media, because SD requires lower bandwidths and might need to maintain backwards compatibility with black-and-white displays. When you only need SD output, you only need to work in the YCbCr color space.
Newer HD technologies can display detailed images with sharp changes in color. Because some color data is missing, YCbCr media does not take full advantage of HD display hardware. The limited color information available in YCbCr also means that the results of effects processing are not as good as they could be with RGB media.
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Understanding the RGB Color Space
RGB produces higher quality images and effects, but takes up more space.
RGB separates images into their constituting colors: red (R), green (G), and blue (B) and does not discard any of the chrominance data. As a result, video images look sharper, particularly those with fast motion or abrupt changes in color. Newer HD formats support RGB only.
Because no color data is lost, your Avid editing application can make more precise calculations when processing effects using RGB media. The quality improvement over YCbCr processing is most noticeable in effects that perform color analysis, such as chroma keyers. Even if the original video data is in YCbCr, your should consider converting to RGB to process effects as precisely as possible.
The disadvantage of RGB is file size. Media that uses RGB takes up more disk space than media that uses YCbCr, and more bandwidth is required to play it. Some systems might not be able to handle playback of RGB material smoothly, particularly when you use the J-K-L keys to play at greater than normal speed or to play in reverse.
Working with Color Spaces in HD Projects
RGB media requires high bandwidth. For effective playback of multiple streams of video at
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higher resolutions, you should distribute the video tracks as evenly as possible among available drives, and target separate drives for audio and video.
Choosing a Color Space for Your Project
Your choice of a color space depends on both your input/output hardware and your desired output. For information on how to define the color space for a project, see “Changing the
Project Color Space for an HD Project” on page 72.
If your hardware supports both RGB and YCbCr, choose the color space that corresponds to your output needs.
If your hardware supports only YCbCr, you can choose RGB for your project color space to maintain maximum quality throughout your workflow. Your Avid editing application converts your material to YCbCr right before sending it to the hardware for monitoring or output. However, choosing RGB in your project is only useful if your input media is in RGB. Otherwise, you should set your project color space to YCbCr.
The project color space specifies how your Avid editing application processes effects in real time. Your Avid editing application supports native processing of effects in either the RGB or YCbCr color spaces. For example, this means that RGB media does not need to be converted to YCbCr for processing, maintaining maximum video quality until the final output.
Mixing Media of Different Color Spaces
You can work with media of different color spaces in the same sequence. For example, you can mix SD YCbCr and HD RGB. When you mix media in this way, your video editing application converts media to the project’s color space when necessary. This conversion takes place internally during the processing of real-time effects and prior to output.
The color space of your media depends on its format. Tape-based SD and HD media uses the YCbCr color space. Newer HD digital formats, such as R3D, use RGB. See “Resolution
Specifications” on page 1343 for information about supported formats.
You can check the color space of the media for any clip in your project by viewing the Color Space bin heading in the bin that contains the clip. For more information, see “Moving,
Aligning, and Deleting Bin Columns” on page 330.
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2 Working with the Project Window

Changing the Project Color Space for an HD Project

You typically set the color space for a project when you create the project (see “Creating a
New Project” on page 43). However, you can change the color space at any time.
The RGB color space is only available in full HD projects. 720p and NTSC/PAL projects can only use the YCbCr color space.
Changing the project color space does not affect the rendering of titles and effects or change the color space of imported media. Your Avid editing application controls these according to their Media Creation Settings. For more information, see “Media Creation Settings” on
page 1299.
To change the project color space:
1. Click the Format tab in the Project window.
2. Click the Color Space menu, and select either RGB 709 or YCbCr 709, depending on the color space you want to use.
Color Space menu in the Format tab of the Project window
Your Avid editing application now displays video and processes real-time effects in the new color space. The final output is also in the new space.

Using the Info Tab

The Info display in the Project window lets you 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.
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Using the Info Tab
To open the Info display:
t Click the Info tab in the Project window.
To display system memory information:
t Click the Info tab, and then click the Memory button.
The Memory window opens with the following information:
Item Description
Objects The total number of memory handles currently used by your Avid
editing application. Objects include memory requirements of your Avid editing application, such as windows, clips, sequences, and other items associated with a project.
You can improve the performance of large projects when you reduce the number of objects. To do this,
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close unused bins, unmount unused 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 your Avid editing
To open the Hardware tool, do one of the following:
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.
application in RAM.
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
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page 104.
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2 Working with the Project Window

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 recommends that you 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 your Avid editing 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.
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 your Avid editing application and will not be reduced by using the Clear Memory button.

Understanding User Profiles

User profiles let you switch between settings without having to log out of your system and log back in under a different user name.
User profiles let you 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.
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Understanding User Profiles
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 and Windows 7
Macintosh /Users/Shared/Avid editing application/Avid Users/UserName
You can do the following with user profiles:
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.
- 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 where you made the change. The changes do not update to the server.
drive:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Avid editing application\Avid Users\UserName
When you export User Profiles in an Avid shared storage environment, make sure the
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workspace containing the user profile has the same drive letter on all systems.
You can not share user profiles across platforms (Macintosh to Windows or Windows to
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Macintosh).
Update a user profile to add user settings to an existing Settings list.
For example, if you upgrade to a version of your Avid editing 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.
For step-by-step procedures, see “Managing User Profiles” on page 76.
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2 Working with the Project Window

Managing User Profiles

To create a user profile:
1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.
The User Profile Selection menu in the Settings tab of the Project window
2. Click the User Profile Selection menu, and select Create User Profile.
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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.
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.
To return to the original user profile:
1. Click the Settings tab.
2. Click the User Profile Selection menu, and select the default user profile.
If you use a user profile other than the default and you change to another project, the default
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user settings load, even though the Project window displays your non-default user profile name. You must reselect the user profile.
Managing User Profiles
To import user settings from another user or user profile:
1. Click the Settings tab.
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.
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.
2. Click the User Profile Selection menu, and select Update User Profiles.
Any new settings added to the upgraded version of your Avid editing application 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 “Avid Projects and Avid
Users Folders” on page 39.
2. Do one of the following:
t (Windows) Press the Delete key, then click OK in the dialog box.
t (Macintosh) Drag the folder to the Trash.
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.
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Customizing the Avid User Interface

The Interface Settings dialog box provides you with controls for customizing the brightness and the colors of the Avid user interface. For complete reference information on the Interface Settings dialog box, see “Interface Settings” on page 1295.
The Interface Settings dialog box allows you to set the highlight color for buttons. You can also control the brightness of the user interface, which includes the following components:
Application, tool, toolbar, and dialog box backgrounds
Buttons and button contents
Project background
The Avid editing application lets you modify the colors of some interface components using controls not included in the Interface Settings dialog box:
Bin media object color — see “Assigning Colors to Objects in a Bin” on page 326.
Timeline clip color — see “Displaying Clip Colors in the Timeline” on page 614.
Timeline background and track colors — see “Changing the Timeline Background or
Track Color” on page 617.
Bin background color — see “Changing the Bin Background Color” on page 325.

Changing Interface Component Colors

You can use a brightness selection slider and selection buttons to change the appearance of some interface components.
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When you use the selection slider to modify interface settings, it overwrites any previous user settings. Avid recommends you save a copy of your user settings before you use the selection slider.
To set the brightness and color of interface components:
1. In the Project window, click the Settings tab, and then double-click Interface.
The Interface dialog box opens.
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Customizing the Avid User Interface
2. Click a highlight color to change button highlight colors.
3. Click the Interface Brightness slider to adjust the brightness of the user interface. The Avid editing application provides several presets on the slider.
4. (Option) If you want to set the color of the video, audio, or timecode tracks to the default, select the appropriate option.
5. (Option) If you want to be able to set custom background colors for bins, select Allow Custom Bin Backgrounds.
For more information, see “Changing the Bin Background Color” on page 325.
6. 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 select do not take effect.
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Changing Font and Point Size

You can change the default font and point sizes of the Project, Bin, Source/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.
The 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; saves as a Project
setting.
Bin Changes the font and point size of the text in the Bin window; saves 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; saves as a Script
Timeline Changes the font and point size of clip text; saves as a Timeline View setting.
To change the font in the Project, Bin, Source/Record monitor, Script, or Timeline window:
Changes the font and point size of the sequence or source clip name text; saves as a Composer setting.
setting.
1. Click the Project, Bin, Source/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.
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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.
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.
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 assign up to eight buttons that let you 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. Workspace buttons are assigned to the workspaces in the Settings list 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.
User-Customized Workspaces
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.

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 duplicate a previously named workspace setting, a .1 appears at the end of the new
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name.
4. Click to the left of the new workspace you want to set.
A check mark appears next to the workspace.
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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.
Custom name column in the Settings list
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.
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
Lets you link other settings to the workspace. For more information, see “Linking User Settings and Workspaces” on page 83.
Automatically preserves the workspace in its most recent arrangement. Future changes to the arrangement of the tool windows are saved.
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.
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Linking User Settings and Workspaces

You can link User settings 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).
To link user settings and a workspace:
1. Create a new workspace.
For more information, see “Creating a New Workspace Setting” on page 81.
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.
5. Double-click another setting, (for example, Audio). Select the new options, (for example, Default Pan), and close the dialog box.
User-Customized Workspaces
6. Give this setting the same name you gave the workspace in step 2.
Examples of linked settings (top and center) and a linked workspace (bottom)
7. Double-click the workspace you just created.
The Workspace Settings dialog box opens.
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8. Click Activate Settings Linked By Name.
9. Click OK.
All the settings and the new workspace you created are activate.

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.
To switch between workspaces use the workspace buttons. To assign workspace buttons, see “Assigning a Workspace Button” on page 85.

Deleting a Workspace

To delete a workspace:
1. Select the workspace you want to delete from the Settings list.
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The workspace highlights.
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 system removes the selected workspace from the Settings list.

Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Shared Storage Environment

Assigning a Workspace Button

To assign a workspace button:
1. Select Tools > Command Palette.
Workspace buttons in the More tab of the Command Palette
2. Click the More tab.
3. Select Button to Button Reassignment.
4. 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.
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).
5. 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.
Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Shared Storage Environment
Avid MediaNetwork and Avid ISIS let you share bins and projects across the network. When you place your bins and projects on Avid Workspaces (drive volumes), several users can work on the same project at the same time.
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For example, an editor creates sequences in one bin while an assistant recaptures media in another bin. At the same time, other users add audio effects or titles to other bins in the project.
Each user performs tasks from their 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.
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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 do not overwrite changes to the bin.
In an Avid shared storage environment, your Avid editing application creates and stores projects and bins on the client’s internal drive. If you move or save these projects and bins to the workspace, only one client can work on the project at a time. If two or more users work 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.
You can also use an asset manager such as Avid Interplay to collaborate on projects. For
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more details, refer to “Working with Avid Interplay from an Avid Editing System” on
page 1079.

Sharing Bins and Projects in Avid Shared Storage

Sharing Only Bins
If you share only bins, you store the project on your local system 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.
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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 Shared Storage Environment
Sharing Both Bins and Projects
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 prevents users from overwriting the project-specific data for other users.
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.
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.
The following illustration shows the Project window for a shared project.
Bins tab in the Project window, showing a bin that is locked for editing (bold text, top left), the name of the computer that currently has the bin locked (top right), and folders for each computer that accesses the project (bottom)
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Opening a Shared Project

To open an existing project on the shared volume:
1. Start your Avid editing application.
2. In the Select Project dialog box, navigate to the project on Avid shared storage.
The Project window opens. For a description of the elements specific to Avid shared storage in the Project window, see “Sharing Bins and Projects in Avid Shared Storage”
on page 86.
3. Double-click a Bin icon to open one of the bins.
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.
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The Bin Lock Status button. When the button is green (top), the bin is unlocked. When the button is red (bottom) the bin is locked.
When a bin is unlocked, you have permission to make changes. You should not make changes to a locked bin. See “Considerations for Working with Shared Bins and
Projects” on page 90.
The Bin Lock Status button does not appear if the bin is not on Avid shared storage.
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Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Shared Storage Environment

Working with Locks and Shared Bins

Your Avid editing application uses a locking mechanism to help you keep track of who is currently working in a shared bin. Only one user can write to the bin, but multiple users can read the files in the bin.
The user who opens the bin first controls the lock and obtains write access to the bin. Bold text in the Project window also identifies bins that are locked by another user. When the person who controls the lock closes the bin, it becomes available for another user to open and control 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 control 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.
To open a bin without controlling the lock:
t Alt+double-click (Windows) or Option+double-click (Macintosh) the bin in the Project
window.
To permanently lock a bin:
1. Select one or more bins in the Project window.
2. Right-click the Bin icon, and select Lock Project Bin.
An asterisk 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 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.
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2 Working with the Project Window

Considerations for Working with Shared Bins and Projects

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 shared storage environment.
Do not use the same name for your editing system machine name and your user name. 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.
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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.).
Do not use Windows Explorer to examine, copy, or manipulate shared bin files or shared project folders or their contents when you use those files or folders. If you do, when you attempt to access those shared bins or projects you might experience delays accompanied by a progress dialog that says, “Filesystem busy, retrying (MESSAGE).”
If the busy condition persists, a failure message appears. Make sure that you are not using Windows Explorer for 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 shared storage, Avid recommends using an Avid Interplay server in the workgroup environment.
Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Shared Storage Environment
When an Avid Interplay server is available in an Avid 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 environment that includes an Avid Interplay server must have the Avid shared storage client software installed. The Media Tool might become unreliable if an editor in the Avid shared storage workgroup environment does not have the Avid shared storage client software installed.
Limitations When Working with Shared Bins and Projects
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, a “media file not found” message might appear in a monitor window, and an access violation error 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.
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 import. This helps to minimize the problems of modifying a locked bin.
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 drag the duplicate to another bin.
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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 lets you 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. Your Avid editing application sees the duplicate contents of these bins and resolves the conflicts by newest modifications.
Avoid creating duplicate bins when you modify a locked bin. If you do create a duplicate bin, you should manually merge the changes into the original bin and delete the duplicate bin.
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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.
Limitation When Using the Shared Bin Lock Icon
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 controls 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.

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
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Depending on the version of your Avid editing system, the drive filtering options could be on or off by default. Avid recommends that all drive filtering options should be on by default.
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 “Send To Playback,” because their Media Creation Settings are still configured for standalone usage.
Working with Bins and Projects in an Avid Shared Storage Environment
There are several ways to work around this issue. First, adjust the drive filtering settings when you switch environments. You can open the Media Creation Setting and switch the drive filtering settings or create multiple Media Creation Settings and switch the active setting whenever you shift environments. If you always work in an environment that differs from the defaults, you can create a Media Creation setting that fits your workflow and add it to your Site Settings so you create new projects with the desired defaults. For more information, see “Using Site Settings” on page 1228.
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3 Using Tools

The Tools menu 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
Using The Console Window
Using the Hardware Tool
External Controllers as Editing Control Surfaces

Using 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-L A N® control of an Avid-compatible tape deck at any time while you edit. You can cue and screen footage from source tapes in various edit modes, or when you record a digital cut, without opening the Capture tool.
To open a deck controller:
t Select Tools > New Deck Controller.
A new Deck Controller window opens.
3 Using Tools

Deck Controller Window Reference

2
1
3
4
5
Element Description
1 Timecode display Provides information about the control status of the tape deck:
If the deck is properly connected and power is on, the deck controller displays timecode when you mount a tape.
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 open, the indicator displays the message “Power Off.”
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
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the Avid input/output hardware device you use. For more information, see “Connecting Cameras, Decks, and Monitors” in the Help.
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2 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.
3 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.
4 Deck Selection menu Lets you specify a deck with deck control parameters that you can
customize. For more information, see “Deck Configuration Settings” on
page 1249.
5 Tape Name button Lets you associate a tape name with the controller and select a tape. For
more information, see “Selecting a Source Tape” on page 162.
Element Description
6 Logging controls Let you log IN and OUT marks while you cue your tape. For more
information on logging, see “Logging Directly into a Bin” on page 123.

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 let you perform a wide range of commands with a single click of the mouse.
The Command palette organizes buttons by editing function. Tabs display each editing function and the buttons that perform those functions display in each tab. The functions include: Move, Play, Edit, Trim, FX (Effects), 3D, CC (Color Correction), MCam (MultiCamera), Other, More, and Smart Tool.
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 99.
Map menu commands to various buttons and keys. See “Mapping Menu Commands” on
page 100.
Directly activate a command. See “Activating Commands from the Command Palette”
on page 101.
For information about each button in the Command palette, right-click a button and select
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What’s This? from the menu.
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Understanding Button Mapping

Mapping user-selectable buttons lets you 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 examples of buttons you might want to map:
Buttons you use to subcatalog clips. Left to right: Make Subclip, Find Bin, and Add Locator.
Buttons you use for complex layering and effects. Top, left to right: Motion Effect, Remove Effect, Transition Corner Display, and Fade Effect. Bottom, left to right: Render Effect, Cycle Picture/Sound, Quick Transition, Grid (available on some Avid editing applications).
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Buttons you use for MultiCamera editing. Left to right: Quad Split, Swap Cam Bank, and Gang.
When you remap buttons or commands, the system immediately saves your new configuration in one of the default settings that you 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 “Selecting Among Multiple Settings” on
page 1225.
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.
To change the appearance of the buttons in the Tool palette in the Interface settings, see
“Customizing the Avid User Interface” on page 78. To identify a button’s function with only
an icon or with an icon and letters, see “Interface Settings” on page 1295.
The Command Palette
The Blank Button
The Blank button in the Other tab of the Command palette lets you 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 99.
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
(Windows) Add Alt Key button
(Macintosh) Add Control Key button
(Macintosh) Add Option Key button
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 if you press and hold the appropriate modifier key while you press the key, or press and hold the modifier key while you click the button.

Mapping User-Selectable Buttons

To map buttons or keys on the keyboard by using the Command palette:
1. Do one of the following to open a window that has a user-selectable button:
t Activate the Playback, Source, or Record monitor in the Composer window.
t Click a Fast Menu button, and drag the Tool palette to open it.
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.
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t Open the Keyboard palette from the Settings list in the Project window.
t Open the Mouse Settings dialog box 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.

Mapping Menu Commands

You can also map menu commands directly onto any mappable button location or onto the keyboard. In some cases, you can avoid using menus altogether.
Before you map some commands, you must first establish the condition that enables the
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command. For example, before you 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. Do one of the following to open a window that has user-selectable buttons:
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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.
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.
Example of a menu command mapped to a button in the Tool Palette.
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