Pinnacle Systems Studio - 14.0 Instruction Manual
Pinnacle Studio
Version 14
Including Studio, Studio Ultimate
and Studio Ultimate Collection
Your Life in Movies
Documentation by Nick Sullivan
Copyright ©1996-2009 Pinnacle Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Please respect the Rights of Artists and Creators. Content such as music,
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; 7,301,092; and 7, 46 7,244. 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unpublished works.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
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production of derivative works therefrom without the express permission of
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technology licensed from Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson Multimedia.
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Pinnacle Systems, Inc.
Pinnacle Systems, Inc.
280 North Bernardo Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94943
Printed in the USA.
ii Pinnacle Studio
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 ................................................................................................ 5
Playback controls ..................................................................................... 8
Further editing topics ............................................................................. 11
Expanding Studio .................................................................................. 12
CHAPTER 2: CAPTURING AND IMPORTING MEDIA 17
The Studio Import Wizard ..................................................................... 18
Import Wizard panels .............................................................................. 19
The Import From panel .......................................................................... 20
The Import To panel .............................................................................. 23
The Mode panel ..................................................................................... 27
The Compression Options window ....................................................... 30
The Scene Detection Options window ................................................... 31
The Filename panel ............................................................................... 32
Table of contents iii
Selecting media for import ...................................................................... 34
Import from file-based media ................................................................ 35
Import from DV or HDV camera .......................................................... 42
Import from analog sources ................................................................... 47
Import from DVD or Blu-ray Disc ........................................................ 48
Import from digital cameras .................................................................. 49
Stop motion ........................................................................................... 49
Snapshot ................................................................................................ 52
CHAPTER 3: THE ALBUM .......................................... 57
The Videos section .................................................................................... 63
Opening a video file .............................................................................. 67
Viewing video ....................................................................................... 71
Selecting scenes and files ...................................................................... 72
Displaying scene and file information ................................................... 73
Comment view ....................................................................................... 74
Combining and subdividing scenes ....................................................... 75
Redetecting scenes ................................................................................. 77
The Transitions section ............................................................................ 78
The Montage® Themes section ................................................................ 80
The Titles section ...................................................................................... 81
The Still Images section ........................................................................... 82
The Disc Menus section ............................................................................ 83
The Sound Effects section ........................................................................ 84
The Music section ..................................................................................... 85
The Project Bin ......................................................................................... 86
CHAPTER 4: THE MOVIE WINDOW ........................... 91
Movie Window views................................................................................ 95
Storyboard view ..................................................................................... 95
Timeline view ........................................................................................ 96
Text view ............................................................................................. 102
iv Pinnacle Studio
The toolboxes .......................................................................................... 102
The Video toolbox ............................................................................... 104
The Audio toolbox ............................................................................... 106
CHAPTER 5: VIDEO CLIPS ...................................... 109
Video clip basics ..................................................................................... 110
Adding video clips to your movie ....................................................... 110
Working with multiple capture files .................................................... 111
The project video format ..................................................................... 112
Interface features ................................................................................. 115
Trimming video clips .............................................................................. 117
Trimming on the Timeline using handles ............................................ 117
Clip-trimming tips ............................................................................... 121
Trimming with the Clip properties tool ............................................... 122
Resetting trimmed clips ....................................................................... 124
Splitting and combining clips ................................................................ 125
Advanced Timeline editing .................................................................... 126
Insert editing ........................................................................................ 128
Split editing ......................................................................................... 130
The SmartMovie music video tool ......................................................... 134
CHAPTER 6: THEMES AND THEME EDITING ........ 139
Using themes ........................................................................................... 141
The Themes section of the Album ....................................................... 143
Creating theme clips ............................................................................ 143
Working with theme clips on the Timeline ......................................... 145
Anatomy of a theme ............................................................................ 147
Opening the Theme Editor tool............................................................ 150
Using the Theme Editor tool ................................................................ 151
CHAPTER 7: VIDEO EFFECTS ................................. 155
Working with the effects list................................................................ 156
Changing effect parameters ................................................................. 158
Keyframing .......................................................................................... 160
Using keyframing ................................................................................ 163
Previewing and rendering .................................................................... 166
Table of contents v
Video effects library ............................................................................... 166
Standard effects ...................................................................................... 168
Auto color correction ........................................................................... 169
Dream glow ......................................................................................... 169
Noise reduction .................................................................................... 170
Rotate ................................................................................................... 170
Stabilize ............................................................................................... 170
Speed ................................................................................................... 171
Ultimate effects ....................................................................................... 172
Blur ...................................................................................................... 173
Emboss ................................................................................................ 173
Old film ............................................................................................... 173
Soften ................................................................................................... 174
Stained glass ........................................................................................ 174
Luma key ............................................................................................. 175
2D Editor ............................................................................................. 175
Earthquake ........................................................................................... 175
Lens flare ............................................................................................. 176
Magnify ............................................................................................... 176
Motion blur .......................................................................................... 176
Water drop ........................................................................................... 177
Water wave .......................................................................................... 177
Black and white ................................................................................... 177
Color correction ................................................................................... 177
Color map ............................................................................................ 178
Invert ................................................................................................... 178
Lighting ............................................................................................... 179
Posterize .............................................................................................. 179
RGB color balance............................................................................... 179
Sepia .................................................................................................... 180
White balance ...................................................................................... 180
CHAPTER 8: TWO-TRACK EDITING ....................... 181
Introducing the overlay track ............................................................... 181
A/B editing .......................................................................................... 183
The Picture-in-picture tool ................................................................... 184
The Chroma key tool ........................................................................... 190
Selecting colors ................................................................................... 196
vi Pinnacle Studio
CHAPTER 9: TRANSITIONS ..................................... 199
Transition types and their uses ............................................................ 201
Previewing transitions in your movie .................................................. 204
Audio transitions ................................................................................. 204
The Ripple Transition command ......................................................... 205
Trimming transitions ............................................................................. 206
Trimming with the Clip properties tool ............................................... 207
CHAPTER 10: STILL IMAGES .................................. 209
Editing still images ................................................................................. 211
Editing image clip properties ............................................................... 212
The Frame Grabber ............................................................................... 219
The Frame grabber tool ....................................................................... 219
CHAPTER 11: DISC MENUS ..................................... 221
Disc authoring in Studio ...................................................................... 223
Using menus from the Album .............................................................. 224
The DVD Player Control ..................................................................... 226
Editing menus on the Timeline ............................................................ 228
Editing with the Clip properties tool ................................................... 230
The Disc menu tool .............................................................................. 235
CHAPTER 12: THE CLASSIC TITLE EDITOR .......... 237
Launching the Classic Title Editor ...................................................... 238
The Classic Title Editor controls ........................................................... 239
Title-type buttons ................................................................................. 239
Object toolbox ..................................................................................... 240
Editing-mode selection buttons ........................................................... 243
Object layout buttons ........................................................................... 245
Clipboard and delete buttons ............................................................... 247
Text-styling controls ............................................................................ 247
The Classic Title Editor Album ............................................................. 249
The Looks Browser ............................................................................. 249
The Backgrounds section ..................................................................... 251
The Pictures section ............................................................................. 253
The Buttons section ............................................................................. 254
Table of contents vii
CHAPTER 13: THE MOTION TITLER ....................... 257
Launching (and leaving) the titler ........................................................ 259
File operations ..................................................................................... 261
The Motion Titler Album ...................................................................... 262
The Videos section .............................................................................. 264
The Photos section ............................................................................... 265
The Objects section ............................................................................. 266
The Looks section ................................................................................ 267
The Motions section ............................................................................ 272
Creating and editing Motion Titles ....................................................... 275
The Background Panel ......................................................................... 277
The Edit window ................................................................................. 279
Working with text ................................................................................ 282
Working with the Layer List................................................................ 286
Working with layer groups .................................................................. 293
CHAPTER 14: SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC ........ 297
The Timeline audio tracks ................................................................... 300
The CD audio tool ............................................................................... 302
The Background music tool ................................................................. 303
The Voice-over tool ............................................................................. 305
Trimming audio clips ............................................................................. 308
Trimming with the Clip properties tool ............................................... 308
Audio volume and mixing ...................................................................... 310
Anatomy of an audio clip .................................................................... 311
Adjusting audio on the Timeline ......................................................... 313
Transitions on the audio tracks ............................................................ 315
The Volume and balance tool .............................................................. 316
CHAPTER 15: AUDIO EFFECTS .............................. 323
Noise reduction .................................................................................... 324
Ultimate effects ....................................................................................... 326
ChannelTool ........................................................................................ 326
Chorus ................................................................................................. 326
DeEsser ................................................................................................ 327
Equalizer .............................................................................................. 327
viii Pinnacle Studio
Grungelizer .......................................................................................... 328
Leveler ................................................................................................. 329
Reverb ................................................................................................. 329
Stereo Echo .......................................................................................... 330
Stereo Spread ....................................................................................... 330
CHAPTER 16: MAKING YOUR MOVIE ..................... 331
Output to disc media .............................................................................. 334
Output to file ........................................................................................... 338
Output to tape ......................................................................................... 346
Configuring the camera or video recorder... ........................................ 346
Output your movie to videotape .......................................................... 348
Output to the web ................................................................................... 349
APPENDIX A: SETUP OPTIONS .............................. 351
Project preferences .............................................................................. 352
Video and audio preferences ............................................................... 355
Make Disc settings .............................................................................. 360
Make File settings ................................................................................ 365
Make Real Media file settings ............................................................. 369
Make Windows Media file settings ..................................................... 372
Make tape settings ............................................................................... 374
APPENDIX B: TIPS AND TRICKS ............................ 377
Hardware ............................................................................................. 377
Graphics card settings .......................................................................... 379
Studio and computer animation ........................................................... 380
APPENDIX C: TROUBLESHOOTING ....................... 381
Technical help on-line ............................................................................ 382
Top support issues .................................................................................. 384
Errors or crashes during installation .................................................... 385
Studio crashes in Edit mode ................................................................ 386
Table of contents ix
Studio hangs when rendering ............................................................... 391
Studio hangs on launch or does not launch .......................................... 394
“Burning failed” error appears in Make Movie ................................... 396
DVDs created by Studio do not play back, or appear blank. ............... 398
APPENDIX D: VIDEOGRAPHY TIPS ........................ 399
Creating a shooting plan ...................................................................... 399
Editing ................................................................................................. 400
Rules of thumb for video editing ......................................................... 404
Soundtrack production ......................................................................... 406
Title ..................................................................................................... 407
APPENDIX E: GLOSSARY ........................................ 409
APPENDIX F: KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS ................ 427
INDEX ........................................................................ 431
x Pinnacle Studio
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 Ultimate and Studio Ultimate Collection.
Differences between versions will be noted as
applicable. Most of the time, the word “Studio” will be
used generically to refer to all versions. Similarly,
references to “Studio Ultimate” apply also to Studio
Ultimate Collection unless otherwise stated.
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 1.8 GHz or higher
(2.4 GHz or higher recommended). Intel Core™ 2 or
i7 2.4 GHz required for AVCHD editing (2.66 GHz
for AVCHD 1920)
• 1 GB system memory recommended, 2 GB required
for AVCHD editing
• Windows® 7, Windows Vista® with SP2, or
Windows XP with SP3
• DirectX 9 or 10 compatible graphics card with 64
MB (128 MB or higher recommended); 256 MB for
HD and AVCHD editing
• DirectX 9 or higher compatible sound card
• 3.2 GB of disk space (plug-ins extra)
• DVD-ROM drive to install software.
xii Pinnacle Studio
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 (Studio
Ultimate).
• Sound card with surround-sound output for preview
of surround-sound mixes.
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: For capture from video tape, we recommend using
a separate hard drive in order to avoid 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. Please see “The Import From panel” on
page 20.
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 16: Making
your movie, for more information).
Abbreviations and conventions
This guide uses the following conventions to help
organize the material.
Terminology
AVCHD: A video data format used by some highdefinition camcorders, and for creating DVD discs that
can be read on Blu-ray players. Successful editing of
AVCHD files requires more computing power than
other formats supported by Studio.
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.
xiv Pinnacle Studio
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
Classic 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. Import: 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), memory cards and
other file-based media, and live video from a video
camera, camcorder or webcam.
Import mode is covered in Chapter 2: Capturing and
importing media.
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, Blu-ray Disc 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.
Availability: Blu-ray Disc authoring is supported in Studio Ultimate
and Studio Ultimate Collection only.
Chapter 1: Using Studio 1
3. Make movie: When your project is complete,
generate a finished movie in your choice of format and
storage medium: tape, VCD, S-VCD, DVD, AVI,
MPEG, RealVideo, Windows Media and more.
Make Movie mode is covered in Chapter 16: 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.
2 Pinnacle Studio
• The Support button opens Studio’s technical support
site in your web browser.
• The Premium button lets you expand Studio by
purchasing and installing premium content. (See
page 12 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 Edit mode.
It has two 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 Project preferences). Once
either dialog box is open, however, all of its panels are
available through the tabs.
Chapter 1: Using Studio 3
For simplicity, we generally refer to the different
options panels independently, as in “the Project
preferences options panel”.
Detailed explanations of the options in both dialog
boxes are contained in Appendix A: Setup Options.
Additional options for importing are provided on the
Mode panel of the Import Wizard. The options
available depend on the type of media you plan to
import, as explained under “The Mode panel” on page
27.
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.
4 Pinnacle Studio
See Chapter 3: The Album and Chapter 4: The Movie
Window for detailed information on those topics.
Studio in Edit mode with n the Album, o the Player,
and p the Movie Window, shown here in its
Storyboard view.
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.
Chapter 1: Using Studio 5
DVD mode
The DVD playback controls emulate the navigation
controls on a DVD player or remote control. Use them
for previewing your DVD or other disc productions,
including menu interaction.
6 Pinnacle Studio
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 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 (and default) size.
Resizing the Player optimizes your use of screen “real
estate” to obtain a larger video preview.
Chapter 1: Using Studio 7
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
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 full-screen 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 355) 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 Ultimate, you can
simultaneously send your preview to an external
device, if desired.
8 Pinnacle Studio
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 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
Chapter 1: Using Studio 9
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 92 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
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.
10 Pinnacle Studio
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 226.
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
• Chapter 9: Transitions
• Chapter 10: Still images
• Chapter 11: Disc menus
Chapter 1: Using Studio 11
• Chapter 12: The Classic Title Editor
• Chapter 13: The Motion Titler
• Chapter 14: Sound effects and music
• Chapter 15: 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.
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.
12 Pinnacle Studio
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.
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
Chapter 1: Using Studio 13
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.
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 352.)
14 Pinnacle Studio
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