Pinnacle Systems Xpress Quick Start Guide

Avid

Xpress

™

for Macintosh

Getting Started Guide

Release 2.0



tools for storytellers™

Chapter 1 Introduction

Using this Guide Using the Tutorial What You Need Turning on Your Equipment Installing the Avid Xpress Tutorial Files Launching the Avid Xpress Application Electronic Licensing How to Proceed Using Online Help

Finding Topics with the Index Searching with the Find Feature

Using Online Documentation

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Chapter 2 About Avid Xpress

Video Editing with Avid Xpress Avid Xpress Essentials

Media Files Clips Subclips Sequences Your Program Bins

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Your Project The Attic Folder

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The Avid Xpress File System

Chapter 3 Starting a Project

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About Composer Projects and Avid Users Folders Using the Bins Display Using the Settings Display

About Settings Reviewing Basic Settings

Using the Info Display

About Projects and Memory

Viewing Memory Tutorial: Starting a Project Starting the Application Opening a Project

Creating a User

Selecting a Project

Chapter 4 Digitizing

Selecting Settings About the Digitize Tool About the Audio Tool About the Video Input Tool Digitize Preparations Check List Digitizing

Digitizing and Logging at the Same Time

Batch Digitizing

Redigitizing

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Chapter 5 Getting Ready to Edit

About Bin Display Modes Controlling Playback

Using Position Bars and Position Indicators

Using Buttons

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Play, Fast Forward, and Rewind Buttons

Step Buttons Using the Tear-Off Palette Using the Keyboard

J-K-L Keys (Three-Button Play)

Home, End, and Arrow Keys

Marking IN and OUT Points Creating Subclips Tutorial: Getting Ready to Edit Viewing Clips

Viewing in Text Mode Viewing in Frame Mode

Playing Clips

Playing Clips in the Source Pop-up Monitor Controlling Playback

Marking Edit Points

Marking the Marking the Marking the Using Timecode to Find a Frame Using Frame Offset

Subclipping

Clearing IN Points and OUT Points Closing the Project Ending the Session

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planing ms

ducks

draw knife cu

Clip

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Clip

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Clip

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Chapter 6 Editing a Rough Cut

Viewing Methods Navigating in the Timeline

Using the Position Indicator Using the Scroll Bar

Displaying More or Less Detail Using the Track Selector Panel

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Selecting Tracks Monitoring Tracks Monitoring Video

Tutorial: Rough Cut Making the First Edit

Using Digital Audio Scrub Splicing an Audio Clip Playing a Sequence ConÞrming the Duration

Splicing Video into the Sequence

Splicing the Playing IN to OUT Using the Go to OUT Key Moving to the Head and Tail of a Shot Using the Splice-In Button Splicing a Shot into the Middle of a Sequence Undoing an Edit

Using the I/O (IN Point / OUT Point) Tracking Display . . . . . . 92

ducks

Chapter 7 Refining the Edit

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clip

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Using Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Editing in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Distinguishing Two Types of Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Basic Trim Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Entering Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Exiting Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Selecting Between Trim Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Performing a Basic Trim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Audio Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Tutorial: ReÞning Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Overwriting Shots into a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Storyboarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Marking Clips for Storyboarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

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Storyboard Editing the Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Rearranging Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Overwriting with the Three-Point Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Rearranging Footage with Extract/Splice-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Removing Footage from a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Removing Footage with Extract/Splice-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Removing Footage with Lift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Dual-Roller Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Using Dual Rollers to Trim the Outgoing Shot. . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Trimming the pan lumber Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Single-Roller Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Adding Synced Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Working with Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Adjusting Audio Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Adjusting Audio Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Chapter 8 Adding Effects

Effects Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Displaying the Effect Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Effect Categories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Effect Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Transition Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Segment Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Applying Effects to a Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Working in Effect Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Rendering an Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Tutorial: Adding Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Adding Transition Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Adding Fade In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Dissolving Between Shots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Creating a Series of Dissolves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Creating Audio Dissolves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

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Adding a Fade Within the Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Adding a Picture-in-Picture Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Using the Second Video Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating the Picture-in-Picture Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Repositioning the Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Adjusting a Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Adding Key Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Adding Background Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Rendering the Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Screening the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Chapter 9 Creating Titles

Creating New Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Understanding the Title Tool Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Working with Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Text Formatting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Choosing Colors and Setting Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Adjusting the Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Saving Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Editing a Title into a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Tutorial: Creating Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Adding a Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Creating a New Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Repositioning Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Changing Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Adding a Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Saving a Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Closing the Title Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Editing the Title into the Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Adding Rolling Credits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Editing the Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Adding Video Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Viewing the Creation Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Splicing the Title into a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Deleting Excess Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Exiting the Title Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Chapter 10 Output

Output Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Preparing for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Digital Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Supported File Types for Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Preparing to Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Tutorial: Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Recording a Digital Cut to Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Chapter 11 Backing Up

About Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Media Objects and Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Media Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Basic Media Tool Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Freeing Storage Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Consolidating Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Backing Up Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Backing Up Project Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Tutorial: Backing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Consolidating the Boat Shop Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Saving Your Work on a Disk or Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Restoring from a Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Quitting and Shutting Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Index

Tables

Table 6-1 Starting the Tutorial: Rough Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Table 7-1 Starting the Tutorial: Refining Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Table 7-2 Mark Points for Boat Shop Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Table 8-1 Starting the Tutorial: Adding Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Table 9-1 Starting the Tutorial: Creating Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Table 10-1 Starting the Tutorial: Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Table 11-1 Media Objects and Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Table 11-2 Starting the Tutorial: Backing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

This chapter sets you up to use this guide and work through the tutorial sections that teach you the basics of your Avid Xpress system. This chapter contains the following sections:

¥ Using this Guide

¥ Using the Tutorial

¥ What You Need

¥ Turning on Your Equipment

¥ Installing the Avid Xpress Tutorial Files

¥ Launching the Avid Xpress Application

¥ Electronic Licensing

¥ How to Proceed

¥ Using Online Help

¥ Using Online Documentation

Using this Guide

This guide introduces you to Avid Xpress. It presents the essential features of the system; most chapters also contain hands-on tutorial sections so you can practice what you learn.

Using the Tutorial

The self-paced tutorial sections included in this guide are designed as guided Avid edit sessions using the basic features of the Avid Xpress system. In the tutorial sections, youÕre going to edit a one-minute sequence about a company in Amesbury, Massachusetts that makes small Þshing boats called dories.

The footage for the sequence is on the Tutorial CD-ROMs that came with your system. They contain digitized media that is ready for you to use.

The instructions in this tutorial take you through each step of the edit process:

¥ Starting a project (in Chapter 3

¥ Getting ready to edit (in Chapter 5)

¥ Editing a rough draft (in Chapter 6)

¥ ReÞning the edit (in Chapter 7)

¥ Adding effects, titles, and other Þnishing touches to the sequence

(in Chapter 8 and Chapter 9)

¥ Preparing output (in Chapter 10)

¥ Backing up (in Chapter 11)

This tutorial assumes a basic familiarity with the Macintosh¨ computer. If you have never used a Macintosh system, please refer to the Macintosh Getting Started tutorial.

)

You donÕt need any previous experience with the Avid Xpress system. The terms and techniques needed for each tutorial section are in each chapter. However, it will help to read Chapter 2 of this manual before starting any of the tutorial sections. You can also use the Avid Xpress Help (see ÒUsing Online HelpÓ on page 21) and online books (see

ÒUsing Online DocumentationÓ on page 23) for more information.

This tutorial takes approximately four hours. Before you begin, you need:

¥ An installed Avid Xpress system

See the Avid Media Composer Products Setup Guide if you have not yet set up your Avid Xpress system. See the Avid Xpress Release 2.0 Release Notes if you need to install the Avid Xpress software.

¥ The Boat Shop media and project Þles on the Avid Xpress CD-

ROM.

Depending on your level of expertise in editing on Avid systems, you may choose to go through the tutorial in either of two ways.

¥ If you have no experience with Avid Xpress or other Avid sys-

tems, you should go through the entire tutorial.

¥ If you have used other Avid systems, you may want to read cer-

tain lessons to understand the speciÞc features of Avid Xpress, and complete the tutorials for other lessons.

You can do this tutorial in one or several sessions. Each section is selfcontained.

What Y ou Need

The CD-ROMs packaged with your Avid Xpress system include all Þles necessary to do this tutorial:

¥ Read Me First Þle Ñ contains the installation instructions for each

of the Þles on the CD-ROMs. These instructions also appear in

ÒInstalling the Avid Xpress Tutorial FilesÓ on page 17.

¥ MediaFiles folder Ñ contains the digitized Þles you need for the

tutorial. You need to copy these Þles onto your external media drive.

¥ Composer Projects folder Ñ contains the project and bins you

need for the tutorial. You need to copy these Þles onto your Avid drive.

Turning on Your Equipment

Begin your edit session by turning on the various components of your Avid Xpress system. If any part of your system fails to turn on, make sure its electrical cord is plugged snugly into an appropriate electrical outlet or power strip. See the Avid Media Composer Products Setup Guide for information on setting up your system.

If you fail to follow the proper sequence for starting up your system, you could damage your Macintosh computer and/or storage drives.

Always turn on the devices as follows:

1. Fixed-storage drives: Turn on Þxed-storage drives before starting the computer. Allow 10 to 15 seconds for the drives to spin up to speed before starting the Macintosh.

2. Other peripheral hardware: Turn on all other peripheral units except the Macintosh. This includes:

¥ Monitors and speakers.

¥ Tape decks and/or additional autoassembly conÞgurations

(switcher, time-base corrector, and so on) if you plan to digitize or conduct an autoassembly.

¥ Digidesign¨ audio interface hardware, if your system

includes these. Turn on the Digidesign hardware and black burst generator in order to maintain proper sync between audio and video while digitizing and editing.

For information on Macintosh features, such as the desktop and icons, see your Macintosh documentation.

The black burst generator that accompanies the Digidesign hardware should already be turned on if it is connected to an active power strip.

3. The Macintosh: Press the Power On key located at the upper right corner of the keyboard.

When you start the Macintosh:

¥ You hear a tone that means the hardware is operational.

¥ The computer goes through a self-check routine. If the

Macintosh passes all of its internal logic tests, the smiling Macintosh icon appears.

¥ The Avid startup screen appears and the initialization process

begins.

¥ The Macintosh desktop appears.

To avoid damage, do not disconnect or turn off hard disks or individual disk drives while the Macintosh is on.

Installing the Avid Xpress Tutorial Files

The Avid Media Composer Products CD-ROM contains all of the Þles you need for the tutorial sections of this guide. It takes about 30 minutes to copy the media Þles from the CD-ROM to the external hard drive. You need to have approximately 970 MB of free space on your external hard drive to accommodate the media.

The CD-ROMs contain several versions of the tutorial media Þles digitized at different Avid Video Resolutions (AVRs). You need to use AVR 70 for Avid Xpress. You also need to have approximately 110 MB of

free space on your external hard drive to accommodate the media. The tutorial Þles for AVR 70 require two CD-ROMs for NTSC and two for PAL. The procedure is the same for installing either type.

To install the tutorial Þles for AVR 70:

1. Insert the CD-ROM labeled Avid Media Composer Products Online Tutorial (PAL) Disk 1 or Avid Media Composer Products Online Tutorial (NTSC) Disk 1 and double-click its icon.

2. Double-click the folder at the top level.

You should see two folders labeled Composer Projects and OMFI MediaFiles.

3. Do one of the following:

¥ If there is an existing OMFI MediaFiles folder on the external

media drive, open the OMFI MediaFiles folder on the CDROM, choose Select All from the Edit menu, and drag the contents to the OMFI MediaFiles folder on the external media drive.

¥ If there is no existing OMFI MediaFiles folder on the external

media drive, drag the OMFI MediaFiles folder from the CDROM to the external media drive.

The Þles are loaded on the drive.

4. Do one of the following:

¥ If there is an existing Composer Projects folder on the Avid

drive, open the Composer Projects folder on the CD-ROM and

drag the Boat Shop folder to the Composer Projects folder on the Avid drive.

¥ If there is no existing Composer Projects folder on the Avid

drive, copy the Composer Projects folder on the CD-ROM to the Avid drive.

5. Eject the CD-ROM in the drive.

6. Insert the CD-ROM labeled Avid Media Composer Products Online Tutorial Disk 2 and double-click its icon.

7. Double-click the top folder.

You should see a folder labeled OMFI MediaFiles-2.

8. Choose Select All from the Edit menu, and drag the contents to the OMFI MediaFiles folder on the external media drive.

Launching the Avid Xpress Application

The Avid Xpress application icon is located in the Avid Xpress folder on the Avid drive. For most users, the desktop or the Apple menu is a more convenient location for launching the application.

For more information on making an alias and using the Apple menu, see your Macintosh documentation.

The application will not launch properly if the icon is moved out of the Avid Xpress folder. To launch the application from a convenient location, Avid recommends that you create an alias and place it in a convenient location.

To launch the application, double-click the application icon or alias, or choose it from the Apple menu.

The Avid splash screen returns, then the License Agreement dialog box appears.

Electronic Licensing

To accept your Avid Xpress product license electronically:

1. Read the License Agreement, then click the Accept button or the Decline button at the bottom of the screen.

The agreement appears the Þrst several times you launch the application. After several launches, a new button appears at the bottom of the screen.

2. If you do not want to see the license agreement again, click the Accept and DonÕt Show Again button.

A dialog box appears.

3. Enter the name of your organization in the dialog box, and click OK.

After the application starts, the Project Selection dialog box appears, as described in ÒOpening a ProjectÓ on page 41.

How to Proceed

The following are a few tips for taking full advantage of the Avid Xpress documentation and other resources:

¥ Complete the tutorial sections in this book before starting a

¥ Begin learning about basic procedures by using the default set-

¥ Keep the Avid Xpress Quick Reference on hand during sessions to

¥ Make a habit of reading AvidÕs newsletters, mailings, and other

¥ Make use of additional training resources provided by Avid when-

¥ Check the Avid web site at www.avid.com/services/training/

project.

tings. As your conÞdence builds, begin to explore additional procedures and settings.

speed the use of functions, shortcuts, keyboard commands, menus, and icons.

trade publications.

ever possible, such as classes and instructional videotapes. For more information, contact Avid at 800-867-2843.

training.html for listings of courses, schedules, and locations.

Using Online Help

This release supports online help for your Avid Xpress system. The online help is automatically installed with the application.

You can access online help in two ways:

¥ From the question mark menu in the upper right corner of your

screen, choose Composer Help.

¥ As context-sensitive help:

a. Position the cursor on the window for which you want help.

b. Make sure your Avid Xpress system is active.

c. Press the Help key on the keyboard.

A window appears representing the tool or feature for which you wanted help.

d. Click on different aspects of the tool or feature to see pop-up

help.

If no speciÞc help for the window exists, the Topics window appears.

Procedures are displayed in yellow How To windows; background information and illustrations are displayed in white Reference windows.

To Þnd a topic in Help:

1. Open the Topics window.

2. Do one of the following:

¥ Click the Contents tab to view lists of topics in the main help

window.

¥ Click the Index tab to open the Index window and view a list

of index entries.

¥ Click the Find tab to search for words or phrases that may be

contained in a help topic.

Finding Topics with the Index

To Þnd topics using keywords in the Index:

1. Click the Index tab to display the Index panel.

2. In the text box, type the keyword youÕre interested in or choose a topic from the list.

3. Click the Display button to view the topic or double-click the topic name in the Index scrolling list.

Searching with the Find Feature

To search for words in a help Þle:

1. Click the Find tab to display the Find panel.

2. In the text box, type a word you want to Þnd. Use the pop-up menus to change the way in which you search for words.

3. If youÕd like to search for additional words, click the More Choices button.

4. Click the Search button. Topics that are found are displayed in the list.

5. Choose a topic in the list (if any were found) and click the Display button.

DonÕt type quotes or asterisks in the text boxes.

See ÒOnline help:overviewÓ in the online help index for more information about using the help system.

Using Online Documentation

The Avid Xpress Online Publications are a collection of books on CDROM. They include:

¥ Avid Xpress Effects Guide

¥ Avid Media Composer Products Reference

¥ Avid Xpress Getting Started Guide (this book)

The books are in PDF format. You can read them on the screen or print out all or part of them.

CHAPTER 2

About Avid Xpress

Welcome to the world of nonlinear digital video editing, in which you can create professional-quality video programs from your desktop. Avid Xpress allows you to change any part of your video program at any time, until you create your Þnal program on tape. With Avid Xpress, you can be as ßexible and as creative as possible when editing your video programs.

This chapter explains the basic concepts and terminology that you need to be familiar with to edit video with Avid Xpress.

Video Editing with Avid Xpress

In traditional video editing, you electronically copy video from a source tape to an edit master tape. The process is tedious, and changes are difÞcult to make.

By contrast, when you edit with Avid Xpress, you donÕt have to dub footage onto a master videotape. Instead, you manipulate Avid Xpress ÒclipsÓ that reference your digitized audio and video material. This allows you to experiment with every edit you make through multiple generations. You can trim, move, delete, duplicate, or modify individual frames or entire segments, and immediately see the results.

When you play back your work, the system accesses and plays the appropriate portions of the digitized video and audio.

The following is a summary of the Avid Xpress editing process:

1. Collect source material for your project

Collect your source video and audio. You can start with any video format Ñ Beta SP, 3/4 inch, 8mm, Hi 8, VHS, S-VHS, or any other. You can also incorporate still images or other computer-generated Þles, including computer graphics, still-image Þles, animations,

sound effects, or QuickTime¨ movies.

2. Digitize your source material

Play your source videotapes on a video deck, and digitize them right onto your hard disk. Import computer-generated Þles into your project Ñ graphics, still images, animations, sound effects, synthesized music, QuickTime movies, and special effects.

3. Create a rough cut of your video

Play your digitized source material in Avid Xpress. Organize your sources, and lay out a storyboard using representative clip frames. Mark sections of your digitized sources, and edit them together. Reorder your material, cut and paste sections, and trim the transitions between shots. Immediately view each change you make. Save the changes that you like; easily undo the changes that you donÕt like. Experiment!

4. ReÞne your edits

Use Avid Xpress to enhance your program with special effects, such as dissolves, wipes, Þlters, and video overlays. Add graphics and animations, CD-quality sound, and a voice-over. Incorporate titles and credits.

5. Record your Þnished program

Record your Þnal program from Avid Xpress onto videotape. Save a copy of your program in QuickTime format for CD-ROM or network distribution. Modify and record a new version of your program at any time.

Avid Xpress Essentials

This section explains the terms and concepts that you will need to know in order to understand the Avid Xpress editing process.

Media Files

Material is stored in media Þles.

Clips

When you digitize source material from a video or audio deck, or when you import computer graphic Þles into your Avid Xpress project, the material is saved in media Þles on your systemÕs external hard disk. One media Þle is created for each track of video or audio. Three media Þles Ñ for one track of video and two tracks of audio Ñ are created for a video with a stereo sound track.

PowerPC

Video deck

OMFI MediaFiles

Media drive

Master clips

Clips point to media Þles.

You do not manipulate media Þles directly. Avid Xpress creates another Þle, called a master clip, on your systemÕs internal disk when you digitize media. The master clip is simply a pointer into its corresponding media Þle.

Subclips

While editing your video, you create other clips, such as graphic clips and effects clips. You make your edits by modifying clips Ñ the corresponding media Þles remain unchanged. This allows you to easily create and undo edits without destroying your original material.

Because you work with clips instead of media Þles, you can create virtually unlimited versions of a program without creating multiple copies of the extremely large source material.

Subclips are sections that you mark within clips.

Sequences

Subclips are speciÞc sections of clips that you want to use in your program. You create a subclip by marking IN and OUT points in a clip and then dragging this material to the bin. The subclip is composed of the material between the IN and OUT points.

Clip

Subclip

A subclip points to a media ÞleÕs master clip. You must not delete the master clip from which a subclip was created. If you delete the master clip, you will lose the information in the subclip.

A sequence is a program created from one or more clips and subclips.

You can join different clips and subclips to create a sequence. A sequence can include edited material from source clips and subclips, new clips created when you add effects during the editing process,

and material from other sequences. Your Þnal program will be composed of one or more sequences, depending on how itÕs most convenient for you to work.

Clip

Subclip

Sequence

Sequence in Timeline

Invisible frame

Visible frames

A sequence is composed of marked material from clips, subclips, and other sequences. The material outside the IN and OUT points is invisible in the sequence. This invisible material is very important, because you need it to trim cuts and create transition effects between segments. See ÒTrimmingÓ on page 110 for more information about trimming cuts. See the Avid Xpress Effects Guide for information about creating transition effects.

Like a clip, a sequence contains pointers to media Þles. If you delete one of the clips used to create a sequence, the sequence still works, because the sequence contains its own pointers to the media Þles.

Sequence

Clip

Your Program

The program is your Þnal video creation.

Bins

You organize your footage in bins.

Subclip

OMFI MediaFiles

A program consists of one or more sequences. You use clips, subclips, and sequences to build a program. Your program is represented by the Timeline. A program is your Þnal creation; you can output your program to tape when you are Þnished.

Even though your media Þles contain the actual source material for the program, you never manipulate the media Þles directly. Instead, you move, copy, and edit clips, subclips, and sequences.

Clips, subclips, and sequences are organized and stored in bins. Traditionally, a bin is a place where Þlm editors store reels of Þlm. In Avid Xpress, bins are tools for organizing the material for a project.

Your Project

You edit within a project. A project consists of one or more bins, normally containing footage for a speciÞc program.

You gather the material you need to create a program in a project. Each project contains information about bins, clips, subclips, sequences, and the program in the Timeline. You may have several projects on your system, but you can only work on one project at a time.

The Attic Folder

Avid Xpress saves copies of your current project and its bins at a regular interval and whenever you save or close a project or bin. These auto-save Þles are stored in the Attic folder in the Avid Xpress application folder. If at any time you lose work due to a power outage or system error, open the Attic folder and look for a project or bin of the same name with the sufÞx .bakxx, where xx is the version number. For example, the Þrst backup Þle for the bin Skaters would be named Skaters.bak01. Later versions would be named Skaters.bak02, Skaters.bak03, and so on.

The Avid Xpress File System

The following illustration shows the different kinds of Avid Xpress Þles and where they are stored. Media Þles must be stored on an Avidapproved media drive, which is guaranteed to be fast enough to support real-time video.

The Avid Xpress application folder can be stored either on your computerÕs internal drive or on an external drive. It is common practice to install it on the internal drive, as it is shown in the following illustration. The Composer Projects folder is stored on the same disk as the Avid Xpress application folder.

Attic

PowerPC

Avid Xpress

(application folder)

Avid XpressSettings

Supporting Files

Media drive

OMFI MediaFiles

Composer Projects

Project sub-folder

Project

Bin BBin A

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