Pinnacle Systems Studio - 11.0 Instruction Manual
Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
Including Studio, Studio Plus and Studio Ultimate
Easy, MORE Powerful,
MORE Creative Video Editing
Special thanks to Travis White, Richard Edgley, Kenn LeGault, Jan Piros,
Jörg Weselmann, Mikel Zwissler and Sulekha Somasekhar.
Documentation: Nick Sullivan
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ii Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
Table of contents
BEFORE YOU START..................................................XI
Equipment requirements.........................................................................xi
Abbreviations and conventions.............................................................xiv
On-line help..........................................................................................xvi
CHAPTER 1: USING STUDIO.......................................1
Undo, Redo, Help, Support and Premium...............................................2
Setting options.........................................................................................3
Edit mode....................................................................................................4
The Player................................................................................................5
Playback controls.....................................................................................7
Further editing topics.............................................................................11
Expanding Studio .................................................................................. 11
CHAPTER 2: CAPTURING VIDEO.............................. 17
The Capture mode interface....................................................................18
The Diskometer.....................................................................................20
The Camcorder Controller.....................................................................22
The capture process..................................................................................22
Capture hardware...................................................................................23
Capture step-by-step..............................................................................24
Scene detection......................................................................................26
Digital capture..........................................................................................28
Audio and video levels – digital............................................................29
Table of contents iii
Analog capture..........................................................................................30
Capture quality options..........................................................................31
Audio and video levels – analog............................................................31
Importing video from DVD.....................................................................32
Importing media from external devices..................................................34
CHAPTER 3: THE ALBUM..........................................37
The Video Scenes section.........................................................................40
Opening a captured video file................................................................44
Viewing captured video.........................................................................47
Selecting scenes and files......................................................................48
Displaying scene and file information...................................................50
Comment view.......................................................................................50
Combining and subdividing scenes....................................................... 52
Redetecting scenes.................................................................................54
The Transitions section............................................................................55
The Titles section......................................................................................57
The Still Images section ........................................................................... 58
The Disc Menus section............................................................................59
The Sound Effects section........................................................................61
The Music section.....................................................................................62
CHAPTER 4: THE MOVIE WINDOW........................... 65
Movie Window views................................................................................68
Storyboard view.....................................................................................68
Timeline view........................................................................................69
Text view...............................................................................................73
The toolboxes............................................................................................73
The Video toolbox.................................................................................75
The Audio toolbox.................................................................................77
iv Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
CHAPTER 5: VIDEO CLIPS ........................................ 79
Video clip basics .......................................................................................80
Adding video clips to your movie .........................................................80
Working with multiple capture files......................................................82
The project video format .......................................................................83
Interface features ...................................................................................85
Trimming video clips................................................................................87
Trimming on the Timeline using handles.............................................. 87
Clip-trimming tips.................................................................................91
Trimming with the Clip properties tool.................................................92
Resetting trimmed clips.........................................................................94
Splitting and combining clips..................................................................95
Advanced Timeline editing......................................................................96
Insert editing..........................................................................................98
Split editing .........................................................................................100
Using video effects..................................................................................104
Working with the effects list................................................................105
Changing effect parameters.................................................................107
Keyframing..........................................................................................109
Using keyframing................................................................................112
Previewing and rendering.................................................................... 115
Video effects library............................................................................... 115
Standard effects......................................................................................117
Auto color correction...........................................................................118
Noise reduction....................................................................................118
Stabilize............................................................................................... 119
Speed...................................................................................................120
Plus effects...............................................................................................120
Blur......................................................................................................121
Emboss ................................................................................................121
Old film ............................................................................................... 122
Soften...................................................................................................122
Stained glass........................................................................................122
Luma key.............................................................................................123
2D Editor.............................................................................................123
Earthquake ........................................................................................... 123
Lens flare.............................................................................................124
Table of contents v
Magnify...............................................................................................124
Motion blur..........................................................................................124
Water drop...........................................................................................125
Water wave..........................................................................................125
Black and white...................................................................................125
Color correction................................................................................... 125
Color map............................................................................................ 126
Invert ...................................................................................................126
Lighting...............................................................................................127
Posterize .............................................................................................. 127
RGB color balance...............................................................................128
Sepia....................................................................................................128
White balance......................................................................................129
The SmartMovie music video tool.........................................................129
CHAPTER 6:
TWO-TRACK EDITING WITH STUDIO PLUS.... 133
Introducing the overlay track............................................................... 133
A/B editing ..........................................................................................135
The Picture-in-picture tool...................................................................136
The Chroma key tool...........................................................................141
Selecting colors ...................................................................................148
CHAPTER 7: TRANSITIONS..................................... 151
Transition types and their uses ............................................................152
Previewing transitions in your movie..................................................156
Audio transitions .................................................................................156
The Ripple Transition command.........................................................157
Trimming transitions.............................................................................158
Trimming with the Clip properties tool............................................... 159
CHAPTER 8: STILL IMAGES....................................161
Editing still images.................................................................................164
Editing image clip properties...............................................................164
The Frame Grabber............................................................................... 171
The Frame grabber tool.......................................................................172
vi Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
CHAPTER 9: DISC MENUS.......................................175
Disc authoring in Studio......................................................................177
Using menus from the Album..............................................................178
The DVD Player Control.....................................................................180
Editing menus on the Timeline............................................................ 182
Editing with the Clip properties tool...................................................184
The Disc menu tool..............................................................................189
CHAPTER 10: THE TITLE EDITOR ..........................191
Launching the Title Editor...................................................................192
The Title Editor controls ....................................................................... 193
Title-type buttons.................................................................................193
Object toolbox.....................................................................................194
Editing-mode selection buttons...........................................................197
Object layout buttons........................................................................... 199
Clipboard and delete buttons............................................................... 201
Text-styling controls............................................................................ 201
The Title Editor Album .........................................................................203
The Looks Browser ............................................................................. 203
The Backgrounds section.....................................................................205
The Pictures section............................................................................. 207
The Buttons section.............................................................................208
CHAPTER 11: SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC........ 211
The Timeline audio tracks................................................................... 213
The CD audio tool...............................................................................215
The Background music tool................................................................. 216
The Voice-over tool.............................................................................218
Trimming audio clips............................................................................. 221
Trimming with the Clip properties tool............................................... 221
Audio volume and mixing......................................................................223
Anatomy of an audio clip....................................................................224
Adjusting audio on the Timeline.........................................................226
The Volume and balance tool..............................................................228
Audio effects............................................................................................234
Noise reduction....................................................................................235
Table of contents vii
Plus effects...............................................................................................237
ChannelTool........................................................................................237
Chorus .................................................................................................237
DeEsser................................................................................................238
Equalizer.............................................................................................. 238
Grungelizer..........................................................................................239
Leveler ................................................................................................. 239
Reverb .................................................................................................240
Stereo Echo..........................................................................................240
Stereo Spread....................................................................................... 240
CHAPTER 12: MAKING YOUR MOVIE..................... 241
Output to disc media..............................................................................243
Output to file...........................................................................................247
Output to tape.........................................................................................253
Configuring the camera or video recorder........................................... 253
Output your movie to videotape.......................................................... 254
Output to the web...................................................................................255
APPENDIX A: SETUP OPTIONS ..............................259
Capture source settings........................................................................260
Capture format settings........................................................................263
Project preferences ..............................................................................267
Video and audio preferences...............................................................270
Make Disc settings ..............................................................................275
Make File settings................................................................................279
Make Real Media file settings.............................................................283
Make Windows Media file settings.....................................................286
Make tape settings...............................................................................288
APPENDIX B: TIPS AND TRICKS ............................291
Hardware.............................................................................................291
Software...............................................................................................293
Increasing the frame rate.....................................................................294
Studio and computer animation...........................................................295
viii Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
APPENDIX C: TROUBLESHOOTING....................... 297
Technical help on-line............................................................................298
Studio crashes in Edit mode................................................................301
Capture error occurs on starting capture..............................................306
Studio hangs when rendering...............................................................308
CD or DVD burner is not detected ......................................................312
Studio hangs on launch or does not launch..........................................313
“Cannot initialize the DV capture device” error appears in Capture mode
.............................................................................................................314
Installation problems .............................................................................317
Operation problems ............................................................................... 318
APPENDIX D: VIDEOGRAPHY TIPS........................ 325
Creating a shooting plan...................................................................... 326
Editing.................................................................................................327
Rules of thumb for video editing.........................................................330
Soundtrack production.........................................................................332
Title .....................................................................................................334
APPENDIX E: GLOSSARY........................................335
APPENDIX F: LICENSE AGREEMENT .................... 353
APPENDIX G: KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS................ 357
INDEX ........................................................................ 361
Table of contents ix
Before you start
Thank you for purchasing Pinnacle Studio. We hope
you enjoy using the software.
This manual covers all versions of Studio, including
Studio Plus. Differences between versions will be noted
as applicable. Most of the time, the word “Studio” will
be used generically to refer to all versions.
If you have not used Studio before, we recommend that
you keep the manual handy for reference even if you
don’t actually read it all the way through.
In order to ensure that your Studio experience gets off
on the right foot, please review the three topics below
before continuing to Chapter 1: Using Studio.
Equipment requirements
In addition to your Studio software, an efficient Studio
editing system requires certain levels of hardware
performance as noted in this section. Remember too
that while specifications are important, they do not tell
Before you start xi
the whole story: the proper functioning of hardware
devices can also depend on manufacturer-supplied
driver software. Checking the maker’s web-site for
driver updates and support information can often be
helpful in solving problems with graphics cards, sounds
cards and other devices.
Note: Some features mentioned here require free or
paid “activation” via the Internet, depending on your
version of Studio.
Computer
• Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz or higher
(2.4 GHz or higher recommended). Intel Pentium HT
or AMD Athlon 2.4 GHz or 1.6 GHz Dual core
required for Windows Vista.
• 512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended). 1 GB
required for HD and/or Vista (2 GB recommended).
1.5 GB required for AVCHD (2 GB required on
Vista).
• Windows XP with SP2, or Vista.
• DirectX 9 or higher compatible graphics card with
64 MB (128 MB recommended); 128 MB required
for use with Vitascene filters; 128 MB required for
Vista (256 MB ATI Radeon 9600+ or NVIDIA
GeForce 6 recommended); 256 MB required for HD
and AVCHD editing (ATI Radeon 9600+ or
NVIDIA GeForce 6 recommended).
• DirectX 9 or higher or compatible sound card.
• 1 GB of disk space to install software and 3+ GB to
install bonus content.
• DVD-ROM drive to install software.
xii Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
The following items are optional:
• CD-R(W) burner for creating VideoCDs (VCDs) or
Super VideoCDs (SVCDs).
• DVD-/+R(W) burner for creating DVD, HD DVD
and AVCHD discs.
• Blu-ray burner for creating Blu-ray discs (BDs).
• Sound card with surround-sound output for preview
of surround-sound mixes.
• A microphone, if you want to record voice-overs
The hard drive
Your hard drive must be capable of sustained reading
and writing at 4 MB/sec. Most drives are capable of
this. The first time you capture, Studio will test your
drive to make sure it is fast enough. Video in the DV
format occupies 3.6 MB of hard drive space per
second, so just four and a half minutes of DV video
will consume a full gigabyte on the drive.
Tip: We recommend using a separate hard drive
dedicated to video capture. This avoids competition
between Studio and other software, including
Windows, for use of the drive during capture.
Video capture hardware
Studio can capture video from a variety of digital and
analog sources. See “Capture hardware” on page 23.
Video output hardware
Studio can output video to:
• Any HDV, DV or Digital8 camcorder or VCR. This
requires an OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 (FireWire)
Before you start xiii
port (as provided by Pinnacle Studio DV). The
camcorder must be set up to record from DV Input.
• Any analog (8mm, Hi8, VHS, SVHS, VHS-C or
SVHS-C) camcorder or VCR. This requires Pinnacle
Studio USB-700, PCI-500, PCI-700, or another
Pinnacle device with analog outputs. Output to
analog camcorders or VCRs is also possible using a
Pinnacle Studio DV or other OHCI-compliant 1394
port if your DV or Digital8 camcorder or VCR can
pass a DV signal through to its analog outputs (see
your camcorder manual and Chapter 12: Making
your movie, for more information).
Abbreviations and conventions
This guide uses the following conventions to help
organize the material.
Terminology
Studio: “Studio” and “Studio Plus” refer to the editing
software.
DV: The term “DV” refers to DV and Digital8
camcorders, VCRs and tapes.
HDV: A “high-definition video” format that allows
video in frame sizes of 1280x720 or 1440x1080 to be
recorded in MPEG-2 format on DV media.
1394: The term “1394” refers to OHCI-compliant
IEEE-1394, FireWire, DV or i.LINK interfaces, ports
and cables.
xiv Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
Analog: The term “analog” refers to 8mm, Hi8, VHS,
SVHS, VHS-C or SVHS-C camcorders, VCRs and
tapes, and to Composite/RCA and S-Video cables and
connectors.
Buttons, menus, dialog boxes and windows
Names of buttons, menus and related items are written
in italics to distinguish them from the surrounding text,
whereas window and dialog names are written with
initial capital letters. For example:
Click the Edit menu button to open your menu in the
Title Editor.
Choosing menu commands
The right arrowhead symbol (¾) denotes the path for
hierarchical menu items. For example:
Select Toolbox ¾ Generate Background Music.
Keyboard conventions
Key names are spelled with an initial capital and are
underlined. A plus sign denotes a key combination. For
example:
Press Ctrl+A to select all the clips on the Timeline.
Mouse clicks
When a mouse click is required, the default is always a
left-click unless otherwise specified:
Right-click and select Go to Title/Menu Editor.
Before you start xv
On-line help
Two kinds of immediate help are always available
while you are working in Studio:
• Help file: Click the help button in the Studio
main menu bar, or select the Help ¾ Help topics
menu, or press F1
• Tool tips: To find out what a button or other Studio
control does, pause your mouse pointer over it. A
“tool tip” appears explaining its function.
to open Studio’s help file.
xvi Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
CHAPTER 1:
Using Studio
Creating movies with Studio is a three-step process:
1. Capture: Import source video material – your “raw
footage” – to your PC hard drive. Possible sources
include analog videotape (8mm, VHS etc.), digital
videotape (HDV, DV, Digital8), and live video from a
video camera, camcorder or webcam.
Capture mode is covered in Chapter 2: Capturing
video.
Availability: HDV capture is supported in Studio Plus only.
2. Edit: Arrange your video material as desired by
reordering scenes and discarding unwanted footage.
Add visuals, such as transitions, titles and graphics, and
supplementary audio, such as sound effects and
background music. For DVD and VCD authoring,
create interactive menus that give your audience a
customized viewing experience.
Edit mode is the arena for most of your work in Studio.
See “Edit mode” later in this chapter (page 4) for a
fuller introduction.
3. Make movie: When your project is complete,
generate a finished movie in your choice of format and
Chapter 1: Using Studio 1
storage medium: tape, VCD, S-VCD, DVD, AVI,
MPEG, RealVideo or Windows Media.
Make Movie mode is covered in Chapter 12: Making
your movie.
Setting the mode
Select which step of the movie-making process you
want to work on by clicking one of the three mode
buttons at the top left of the Studio window:
When you switch modes, the Studio screen changes to
display the controls needed for the new mode.
Undo, Redo, Help, Support and Premium
The Undo, Redo, Help,
Support and Premium
buttons are always to be found in the top right corner
of the Studio window, no matter which of the three
modes you are currently working in.
• Undo allows you to back out of any changes you
have made to your project during the current session,
one step at a time.
• Redo reinstates the changes one by one if you undo
too far.
• The Help button launches Studio’s built-in help
system.
• The Support button opens Studio’s technical support
site in your web browser.
2 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
• The Premium button lets you expand Studio by
purchasing and installing premium content. (See
page 11 for details.)
All other controls on the Studio screen are dedicated
to tasks within the current mode.
Setting options
Most options in Studio are set using two tabbed dialog
boxes.
The first lets you control options related to Capture
mode and Edit mode. It has four tabs:
The other dialog box is concerned with options relating
to Make Movie mode. It has three tabs, one for each of
the three movie output types:
Each panel of both dialog boxes can be opened
individually with a corresponding command on the
Setup menu (e.g. Setup ¾ Capture Source). Once either
dialog box is open, however, all of its panels are
available through the tabs. We generally refer to the
different options panels independently, as in “the
Capture source options panel”.
Detailed explanations of the options in both dialog
boxes are contained in Appendix A: Setup Options.
Chapter 1: Using Studio 3
EDIT MODE
Studio opens in Edit mode each time it is launched,
because that is the mode you use most often. The Edit
mode display includes three main areas.
The Album stores resources you will use in your
movies, including your captured video scenes.
The Movie Window is where you create your edited
movie by arranging video and sound clips, and by
applying transitions and effects.
The Player provides playback and previewing for
whichever item is currently selected in Studio. That
may be an Album resource – such as a video scene, title
or sound effect – or your edited movie, complete with
transitions, titles, effects and several audio tracks. The
Player is covered below.
See Chapter 3: The Album and Chapter 4: The Movie
Window for detailed information on those topics.
4 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
The Player
The Player displays a preview of your edited movie, or
of the item currently selected in the Album.
It consists of two main areas: a preview window and
playback controls. The preview window displays video
images. The playback controls allow you to play the
video, or go to an exact position within it. These
controls come in two formats: standard and DVD.
Standard mode
The standard playback controls are similar to those on a
camcorder or VCR. They are used for viewing ordinary
video.
DVD mode
The DVD playback controls emulate the navigation
controls on a DVD player or remote control. Use them
Chapter 1: Using Studio 5
for previewing your DVD, VCD or S-VCD disc
productions, including menu interaction.
The preview window
This is a point of focus in Studio because you use it so
often, especially for previewing your movie. It can also
be used to display:
• Any type of Album content.
• Still images or titles from your movie.
• Changes to video effects in real time while you
adjust the parameter controls for the effects.
• Still frames from your video.
While viewing a still frame, you can step by as little
as a single frame in either direction with the “jog”
controls.
Resizing the video preview
If your screen dimensions permit, Studio lets you
enlarge the Player – and therefore the video preview –
by means of the Player size slider. This control appears
6 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
above the Player to the left of the Undo button when
reorganizing the display is possible.
Drag the control knob right to increase the Player size,
or left to decrease it. The leftmost position corresponds
to the smallest size, which is also the default.
Resizing the Player optimizes your use of screen “real
estate” to obtain a larger video preview.
The DVD toggle button
Switch between the two playback modes with
the DVD toggle button at the bottom right-hand
corner of the Player. This button is only available when
your edited movie contains at least one menu.
Playback controls
The Player presents either of two sets of playback
controls depending on the playback mode you choose.
When you play your movie back as ordinary video, you
will be using the standard playback controls. If your
movie uses disc menu navigation, you can play it back
Chapter 1: Using Studio 7
as an optical disc with interactive on-screen menus by
using the DVD playback controls. Both groups of
controls are covered below.
The full-screen preview button: This button, just
above the top right-hand corner of the preview window,
switches to a full-screen preview. It is available in both
playback modes. On a single-monitor system, the fullscreen display ends when your movie ends, or you
double-click the screen or press the Esc key. See the
Video preview options in the Video and Audio
Preferences panel (page 270) for settings that apply to
multiple-monitor systems.
The Video preview options on the Video and audio
preferences options panel let you direct the full-screen
preview to the secondary monitor on your system if
there is one. In Studio Plus, you can simultaneously
send your preview to an external device, if desired.
Standard playback controls
These buttons control playback in the Player.
Play / Pause: The Play button previews the
movie from the current position. Once preview
begins, Play becomes Pause. When playback is
paused, the Album scene or Movie Window
clip at which previewing stopped remains
selected. The [Space] key can also be used to start and
stop playback.
Go to beginning: This halts playback and skips
back to the start of the material being previewed.
Fast reverse, Fast forward: These buttons let
you preview your movie at two, four or ten times
the normal speed, in either direction. Use them to
scan for a particular piece of video you want to
8 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
work with. Click the buttons repeatedly to loop through
the speed factors.
Loop: This button causes the currently-selected
clips in the Movie Window to play back
repeatedly. This feature is especially convenient whilst
selecting and editing add-on effects and transitions.
Click any playback button to halt looping. The loop
button lights up while looping is active. Looping is
maintained even if you switch playback speeds.
Jog buttons: This pair of controls normally steps
your movie forward and backward by one frame
at a time. To step by seconds, minutes or hours instead
of frames, select the corresponding field in the counter
(see below), then use the jog buttons to modify it.
The Player scrubber
Use the Player scrubber to quickly traverse your
captured video or edited movie in either direction. The
scrubber position corresponds to the position of the
current frame in the captured video file (not just the
current scene) or in the edited movie (not just the
current clip). Thus the scrubber bar always represents
the entire length of the content being viewed.
As you move the scrubber, the preview window shows
the current frame. If you have activated the audio
scrubbing button in the Movie Window, you will also
hear snatches of your movie’s audio as you scrub. See
page 66 for details.
The ability of the preview to keep up with the scrubber
depends on the speed of your computer. If you move
the scrubber slowly, the preview display responds
smoothly. As you increase the rate at which you move
the scrubber, the preview will jump frames. The point
Chapter 1: Using Studio 9
at which it does so depends on your hardware. The
smoothness of the preview also diminishes as the
overall length of the material being scrubbed increases.
The counter
The counter displays the current
playback position in hours, minutes,
seconds and frames. You can directly
modify the counter fields to select an
exact frame to view or at which to
start playback. Simply click on the number you wish to
change and type a new value. To move to a different
field, click again or use the Left and Right arrow keys.
You can also modify the value in a selected field by
using the jog buttons beside the counter or the Up and
Down arrow keys.
The master volume slider
This control sets the overall audio volume during
preview playback. It is equivalent to turning up the
master volume on your sound card using the system
volume tool. It does not affect the volume of the final
movie Studio creates in Make Movie mode. The small
loudspeaker icon at the right of the control serves as a
master mute button during playback.
DVD playback controls
These controls include the four
standard transport buttons detailed
above (Play/Pause, Fast reverse, Fast
forward, Go to beginning) plus the
DVD Player Control, which is described under “The
DVD Player Control” on page 180.
10 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
Further editing topics
See the following for details on specific editing topics:
• Chapter 5: Video clips
• Chapter 6: Two-track editing with Studio Plus
• Chapter 7: Transitions
• Chapter 8: Still images
• Chapter 9: Disc menus
• Chapter 10: The Title Editor
• Chapter 11: Sound effects and music
Expanding Studio
One way to add pizzazz to your productions is to use a
variety of video and audio filters, animated transitions,
titles, VCD and DVD menus, and sound effects.
Studio includes an extensive selection of hundreds of
content items and special effects, but it’s also designed
to grow along with your needs. When you want a
particular filter, transition, menu or effect that isn’t part
of the basic set, an easy-to-use upgrade mechanism lets
you find, purchase and install the materials you need
without even leaving the program.
Most of the premium content available for
Studio does not even require downloading.
Studio’s Bonus Content DVD includes
numerous items, like the Hollywood FX transition at
left, that appear as “bonus” content in Studio,
Chapter 1: Using Studio 11
symbolized by a treasure chest symbol in the icon’topleft corner of the icon. Such items can be upgraded by
purchasing a code called an activation key. Each key
activates a small group or theme pack of related
content.
Additional items of premium content will be provided
for download as they become available. These items
can sampled and purchased within Studio using the
same activation method as for the premium content
included with the program installation.
You can easily try out bonus content before purchase to
make sure that it meets your needs. Until you actually
purchase your activation code for the item, it will
produce “watermarked” output when you preview or
when you make your finished movie.
New tools, new media, new frontiers
You can purchase additional media and filters in any of
three ways from within Studio:
• With the Help ¾ Purchase activation keys
menu command (or the premium shortcut
button at the top right of the Studio screen).
This opens a special browser window in which you
can access a catalog page for any type of premium
content that interests you.
• With the Album commands More transitions, More
sound effects and More menus.
These commands are found on the dropdown lists in
the corresponding sections of the Album. They will
enable you to download, try out and purchase
additional premium content that was not included
with the program installation.
12 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
• By clicking the activate buttons found in some parts
of Studio.
These buttons appear whenever premium content is
on display within Studio. The one above, when seen
in the Audio effects and Video effects tools, would let
you activate a pack of audio or video filters.
Here, the “RTFX Volume 2” page is open in the
Video Effects tool. The Activate Effect Pack button
could now be used to unlock the effects in this set.
Similar buttons in the Album let you purchase all the
media on a particular Album page as a theme pack.
The Transitions section of the Album, open to one of
the many theme packs of Hollywood FX transitions.
Click anywhere in the activation panel on the righthand page to activate this set of transitions.
Chapter 1: Using Studio 13
How activation works
“Activating” premium content for Studio means to
obtain a license allowing you unrestricted use of the
content on the single machine where Studio is installed.
The licensing mechanism employs two distinct but
mutually related codes:
• An activation key for each premium content item you
purchase;
• Your Passport, which is a number generated the first
time you install Studio on your computer. You can
view your Passport by selecting the Help ¾ My
Passport menu command.
Because the Passport is specific to one computer, you
will need to obtain new activation keys if you install
Studio on a different machine. These will be provided
at no charge, but your user licenses for both Studio and
any premium content you have obtained then apply to
the new machine only.
If you don’t have an Internet connection...
You can purchase and apply premium content
activation keys even if you don’t have an Internet
connection on the computer where Studio is installed.
When you click one of the unlock links within Studio, a
dialog will be displayed showing information needed
for ordering the specific content you want, including:
• An Internet URL where you can activate the content
• Numeric identifiers for the Studio program and the
item you want to activate
• Your Passport and your Serial Number
Navigate to the given URL from another computer,
enter the information, and complete the purchase as
14 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus
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