Pinnacle Systems Studio - 12.0 Instruction Manual

Pinnacle Studio
Version 12
Including Studio, Studio Plus and Studio Ultimate
Your Life in Movies
Special thanks to Markus Duerr, Travis White, Bertrand de Vregille, Richard Edgley, Jörg Tewes, Jan Piros, Jörg Weselmann, Mikel Zwissler and Sulekha Somasekhar.
photos, video and celebrity images are protected by the laws of many countries. You may not use other people’s content unless you own the rights or have the permission of the owner.
This product or portions thereof are protected under one or more of the following United States patents: 5,495,291; 5,946,445 6,469,711; 6,532,043; 6,678,461; 6,901,211; 6,907,191 7,124,366; 7,165,219; 7,286,131; and 7,301,092. Other patents are pending.
Mpegable DS 2.2 ©2004 Dicas Digital Image Coding GmbH. Manufac­tured under license from Dolby Laboratories. This product contains one or more programs protected under international and U.S. copyright laws as unpublished works. They are confidential and proprietary to Dolby Laboratories. Their reproduction or disclosure, in whole or in part, or the production of derivative works therefrom without the express permission of Dolby Laboratories is prohibited. Copyright 1993-2005 by Dolby Laboratories. All rights reserved.  MPEG Layer-3 audio coding technology licensed from Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson Multimedia. Portions of this product were created using LEADTOOLS ©1991-2006, LEAD Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Portions utilize Windows Media Technologies ©1999-2005 Microsoft Corporation. Real Producer SDK ©1995-2005 Real Networks Inc. This product contains portions of imaging code owned and copyrighted by Pegasus Imaging Corporation, Tampa, FL. All rights reserved. MPEG Layer II Audio by QDesign Corp. This product contains a YouTube API.
No part of this manual may be copied or distributed, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any human or computer language, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, manual, or otherwise, without the express written permission of Pinnacle Systems, Inc.
Pinnacle Systems, Inc. 280 North Bernardo Avenue Mountain View, CA 94943
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Table of contents
BEFORE YOU START .................................................. XI
Equipment requirements ........................................................................ xii
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 ................................................................................................ 4
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 ............................................................ 30
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Analog capture .......................................................................................... 30
Capture quality options .......................................................................... 31
Audio and video levels – analog ............................................................ 31
Importing video from DVD ..................................................................... 33
Importing media from external devices .................................................. 34
CHAPTER 3: THE ALBUM .......................................... 37
The Video Scenes section ......................................................................... 41
Opening a captured video file ................................................................ 44
Viewing captured video ......................................................................... 48
Selecting scenes and files ...................................................................... 49
Displaying scene and file information ................................................... 50
Comment view ....................................................................................... 51
Combining and subdividing scenes ....................................................... 52
Redetecting scenes ................................................................................. 54
The Transitions section ............................................................................ 55
The Montage® Themes section ................................................................ 57
The Titles section ...................................................................................... 58
The Still Images section ........................................................................... 59
The Disc Menus section ............................................................................ 59
The Sound Effects section ........................................................................ 61
The Music section ..................................................................................... 62
CHAPTER 4: THE MOVIE WINDOW ........................... 63
Movie Window views................................................................................ 67
Storyboard view ..................................................................................... 67
Timeline view ........................................................................................ 67
Text view ............................................................................................... 74
The toolboxes ............................................................................................ 74
The Video toolbox ................................................................................. 76
The Audio toolbox ................................................................................. 78
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CHAPTER 5: VIDEO CLIPS ........................................ 81
Video clip basics ....................................................................................... 82
Adding video clips to your movie ......................................................... 82
Working with multiple capture files ...................................................... 83
The project video format ....................................................................... 84
Interface features ................................................................................... 87
Trimming video clips ................................................................................ 89
Trimming on the Timeline using handles .............................................. 89
Clip-trimming tips ................................................................................. 93
Trimming with the Clip properties tool ................................................. 94
Resetting trimmed clips ......................................................................... 96
Splitting and combining clips .................................................................. 97
Advanced Timeline editing ...................................................................... 98
Insert editing ........................................................................................ 100
Split editing ......................................................................................... 102
The SmartMovie music video tool ......................................................... 106
CHAPTER 6: MONTAGE® THEMES
AND THEME EDITING ........................................ 111
Using themes ........................................................................................... 113
The Themes section of the Album ....................................................... 114
Creating theme clips ............................................................................ 115
Working with theme clips on the Timeline ......................................... 117
Anatomy of a theme ............................................................................ 118
Opening the Theme Editor tool............................................................ 121
Using the Theme Editor tool ................................................................ 122
CHAPTER 7: VIDEO EFFECTS ................................. 125
Working with the effects list................................................................ 126
Changing effect parameters ................................................................. 128
Keyframing .......................................................................................... 130
Using keyframing ................................................................................ 133
Previewing and rendering .................................................................... 135
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Video effects library ............................................................................... 136
Standard effects ...................................................................................... 138
Auto color correction ........................................................................... 138
Noise reduction .................................................................................... 139
Stabilize ............................................................................................... 139
Speed ................................................................................................... 140
Plus effects ............................................................................................... 140
Blur ...................................................................................................... 141
Emboss ................................................................................................ 142
Old film ............................................................................................... 142
Soften ................................................................................................... 143
Stained glass ........................................................................................ 143
Luma key ............................................................................................. 143
2D Editor ............................................................................................. 144
Earthquake ........................................................................................... 144
Lens flare ............................................................................................. 144
Magnify ............................................................................................... 145
Motion blur .......................................................................................... 145
Rotate ................................................................................................... 145
Water drop ........................................................................................... 146
Water wave .......................................................................................... 146
Black and white ................................................................................... 146
Color correction ................................................................................... 147
Color map ............................................................................................ 147
Invert ................................................................................................... 147
Lighting ............................................................................................... 148
Posterize .............................................................................................. 148
RGB color balance............................................................................... 148
Sepia .................................................................................................... 149
White balance ...................................................................................... 149
CHAPTER 8: TWO-TRACK EDITING
WITH STUDIO PLUS .......................................... 151
Introducing the overlay track ............................................................... 151
A/B editing .......................................................................................... 153
The Picture-in-picture tool ................................................................... 154
The Chroma key tool ........................................................................... 160
Selecting colors ................................................................................... 167
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CHAPTER 9: TRANSITIONS ..................................... 169
Transition types and their uses ............................................................ 171
Previewing transitions in your movie .................................................. 174
Audio transitions ................................................................................. 174
The Ripple Transition command ......................................................... 175
Trimming transitions ............................................................................. 176
Trimming with the Clip properties tool ............................................... 177
CHAPTER 10: STILL IMAGES .................................. 179
Editing still images ................................................................................. 181
Editing image clip properties ............................................................... 182
The Frame Grabber ............................................................................... 189
The Frame grabber tool ....................................................................... 189
CHAPTER 11: DISC MENUS ..................................... 193
Disc authoring in Studio ...................................................................... 195
Using menus from the Album .............................................................. 196
The DVD Player Control ..................................................................... 198
Editing menus on the Timeline ............................................................ 200
Editing with the Clip properties tool ................................................... 202
The Disc menu tool .............................................................................. 207
CHAPTER 12: THE TITLE EDITOR .......................... 209
Launching the Title Editor ................................................................... 209
The Title Editor controls ....................................................................... 211
Title-type buttons ................................................................................. 211
Object toolbox ..................................................................................... 212
Editing-mode selection buttons ........................................................... 215
Object layout buttons ........................................................................... 217
Clipboard and delete buttons ............................................................... 219
Text-styling controls ............................................................................ 219
The Title Editor Album ......................................................................... 221
The Looks Browser ............................................................................. 221
The Backgrounds section ..................................................................... 223
The Pictures section ............................................................................. 225
The Buttons section ............................................................................. 226
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CHAPTER 13: SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC ........ 229
The Timeline audio tracks ................................................................... 232
The CD audio tool ............................................................................... 234
The Background music tool ................................................................. 235
The Voice-over tool ............................................................................. 237
Trimming audio clips ............................................................................. 240
Trimming with the Clip properties tool ............................................... 240
Audio volume and mixing ...................................................................... 242
Anatomy of an audio clip .................................................................... 243
Adjusting audio on the Timeline ......................................................... 245
Transitions on the audio tracks ............................................................ 247
The Volume and balance tool .............................................................. 248
CHAPTER 14: AUDIO EFFECTS .............................. 255
Noise reduction .................................................................................... 256
Plus effects ............................................................................................... 258
ChannelTool ........................................................................................ 258
Chorus ................................................................................................. 258
DeEsser ................................................................................................ 259
Equalizer .............................................................................................. 259
Grungelizer .......................................................................................... 260
Leveler ................................................................................................. 260
Reverb ................................................................................................. 261
Stereo Echo .......................................................................................... 261
Stereo Spread ....................................................................................... 262
CHAPTER 15: MAKING YOUR MOVIE ..................... 263
Output to disc media .............................................................................. 265
Output to file ........................................................................................... 270
Output to tape ......................................................................................... 277
Configuring the camera or video recorder... ........................................ 277
Output your movie to videotape .......................................................... 279
Output to the web ................................................................................... 279
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APPENDIX A: SETUP OPTIONS .............................. 283
Capture source settings ........................................................................ 284
Capture format settings ........................................................................ 287
Project preferences .............................................................................. 290
Video and audio preferences ............................................................... 294
Make Disc settings .............................................................................. 299
Make File settings ................................................................................ 304
Make Real Media file settings ............................................................. 308
Make Windows Media file settings ..................................................... 311
Make tape settings ............................................................................... 313
APPENDIX B: TIPS AND TRICKS ............................ 317
Hardware ............................................................................................. 317
Graphics card settings .......................................................................... 319
Studio and computer animation ........................................................... 320
APPENDIX C: TROUBLESHOOTING ....................... 321
Technical help on-line ............................................................................ 322
Top support issues .................................................................................. 324
Errors or crashes during installation .................................................... 325
Studio crashes in Edit mode ................................................................ 326
“Video Device Not Found” error appears in Capture mode ................ 331
“Input signal not detected” error during Capture ................................. 335
Studio hangs when rendering ............................................................... 337
Studio hangs on launch or does not launch .......................................... 340
“Burning failed” error appears in Make Movie ................................... 342
DVDs created by Studio do not play back, or appear blank. ............... 344
No video or poor quality video in the Capture preview window ......... 345
APPENDIX D: VIDEOGRAPHY TIPS ........................ 349
Creating a shooting plan ...................................................................... 349
Editing ................................................................................................. 350
Rules of thumb for video editing ......................................................... 354
Soundtrack production ......................................................................... 356
Title ..................................................................................................... 357
APPENDIX E: GLOSSARY ........................................ 359
APPENDIX F: LICENSE AGREEMENT .................... 377
APPENDIX G: KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS ................ 383
INDEX ........................................................................ 387
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.
Also highly recommended to new users is the Studio Tutorial. To launch the Tutorial, click its link on the “splash” screen when you start Studio, or use the Help ¾ Guided Tour menu command within the application itself.
Before you start xi
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 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, sound 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
xii Pinnacle Studio
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.
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.
Before you start xiii
Video capture hardware
Studio can capture video from a variety of digital and analog sources. Please 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) 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 15: 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.
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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.
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 to open Studio’s help file.
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.
xvi Pinnacle Studio
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 15: 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.
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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.
For simplicity, 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.
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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
above the Player to the left of the Undo button when reorganizing the display is possible.
Drag the control knob rightwards to increase the Player size, or leftwards to decrease it. The leftmost knob 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
Chapter 1: Using Studio 7
movie uses disc menu navigation, you can play it back 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 294) 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 button halts playback and skips back to the first frame 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
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scan for a particular piece of video you want to 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 64 for details.
The ability of the preview to keep up with the scrubber depends on the speed of your computer. If you move the Player scrubber slowly, the preview display responds smoothly. As you increase the rate at which
Chapter 1: Using Studio 9
you move the scrubber, the preview will jump frames. The point 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 198.
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Further editing topics
Please see the following for details on specific editing topics:
Chapter 5: Video clips
Chapter 6: Themes and theme editing
Chapter 7: Video effects
Chapter 8: Two-track editing with Studio Plus
Chapter 9: Transitions
Chapter 10: Still images
Chapter 11: Disc menus
Chapter 12: The Title Editor
Chapter 13: Sound effects and music
Chapter 14: Audio effects
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, themes 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.
Chapter 1: Using Studio 11
Premium content items, like the Hollywood FX transition whose icon appears at left, are
listed in Studio with a small treasure chest symbol in the top-left 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.
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
themes, 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.
By clicking the activate buttons found in some parts
of Studio.
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These buttons can be found whenever premium content is on display within Studio. The one above, when seen in the Audio effects tool and the Video effects tool, would let you activate a pack of audio or video filters. You may encounter similar buttons in the Album that let you purchase all the media on a particular Album page as a theme pack.
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.
Note: Although your Passport is specific to an individual computer, it is not affected by ordinary hardware modifications such as adding or removing expansion cards, drives or memory.
Chapter 1: Using Studio 13
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 directed. You will then be given an activation key with which you can activate the content on the original computer by using the Help ¾ Enter Activation Keys menu command.
Hiding and showing premium content
If you would prefer not to view the premium content and features available in Studio, open the Project
preferences options panel and uncheck either or both of Show premium content and Show premium features.
(See page 290.)
Importing content from past Studio versions
If you are an owner of a past version of Studio, the chances are that you already own content items, whether on a “Bonus Content” or “Premium Pack” disc, or on a hard drive attached to your system. The Studio “Transfer Content” wizard walks you through the process of locating all such materials that are available to you, and importing them for use in the
14 Pinnacle Studio
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