Pinnacle Systems Xpress DV - 3.5 User’s Guide

Avid Xpress® DV

User’s Guide

Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Avid Technology, Inc. The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. You can obtain a copy of that license by visiting Avid's Web site at www.avid.com. The terms of that license are also available in the product in the same directory as the software. The software may not be reverse assembled and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement. It is against the law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the license agreement. Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following United States patents: 4,746,994; 4,970,663; 5,045,940; 5,063,448; 5,077,604; 5,245,432; 5,267,351; 5,309,528; 5,325,200; 5,355,450; 5,396,594; 5,440,348; 5,452,378; 5,467,288; 5,513,375; 5,528,310; 5,557,423; 5,568,275; 5,577,190; 5,583,496; 5,584,006; 5,627,765; 5,634,020; 5,640,601; 5,644,364; 5,654,737; 5,701,404; 5,715,018; 5,719,570; 5,724,605; 5,726,717; 5,729,673; 5,731,819; 5,745,637; 5,752,029; 5,754,180; 5,754,851; 5,781,188; 5,799,150; 5,812,216; 5,828,678; 5,842,014; 5,852,435; 5,883,670; 5,889,532; 5,892,507; 5,905,841; 5,912,675; 5,929,836; 5,929,942; 5,930,445; 5,930,797; 5,946,445; 5,966,134; 5,977,982; 5,986,584; 5,987,501; 5,995,079; 5,995,115; 5,999,190; 5,999,406; 6,009,507; 6,011,562; 6,014,150; 6,016,152; 6,016,380; 6,018,337; 6,023,531; 6,023,703; 6,031,529; 6,035,367; 6,038,573; 6,052,508; 6,058,236; 6,061,758; 6,072,796; 6,084,569; 6,091,422; 6,091,778; 6,105,083; 6,118,444; 6,128,001; 6,128,681; 6,130,676; 6,134,379; 6,134,607; 6,137,919; 6,141,007; 6,141,691; 6,154,221; 6,157,929; 6,160,548; 6,161,115; 6,167,404; 6,174,206; 6,192,388; 6,198,477; 6,201,531; 6,208,357; 6,211,869; 6,212,197; 6,215,485; 6,223,211; 6,226,005; 6,226,038; 6,229,576; 6,239,815; 6,249,280; 6,269,195; 6,271,829; 6,301,105; 6,310,621; 6,314,403; 6,317,142; 6,317,153; 6,317,158; 6,317,515; 6,327,253; 6,330,369; 6,336,093; 6,337,880; 6,339,531; 6,351,557; 6,353,437; 6,353,862; 6,357,047; 6,374,336; D352,278; D372,478; D373,778; D392,267; D392,268; D392,269; D395,291; D396,853; D398,912. Additional U.S. and foreign patents pending. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission of Avid Technology, Inc.

APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THIS PRODUCT, INCLUDING WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.

The following disclaimer is required by Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics, Inc. for the use of their TIFF library:

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software [i.e., the TIFF library] and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that (i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in all copies of the software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS-IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

The following disclaimer is required by the Independent JPEG Group:

Portions of this software are based on work of the Independent JPEG Group.

The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:

Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

The following disclaimer is required by Ray Sauers Associates, Inc.:

“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code equivalent of “Install-It,” including by reverse assembly or reverse compilation, Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. shall in no event be liable for any damages resulting from reseller’s failure to perform reseller’s obligation; or any damages arising from use or operation of reseller’s products or the software; or any other damages, including but not limited to, incidental, direct, indirect, special or consequential Damages including lost profits, or damages resulting from loss of use or inability to use reseller’s products or the software for any reason including copyright or patent infringement, or lost data, even if Ray Sauers Associates has been advised, knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages.

The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:

“Videomedia, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.”

“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by Videomedia, Inc. and V-LAN ver. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use of this software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players and the like.”

The following disclaimer is required by Altura Software, Inc. for the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample Source Code:

The following disclaimer is required by Ultimatte Corporation:

Certain real-time compositing capabilities are provided under a license of such technology from Ultimatte Corporation and are subject to copyright protection.

The following disclaimer is required by 3Prong.com Inc.:

Certain waveform and vector monitoring capabilities are provided under a license from 3Prong.com Inc.

Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. This Software and its documentation are “commercial computer software” or “commercial computer software documentation.” In the event that such Software or documentation is acquired by or on behalf of a unit or agency of the U.S. Government, all rights with respect to this Software and documentation are subject to the terms of the License Agreement, pursuant to FAR §12.212(a) and/or DFARS §227.7202-1(a), as applicable.

Trademarks

888 I/O, AirPlay, AirSPACE, AirSPACE HD, AniMatte, AudioSuite, AudioVision, AutoSync, Avid, AVIDdrive, AVIDdrive Towers, AvidNet, AVIDstripe, Avid Unity, Avid Xpress, AVX, CamCutter, DAE, D-Fi, D-fx, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, DINR, D-Verb, Equinox, ExpertRender, FieldPak, Film Composer, FilmScribe, HIIP, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, IllusionFX, Image Independence, Intraframe, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, Lo-Fi, Magic Mask, make manage move | media, Marquee, Matador, Maxim, MCXpress, Media Composer, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, Media Fusion, Media Illusion, MediaLog, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaShare, Meridien, MetaSync, NaturalMatch, NetReview, NewsCutter, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, ProEncode, Pro Tools, QuietDrive, Recti-Fi, rS9, rS18, Sci-Fi, Softimage, Sound Designer II, SPACE, SPACEShift, Symphony, Trilligent, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Video Slave Driver, and VideoSPACE are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

iNEWS and Media Browse are trademarks of iNews, LLC.

Aaton is a registered trademark of Aaton S.A. Acrobat, Adobe, After Effects, Reader, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Alias and Wavefront are trademarks of Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited. Amiga is a registered trademark of Amiga, Inc. AppleScript, FireWire, Mac, and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Canopus is a trademark of Canopus Corporation. Chyron is a registered trademark of Chyron Corporation. Cinepak is a trademark of Digital Origin, Inc. DVDit! is a trademark of Sonic Solutions. DVD Studio Pro is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. IBM and OS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. i.LINK and Sony are registered trademarks and Hi8 is a trademark of Sony Corporation. Jaz is either a

registered trademark or trademark of Iomega Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. media cleaner is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Media are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Paintbrush is a trademark of Zsoft Corporation. Pixar is registered trademark of Pixar Animation Studios. QuickTime and the QuickTime logo are trademarks used under license from Apple Computer, Inc. RealMedia is a trademark of Progressive Networks, Inc. Silicon Graphics is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Sound Forge is a registered trademark of Sonic Foundry, Inc. Sun Raster is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. TARGA is a trademark of Pinnacle Systems, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. V-LAN and VLXi are registered trademarks of Videomedia, Inc. Video Toaster is a trademark of NewTek. X Window System X Consortium, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Footage

Arri — Courtesy of Arri™/Fauer — John Fauer, Inc. Bell South “Anticipation” — Courtesy of Two Headed Monster — Tucker/Wayne Atlanta/GMS. Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior. Eco Challenge British Columbia — Courtesy of Eco Challenge Lifestyles, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Eco Challenge Morocco — Courtesy of Discovery Communications, Inc. It’s Shuttletime — Courtesy of BCP & Canadian Airlines. Nestlé Coffee Crisp — Courtesy of MacLaren McCann Canada. Saturn “Calvin Egg” — Courtesy of Cossette Communications. “Tigers: Tracking a Legend” — Courtesy of www.wildlifeworlds.com. Windhorse — Courtesy of Paul Wagner Productions.

Avid Xpress DV User’s Guide • Part 0130-05339-01 • June 2002

Using This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Who Should Use This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

About This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

If You Need Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Related Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

If You Have Documentation Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

How to Order Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Avid Educational Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chapter 1 Desktop Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Working with the Desktop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Using Shortcut Menus (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Using Shortcut Menus (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Dragging Windows (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Setting Your Screen Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Changing Screen Resolution (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Changing Screen Resolution (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Using the Avid Xpress DV Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Using the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Changing Project and User Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Deleting Projects and User Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 2 Starting a Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Opening and Closing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Changing Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Selecting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Selecting a Shared Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Selecting a Private Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Browsing for a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Opening a Project Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Opening a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Using User Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Creating a User Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Importing a User Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Changing User Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Closing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Backing Up Your Project Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Saving Your Project Information on a Drive or

Floppy Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Restoring from a Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Ending an Edit Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Quitting the Avid Xpress DV Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Turning Off Your Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Mounting and Unmounting Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Unmounting Drives (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Unmounting Drives (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Mounting All Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Opening and Closing the Project Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Using the Bins Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Viewing a List of Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Displaying Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Changing Bin Display View Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Creating a Folder in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Creating a New Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Renaming a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Opening and Closing a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Opening Selected Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Opening Bins from Other Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Closing a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Deleting a Bin or Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Viewing Contents in the Trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Emptying the Trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Managing Folders and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Saving Bins Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Saving Bins Manually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder (Windows) . . . . . . . 89

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder (Macintosh). . . . . . . 91

Modifying the Creation Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Using the Settings Scroll List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Understanding the Settings Scroll List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Understanding Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Defining Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Reviewing Basic Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Bin Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Interface Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Displaying Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Changing the Settings Scroll List Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Working with Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Selecting Another User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Modifying Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Working with Multiple Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Duplicating Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Naming Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Selecting Among Multiple Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Deleting Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Copying Settings Between Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Moving Settings Between Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Using Site Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Using the Info Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Displaying Project Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Viewing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Understanding the Memory Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Accessing the Hardware Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Customizing the Appearance of the

Avid User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Appearance Tab Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Changing Interface Component Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Changing Shading Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Changing Shading Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Changing Button Separation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Changing Button Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Using Interface Appearance Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Changing Font and Point Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Customizing Your Workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Creating a New Workspace Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Assigning a Workspace Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Linking User Settings and Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Switching Between Workspaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Deleting a Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Using Toolsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Opening Toolsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Basic Toolset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Color Correction Toolset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Source/Record Editing Toolset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Effects Editing Toolset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Audio Editing Toolset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Recording Toolset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Customizing Toolsets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Linking Toolsets to Other Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Support for Avid Unity LANshare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Setting Up the LANshare Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Chapter 4 Using Basic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Navigating in Dialog Boxes and Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Using the Tools Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Using the Command Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Understanding Button Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Mapping User-Selectable Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Using the Blank Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Mapping the Modifier Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Mapping Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Activating Commands from the Command Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Using the Avid Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Using the Console Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Displaying System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Reviewing a Log of Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Getting Information with the Console Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Using the Hardware Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Checking the Hardware Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Using the Com (Serial) Ports Tool (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Chapter 5 Logging. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Logging Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Logging Preroll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Understanding Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame

Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Logging Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Naming Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Double-Checking the Logs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Using a Memory Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Importing Shot Log Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Converting a Log File to an ALE File (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Using Drag-and-Drop Conversion (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Converting a Log File to an ALE File (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Using Drag-and-Drop Conversion (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Logging Directly to a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Logging with an Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Pausing the Deck While Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Logging with a Non-Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck . . . . . . . . . . 180

Exporting Shot Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Chapter 6 Preparing to Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Understanding Digital Video (DV). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

What Is DV? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

What Is IEEE Standard 1394? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

What Is OHCI? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Selecting Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

General Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Record Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Configuring Decks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Deleting Deck Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Deck Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Setting Deck Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Setting Up the Record Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Opening the Record Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Selecting a Deck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Selecting Audio Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Viewing Video Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Selecting a Tape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Selecting Source Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Choosing a Target Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Selecting the Target Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Targeting a Single Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Targeting Separate Drives for Video and Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Interpreting the Time-Remaining Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Recording to Multiple Media Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Selecting the Preroll Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Recording Across Timecode Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Using Record Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

General Record Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Batch Record Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Edit Record Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Media Files Record Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

DV Options Record Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Preparing for Audio Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Adjusting Audio Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Choosing the Audio File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Using the Audio Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Adjusting the Reference Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Adjusting Analog Audio Input Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Creating Tone Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Audio Meters in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Using the Meter Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Using the Console Window to Check Audio Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Compression Resolutions and Storage Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Screen Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Digital Video Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Setting Media Creation Resolutions and Selecting Drives. . . . . . . 228

Storage Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Chapter 7 Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Before You Begin Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Adding Clip Names and Comments On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

DV Capture Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Recording and Logging at the Same Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Recording from One Point to Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Recording from an IN Point to an OUT Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Setting Both Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Setting Only One Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Recording On-the-Fly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Autorecording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Recording from a Non-Avid-Controlled Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Recording with Time-of-Day Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

DV Scene Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Setting Up DV Scene Extraction Before Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Setting Up DV Scene Extraction After Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Recording Audio from a Music CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Recording to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Patching When Recording to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Batch Recording from Logged Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Preparing to Batch Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Resizing the Record Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Preparing Settings for Unattended Batch Recording . . . . . . . . 253

Batch Recording Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Rerecording Your Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Rerecording Master Clips and Subclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Rerecording Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Saving Two Versions of a Sequence

When Rerecording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Rerecording the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Other Recording Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Controlling Decks from the Keyboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Naming a New Tape from the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Ejecting Tapes with a Button or Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Chapter 8 Importing Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Preparing to Import Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Creating and Using Import Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Creating a New Import Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Modifying an Existing Import Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Import Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Importing Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Using the Drag-and-Drop Method to Import Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Importing Photoshop Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Importing Single-Layer Photoshop Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Importing Multilayered Photoshop Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Understanding Multilayered Graphics Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Importing Multilayered Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Reimporting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

The Batch Import Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Selected Clips Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Import Target Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Import Options Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Starting the Reimport Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Chapter 9 Organizing with Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Setting the Bin Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Using Bin Display Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Displaying Custom Bin Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Customizing Bin Views in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Saving a Custom Bin View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Using the Bin Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Conserving Screen Real Estate with the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Enabling the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Opening Bins in the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Closing the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Moving Bins into and out of the

SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Moving Clips and Sequences into and out of

the SuperBin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Copying Clips and Sequences into and out of the SuperBin . . . . . 297

Deleting a Bin with the SuperBin Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Basic Bin Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Lassoing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Selecting Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Duplicating Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Moving Clips and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Copying Clips and Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Deleting Clips, Sequences, or Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Assigning Colors to Bin Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Adding a Color Column to a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Assigning a Source Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Assigning a Custom Source Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Limiting Color Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Sorting by Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Sifting by Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Highlighting Offline Media Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Sifting Clips and Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Selecting Offline Items in a Bin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Selecting Media Relatives for an Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Using Brief View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Using Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Arranging Bin Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Moving and Rearranging Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Aligning Bin Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Showing and Hiding Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Deleting a Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Duplicating a Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Adding Customized Columns to a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Changing a Custom Column Heading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Managing Clip Information in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Moving Within Column Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Modifying Clip Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Modifying Data Directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Using the Modify Command to Modify Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Copying Information Between Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Sorting Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Sorting Clips in Descending Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Performing Multilevel Sorting with Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Using Frame View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Changing the Bin Background Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Enlarging or Reducing Frame Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Rearranging Frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Changing the Frame Identifying the Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Arranging Frames in a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Using Script View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Entering Script View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Adding Text in Script View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Rearranging Clips in Script View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Printing Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Gathering Format Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Preparing Digital Bars and Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Importing Color Bars and Other Test Patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Creating Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Creating Video Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Creating Audio Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Chapter 10 Managing Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Using the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Basic Media Tool Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Opening the Media Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Deleting Media Files with the Media Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Consolidating Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Understanding the Consolidate Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Using the Consolidate Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Loading the Media Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Refreshing Media Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Backing Up Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Finding a Related Media File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Relinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Relinking to Selected Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Relinking Consolidated Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Relinking Moved Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Unlinking Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Chapter 11 Using Script Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Lined Script Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Explanation of Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Lining in the Digital Realm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Script Integration Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Using Script Integration in Video Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Script Window Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Script Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Importing a Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Opening, Closing, and Saving the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Displaying Clip and Sequence Information in a

Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Exploring the Script Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Adjusting the Script Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Manipulating Script Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Changing the Font of the Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Selecting Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Removing Script Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Searching Through Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Using Scene and Page Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Adding a Scene or Page Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Changing a Scene or Page Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Deleting a Scene or Page Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Searching for a Scene or Page Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Conducting a Text Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Linking Clips to the Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Interpolating Position for Script Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Manipulating Slates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Selecting Slates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Resizing Slates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Holding Slates On Screen in the Script Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Hiding Slate Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Showing One Take Per Slate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Moving a Slate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Deleting a Slate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Manipulating Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Selecting Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Adding Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Deleting Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Displaying Take Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Changing the Representative Frame for a Take . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Loading Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Playing Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Adjusting Take Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Indicating Off-Screen Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Using Color Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Using Script Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Placing Script Marks Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Automating Screening and Marking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Loading and Playing Marked Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Moving a Script Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Deleting a Script Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Finding Clips and Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Finding Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Finding Clips and Bins from the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Editing with the Script Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Assembling a Rough Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Splicing a Script Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Revising the Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Interactive Screenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Chapter 12 Viewing and Marking Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Customizing the Monitor Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Changing the Source Pop-up Monitor Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Using Dual Monitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Resizing Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Hiding the Video in the Composer Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Resizing the Composer Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Using the 16:9 Display Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Displaying Tracking Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Tracking Format Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Displaying the Info Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Displaying the Timecode Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Setting the Font and Point Size for Monitor Displays. . . . . . . . . . . 403

Playing Video to the Client Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Connecting a Client Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Selecting the Client Monitor Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Supporting a Camera Without Video Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Adjusting the Play Delay Offset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Viewing Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Loading and Clearing Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Loading Footage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Using the Clip Name Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Switching Between Loaded Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Clearing Sequences from Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Controlling Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Using Position Bars and Position Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Using Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Understanding the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Shuttling with J-K-L Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Navigating with Home, End, and Arrow Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Play Length “In Use” Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Marking and Subcataloging Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Marking IN and OUT Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Clearing a Mark and Setting a New One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Dragging IN and OUT Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Marking an Entire Clip or Segment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Marking Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Using the Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Using the Timeline Top Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

Creating Subclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Using Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Ways to Use Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Adding Locators While Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Moving to the Previous or Next Locator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Using Locators to Mark an Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Deleting a Locator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Using the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Viewing and Navigating in the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Sorting Information in the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Displaying Frames in the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Changing the Color of the Locator Icon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Accessing a Locator in a Sequence or Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Printing the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Using the Locators Window to Delete Locators. . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Displaying Information in the Locators Window. . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Finding Frames and Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Using Frame Offset Timecode to Cue a Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Using Timecode to Find a Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Searching a Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Using Match Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Matchframing Motion Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Chapter 13 First Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Setting Up a New Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Creating a New Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Changing Sequence Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Changing the Start Timecode for Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Setting Up Tracks for the New Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Adding Filler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Making the First Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Beginning to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Creating an Instant Rough Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Undoing or Redoing Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Monitoring Audio While Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Editing Additional Clips into the Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Performing a Splice-in Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Performing an Overwrite Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Lifting, Extracting, and Copying Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Lifting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Extracting Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Copying Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Using the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Placing a Sequence into the Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Recovering Material from the Clipboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Playing the New Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Playing a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Starting a Playback Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Improving Playback Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Proceeding with Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

Chapter 14 Using the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Customizing Timeline Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Accessing the Timeline Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458

Using the Timeline Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Additional Procedures for Customizing the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . 462

Enlarging and Reducing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

Changing the Timeline Track Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Saving a Custom Timeline View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Replacing a Timeline View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Restoring the Default Timeline View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Navigating in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Using the Position Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Using the Timeline Scroll Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Displaying Detail in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Controlling Movement in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Using the Track Selector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

Selecting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

Monitoring Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Monitoring Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Monitoring Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Monitoring a Solo Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Cycling Through a Selection of Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

Locking and Unlocking Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Patching Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Sync Locking Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Deleting Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Adding an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Removing Add Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

Backtiming Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Detecting Duplicate Frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Finding Flash Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

Editing in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Selecting and Deselecting Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Selecting Segments with the Segment Mode Pointer . . . . . . . 481

Lassoing One or More Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Deselecting Segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Performing Segment Mode Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Maintaining Sync in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Extracting/Splicing-in Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Lifting/Overwriting Segments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Deleting Segments with Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Bin Editing into the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Setting the Duration for Filler at the Start of a Sequence . . . . . . . 488

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Editing and Nesting Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Printing the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Chapter 15 Working in Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Customizing Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Using Basic Trim Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Entering Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Exiting Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Trim Mode Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Selecting Between Trim Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Selecting Additional Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Performing a Basic Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Reviewing the Trim Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Reviewing an Edit with the Play Loop Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Trimming Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Slipping or Sliding Clips or Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Selecting Clips or Segments for Slip or Slide Trimming . . . . . . . . 501

Performing the Slip or Slide Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

Creating Overlap Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

Maintaining Sync While Trimming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

Adding Black While Trimming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

Trimming with Sync-Locked Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

Chapter 16 Working with Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

About Audio Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Accessing Audio Effect Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Audio Editing Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Soloing Audio Tracks in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Using Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Smooth Scrub Versus Digital Scrub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Selecting Tracks for Scrubbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Performing Smooth Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Using the J-K-L Keys to Perform Smooth Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Using Digital Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Adjusting Digital Scrub Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

Performing the Digital Scrub Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Adjusting Pan Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Displaying Waveform Plots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

Identifying the Sample Rate by Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Dealing with Audio Latency in Your Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Adjusting Audio Latency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

Adjusting Volume Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

Understanding the Audio Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Using the Audio Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

Resizing the Audio Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

Adjusting One Audio Track at a Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

Changing an Audio Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Adjusting Pan Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Applying Pan Value Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Ganging and Adjusting Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

Rendering an Audio Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Modifying Pan Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Creating or Modifying an Audio Pan/Vol Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Modifying How the System Interprets Pan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Bypassing Existing Volume Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Adjusting Volume While Playing an Audio Mix Effect . . . . . . . . . . 534

Limitations on Adjusting Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Improving Response Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Understanding Audio Gain Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Automation Gain Values and System Clip Gain Values . . . . . . . . 536

Adjusting Volume in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

Deleting Audio Gain Keyframes in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Moving Audio Gain Keyframes in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Understanding the Automation Gain Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

Track Solo Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Applying Automation Gain Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Automation Gain Tool Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544

Recording Automation Gain Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Using the Automation Gain Tool Sliders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Using a Keyboard Shortcut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

Using the Audio EQ Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

Audio EQ Tool Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

Basic EQ Tool Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

EQ-Specific Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Applying Audio EQ Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551

Saving Audio EQ Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555

Removing Audio EQ Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

Audio EQ Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

Low Shelf Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

Small Octave Range Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Using Audio EQ Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Applying an EQ Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560

Creating Your Own Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

Adding an EQ Template to the

Fast Menu (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Adding an EQ Template to the

Fast Menu (Macintosh). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563

Adjusting EQ While Playing an Audio Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

Installing AudioSuite Plug-Ins (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

Installing AudioSuite Plug-Ins (Macintosh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Starting and Quitting DAE (Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Setting Playback Buffer Size (Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Using Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Applying an AudioSuite Plug-In to a

Clip in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Using a Plug-In Dialog Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

AudioSuite Plug-In Fast Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Rendering Plug-In Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571

Creating New Master Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571

AudioSuite Controls for Creating New Master Clips . . . . . . . . 572

Mono, Stereo, and Multichannel Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Using Plug-Ins to Create New Master Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

Using AudioSuite Effect Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

Plug-In Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Troubleshooting AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Addressing Memory Allocation (Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . 579

Canceling a Render Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580

Addressing Errors When Rendering a Plug-in Effect. . . . . . . . 581

Recording Voice-Over Narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581

Creating the Voice-Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584

Scenarios for Using the Audio Punch-In Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587

Monitoring the Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

Monitoring Previously Recorded Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

Voice-Over Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Using a GPI Device with the Audio Punch-In Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Understanding GPI Trigger Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

GPI Signal Sequence When Using the Audio Punch-In

Tool Without Preroll or Postroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

GPI Signal Sequence When Using the Audio Punch-In

Tool with Preroll and Postroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591

Example of Linking GPI Actions to Trigger Signals . . . . . . . . . 591

Connecting a V-LAN VLXi Controller and GPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

Configuring a V-LAN VLXi Controller and GPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

Creating a GPI Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593

Editing an Existing GPI Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

Deleting a GPI Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

Fine-Tuning Audio Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

Isolating Clip Portions for Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

Fading and Dipping Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

Fading Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

Dipping Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Mixing Down Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600

Changing the Sample Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602

Displaying Audio File Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603

Reimporting Zaxcom Deva or Aaton InDaw Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

Chapter 17 Syncing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

Autosyncing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

Understanding Autosyncing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Creating an Autosynced Subclip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Managing Sync Breaks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607

Editing to Avoid Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607

Fixing Sync Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608

Fixing Sync in Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608

Fixing Sync in Segment Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

Managing Sync with Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

Using Sync Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610

Syncing with Tail Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611

Syncing with Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612

Using Add Edit When Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

Chapter 18 Output Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

Preparing for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

Preparing for Audio Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616

Choosing Audio Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616

Audio Sample Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616

Setting the Calibration Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617

Calibrating Global Output Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617

Adjusting Output on Two-Channel Audio Systems . . . . . . . . . 618

Preparing Record Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Frame-Accurate Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Manual Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

Enabling Assemble-Edit Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

Using the Digital Cut Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Selecting a Deck in the Digital Cut Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623

Previewing a Digital Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624

Recording a Digital Cut to Tape (Remote Mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625

Recording a Digital Cut to Tape (Local Mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627

DV Digital Cut Delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628

Using EDL Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631

Using PowerPack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631

How Matchback Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632

Matchback Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633

Setting Up a Matchback Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634

Choosing Film Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634

VTR Emulation (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

Enabling VTR Emulation (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

Using VTR Play Emulation (Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

Chapter 19 Exporting and Exchanging Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

Reasons to Export Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640

Preparing to Export a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641

Exporting as an MPEG-1 or an MPEG-2 File (Windows Only) . . . . . . . 642

QuickTime Reference Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644

Exporting as a QuickTime Reference Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

QuickTime Reference Export Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646

Exporting as a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

Selecting QuickTime Codecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

Creating Files for a DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663

Creating Files for a DVD (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664

Creating Files for iDVD (Macintosh Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666

Creating Files for DVD Studio Pro (Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 667

Using an AppleScript Script to Create a DVD (Macintosh Only) . . 670

Exporting Video in DV Stream Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670

Sending Material Out for Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672

Reviewing Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

Opening R&A Files in the Locators Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674

Using Locator Colors with R&A Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675

Mixing Down Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676

Exporting Frames, Clips, or Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677

Using the Drag-and-Drop Method for Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680

Using AvidLinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681

Customizing Export Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684

Creating a New Export Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684

Exporting OMFI and AAF Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

Exporting Through OMF Interchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

Exporting Through AAF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

Choosing an OMFI or an AAF Transfer Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688

Exporting OMFI or AAF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

Exporting as an AVI File (Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694

AVI Settings (Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696

AVI Video Compression Dialog Box

Options (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698

Using Avid Codecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Using the Avid Codecs for QuickTime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Exporting with the Avid DV Codec or an Avid Meridien

Codec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701

Exporting with the Avid Codec for QuickTime. . . . . . . . . . . . . 703

Using the Avid Codec for AVI (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706

Installing an Avid Codec on Other Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707

Copying an Avid Codec for QuickTime to Another

Windows System (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707

Copying an Avid Codec for AVI (Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . 708

Copying a Codec to a Macintosh System

(Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709

Downloading Avid Codecs for QuickTime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710

Exporting from a Third-Party Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710

Exporting Tracks as Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711

Exporting as a Graphic File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712

Exchanging Files with QuickTime Macintosh Applications . . . . . . . . . . 719

Transferring a Project Between Avid Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720

Methods for Transferring Files Between Avid Systems . . . . . . . . . 720

Compatibility Requirements for Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721

Transferring a Project and Associated Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . 721

Transferring Projects, User Profiles, and Site Settings. . . . . . . . . . 722

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725

Tables

Table 1 Bin Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Table 2 Settings Scroll List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94

Table 3 Bin Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98

Table 4 General Settings Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

Table 5 Interface Settings Options

(General Tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

Table 6 Settings Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

Table 7 Interface Settings Options

(Appearance Tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

Table 8 Customizable Interface Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Table 9 Navigation Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

Table 10 Deck Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Table 11 Deck Preferences Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195

Table 12 Record Settings Options (General Tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . .209

Table 13 Record Settings Options (Batch Tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210

Table 14 Record Settings Options (Edit Tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212

Table 15 Record Settings Options (Media Files Tab). . . . . . . . . . .213

Table 16 Record Settings Options (DV Options Tab). . . . . . . . . . .215

Table 17 Informational Audio Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

Table 18 Adjustable Audio Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217

Table 19 Meter Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .226

Table 20 Import Settings Options (Image Tab). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265

Table 21 Import Setting Options (OMFI Tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270

Table 22 Import Setting Options (Shot Log Tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270

Table 23 Support for Photoshop Layer Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281

Table 24 Support for Photoshop Special Layer Types . . . . . . . . . .282

Table 25 Object Icon Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .291

Table 26 Shortcuts for Moving in Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .313

Table 27 Modify Command Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .316

Table 28 Consolidate Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341

Table 29 Script Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .357

Table 30 Tracking Format and Timecode

Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .399

Table 31 Timeline Settings Options

(Display Tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458

Table 32 Timeline Settings Options (Edit Tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Table 33 Timeline Fast Menu Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Table 34 Number of Tracks and Scrub Speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Table 35 Audio Mix Fast Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Table 36 GPI Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594

Table 37 GPI Node Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

Table 38 Change Sample Rate Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602

Table 39 Tape and Clip Name Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603

Table 40 Film Setting Dialog Box Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

Table 41 VTR Emulation Settings Options

(Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

Table 42 Export Settings Dialog Box

(QuickTime Reference Options) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

Table 43 QuickTime Movie Export Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

Table 44 QuickTime Movie Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655

Table 45 QuickTime Compression Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659

Table 46 iDVD Options

(Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666

Table 47 DVD Studio Pro Options

(Macintosh Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

Table 48 Export Settings Dialog Box

(DV Stream Options) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Table 49 Applications for AvidLinks Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682

Table 50 Export Settings Dialog Box Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685

Table 51 Export Settings Dialog Box

(OMFI and AAF Settings Options) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692

Table 52 Export Settings Dialog Box

(AVI Settings Options) (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696

Table 53 AVI Video Compression Dialog Box

Options (Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Table 54 Export Settings Dialog Box

(Audio Options) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711

Table 55 Export Settings Dialog Box

(Graphic Options) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .713

Table 56 Graphic Format Options Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .715

Table 57 Devices for Transferring Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .720

Figures

Figure 1 RS-422 Controls a DV Device Configuration . . . . . . . . . 233

Figure 2 FireWire Configuration Without Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Figure 3 FireWire Configuration with Encoded Timecode . . . . . . 234

Figure 4 Recording (Capture) with No Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Figure 5 Recording (Capture) with Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Figure 6 Digital Cut with No Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629

Figure 7 Digital Cut with Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630

Using This Guide

Congratulations on your purchase of an Avid Xpress®DV system. You can use your system to create broadcast-quality output incorporating every possible production element from full-speed, high-resolution footage, to multimedia artwork and animation, to computer-generated effects and titling.

The documentation describes the features and hardware of all models. Therefore, your system might not contain certain features and hardware that are covered in the documentation.

Who Should Use This Guide

This guide is intended for all Avid Xpress DV users, from beginning to advanced. You should be familiar with the Windows

OS X operating system.

Mac

About This Guide

This guide is designed to consolidate all the information you will need to take advantage of the many options that Avid Xpress DV offers. This guide will lead you through even the most complex procedures with task-oriented instructions.

XP or the

Using This Guide

The Contents lists all topics included in the book. They are presented with the following overall structure:

• Chapter 1, “Desktop Basics,” describes the basic structure of files and folders used by the Avid Xpress DV system.

• Chapter 2 through Chapter 19 follow the natural flow of your work, with clear and comprehensive step-by-step procedures.

• Finally, a detailed Index helps you quickly locate specific topics.

• You can find the following supplemental information in the Help or on the Avid Xpress DV Online Publications CD-ROM:

- “Using AudioSuite Plug-ins,” which lists the supported

AudioSuite

™

plug-ins and describes the core AudioSuite plug-ins.

- “File Format Specifications,” which describes the file format

specifications.

- “Avid Log Specifications,” which describes the Avid log

specifications.

- A comprehensive Glossary, providing cross-industry terms and

definitions. The Glossary is also included in the Avid Xpress DV

Getting Started Guide and on the Avid Xpress DV Online Publications CD-ROM.

Symbols and Conventions

Unless noted otherwise, the material in this document applies to the Windows XP and Mac OS X operating systems. When the text applies to a specific operating system, it is marked as follows:

• (Windows) or (Windows only) means the information applies to the Windows XP operating system.

• (Macintosh) or (Macintosh only) means the information applies to the Mac OS X operating system.

The majority of screen shots in this document were captured on a Windows XP system, but the information applies to both Windows XP and Mac OS X systems. Where differences exist, both Windows XP and Mac OS X screen shots are shown.

If You Need Help

The Avid Xpress DV documentation uses the following special symbols and conventions:

1. Numbered lists, when the order of the items is important. a. Alphabetical lists, when the order of secondary items is important.

• Bulleted lists, when the order of the items is unimportant.

- Indented dashed lists, when the order of secondary items is

unimportant.

t One arrow indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple arrows in a list

indicate that you perform one of the actions listed.

The k symbol refers to the Apple or Command key. Press and hold the Command key and another key to perform a keyboard shortcut.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

Look here in the margin for tips.

In the margin, you will find tips that help you perform tasks more easily and efficiently.

A note provides important related information, reminders, recommendations, and strong suggestions.

A caution means that a specific action you take could cause harm to your computer or cause you to lose data.

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using Avid Xpress DV, you should:

1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that task in this guide. It is especially important to check each step of your workflow.

2. Check the release notes supplied with your Avid application for the latest information that might have become available after the hardcopy documentation was printed.

3. Check the documentation that came with your Avid application or your hardware for maintenance or hardware-related issues.

Using This Guide

4. Visit the online Knowledge Center at www.avid.com/support. Online services are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Search this online Knowledge Center to find answers, to view error messages, to access troubleshooting tips, to download updates, and to read/join online message-board discussions.

5. For Technical Support, please call 800-800-AVID (800-800-2843). For Broadcast On-Air Sites and Call Letter Stations, call

800-NEWSDNG (800-639-7364).

Related Information

The following documents provide more information about the Avid Xpress DV product:

• Avid Xpress DV Release Notes for the Windows XP Operating System

• Avid Xpress DV Release Notes for Mac OS X

• Avid Xpress DV Getting Started Guide

• Avid Xpress DV User’s Guide Supplement (available on the Avid Xpress DV Online Publications CD-ROM in PDF format)

• Avid Xpress DV Quick Reference for the Windows XP Operating System

• Avid Xpress DV Quick Reference for Mac OS X

• Avid Xpress DV Effects Guide

• Avid Color Correction User’s Guide

• Avid Xpress DV Online Publications This online collection provides electronic versions of most documents

listed in this section, as well as documents for related Avid applications. You can view these documents with Adobe Reader

, which you can install from the CD-ROM.

Acrobat®

• Avid Xpress DV Help The Help system provides all the information included in the

Avid Xpress DV User’s Guide, the Avid Xpress DV Effects Guide, and the Avid Color Correction User’s Guide supplied with your system. It

If You Have Documentation Comments

also includes supplemental information not in the manuals. The Help operates in a Web browser. To open the Help, choose Avid Xpress DV Help from the Help menu in the Avid Xpress DV application. For information on using Help, click the Using Help button in the Help system.

If You Have Documentation Comments

Avid Technology continuously seeks to improve its documentation. We value your comments about this guide, the Help, the Online Publications CD-ROM, and other Avid-supplied documentation.

E-mail your documentation comments to Avid Technology at

TechPubs@avid.com

Please include the title of the document, its part number, revision, and the specific section you are commenting on in all correspondence.

How to Order Documentation

To order additional copies of this documentation from within the United States, call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843). If you are placing an order from outside the United States, contact your local Avid representative.

Avid Educational Services

For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications, courseware, and books, please visit www.avid.com/training or call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843).

Using This Guide

Chapter 1

Desktop Basics

Although most of your work is performed within the Avid Xpress DV application, you need to use a few basic desktop procedures.

The following sections describe basic procedures involving the Windows XP or the Mac OS X operating system and the Avid folders:

• Working with the Desktop

• Using the Avid Xpress DV Folder

• Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

• Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Windows)

• Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Macintosh)

(Windows only) This chapter refers to the default installation directory path for the various Avid folders. If you choose a different directory path during the installation, you must substitute that path when you use this chapter.

Chapter 1 Desktop Basics

Working with the Desktop

For information on the Windows XP operating system, such as the desktop and icons, see

the Microsoft Windows XP Help. For information on the System Folder and other Mac OS X features, such as the desktop and icons, see the Mac OS X documentation.

This section describes the following desktop features that you use when working with the Avid Xpress DV application.

• Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (Windows Only)

• Using Shortcut Menus (Windows)

• Using Shortcut Menus (Macintosh)

• Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows Only)

• Dragging Windows (Windows Only)

• Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Windows)

• Setting Your Screen Resolution

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (Windows Only)

You or your system administrator needs to create a Microsoft Windows XP emergency repair disk (ERD) to rebuild your system configuration if it becomes damaged. You need to update the ERD any time you make a system change, like installing new software.

To create an emergency repair disk:

1. Click the Start button and click Run.

2. In the text box, type:

rdisk /s

3. Click OK.

4. Follow the instructions to create the disk.

5. Store the disk in a safe, dry, static-free location.

If you have a problem, search for Emergency Repair Disk in the Windows XP Help.

Using Shortcut Menus (Windows)

Instead of using the standard menus to find the command you need in a window, try using the shortcut menus.

To use a shortcut menu, do one of the following:

t Right-click in a window to access a shortcut menu that shows the most

frequently used commands for that window. For a list of the available shortcuts, see the Avid Xpress DV Quick Reference for the Windows XP Operating System.

t Right-click a screen object to access What’s This Help for the object.

Using Shortcut Menus (Macintosh)

To use a shortcut menu, do one of the following:

t Ctrl+Shift+click in a window to access a shortcut menu that shows the

most frequently used commands for that window. For a list of the available shortcuts, see the Avid Xpress Quick Reference for Mac OS X.

Working with the Desktop

t Ctrl+Shift+click a screen object to access What’s This? Help for the

object.

Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows Only)

By default, the Microsoft Windows XP taskbar always appears on the bottom of your screen, on top of your application. You have two other choices:

• Keeping the taskbar hidden behind the application

• Setting the taskbar to appear only when you drag the mouse pointer to it

If you keep the taskbar hidden while running Avid Xpress DV and you minimize an application such as Help, you do not see the minimized icon. To see the taskbar and minimized icons, minimize Avid Xpress DV.

Chapter 1 Desktop Basics

To change the taskbar settings:

1. Right-click an unused part of the taskbar.

2. Choose Properties from the shortcut menu. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears.

3. Click the General tab.

4. Select the options you want:

t To keep the taskbar hidden, deselect Always on top and Auto hide. t To set the taskbar to appear when you want, select Always on top

and Auto hide.

5. Click OK.

The taskbar can to be dragged to the top, bottom, or either side of the monitor.

For more information, see the Windows XP Help.

Dragging Windows (Windows Only)

By default, Windows XP systems show the contents of windows when you drag them. Deselect this option to improve screen display and to avoid problems repainting the screen.

To deselect the option “Show window contents while dragging”:

1. Right-click on an empty part of the desktop, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.

The Display Properties dialog box appears.

2. Click the Effects tab.

3. Deselect “Show window contents while dragging.”

4. Click OK.

Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Windows)

By default, Avid Xpress DV is set to the gray and purple Avid color scheme.

To change the color scheme:

1. Right-click on an empty part of the desktop, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.

The Display Properties dialog box appears.

2. Click the Appearance tab.

3. Choose a different color scheme from the Scheme pop-up menu.

4. Click OK.

Working with the Desktop

You can also change the color scheme in the Appearance tab of the Interface settings dialog box within Avid Xpress DV. See “Appearance Tab

Options” on page 115.

For a shortcut to the Display Properties dialog box, right-click an empty part of the desktop, and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Macintosh)

By default, Avid Xpress DV is set to the gray and purple Avid color scheme.

To change the color scheme:

1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu. The System Preferences window opens.

2. In the Personal area, click General.

3. Choose a color from the Highlight Color pop-up menu.

4. Choose a color from the Appearance pop-up menu.

5. Click the close box or click Show All to return to the System Preferences window.

Chapter 1 Desktop Basics

You can also change the color scheme in the Appearance tab of the Interface settings dialog box within Avid Xpress DV. See “Appearance Tab

Options” on page 115.

Setting Your Screen Resolution

The screen resolution for the Avid Xpress DV application is different for NTSC and for PAL:

• NTSC resolution is 720 x 486 non-square pixels covering all the active video. This also includes 10 lines of blanking or vertical internal timecode (VITC) per frame (5 lines per field).

• PAL resolution is 720 x 576 non-square pixels covering all the active video. This also includes 16 lines of blanking or VITC per frame (8 lines per field).

Avid Xpress DV works best with the following screen resolutions:

One Monitor Two Monitors

1024 x 768 pixels 2048 x 768 pixels

1152 x 864 pixels 2304 x 864 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels 2560 x 1024 pixels

A larger resolution displays more pixels and lets you view more objects in the monitors. The objects appear smaller.

When you use a single board to drive two monitors, the maximum resolution at which video plays correctly may be limited. If video does not play correctly, try reducing the resolution to 2048 x 768 pixels.

For additional information about setting screen resolutions, see the Avid Xpress DV Getting Started Guide.

Changing Screen Resolution (Windows)

To view or change the screen resolution:

1. Right-click on an empty part of the desktop, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.

The Display Properties dialog box appears.

2. Click the Settings tab.

3. Under Screen Area, drag the slider to the resolution you want.

4. Choose True Color (32 bit) from the Colors pop-up menu.

5. Click OK.

Changing Screen Resolution (Macintosh)

To view or change the screen resolution:

1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu. The System Preferences window opens.

Working with the Desktop

2. In the Hardware area, click Displays.

3. Select a resolution in the Resolutions list.

4. Keep Colors set to Millions.

5. Click the close box or click Show All to return to the System Preferences window.

If you use two monitors and the second monitor has a resolution of 800 x 600, it automatically becomes the Client monitor.

Chapter 1 Desktop Basics

Using the Avid Xpress DV Folder

The Avid Xpress DV folder contains essential operational files and supporting files. You can find the Avid Xpress DV folder in the following location:

•(Windows) drive:\Program Files\Avid\

• (Macintosh) Macintosh HD/Applications/

You should not touch any of these files, except where noted in the following descriptions:

• Help folder: This folder contains the Help files. You can find

information about Help by clicking the Using Help button in the Help browser. See the Avid Xpress DV Getting Started Guide.

• Avid Xpress DV application: The application icon resides here. You

can start the application by following the procedures described in

“Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Windows)” on page 49 or “Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Macintosh)” on page 49.

• Settings folder: In addition to Project and User settings, the system

maintains settings files in this folder that apply to all users and all projects on the system. You can copy or move the Site Settings file to other systems on the desktop, using the same procedure described in

“Moving Settings Between Systems” on page 110.

• SupportingFiles folder: This folder contains a series of files that add

functionality to the application. The system accesses most of these files from within the application. You can add third-party effects to the 3rd Party Plug-Ins folder and AVX_Plug-Ins folder from programs such as Avid Visual Extensions (AVX described in the Avid Xpress DV Effects Guide or the Help.

™

) for use in effects editing, as

Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

Managing projects, user profiles, and settings involves moving, copying, or deleting files and folders, and changing project or user names. You use the desktop to move projects and user profiles between systems.

Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

Using the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

When you create a new project or user profile, the system creates the following files and folders:

• When you create a new user, the system creates a user profile file, a User Settings file, and a user folder containing them. Each item is given the user name you provide. The new folder is stored in the Avid Users folder on the internal hard drive (Windows) or on the Macintosh HD (Macintosh). When you create user profiles, the profiles settings are stored in the user folder named for your user login name. See

“Using User Profiles” on page 62.

• When you create a new project, the system creates three items: a project file, a Project Settings file, and a project folder containing both. Each item is given the project name you provide. This new folder is stored in the Avid Projects folder on the internal hard drive (Windows) or on the Macintosh HD (Macintosh).

Avid Projects and Avid Users folders allow you to move entire projects or selected Project and User settings between systems by copying and moving files on your desktop.

Changing Project and User Names

You cannot change project or user names from within the Avid Xpress DV application. You must change the name from your desktop before starting the application.

To change a project or user name:

1. Double-click the internal hard drive (Windows) or the Macintosh HD (Macintosh) to open it.

2. Double-click the Avid Users or the Avid Projects folder to open it.

3. Click the name of the folder you want to change, and then click it again.

The name is highlighted for text entry.

Chapter 1 Desktop Basics

4. Type the new name of the folder.

When you change a user name or project name, make sure you change the name of the folder and all the files in the folder that have the old name. The system does not automatically change the names of corresponding files in the folder.

5. Close the windows and restart the Avid Xpress DV application.

Deleting Projects and User Profiles

You cannot delete projects and user profiles from within the Avid Xpress DV application. You must make the change from your desktop before starting the application. The Avid Users and Avid Projects folders are located in:

•(Windows) drive:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Xpress DV

• (Macintosh) Macintosh HD/Users/Shared

Deleting a project also deletes any bins that are in that project.

To delete a project or user profile:

1. Double-click the internal hard drive (Windows) or the Macintosh HD (Macintosh) to open it.

2. Navigate to the Avid Users or Avid Projects folder, and then double-click the folder to open it.

3. Drag the project or user folder you want to delete to the Recycle Bin (Windows) or the Trash (Macintosh).

4. Empty the Recycle Bin (Windows) or the Trash (Macintosh) to remove the files from the system.

5. Close the windows and restart the Avid Xpress DV application.

Recorded media related to a deleted project is not eliminated with the project folder. For more information on deleting media files, see “Deleting

Clips, Sequences, or Media” on page 301 and “Deleting Media Files with the Media Tool” on page 335.

Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Windows)

The Avid Xpress DV application is in the following location:

drive:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Xpress DV

For most users, the desktop is a more convenient location for starting the application. For information on creating a shortcut on the desktop, see the Microsoft Windows XP documentation.

To start Avid Xpress DV:

1. Click the Start button.

2. Point to Programs.

3. Point to the Avid folder.

4. Select Avid Xpress DV. After a few moments, the Select Project dialog box appears.

You might see a License Agreement. For more information, see the Avid Xpress DV Getting Started Guide.

Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Macintosh)

The Avid Xpress DV application is in the following location:

Macintosh HD/Applications/Avid Xpress DV

For most users, the Dock is a more convenient location for starting the application.

The application does not start properly if the icon is moved out of the Avid Xpress DV folder. You can create an alias and drag it to the desktop or onto the Dock.

For information on creating an alias or on using the Dock, see the Mac OS X documentation.

Chapter 1 Desktop Basics

To start Avid Xpress DV, do one of the following:

t Double-click the application alias on the desktop. t Double-click the application alias on the Dock. t Choose Applications from the Go menu, and then double-click the

application icon. After a few moments, the Select Project dialog box appears.

You might see a License Agreement. For more information, see the Avid Xpress DV Getting Started Guide.

Chapter 2

Starting a Project

Your work in Avid Xpress DV begins when you turn on the system, start the application, and open an existing project or create a new project. This chapter describes these and other procedures for starting a project. You can use several techniques to safeguard and restore your work if necessary. These topics are covered in the following sections:

• Opening and Closing a Project

• Backing Up Your Project Information

• Ending an Edit Session

• Mounting and Unmounting Drives

For information on the Microsoft Windows XP operating system and terminology, see the Microsoft Windows XP Help. For information on the Mac OS X operating system, see your Mac OS X documentation. For information on turning on your system, see the Avid Xpress DV Getting Started Guide.

(Windows only) This chapter refers to the default installation directory path for the various Avid folders. If you chose a different directory path during the installation, you must substitute that path when using this chapter.

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Opening and Closing a Project

When you start Avid Xpress DV, the Select Project dialog box appears.

Windows

Macintosh

The name you used to log in is selected as the user.

Changing Users

Opening and Closing a Project

You can change users. You can select projects from the Select Project dialog box, or you can choose to have your last project open automatically. You can also establish user profiles.

To change Avid Xpress DV users:

1. Quit Avid Xpress DV.

2. Do one of the following: t (Windows) Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, click the Log Off button, and

then log in as a different user.

t (Macintosh) Choose Log Out from the Apple menu, click Log

Out, and then click a new user.

(Macintosh only) You have to create a new user before you can change to that user. See your Mac OS X documentation or the Mac OS X Help.

3. Start Avid Xpress DV.

You can select projects from the Select Project dialog box, or you can choose to have your last project open automatically.

Selecting a Project

You can select a project from a public, shared folder, or from a private folder accessible only to you. You can also create a new project in either area.The location of the shared or private folder is displayed in the Folder text box in the Select Project dialog box.

Your current login name appears as the User in the Select Project dialog box.

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Selecting a Shared Project

To select a shared project:

1. Start Avid Xpress DV. The Select Project dialog box appears.

Windows

Shared folder Location

Shared option selected

Macintosh

Opening and Closing a Project

Shared folder Location

Shared option selected

2. Select Shared in the Select a Project area.

3. Select a project, and then click OK.

You cannot type into the User or Folder text boxes.

Selecting a Private Project

To select a private project:

1. Start Avid Xpress DV. The Select Project dialog box appears.

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Windows

Macintosh

Private folder location

Private option selected

Private folder location

Private option selected

2. Select Private in the Select a Project area. Your private projects appear.

3. Select a project, and then click OK.

Opening and Closing a Project

You can’t type into the User or Folder text boxes.

Browsing for a Project

To browse for a project in a location other than the default Shared and Private folders:

Windows

1. Start Avid Xpress DV. The Select Project dialog box appears.

Browse button

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Macintosh

2. Click the Browse button.

3. The Browse for Folder (Windows) or Project Directory (Macintosh)

Browse button

dialog box appears.

Windows

Macintosh

Opening and Closing a Project

4. Navigate to the folder that contains the project you want.

5. Click OK (Windows) or Choose (Macintosh).

Creating a New Project

To create a new project:

1. Start Avid Xpress DV.

2. Select the Private or the Shared option in the Select a Project area.

3. Click New Project.

If you have PowerPack, which includes the Matchback option, your New Project dialog box has additional options. For more information, see

“Setting Up a Matchback Project” on page 634 and “Choosing Film Settings” on page 634.

4. Type a project name and choose a format.

5. Click OK, and then click OK again.

The Select Project dialog box appears.

The New Project dialog box appears.

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Opening a Project Automatically

If you have already created a project, when you enter Avid Xpress DV, you can bypass the Select Project dialog box and have your last project open automatically.

You can automatically open only projects created in the standard shared or private areas. See “Selecting a Project” on page 53.

To open a project automatically:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window. The Settings Scroll list appears.

2. Double-click Interface. The Interface Settings dialog box appears.

3. Click the General tab, and then select Automatically Launch Last Project at Startup, and then click OK.

The next time you start Avid Xpress DV, the application opens your last project.

To select another project:

1. Deselect Automatically Launch Last Project at Startup, and then click OK.

2. Quit the application and restart it. The Select Project dialog box appears.

Windows

Macintosh

Opening and Closing a Project

Browse button

3. Choose a project and click OK.

Browse button

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Opening a Project

To open a project, do one of the following:

t Select a project in the Select Project dialog box, and then click OK. t Double-click a project name in the Projects scroll list.

The title bar of the Project window contains the project name and user name you selected in the Select Project dialog box.

Project name User name

The Composer monitor and the bin open with the selected User settings loaded.

Close button

Using User Profiles

You can establish different profiles for a single user without having to log out of your system and log back in under a different name (see “Changing

Users” on page 53). You might want separate editing functions to have

separate settings, for example. User “Kim,” for example, can have separate profiles for “Audio editor,” “Film editor,” or for “Assistant 1,” “Assistant 2,” and so on. These profiles have separate folders and settings that kept are in the following folders:

• (Windows) Avid Users\UserName

• (Macintosh) Avid Users/UserName

You can also import a user or user profile from another location.

Creating a User Profile

To create a user profile:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

2. Choose Create User Profile from the User Profile Selection pop-up

Opening and Closing a Project

menu.

User Profile Selection pop-up menu

The Create User Profile dialog box appears.

3. Type a name in the Profile Name text box, and then click OK. The new user profile appears selected in the pop-up menu, and the user

profile name appears in the Project window title bar.

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Importing a User Profile

To import user settings from another user or user profile:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

2. Choose Import User or User Profile from the User Profile Selection

3. Navigate to the user or user profile you want to import.

Changing User Profiles

To change user profiles:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

2. Choose a different profile from the User Profile Selection pop-up

To return to the default user profile:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

pop-up menu.

menu.

2. Choose Default User Profile from the User Profile Selection pop-up menu.

When you choose Default User Profile, your login name appears in the Project window title bar. When you choose another user profile, the user profile name appears in the Project window title bar.

Project window title bar

Backing Up Your Project Information

Closing a Project

When you close the current project, you return to the Select Project dialog box.

To close the current project, do one of the following:

t With the Project window active, choose Close from the File menu. t Click the Close button (Windows) or the close box (Macintosh) in the

Project window.

Backing Up Your Project Information

For information on using the Auto-save feature, see “Saving

Bins Automatically” on page 87.

Although Avid Xpress DV automatically saves your bins, projects, and settings, you should back up these items frequently to avoid losing any of your work in case your hard drive fails. Because the storage requirements are minimal, you can back up these files easily to a variety of storage devices, including:

• Floppy disk

• Network storage device (such as a file server)

• Mass-storage device

Saving Your Project Information on a Drive or Floppy Disk

To save your work on a drive or floppy disk:

1. Mount the drive or insert a floppy disk as appropriate.

2. (Windows only) From the Windows XP desktop, double-click My Computer.

3. Double-click the icon for the targeted storage drive or floppy disk to open it. Double-click any additional folders to target the appropriate storage location.

4. Double-click the internal hard drive (Windows) or the Macintosh HD (Macintosh) to open it.

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

5. Drag a project folder, user folder, or settings file to the targeted storage location.

6. When the system finishes copying the files, unmount the drive or unmount the floppy disk and store it where appropriate.

Restoring from a Backup

To restore a project, user profile, or settings from a backup storage device:

1. Mount the drive or insert a floppy disk as appropriate.

2. From the desktop, double-click the drive or floppy disk and the internal hard drive (Windows) or the Macintosh HD (Macintosh).

3. Drag the copies from the storage device to the appropriate folder on the internal hard drive (Windows) or the Macintosh HD (Macintosh):

- Avid Projects : Project folders and settings files

- Avid Us ers: User folders and settings files

- Avid Xp ress DV: Site settings files

4. Start the Avid Xpress DV application. See “Starting the Avid Xpress

DV Application (Windows)” on page 49 or “Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Macintosh)” on page 49.

Ending an Edit Session

To end an edit session:

1. Quit the application.

2. Turn off your equipment in the order described in this section.

Quitting the Avid Xpress DV Application

There are three ways to quit Avid Xpress DV.

To quit the Avid Xpress DV application and leave the application immediately:

t (Windows) Choose Exit from the File menu. t (Macintosh) Choose Quit from the AvidXpressDV menu.

The project closes, and Avid Xpress DV returns to the desktop.

To quit the Avid Xpress DV application if you are between projects:

1. Click the Quit button in the Select Project dialog box. A message box appears.

2. Do one of the following:

t Click Leave to quit the Avid Xpress DV application. t Click Cancel to return to the Select Project dialog box and select

another project.

Ending an Edit Session

If you want to turn off your system, see “Turning Off Your Equipment” on

page 68.

To quit the Avid Xpress DV application from an open project:

1. Click the Close button at the far right of the Project Window title bar (Windows) or the close box (Macintosh) at the far left of the Project Window title bar.

The Select Project dialog box appears.

2. Click the Quit button.

3. Click the Leave button.

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Turning Off Your Equipment

To turn off your equipment without damaging your computer or media storage drives:

Quit Avid Xpress DV before turning off your equipment. See “Quitting

the Avid Xpress DV Application” on page 67.

1. Turn off the system:

t (Windows) Click the Start button and choose Shut Down. t (Macintosh) Choose Shut Down from the Apple menu.

2. Turn off your speakers and monitors.

Never remove drives from your Avid Xpress DV system when it is turned on.

3. Turn off each drive. Move your drives only when the system is completely off.

4. Turn off all other hardware.

Mounting and Unmounting Drives

The Unmount command makes selected media drives inaccessible to Avid Xpress DV. If the drive you umount supports the auto-eject feature (for example, Jaz

drives), the command ejects the disk from the drive.

By default, all media drives that are connected to your system are listed and can be seen by Avid Xpress DV. You can remove one or more drives from the list at any time by choosing Unmount from the File menu. For example, if you want to use only some of your drives for a particular project, choose Unmount to prevent other drives from appearing in Avid Xpress DV. The Unmount command does not remove drives from the Windows XP system.

Mounting and Unmounting Drives

You can unmount one or several drive volumes mounted on the desktop at any time from within the Avid Xpress DV application. You can also remount all the drives and return them to the desktop.

This is useful in several circumstances:

• If you work with optical drives for backup and retrieval of low-resolution material, you can unmount drives and mount them as needed to avoid cluttering the desktop during normal use.

• If you work with an extensive array of fixed-storage drives, which might involve many partitions divided among several projects, you can selectively mount and unmount drives according to use.

Shut down the Windows XP system completely before you physically remove or add drives.

On systems with multiple media drives, unmounting unused drives can improve the performance of the Media tool. You need to unmount the drives before you can open the Media tool. See “Using the Media Tool” on

page 332.

Unmounting Drives (Windows)

To unmount a disk or to make a drive unavailable to Avid Xpress DV:

1. With the Avid Xpress DV application active, choose Unmount from the File menu.

The Select a Drive dialog box appears. The scroll list displays all drives currently available.

2. Select a drive to unmount. Ctrl+click to select additional drives, or click All to unmount all the drives.

3. Click Eject. The drives are no longer available to Avid Xpress DV.

Chapter 2 Starting a Project

Unmounting Drives (Macintosh)

To unmount one or several drive icons from the desktop:

1. With the Avid Xpress DV application active, choose Unmount from the File menu.

2. Select a drive icon to unmount. Shift+click additional drive icons.

3. Click Eject.

Mounting All Drives

Because the system cannot interface with unmounted drives individually, you cannot mount selected drives. However, you can mount all drives connected to the system, including those previously unmounted.

To mount all drives:

t Choose Mount All from the File menu.

All drives turned on and connected to the system become available to Avid Xpress DV.

Chapter 3

Working with the Project Window

The Project window provides controls for structuring and viewing important information about your current project. You can also modify User, Project, and Site settings from the Project window and display a list of effects.

These topics are described in the following sections:

• Opening and Closing the Project Window

• Using the Bins Display

• Using the Settings Scroll List

• Using the Info Display

• Customizing the Appearance of the Avid User Interface

• Customizing Your Workspace

• Using Toolsets

• Support for Avid Unity LANshare

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

Opening and Closing the Project Window

The Project window provides four different displays (Bins, Settings, Effects, and Info) for structuring and viewing information about your current project.

Bins tab Settings tab Info tabEffects tab

Fast Menu button

Use the Project window to:

• Create and open bins.

• View and modify settings.

• Access effects.

• View information about the format of the project and the use of system memory and hardware.

You can also add folders to your projects that allow you to organize the projects.

Bins from other projects appear in the Project window in italic.

You can see bins and folders in a flat view, which lists only the folder contents and not the folder. Flat view is an option in the Project window’s Fast menu. You can also drag bins into folders or folders into folders.

The Project window opens automatically when you select a project in the Select Project dialog box.

Using the Bins Display

To close the Project window, do one of the following:

t With the Project window active, choose Close from the File menu. t Click the Close button (Windows) or the close box (Macintosh) in the

Project window. The Select Project dialog box appears.

The Project window remains open the entire time you are working in a project; however, it might be hidden from view by several open bins or tools.

To locate and redisplay the Project window, do one of the following:

t Choose Project from the Tools menu. t Click in an unobstructed area of the Project window to bring it

forward.

t Choose Preferences from the AvidXpressDV menu.

Using the Bins Display

Bins contain the master clips that are created when you record source material. (The master clips are linked to the media files.) Bins also contain the sequences, subclips, group clips, and effect clips that you create during a project. From the Project window, you can view a list of bins associated with the project, and open, close, and create bins. You can also open bins created for another project.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

Viewing a List of Bins

To view a list of bins associated with the project:

t Click the Bins tab in the Project window.

Bins tab

The views for working with clips in a bin are Brief view, Text view, Frame view, and Script view.

Using the Bins Display

•In Brief view, five standard columns of information about the clips and sequences in your bin are displayed.

Brief tab

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

•In Text view, clips are displayed in a database text format using columns and rows, with icons representing the various objects. You can save various arrangements of columns, text, and objects as customized views.

Text tab

Using the Bins Display

•In Frame view, each clip is represented by a single picture frame, with the name of the clip. You can play back the footage in each frame and change the size of frames. You can also rearrange the frames in any order within the bin.

Frame tab

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

•In Script view, the features of Text view are combined with those of Frame view, with an added script box next to each frame. The frames are displayed vertically on the left side of your screen with the script box next to each. Use the script boxes for notes or a script. Clip data matching the column headings in Text view appears above each script box.

Script tab

Displaying Bins

By default, your bins display all existing media objects except source clips and rendered effects. You can display only those media objects that you need to organize your project.

To set the bin display:

1. Click in a bin, and then choose Set Bin Display from the Bin menu. The Set Bin Display dialog box appears.

2. Select the object types that you want to see: master clips, subclips, sequences, sources, effects, motion effects, or rendered effects.

3. The option “Show clips created by user” is selected by default. Deselect this option only if you want to hide all objects except those created by the system.

4. Select the option “Show reference clips” to automatically display those objects that are referenced by sequences in the bin, whether those clips were previously in the bin or not.

5. Click OK. The bin displays objects according to your specifications.

Changing Bin Display View Size

Using the Bins Display

To change the bin display view size:

t Click the lower right corner of a bin display view, and then drag the bin

display view to resize. The bin display view size is retained as a user setting for that bin. The

bin display view retains its set size every time you open that view of that bin, even in separate editing sessions. Each bin display view can have a different size.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

Creating a Folder in a Project

To create a folder in a project:

1. Click the Bins tab in the Project window.

Bins tab

Fast Menu button

2. Click the Fast Menu button.

3. Choose New Folder from the Bin Fast menu.

4. Click the untitled folder and rename it.

Creating a New Bin

To create a new bin from the Project window:

1. Do one of the following:

A new, untitled folder appears.

t Choose New Bin from the File menu. t Click the New Bin button in the Project window.

Renaming a Bin

Using the Bins Display

Either one of these procedures opens a new (empty) bin that is given the name of the project as displayed in the title bar of the Project window. The new bin appears in the Bins list of the Project window. A corresponding file is placed in the project folder, and a backup copy is placed in the Avid Attic folder. For more information about the Avid Attic folder, see “Saving Bins Automatically” on page 87.

The new bin appears in the Project window with a default name highlighted.

2. Type the name of the new bin, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh).

To place a bin in a folder:

t Drag the bin to the folder icon.

Each new bin that you create takes the name of the project that appears in the Project window, numbered incrementally.

To change the name of a bin:

t Click the bin name in the Project window, and type a new name.

Opening and Closing a Bin

To open a bin directly:

1. Click the Bins tab in the Project window.

2. Double-click the icon next to the bin name.

To open a bin from the File menu:

1. Choose Open Bin from the File menu. The Open dialog box appears.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

Windows

Macintosh

Up One Level pop-up menu

2. Select a bin. Navigate to the correct folder, if necessary.

Using the Bins Display

Opening Selected Bins

Opening Bins from Other Projects

Never open a bin that is stored on a floppy disk; otherwise, the system cannot save your work. Always copy the bin to a project folder on the internal hard drive (Windows) or the Macintosh HD (Macintosh) before you open it.

3. Click the Open button.

To open several bins at once from the Project window:

1. Click the name of one of the bins in the Bins list.

2. Ctrl+click (Windows) or Shift+click (Macintosh) each additional bin you want to open.

3. Choose Open Selected Bins from the File menu.

To open a bin from another project:

1. Choose Open Bin from the File menu. The Open dialog box appears.

2. Find and select the bin you want. Bins have the file name extension .avb.

Never open a bin that is stored on a floppy disk or equivalent device; otherwise, the system cannot save your work. Always copy the bin to a project folder on the system drive before you open it. For more information, see “Transferring Projects, User Profiles, and Site

Settings” on page 722.

3. Click Open.

The bin appears in the Bins list of the Project window in a folder called Other Bins. The name Other Bins appears in italic. You can rename this folder. This option is especially useful when you want to open a bin not currently displayed in the Project window.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

Closing a Bin

The Other Bins folder disappears from the Bins list when you delete all the bins in the Other Bins folder. Deleting bins from the Other Bins folder does not remove the bins from the drive; only the pointers to the bins are removed.

To close a bin, do one of the following:

t Click the Close button (Windows) or the close box (Macintosh). t Choose Close Bin from the File menu.

Deleting a Bin or Folder

You can delete bins and folders along with their contents from the Bins list in the Project window. Deleted bins and folders are moved to a Trash folder in the Bins list until you empty the Trash. If you need a deleted bin or folder, you can retrieve it from the Trash. For more information, see

“Viewing Contents in the Trash” on page 85.

Clips, subclips, and effects that are in a bin appear in the Trash after you delete the bin. However, if you select a clip, subclip, or effect directly and press the Delete key, the item does not appear in the Tras h.

To delete a bin or folder within a project:

1. Select the bin or the folder you want to delete in the Bins list.

2. Press the Delete key. A Trash icon appears in the Bins list in the Project window. It contains

the deleted item. The deleted item is stored in the Trash until you empty it.

The Trash is not visible in the Project window until you select your first item to delete.

Viewing Contents in the Trash

If you need to view the contents in the Trash or decide you do not want to delete those items in the Trash, you must first move the bins and folders out of the Trash.

Trash icon

To view items in the Trash:

1. Double-click the Trash icon in the Bins list to open it.

2. Click the bins or folders you want to keep (or view), and drag them from the Trash to the Bins list in the Project window.

Using the Bins Display

3. Double-click the bin or folder to view it.

Emptying the Trash

You can empty the contents of the Trash that is located in the Bins list.

Emptying the trash permanently removes the bins or folders from the drive.

If you change the name of the Trash icon, you cannot empty the Trash.

To empty the Trash:

1. Click the Fast Menu button.

2. Choose Empty Trash from the Fast menu. A message box appears.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

3. Click Empty Trash to delete the bins or folders from the Trash and from your internal hard drive.

Managing Folders and Bins

You can use the Project window to create hierarchies of folders and bins that reflect the specific workflow of the current project. This structure should provide both simplicity and backup security. Although the specifics vary depending on your production needs and habits, the following are a few basic principles:

• Limit the number of sequences you create in each project. For instance, consider creating one new project for each show, episode, spot, or scene.

• Limit the number and complexity of clips in each bin by creating and organizing bins in three groups, as shown in Tab le 1 .

Table 1 Bin Organization

Set of Bins Purpose Specific Bins

First Recording stage

Second Organizing your project

Third Editing stage A current cut bin for storing each work in progress

(sequence)

An archive bin for keeping the original version of each cut (sequence)

Table 1 Bin Organization (Continued)

Set of Bins Purpose Specific Bins

A selects or storyboard bin for screening selected clips or cuts gathered from the source bins

A format cuts bin for storing the final cuts with added format elements such as segment breaks, color bars and tone, slate, or countdown

• (Option) Create additional folders at the desktop level for better organization. For example, you can create one folder for each recording bin and show cut bin, or a folder containing all shot logs to be imported.

• Save these files as a template for future productions of a similar nature.

Saving Bins Automatically

Using the Bins Display

Avid Xpress DV automatically saves changes to your work on a regular basis during each session. Two things happen when an auto-save occurs:

• Any open bins are updated with changes made since the last auto-save.

• Copies of these bins are placed in the following location as backup:

-(Windows) drive:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Xpress DV\

Avid Attic

- (Macintosh) Macintosh HD/Users/Shared/Avid Attic

To adjust the frequency of automatic saves:

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window. The Settings scroll list appears.

2. Double-click Bin. The Bin Settings dialog box appears.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

3. Type a number in the minutes text box for the Auto-Save Interval option.

4. Click OK.

Saving Bins Manually

For added security, you can save a bin manually. You might want to do this immediately after performing an important edit. There are three ways to save bins manually.

To save a specific bin:

1. Click the bin to activate it.

2. Choose Save Bin from the File menu.

The Save Bin command appears dimmed if there have been no changes since the last time the active bin was saved.

To save selected bins:

1. Activate the Project window by choosing Project from the Tools menu or by clicking anywhere in the window.

2. Click a Bin icon to select it. Ctrl+click (Windows) or Shift+click (Macintosh) any additional bins.

3. Choose Save All from the File menu. The system saves all the selected bins.

To save all the bins:

1. Click in the Project window to activate it but do not select any individual bins listed in the Bins list.

2. Choose Save All from the File menu. The system saves all the bins for the project.

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder

You retrieve files from the Avid Attic folder in the following circumstances:

• When you want to replace current changes to a sequence or clip with a previous version

• When the current bin file becomes corrupted

The Avid Attic folder contains a folder for each project. When a bin is saved, a copy of the bin file is stored in the project folder in the Avid Attic folder. The system adds the file name extension .bak plus a version number to the bin name. The bin file with the highest version number represents the latest copy of the bin file.

When you view a project folder in Details view, you can also identify the most recent backup file based on the name and timestamp of creation displayed in the Date Modified column.

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder (Windows)

Using the Bins Display

To retrieve a file from the Avid Attic folder:

1. Minimize the Avid Xpress DV application. For information on minimizing, see the Windows documentation.

2. From the desktop, double-click the Avid Attic folder in the following location:

drive:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Xpress DV\ The Avid Attic folder opens and displays project folders that contain

the backup files.

3. Double-click the project folder that contains the files you want to retrieve.

4. Choose Details from the View menu, if the project folder is not already in the Details view.

The project folder displays the file names and their creation dates.

5. Ctrl+click the files you want to retrieve.

6. Drag the selected backup bin files to the desktop.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

This makes a copy of the files, leaving the original files in the Avid Attic folder.

7. Double-click the Avid Xpress DV button in the taskbar to activate it.

If the taskbar is hidden, see “Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows

Only)” on page 41.

8. Click the Project window to activate it, and click Bins to display the Bins list.

9. Open the backup bin: a. Choose Open Bin from the File menu. b. Select one of the backup bin files you copied to the desktop. c. Click Open. When you open the backup bin, a link to the backup bin on the desktop

is created in the Other Bins folder.

The Avid Xpress DV system does not allow a bin and a copy of a bin to be opened at the same time. You must keep all other bins closed and open the backup bins one at a time. You might also need to change the creation date to avoid conflicts. For more information, see “Modifying the Creation

Date” on page 92.

10. Create a new bin if you do not plan to overwrite existing files.

11. Open the new bin, and open the backup bin in the Other Bins folder.

12. Select the material you want to keep from the backup bin, and drag the files to the new bin.

Repeat steps 9 through 12 for any other backup bins you copied to your desktop.

13. Select and delete the backup bins in the Other Bins folder.

14. Drag the backup bin files to the Recycle Bin on the desktop.

Once you have moved the objects, modify their creation dates so they are considered newest by the system. The creation date is modified whenever you make a change to an object and then save the bin.

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder (Macintosh)

To retrieve a file from the Avid Attic folder:

1. Minimize the Avid Xpress DV application. For information on minimizing, see the Macintosh documentation

2. Navigate to Macintosh HD/Users/Shared.

3. Double-click the Avid Attic folder.

4. Choose “as List” from the View menu if the Avid Attic folder is not already in List view.

5. In the Avid Attic folder, open the project you want to retrieve, and then Shift+click the bin files you want.

6. Press and hold the Option key, and drag the backup files to the desktop. This makes a copy of the files, leaving the original files in the Avid Attic folder.

7. Click the Avid Xpress DV application icon in the Dock to activate it.

8. Click the Project window to reactivate it.

Using the Bins Display

The Avid Xpress DV system does not allow a bin and copy of a bin to be opened at the same time, so you must keep all other bins closed and open the backup bins one at a time.

9. Open the backup bin: a. Choose Open Bin from the File menu. b. Select one of the backup bin files you copied to the desktop. c. Click Open. When you open the backup bin, a link to that backup bin is created in

the Other Bins folder.

10. Create a new bin from the Project window.

11. Select the material you want to keep from the backup bin, press and hold the Option key, and drag duplicates to the new bin.

Repeat steps 8 through 10 for any other backup bins you copied to your desktop.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

12. Select and delete the backup bins in the Other Bins folder.

13. Click on the desktop, and drag the backup copies of the bins to the Trash.

Modifying the Creation Date

After you have moved backup bins from the Avid Attic folder, you must modify the creation date for these backup items so they are considered the newest items by the system. This prevents them from being overwritten by a newer item.

To modify the creation date:

1. Click the Frame tab in the Bin window to put the bin in Frame view.

2. Choose Select All from the Edit menu.

3. Click the Step Forward button or press the Step Forward key to advance the pictures displayed by one frame; click the Step Backward button or press the Step Backward key to move back again. This modifies the timestamp on these clips to the present time and date.

4. Close the backup copies of the bins.

5. Quit the Avid Xpress DV application.

6. Drag the backup copies of the bins to the Recycle Bin (Windows) or the Trash (Macintosh).

Using the Settings Scroll List

From the Settings scroll list of the Project window, you can view, select, open, and alter various User, Project, and Site settings, as described in this section.

To view the Settings scroll list, do one of the following:

t Click the Settings tab in the Project window. t Choose Preferences from the Edit menu.

Settings tab

Using the Settings Scroll List

Understanding the Settings Scroll List

Tabl e 2 briefly describes each item in the Settings scroll list, and lists

where you can find additional information on a particular item.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

Table 2 Settings Scroll List

Setting Name Description For More Information

Audio Sets the default audio pan; contains

audio scrub options and audio setup parameters.

Audio Project Sets parameters for audio project setup. See “Adjusting Audio Project Settings”

Bin Sets the Auto-save preferences for bins. See “Bin Settings” on page 98.

Bin View Selects and formats the information

displayed in bins.

Correction Sets parameters for color correction. See the Avid Color Correction User’s

Deck Configuration

Deck Preferences

Desktop Play Delay

Export Sets parameters for file export. See Table 50 on page 685.

Configures channels and decks into the system.

Sets preferences that affect all decks configured into the system.

Lets you adjust the offset between audio and video playback.

See “Adjusting Pan Defaults” on

page 517 and “Adjusting Digital Scrub Parameters” on page 516.

on page 215.

See “Displaying Custom Bin Views” on

page 292.

Guide or the Help.

See “Configuring Decks” on page 188.

See “Setting Deck Preferences” on

page 195.

See “Adjusting the Play Delay Offset”

on page 406.

Film Sets essential parameters for accurately

capturing, tracking, and editing source material for matchback projects.

General Defines default values such as the default

starting timecode and the audio file format for your project.

Import Sets parameters for file import. See Table 20 on page 265.

See “Choosing Film Settings” on

page 634.

Film settings are available only

with PowerPack. See “Using

PowerPack” on page 631.

See “General Settings” on page 99.

Using the Settings Scroll List

Table 2 Settings Scroll List (Continued)

Setting Name Description For More Information

Interface Defines the appearance and function of

certain interface elements.

Keyboard Displays the default keys on the Keyboard

palette.

Media Creation Sets video resolution and selects drives for

recording, creating titles, importing, and performing audio and video mixdown.

PortServer Sets up the LANshare client so its

workspaces are recognized.

Record Defines how the Avid Xpress DV system

records and batch records in specific situations.

Render Sets the Render Completion sound, and

controls how motion effects render.

Safe Colors Sets the safe color parameters for the Color

Correction tool.

Script Sets the default display options for scripts

imported using script integration.

See “Interface Settings” on page 100.

See “Understanding the Keyboard” on

page 413.

See “Setting Media Creation

Resolutions and Selecting Drives” on page 228.

See “Setting Up the LANshare Client”

on page 143.

See “Record Settings” on page 187.

See the Avid Xpress DV Effects Guide or the Help.

See the Avid Color Correction User’s Guide or the Help.

See Chapter 11.

Script integration is available

only with PowerPack. See “Using

PowerPack” on page 631.

Timeline Contains general Timeline preferences. See “Accessing the Timeline Settings”

on page 458.

Title Style If you save a title style while you are using

the Title tool, Title Style appears in the Settings scroll list.

Trim Customizes the Trim mode

environment.

See the Avid Xpress DV Effects Guide or the Help.

See “Customizing Trim Mode” on

page 491.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

Table 2 Settings Scroll List (Continued)

Setting Name Description For More Information

Video Display Allows digital camera video input; enables

support of cameras with video input; sets the mode and source for desktop video; enables Client monitor; sets effects preview options.

VTR Emulation (Windows Only)

Workspace Enables you to associate settings and

Sets parameters when you use the Avid system to emulate a VTR.

windows with a workspace.

Understanding Settings

Three types of settings appear in the Settings scroll list, as indicated in the third column of information: User, Project, and Site settings.

• User settings are specific to a particular editor. User settings reflect

individual preferences for adjusting the user interface in the Avid application. Individual User settings are stored in each user folder, which is stored in the following location:

-(Windows) drive:\Program Files\Avid\

Avid Xpress DV\Avid Users

See “Playing Video to the Client

Monitor” on page 403 and the

Avid Xpress DV Effects Guide or the Help.

See “VTR Emulation (Windows Only)”

on page 635.

See “Linking User Settings and

Workspaces” on page 131.

- (Macintosh) Macintosh HD/Users/Shared/Avid Users

• Project settings are directly related to individual projects. When you

change a Project setting, it affects all editors working on the project. Specific Project settings are stored in each project folder, which is stored in the following location:

-(Windows) drive:\Program Files\Avid\

Avid Xpress DV\Avid Projects

- (Macintosh) Macintosh HD/Users/Shared/Avid Projects

• Site settings establish default parameters for all new users and projects

Defining Settings

You can use the Settings scroll list to establish a hierarchy of settings that address the specific needs of each production phase. For example, you can establish:

• User settings that facilitate logging, recording, organizing projects,

Using the Settings Scroll List

on a particular system. They can apply to particular configurations of equipment installed at the site; for example, specification and node settings for an external switcher. They can also include other User or Project settings that you copy into the Site Settings window. Site settings are stored in a separate Settings folder, in the following location:

-(Windows) drive:\Program Files\Avid\Avid Xpress DV\

- (Macintosh) Macintosh HD/Applications/Avid Xpress DV/

and editing interface preferences

• Project settings that reflect the specific needs of the project

• Bin View settings that display useful columns of information for each

bin

By establishing these settings once, and by selecting the appropriate setting or bin view in context, you can save time and effort that would be spent searching for information or adjusting bin headings on-the-fly. You can also save these settings along with your template for use on similar projects, as described in “Managing Folders and Bins” on page 86.

Reviewing Basic Settings

The following list describes basic system settings to review at the start of your project:

• Bin Settings

• General Settings

• Interface Settings

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

To view the settings:

t Double-click each setting in the Settings scroll list of the Project

window.

Bin Settings

Bin settings define general system functions related to bins. Select these functions in the Bin Settings dialog box.

Tabl e 3 describes the options listed in the Bin Settings dialog box.

Table 3 Bin Settings Options

Option Description

Auto-Save interval n minutes Specifies the length of time between attempts to auto-save project files.

The default is 15 minutes.

To avoid interrupting an edit, the Avid Xpress DV system waits until the system is inactive before auto-saving. Use the option “Force Auto-Save at” to specify an interval at which the system interrupts an edit to make the auto-save.

Inactivity period n seconds Specifies the length of time the Avid Xpress DV system waits when the

system is inactive before automatically saving the project files. The default is 0 seconds.

Force Auto-Save at n minutes Specifies the maximum length of time between auto-saves. When the

system reaches this time, it auto-saves the project files even if it must interrupt an edit to do so. The default is 30 minutes.

Maximum files in attic Specifies the total number of files stored in the Avid Attic folder. When

a bin is saved, the Avid Xpress DV system copies the previous version of the bin to a special folder called the Avid Attic. The default is 30 files.

Keep more files if there are many editors working on the system. This ensures that all the bins are backed up.

When there are multiple editors working on one system, store bin settings as Site or Project settings. This ensures that another user does not override your settings and delete your backups.

Using the Settings Scroll List

Table 3 Bin Settings Options (Continued)

Option Description

Max versions of any one bin Specifies the total number of single-bin copies stored in the Avid Attic

folder. This setting prevents filling the Avid Attic with too many copies of one bin, at the risk of losing the others. The default is five copies.

Double-click loads object in Determines what happens when you double-click an object in the bin.

New Pop-up Monitor

Source or Record Monitor

Enable SuperBin

General Settings

General settings define fundamental system defaults.

Tabl e 4 describes the General Settings options.

Table 4 General Settings Options

Option Description

Creates a new Source pop-up monitor and automatically loads the clip when you double-click an object in the bin.

• When you have the Composer monitor stretched into two monitors, loads the clip into the Source monitor or the sequence into the Record monitor.

• When you are using the single Composer monitor, loads the clip or sequence into the existing Source pop-up monitor.

Enables the SuperBin and its functions. See “Conserving Screen Real

Estate with the SuperBin” on page 294.

Project Format This option displays the format currently selected for the project (NTSC or

PAL). It cannot be changed.

Chapter 3 Working with the Project Window

Table 4 General Settings Options (Continued)

Option Description

Temporary File Directory When you use the Drag and Drop Export or an export that creates an

intermediate movie file, Avid Xpress DV must store the intermediate file, which can be as large as the final export. By default, the Temporary File Directory is located in the same directory as the Avid Xpress DV product.

To improve efficiency or to avoid DISK_FULL errors when exporting, you can type in a different directory for these temporary files. The ideal setting for this field is to type in a directory on the drive to which you are exporting, or simply one with plenty of free space.

Default Starting TC This option specifies the timecode value you want the system to use as the

default starting timecode for each new sequence.

NTSC Has Setup This option allows systems using NTSC-EIAJ to use the correct color

mapping. NTSC-EIAJ users should not select this option. All other users should select this option.

Use Windows compatible file names (Macintosh only)

Allow file names to exceed 27 characters (Macintosh only)

Interface Settings

Prevents you from using the characters /\:*?”<>| and adding leading spaces, trailing spaces, or a trailing period in bin, project, or user names. These characters are not allowed in Windows file names. This option is useful for moving bins and projects from Macintosh to Windows platforms.

Lets you override the Windows file name limit of 27 characters (not including the four characters reserved for the file type extension). Set this option if you do not plan to move your bins or projects to a Windows system, and if you want to use file names longer than 27 characters.

You can set general options and appearance options in the Interface dialog box. General Interface settings determine the level of basic information displayed in the interface. Appearance Interface Settings give you controls for customizing the colors and button style of the Avid Xpress DV user interface. For information about customizing the interface with Appearance settings, see “Customizing the Appearance of the Avid User

Interface” on page 114.

100

Pinnacle Systems Xpress DV - 3.5 User’s Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Tables

Figures

Using This Guide

Who Should Use This Guide

About This Guide

Symbols and Conventions

If You Need Help

Related Information

If You Have Documentation Comments

How to Order Documentation

Avid Educational Services

Desktop Basics

Working with the Desktop

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk (Windows Only)

Using Shortcut Menus (Windows)

Using Shortcut Menus (Macintosh)

Using the Windows Taskbar (Windows Only)

Dragging Windows (Windows Only)

Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Windows)

Setting the Avid Color Scheme (Macintosh)

Setting Your Screen Resolution

Changing Screen Resolution (Windows)

Changing Screen Resolution (Macintosh)

Using the Avid Xpress DV Folder

Managing the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

Using the Avid Projects and Avid Users Folders

Changing Project and User Names

Deleting Projects and User Profiles

Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Windows)

Starting the Avid Xpress DV Application (Macintosh)

Starting a Project

Opening and Closing a Project

Changing Users

Selecting a Project

Selecting a Shared Project

Selecting a Private Project

Browsing for a Project

Creating a New Project

Opening a Project Automatically

Opening a Project

Using User Profiles

Creating a User Profile

Importing a User Profile

Changing User Profiles

Backing Up Your Project Information

Closing a Project

Saving Your Project Information on a Drive or Floppy Disk

Restoring from a Backup

Ending an Edit Session

Quitting the Avid Xpress DV Application

Turning Off Your Equipment

Mounting and Unmounting Drives

Unmounting Drives (Windows)

Unmounting Drives (Macintosh)

Mounting All Drives

Working with the Project Window

Opening and Closing the Project Window

Using the Bins Display

Viewing a List of Bins

Displaying Bins

Changing Bin Display View Size

Creating a Folder in a Project

Creating a New Bin

Renaming a Bin

Opening and Closing a Bin

Opening Selected Bins

Opening Bins from Other Projects

Closing a Bin

Deleting a Bin or Folder

Viewing Contents in the Trash

Emptying the Trash

Managing Folders and Bins

Saving Bins Automatically

Saving Bins Manually

Retrieving Files from the Avid Attic Folder