AVID AMA QuickTime Plugin For Media Composer, Symphony and NewsCutter Editing Systems
Avid Editing Systems and the QuickTime AMA Plugin Features in Media Composer 5 and later, Symphony 5 and later, NewsCutter 9 and later. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge the advice, feedback and support of the many people who have given freely of their time and advice. I am responsible for the accuracy of the content, and any errors or omissions are mine alone. CORRECTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS Feedback, advice and corrections are always appreciated. Include the word QUICKTIME in the subject heading.
Contents INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 4 AVID QUICKTIME AMA ............................................................................................................... 5 AVID QUICKTIME CODEC SUPPORT ....................................................................................................... 7 QUICKTIME IN THE AMA ENVIRONMENT ................................................................
INTRODUCTION Within this guide you will learn how to link, import, screen, edit and output programs using QuickTime recordings and Avid Media Access (AMA). The features described here are based on the following versions of Avid products: Media Composer 5 Symphony 5 NewsCutter 9 If you are using AMA already for XDCAM, GFCam or P2, much of the material will be familiar. QuickTime AMA has some specific features and differences though, and they are covered in the first half of this document.
AVID QUICKTIME AMA AMA stands for Avid Media Access. Simply stated, this is a set of features which allow one to edit with files without having to import or ingest them first. Instead, we link to these external files. Using AMA, a supported file can be opened, screened and used for editing without needing to import it or create new media in an Avid proprietary format.
SO WHAT’S THE BIG DIFFERENCE? Avid editors have in the past been able to let the Editing System manage all their media for them. When they captured Video, it was stored in a particular folder on the drive with a cryptic name. This allowed the editing system to identify and manage all the media. Automatically. You could move, copy and restore media with the confidence that the editing system would identify it and make it available for your editing session. AMA is quite different.
AVID QUICKTIME CODEC SUPPORT When you install a current Avid editing application a part of the normal process is to install support for QuickTime movies which use any Apple supported codec. This means the QuickTime AMA Plugin is an excellent way to quickly access many types of animations and video from other production environments. For example, using QuickTime AMA we can now play and edit Apple Final Cut Pro video directly, without needing to import or transcode it first.
QUICKTIME IN THE AMA ENVIRONMENT The classic method of working with QuickTime files was to select a bin and choose FILE > IMPORT to import the files into Avid editing storage. If the files were not encoded using an Avid codec, they were converted into a supported Avid format while being imported. At the time of import, you were asked to make decisions about how the Avid editing system handled the movie it was importing.
CONFIRMING QUICKTIME AMA SUPPORT What AMA Plugins do I have? The QuickTime AMA Plugin works with Avid Media Composer 5 / Symphony 5 / NewsCutter 9. To see what AMA Plugins are installed, go to the Console (TOOLS > CONSOLE) and type in AMA_ListPlugins. The following report appears in the console.
What QuickTime files work with QuickTime AMA? As we have seen, QuickTime files of many different types are supported. As well, make sure the following specifications are met: The QuickTime movie must contain video using only a single codec. Be especially careful when exporting timelines from Avid editing systems using Same As Source if you want to QuickTime AMA link to the resulting movie. The QuickTime Audio and Video tracks must be the same length.
HOW DO I USE QUICKTIME AMA? AMA allows you to ‘link’ to the original QuickTime movie without making a copy of it inside an Avid storage system. If the QuickTime movie is on an external drive, then you can link to it and play and edit with it immediately. This capability can save storage space, as you don’t need to make a second copy of a movie which is already on your system. It can save time as there is no delay caused by importing the movie.
These clips can be loaded into the Player, screened and edited into a Sequence as if they were a typical piece of Avid media. You can also screen, subclip, transcode and Consolidate (copy) this external media into your Avid storage. Check that the AMA Feature is ON The first step is to make sure AMA is turned ON. It is ON by default, but to be sure you can check using one of these methods: If any yellow clips are visible, AMA is ON Look in the FILE menu and see if FILE > LINK TO AMA is present.
Where do my clips end up in my Project? Where your clips appear in the project is determined by a User Setting on your editing system, and whether you are linking to a CLIP or linking to a VOLUME. Where your Clips go when Linking to a FILE If you select FILE > LINK TO AMA FILE then the file goes to the currently selected bin, and if no bin is selected it will show you a list of open bins to choose the target from.
CREATE A NEW BIN: Creates a new bin, and that new bin can have one of three different names. You select the name you want with the buttons shown below this option: Default Bin Naming Convention will create a bin with the name of your project and a bin number appended to it, such as “My Project Bin1”. This is the default way your editing system names all new bins. Volume Name will create a bin with the name of the Drive the clips come from, such as “Media D” if Media is the name of your drive D.
While these topics may seem very technical to some, these adjustments can be an important part of troubleshooting problems with varied material while you are editing. Shown above are some of the columns of information available. These columns can be shown and hidden using the menu item BIN > CHOOSE COLUMNS. Here are some of the interesting things you can see and do with these columns: If you rename a QuickTime movie, the original QuickTime movie name is preserved in the SOURCE FILE Column.
WHAT HAPPENS IF…..? What happens if…. I rename the clip in the bin? There is no problem with renaming a QuickTime AMA clip once it is in your bin. Feel free to rename your clips as you wish to keep them identified. The original name is preserved in a different Column (SOURCE FILE) as mentioned previously, and is always available for display. What happens if….
This might happen if you re-render an animation to change something like the colors that were used, spelling of a title, replace a logo or replace a layer. What happens if…. I recreate my QuickTime movie using a different CODEC? This is OK. In fact, a common workflow will be to work with the same movie at different compression levels. For example, you might edit with an SD or low resolution version or an animation and at a later date AMA Relink to a high resolution QuickTime version of the same material.
What happens if…. I recreate my QuickTime movie with a different number of tracks? Changing the number of tracks in a QuickTime movie is not supported. Re-rendering your movie with a different number of tracks will not change a clip which has already been linked into the Avid editing system bin. If you add audio tracks to the QuickTime movie the clip will still only access and play the original number of audio tracks.
select the QuickTime movie file in its new location. This will not create a new clip in the bin, but instead re-establish the link with the clip already in the bin. Create a new link (and Clip) to the moved QuickTime movie. In any bin which does not already contain the original clip use FILE > LINK TO AMA FILE(S)… to create a new clip of the moved QuickTime movie in its new location. The original clip remains OFFLINE. What happens if….
What happens if…. My QuickTime movie has more than one codec in it? This is not supported, although actually, this happens often. When you export a timeline using SAME AS SOURCE, the resulting movie contains copies of the original video files, in their original codec. If your timeline had multiple video codecs in it – some MPEG 30, some 2:1 for example, then the final QuickTime movie will also have mixed video codecs files in it- and cannot be AMA Linked.
MIXDOWN: Load the Sequence into the Record monitor Video Mixdown will use any marks which are present to indicate the portion of the program to mixdown. Either place – or remove – marks within your Sequence as appropriate. Turn on all the VIDEO tracks and select the menu item SPECIAL > VIDEO MIXDOWN Fill in the small dialogue as appropriate, click OK The result is a clip in the target bin. Edit this clip into the place in the timeline where the video matches.
MAKING A COMPATIBLE QUICKTIME MOVIE Most QuickTime movies we edit with may not come from Avid editing systems, but from a Graphic Artist or another editing environment or device. These may be After Effects animations, or Maya 3D movies. We also exchange media with other editing systems such as Apple Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere. Movies from all these sources are viable for QuickTime AMA linking into Avid if they meet the requirements mentioned earlier.
USING AVID STORAGE What Is Avid Storage? I am referring to hard drives which you would normally digitize video and audio. These could be internal SATA drives on your workstation, or external SCSI or SAS drives. In an Avid Interplay environment, this would be the Avid Unity™ (ISIS® or MediaNetwork) storage. In all cases, Avid storage is both fast and managed by the Avid editing application. Standalone systems use the Media Tool, and Interplay uses the Interplay® Window and Access.
How Do I Copy My QuickTime Movies to Avid Storage? There are three methods you can use: Import Consolidate Transcode Import This is the traditional way to bring QuickTime movies into an Avid editing system. Select a bin and choose the menu item FILE > IMPORT. This copies the QuickTime movie into Avid storage, and converts it to an Avid codec if necessary. Consolidate Consolidate is the Avid copy command, and it can transfer clips from linked QuickTime movies to an Avid storage device.
AVID MEDIA ACCESS ON INTERPLAY QuickTime AMA linked files are local storage. Like all local storage, this media is not visible or accessible to other Avid Interplay or Avid Unity users. Still, you can edit with AMA linked clips and then consolidate or transcode (as appropriate) your completed sequence (or selected clips) to Interplay. Using Shared Storage to Hold AMA Content You may wish to use your Avid Interplay or Avid Unity storage to hold QuickTime media which could be shared by several edit suites.
AVID MEDIA ACCESS WORKFLOWS Updating the Opening Animation for a Program The editor is working on a series of shows, and all 10 episodes use the same generic opening over which they place a specific title for each episode. Near the end of the editing process a change is made to this generic opening, and the editor wants to update all 10 episodes. The Graphic Artist makes the changes to the opening and re-renders it.
Linking to FinalCut Pro media Media for a project has been captured on a Final Cut Pro system, but the Promo is going to be cut on an Avid editing system. The Final Cut Pro editor copies the required media to a folder and delivers this folder on a USB drive to the Avid editing suite. While the editor could edit directly with the drive, she wants better performance so copies the folder to one of her Avid drives.
COPYRIGHT © PAUL SAMPSON 2010 all rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. © 2010 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, and system requirements are subject to change without notice. Avid, Avid Unity, Media Composer, Interplay, ISIS, NewsCutter, and Symphony are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
