Pinnacle Systems Xpress User Manual

Avid® Xpress™ for Macintosh

Effects Guide

Release 2.0



tools for storytellers™

Chapter 1 Preparing to Work with Effects

Introduction Effect Palette Overview

List of Effect Categories

Displaying the Effect Palette Effect Templates Overview Third-Party Plug-in Effects Overview

Installing Photoshop-Compatible Plug-in Effects

Installing AVX Plug-in Effects

Troubleshooting AVX Plug-ins

Settings for Effects

Effect Settings Understanding the Color Coding

Render Settings

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Blank Effect Icons in the Timeline Missing Effect Categories in the Effect Palette Avid Xpress Cannot Render the Plug-In

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Chapter 2 Basics of Effects Editing

Task Overview Ñ Working with Effects Effect Types

Transition Effects

Segment Effects Real-Time Effects Applying Effects to a Sequence

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Applying an Effect to a Single Transition or Segment

Applying an Effect to Multiple Segments

Applying an Effect to Multiple Transitions

Applying a Third-Party Plug-in Effect Deleting Effects in a Sequence

Deleting a Single Effect

Deleting Multiple Segment Effects Working with Transition Effects

Applying a Dissolve Effect

Using the Effect Palette Using the Transition Parameters

Using the Add Dissolve Button Sizing the Effect to Fit the Media Trimming and Customizing a Transition Effect

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Chapter 3 Working with the Effect Editor Window

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Opening the Effect Editor Window Understanding the Effect Preview Monitor

Changing Position in Effect Mode

Understanding the Effect Editor

Effect Editor Buttons Manipulating the Image

Using Parameter Pane Controls Manipulating the Image Directly

Moving an Enlarged Image in the Effect Preview Monitor Changing a Parameter Adjusting a Color Parameter

Selecting a Color Using the Eyedropper

Selecting a Color Using the Macintosh Color Picker Adjusting Effect Position Adjusting Effect Size Cropping an Effect Fading an Effect

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Accessing an EffectÕs Additional Parameters

Safe Title/Action Guidelines Overview Using Key Frames

Adding a Key Frame Selecting a Key Frame

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Adjusting the Level Between Key Frames Adjusting the Acceleration Moving a Key Frame

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Changing a Key FrameÕs Parameters

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Copying and Pasting Key-Frame Parameters Deleting a Key Frame

DeÞning a Motion Path

Moving the Image Directly Adjusting Key Frame Parameters

Playing a Motion Path Preview Rendering an Effect

Selecting the Render Setting for a Project

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Combining Real-Time Effects and Rendered Effects

Overlapping Real-Time Effects

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Overlapping Real-Time and Rendered Effects

Speed Considerations Displaying Effects While You Edit Rendering a Single Effect Rendering Multiple Effects Rendering Third-Party Plug-in Effects

Using an Effect Template

Saving an Effect Template Applying an Effect Template Applying Part of an Effect Template

Managing Your Effect Media Files

Locating and Deleting Effect Media Files

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Chapter 4 Working with Multilayer and Nested Effects

Using Multilayer Effects

Creating a Key Effect

Creating a YUV Chroma Key Effect

Creating a Luma Key Effect

Creating a Matte Key Effect

Working with Imported Graphics and Animation

Editing with Imported Matte Key Clips Editing with Imported Master Clips

Nested Effects

Describing Nested Tracks Nesting a Title Within a Picture-in-Picture Nesting a Matte Key Effect Another Nested Effect Technique Modifying Nested Effects

Submaster Editing

Submaster Editing of Multiple Clips Submaster Editing of Multiple Effects Collapsing Layers into One Submaster Effect

Using Video Mixdown

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Chapter 5 3D Effects Editing

Using 3D Effects

3D Effects Overview Accessing the 3D Effects Parameters

Using the Enable Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Resetting Default Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Real-Time Frame Updating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Using the Default Key-Frame Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

The 3D Effect Coordinate System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Rotation Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Promoting 2D Effects to 3D Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Using Matte Keys with 3D Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

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3D Picture-in-Picture Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Shadow Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Trail Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Border Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Background Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Spline Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Scaling Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Position Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Axis Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Rotation Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Page Turn Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

urn Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Page T

Page Curl Angle Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Radial Shape Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Multiwave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Offset Shape Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Turning the 3D Effects Option On and Off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Turning the 3D Effects Option On and Off at Startup. . . . . . . 136

Turning the 3D Effects Option On and Off from the Console 137

Avid Xpress Effects and Media Composer Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Chapter 6 Creating Titles and Graphic Objects

Task Overview Ñ Creating and Editing Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Creating New Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Using the Title Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Downstream Keying of Titles and Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Understanding the Title Tool Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Understanding the Tool Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Using the Selection Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Setting Up the Drawing Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Previewing Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Using Title and Action Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Using Safe Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Selecting a Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Using a Video Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Updating the Video Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Creating a Color Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Displaying a Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Snapping to Grid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Bringing the Title Tool Window to the Foreground. . . . . . . . . 151

Working with Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Creating Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Repositioning Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Resizing T

ext Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Editing an Existing Text String . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Viewing Anti-Aliased Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

The Text Formatting Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Setting the Default Text Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Selecting Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Justifying Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Kerning Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Adjusting Leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Changing Point Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Making Text Bold and Italic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Using the Drawing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Selecting Line Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Rounding Corners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Selecting a Line or Border Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Adding Arrowheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Changing Arrowhead Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Creating Rolling or Crawling Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Support for Rolling and Crawling Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Page Count Limits for Rolling or Crawling Titles . . . . . . . . . . 166

Using Auto Size Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Setting Up Text Formatting for Rolling Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Workßow Options for Creating Crawling Titles . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Typing the Rolling or Crawling Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Resizing a Rolling or Crawling Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Scrolling Through a Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Going to a Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Adding Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Deleting Additional Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Formatting Rolling or Crawling Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Selecting Colors and Setting Transparency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Adjusting the Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Blending Two Colors in an Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Adjusting the T

ransparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Blending Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Working with Shadows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Manipulating Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Viewing Titles Full Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Basic Manipulation Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Moving and Resizing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Using the Edit Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Grouping, Locking, and Layering Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Grouping Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Locking and Unlocking Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Layering Text and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Aligning Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Distributing Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Distribute Left to Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Distribute Top to Bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Distribute First to Last . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Saving Titles and Title Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Matching Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Using the Fast Save Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Saving a Title and Exiting the Title Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Saving Multiple Titles in a Session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Revising Titles in a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Saving a Title Effect Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Saving Title Styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Recalling a Title Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Managing Title Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Exporting a Title as a Graphics File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Titles and Their Related Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Chapter 7 Editing with Titles

An Overview of Editing with Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Restrictions of Downstream Key Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Downstream Key Error Messages

Converting Downstream Key Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Restrictions of Non-Downstream Key Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Playback Capabilities of DSK and Non-DSK Titles . . . . . . . . 204

Adding a Video Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Editing a Title into a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Editing a Title over Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Dragging the Title Effect Icon into the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Removing a Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Replacing Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Setting Marks in Rolling and Crawling Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Trimming the Duration of Rolling and Crawling Titles. . . . . . . . . 213

Fading a Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Adjusting Title Effect Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Using Title Key Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Adjusting Foreground Transparency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Adjusting Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Adjusting Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Cropping Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Softening Edges on Rolling Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Reducing Title Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Revising Titles in a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Replacing Fill Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Rendering Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Re-creating Title Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Promoting a 2D Title to 3D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Chapter 8 2D Effects Reference

Effect Categories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Effect Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Border Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Color Effect Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Color Selection Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Using the Macintosh Color Picker

Key Control Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Secondary Key Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Using the Enable Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Resetting Default Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Spill Suppression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Crop Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Matrix Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Motion Effect Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Position Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Scaling Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Rate Control Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Reverse Parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Transition Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Blend Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Dip to Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Dissolve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Fade from Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Fade to Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Picture-in-Picture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Superimpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Conceal Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Bottom Left to Top Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Bottom Right to Top Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Bottom to Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Left to Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Right to Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Top Left to Bottom Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Top Right to Bottom Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Top to Bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Image Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Color Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Luminance (Luma Adjust) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Chrominance (Chroma Adjust)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Color Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Color Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Flip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Flip-Flop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Flop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Resize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Key Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

YUV Chroma Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Luma Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Matte Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

L-Conceal Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Bottom Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Bottom Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Top Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Top Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Motion Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Freeze Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Variable Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Strobe Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Peel Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Bottom Left Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Bottom Right Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Bottom to Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Left to Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Right to Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Top Left Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Top Right Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Top to Bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Push Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Bottom Left to Top Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Bottom Right to Top Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Bottom to T

op. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Left to Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Right to Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Top Left to Bottom Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Top Right to Bottom Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Top to Bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Spin Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

X Spin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Y Spin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Squeeze Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Bottom Centered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Bottom Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Bottom Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Bottom to Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Centered Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Horizontal Centered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Left Centered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Left to Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Right Centered. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Right to Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Top Centered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Top Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Top Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Top to Bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Vertical Centered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Box Wipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Bottom Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Left Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Lower Left Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Lower Right Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Right Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Top Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Upper Left Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Upper Right Corner

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Edge Wipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Horizontal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Horizontal Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Lower Left Diagonal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Lower Right Diagonal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Upper Left Diagonal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Upper Right Diagonal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Vertical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Vertical Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Matrix Wipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Block Spiral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

One-Way Row . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Speckle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Zig-Zag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Saw Tooth Wipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Horizontal Open Saw Tooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Horizontal Saw Tooth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Vertical Open Saw Tooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Vertical Saw Tooth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Shape Wipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Center Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Diamond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Ellipse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Four Corners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Horizontal Bands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Horizontal Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Vertical Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Comparison of Similar Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Box Wipe Ð Upper Left Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Conceal Ð T

Push Ð Top Left to Bottom Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Squeeze Ð Top Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

op Left to Bottom Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Index

Introduction

CHAPTER 1

Preparing to Work with Effects

Avid Xpress offers many effects that you can apply to your sequences. This chapter describes some of the concepts you must become familiar with before you begin creating and editing effects into sequences.

The Effect Palette is a window that lists all the effects that are available on your Avid Xpress system. The effects that are available depend on the model and options that you purchased.

You also can use third-party plug-in effects that are compatible with the Avid Visual Extension (AVXª) standards and with Adobe¨ Photoshop¨. After you install these plug-ins, the effects appear in the Effect Palette. After you create an effect, you can save it as an effect template and reapply the template to other transitions or segments in your sequence. Effect templates also appear in a special section at the bottom of the Effect Palette.

Many effects are real time, which means you do not have to render them before you play them. You can preview effects that are not real time before rendering. Rendering an effect creates a media Þle that plays with the sequence. When you establish Effect settings and Ren-

der settings, you determine how Avid Xpress plays real-time effects and non-real-time effects. Additionally, you can conÞgure the Timeline and Trim settings to make working with effects easier.

Effect Palette Overview

You select most effects from the Effect Palette, accessed from the Tools menu. The exceptions are motion effects that are accessed from the buttons below the pop-up monitor, the Freeze Frame effect that is accessed from the Clip menu, and titles that are created with the Title Tool. For a description of motion effects, see ÒMotion EffectsÓ on

page 278. Titles are described in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7.

List of Effect Categories

The effects available through the Effect Palette are grouped by effect category:

¥ Blend

¥ Box Wipe

¥ Conceal

¥ Edge Wipe

¥ Image

¥ Key

¥ L-Conceal

¥ Matrix Wipe

¥ Peel

¥ Push

¥ Saw Tooth Wipe

¥ Shape Wipe

¥ Spin

¥ Squeeze

Each of these effect categories contains multiple effects. Use the procedure in the following section to display the Effect Palette.

If your Avid Xpress system has the 3D Effects option, the 3D Effect category appears in the Effect Palette. For an explanation of the 3D effects and the effect parameters, see Chapter 5.

If you install third-party plug-ins, you will see additional effect categories. See ÒThird-Party Plug-in Effects OverviewÓ on page 20.

Displaying the Effect Palette

1. Choose Effect Palette from the Tools menu, or press kÐ8.

The Effect Palette appears.

Scrollable list of effect categories

Blend effect choices

The left side of the Effect Palette displays a scrollable list of effect categories. The right side shows the various effects that are available for the currently selected effect category.

2. Click an effect category to select it.

Effect T emplates Overview

Effect templates allow you to save the parameters of an effect and use them again to create or modify other effects.

In addition to allowing you to view all the standard effects, the Effect Palette allows you to view and access effect templates that are stored in open bins. The names of open bins containing effects appear in a list below the effect categories.

To view the effect template:

1. Open the bins containing the effect templates.

Effect category list

Bin name containing effect templates

2. Choose Effect Palette from the Tools menu, or press kÐ8.

The Effect Palette appears.

Effect templates

3. Click the bin name below the effect category list to view the effect templates in the bin.

For example, in the previous illustration, the bin named Boat Shop Examples contains two effect templates named Bottom To Top and 3D PIP.

In the previous illustration, notice that Avid Xpress also displays other effect Þles, such as titles and matte key clips.

Whenever you open or close a bin, or whenever you drop an effect into a bin, both lists are automatically updated.

Once a template appears in the right side of the Effect Palette, you can apply it like any other effect. For more information, see ÒUsing an

Effect TemplateÓ on page 82.

Third-Party Plug-in Effects Overview

You can use third-party plug-in effects that add new effects to Avid Xpress or update existing effects, with no changes to Avid Xpress. Third-party plug-in effects include plug-ins that are compatible with Adobe Photoshop Version 2.5 and AVX (Avid Visual Extension) plugins.

When third-party plug-in effects are installed on your Avid Xpress system, they appear in the Effect Palette. You can apply them to your sequence as you would apply an Avid effect. You can set a third-party plug-in effectÕs parameters in Effect mode. You can view and render third-party plug-in effects using the same editing procedures as Avid effects. The following sections describe how to install the Photoshopcompatible plug-ins and the AVX plug-ins.

Avid Xpress also supports Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins. These plug-ins apply only to audio clips and do not appear in the Effect Palette. For more information, see ÒWorking with AudioÓ under ÒEditing SequencesÓ in the Contents tab of the online help.

Installing Photoshop-Compatible Plug-in Effects

Avid Xpress can use many plug-in effects that are compatible with Adobe Photoshop Version 2.5. You purchase these plug-ins directly from a third-party vendor.

To install Photoshop-compatible plug-ins:

1. Copy the plug-in Þles from the software vendorÕs folder to the Ò3rd Party Plug-InsÓ folder in the Supporting Files folder in your Composer folder located on the Avid drive. You must place the plug-ins directly in this folder. They cannot be inside another folder within this folder or elsewhere on Avid Xpress. If they are, the system will not recognize them.

2. If the Avid Xpress application is open, you must quit the application and relaunch it before the third-party plug-in effects will appear in the Effect Palette.

The following is an example of how third-party plug-in effects appear in the Effect Palette.

Avid Xpress creates a new effect category for the plug-ins.

Third-party plug-in effects

For information on applying third-party effects, see ÒApplying a

Third-Party Plug-in EffectÓ on page 38.

Installing AVX Plug-in Effects

AVX is a plug-in standard for integrating various third-party effects with Avid Xpress. AVX is a cross-platform software architecture designed to allow software effect modules to be dynamically linked with a host application such as Avid Xpress.

You can purchase these plug-ins directly from a third-party vendor, such as Ultimatte¨ Corporation (Ultimatteª) and Artel Software (Boris FXª). AVX plug-ins usually come complete with any necessary documentation. This section describes how to install the plug-ins and how to access them from Avid Xpress.

To install AVX plug-ins:

1. Exit the Avid Xpress application.

2. Copy the plug-in Þles from the software vendorÕs folder to the AVX_Plug-Ins folder on the Avid drive.

You must place the plug-ins directly in the AVX_Plug-Ins folder. They cannot be inside another folder within this folder or else-

where on Avid Xpress. If they are, the system will not recognize them.

3. Restart Avid Xpress and open the Effect Palette. The AVX plug-in effects will appear in the Effect Palette under a new effect category. The category is usually identiÞed by the vendor name.

Effect category

Do not add or remove plug-ins while the Avid Xpress application is running.

The following is an example of how AVX plug-in effects appear in the Effect Palette. This example shows several Boris effects.

Effects

For information on applying third-party effects, see ÒApplying a

Third-Party Plug-in EffectÓ on page 38.

Some plug-in effects come with their own installation program. In that case, follow the directions supplied with the package.

Troubleshooting AVX Plug-ins

This section describes solutions to problems that you may encounter with AVX plug-ins.

Blank Effect Icons in the Timeline

AVX plug-ins have a plug icon in the Effect Palette and in the Timeline. If the Effect icon in the Timeline is blank, Avid Xpress either could not Þnd the plug-in or the plug-in version doesn't match the version of software that you used to create the plug-in.

To determine the cause of the problem, open the Console window (choose Console from the Tools menu) and look for the message ÒCan't Þnd effect.Ó The message will identify the plug-in that can't be displayed.

The following are the most common problems:

¥ The plug-in may be missing from the AVX_Plug-Ins folder. Open

the AVX_Plug-Ins folder (located in the SupportingFiles folder) and look for your plug-in. If it is missing, replace it. This may involve reinstalling the plug-In.

¥ The plug-In in the AVX_Plug-Ins folder may be incompatible with

the effect in the Timeline. This might happen if you update the plug-ins on your system. For example, if you create an effect with Version 1.1 of the plug-in software and then update your plug-ins to Version 2.5, the new software may not be compatible with the old effect.

Plug-ins should be compatible with minor releases but not necessarily with major releases of the plug-in software. For example, Version 1.0 of a plug-in should be compatible with Version 1.1 or

1.2 (minor revision). But Version 1.0 may not be compatible with Version 2.0 (major revision change).

If the plug-in is installed correctly, contact the plug-in vendor and ask if there are any known version compatibility problems with the plugin.

Missing Effect Categories in the Effect Palette

If the plug-in categories are not visible in the Effect Palette, they are either not installed correctly or you may have an incorrect version of the AVXLibrary. In this case, check the Console window for a message that states that AVX was disabled. If it was not disabled, quit the Avid Xpress application, reinstall the plug-ins, and restart the application.

If the message in the Console window states that AVX software was disabled, call Avid Customer Support to determine whether you need a new version of the AVXLibrary.

Avid Xpress Cannot Render the Plug-In

If Avid Xpress cannot render the plug-in, check the Console window. Some plug-ins write more information about the failure to the Console window. Also, some plug-ins may report the problem as a message at the bottom of the Composer monitor. In general, contact the plug-in vendor if a plug-in doesnÕt work as expected.

Settings for Effects

There are two User settings that control how effects are used: Effect and Render. This section explains each of these settings. For information about other settings in the system, see the Avid Xpress online help.

Effect Settings

There are two effect categories, Wipes and Keys, that contain effects that are mutually exclusive as real-time effects. If you have both effect categories in a sequence, only one can be real time. The other must be rendered. Use the Effect Settings dialog box to specify which effect category should be real time.

Because Wipes and Keys are real-time effects on Avid Xpress systems with the 3D Effects option, the Effect settings do not apply to these systems. If you have the 3D Effects option, continue with ÒUnderstanding the Color Cod-

ingÓ on page 27.

To change the Effect settings:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window.

2. Double-click the Effect setting.

The Effect Settings dialog box appears.

3. Select which effect category you want to be real time. The change takes place immediately in the Effect Palette.

Understanding the Color Coding

The Effect settings also control how effects are displayed in the Effect Palette. You will notice in the Effect Palette that:

¥ Real-time effects are preceded by an orange dot.

¥ Real-time effects that might not be playable in real time due to

their position in a sequence or the options chosen in the Effect Settings are preceded by a green dot. These effects take advantage of fast rendering.

¥ Non-real-time effects have no dot.

Orange dot indicates a real-time effect.

Green dot indicates a real-time effect that might not be playable in real time.

No dot indicates a nonreal-time effect.

In the Timeline, a non-real-time effect icon contains a blue dot until the effect is rendered.

Render Settings

A real-time effect might not be playable in real time because of the projectÕs Effect Setting, because a real-time transition effect has been applied on top of another effect, or because there is more than one realtime overlapping effect.

For more information on real-time effects, see ÒReal-Time EffectsÓ on

page 32.

You can control the size of an imported graphic and a rendered effect by changing the Render settings. This setting is intended to prevent playback pauses caused by PICT images, QuickTimeª Þles, or rendered composites that are too complex.

To change the Render settings:

1. Click the Settings button in the Project window.

2. Double-click the Render setting.

The Render Settings dialog box appears.

3. Enter the following parameters:

¥ Click Show Intermediate Results if you want Avid Xpress to

display the rendering of the effect as it processes in the fullscreen monitor. This option is for systems that have a third, full-screen monitor.

¥ Limit rendered frame size to n% of default limit Ñ This is a

percent of the Avid Video ResolutionÕs (AVRÕs) default limit for the frame size. The effectÕs AVR is the same as the sequenceÕs AVR. Enter a percent. The default is 100%. For more information on Avid Video Resolution, see ÒAvid SpeciÞcationsÓ under ÒQuick ReferenceÓ in the Contents tab of the online help.

¥ If frame size exceeds threshold Ñ The threshold is established

by the above percent. Select an action. The default is ÒAsk me.Ó

If you select ÒAsk me,Ó and the threshold is exceeded during rendering, a dialog box appears.

If you select ÒDonÕt Soften,Ó you may get an error message, such as a video underrun, when you play the rendered Þle.

If you do not respond within 30 seconds, the system automatically selects Soften.

CHAPTER 2

Basics of Effects Editing

This chapter explains how to apply effects to transitions or segments (clips) in your sequence. After you have selected the effect and applied it to a transition or segment, you can adjust the effect parameters to meet your requirements.

Task Overview — Working with Effects

The following is an overview of the tasks you will perform to create and edit an effect:

¥ Load a sequence in the Timeline.

¥ Select a position in the Timeline for the effect.

¥ Apply the effect.

¥ Adjust the effectÕs parameters to create the desired effect.

¥ Render non-real-time effects. If the effect is a real-time effect, you

can play it without having to render the effect.

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