Pinnacle Systems Studio - 18.0 User Guide
Pinnacle Studio™ 18 User Guide
Including Pinnacle Studio™ Plus and
Pinnacle Studio™ Ultimate
Contents
Before you start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Abbreviations and conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Buttons, menus, dialog boxes and windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Help and Tooltips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Finding your version information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Upgrading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Chapter 1: Using Pinnacle Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Importer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Exporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The central tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The next step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Movie Editor and the Disc Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The media editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Pinnacle Studio Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter 2: The Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Adding assets to a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Correcting media files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Instant gratification: SmartMovie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Understanding the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Managing Library assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Contents i
Thumbnails and details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Optional indicators and controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
The Library preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Choosing what to display in the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Correcting media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Video scene detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
SmartMovie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
SmartMovie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Chapter 3: The Movie Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
The compact Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Previewing in the project editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
The Project Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
The timeline toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
The timeline track header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Editing Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Title Editor, ScoreFitter, voice-over. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Deleting clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Clip operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Using the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Movies within movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Clip effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Clip context menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Chapter 4: Corrections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Media editing overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Photo editing tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Correcting photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Red-eye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
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Correcting video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Video tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Video corrections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Stabilize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Correcting audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Chapter 5: Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Effects in the media editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Effects on the timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
The Settings panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Working with keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Video and photo effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Working with transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Pan-and-zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Chapter 6: Montage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
The Montage section of the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Using montage templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Montage clips on the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Anatomy of a template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Montage editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Using the Montage Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Chapter 7: The Title Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Launching (and leaving) the Title Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
The Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
The Presets Selector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Preset Looks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Preset Motions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Creating and editing titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Background settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Look settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
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The Edit window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Text and text settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Titles and stereoscopic 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
The Layer List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Working with the Layer List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Working with layer groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Chapter 8: Sound and music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
The Audio Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Audio corrections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Audio effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Audio on the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Timeline audio functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Audio creation tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
ScoreFitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
The Voice-over tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Chapter 9: Disc projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Disc menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Adding disc menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Previewing disc menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Menu editing on the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Timeline menu markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Authoring tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
The Chapter Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
The Menu Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Menu buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
The Disc Simulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Chapter 10: The Importer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Using the Importer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Importer panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
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The Import To panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
The Mode panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
The Compression Options window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
The Scene Detection Options window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
The Metadata panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
The Filename panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Selecting assets for import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Selecting files for Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Customizing the browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Adjusting the import file date and time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Scan for assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Import from DV or HDV camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Import from analog sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Import from DVD or Blu-ray Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Import from digital cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Stop motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Chapter 11: The Exporter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Output to disc or memory card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Output to file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Output to cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Output to a device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Chapter 12: Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Watchfolders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Audio device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Event logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Export and Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Project settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Contents v
Storage locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Chapter 13: Screen capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Starting a screen capture project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Recording your screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Appendix A: Troublehooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Contacting support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Top support issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Capture hardware compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Serial number information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Error or crash while installing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Hangs or crashes while launching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Troubleshooting software crashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Case 1: Studio crashes randomly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Case 2: Studio crashes after a user action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Case 3: Studio crashes repeatably . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Export problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Disc playback problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Appendix B: Videography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Creating a shooting plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
Rules of thumb for video editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Soundtrack production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Appendix C: Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Appendix D: Keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
General shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
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Playing and transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Importer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Movie interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Media editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Title Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Appendix E: The installation manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Before you begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Upgrade Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Launching the Installation Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Supporting installations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
The Welcome Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Common controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Installing plugs-ins and bonus content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
System requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
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Before you start
Thank you for purchasing Pinnacle Studio™. We hope you enjoy using
the software.
If you have not used Pinnacle Studio before, we recommend that you
keep the user guide handy for reference even if you don’t actually read
it all the way through.
In order to ensure that your movie-making experience gets off on the
right foot, please review the topics.
Note: Not all features described in the user guide are included
in all versions of Pinnacle
visit www.pinnaclesys.com and click Compare.
Abbreviations and conventions
This guide uses the following conventions to help organize the
material.
Common terms
AVCHD: A video data format used by some high-definition
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 Pinnacle Studio.
Studio. For more information, please
DV: This term refers to DV and Digital8 camcorders, VCRs and tapes.
Before you start 1
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’ applies to OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394,
FireWire, DV or i.LINK interfaces, ports and cables.
Analog: The term ‘analog’ app lies to 8mm, Hi8, VHS, SVHS, VHS-C or
SVHS-C camcorders, VCRs and tapes, and to Composite/RCA and SVideo cables and connectors.
Buttons, menus, dialog boxes and windows
Names of buttons, menus and related user interface items are written
in
bold to distinguish them from the surrounding text.
Choosing menu commands
The right arrowhead symbol (>) denotes the path for hierarchical
menu items. For example:
• Select File > Burn Disc Image.
Context menus
A ‘context menu’ is a pop-up list of commands that appears when you
click with the right mouse-button on certain areas of the application
interface. Depending where you click, a context menu may pertain
either to an editable object (like a clip on an editing timeline), to a
window, or to a zone such as a control panel. Once open, context
menus behave just like the ones on the main menu bar.
Context menus are available in most parts of the Pinnacle Studio
interface. Our documentation generally takes for granted that you
know how to open and use them.
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Mouse clicks
When a mouse click is required, the default is always a left-click unless
otherwise specified, or unless the click is to open a context menu:
Right-click and select
from the context menu.”)
Title Editor
. (Or, one might say, “Select
Title Editor
Key names
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.
Please refer to
table of available shortcuts.
Appendix D: Keyboard shortcuts
for a comprehensive
Help and Tooltips
Immediate help is available while you are working in Pinnacle Studio
via the Help menu.
Help
The Help menu lets you access a variety of learning resources. Click the
Help button > User Manual to access the Learning Center page with
links to video tutorials, the
other community and support links.
Pinnacle Studio 18 User Guide PDF, and
Video tutorials
You can access video tutorials from the Learning Center page (Help >
User Manual) or by visiting the following sites directly:
Before you start 3
• YouTube — http://www.youtube.com/user/pinnaclestudiolife
• StudioBacklot.tv — http://www.studiobacklot.tv/studio18
Get a 6-week, all-access pass to StudioBacklot.tv, featuring brandnew Pinnacle Studio 18 content, loads of other training and a
royalty-free stock library. (Training is in English only.)
Tool tips
To find out what a button or other Studio control does, pause your
mouse pointer over it. A ‘tool tip’ pops up to explain the control’s
function.
Finding your version information
Whether you are considering upgrading your software or looking for
support, it’s good to know your version information. To check the
version of Pinnacle Studio that you have, click the
About.
Help button >
Upgrading
There are different versions of Pinnacle Studio and features vary
depending on the version you have. For more information, please visit
www.pinnaclesys.com and click Compare.
For information about upgrading your software, click the Help
> Online Offers & News > Software Offers.
button
4 Pinnacle Studio User Guide
Chapter 1: Using Pinnacle Studio
For a simple outline of the digital movie-making process, you don’t
have to look any further than the central tab group of Pinnacle
main window. The same steps apply to any type of production, from
an unpretentious slideshow with dissolves between each frame to a 3D
extravaganza containing hundreds of carefully-arranged clips and
effects.
Pinnacle Studio’s main control bar summarizes the moviemaking process.
The Importer
Import on the right, is a preparatory step. It involves procedures like
‘capturing’ video from your analog or DV camcorder, bringing in
photos from a digital camera, and copying media files to your local
hard drive from a network location.
The Pinnacle Studio Importer provides tools for these tasks, along with
a Snapshot feature for grabbing frames from video files, and a Stop
motion tool for building up video frame-by-frame. See “Chapter 10:
The Importer” on page 291 for details.
Studio’s
File menu import commands: Choosing Import from the file menu has
the same effect as clicking the Import tab: it opens the
menu provides three other import-related choices as well. Each of
Chapter 1: Using Pinnacle Studio 5
Importer. The
these opens a Windows file dialog to permit import of files from a hard
drive or other local storage.
• Import previous Pinnacle Studio Projects lets you load movie
projects created with earlier versions of Studio.
• Import Studio for iPad App Projects lets you b ring in projects
exported from Studio’s companion app for the iPad.
• Quick Import lets you directly select ordinary media files—photo,
video, audio and project—for import.
Principal controls in the Importer’s Snapshot tool.
The Exporter
At the other end of the movie-making process is Export. By the time
you get to this stage, the hard part of the task is behind you. The
creative energy that went into making your movie has paid off in a
production that now lacks only one ingredient—an audience.
6 Pinnacle Studio User Guide
Preparing to create a video file in the Exporter.
The Pinnacle Studio Exporter helps you over that last hurdle with tools
for taking your movie to its viewers, whoever and wherever they might
be. Create a digital movie file in the format of your choice, burn a DVD,
or upload directly to destinations in the Cloud like YouTube and Vimeo,
or to your personal Cloud-based storage area in Box.
Like the Importer, the Exporter opens in a separate window, and
returns to the main window after its work is done. See
“Chapter 11:
The Exporter” on page 337 to learn more.
The central tabs
The three central tabs, Library, Movie and Disc, are where most of your
work in Pinnacle Studio takes place. The first of these opens the main
view of the Library, where you can ‘curate’ your media collections.
Chapter 1: Using Pinnacle Studio 7
The other tabs open the two project editors, one for digital movies,
and the other for disc projects, which are digital movies enhanced with
interactivity in the form of DVD menus.
The Library
The Library is a cataloging and management tool for all the file-based
assets
resources – or
all of the materials of your movie – video footage, music and audio
files, and many specialized resources such as transitions and effects –
originate as assets in the Library. Many Library assets are supplied with
Pinnacle
professionally-designed titles, DVD menus, sound effects and more.
The Library uses watchfolders for keeping up automatically with the
changing population of media files on your system. On the
watchfolders page of the Pinnacle Studio Setup control panel, enter
the names of your media directories, especially those that you update
frequently. Thereafter the Library will scan those directories regularly
for changes, and update accordingly. For more information, see
“Watchfolders” on page 366.
Studio, and are available for royalty-free use. These include
– that you can draw on when authoring. Almost
Main view
When you click the Library tab, the Library takes over the main window.
This ‘main view’ gives you spacious access to a number of cataloging
and search tools, including those for categorizing assets by means of
ratings and tags, and those for creating user-defined asset collections.
Compact view
The ‘compact view’ of the Library squeezes virtually the whole
functionality of the main view into a panel embedded within certain
other windows, such as the Movie Editor and the Disc Editor. The
8 Pinnacle Studio User Guide
primary purpose of the compact view is to allow assets to be brought
into a movie or disc project from the
The main view of the Library consists of navigation controls
for exploring the catalog structure (left) and a browser for
examining and selecting assets (right).
Library by drag-and-drop.
Player
The tools available from within the Library include the Player, a viewer
that works for all media types handled by the application. When used
from the main view of the Library, the Player opens in a separate
window. When the compact Library is used, an embedded version of
the Player appears in the same window. For more information, see
“The Player” on page 14.
Chapter 1: Using Pinnacle Studio 9
Previewing a Library video asset in the resizable Player
window, with full transport controls including a shuttle
wheel. You can keep working in the main window while the
pop-up Player is open.
For comprehensive coverage of the Library and its uses, please see
“Chapter 2: The Library” on page 17.
The next step
The next step, once you know your way around the Library and have
made any changes needed to the default set-up, is to start creating a
movie. There are two ways to go about this.
The usual way
If you want to exert detailed control over the way media assets are used
in your production, you will usually start building your movie or disc
project from scratch in one of the two project editors.
These are described below.
10 Pinnacle Studio User Guide
The easiest way
For ultra-quick results, the Library offers another way. Clicking
SmartMovie at the bottom of the Library main view opens an extra tray
of controls. With either of these you select some visual media assets to
serve as the basis of the project, choose music for a soundtrack, and
make a handful of other customizations. Then the software takes over,
automatically generating a full-scale Pinnacle
containing the media and options requested. You can export the
project immediately, or edit it further by hand as you choose. For more
information, see
“Instant gratification: SmartMovie” on page 20.
Studio project
The Movie Editor and the Disc Editor
Once you have gathered your materials together and organized them
to your satisfaction in the Library, it’s time to get to work on a video or
a slideshow. If you are working on a disc production specifically, you
can immediately start work in the
Movie Editor but has extra tools for creating and setting up DVD
menus. For more information, see
page 267.
If you aren’t planning on creating a disc, or aren’t sure, or if disc is only
one of the output media you are targeting, the Movie Editor is the right
place to start. Once your movie is completed, you can export it to the
Disc Editor and add in the menus.
Disc Editor, which is just like the
“Chapter 9: Disc projects” on
The Movie Editor and the Disc Editor exist side-by-side, but apart from
the export feature just mentioned, they do not interact. If you want,
you can have a regular movie project and a disc project loaded
simultaneously, and switch from one to another at will.
Chapter 1: Using Pinnacle Studio 11
In both the Movie Editor and the Disc Editor, a multitrack
timeline occupies the lower part of the display. Most of the
‘clips’ on the timeline come from the Library; a few types, like
automatic background music, are generated with special
tools.
Both project editors include embedded versions of the Library and the
Player in addition to the timeline display. To build a project, drag assets
from the compact Library onto the timeline tracks, where they are
known as ‘clips’. Both the Movie Editor and the Disc Editor can be used
with Stereoscopic 3D as well as 2D material.
The preview type control above the Player lets you switch between
viewing the current Library asset (‘source’) and the current timeline
clip. In the Disc Editor, an additional preview type (‘menu’) lets you use
the Player as an editor for linking disc menus to points on the project
timeline.
Timeline editing, a central activity in project authoring. “Chapter 3: The
Movie Editor” on page 65.
The media editors
Additional windows are often needed for working with particular types
of media. In general, you can open an editor window appropriate to
any asset or clip by double-clicking the item.
12 Pinnacle Studio User Guide
Corrections from the Library
The editors for the standard media types of video, photo and audio are
particularly important. When invoked from the Library (by doubleclicking an asset), each of these editors provides a suite of correction
tools appropriate to its media type. These tools can be applied directly
to Library assets in order to remove camera shake from video, trim
unwanted material from a photo, or suppress audio hiss, to give just a
few examples.
When a correction is applied to a Library asset, the media file is not
modified. Instead the correction parameters are saved in the Library
database. They can be altered at any time, or removed, as your needs
dictate. The corrections you make in the Library are brought with the
asset when you add it to your project timeline as a clip.
Corrections from the timeline
When you open one of the standard media editors by double-clicking
a timeline clip, the correction tools are again available, although in this
case they apply only to the clip in the project, not to the underlying
Library asset.
Transitions and Effects
When they are invoked from the project timeline, the media editors
also offer effects, which cover a wide-range of enhancements in all
three media types in the transition in, transition out, and effects
groups.
Transitions let you punctuate the passage of one clip to the next with
anything from a barely perceptible dissolve to an audience-awakening
flare.
Chapter 1: Using Pinnacle Studio 13
Effects range from the practical (Brightness and contrast) to the
theatrical (
parameter changes to any degree of complexity. They provide
innumerable ways to add creative interest to your productions. Some
effects are particularly designed for 3D material.
Fractal fire). Effects can be animated with keyframed
Pan-and-zoom
The Photo Editor provides one more tool, pan-and-zoom, of its own.
Like the effects just discussed, pan-and-zoom can be animated with
keyframes to create any desired combination of simulated pan and
zoom camera moves within the boundaries of a single photo.
For more information about Correction tools and the media editors,
“Chapter 4: Corrections” on page 127 and “Chapter 5: Effects” on
see
page 153.
The Player
The Player is a preview screen in which you can examine Library media,
play back your movie project, work on disc menus, and much more. In
each window or context in which it is used, the Player exhibits
somewhat different controls. For an introduction to the Player and its
basic controls, please see “The Library preview” on page 41. For the
use of the Player in trim mode on the timeline, see “Clip operations”
on page 97. For information on using the Player with Montage, see
“Using the Montage Editor” on page 191. For the use of the Player in
editing disc menus, see “Previewing disc menus” on page 275.
Pinnacle Studio Projects
The movies and discs that you create in Pinnacle Studio are distilled
from the projects that you build on the timeline of the Movie Editor or
the Disc Editor.
14 Pinnacle Studio User Guide
To manage projects, Studio must keep track of everything that goes
onto your timeline, and all the editing decisions you make with regard
to trimming, adding effects, and much more. Much of this information
is stored in the project file, which is in
axp (Studio Movie) format.
In order to conserve hard drive space when dealing with files that can
be very large, the project file does not include the media items in your
movie. For these, only their location in the Library is stored.
The axp project file is the default file format for the File > Open, File >
Save and File > Save As menu commands. It may be the only one you
need.
Sometimes, however, it is convenient to have all the resources recruited
for a project gathered into a single, manageable unit for hassle-free
archiving, file transfer or upload. This is the purpose of an alternative
file format, the
axx (Studio Project Package), which contains in a single
file all the materials your project uses, including media items. Of
necessity, files in this format are considerably larger than standard
project files.
Although it is not possible to directly edit a project in the package
format, Pinnacle Studio lets you open a project package with File ?
Open by selecting axx in the file extension box. Studio seamlessly
unpacks the project, creates a new Library entry for the unpacked
version, and opens it for editing.
Chapter 1: Using Pinnacle Studio 15
16 Pinnacle Studio User Guide
Chapter 2: The Library
The Pinnacle Studio Library, displayed when you click the Organize
tab, is a cataloguing and management tool for all the file-based
resources you can draw on when authoring. Its purpose is to let you
choose and use the video segments, photos, sound bites, transition
effects, titles and other ‘assets’ (as they are often called) for your
movies as easily, rapidly and intuitively as possible.
The Pinnacle Studio Media Library
The Library’s classification scheme resembles what you might see in a
file-system viewer. While the viewer groups files under their physical
storage locations such as hard drives, the Library groups assets under
their type – video, photo, and so on. In other respects, the tree view
Chapter 2: The Library 17
concept for accessing subgroups of assets is virtually identical and
should feel immediately familiar.
In addition to audio, photo and video files in standard formats, the
Library includes specialized auxiliary media like titles and disc menus.
They are found, along with transitions, filters and other effects, in the
main category called Creative Elements.
The Library can easily manage large media holdings such as are often
found nowadays even on a home system. All of the dozens of media
file types usable in Pinnacle Studio can be browsed, organized and
previewed within its integrated interface.
Assets are displayed either as icons or text records within collapsible
folders that stack up in the Library Browser. The folders may
correspond either to real directories in your computer’s file system, or
to virtual groupings based on ratings, file type, creation date, or
membership in a user-defined Collection.
Adding assets to a project
Two views of the Library are found in Pinnacle Studio. The Main view
takes over the application window when you click the Organize tab. It
uses the full available space to provide as much information as
possible.
18 Pinnacle Studio User Guide
To open the Main Library view, click the Organize tab at the
top of the Pinnacle Studio application window.
The Compact view of the Library is a panel, either docked (as in the
Movie and Disc project editors) or floating (as in the Title Editor). The
Compact view retains the full functionality of the Library. Its primary
purpose is to allow you to bring Library assets into a movie or disc
project with drag and drop.
The current set of Library tabs, and the contents of the Browser, are
common to all views of the Library. For instance, if you are browsing in
a particular folder of disc menus in the Main view, that same folder will
be open in the Compact view if you now switch to the Movie Editor.
Correcting media files
With regard to technical quality, media files are not all created equal.
Occasionally, you do come across the perfect photo, clip, or sound
effect. More often, though, the photo needs cropping, the video is
shaky, or the sound starts with an annoying hiss. Pinnacle Studio’s
media correction tools let you fix these and similar issues by applying
correction filters to a problem clip after you have placed it on the
timeline of your project.
Often, however, an even better solution is to apply the correction to
the Library asset itself, before adding it to a project. That way, any
Chapter 2: The Library 19
production using the asset will start with the corrected version, not the
unsatisfactory original. Such corrections can quickly be made by
opening media editors from the Library. The file underlying the
corrected asset is not modified: instead, the correction parameters are
stored in the Library database and reapplied whenever the item is
displayed or used.
Instant gratification: SmartMovie
In addition to the core functions mentioned so far, the Library offers a
matching pair of tools for automatically constructing a complete
project using media resources you specify. Just select some photos or
video sequences, enter a few settings, and start. You can output the
project Studio generates without further modification, or refine it with
manual editing as you prefer. For more information, see
on page 57.
“SmartMovie”
Understanding the Library
The Studio Library lets you manage and efficiently use the entire pool
of media and other assets available for use in your productions.
What exactly does the Library contain?
The full range of assets that you can draw on for your projects is
summarized by the four main branches of the Asset Tree. Each branch
is further divided into more specialized subsections.
The All Media branch contains the standard media files on your system
in subsections named
types are supported. The purpose of the fourth subsection,
, is described below.
media
20 Pinnacle Studio User Guide
Photos, Video, and Audio. Many standard file
Missing
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