Pinnacle Systems NewsCutter XP User’s Guide

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Avid® NewsCutter® XP

User’s Guide

Release 1.5

for the Windows NT® Operating System

tools for storytellers®

Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide • Part 0130-04644-01 Rev. A • August 2000

Chapter 1 Desktop Basics

Working with the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Using Shortcut Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Using the Windows NT Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Dragging Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Setting the Avid Color Scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Setting Your Screen Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

About the Avid NewsCutter XP Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Changing Project and User Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Deleting Projects and User Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Starting the Avid NewsCutter XP Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Accepting Your Avid NewsCutter XP License Electronically. . 33

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Opening a Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Identifying a User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Creating a New User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Selecting an Existing User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Selecting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Selecting an Existing Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Nesting Projects in Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Opening a Project in Avid NewsCutter XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Closing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Backing Up Your Project Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Saving Your Project Information on a Drive or Floppy Disk. . 42

Restoring from a Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Ending an Edit Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Quitting the Avid NewsCutter XP Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Turning Off Your Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Mounting and Ejecting Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Ejecting Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Mounting All Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

Opening and Closing the Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Using the Bins Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Viewing a List of Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Displaying Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Creating a Folder in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Creating a New Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Renaming a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Opening and Closing a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Opening Selected Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Closing a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Deleting a Bin or Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Viewing Contents in the Trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Emptying the Trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Managing Folders and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Saving Bins Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Saving Bins Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Modifying the Creation Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Using the Settings Scroll List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

About Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Defining Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Reviewing Basic Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Bin Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Interface Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Displaying Project Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Changing the Settings Scroll List Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

About the Settings Scroll List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Working with Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Selecting Another User. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Modifying Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Working with Multiple Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Duplicating Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Naming Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Selecting Among Multiple Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Deleting Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Copying Settings Between Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Moving Settings Between Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Using Site Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Using the Info Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Displaying Project Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Viewing Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

About the Memory Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Accessing the Hardware Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Customizing Your Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Creating a New Workspace Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Linking User Settings and Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Switching Between Workspaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Deleting a Workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Navigating in Dialog Boxes and Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Chapter 4 Using Basic Tools

Using the Tools Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Using the Avid Calculator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Using the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Displaying System Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Reviewing a Log of Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Getting Information with the Console Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Using the Hardware Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Checking the Hardware Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Chapter 5 Logging

Logging Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Logging Preroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Logging Timecode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Naming Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Double-Checking the Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Adding a Memory Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Preparing Logs for Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Creating Avid Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Importing Shot Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Logging Directly to a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Logging with an Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck . . . . . . . . . 109

Logging with a Non-Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck. . . . . . 113

Exporting Shot Log Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Chapter 6 Preparing to Record

Understanding Digital Video (DV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

What Is IEEE Standard 1394? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

What Is DV? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Selecting Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Record Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Configuring Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Deck Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Deleting Deck Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Setting Deck Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Setting Up the Record Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Opening the Record Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Selecting a Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Selecting Audio Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Selecting a Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Selecting Source Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Choosing a Resolution in the Record Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Choosing a Target Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Selecting the Target Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Targeting a Single Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Targeting Separate Drives for Audio and Video . . . . . . . . 137

Interpreting the Time-Remaining Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Recording to Multiple Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Recording Across Timecode Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Description of Record Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Preparing for Audio Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Choosing the Audio File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Adjusting Audio Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Using the Audio Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Resizing the Audio Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Choosing a Peak Hold Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Adjusting Audio Input Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Creating Tone Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Using the Console to Check Audio Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Compression Resolutions and Storage Requirements . . . . . . . . . . 155

Screen Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Digital Video Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Storage Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Chapter 7 Recording

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

Adding Clip Names and Comments On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Recording and Logging at the Same Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Recording from One Point to Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Recording from an IN Point to an OUT Point . . . . . . . . . . 160

Setting Both Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Setting Only One Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Recording On-the-Fly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Autorecording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Recording from a Non-Avid-Controlled Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Recording with Time-of-Day Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Recording Audio from a Music CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Batch Recording from Logged Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Preparing to Batch Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Resizing the Record Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Preparing Settings for Unattended Batch Recording . . . . 173

Batch Recording Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Rerecording Your Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Rerecording Master Clips and Subclips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Rerecording Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Saving Two Versions of a Sequence When

Rerecording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Rerecording the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Chapter 8 Importing Files

Preparing to Import Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Creating and Using Import Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Importing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Using the Drag-and-Drop Method to Import Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Reimporting Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

The Batch Import Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

File Browser Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Status Line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Clip Info Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Import Options (All Clips) Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Select (All Clips) Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Starting the Reimport Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Chapter 9 Organizing with Bins

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Adjusting Pan Defaults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Adjusting Default Pan Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Setting the Bin Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

About Bin Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Text View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Frame View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Custom Bin Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Customizing Bin Views in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Saving a Custom Bin View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Bin Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Basic Bin Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Setting the Bin Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Selecting Clips and Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Duplicating Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Moving Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Copying Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Deleting Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Assigning Colors to Bin Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Adding a Color Column to a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Assigning a Source Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Assigning a Custom Source Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Limiting Color Choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Sorting by Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Sifting by Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Highlighting Offline Media Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Sifting Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Selecting Offline Items in a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Selecting Media Relatives for an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Using Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Arranging Bin Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Moving and Rearranging Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Aligning Bin Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Showing and Hiding Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Deleting a Column. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Duplicating a Column. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Adding Customized Columns to a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Changing a Custom Column Heading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Managing Clip Information in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Moving Within Column Cells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Modifying Clip Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Modifying Data Directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Copying Information Between Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Sorting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Using Frame View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Changing the Bin Background Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Enlarging or Reducing Frame Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Rearranging Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Changing the Frame Identifying the Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Arranging Frames in a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Printing Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Gathering Format Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Preparing Digital Bars and Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Importing Color Bars and Other Test Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Creating Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Creating Video Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Creating Audio Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Chapter 10 Managing Media Files

Using the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Basic Media Tool Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Opening the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Deleting Media Files with the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Consolidating Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

About the Consolidate Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Using the Consolidate Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Loading the Media Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Backing Up Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Finding a Related Media File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Relinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Relinking to Selected Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Relinking Consolidated Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Relinking Moved Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Unlinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Chapter 11 Viewing and Marking Footage

Customizing the Composer Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Changing the Composer Monitor Background Color . . . . . . . 263

Using the 16:9 Display Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Displaying Tracking Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Tracking Format Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Displaying the Clip Information Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Moving the Clip Information Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Displaying the Timecode Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Setting the Font and Point Size for Monitor Displays . . . . . . 270

Viewing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Loading and Clearing Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Loading into the Source Pop-up and Composer Monitors. . . 272

Using the Clip Name Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Switching Between Loaded Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Clearing Sequences from Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Resizing Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Hiding the Video in the Composer Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Resizing the Composer Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Controlling Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Using Position Bars and Position Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Using Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

About the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Shuttling with J-K-L Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Navigating with Home, End, and Arrow Keys . . . . . . . . . 282

Playing Video to the Client Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Connecting a Client Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Selecting the Client Monitor Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Supporting a Camera Without Video Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Adjusting Desktop Video Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

About Setting Desktop Video Mode and Source . . . . . . . 286

Setting Desktop Video Mode and Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Adjusting Video Display Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Marking and Subcataloging Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Marking IN and OUT Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Clearing a Mark and Setting a New One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Dragging IN and OUT Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Marking an Entire Clip or Segment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Using the Tool Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Creating Subclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Using Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Ways to Use Locators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Adding Locators While Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Removing Locators from Source Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Finding Frames and Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Using Frame Offset Timecode to Cue a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Using Timecode to Find a Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Chapter 12 First Edits

Setting Up a New Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Starting a New Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Changing the Sequence Clip Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Setting Up Tracks for the New Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Adding Filler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Making the First Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Beginning to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Creating an Instant Rough Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Undoing or Redoing Edits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Editing Additional Clips into the Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Performing a Splice-in Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Performing an Overwrite Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Lifting, Extracting, and Copying Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Lifting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Extracting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Copying Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Using the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Placing a Sequence into the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Recovering Material from the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Playing the New Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Playing a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Starting a Playback Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Playback Performance Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Proceeding With Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Chapter 13 Using the Timeline

Customizing Timeline Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Accessing the Timeline Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Using the Timeline Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Additional Procedures for Customizing the Timeline . . . . . . 325

Enlarging and Reducing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Changing the Timeline Track Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Restoring the Default Timeline View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Navigating in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Using the Position Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Using the Timeline Scroll Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Displaying Detail in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Controlling Movement in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Selecting and Deselecting Segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Selecting Segments with the Segment Mode Pointer. . . . 330

Lassoing One or More Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Deselecting Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Performing Segment Mode Edits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Extracting/Splicing-in Segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Lifting/Overwriting Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Deleting Segments with Segment Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Bin Editing into the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

About Effects Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

About Nesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Using the Track Selector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Selecting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Monitoring Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Monitoring Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Monitoring Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Monitoring a Solo Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Patching Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Sync Locking Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Deleting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Adding an Edit (Match Framing). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Removing Match-Frame Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Backtiming Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Printing the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Chapter 14 Working in Trim Mode

Customizing Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Using Basic Trim Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Entering Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Exiting Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Selecting Between Trim Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Selecting Additional Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Performing a Basic Trim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Reviewing the Trim Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Slipping or Sliding Clips or Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Selecting Segments for Slip or Slide Trimming . . . . . . . . 355

Performing the Slip or Slide Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Creating Overlap Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Maintaining Sync While Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Adding Black While Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Trimming with Sync-Locked Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Chapter 15 Working with Audio

About Audio Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Accessing Audio Effect Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Audio Editing Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Using Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Smooth Scrub Versus Digital Scrub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Multiple-Channel Audio Scrub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Selecting Tracks for Scrubbing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Performing Smooth Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Using the J-K-L Keys to Perform Smooth Scrub . . . . . . . . 370

Using Digital Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Adjusting Digital Scrub Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Performing the Digital Scrub Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Using Waveform Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Displaying Audio Waveforms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Using the Audio Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Resizing the Audio Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Adjusting One Audio Track at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Ganging and Adjusting Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Ignoring Existing Volume and Pan Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Adjusting Volume While Playing an Audio Effect . . . . . . . . . 383

Using Audio Gain Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Automation Gain Values and System Clip Gain Values. . . . . 385

Adjusting Volume in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Deleting Audio Gain Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Moving Audio Gain Keyframes in the Timeline. . . . . . . . 388

About the Automation Gain Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Track Solo Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Selecting Tracks in the Automation Gain Tool . . . . . . . . . 391

Automation Gain Tool Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Recording Audio Gain Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Using the Automation Gain Tool Sliders to Record

Gain Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Using the Automation Gain Tool and Audio Mix Tool . . . . . . 394

Using the Audio EQ Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Audio EQ Tool Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Applying Audio EQ Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Saving Audio EQ Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Removing Audio EQ Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Audio EQ Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Low Shelf Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Small Octave Range Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Using Audio EQ Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Applying an EQ Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Creating Your Own Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Adjusting EQ While Playing an Audio Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Installing AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Starting the DAE Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Using Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Applying an AudioSuite Plug-In to a Clip in the Timeline . . 414

Using a Plug-in Dialog Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

AudioSuite Plug-In Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Rendering Plug-in Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Creating New Master Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Serial Versus Parallel Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

AudioSuite Controls for Creating New Master Clips . . . 418

Using the AudioSuite Plug-Ins to Create New

Master Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

Using an AudioSuite Effect Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Plug-in Limitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Troubleshooting AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Canceling a Render Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Addressing Error Messages When Rendering a

Plug-in Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Recording Voice-Over Narration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Using the Audio Punch-In Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Connecting the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Creating the Voice-Over. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Voice-Over Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Fine-Tuning Audio Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Fading and Dipping Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Fading Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Dipping Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Mixing Down Audio Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Chapter 16 Syncing Methods

Managing Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Editing to Avoid Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Fixing Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Fixing Sync in Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Fixing Sync in Segment Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Managing Sync with Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Using Sync Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Syncing with Tail Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Syncing with Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Using Add Edit When Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Chapter 17 Output Options

Preparing for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Preparing for Audio Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Selecting Audio Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Audio Sample Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Setting the Calibration Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Calibrating Global Output Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Adjusting Output on Two-Channel Audio Systems. . . . . 450

Preparing Record Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Frame-Accurate Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Manual Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Enabling Assemble-Edit Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Using the Digital Cut Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

Previewing a Digital Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Recording a Digital Cut to Tape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Using EDL Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

Chapter 18 Exporting and Exchanging Material

About Exporting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Preparing to Export a Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Mixing Down Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Exporting Frames, Clips, or Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Using the Drag-and-Drop Method to Export Frames, Clips,

or Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

About Exporting for Digital Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

Exporting for Digital Distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

About Media Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Exporting with Media Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

About MPEG-Ligos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Exporting with MPEG-Ligos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Customizing Export Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

Creating a New Export Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

Exporting as a Graphic File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

About OMF Interchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Choosing an OMFI Transfer Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

About QuickTime Reference Movie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Exporting as a QuickTime Reference Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

About QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Exporting as a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Selecting QuickTime Codecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Exporting as an AVI File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

AVI Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

AVI Video Compression Dialog Box Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

About the Avid QuickTime and Avid AVI Codec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Using the Avid QuickTime Codec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Using the Avid AVI Codec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Installing the Avid QuickTime or Avid AVI Codec on

Other Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

Copying a Codec to Another Windows NT

Workstation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

Exporting from a Third-Party QuickTime Application . . . . . . 516

Transferring a Project Between Avid NewsCutter XP Systems. . . 517

Methods for Transferring Files Between Systems . . . . . . . . . . 518

Compatibility Requirements for Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

Transferring a Project and Associated Media Files . . . . . . . . . 519

Transferring Projects, User Profiles, and Site Settings . . . . . . 520

Chapter 19 Using the NRCS Tool

Configuring the NRCS Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

Starting the NRCS Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

Understanding the NRCS Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Using the Directory Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

Opening a Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

Making a Shortcut to a Directory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Removing a Shortcut to a Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Deleting a Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Editing Story Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

Changing the Text View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

Entering Edit Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Formatting Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Rearranging Text in a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Marking Text as Presenter Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Marking Text as Closed Captioned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

Adding a Production Cue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

Deleting a Production Cue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Marking Text as Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Marking Text as Normal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Saving Changes to a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

Finding the Read Time of a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

Building a Sequence from a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Building a Sequence with a Specific Duration. . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Sending and Receiving NRCS Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Sending NRCS Tool Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Receiving NRCS Tool Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

Disconnecting from the Avstar Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

Chapter 20 Transferring Media by Using Baseband

Setting Up a Video Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Connecting Avid NewsCutter XP to a Video Server . . . . . . . . 549

Configuring a Video Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

Configuring a Video Server as a Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

Transferring Media to a Video Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554

Transferring Media from a Video Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

Chapter 21 Transferring Media by Using a Network Connection

Transferring Media by Using Fibre Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Starting the AvidNet Transfer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Starting the AvidNet Transfer Tool Manually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Setting the AvidNet Transfer Tool to Start Automatically . . . 559

Transferring Media by Using a Network Connection . . . . . . . 560

Appendix A Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins

Accessing the AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

Core AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

Additional Supported Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

Digidesign D-Fi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Digidesign D-Fx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Description of Core AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Invert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Duplicate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Normalize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Reverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

DC Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

Time Compression/Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

Master Clip Mode Parallel Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Time Compression/Expansion Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571

Pitch Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573

Pitch Shift Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

EQ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

EQ II Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

Compressor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Using Compression Effectively. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Compressor Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580

Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582

Limiter Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583

Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Gate Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Expander/Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

Expander/Gate Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587

Mod Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Mod Delay Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Appendix B File Format Specifications

Graphic (Image) Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

Preparing Graphic Files for Import. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594

Graphic File Import Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

Animation Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600

Audio File Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

OMFI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

Appendix C Avid Log Specifications

Log Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608

Understanding Avid Log Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608

Describing an Avid Log File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

Global Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610

Column Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611

Data Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

Sample Avid Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

Glossary Index

Tables

Table 3-1 Bin Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Table 3-2 Automatic Save and Backup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Table 3-3 General Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Table 3-4 User Interface Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Table 3-5 Settings Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Table 3-6 Settings Scroll List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Table 3-7 Navigation Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Table 6-1 Record Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Table 6-2 Deck Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Table 6-3 Deck Preferences Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Table 6-4 General Record Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Table 7-1 Autorecord Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Table 8-1 Import Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Table 9-1 Object Icon Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Table 9-2 Shortcuts for Moving in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Table 10-1 Consolidate Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Table 10-2 Relinking Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Table 10-3 Relinking Location Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Tab l e 11 - 1 Timecode Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Tab l e 11 - 2 Video Display Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Table 13-1 Timeline Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Table 13-2 Timeline Fast Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Table 18-1 Export Settings Dialog Box Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

Table 18-2 Graphic Format Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Table 18-3 OMFI Export Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Table 18-4 QuickTime Reference Movie Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Table 18-5 QuickTime Movie Export Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Table 18-6 QuickTime Movie Format Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

Table 18-7 AVI Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Table 18-8 AVI Video Compression Dialog Box Options . . . . . 509

Table 18-9 Devices for Transferring Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

Table 18-10 Default Folder and File Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Table 19-1 NRCS Tool Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Table 20-1 Baseband Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551

Tab l e B-1 Graphic File Import Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

Tab l e B-2 Animation File Import Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . 601

Tab l e B-3 QuickTime Import and Export

Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602

Tab l e B-4 AVI Import and Export Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . 603

Tab l e B-5 OMFI File Import Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

Tab l e C-1 Compatible Log Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608

Tab l e C-2 Avid Log Global Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610

Tab l e C-3 Avid Log Column Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612

Tab l e C-4 Avid Log Data Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614

CHAPTER 1

Desktop Basics

Although most of your work is performed within the Avid NewsCutter XP application, you will need to use a few basic desktop procedures.

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

• Working with the Desktop

• About the Avid NewsCutter XP Folder

• Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

• Starting the Avid NewsCutter XP Application

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

Working with the Desktop

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

your Microsoft Windows NT Help.

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

• Creating an Emergency Repair Disk

• Using Shortcut Menus

• Using the Windows NT Taskbar

• Dragging Windows

• Setting the Avid Color Scheme

• Setting Your Screen Resolution

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk

You or your system administrator needs to create a Windows NT 4.0 emergency repair disk (ERD) to r ebuild your system configuration if it becomes damaged. You need to update the ERD any time you make a system change, like installing new software.

To create an emergency repair disk:

1. Click the Start button and click Run.

2. In the text box, type:

rdisk /s

3. Click OK.

4. Follow the instructions to create the disk.

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

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

Using Shortcut Menus

Instead of using the standard menus to find the command you need in a window, try using the shortcut menus.

To use a shortcut menu:

t Right-click on a window to access a shortcut menu that shows the

most frequently used commands for that window. For a list of the available shortcuts, see the Avid NewsCutter XP Quick Reference.

Using the Windows NT Taskbar

By default, the Windows NT taskbar always appears on the bottom of your screen, on top of your application. You have two other choices:

• Keeping the taskbar hidden behind the application

• Setting the taskbar to appear only when you drag the mouse pointer to it

If you keep the taskbar hidden while running Avid NewsCutter XP and you minimize an application such as Help, you will not see the minimized icon. To see the taskbar and minimized icons, minimize Avid NewsCutter XP.

To change the taskbar settings:

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

2. Choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

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

4. Select the options you want: t To keep the taskbar hidden, deselect Always on top and Auto

hide.

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

top and Auto hide.

5. Click OK.

The taskbar can to be dragged to the top, bottom, or either side of the monitor.

For more information, see your Windows NT Help.

Dragging Windows

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

To deselect the option “Show window contents while dragging”:

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then select Control

2. Double-click Display.

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

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

5. Click OK.

Panel.

For a shortcut to the Display Properties dialog box, right-click an empty part of the desktop, and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

Setting the Avid Color Scheme

By default, Avid NewsCutter XP is set to the gray and purple Avid color scheme.

To change the color scheme:

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then select Control Panel.

2. Double-click Display.

3. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Appearance tab.

4. Choose a different color scheme from the Scheme menu.

5. Click OK.

For a shortcut to the Display Properties dialog box, right-click an empty part of the desktop, and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

Setting Your Screen Resolution

Avid NewsCutter XP works best with the following screen resolutions:

One Monitor Two Monitors

1024 x 768 pixels 2048 x 768 pixels

1152 x 864 pixels 2304 x 864 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels 2560 x 1024 pixels

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

To view or change the screen resolution:

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then select Control Panel.

2. Double-click Display.

3. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab.

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

5. Click OK.

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

For a shortcut to the Display Properties dialog box, right-click an empty part of the desktop, and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

About the Avid NewsCutter XP Folder

The Avid NewsCutter XP folder contains essential operational files and supporting files. You can find it in the following location: drive:\Program Files\Avid\

You should not touch any of these files, except where noted in the following descriptions:

• Help folder: This folder contains the Help files.

• Avid NewsCutter XP application: The application icon resides here. You can start the application by following the procedures described in “Starting the Avid NewsCutter XP Application” on

page33.

• Settings: In addition to Project and User settings, the system maintains two settings files in this folder that apply to all users and all projects on the system. You can copy or move the Site Settings file to other systems on the desktop, using the same procedure described in “Moving Settings Between Systems” on

page81.

• Supporting Files: A series of files located in the Supporting Files folder that add functionality to the application. The system accesses most of these files from within the application. You can add third-party effects to the 3rd Party Plug-Ins folder and AVX_Plug-Ins folder from programs such as Avid Visual Extensions (AVX

Avid NewsCutter XP Effects Guide.

™

) for use in effects editing, as described in the

Managing the A vid Projects and Avid Users Folder s

Managing projects, user profiles, and settings involves moving, copying, or deleting files and folders, and changing project or user names. You use the desktop to move projects and user profiles between systems. For information about moving a project from one system to another, see the Avid Products Collaboration Guide.

About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

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

• When you create a new user, the system creates three items: a user profile file, a User Settings file, and a user folder containing both. Each item is given the user name you provide. The new folder is stored in the Avid Users folder on the internal hard drive.

• When you create a new project, the system creates three items: a project file, a Project Settings file, and a project folder containing both. Each item is given the project name you provide. This new folder is stored in the Avid Projects folder on the internal hard drive.

A vid Pr ojects and Avid Users folders allow you to move entire projects or selected Project and User settings between systems by copying and moving files on your desktop.

Changing Project and User Names

You cannot change project or user names from within the Avid NewsCutter XP application. You must change the name from your desktop before starting the application.

To change a project or user name:

1. Double-click the internal hard drive to open it.

2. Double-click the Avid Users or the Avid Projects folder to open it.

3. Click the name of the folder you want to change. The name is highlighted for text entry, and the arrow changes to

an I-beam.

4. Type the new name of the folder.

When you change a user name or project name, make sure you change the name of the folder and all the files in the folder that have the old name. The system does not automatically change the names of corresponding files in the folder.

5. Close the windows and restart the Avid NewsCutter XP application.

Deleting Projects and User Profiles

You cannot delete projects and user profiles from within the Avid NewsCutter XP application. You must make the change from your desktop before starting the application. The Avid Users and Avid Projects folders are located in the drive:\Avid folder.

To delete a project or user profile:

1. Double-click the internal hard drive to open it.

2. Double-click the Avid Users or the Avid Projects folder to open it.

3. Drag the project or user folder you want to delete to the Recycle Bin. Empty the Recycle Bin to remove the files from the system.

Deleting a project also deletes any bins that are in that project.

4. Close the windows and restart the Avid NewsCutter XP application.

Recorded media related to a deleted project is not eliminated with the project folder . For more information on deleting media files, see “Deleting Clips and

Sequences” on page 213 and “Deleting Media Files with the Media Tool” on page 246.

Starting the Avid NewsCutter XP Application

The Avid NewsCutter XP application is located in the Program Files\A vid\Avid NewsCutter XP folder on the internal hard drive. For most users, the desktop is a more convenient location for starting the application.

To create a shortcut on the desktop:

t See your Microsoft Windows NT documentation.

To start Avid NewsCutter XP:

1. Click the Start button.

2. Point to Programs.

3. Point to the Avid folder.

4. Select Avid NewsCutter XP.

After a few moments, the Open Project dialog box appears.

Accepting Your Avid NewsCutter XP License Electronically

The Avid NewsCutter XP license agreement appears the first few times you start the system.

To accept your Avid NewsCutter XP license electronically:

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

After the agreement appears a few times, a new button is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

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

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

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

The Open Project dialog box appears, and you can begin working with Avid NewsCutter XP.

CHAPTER 2

Starting a Project

Your work in Avid NewsCutter XP begins when you turn on the system, start the application, and open an existing project or create a new project. This chapter describes these and other procedures for starting a project. You can use several techniques to safeguard and restore your work if necessary. These topics are covered in the following sections:

• Opening a Project

• Backing Up Your Project Information

• Ending an Edit Session

• Mounting and Ejecting Drives

For information on the Microsoft Windows NT operating system and terminology, see the Microsoft Windows NT Help. For information on turning on your system, see the Avid NewsCutter XP Getting Started Guide.

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

Opening a Project

Each time you start the Avid NewsCutter XP application, the Open Project dialog box appears.

Users scroll list Projects scroll list

To establish your identity as a user with the system and to select or create a project to open, use the following procedures:

• Identifying a User

• Selecting a Project

• Opening a Project in Avid NewsCutter XP

• Closing a Project

Y ou can also create additional folders within which to stor e projects, or you can quit the application from the Open Project dialog box.

Identifying a User

To identify a user for the project, do one of the following:

t Create and identify a new user. t Select a user from a list of existing users. This user name

Creating a New User

To create a new user profile:

1. Click New User in the Open Project dialog box.

2. Type the name of the new user, and press Enter.

represents the user profile, which includes the settings associated with the user.

If you plan to move bins and projects from one platform to another , do not use

the characters / \ : * ? “ < > |when naming projects, bins, and users.

3. Click OK. The Open Project dialog box reappears with your user name

highlighted in the list of users.

You are ready to select a project. See “Selecting a Project” on page 38.

Selecting an Existing User

To select from the list of existing users:

t Click the user name to highlight it in the Users scroll list on the left

side of the Open Project dialog box.

Folders containing collections of users appear in the list with asterisks preceding them.

To select a user in a folder:

1. Double-click the folder to open it and display the user names.

2. Click a user name to select it.

Selecting a Project

To select a project, do one of the following:

t Open an existing project t Create and open a new project

You can also place projects in folders and nest the folders within other folders.

Selecting an Existing Project

Existing projects appear in the Projects scroll list in the Open Project dialog box.

Projects pop-up menu

Projects scroll list

To select an existing project, do one of the following in the Open Project dialog box:

t Click an existing project name to highlight it. t Press the first letter of the project name on the keyboard to

To open a project nested in a folder:

1. Double-click the folder name to open it and display the contents in

2. Click the project name to highlight it.

To locate a project in another folder:

1. Click the Projects pop-up menu, and choose a drive from the

2. Double-click a folder name to open it. Continue opening folders

3. Click the project name to highlight it.

Creating a New Project

highlight it.

the Projects scroll list.

Volumes submenu.

until the Projects scroll list displays the project folder you want.

To create a new project:

1. Click New Project in the Open Project dialog box. The New Project dialog box appears.

2. Type the name of your new project in the highlighted text box.

3. Choose either NTSC or PAL from the Video Format pop-up menu.

4. Click OK. The system creates the new project files and folder, and returns

you to the Open Project dialog box. The project name is highlighted in the Projects scroll list.

Nesting Projects in Folders

You can create folders in the Open Project dialog box for storing related products. To nest a folder, you must first create a folder.

To create a folder:

1. Click New Folder in the Open Project dialog box. The New Folder dialog box appears.

2. Type a name for the folder, and press Enter or click OK. The folder name appears in the Projects scroll list with an asterisk

preceding it.

3. Double-click the folder name to open the folder.

Any new projects you create now are displayed and stored in this folder. Any existing projects you move into this folder from your desktop are displayed in this folder.

Opening a Project in Avid NewsCutter XP

To open a project, do one of the following:

t Click OK. t Double-click the highlighted project name in the Pr ojects scroll list. t Double-click the highlighted user name in the Users scroll list.

Project window

The Composer monitor and the bin open with the selected User settings loaded.

The title bar of the Project window contains the project name and user name you selected in the Open Project dialog box.

Project name User name

Close button

Closing a Project

When you close the current project, you return to the Open Project dialog box.

To close the current project, do one of the following:

t With the Project window active, choose Close from the File menu. t Click the Close button in the Project window.

Backing Up Your Project Information

For information on using the Auto-save feature, see “Saving

Bins Automatically” on page 60.

Although Avid NewsCutter XP automatically saves your bins, projects, and settings, you should back up these items frequently to avoid losing any of your work in case your hard drive fails. Because the storage requirements are minimal, you can back up these files easily to a variety of storage devices, including:

• Floppy disk

• Network storage device (such as a file server)

• Mass storage device

Saving Your Project Information on a Drive or Floppy Disk

To save your work on a drive or floppy disk:

1. Mount the drive or insert a floppy disk as appropriate.

2. From the Windows NT desktop, double-click My Computer.

3. Double-click the icon for the targeted storage drive or floppy disk to open it. Double-click any additional folders to target the appropriate storage location.

4. Double-click the internal hard drive to open it.

5. Drag a project folder, user folder, or settings file to the targeted storage location.

6. When the system finishes copying the files, unmount the drive or eject the floppy disk and store it where appropriate.

Restoring from a Backup

To restore a project, user profile, or settings from a backup storage device:

1. Mount the drive or insert a floppy disk as appropriate.

2. From the desktop, double-click the drive or floppy disk and the internal hard drive.

3. Drag the copies from the storage device to the appropriate folder on the internal hard drive:

• Project folders and settings files go in the Avid Projects folder.

• User folders and settings files go in the Avid Users folder.

• Site settings files go in the Avid NewsCutter XP folder.

4. Start the Avid NewsCutter XP application.

Ending an Edit Session

To end the session, you must first quit the application, and then turn off your equipment in the order described in this section.

Quitting the Avid NewsCutter XP Application

There are three ways to quit Avid NewsCutter XP:

To quit the Avid NewsCutter XP application from an open project:

t Choose Exit from the File menu.

The project closes, and Avid NewsCutter XP returns to the desktop.

To quit the Avid NewsCutter XP application if you are between projects:

1. Click the Quit button in the Open Project dialog box.

Quit button

A message box appears.

2. Click Leave to quit the Avid NewsCutter XP application. Click Cancel to return to the Open Project dialog box and select another project.

If you want to turn off your system, see “Turning Off Your Equipment” on

page 45.

To quit the Avid NewsCutter XP application from an open project:

1. Click the Close button at the far right of the title bar.

Close button

The Open Project dialog box appears.

2. Click the Quit button.

3. Click the Leave button.

Turning Off Your Equipment

Quit Avid NewsCutter XP before turning off your equipment. See

“Quitting the Avid NewsCutter XP Application” on page 43.

To turn off your equipment without damaging your computer or media storage drives:

1. Choose Shut Down from the Start menu to turn off your system.

2. Turn off your speakers and monitors.

3. Turn off each drive. Move your drives only when the system is completely off.

Never remove drives from your Avid NewsCutter XP system when it is turned on.

Mounting and Ejecting Drives

The Eject command makes selected media drives inaccessible to Avid NewsCutter XP. If the drive you eject supports the auto-eject feature (for example, Jaz the drive.

By default, all media drives that are connected to your system are listed and can be seen by Avid NewsCutter XP. You can remove one or more drives from the list at any time by choosing Eject from the File menu. For example, if you want to use only some of your drives for a particular project, choose Eject to prevent other drives fr om appearing in Avid NewsCutter XP. The Eject command does not remove drives from the Windows NT system.

drives), the command ejects the disk from

Ejecting Drives

Shut down the Windows NT system completely before you physically remove or add drives. For information on removing and adding drives, see the Avid MediaDrive Utilities User’s Guide.

On systems with multiple media drives, ejecting unused drives can improve the performance of the Media tool. You need to eject the drives before you can open the Media tool.

To eject a disk or make a drive unavailable to Avid NewsCutter XP:

1. With the Avid NewsCutter XP application active, choose Eject from the File menu.

The Select a Drive dialog box appears. The scroll list displays all drives currently available.

2. Select a drive to eject. Ctrl+click to select additional drives.

3. Click the Eject button. The drives are no longer available to Avid NewsCutter XP.

Mounting All Drives

Because the system cannot interface with ejected drives individually, you cannot mount selected drives. However , you can mount all drives connected to the system, including those previously ejected.

To mount all drives:

t Choose Mount All from the File menu.

All drives turned on and connected to the system become available to Avid NewsCutter XP.

CHAPTER 3

Working with the Project Window

The Project window provides controls in thr ee differ ent display modes for structuring and viewing important information about your current project. These include a display of bins and folders associated with the project, a list of all settings, and basic information about the format of the project and use of system memory. These topics are described in the following sections:

• Opening and Closing the Project Window

• Using the Bins Display

• Using the Settings Scroll List

• Using the Info Display

• Customizing Your Workspace

• Navigating in Dialog Boxes and Menus

Opening and Closing the Project Window

The Project window provides three different displays (Bins, Settings and Info) for structuring and viewing information about your current project.

Settings button

Bins button

Info button

Use the Project window to:

• Create and open bins.

• View and modify settings.

• View information about the format of the project and the use of system memory.

You can also add folders to your projects that allow you to organize the projects.

Bins from other projects appear in the Project window in italics.

You can see bins and folders in a flat view, which lists only the folder contents and not the folder. Flat view is an option in the Project

window’s Fast menu. You can also drag bins into folders or folders into folders.

The Project window opens automatically when you select a project in the Open Project dialog box.

To close the Project window, do one of the following:

t With the Project window active, choose Close from the File menu. t Click the Close button in the Project window.

To reopen the Project window:

t Choose Project from the Tools menu.

Using the Bins Display

Bins contain the master clips that are created when you record source material. (The master clips are linked to the media files.) Bins also contain the sequences, subclips, group clips, and effect clips that you create during a project. From the Pr oject window, you can view a list of bins associated with the project, and open, close, and create bins. You can also open bins created for another project.

Viewing a List of Bins

To view a list of bins associated with the project:

t Click the Bins button in the Project window.

Bins button

The views for working with clips in a bin are: Text view, and Frame view.

•In Text view, clips are displayed in a da tabase text format using columns and rows, with icons representing the various objects. You can save various arrangements of columns, text, and objects as customized views.

Text View button

Frame View button

Displaying Bins

•In Frame view, each clip is represented by a single picture frame, with the name of the clip. You can play back the footage in each frame and change the size of frames. You can also rearrange the frames in any order within the bin.

By default, your bins display all existing media objects except source clips and rendered effects. To display only those objects that you need to use to organize your project, you can display selecte d media objects.

To set the bin display:

1. Choose Set Bin Display from the Bin menu. The Display Bin Selection dialog box appears.

2. Select the object types that you want to see: master clips, subclips, sequences, sources, effects, motion effects, or rendered effects.

3. The option “Show clips created by user” is selected by default.

Deselect this option only if you want to hide all objects except those created by the system.

4. Select the option “Show reference clips” to automatically display those objects that are referenced by sequences in the bin, whether those clips were previously in the bin or not.

5. Click OK. The bin displays objects according to your specifications.

Creating a Folder in a Project

To create a folder in a project:

1. Click the Bins button in the Project window.

Bins button

Fast Menu button

2. Click the Fast Menu button in the lower left corner.

3. Choose New Folder from the Bin Fast menu.

4. Click the untitled folder and rename it.

Creating a New Bin

To create a new bin from the Project window:

1. Do one of the following:

A new, untitled folder appears.

t Choose New Bin from the File menu. t Click the New Bin button in the Project window.

Either one of these procedures opens a new (empty) bin that is given the name of the project as displayed in the title bar of the Project window. The new bin appears in the Bins list of the Project

window. A corresponding file is placed in the project folder, and a backup copy is placed in the Attic folder.

The new bin appears in the Project window with a default name highlighted.

2. Type the name of the new bin, and press the Enter key.

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 Project window, numbered incrementally.

To change the name of a bin:

t Click the bin name in the Project window, and type a new name.

Opening and Closing a Bin

To open a bin directly:

1. Click the Bins button in the Project window.

2. Double-click the icon next to the bin name.

To open a bin from the File menu:

1. Choose Open Bin from the File menu. The Open dialog box appears.

Up One Level pop-up menu

2. Select a bin. Navigate to the correct folder, if necessary.

3. Click the Open button.

Never open a bin that is stored on a floppy disk; otherwise, the system will not be able to save your work. Always copy the bin to a project folder on the internal hard drive before you open it.

Opening Selected Bins

To open several bins at once from the Project window:

1. Click the name of one of the bins in the Bins list.

2. Ctrl+click each additional bin you want to open.

3. Choose Open Selected Bins from the File menu.

Closing a Bin

To close a bin, do one of the following:

t Click the Close button in the upper right corner of the bin. t Choose Close Bin from the File menu.

Deleting a Bin or Folder

To delete a bin or folder within a project:

1. Select the bin or the folder you want to delete in the Bins list.

2. Press the Delete key. A Trash icon appears in the Bins list in the Project window. It

contains the deleted item. The deleted item is stored in the Trash until you empty it.

The Trash is not visible in the Project window until you select your first item to delete.

Clips, subclips, and effects that are in a bin appear in the Trash after you delete the bin. However, if you select a clip, subclip, or effect directly and press the Delete key, the item does not appear in the Tr as h.

Viewing Contents in the Trash

If you need to view the contents in the Trash or decide you do not want to delete those items in the Trash, you must first move the bins and folders out of the Trash.

To view items in the Trash:

1. Double-click the Trash icon in the Bins list to open it.

2. Click the bins or folders you want to remove (or view) from the Trash, and drag them from the Trash to the Bins list in the Project window.

3. Double-click the bin or folder to view it.

Emptying the Trash

To empty the Trash:

1. Choose Empty Trash from the Fast menu. A message box appears.

2. Click Empty Trash to delete the bins or folders from the Trash and from your internal hard drive.

Managing Folders and Bins

You can use the Project window to create hierarchies of folders and bins that reflect the specific workflow of the current project. This structure should provide both simplicity and backup security. Although the specifics may vary depending on your production needs and habits, the following are a few basic principles:

• Limit the number of sequences you create in each project. For instance, consider creating one new project for each show, episode, spot, or scene.

• Limit the number and complexity of clips in each bin by creating and organizing bins in three groups, as shown in Ta b l e 3 - 1.

Table 3-1 Bin Organization

Set of bins Purpose Specific bins

First Recording stage

Second Organizing your project

Third Editing stage A current cut bin for storing each

work in progress (sequence)

An archive bin for keeping the original version of each cut (sequence)

A selects or storyboard bin for screening selected clips or cuts gathered from the source bins

A format cuts bin for storing the final cuts with added format elements such as segment breaks, color bars and tone, slate, or countdown

• (Option) Create additional folders at the desktop level for better organization. For example, you can create one folder for each recording bin and show cut bin, or a folder containing all shot logs to be imported.

• Save these files as a template for future productions of a similar nature.

Saving Bins Automatically

Avid NewsCutter XP automatically saves changes to your work on a regular basis during each session. Two things happen when an auto-save occurs:

• Any open bins are updated with changes made since the last auto-save.

• Copies of these bins are placed in the drive:\Avid\Avid NewsCutter XP\Attic folder as backup.

To adjust the frequency of automatic saves:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Double-click Bin. The Bin Settings dialog box appears.

3. Type a number in the minutes text box for the auto-save interval option.

4. Click OK.

Saving Bins Manually

For added security, you can save a bin manually. You might want to d o this immediately after performing an important edit. There are three ways to save bins manually.

To save a specific bin:

1. Click the bin to activate it.

2. Choose Save Bin from the File menu.

To save selected bins:

1. Activate the Project window by choosing Project from the Tools menu or by clicking anywhere in the window.

2. Click a Bin icon to select it. Ctrl+click any additional bins.

3. Choose Save All from the File menu. The system saves all the selected bins.

The Save Bin command appears dimmed if there have been no changes since the last time the active bin was saved.

To save all the bins:

1. Click in the Project window to activate it but do not select any individual bins listed in the Bins list.

2. Choose Save All from the File menu. The system saves all the bins for the project.

Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder

You retrieve files from the 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

The Attic folder contains a folder for each project. When a bin is saved, a copy of the bin file is stored in the project folder in the Attic folder. The system adds the file name extension .bak plus a version number to the bin name. The bin file with the highest version number represents the latest copy of the bin file.

When you view a project folder in Details view, you can also identify the most recent backup file based on the name and timestamp of creation displayed in the Date Modified column.

To retrieve a file from the Attic folder:

1. Minimize the Avid NewsCutter XP application.

2. From the desktop, double-click the Attic folder in the following location: drive:\Avid\Avid NewsCutter XP\.

The Attic folder opens and displays project folders that contain the backup files.

3. Double-click the project folder that contains the files you want to retrieve.

4. Choose Details from the View menu, if the project folder is not already in the Details view.

The project folder displays the file names and their creation dates.

5. Ctrl+click the files you want to retrieve.

6. Drag the selected backup bin files to the desktop. This makes a copy of the files, leaving the original files i n the Attic

folder .

7. Double-click the Avid NewsCutter XP button in the taskbar to activate it.

8. Click the Project window to activate it, and click Bins to display the Bins list.

9. Choose Open Bin from the File menu. Select one of the backup bin files you copied to the desktop and click Open.

When you open the backup bin, a link to the backup bin on the desktop is created in the Other Bins folder.

The Avid NewsCutter XP system does not allow a bin and a copy of a bin to be opened at the same time, so you must keep all other bins closed and open the backup bins one at a time. You might also need to change the creation date to avoid conflicts. For more information, see “Modifying the Creation

Date” on page 64.

10. Create a new bin if you do not plan to overwrite existing files.

11. Open the new bin, and open the backup bin in the Other Bins folder.

12. Select the material you want to keep from the backup bin, and drag the files to the new bin.

Repeat steps 9 through 12 for any other backup bins you copied to your desktop.

13. Select and delete the backup bins in the Other Bins folder.

14. Drag the backup bin files to the Recycle Bin on the desktop.

Once you have moved the objects, modify their creation dates so they are considered newest by the system. The creation date is modified whenever you make a change to an object and then save the bin.

Modifying the Creation Date

After you have moved backup bins from the Attic folder, you must modify the creation date for these backup items so they are consider ed the newest items by the system. This prevents them from being overwritten by a newer item.

To modify the creation date:

1. Click the F button at the lower left corner of the Bin window to put the bin in Frame view.

2. Choose Select All from the Edit menu.

3. Click the Step Forward button or press the Step Forward key to advance the pictures displayed by one frame; click the Step Backward button or press the Step Backward key to move back again. This modifies the timestamp on these clips to the present time and date.

4. Close the backup copies of the bins.

5. Quit the Avid NewsCutter XP application.

6. Drag the backup copies of the bins to the Recycle Bin.

Using the Settings Scroll List

From the Settings scroll list of the Project window, you can view , select, open, and alter various User, Project, and Site settings, as described in this section.

To view the Settings scroll list:

t Click the Settings button in the Project window.

About Settings

Settings button

Three types of settings appear in the Settings scr o ll lis t, as indicate d in the second column of information: User, Project, and Site settings.

• User settings are specific to a particular editor. In general, User settings reflect individual preferences for adjusting the user interface in the system. Individual User settings are stored in each user folder within the:

- \Program Files\Avid\Avid NewsCutter XP\Avid Users

folder on the internal hard drive

• Project settings are directly related to individual projects. When

• Site settings establish default parameters for all new users and

Defining Settings

You can use the Settings scroll list to establish a hierarchy of settings that address the specific needs of each production phase . For example, you can establish:

you change a Project setting, it affects all editors working on the project. Specific Project settings are stored in each project folder within the:

- \Program Files\Avid\Avid NewsCutter XP\Avid Projects

folder on the internal hard drive

projects on a particular system. They can apply to particular configurations of equipment installed at the site; for example, specification and node settings for an external switcher. They can also include other User or Project settings that you copy into the Site Settings window. Site settings are stored in a separate Settings folder within the:

- \Program Files\Avid\Avid NewsCutter XP\Avid Users

folder on the internal hard drive

• User settings that facilitate logging, recording, and organizing projects, and editing interface preferences

• Project settings that reflect the specific needs of the project

• Bin View settings that display useful columns of information for each bin

By establishing these settings once, and by selecting the appropriate setting or bin view in context, you can save time and effort that would be spent searching for information or adjusting bin headings on-the-fly. You can also save these settings along with your template for use on similar projects, as described in “Managing Folders and

Bins” on page 58.

Reviewing Basic Settings

The following list describes basic system settings to review at the start of your project:

• Bin settings

• General settings

• Interface settings

To view the settings:

t Double-click each setting in the Settings scroll list of the Project

window.

Bin Settings

Bin settings define general system functions related to bins, including:

• Parameters of the Auto-save function

• Maximum number of bin backup files stored in the Attic folder

Table3-2 describes the Automatic Save and Backup options listed in

the Bin Settings dialog box.

Table 3-2 Automatic Save and Backup Options

Option Description

Auto-save interval Specifies the length of time between attempts to

auto-save project files. The default is 15 minutes. To avoid interrupting an edit, the Avid NewsCutter

XP system waits until the system is inactive before

auto-saving. Use the option “Force auto-save at” to specify an interval at which the system will interrupt an edit to make the auto-save.

Inactivity period Specifies the length of time the A vid NewsCutter XP

system waits when the system is inactive before automatically saving the project files. The default is 0 seconds.

Force auto-save at Specifies the maximum length of time between

auto-saves. When the system reaches this time, it will auto-save the project files even if it must interrupt an edit to do so. The default is 30 minutes.

Maximum files in attic

Max Versions of any one bin

Specifies the total number of files stored in the Attic folder. When a bin is saved, the Avid NewsCutter XP system copies the previous version of the bin to a special folder called the Attic. The default is 30 files.

Keep more files if there are many editors working on the system. This ensures that all the bins are backed up.

When there are multiple editors working on one system, store bin settings as Site or Project settings. This will ensure that another user does not override your settings and delete your backups.

Specifies the total number of single-bin copies stored in the Attic folder. This setting prevents filling the Attic with too many copies of one bin, at the risk of losing the others. The default is five copies.

General Settings

General settings define fundamental system defaults.

Ta bl e 3 - 3 describes the General Settings options.

Table 3-3 General Settings Options

Option Description

Temporary Files Directory When you use the Drag and Drop Export or an export that creates

an intermediate movie file, Avid NewsCutter XP must store the intermediate file, which can be as large as the final export. By default, the Temporary Files Directory is located in the same directory as the Avid NewsCutter XP product.

To improve efficiency or to avoid DISK_FULL errors when exporting, you can type in a different directory for these temporary files. The ideal setting for this field is to type in a directory on the drive to which you will be exporting, or simply one with plenty of free space.

Default Starting Timecode This option specifies the timecode value you want the system t o use

as the default starting timecode for each new sequence.

Audio File Format Choose the file format for the audio:

• (OMF) WAVE: Compatible with Windows

• (OMF) AIFF-C: Compatible with many third-party applications, including Pro Tools

Choose the AIFF-C format for all audio media when you need to transfer audio media files directly to a Pro Tools or AudioVision system for audio sweetening.

applications

Use Windows-compatible file names

This option prevents you from using the characters / \ : ” * ? < > | in bin, project, or user names. These characters are not allowed in Windows file names. This option is useful for moving bins and projects from Macintosh® to Windows NT platforms.

Interface Settings

Interface settings determine the level of basic information displayed in the interface.

Ta bl e 3 - 4 describes the User Interface Settings options.

Table 3-4 User Interface Settings Options

Option Description

Show Labels in Tool palette When this option is selected, the system displays text

labels with the icons in Tool palettes. To tear off the Tool palette, click anywhere on the palette, press and hold the mouse button, and drag the palette to the location you want.

Show ToolTips When this option is selected, the system displays

labels for buttons and icons when you position the pointer over them.You can also turn ToolTips on and off from the Help menu.

Table 3-4 User Interface Settings Options (Continued)

Option Description

Delay n seconds before showing If you select Show ToolTips, you can delay the label

display by entering a value in this text box. A delay enables you to move the pointer across the interface without displaying the labels on items between the starting point and the destination of the pointer.

Windows Behavior

Standard Alt Key

This option switches between standard W i ndows Alt key behavior and Avid system Alt key behavior. When you select this option, pressing and holding the Alt key together with another key works as a keyboard shortcut for certain Windows actions (for example, opening menus).

When you deselect this option, pressing and releasing the Alt key and then pressing another key works as the Windows keyboard shortcut , while pressing and holding the Alt key together with another key works as a keyboard shortcut for certain Avid functions. This is the default option.

For more information on Windows shortcuts, see your Windows documentation.

For more information on Avid shortcuts, see the Avid NewsCutter XP Quick Reference, or choose Shortcuts from the Help menu.

Displaying Project Settings

You can displa y the Settings scroll list of the Project window in different groups, depending on what you need to view. Ta b l e 3 -5 describes the different Settings menu options.

Table 3-5 Settings Menu Options

Option Description

All Settings Displays all settings available in the

Avid NewsCutter XP system

Base Settings Displays Project, User, and Site settings only; no

views are displayed

Title Styles Displays all the templates you created for the

Title tool

Video Tool Settings Displays Video Tool settings

Import Settings Displays all the Import settings

Export Settings Displays all the Export settings

Changing the Settings Scroll List Display

Fast Menu button

To change the Settings scroll list display of the Project window:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Choose a settings display group from the Fast menu or from the Settings menu.

Fast Menu button

Settings menu

The Settings menu displays the settings group selected and the Settings scroll list displays only the settings in that group.

About the Settings Scroll List

Ta bl e 3 - 6 briefly describes each item in the Settings scroll list. The

table also lists where you can find additional information on a particular item and indicates whether the item has an associated dialog box (or window) that you can access from the Settings scroll list.

Table 3-6 Settings Scroll List

Setting Name Description

Audio Sets the default audio pan; contains

audio scrub options and audio setup parameters

Audio Project Sets parameters for audio setup See “Preparing for

AvidNet Sets preferences for using the

AvidNet™ Transfer Tool to transfer files across a network

Bin Sets the Auto-save preferences for bins See “Bin Settings” on

Deck Configuration Configures channels and decks into

the system

Deck Preferences Sets preferences that affect all decks

configured into the system

Desktop Video Enables digital camera video input;

enables support of cameras with video input; sets the mode and source for desktop video; sets parameters for desktop video display; enables Client monitor

For More Information

See “Adjusting Audio

Project Settings” on page 146.

Audio Input” on page 144.

See the Avid Products Collaboration Guide.

page 67.

See “Configuring

Decks” on page 121.

See “Setting Deck

Preferences” on page 129.

See “Playing Video to

the Client Monitor” on page 282 and “Adjusting Desktop Video Settings” on page 285.

Access to Dialog Box?

Yes

Record Defines how the Avid NewsCutter XP

system records and batch records in specific situations

Export Sets parameters for file export See Table 18-1 on

See “Record Settings”

on page 120.

page 479.

Yes

Table 3-6 Settings Scroll List (Continued)

Setting Name Description

General Defines default values such as the

default starting timecode and the audio file format for your project

Import Sets parameters for file import See Table 8-1 on

Interface Defines the appearance and function

of certain interface elements

Keyboard Displays the default keys on the

keyboard

Render Contr ols the size of imported graphics

and rendered effects to ensur e that the graphic or effect will be playable

Timeline Contains the latest Timeline settings See “Accessing the

Trim Customizes the Trim mode

environment

For More Information

See “General

Settings” on page 69.

page 184.

See Table 3-4 on

page 71.

See “About the

Keyboard” on page 280.

See the Avid NewsCutter XP Effects Guide.

Timeline Settings” on page 322.

See “Customizing

Trim Mode” on page 349.

Access to Dialog Box?

Yes

Workspace Enables you to associate settings and

windows with a workspace

See “Linking User

Settings and Workspaces” on page 89.

Yes

Working with Settings

You can view and modify most of your current settings by double-clicking them in the Settings scroll list of the Project window and by selecting new options. You can duplicate, rename, copy, and move settings among files or systems.

Selecting Another User

Because User settings are not project or site specific, you can choose to display another set of User settings within the Project window.

To select another user:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Click and hold the user name to display the User pop-up menu.

3. Select another name from the list.

Modifying Settings

You cannot modify the following two types of settings:

• Settings that require the presence of standalone peripherals

• Settings that can be modified only from within the tools in which they are used, such as Bin and Timeline views

To modify available settings:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Double-click the name of a setting. The applicable Settings dialog box appears.

3. Type new values or select new options for the settings.

4. Click the OK, Save, Cancel, Apply, or Close button.

Working with Multiple Settings

Y ou can have multiple versions of settings in your Settings scroll list in the Project window that apply to several users at various stages of production.

For example, you can have:

• Two Bin settings: one that automatically saves more often when you are editing intensively, and one that automatically saves less often when you are doing organizational work in the bins

• Multiple Record settings for recording various types of source material

• Multiple Deck Preferences settings for various types of recording or for output

Duplicating Settings

To create a new version of a setting:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

Naming Settings

2. Click the setting you want to copy. Ctrl+click any additional settings you want to copy.

3. Choose Duplicate from the Edit menu. A copy of each setting appears in the window. Duplicate settings

with custom settings names followed by a period and a version number in the second column appear with each custom setting name. Name your settings to indicate their functions.

Y ou can give settings custom names to dif ferentiate among copies or to indicate a specific use.

Custom setting name column

To rename settings:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Click the Custom setting name column in the Settings scroll list

(the column to the right of the setting’s name).

3. Type a new name and press the Enter key.

Selecting Among Multiple Settings

With multiple settings, only one setting at a time is active. Settings that are currently active have a check mark to the left of the setting name.

Deleting Settings

To change the active setting:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Click in the space to the left of the setting you want to select as the active setting.

A check mark indicates that the setting is active.

You can delete settings from the Settings scroll list in the Project window at any time. For example, you might choose to delete one or more versions of a particular setting, or you might want to delete all but a few settings to transfer to another Settings window.

You cannot undo a deletion. You can, however, transfer settings from other files.

To delete a setting:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Click a setting to highlight it. Ctrl+click each additional setting you want to delete.

3. Press the Delete key, or choose Delete from the Edit menu. The selected settings are immediately removed.

Copying Settings Between Settings Files

To copy settings between files:

1. With the Settings scroll list active, open the target settings file in one of two ways:

t Create and open a new settings file by choosing New Settings

File from the File menu.

t Open an existing settings file by choosing Open Settings File

from the File menu.

2. Locate and select the settings file you want in the Avid Projects or Avid Users folder, and click Open.

3. Click the setting you want to copy in the Settings scroll list of the Project window. Ctrl+click any additional settings that you want to copy.

4. Drag the highlighted settings to the open Settings window. A message box appears.

5. Do one of the following: t Click Add to add the new settings to the project without

affecting the project’s current settings.

t Click Replace to replace the current version of each setting

with the new settings. Additional versions of each setting are not affected.

The copied settings are saved when you close or save the file or project.

Moving Settings Between Systems

You can move selected settings between existing settings files or into a new settings file:

• To use in other projects

• To transfer to other Avid NewsCutter XP systems

• To change one type of setting to another

Using Site Settings

You can also move selected settings into the S ite Setting s fold er to establish standard system settings for all new projects and users.

When the system opens a new project, it first searches the Site Settings folder and loads any site settings and other settings placed there. The system then proceeds to load any Project and User settings not included in the Site Settings folder. Adding site settings to the site settings file is useful if you need to establish global settings for all new users and projects, such as deck configuration settings or a specific start timecode for all sequences.

To load settings into the Site Settings folder:

1. Open a project with the settings you would like to establish as Site settings. If a project does not already exist with the settings you want, create one and make adjustments to the default settings as needed.

2. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

3. Choose Open Setting File from the File menu. The Open dialog box appears.

4. Navigate to the Settings folder, and click Open.

5. Select the Site Settings file, and click Open.

6. The Site Settings window opens.

7. Click a project or user setting in the Settings scroll list, or Ctrl+click multiple settings and drag them into the Site Settings window.

Copies appear in the Site Settings window.

8. Close the Site Settings window.

All new users and projects opened from the Open Project dialog box use these settings as the default settings.

Using the Info Display

The Info display in the Project window allows you to view basic project information, such as the video format, in a view called Profile (the default view). It also allows you to see information about system memory and hardware.

To select the information you want displayed:

1. Click the Fast menu button.

2. Choose a menu item from the pop-up menu.

Displaying Project Info

To open the Info display:

t Click the Info button in the Project window. Basic project

information is displayed.

Viewing Memory

The items listed in this view are for information only and cannot be changed.

To view system memory for an open project:

1. Click the Info button in the Project window. Basic project information is displayed.

2. Choose Memory from the Fast menu to open the Memory window.

About the Memory Window

The Memory window displays the following information:

• Objects: The total number of memory handles currently used by A vid NewsCutter XP. Objects include memory requir ements of the application, such as windows, as well as clips, sequences, and other items associated with a project.

• Total Physical Mem: The total number of bytes of RAM (random-access memory).

• Avail Physical Mem: The amount of RAM available for allocation by Windows NT.

• Total Page File: The total number of bytes that can be stored in the paging file. The paging file is used as virtual memory by Windows NT .

• Avail Page File: The total number of bytes avail a bl e in the paging files.

• Working Set (min and max): The set of memory pages currently available to the application in RAM.

You can view additional memory information through the Window NT tools Task Manager and Performance Monitor. You can view information about system activities, such as driver messages, through

the Windows NT Eve nt Viewer. For information on these tools, see the Windows NT Help.

You can improve performance on large projects by reducing the number of objects. Close unused bins, unmount unneeded media drives, consolidate finished elements, and eliminate old material from the project. Then quit and restart the Avid NewsCutter XP application. If performance is still slow, restart your system.

Accessing the Hardware Tool

The Hardware tool gives a visual representation of usage for each drive and provides operating system information.

For additional information on the Hardware tool, see

“Using the Hardware Tool” on page 98.

To view hardware for an open project:

1. Click the Info button in the Project window. Basic project information is displayed.

2. Choose Hardware from the Fast menu to open the Hardware tool.

Customizing Your Workspace

A workspace is the arrangement and size of tool windows displayed on your Avid NewsCutter XP system. 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 recording you might want to display the Record tool in specific locations. During effects editing, you might want to display the Effect Palette and Effect Editor in a particular location and size. To switch between workspaces, see “Switching Between Workspaces” on

page 91.

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 cannot assign certain tool windows to a workspace, such as the Hardware tool, Serial (COM) Ports tool, and Media tool.

You can select your preference in the Workspace Settings dialog box. For more information, see “Creating a New Workspace Setting” on

page 86.

Creating a New Workspace Setting

To create a new workspace setting:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the Settings scroll list and click Workspace. Workspace is highlighted.

3. Choose Duplicate from the Edit menu. A new Workspace setting appears in the Settings scroll list.

If you are duplicating a previously named workspace setting, a .1 appears at the end of the new name.

4. Click to the left of the new workspace you want to set. A check mark appears next to the workspace.

New workspace

Custom setting name column

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 setting name column and not the Setting name.

b. Type a name for the new custom workspace, for example,

recording.

c. Press the Enter key.

6. Open the windows and tools with which you want to associate the workspace. Resize and move the windows to the location where you want them to appear on the monitors.

7. Double-click the custom workspace setting. The Workspace Settings dialog box appears.

8. Select or deselect the following options, depending on your preference for the behavior of the workspace:

• Activate Settings Linked By Name: This setting allows you to

link other settings to the workspace. See “Linking User

Settings and Workspaces” on page 89.

• Continually Update This Workspace: This setting

automatically preserves the workspace in its most recent arrangement. Future changes to the arrangement of the tool windows are saved.

• Manually Update This Workspace: This setting saves the

workspace in its current arrangement when you click Save Workspace Now (which appears only after you select Manually Update This Workspace). Future changes to the arrangement of the tool windows are disregarded.

9. Click OK.

Linking User Settings and Wo rkspaces

User settings can be linked to a workspace. You can create a customized workspace and 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 Mix tool and Audio tool. This workspace can also open a customized Timeline (with enlarged audio tracks and rubberbanding displays). Then, you can link this workspace to a Settings dialog box with customized options selected. Y ou do this by creating a setting and giving it the same name in the Project window as the name of the workspace.

To link User settings and a workspace:

1. Create a new workspace setting. See “Creating a New Workspace

Setting” on page 86.

2. Give the workspace a custom name.

3. Click a setting from the Settings scroll list that you want to link to the new workspace. For example, click Record. Adjust the Record setting to what you want.

4. Give this Record setting the same name you gave the workspace in step 2.

Linked settings

5. Double-click another setting, for example, Interface. Select the new options, for example, Show ToolTips, and click OK.

6. Give this setting the same name you gave the workspace in step 2.

7. Double-click the workspace you just created. The Workspace Settings dialog box appears.

8. Click Activate Settings Linked By Name.

9. Click OK. All the settings and the new workspace you created are activated.

Switching Between Workspaces

To switch from one workspace to another:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Click to the left of the workspace setting you want to use. A check mark appears next to the workspace.

Deleting a Workspace

To delete a workspace:

1. Select the workspace you want to delete from the Settings scroll list of the Project window.

The workspace is highlighted.

Make sure a check mark does not appear next to the workspace you want to delete. You cannot delete the active workspace.

2. Press the Delete key. The selected workspace is removed from the Settings scroll list.

Navigating in Dialog Boxes and Menus

You can use the keys shown in Ta b l e 3 - 7 to navigate in many dialog boxes and menus and to select and deselect options.

Table 3-7 Navigation Keys

Key Function

Page Up, Page Down Moves from tabbed page to tabbed page within a

dialog box.

T ab Moves from check box to check box or radio button

to radio button within a tabbed page in a dialog box.

Right Arrow, Left Arrow, space bar

Up Arrow, Down Arrow Moves up or down through a menu.

Selects or deselects a check box or radio button in a dialog box.

CHAPTER 4

Using Basic Tools

The Tools menu on the A vid NewsCutter XP menu bar provides quick access to a collection of essential tools for use in your projects. This chapter provides information about several basic tools that you can use at any time during your project.

• Using the Tools Menu

• Using the Avid Calculator

• Using the Console

• Using the Hardware Tool

Using the Tools Menu

You can open any of the most frequently used system tools from the Tools menu.

To open a tool:

t Choose its name from the Tools menu.

Using the Avid Calculator

The Avid Calculator helps you calculate video and film durations, and convert timecode and film key numbers to different formats. For example, you can:

• Convert timecode durations between 30-frames-per-second (fps) and 25-fps projects.

• Convert durations to total frame count.

To use the Avid Calculator:

1. Choose Calculator from the Tools menu. The Avid Calculator window opens.

Format pop-up menu

2. Choose a format from the Format pop-up menu.

3. Make calculations in the one of the following ways: t Use the top row of numbers on the keyboar d to enter numbers

and functions in the Avid Calculator.

t Press the Caps Lock key, and then enter numbers and

functions with the numeric keypad.

t Use the numbers on the Calculator.

You do not need to enter leading zeros, colons, or semicolons for timecode.

To convert your totals at any time to another format:

t Choose a different frame code or key number format from the

Format pop-up menu.

Using the Console

The Console provides a number of features, including:

• Current system information, including your system ID number

• A log of error messages

• Detailed information about sequences in the Timeline or about objects in a bin

• Information after you record or import

Do not use the programming features of the Console without guidance from Avid professionals. Contact your Avid Reseller with specific questions. (In North America, you can contact Avid Customer Support.)

Displaying System Information

To display current system information:

1. Choose Console from the Tools menu. The Console window opens.

2. Scroll to the top of the Console window to view your system information and ID.

This feature is especially useful for finding the system ID when you need to contact your Avid Reseller or Avid Customer Support.

Reviewing a Log of Errors

To review errors logged to the Console:

1. When an error occurs and a message box appears, close the message box and choose Console from the Tools menu.

2. Scroll through the Console to find a log of the error to use when you contact your Avid Reseller or Avid Customer Support.

Getting Information with the Console Window

The Console window provides quick access to bin information such as total duration of selected clips or total items in a bin, including hidden items. You can also use the Console to display information about a shot, segment, or sequence in the Ti meline.

To get information with the Console window:

1. Choose Console from the Tools menu. The Console window opens.

2. Select the item about which you want information: t In the Timeline, place the position indicator in the chosen clip

or segment.

t In the bin, select an object or Ctrl+click multiple objects.

3. Choose Get Bin Info or Get Position Info from the File menu. Information about the clip appears in the Console window.

Using the Hardware Tool

The Hardware tool provides the following information about the

system’s hardware configuration:

• The Drives tab lists each online drive. The shaded portion of the bar next to each drive shows the total size of the drive and the amount of storage space currently filled.

• The System tab lists the operating system, its version and build, and the physical memory.

Checking the Hardware Configuration

To check the hardware configuration of your Avid NewsCutter XP system, do one of the following:

t Choose Hardware from the Tools menu. t Click the Info button in the Project window, and choose Hardware

from the Fast menu. The Hardware tool opens.

The Hardware tool contains the following information:

• Each online drive is listed on the left side of the Drives tab. The name of each drive and its total size are listed below each Drive icon. The shaded portion of the bar graph to the right of each drive shows the amount of storage space currently filled. The number in the bar graph indicates the amount of available drive storage space for each drive.

• The name of the operating system, version number, service pack, and build number and version number appear on the System tab. The total physical memory is also listed in the same location.

CHAPTER 5

Logging

When you log with a deck or import shot log files, you provide the Avid NewsCutter XP system with frame-accurate clip information used to record the source footage. The logs you create form the foundation for organizing, tracking, storing, retrieving, and generating lists of edit information throughout your project. Techniques for preparing log information prior to recording are covered in the following sections:

• Logging Tips

• Preparing Logs for Import

• Importing Shot Log Files

• Logging Directly to a Bin

• Exporting Shot Log Files

100

Pinnacle Systems NewsCutter XP User’s Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Tables

Desktop Basics

Working with the Desktop

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk

Using Shortcut Menus

Using the Windows NT Taskbar

Dragging Windows

Setting the Avid Color Scheme

Setting Your Screen Resolution

About the Avid NewsCutter XP Folder

Managing the A vid Projects and Avid Users Folder s

About the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

Changing Project and User Names

Deleting Projects and User Profiles

Starting the Avid NewsCutter XP Application

Accepting Your Avid NewsCutter XP License Electronically

Starting a Project

Opening a Project

Identifying a User

Creating a New User

Selecting an Existing User

Selecting a Project

Selecting an Existing Project

Creating a New Project

Nesting Projects in Folders

Opening a Project in Avid NewsCutter XP

Closing a Project

Backing Up Your Project Information

Saving Your Project Information on a Drive or Floppy Disk

Restoring from a Backup

Ending an Edit Session

Quitting the Avid NewsCutter XP Application

Turning Off Your Equipment

Mounting and Ejecting Drives

Ejecting Drives

Mounting All Drives

Working with the Project Window

Opening and Closing the Project Window

Using the Bins Display

Viewing a List of Bins

Displaying Bins

Creating a Folder in a Project

Creating a New Bin

Renaming a Bin

Opening and Closing a Bin

Opening Selected Bins

Closing a Bin

Deleting a Bin or Folder

Viewing Contents in the Trash

Emptying the Trash

Managing Folders and Bins

Saving Bins Automatically

Saving Bins Manually

Retrieving Bin Files from the Attic Folder

Modifying the Creation Date

Using the Settings Scroll List

About Settings

Defining Settings

Reviewing Basic Settings

Bin Settings

General Settings

Interface Settings

Displaying Project Settings

Changing the Settings Scroll List Display

About the Settings Scroll List

Working with Settings

Selecting Another User

Modifying Settings

Working with Multiple Settings

Duplicating Settings

Naming Settings

Selecting Among Multiple Settings

Deleting Settings

Copying Settings Between Settings Files

Moving Settings Between Systems