Avid NewsCutter XP ® ® Getting Started Guide Release 1.
© 2000 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Avid NewsCutter XP Getting Started Guide for the Windows NT Operating System • Part 0130-04661-01 Rev.
Contents Chapter 1 Setting Up Your Avid NewsCutter XP System Check List for Setting Up Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Turning On Your Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Setting Your Screen Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Preparing Your Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Overview of Partitioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter 2 About Avid NewsCutter XP About Digital Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Nonlinear Editing with Avid NewsCutter XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Avid NewsCutter XP Terms and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Selecting and Opening a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Creating a Simple Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Closing the Project and Quitting the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Chapter 5 Playing and Marking Clips Exploring the Project Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Minimizing Avid NewsCutter XP Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Default Locations for the Avid NewsCutter XP Windows . . . . 95 Making the First Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Playing a Video Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Dragging a Video Clip and Creating a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Moving and Renaming the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Opening a Sequence .
Patching Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Selecting the Tracks to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Splicing in the Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Reviewing Your Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Confirming the Duration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter 8 Adding Effects Effects Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Transition Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Segment Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Dissolving Between Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Creating a Series of Dissolves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Chapter 10 Generating Output Creating a Movie for the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 About Media Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Preparing the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Exporting with Media Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Setting the SCSI IDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Connecting the Editing Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Overview of the Hardware Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Cables Needed to Connect the Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Cables Shipped with the Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Optional Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Figures Figure A-1 System Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Figure A-2 Application Key Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Figure A-3 External SCSI Connector Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Figure A-4 Placing the External SCSI Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Figure A-5 Example of a Chain of SCSI Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Figure A-6 Cable and Terminator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tables Table 1-1 Check List for Setting Up Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Table 1-2 Custom Installation Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Table A-1 Numbers Associated with SCSI Switch Letters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Table A-2 Connecting the Digital Video Deck or Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Table A-3 Connecting an Analog Video Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER 1 Setting Up Your Avid NewsCutter XP System This chapter describes how to set up your Avid NewsCutter XP system.
Check List for Setting Up Your System The check list in Table 1-1 lists the tasks you need to complete before you can use your Avid NewsCutter XP system.
Turning On Your Equipment After you have connected your equipment, turn on the various components. If you have connected external drives, you need to shut down and restart your computer before the computer can detect and use the external drives. If any part of your system fails to turn on, make sure its electrical cord is plugged snugly into an appropriate electrical outlet or power strip. For more information, see the instructions for setting up your computer hardware.
c To avoid system damage, do not disconnect or turn off the external media drives while the computer is on. Setting Your Screen Resolution When running NewsCutter XP, Avid recommends that you set your Windows NT screen resolution as follows: 1. Right-click on the desktop. 2. Choose properties from the shortcut menu. The Display Properties dialog box appears. 3. Click the Settings tab. 4. Set the Desktop Area to 1024 x 768 pixels. 5. Set the Refresh Frequency to 75 Hertz. 6. Click OK.
Preparing Your Drives To use Avid NewsCutter XP software on a Windows NT system, you need to partition and format the drives properly. Partitioning divides a drive into sections, and formatting places a file system on each partition. Your computer contains two internal disk drives. One drive is already partially partitioned and formatted (see “Checking Your Internal Drives” on page 19). This partition contains the Windows NT operating system.
One partition G • Drive G You can have up to four primary partitions per drive. Each partition is assigned a drive letter and cannot be further subdivided. Four partitions G I H J Drives G – J For specific recommendations for partitioning your drives, see “Creating Primary Partitions” on page 20. n You can also create a partition across more than one drive, which is called striping drives. You do not need to stripe drives when you use Avid NewsCutter XP.
c One of your internal disk drives has a partition (designated drive C) that contains the Windows NT operating system stored on a FAT file system. You should not reformat this partition unless you need to rebuild your system disk drive. Checking Your Internal Drives Your computer contains two internal disk drives. The first drive has a 2-GB partition that is formatted with a FAT file system. This partition is your system or boot drive, which is designated drive C in the factory default configuration.
Already partitioned and formatted Needs partitioning and formatting 9420 MB 18428 MB 18 MB Creating Primary Partitions To create a primary partition: 1. Start Windows NT 4.0 and log in to an account with administrative privileges. If you do not have administrative privileges, see your system administrator to get privileges. 2. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and select Disk Administrator. The first Disk Administrator window opens. 3.
5. Choose the size of the primary partition by typing a number or by clicking the up or down arrow. Avid recommends creating a second partition on the first internal drive (Disk 0), using all the remaining space. Avid also recommends creating one large partition on the second internal drive (Disk 1). In both cases, use the maximum size for the partition. If you want to create multiple partitions, you can divide the maximum size of the partition by the number of partitions (up to 4).
9. Click Yes. The following Disk Administrator dialog box appears. 10. Click OK. Formatting Partitions To format the primary partitions you created: 1. From the Windows NT Disk Administrator, use the pointer to select the primary partition that you are going to format. 2. From the Tools menu, choose Format. The Format window opens.
3. Choose NTFS File System. 4. Type a Volume Label Name that helps you define that partition. You can enter up to 14 characters. 5. Select Quick Format. 6. Click Start to begin formatting. The Format warning dialog box appears. This warning refers only to the new partition, not previously formatted partitions. 7. Click OK. The Format Complete dialog box appears after formatting and tells you the total disk space and the total disk space available on the volume. 8. Click OK. 9.
Creating a Disk Configuration Floppy Disk You should now save the new disk configuration on a floppy disk. To create a configuration floppy disk: 1. Start Windows NT 4.0 and log in to an account with administrative privileges. If you do not have administrative privileges, see your system administrator to get privileges. 2. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and select Disk Administrator. The first Disk Administrator window opens. 3.
Installing Avid NewsCutter XP Software This section describes how to install the Avid NewsCutter XP application and its related components from the installation CD-ROM. n c In order to install or remove the application software, you need to use an account with administrative privileges. The following third-party software applications have been modified to work properly with Avid software: LSX-MPEG and QuickTime®.
If the installation program doesn’t start automatically: a. Double-click the My Computer icon. b. Double-click your CD-ROM drive icon. c. Double-click the Launch icon. The opening window of the installer opens. 3. In the opening window, click Installers. 4. Click Install Avid NewsCutter XP. n If you have not partitioned and formatted the second internal disk drive (in addition to drive C) or additional external drives, a message appears.
9. After you have selected an option, click Next. The AVX_Plug-In Location window opens and displays the default destination as: C:\Program Files\Avid\AVX_Plug-ins 10. Click Next to accept the default path. 11. In the Application Data Location window, indicate a location for the application files (project folders and user folders). n Avid recommends that you install these files on a drive or partition other than drive C. To change the default path: a. Click the Browse button. b.
Installing Selected Components You can install some Avid NewsCutter XP components separately. These components, which create movies for Internet distribution, include: • Media Cleaner • LSX-MPEG • QuickTime To install a selected component: 1. Quit all Windows NT applications. 2. Insert the Avid NewsCutter XP Installation CD-ROM into the CDROM drive. If the installation program doesn't start automatically: a. Double-click the My Computer icon. b. Double-click your CD-ROM drive icon. c.
Performing a Custom Installation You can perform a custom installation to install particular files from the installation CD-ROM. Table 1-2 lists the components available when you use the Custom option of the Avid Application Installer. Table 1-2 Custom Installation Components Component Description Avid NewsCutter XP Installs the application and all the necessary supporting files, except the Help files. Help files Installs the appropriate Help files. To perform a custom installation: 1.
To change the default path: a. Click the Browse button. b. In the Path text box, type: drive:\Avid\Avid NewsCutter XP c. Click OK. A message asks if you want to create the folder. d. Click Yes. 6. Click Next. The installation begins. When the installation is complete, a message asks if you want to restart the system. 7. Click Yes, and then click Finish.
The Welcome window for the Setup Maintenance program opens. It presents three options: • n n Modify: Select this option to add new program components or remove currently installed components. If you choose to remove currently installed components, this option does not remove registry entries or icons in the Start menu. To fully uninstall Avid NewsCutter XP, select the Remove option. If you want to remove Avid AVI Codec, LSX-MPEG (Ligos), or QuickTime, use the Add/Remove Programs dialog box.
Installing AvidNet Transfer Tool Software The AvidNet™ Transfer Tool is an application that allows you to transfer media and files over a network. For information on using the AvidNet Transfer Tool, see the AvidNet Transfer Tool User’s Guide, available on the Avid NewsCutter XP Online Publications CD-ROM, and the Avid NewsCutter XP Release Notes. n Before installing the AvidNet Transfer Tool, you should first install Avid NewsCutter XP.
If you have installed the AvidNet Transfer Tool previously, a dialog box asks you if you want to uninstall files. Click Yes, and then follow the on-screen instructions. 9. Select a media drive for Incoming Media Files and click Next. 10. Select a destination location for Incoming Files and click Next. If you select a location on drive C, a message tells you that you need to select an NTFS drive for compatibility with Macintosh files.
Installing EDL Manager EDL Manager is an application that allows you to generate EDLs (edit decision lists) from sequences exported from any Avid video-based editing product. For information on using EDL Manager, see the Avid EDL Manager User’s Guide, available on the Avid NewsCutter XP Online Publications CD-ROM. You can install EDL Manager on another computer.
7. In the License Agreement window, read the agreement, and then click Yes to accept the terms of the agreement. 8. In the Choose Destination Location window, accept the default path for the application folder (on drive C) by clicking Next. The default path is: C:\Program Files\Avid\EDL Manager 9. In the Setup Type window, select Typical and click Next. The installation proceeds and the Setup Complete window opens. 10.
4. Follow the instructions to create a repair disk. Store the emergency repair disk in a safe, dry, static-free location. Installing the Avid NewsCutter XP Tutorial Files The Avid NewsCutter XP Tutorial CD-ROMs contain all the files you need for the tutorial chapters of this guide, including DV media that is ready for you to use. The tutorial files are shipped on two CD-ROMs, in either NTSC or PAL format. You will need approximately 1 GB of free space available on a media drive.
This path should add the Avid Projects folder to the path you selected for application data when you installed Avid NewsCutter XP. See “Installing Avid NewsCutter XP Software” on page 25. 7. In the Select a Drive window, select a drive for the tutorial media and click Next. The installation begins. When the installation is finished for CD 1, a message asks you to insert Avid NewsCutter XP Tutorial CD 2 into the CD-ROM drive. 8. Insert CD 2 into the CD-ROM drive and click OK. 9.
2. Select the Shut down the computer option and click Yes. 3. When the system displays a message telling you it is safe to turn off your computer, press the Power button on the computer. 4. Turn off your speakers and monitors. 5. Turn off each external media drive. 6. Turn off all other hardware. c Never remove external media drives from your Avid NewsCutter XP system when it is turned on. Shut down the computer before you move drives.
CHAPTER 2 About Avid NewsCutter XP This chapter explains the basic concepts and terminology that you need to be familiar with to edit video with Avid NewsCutter XP.
About Digital Video With Avid NewsCutter XP lets you edit digital video, specifically, digital video that is transferred through equipment conforming to IEEE Standard 1394. This equipment (cameras, video and audio decks, cables, connectors, and processing boards) is sometimes referred to as FireWire® or I-Link™. DV connections let you transfer digital data (both video and audio) directly from a DV camera to a digital, nonlinear editing system with no conversion losses.
Avid NewsCutter XP Terms and Concepts This section explains the following terms and concepts to help you understand the Avid NewsCutter XP editing process: • Media Files • Clips • Subclips • Sequences • Bins • Projects • The Attic Folder • Programs Media Files Media files store source material.
Clips Clips point to media files. When you record media, Avid NewsCutter XP creates another file, called a master clip, on your system’s internal drive. The master clip is simply a pointer to its corresponding media file, which is located in the OMFI MediaFiles folder on a media drive. A media drive can be inside the computer (an internal media drive) or outside the computer (an external media drive).
c A subclip points to a media file’s master clip. You must not delete the master clip from which a subclip was created. If you delete the master clip, you will lose the information in the subclip. Master clip Subclip Sequences A sequence is a program created from one or more clips and subclips. You can join different clips and subclips to create a sequence.
in the media file’s master clip. These segments of material are called handles. Handles are important; you need them to trim cuts and create transition effects between segments. For more information about trimming cuts, see “Trimming” on page 128. For more information about transition effects, see “Effects Editing” on page 138. Like clips and subclips, a sequence contains pointers to media files, which are stored in the OMFI MediaFiles folder.
The Attic Folder For a complete description of retrieving bins from the Attic folder, see the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide or Help. Avid NewsCutter XP saves copies of your current project and its bins at regular intervals and whenever you save or close a project or bin. These auto-save files are stored in the Attic folder at the top level of the internal hard drive.
The Avid NewsCutter XP File System The following illustration shows the different kinds of Avid NewsCutter XP files and where they are stored. The Avid NewsCutter XP application folder is stored on your computer’s internal hard drive. The Avid Projects folder is also stored on an internal drive; the location varies, depending on your installation. An OMFI MediaFiles folder is stored on each media drive.
Project Workflow The following sections illustrate the four stages of a typical Avid NewsCutter XP project: starting a project, preparing to edit, editing a sequence, and generating output. Complete procedures for each stage are included in the printed manuals, online books, and Help.
Starting a Project Starting a project involves the following steps: 1. Turn on your equipment in the correct order and start the software. (Speakers and external media drives are optional.) 1. Turn on and start your Avid system. 2. Select or create a new user and project: the job that will result in one or more finished sequences. 2. Select or create a user and project. 3. Create and organize bins. 3. Create and organize bins. 4. Back up your project on a regular basis. 4. Back up the project.
Preparing to Edit Preparing to edit involves the following steps: 1. (Optional) Import your log files into the bins, or log the material manually. 2. Record your DV footage, creating media files and master clips. 1. (Option) Import shot logs into the bin. 2. Record footage, creating master clips and media files. 3. Work with bins and clips to organize your source material for easy access during editing. 3. Sort and organize clips in the bins. 4.
Editing a Sequence Editing a sequence involves the following steps: 1. View your clips in advance and mark IN points and OUT points, or create subclips based on selected portions of your master clips. 1. Screen, mark, and subcatalog footage. Composer monitor 5. Screen and continue editing as necessary. Source pop-up monitor 2. Build your sequence using editing controls with the Timeline, Source pop-up monitors, and the Composer monitor. Timeline 2. Edit with Timeline and monitors. 3.
Generating Output Generating various forms of output based on your sequence involves selecting among several options: Export material for audio sweetening or graphics enhancement in a third-party application, for incorporating into a multimedia project, or for publishing on the Internet. Export material for additional processing, for incorporating into a multimedia project, or for publishing on the Internet. DV Record the final sequence to tape as a digital cut. Record a digital cut directly to tape.
CHAPTER 3 Learning How to Use Avid NewsCutter XP This chapter explains the different resources that can help you learn how to use your Avid NewsCutter XP system.
Using the Tutorial The self-paced tutorial chapters in this guide are designed as guided Avid editing sessions, using the basic features of the Avid system. In this tutorial, you’re going to edit a 1-minute sequence about Avid Technology, Inc. This sequence is typical of a short piece you might create for your own organization. You can publish the sequence on tape or CD-ROM, or stream it across the Internet.
Using Help Avid NewsCutter XP has a comprehensive Help system that includes all information contained in the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide, and most of the information contained in the Avid NewsCutter XP Effects Guide. In addition, you can get information on windows, dialog boxes, and screen objects by pressing the F1 key or clicking the right mouse button. Opening and Closing the Help System The Help system is also included on the Avid NewsCutter XP Online Publications CDROM.
n If there is no information about a window or dialog box, the Help Topics dialog box appears. Getting Help for Screen Objects You can use What’s This? Help to find out about buttons and other screen objects. To get Help for screen objects: 1. Using the right mouse button, click on the screen object (for example, a button). A pop-up menu appears. 2. Choose What’s This? from the menu. A pop-up window opens with an explanation of how you use the item.
To print a Help topic from the Contents tab: 1. Select the topic you want to print. 2. Click the Print button at the bottom of the tab. To print a book of related topics from the Contents tab: 1. Select the book you want to print. 2. Click the Print button. If you select a book, all topics within that book, and all topics in other books contained in that book, will be printed. The system sends each topic as a separate print job to the printer; therefore, printing can take a long time.
n • Speed up information retrieval by performing keyword searches. • Annotate the books with your own notes. • Zoom in on a page, enabling closer review of text and images. • Print any or all pages. • View the books with full-color graphics. • View movies that illustrate Avid NewsCutter XP effects. Avid gives you permission to print up to three complete copies of each book.
• Check the following Avid Web site for listings of courses, schedules, and locations: www.avid.com/services/training/training.
CHAPTER 4 Starting a Project and Creating a Simple Sequence This chapter begins the tutorial section of this guide. In this chapter you’ll practice the following tasks: • Starting Avid NewsCutter XP • Using the Open Project Dialog Box • Creating a Simple Sequence • Closing the Project and Quitting the Application Before starting this chapter, make sure you have installed the tutorial files (see “Installing the Avid NewsCutter XP Tutorial Files” on page 36).
Starting Avid NewsCutter XP You can create a shortcut on the desktop and start the application by doubleclicking the icon. See your Windows NT documentation. You start the Avid NewsCutter XP application the same way you start most Windows applications. To start NewsCutter XP: 1. Click the Start button. 2. Point to Programs, point to Avid, and select Avid NewsCutter XP. The first few times you start Avid NewsCutter XP, a window opens that contains the License Agreement. 3.
For this tutorial, you will use the project called either Introducing Avid (NTSC) or Introducing Avid (PAL). Using the Open Project Dialog Box To open a project, you select a user and a project from the Open Project dialog box. You also use this dialog box to create a new user or a new project. Creating a User For this tutorial, create a new user. 1. Click the New User button in the Open Project dialog box. The New User dialog box appears.
By default, the Windows NT login name appears. 2. Delete the default name, type your name, and click OK. The Open Project dialog box reappears with your name highlighted in the list of Avid Users. Selecting and Opening a Project For this tutorial, we’ve already created a project for you. 1. Select Introducing Avid (NTSC) or Introducing Avid (PAL) from the Avid Projects list. 2. Click OK. The Project window opens.
Look at the title bar of the window. It contains the name of the project and the name of the user. In this example, the user is named Editor. Your project window will contain your user name. Two other windows appear: the Composer window and the Timeline window. You’ll learn about these windows in Chapter 6. Creating a Simple Sequence Before continuing further in the tutorial, you can create a simple sequence right away. A sequence is a program made up of one or more clips (see “Sequences” on page 43).
The Source Clips Bin window opens and displays a list of clips. Editor at keyboard clip 2. From the list of clips, double-click the icon for the Editor at keyboard clip. The Editor at keyboard clip opens in a window. This window is known as a Source pop-up monitor.
Mark Clip button 3. Click the Mark Clip button, which is located at the bottom of the Source pop-up monitor. IN and OUT points appear at the beginning and end of the clip, which indicate that the entire clip will be edited into the sequence.
4. Click the image area of the Source pop-up monitor and drag it anywhere in the Timeline window. n If you have more than one bin open, a dialog box appears and asks you to select a bin in which to store the sequence. Select Source Clips. Congratulations! You’ve just created your first sequence. The clip appears in the Timeline and in the Composer monitor. Position indicator Notice the vertical blue line at the end of the Timeline. This line is called the position indicator.
last frame of the sequence, so this frame is the one displayed in the Composer monitor. 5. Now add some music to the sequence. a. In the Source Clips bin, double-click the icon for the Music track clip. The clip opens in a Source pop-up monitor. There is no image because the clip has only audio. b. Click the image area and drag the clip to audio track A1 in the Timeline. Drag the clip so that the A1 track is outlined, as shown in the following illustration, and then release the mouse button.
7. Click the Play button below the Composer monitor to review your sequence. Play button Press the Play button again to stop playing the sequence at any time. Now look in the Source Clips bin. The sequence is saved in the bin with the name Untitled Sequence.01. Delete the sequence. You’ll create a new one in Chapter 6. 8. In the Source Clips bin, click the Untitled Sequence.01 icon and press the Delete key on the keyboard. The Delete dialog box appears.
9. Click OK. You’ve deleted the sequence, but not the source footage. Close button 10. Close the Source Clips bin by clicking the Close button in the upper right corner of the window. Next Steps You’ve finished this chapter of the tutorial. You can either: • Close the project and application and continue the tutorial at a later time. • Continue on to the next chapter.
CHAPTER 5 Playing and Marking Clips In Chapter 4 you learned how to start a project.
Exploring the Project Window Click in the Project window and press the F1 key to open Help for the Project window. n The Project window must remain open whenever you are working in Avid NewsCutter XP. Depending on the button you click, the Project window displays a list of bins, a list of settings, or information about your system. If the Project window becomes hidden by other windows, bring it forward by choosing Project from the Tools menu.
The Settings Display Click the Settings button at the top of the Project window. A list of settings appears. This list is called the Settings scroll list. Settings are groups of options you can select, depending on your needs and preferences. The right column displays the type of setting. User settings are associated with the current user, and Project settings are associated with the project. For more information, see the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide or press F1 for Help.
For information on connecting a camera and Client monitor, see Appendix A. The top part of the dialog box gives you a choice for how to display video on your desktop. 2.
To learn more about these options, see the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide or press the F1 key for Help. All Settings dialog boxes have context-sensitive Help. 3. Click OK to close the Video Display Settings dialog box. The Info Display Click the Info button at the top of the Project window. You see the format of the project (NTSC or PAL).
Name heading Frame View button Text View button Viewing Clips You can view the information in a bin in two different ways: • Text view displays columns of information about your clips. • Frame view displays each clip as a single representative image. Using Text View Let’s look at Text view. 1. Click the Text View button (T) in the lower left corner of the bin. If the button is highlighted, you are already in Text view. The bin displays columns of information about each clip.
You can rearrange the clips in the bin by sorting on a particular column. Let’s sort alphabetically by clip name. 2. Click the Name heading in the bin. 3. Choose Sort from the Bin menu. The clip names are rearranged in alphabetical order. Using Frame View Now let’s look at Frame view. 1. Click the Frame View button (F) in the lower left corner to see a picture-frame representation of each clip in the bin. n The order of clips is different from the order in Text view.
To change frame size at the keyboard, you can also press Ctrl+K (Reduce Frame) and Ctrl+L (Enlarge Frame). 3. Choose Fill Window from the Bin menu. The clips are arranged in neat rows and columns in the bin. 4. If some clips are now off the screen, click and drag the window corner in the lower right corner of the Source Clips bin. Switching Between Views It’s easy to switch between views: click the T button for Text view and the F button for Frame view.
Step keys Play/Step/Shuttle keys End key Home key Stop key This illustration shows the U.S. English keyboard. For layouts of other keyboards, choose Keyboard from the Settings scroll list. In this section you’ll experiment with different ways to play clips. 1. In the Source Clips bin, open the clip named Editor at keyboard by double-clicking the icon (in Text view) or anywhere in the image (in Frame view). The Editor at keyboard clip appears in a Source pop-up monitor.
2. Press the Home key (between the main keyboard and the numeric keypad) to move the position indicator to the start of the clip. 3. Press the End key, just below the Home key, to go to the end of the clip. The blue position indicator moves to match your directions. 4. Press the Home key again to go to the start of the clip. 5. Press the L key (Play) on the keyboard to play the clip forward at normal speed. There is no audio for the Editor at keyboard clip.
Step 1 Step 1 Frame Backward Frame Forward Step 10 Frames Backward Step 10 Frames Forward Using Buttons and the Position Indicator to Play Clips Two additional ways to play clips are: • Clicking buttons that appear under a Source pop-up monitor • Dragging the blue position indicator through the position bar to scroll through a clip Position indicator Position bar Step Backward Step Play Forward Now play through the Editor at keyboard clip by using buttons and the position indicator. 1.
To step several frames forward, click just to the right of the position indicator. 5. Click to the left of the position indicator to step several frames back in the clip. 6. Step through the clip by clicking different spots in the position bar. 7. Drag the position indicator to the left, then to the right, to scroll through the clip. Marking IN and OUT Points Before you start to create your sequence, you need to mark the segments of the clips you want to use.
Your clip might already have IN and OUT points. Your new edit points will overwrite the old edit points. 2. Mark an IN point by pressing the Mark IN (I) key. A white sawtooth pattern appears on the left edge of the frame. 3. Drag the position indicator toward the end of the clip, where the explosion appears on two monitors, and before it fades away.
4. Mark an OUT point by pressing the Mark OUT (O) key. A white sawtooth pattern appears on the right edge of the frame. The system saves your IN and OUT points until you change them. 5. Close the Editor at keyboard clip by clicking the Close button. The system automatically saves your IN and OUT points.
Marking Another Clip Now mark the IN and OUT points for the Eyeball clip. This time, instead of using the Step keys, use the J-K-L keys to play the clip. 1. Open the Eyeball clip. n In this tutorial, “open a clip” means to double-click its icon in a bin, so that it opens in a Source pop-up monitor. 2. Locate the frame where the letter A of the word Avid appears in the pupil of the eyeball (after the second blink).
5. Mark an OUT point by pressing the O key. 6. Close the Eyeball clip. Playing a Sequence in a Source Pop-up Monitor So far you have played clips in Source pop-up monitors. You can also play a sequence (a program made up of one or more clips) in a Source pop-up monitor. You might be curious to see what your final sequence will look like. We have supplied a finished sequence for you. To play it: 1. Click the Project window to display and activate it.
4. Press the Home key to go to the beginning of the sequence. Play the sequence in the Source pop-up monitor, using the keyboard or buttons, or a combination of both. 5. Close the Introducing Avid sequence. 6. Close the Sequences bin. Using Timecode to Find a Frame Your Avid NewsCutter XP system uses timecode to identify each frame of a clip. About Timecode Timecode is an electronic indexing method that denotes hours, minutes, seconds, and frames that have elapsed on a videotape.
PAL video (the video format used in many countries other than the United States) uses a scan rate of 25 fps. Timecode is indicated by colons. There is no need for drop-frame timecode in PAL video. You can change the starting timecode of a sequence or, for NTSC projects, the type of timecode. See “Changing the Timecode of the Sequence” on page 173 and the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide. Using Timecode to Mark IN and OUT Points You can mark IN and OUT points by using timecode as your reference point.
For information about the other choices in the Tracking Information menu, see the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide or place the pointer over the Tracking Information display, click the right mouse button, and choose What’s This? Timecode shows the following: Hours Minutes Seconds Frames The timecode refers to the frame displayed in the Source pop-up monitor. n After you change the display for one Source pop-up monitor, all subsequent Source pop-up monitors you open use the same display. 4.
n You don’t need to type zeros that start the timecode. In addition, the system inserts the colons for you. So you only need to type 1081618 (NTSC) or 14423 (PAL). This guide provides the complete timecode, but you can use these shortcuts to type the numbers. As you start typing, a window opens in the middle of the Source pop-up monitor, showing the numbers you type. Tracking Information display Timecode entered 8. Press the Enter key on the numeric keypad.
Using Frame Offset Whenever you use the numeric keypad, you must press the Enter key on the numeric keypad after typing the number. You can also use the numeric keypad to move the position indicator forward or backward a specified number of frames. This technique is called frame offset. Let’s mark an IN point for the Editor at keyboard 3 clip and then use frame offset to locate the OUT point. 1. Open the Editor at keyboard 3 clip. 2.
3. Review the clip by clicking the Play button or by dragging the blue position indicator. There are two parts of the clip that you’ll copy into separate subclips. 4. Use the numeric keypad to type 01:24:53:19 (NTSC) or 00:04:10:22 (PAL), and then press the Enter key. 5. Mark an IN point. 6. Type 01:24:57:16 (NTSC) or 00:04:14:20 (PAL). 7. Mark an OUT point. 8. Press and hold the Alt key, click the image area of the clip, and drag it from the Source pop-up monitor to the Source Clips bin.
5. Press and hold the Alt key, click the image area of the clip, and drag it from the Source pop-up monitor to the Source Clips bin. The clip name is highlighted in the Source Clips bin. 6. Delete the name Lab.Sub.02 and rename the subclip Lab 1B. 7. Close the Lab clip. 8. Close the Source Clips bin. Saving Your Work By default, Avid NewsCutter XP includes an Auto-save function set at 15 minutes.
CHAPTER 6 Creating a Sequence In this chapter, you begin editing the Introducing Avid sequence by completing the following tasks: • Working in the Avid NewsCutter XP Window • Making the First Edit • Opening a Sequence • Opening and Using the Tool Palette • Splicing in an Audio Clip • Exploring the Timeline • Splicing in a Video Clip • Splicing a Clip into the Middle of a Sequence • Undoing an Edit • Splicing in a Music Track If you have worked on the previous chapters but have quit Avid
Working in the Avid NewsCutter XP Window Minimize Maximize Close n You’ve been working in a single large window, labeled Avid NewsCutter XP. Like other Windows NT windows, you can minimize it, maximize it, and close it by using the buttons on the right side of the title bar. Within the Avid NewsCutter XP window, you can manage the Timeline, bins, and Source pop-up monitors in the same way.
Default Locations for the Avid NewsCutter XP Windows The Composer, Timeline, and Project windows have default sizes and locations to maximize the available space on your desktop, as shown in “Dragging a Video Clip and Creating a Sequence” on page 96. If you want to return these windows to the default locations, click the window and choose Home from the Windows menu.
Dragging a Video Clip and Creating a Sequence Now edit the clip to create a sequence. 1. Make sure the Timeline is open and visible. If it is not, choose Timeline from the Tools menu. 2. Click the Source pop-up monitor that contains the Opening logo.mov clip. If the monitor is not visible, open it from the QuickTime Movies bin. 3. Click the Mark Clip button on the Source pop-up monitor.
Right angle and vertical line Position indicator The sequence also appears in the Composer monitor. The image is black because the last frame of the clip is black. Notice the right angle and vertical line in the lower right corner of the Composer monitor. The right angle indicates the end of a cut and the vertical line indicates the end of the sequence.
When you want to bring an open bin or monitor to the foreground, you can click anywhere in it or choose its name from the Windows menu. 5. Click anywhere in the Composer monitor to activate it. 6. Press the Home key to move to the head of the sequence. 7. Click the Play button at the bottom of the Composer monitor to play the clip in the sequence. 8. Close the Opening logo.mov clip. Moving and Renaming the Sequence You can create a new sequence by choosing New Sequence from the Clip menu.
5. Type Rough Cut and press the Enter key. This is the sequence you’ll be working with for this tutorial. The sequences Rough Cut 1, Rough Cut 2, and Rough Cut 3 are supplied for those who prefer not to build their own sequence (see the notes at the beginning of each chapter). 6. Close the QuickTime Movies bin. 7. Close the Sequences bin. By closing the Sequences bin, you also close the sequence.
Opening and Tearing Off the Tool Palette You can also open the Tool palette from the Fast Menu button on a Source pop-up monitor. Open the Tool palette by clicking the Fast Menu button under the Composer monitor. Fast Menu button To use a button on the Tool palette, just click it. You can also “tear off” the palette and drag it to a different location. 1. If the Tool palette is not open, click the Fast Menu button. 2. Drag the pointer over the buttons and then outside the border of the Tool palette.
Displaying Button Names You can display a shortened name on the button itself by selecting an option in the Interface Settings dialog box. 1. In the Project window, click the Settings button. 2. From the Settings scroll list, double-click Interface. The User Interface Settings dialog box appears. 3. Select the option Show Labels in Tool palette. 4. Click OK. You see names on the first row of buttons. 5. Click the border of the Tool palette and drag it until you see the second row of buttons.
To edit this clip into the sequence, you’ll use the Splice-in button on the Tool palette. Splicing is a film term that refers to joining together two pieces of film. n Now that you’ve had some experience marking and playing clips, the instructions will be less specific about which keys to press or buttons to click. 1. In the Project window click the Bins button. 2. Open the Source Clips bin. 3. Open the Narration clip. 4. Go to the head of the clip. 5. Play some or all of the clip.
5. After you have located the first frame of audio, step back one frame and mark an IN point. 6. Go to the tail (end) of the clip. 7. Step back to find the last frame of audio, and then step forward one frame. 8. Mark that frame as the OUT point. Press the Caps Lock key again to deactivate digital audio scrub. Playing IN to OUT Now you can play only the marked portion of the clip to make sure you have marked IN and OUT points correctly. Press the Play IN to OUT (6) key on the keyboard.
4. Close the Narration clip. Reviewing Your Edits Review what you’ve done so far. 1. Click the Composer monitor and go to the head of the sequence. 2. Play the sequence. You should see the opening logo without sound, followed by the narration without video. You’ll be adding more clips later. n If you try to play a sequence, and the outline of the Composer monitor flashes, another window is covering the Composer monitor.
Displaying More or Less Detail in the Timeline The scale box on the scale bar, below the Timeline on the left side of the window, expands and contracts the area centered around the blue position bar. The scale box allows you to zoom in to focus on a specific area of your sequence or to zoom out to see the whole sequence. Scaling the Timeline is especially useful when you have a lengthy sequence with many edits.
The position indicator and its shadow mark the beginning and end of each frame. 3. Click the scale box and drag it to the left to contract the expanded Timeline. You see less detail but more of the sequence. Navigating in the Timeline Two ways to navigate in the Timeline are by using the position indicator and the scroll bar. Using the Position Indicator You have already used the position indicator — the vertical blue line that marks your place in the sequence.
If your Timeline is contracted and fits the window, you won’t be able to scroll, and the controls in the scroll bar will be dimmed. If your Timeline is expanded, you’ll need to use it. Use the Scale box to expand the Timeline, scroll through it, and then contract the Timeline. Using the Track Selector Panel The Track Selector panel, to the left of the Timeline, provides controls for working with multiple tracks.
The record side (right side) of the panel displays, by default, two tracks of video and four tracks of audio. You can add two additional video tracks and four additional audio tracks. Selecting Tracks There are also keyboard equivalents for selecting tracks. Check the Keyboard settings in the Project window Settings scroll list. When you edit a clip into a sequence, you must make sure that you have selected the correct tracks to accomplish the edit you want.
The Audio Track Monitor buttons determine whether you hear audio during playback. A Speaker icon (either solid or green) indicates that the tracks are monitored for playback and output. However, only the track with the green icon is monitored for audio scrubbing. Audio Track Speaker icons n Be sure to activate the topmost video track and all audio tracks to view, render, or record all the tracks together. Unmonitored tracks are not included in playback.
Whenever you use the numeric keypad, you must press the Enter key on the numeric keypad after typing the number. n 2. Type +6 on the numeric keypad and press the Enter key to add 6 frames to the clip. 3. Mark that frame as the OUT point. The OUT point automatically moves to the new position. You can press and hold the Alt key and click the Mark OUT button, or press the O key, to go to the OUT point. Splicing in the Clip Now make the edit. 1. Select the tracks you want to edit: a.
5. Play some or all of the sequence to review it. Splicing a Clip into the Middle of a Sequence With nonlinear editing, you can splice a clip anywhere in your sequence. Let’s try inserting a clip between the Opening Logo.mov and Editor at keyboard clips. 1. Open the Eyeball clip. You’ve already marked IN and OUT points for this clip. If an IN or OUT point is missing, see “Marking Another Clip” on page 84. 2. Select the tracks you want to edit: a.
Moving to the Head of a Clip You want to insert the edit between the Opening logo.mov and Editor at keyboard clips. To move to the first frame of the Editor at keyboard clip: You can also use this technique for snapping to the last frame of a clip. Click between the position indicator and the end of the clip. 1. In the Timeline, click in the middle of the Editor at keyboard clip. 2. Press and hold the Ctrl key and click between the position indicator and the beginning of the clip.
Undoing an Edit The Eyeball clip doesn’t seem to fit here. You can easily undo the edit by choosing Undo from the Edit menu or by pressing Ctrl+Z. Try it now. You can also redo up to 32 previous edits. The Undo feature is very useful. You can undo up to 32 previous actions listed in the Edit menu. Splicing in a Music Track In this section, you lay down an audio clip that contains the music for the sequence.
You need to tell the system to edit track A1 from the source clip to track A2 of the sequence. You do this by patching one track to another. The term patching comes from the electronics field, where it refers to temporarily connecting two components. To patch the tracks, drag the pointer from the A1 button on the source side to the A2 button on the record side. While you are patching, you see a white arrow connecting the two tracks.
Reviewing Your Edits Review what you’ve done. 1. Now that you have two tracks of audio, make sure that all tracks are being monitored. Make sure the Speaker icons for tracks A1 and A2 are visible (see “Monitoring Tracks” on page 108). 2. Go to the head of the sequence and play through the sequence. The music sounds a little loud for the narration. You’ll adjust audio in “Working with Audio” on page 134.
The master timecode should read 00;00;59;00 (NTSC) or 00:00:59:00 (PAL), which indicates that the sequence is 59 seconds long. 3. Drag the position indicator through the sequence and watch the master timecode change. Now is a good time to close any open pop-up monitors. Close all bins too, except for the Sequences bin. Next Steps You’ve started your rough cut. You’ll adjust the audio in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 7 Building a Sequence You’ve started creating your rough cut. Now you can complete the rough cut, trim your edits, and adjust the audio levels.
Storyboard Editing the Clips Storyboarding allows you to set up a group of clips in a sequence of events, and then load them into the Composer monitor all at once. Marking IN and OUT Points The first step in storyboarding is to mark IN and OUT points for each of the clips you are going to use. We’ve already marked IN and OUT points for you. If you need to reset them, refer to the following table.
Creating the Storyboard Next you need to arrange the clips as a storyboard. 1. In the Source Clips bin, click the Frame View button. 2. If you need more space to view the clips, click the lower right corner of the bin and drag it to enlarge the window. 3. Choose Fill Window from the Bin menu to arrange the clips in the bin. 4. Arrange the following clips in two rows, from left to right, and top to bottom, to form the storyboard. You arrange the clips by clicking and dragging each clip.
Editing the Clips into the Sequence Now you’re ready to edit the marked clips into the sequence. 1. Click the Composer monitor, make sure Mas is displayed in the Tracking Information display, type 17;25 (NTSC) or 18:00 (PAL), and press Enter on the numeric keypad. 2. Mark an IN point. 3. Select record track V1 and deselect all other video and audio tracks.
4. Select the storyboarded clips all at once. a. Position the pointer in the Source Clips bin in the blank area above and to the left of the Homicide logo clip. b. Lasso the clips by clicking and dragging the pointer to the right and down, making sure to select all of the storyboarded clips, and then release the mouse button. After you select the clips, all the names are highlighted in blue. 5. Click on one of the clips (on the image, not the name), and drag the group into the Timeline.
The Editor at keyboard clip is a little too long. Let’s edit the next clip over the last part of the Editor at keyboard clip. 1. Make sure the Composer monitor is active. 2. Make sure the Mas timecode is displayed in the Composer monitor (see “Confirming the Duration” on page 115). 3. Mark an IN point at 00;00;07;08 (NTSC) or 00:00:07:06 (PAL). 4. Open the Source Clips bin. 5. Open the Eyeball clip. 6. Check the IN point and OUT points. If there are no points, see “Marking Another Clip” on page 84.
Backtiming an Edit Backtiming an edit is effectively the reverse of the process you normally use for marking footage; instead of marking from the IN points forward, you mark from an OUT point backward. In the sequence, there is a gap between the Editor at keyboard 3 clip and the Homicide logo clip. Let’s fill this gap. 1. Go to the last frame of black before the Homicide logo clip and mark an OUT point. 2. Go to the first frame of black after the Editor at keyboard 3 clip and mark an IN point.
Overwriting with a Three-Point Edit A three-point edit is an easy way to replace a clip in a sequence. Use the Mark Clip button to select the clip in the sequence (or mark an IN and OUT point for a segment that’s more than a single clip), and mark either the IN or OUT point in the source clip. The system calculates the exact duration of the source clip to insert. Let’s replace the Editor at keyboard 3 clip near the beginning of the sequence with the L key clip. 1. To enlarge this area, in the Timeline: a.
7. Click the red Overwrite button on the Tool palette (or press the B key on the keyboard) to make the three-point edit. The L key clip replaces the Editor at keyboard 3 clip. 8. Click the scale box and drag it to the left to contract the Timeline. 9. Close the L key clip. Using Segment Mode Segment mode provides editing controls for moving, deleting, marking, and editing entire segments in the Timeline. A segment is a portion of the sequence that consists of one or more clips.
2. Click the Segment Mode (Extract/Splice-in) button, which is the button with the yellow arrow under the Timeline. When the button is activated, its background changes to light gray. c Don’t confuse the Extract/Splice-in and Splice-in buttons. The Extract/Splice-in button is located under the Timeline; the Splice-in button is located on the keyboard (the V key) and on the Tool palette. 3.
2. Click the yellow Segment Mode (Extract/Splice-in) button under the Timeline. To eliminate footage that does not start and end at a transition, use IN and OUT points to mark the segment that you want to extract. 3. Click anywhere in the Editor at keyboard 2 clip on track V1. The clip is highlighted. 4. Press the Delete key on the keyboard. The selected clip is eliminated and the surrounding clips close the gap. 5. Deselect the Extract/Splice-in button by clicking it. 6.
4. Press the Lift key on the keyboard to remove the segment. The letter equivalent of the Lift key depends on the version of your keyboard. For the location of the Lift key, choose Keyboard from the Settings scroll list. The selected segment lifts out and leaves filler in its place. Replacing a Clip Now fill the gap with a different clip. 1. Open the Corporate editor clip. 2. Mark an IN point for the clip at timecode 06;16;34;13 (NTSC) or 00:06:08:07 (PAL). 3.
Adjusting Both Sides of a Transition (Dual-Roller Trimming) Use a dual-roller trim to adjust both sides of a transition at the same time, adding frames to one clip while subtracting frames from the adjacent clip. The total duration of the sequence does not change. Let’s tighten the Lab 1A/Lab 1B transition. (You’ll smooth the transition with a dissolve effect in the next chapter). 1. Place the position indicator near the Lab 1A/Lab 1B transition, and click the Trim Mode button on the Tool palette.
Transition Effect palette Outgoing clip Incoming clip Frame counters Trim Frame buttons Play Loop button 2. Play the transition by clicking the Play Loop button. The transition plays repeatedly. 3. To stop the playback loop, click the Play Loop button again. 4. Click the Trim Left 10 Frames button three times.
You can also trim by dragging the DualRoller icon. This action adds 30 frames to the head of the incoming clip and removes 30 frames from the tail of the outgoing clip. The duration of the video track remains unchanged. 5. Play the transition again by clicking the Play Loop button. 6. Do one of the following to exit Trim mode: • Click the Trim Mode button on the Tool palette. • Press the Left Arrow key on the keyboard.
b. Drag the pointer down and to the right to surround the transition, and release the mouse button. The trim rollers appear. 4. In the Composer window, click the left frame counter (A-Side Trim counter). Left frame counter Your trim will only affect the outgoing clip, which is in the left Trim monitor. The left frame counter remains purple, while the right one is deselected. A single roller appears in the Timeline. 5. On the numeric keypad, type +40 and press Enter.
6. Play the transition by clicking the Play Loop button. 7. Exit Trim mode by pressing the Left Arrow key on the keyboard or by clicking the Trim Mode button on the Tool palette. Adding the Final Clip We have supplied you with another QuickTime movie, titled Closing logo.mov. This clip needs to be edited to sync with the music, so use timecode to set the IN point in the sequence. 1. Open the QuickTime Movies bin. 2. Open the Closing logo.mov clip. 3.
Perform a dual-roller trim to close the gap. 1. Place the position indicator on the first frame of black after the Trade show clip and click the Trim Mode button on the Tool palette. You should see two rollers appear at the transition. 2. Drag the rollers until they reach the beginning of the Closing logo.mov clip. The rollers will stop when they reach the beginning of the next clip. 3. Click the Left Arrow key to exit Trim mode. 4. Play the last two clips of the sequence.
Level sliders Pan Level boxes 5. Click and hold the Pan Level box for track A1 to open the Pan Adjustment window. The Pan slider appears. Click and hold here to open the Pan Adjustment window. Drag the Pan slider. To snap the slider to MID, press and hold the Alt key and click the Pan Level box. 6. Drag the Pan slider to the middle of the scale until it reads MID, and then release the mouse button. You can change the pan settings for an entire project in the Audio Settings dialog box. 8.
Adjusting Audio Level The music is a little loud for the narration. Let’s raise the volume of the narration by using the Audio Mix tool. 1. The Audio Mix tool should already be open. If not, choose Audio Mix from the Tools menu. 2. Place the position indicator anywhere within the Narration clip. 3. In the A1 area of the Audio Mix tool, move the A1 Audio Level slider to level +5.0 by doing one of the following: • Drag the slider to level +5.0. • Click the slider and type +5.
CHAPTER 8 Adding Effects Adding an effect to a clip enhances your sequence by fading in or out of a scene, or adding video or a graphic on top of a clip. In this chapter, you’ll add dissolves and other effects.
Effects Editing The Avid NewsCutter XP system offers many effects that you can apply to your sequences. This chapter explains how to apply effects to transitions or segments (clips) in your sequence. After you have selected the effect and have applied it to a transition or segment, you can adjust the effect parameters to meet your requirements. Effects need to be rendered before you play them in the finished sequence. Rendering an effect creates a media file that plays with the sequence.
Segment Effects You apply a segment effect to an entire clip or a group of clips. There are two types of segment effects: • A single-layer segment effect, such as a mask or a flop, is applied to a segment on one video track. • A multilayer segment effect, such as a Picture-in-Picture effect, is applied to the top layer of segments that contain two or more video tracks that will be played simultaneously. You’ll add both types of effects in this chapter.
5. Let’s make the dissolve a little shorter than the default duration. a. Choose Dissolve from the Add pop-up menu. b. Choose Centered on Cut from the Position pop-up menu. c. Type 20 (NTSC) or 16 (PAL) in the Duration text box. The number 10 or 8 automatically appears in the Start text box. 6. Choose the drive on which the effect media file should be stored from the Target Drive pop-up menu. Boldface indicates the drive with the most space.
Rendered effect icon A message box appears while the system creates a media file for the effect. A progress indicator displays the percentage of the rendering that has been completed. After the effect is created, a rendered effect icon appears in the Timeline where you added the effect. 8. Play the effect. Press the space bar to stop playback. Creating a Series of Dissolves After you create one dissolve, you can quickly add it to other transitions in a sequence.
Rendering a Series of Effects Now render the three dissolves you just created. 1. Make sure the sequence contains the IN and OUT points you marked in the previous procedure. 2. Choose Render In/Out from the Clip menu. The Render Effects dialog box appears. 3. For the Target Drive, choose the same drive that you selected in “Dissolving Between Clips” on page 139. This drive will remain the default target drive until you choose another. 4. Click OK. The message box with a progress indicator appears.
Adding Additional Dissolves Now add two more dissolves. 1. In the sequence, mark an IN point in the Lab 1A subclip, before the transition to the Lab 1B subclip. 2. Mark an OUT point in the Trade show clip, just after the transition from the Lab 1B subclip. 3. Click the Add Dissolve button. 4. Select the option Apply To All Transitions (In -> Out). 5. Click Add and Render. The system adds and renders the effects.
3. Choose Starting at Cut from the Position menu. The message disappears, because in this case the system will use additional media from the Trade show clip to create the dissolve. 4. Click Add and Render. 5. Play the transition. The system created an acceptable dissolve. Adding a Picture-in-Picture Effect Let’s add an effect that illustrates the narration. Using a Picture-inPicture effect, you’ll show footage of a test engineer over the Lab 1A/ Lab 1B transition.
Displaying the Effect Palette Before you add your next effect, choose Effect Palette from the Tools menu. The Effect Palette appears. The Effect Palette contains most of the effects in the Avid NewsCutter XP system. The exceptions are motion effects that you access from the Fast menu on a Source pop-up monitor, the Freeze Frame effect that you access from the Clip menu, and titles that you create with the Title tool. You’ll be choosing Picture-in-Picture from the Effect Palette.
3. Mark an IN point at 00;00;30;00 (NTSC) or 00:00:30:00 (PAL). Check the Mas timecode display in the Composer monitor to help you mark the IN point. 4. Open the Source Clips bin and open the Testing board clip. 5. Mark an IN point at 01:14:36:00 (NTSC) or 00:04:49:01 (PAL) and an OUT point at 01:14:39:18 (NTSC) or 00:04:52:19 (PAL). 6. Patch the V1 source track to the V2 record track by clicking the V1 Source Track button and dragging it to the V2 Record Track button (see “Patching Tracks” on page 113). 7.
4. Place the position indicator anywhere in the Testing board clip on track V2. 5. Click the Picture-in-Picture icon from the Effect Palette and drag it to the Testing board clip. The Picture-in-Picture icon appears in the Timeline. Picture-in-Picture icon The Testing board clip appears in a box in the middle of the Composer monitor.
Foreground image (V2) n Background filler (V1) If the foreground image does not appear midscreen, make sure to choose Render On-The-Fly from the Clip menu. A check mark should appear in front of the menu choice. 6. Close the Effect Palette. Resizing the Image Now let’s enter Effect mode and enlarge the image slightly. 1. In the Timeline, make sure the position indicator is directly over the Picture-in-Picture icon. 2. Click the Effect Mode button on the Tool palette to enter Effect mode.
In Effect mode, the Composer monitor changes to include only the duration of the effect, with keyframe markers (pink triangles) at the beginning and end of the clip. For more information about using keyframes, see the Avid NewsCutter XP Effects Guide or Help.
Keyframe markers 3. In the Effect Editor, click the arrow next to the word Scaling to open the scaling pane. Width slider Height slider Fixed Aspect button 4. Click the Fixed Aspect button to keep the image at the same proportions. Make sure the button changes to pink. 5. Click either the Wid (Width) or Hgt (Height) slider so that the slider changes to pink. You can also drag the slider. 6. Press the Right Arrow key on the keyboard 10 times. Both the height and width change.
Previewing the Effect You can preview the effect before you render it by clicking the Play Loop button on the right side of the Effect Editor. The clip with the effect plays from beginning to end until you click the button again. n If you are in Effect mode, you can also click the Play button to preview the effect. Outside of Effect mode, you need to render the effect before you can view it. Adjusting the Border You can add to the effect by softening the border. 1.
Fading In and Out The Picture-in-Picture appears and disappears suddenly. There’s a special button you can use to fade the effect in and out. 1. On the Tool palette, click the Fade Effect button. The Fade Title Effect dialog box appears. 2. Click in the Fade Up text box and type 10. Do the same for the Fade Down text box. 3. Click OK. You won’t see the fade until you render the effect. Rendering the Effect Now it’s time to render the effect. 1. On the Tool palette, click the Render Effect button.
3. When the rendering is complete, close the Effect Editor to exit Effect mode. 4. Play the part of the sequence that includes the Picture-in-Picture effect. Adding a Flop Effect In the Eyeball clip, the letters of the word Avid are reversed, as if reflected in a mirror. You can use the Flop effect to display the letters in the normal way. 1. Open the Effect Palette. 2. In the left column, click Image. 3. In the right column, click Flop and drag the icon to the Eyeball clip in the Timeline. 4.
9. Click OK. 10. Play the part of the sequence that includes the effects you just rendered. Next Steps You’ve finished adding effects to the sequence. If you want, you can take time to play with other effects, such as adding more dissolves, changing the border of the picture-in-picture, or experimenting with transition effects like edge wipes. In the next chapter you’ll add a title.
CHAPTER 9 Creating Titles The Title tool lets you create text and graphics that you can edit into a sequence.
Creating a New Title For complete information on creating and editing titles, see the Avid NewsCutter XP Effects Guide or Help. Let’s create a title that illustrates part of the narration. 1. In the Timeline, place the blue position indicator in the middle of the Testing board clip. 2. Choose New Title from the Clip menu. The Title Tool window opens on top of the Composer and Timeline windows.
The Title tool includes the following features: To get information on items in the toolbar, position the pointer on an object, click the right mouse button, and choose What’s This? from the pop-up menu. • Two grids that indicate areas of the image that are safe for broadcast. The outside grid outlines the safe action area and the inside grid outlines the safe title area. The safe title and safe action areas do not apply if you are creating a video for a CD-ROM or the Internet.
By default, the Title tool uses a shadow that falls below and to the right of the text. For more information about changing the type of shadow and how it falls, see the Avid NewsCutter XP Effects Guide. Positioning and Aligning Text You might need to move the text so that it aligns with the edge of the safe title grid. 1. Select the first line of text. 2. Choose Align to Frame Left from the Alignment menu. Your title should look similar to the one in the following illustration.
There are many adjustments you can make in the Title tool. For now, let’s save the title. Saving a Title Now save your title. 1. Open the Source Clips bin. You’ll be storing the title here. 2. Click in the Title Tool window. 3. Choose Save Title from the File menu. The Save Title dialog box appears. 4. Type product innovation in the Title Name text box. 5. Choose Source Clips from the Bin pop-up menu. 6. Accept the default drive and resolution. 7. Click Save. The title appears in the Source Clips bin. 8.
3. Patch source track V1 to record track V3 by clicking the V1 Source Track button and dragging it to the V3 Record Track button (see “Patching Tracks” on page 113). 4. Make sure source track V1 and record track V3 are selected, and all other video and audio tracks are deselected. 5. In the Source pop-up monitor, set an IN point at the beginning of the clip. 6.
4. Click OK. The effect now has a blue dot. You need to render the effect again. 5. Click the Render Effect button and click OK. 6. Play your sequence from just before the Testing board clip. Editing a Saved Title You can edit a saved title to change the content, font, and so on. You can create a new title by editing a saved title and saving it with a new name. 1. In the Source Clips bin, Ctrl+double-click the product innovation title. The title opens in the Title Tool window. 2.
You can “tear off” the Title Tool Color Picker window by dragging it to another location. 3. Drag the mouse pointer over the band of colors at the top of the Title Tool Color Picker. When you find a color you want to use, release the mouse button The color is applied to the title. Saving the Title Next, save the title with a different name. 1. Choose Save Title As from the File menu. 2. In the Title Name text box, type a path to the future. 3. Click Save. 4. Close the Title tool.
7. Render the title. 8. Play the sequence from the beginning to review your work. Renaming Your Sequence If you’re satisfied with your sequence, change the name from Rough Cut to a name of your choice. 1. In the Sequences bin, click the name Rough Cut. 2. Type a new name, such as Final Sequence. Next Steps You’ve finished editing your sequence. There are probably changes and refinements you’d like to make. If you have time, try making these changes.
CHAPTER 10 Generating Output You’ve finished your sequence. Now you’re ready to create an output format and distribute it. Avid NewsCutter XP lets you output your sequence in many different formats.
Creating a Movie for the Internet Avid NewsCutter XP includes software that is especially designed for creating video that is formatted for distribution over the Internet. These formats include: • Media Cleaner • MPEG - Ligos • QuickTime This section describes how to use the Media Cleaner application to output a movie. For information about other formats, see the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide and Help. n Software for these applications is installed when you install Avid NewsCutter XP software.
• AVI CD-ROM • QuickTime CD-ROM • Still Image Media Cleaner also has a Settings Wizard, which guides you through the process of choosing the proper setting for your media. Preparing the Sequence Before you export your sequence, check the sequence to make sure you have selected and monitored the tracks you want to use. 1. Start Avid NewsCutter XP and open your final sequence (or you can use the prepared sequence titled Introducing Avid). 2.
Exporting with Media Cleaner To access Media Cleaner: 1. Click a sequence or clip in the bin. 2. Choose Send To from the File menu, and choose Media Cleaner from the submenu. The Media Cleaner application starts. n For help using Media Cleaner, see the Media Cleaner documentation.
Exporting a QuickTime Movie Avid NewsCutter XP provides you with many options for outputting (publishing) your sequence in formats suitable for digital distribution. In this section, you’ll create a QuickTime movie, which is a format you can use for distribution on CD-ROM or over the World Wide Web. For information about using other formats, see “Creating a Movie for the Internet” on page 165, the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide, or Help.
Exporting the Sequence For complete information about exporting, see the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide or Help. To create a QuickTime or other digital movie, you need to export the sequence. 1. Prepare your final sequence as described in “Preparing the Sequence” on page 166. 2. In the Sequences bin, select your final sequence. 3. Choose Export from the File menu. The Export As dialog box appears. The Export Setting pop-up menu shows the Export settings that are in the Settings scroll list.
5. Choose QuickTime Movie from the Export As pop-up menu. The dialog box changes to show options for exporting QuickTime.
For more information about these options, press the F1 key. 6. Click Save As. The Save Export Setting dialog box appears. 7. In the Setting Name text box, change the name to QuickTime. This setting will be saved in the Settings scroll list, and you can reuse it later. 8. Click OK to return to the Export Settings dialog box.
9. Select the following options: • Use Enabled Tracks • Same as Source • Video and Audio The Same as Source option maintains the size and resolution of the sequence. This option also informs the system to use the QuickTime DV codec to create the QuickTime movie (see “Using the QuickTime DV Codec” on page 168). 10. Click OK to return to the Export As dialog box. The Export Setting pop-up menu now shows QuickTime. 11. Select a different location for the QuickTime movie.
Outputting a Digital Cut to Tape For information about connecting a camera or video deck, see Appendix A. Avid NewsCutter XP provides you with options for outputting your sequence to tape. This output is referred to as a digital cut. You can output to your DV camera or video deck, or, if you have a transcoder connected to the system, to a Betacam, VHS, or other analog video deck. You can also output to an audio deck.
You can change the timecode for the start of the sequence. This change prevents problems if you try to record a digital cut starting at or near the very beginning of a tape (00;00;00;00). For this tutorial, you’ll change the timecode so that the sequence begins to record 30 seconds after the start of the tape. 1. Make sure a sequence is loaded in the Composer monitor. 2. Click the Composer monitor. 3. Choose Get Sequence Info from the File menu. The Sequence Info dialog box appears.
Configuring Your Camera or Video Deck Before you record your digital cut, you need to select the camera or video deck you are using so you can control the camera or video deck through the Digital Cut tool. 1. In the Project window, choose Deck Configuration from the Settings scroll list. The Deck Configuration dialog box appears. 2. Click the Add Channel button. The Channel dialog box appears.
Channel refers to the signal path for deck control. If you have connected a DV camera or video deck that supports IEEE 1394, choose FireWire as the Channel Type and 1394 as the Port from the pop-up menus. 3. Click OK. A message box asks if you want to automatically configure the channel. 4. Click No. The Deck Configuration dialog box now includes a channel.
5. Click the channel box to select the channel. A red outline indicates that the channel box is selected. 6. Click the Add Deck button. The Deck Settings dialog box appears. For information about all Deck Settings options, see the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide or press F1 for Help. 7. Choose the manufacturer and model of your camera or video deck from the Deck Type pop-up menus. If you do not see the manufacturer or model, choose Generic from the first pop-up menu. 8. Click OK.
9. In the Deck Configuration dialog box, make sure the channel box is selected (outlined in red) and click the Apply button. Your camera or video deck is now ready for recording. Recording a Digital Cut Now you’re ready to record your sequence on tape. 1. Make sure your camera or video deck is properly connected (see Appendix A) and turned on to the VTR setting. 2. Insert a tape that contains timecode (see “About Remote and Local Deck Control” on page 173). 3.
Sequence Track buttons Play Digital Cut button Enable Track buttons Halt Digital Cut button Deck controls Tape Name button Deck Selection pop-up menu Timecode text boxes 5. Select the tape as follows: a. If the Select Tape dialog box does not appear automatically, click the Tape Name button in the Digital Cut tool.
b. Click the New button. The name New Tape appears in the dialog box. c. Type a name for your tape and press the Enter key on the main keyboard. d. Select the new tape name and click OK. To get Help for the Digital Cut tool, press F1 or position the pointer on an object, click the right mouse button, and choose What This? from the pop-up menu. Sequence Enable Track Track buttons buttons 6. Use the following settings in the Digital Cut tool: a. Select the Entire Sequence option. b.
9. Click the Play Digital Cut button. A message box asks you to mount the destination tape in the video deck. If you have already inserted a tape, click OK. The system cues the video deck to the starting timecode of the sequence, and then plays and records the digital cut. The playback appears in the Client monitor (if one is connected). To stop the recording at any time, press the space bar. When the sequence finishes playing, a message box informs you that the digital cut is complete. 10. Click OK. 11.
CHAPTER 11 Backing Up and Deleting a Project Now that you’ve completed your sequence and created output, you might want to save your work. You can then delete the project to save space on your media drive or drives.
Backing Up Project Information Project information and User settings are contained in folders. You can save these folders on a floppy disk or any kind of drive, including a network drive. The project folder does not include the media. It does include information about the sequences, bins, master clips, subclips, effects, and other components of the project. The Introducing Avid project is a small one, so you can copy the information onto a floppy disk. 1.
7. After the folder is copied, label the floppy disk and store it in a safe place. Backing Up Media Files The OMFI MediaFiles folders on your media drives contain the individual media files created when you recorded source material. Unlike the smaller Avid Projects and Avid Users folders, these folders are too large to back up onto floppy disks. The media files for the tutorial are stored on the tutorial CD-ROM that came with your system, so you don’t need to back them up.
Deleting a Project Folder You can’t delete project information from within the Avid NewsCutter XP application. You need to quit the application and delete the project from your Windows NT desktop. If you are finished with your project, delete the project information by following these steps: 1. Quit the Avid NewsCutter XP application. 2. Double-click the My Computer icon and locate the Avid Projects folder. The exact location of this folder depends on your installation.
2. Choose Media Tool from the Tools menu. The Display Media Selection dialog box appears. 3. Select the media drive for your media. To make sure the Media tool displays all your media, click the All Drives button. 4. Select the Introducing Avid project. 5. Select all three types of files: • Master Clips • Precompute Clips (which are rendered effects) • Media Files 6. Click OK. The Media tool opens. Specific icons indicate the types of media files.
Master clip Media file Audio master clip Precompute clip 7. Choose Select All from the Edit menu. All files are highlighted. 8. Press the Delete key. The Delete Media dialog box appears. The check boxes in the dialog box indicate that you have selected all files for deletion.
9. Click OK. A dialog box appears and asks if you want to delete the media files. 10. Click Delete. The selected media files are deleted. 11. Quit the application. Next Steps Congratulations on completing the Avid NewsCutter XP Tutorial! We hope you’ve enjoyed this introduction to the Avid editing process. After mastering these skills, you can proceed to learn more advanced techniques, as described in the Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide, Avid NewsCutter XP Effects Guide, and Help.
APPENDIX A Connecting the Hardware and Editing Equipment This appendix describes how to connect basic hardware and editing equipment to the computer on which the Avid software will run.
Connecting the Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor You need to connect the keyboard, mouse and monitor before you can use the system. Figure A-1 shows the locations where the connections are made. To connect the keyboard, mouse and monitor: 1. Connect the keyboard to the keyboard port at the rear of the system. 2. Connect the mouse to the mouse port at the rear of the system. 3. Connect a single monitor to the AGP graphics card at the rear of the system. 4. Connect all power cables.
Connecting the Application Key The application key, commonly referred to as a dongle, allows Avid software to run on your computer. You must connect the application key to the printer port at the rear of the computer. The computer system sees the application key when booting. If you connect the application key after you boot the system, you must reboot the system. Figure A-2 shows how to connect the application key.
Connecting the External SCSI Drives This section explains how to connect SCSI drives to the external SCSI connector located at the rear of your computer (see Figure A-3). The cables and drives shown in the illustrations are used as examples. n Only Ultra 2 and Ultra 3 SCSI LVD drives are supported on the external SCSI connector. If single-ended drives are attached audio problems can occur. If you must use single-ended drives, you should attach them to an optional SCSI UL2D LVD PCI board.
Installation Overview Installing external SCSI drives is not very difficult; however, you must consider the following: • Place the drives near your computer to save space, and position the drives so they can’t fall over. • Cable the drives from your computer to the last drive in the chain, and terminate the last drive. • Determine the SCSI IDs before you physically set them on the drive. • Set the SCSI IDs so the system software and the Avid software can access them.
Two stacks of four drives Figure A-4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 Placing the External SCSI Drives Cabling the Drives Now cable the SCSI drives to the external SCSI connector. Figure A-5 shows a chain of four SCSI drives.
You will need the following to cable a chain of SCSI drives to the 68-pin, high-density connector of the external connector: n • Adapter cable — placed between the external connector and the first SCSI drive. Where you have placed the computer and where you are going to place the first SCSI drive determines the length of the adapter cable. • Interconnect cable — placed between each SCSI drive in the SCSI chain.
To cable a chain of SCSI drives to the external connector: 1. Locate the adapter cable that goes between the external connector and the first SCSI drive. 2. Connect one end of the adapter cable to the connector on the external connector at the rear of the computer (see Figure A-7). External SCSI connector Adapter cable Figure A-7 Connecting the Adapter Cable to the External SCSI 3. Secure the adapter cable to the external connector by using the screws in the cable. 4.
5. Secure the adapter cable to the first SCSI drive by using the screws in the cable. 6. Locate the interconnect cable that goes between the first and second SCSI drives. 7. Connect one end of the cable to the connector of the first SCSI drive (see Figure A-9). 4 Second SCSI drive Interconnect cable First SCSI drive 4 Adapter cable from SCSI board Figure A-9 Connecting the Interconnect Cable Between SCSI Drives 8. Connect the other end of the cable to the connector of the second SCSI drive. 9.
11. Locate the LVD terminator for the SCSI chain. 12. Connect the terminator to the connector on the last SCSI drive in the SCSI chain (see Figure A-10). Terminator Screws 4 Last SCSI drive 4 Figure A-10 Connecting the LVD Terminator 13. Secure the terminator to the SCSI drive by using the screws on the terminator. You should now determine the SCSI IDs for the SCSI drives that you have connected to the external connector.
Determining the SCSI IDs For each SCSI drive you connect to the computer, you must assign a SCSI ID so the Avid software can find and access the drive. When you are setting the SCSI IDs, remember the following: • Each PCI-based SCSI bus has its own set of unique SCSI IDs from 0 through 6 and 8 through 15. • SCSI ID 7 cannot be used by external drives. SCSI ID 7 is used by the channel B SCSI controller on the system board. • You cannot have two SCSI drives with the same SCSI ID on the same SCSI bus.
Setting the SCSI IDs The following illustrations show how to set a SCSI ID by using a wide-type SCSI drive with switches and connections at the rear of the drives. If the drives you purchased do not look like the drives shown in the illustrations, use the installation instructions that came with the drives you purchased. n If you are using the SCSI installation instructions that came with your drives, you still need to use the information in “Determining the SCSI IDs” on page 199. To set a SCSI ID: 1.
- Decrement ID 2 Current SCSI ID + Increment ID Figure A-13 SCSI ID Switch There are two SCSI ID switch versions used with the SCSI drives. One version uses the numbers 0 through 15, and the other version uses the numbers 0 through 9 and the letters A through F. Use Table A-1 to associate the letters A through F with a SCSI ID number.
Connecting the Editing Equipment Make sure that you have completed the setup information provided with your computer. This information provides instructions for setting up your computer, and attaching the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. c Make sure that your computer is turned off before you connect the rest of the equipment. Your editing equipment might be a camera, a digital video deck, or an analog video deck connected to a transcoder.
Overview of the Hardware Connections The type of data (digital or analog) you transfer between the editing equipment and the computer is used for different purposes by Avid software. You should think of the data being transferred in terms of how it is being used. n • Digital video and digital audio (DV) — used for editing purposes.
Cables Needed to Connect the Equipment You need cables to connect the computer to the camera, digital video deck, or transcoder used with an analog video deck. You receive some or all of these cables when you purchase most digital video decks, digital cameras, or transcoders. Because Avid supports many digital cameras, the number and type of cables you receive cannot be determined.
Function Cable DV (4-pin to 4-pin IEEE 1394) — Digital audio and video In/Out from the camera, transcoder, or digital video deck to the capture board.
Connecting a Digital Video Deck or Camera to the Computer To connect the digital video deck or camera to the computer, you need to have the cables from your digital video deck or camera and the capture board available. Then, follow the steps that are shown in Figure A-15 and explained in Table A-2. Make sure to connect both the DV and analog cables.
Table A-2 Connecting the Digital Video Deck or Camera Step Description 1 Connect the DV cable from the digital deck or camera to the capture board. Connect a 4-pin to 4-pin DV-to-DV cable from the digital deck or camera to the DV port on the capture board. This provides DV video and audio to and from the capture board. This cable must remain connected to use the hardware codec (compressor/decompressor) in the camera for display during editing.
Table A-2 Connecting the Digital Video Deck or Camera (Continued) Step Description 3a Connect an RCA cable to the Out1 Provides composite analog video from the Out1 port, port on the capture board. looped from the In1 port connection, to the Client monitor. You can see the incoming video during the Attach the other end of the cable record process and when you play a clip, as explained to the Client monitor (this end of in step 2a. the cable needs a connector to match the input of the Client monitor).
Connecting an Analog Video Deck to the Computer An analog video deck connects to a transcoder, and the transcoder connects to the computer. You need the cables from your camera and the capture board available, and then follow the steps that are shown in Figure A-16 and explained in Table A-3.
Table A-3 Step Connecting an Analog Video Deck Description Provides an analog signal to be recorded and used as DV data. It also allows the composite video signal and analog audio signal to be sent from the transcoder back to the deck when you output the edited file. 1 Connect the video and audio cables from an analog video deck to the input of the transcoder.
Table A-3 Step 4 Connecting an Analog Video Deck (Continued) Description Connect the Client monitor to Connect the Client monitor with either an RCA cable the capture board. (step 4a) or S-Video cable (step 4b). Client monitor and its n The cables do not ship with the Perform step 4a if you used an RCA cable in step 3 or perform step 4b if you used an S-Video cable in step 3. computer and must be purchased separately. 4a Connect a cable with an RCA connector to the Out1 port on the capture board.
Table A-3 Step 5 Connecting an Analog Video Deck (Continued) Description Connect the Audio Out of your Provides audio output to the speakers during the transcoder to Audio In at the record process or when you are playing a clip. rear of the computer. You can use the cables that came with your transcoder. on the n Depending transcoder you have purchased, your cables might be different than those shown in Figure A-16.
To connect a single deck to your computer: 1. Purchase an adapter kit. 2. Attach one end of the first 9-pin cable to the end of the serial adapter labeled RS-232 (see Figure A-17). 3. Attach the other end of the first 9-pin cable to the serial port of the computer. RS-422 connection Serial adapter RS-232 connection To analog video deck To computer Figure A-17 Analog Video Deck Control Cabling 4. Attach one end of the second 9-pin cable to the end of the serial adapter labeled RS-422. 5.
Figure A-18 shows the default Video Display settings. The settings are used by the software to define where the data comes from when you play back a clip. External video normally means a camera or transcoder is providing the data. Since External is selected, the software then looks at the External Video Source for the type of analog data to expect (the example shown is Composite).
4. The signal at the Composite In connection can now be used twice: • Monitored by the software for display in the Record monitor of the Display monitor. • Since the signal is jumpered internally between the In1 and Out1 port of the system, you can also view the data on a Client monitor if it is connected.
• The Video Display settings dialog box is improperly selected. For example, you have connected Composite but selected S-Video. The software would be looking for the data at the In2 connection, not the In1 connection. To fix the problem change the Video Display settings to Composite. There are two other ways to fix the problem. • Turn off the camera. The system determines there is no camera and uses the internal data.
Index ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTUVW Numerics Audio locating specific frame of 102 Audio pan (balance) adjusting 134 Audio scrub described 102 Audio tracks monitoring 108 Avid NewsCutter XP closing 69 default sizes and locations for windows 95 file system 46 installing 25, 25 minimizing windows in 94 starting 60 terms and concepts 41 uninstalling 30 Avid NewsCutter XP window using 94 Avid Projects folder location 46 AvidNet Transfer Tool installing 32 1394 described 40 A Actions undoing 113 Add Dissolve button
defined 42 dragging into a sequence 96 playing 77 playing IN to OUT 103 playing with buttons 80 playing with keyboard 77 playing with position indicator 80 rearranging 123 viewing 75 Closing application 69 Help 54 project 69 Codec defined 168 Configuration disk creating 24 Connecting application key 191 editing equipment 202 to 213 external SCSI drives 192 to 201 Context-sensitive Help for screen objects 55 for windows and dialog boxes 54 Controlling analog video deck 212 Correcting mistakes 113 Creating di
D E Deck configuration setting 175 Decks connecting analog video deck 209 connecting digital video deck 206 controlling analog video 212 Deleting media files 185 project folder 185 Device numbering 199 Digital audio and video data how used 203 Digital audio scrub described 102 Digital cut creating 173 to 181 defined 173 Digital video described 40 Digital video deck connecting 206 Disk configuration disk creating 24 Dissolves adding 139 changing position of 143 creating a series of 141 described 139 starti
H Equipment turning off 37 turning on 15 Exporting QuickTime movie 168 to 172 External drives connecting 192 to 201 turning on 15 Extract/Splice-in button (Segment mode) 125 Handles defined 44 needed for dissolve 143 Hardware information 74 Help system closing 54 opening 54 overview 54 printing a topic from 55 What’s This? Help 55 Home command (Windows menu) 95 Home key 79 F Fade Effect button 152, 160 FAT file system 18 File system Avid NewsCutter XP 46 Filler described 123 FireWire described 40 Flop ef
K N Keyboard using to play clips 77 Keyframes 149 New Title command 156 Non-drop-frame timecode 86 Nonlinear editing 40 NTFS file system 18 Numeric keypad 90 L License agreement accepting 60 Lift/Overwrite button (Segment mode) 125 Lifting 127 Ligos-MPEG format exporting 165 Local deck control 173 LVD terminator 195 O OMFI MediaFiles folders described 184 location 46 Online documentation using 56 Online Help See Help system Open Project dialog box 61 Opening bins 74 Help 54 project 62 Tool palette 100
Publishing for digital distribution 168 Picture tracks monitoring 108 Picture-in-Picture effect applying 144 Play IN to OUT key 103 Playing clips 77 at fast speed 79 at slow speed 79 backward 79 IN point to OUT point 103 using buttons 80 using position indicator 80 Playing sequences in Source pop-up monitor 85 Pop-up monitor See Source pop-up monitor Position indicator positioning for title creation 156 using in Timeline 106 using to play clips 80 Preparing to edit overview 49 Previewing effects 151 Printi
cabling 194 to 198 connecting 192 to 201 determining IDs 199 setting IDs 200 SCSI IDs determining 199 numbering 199 setting 200 switch versions 201 Segment defined 125 Segment effect multilayer segment effect 139 single-layer effects 139 Segment mode in workflow 50 using 125 Selecting a project 62 Sequence Time option (Digital Cut tool) 180 Sequences adding clips to 111 creating a simple sequence 63 defined 43 editing (overview) 50 moving and renaming 98 opening 99 removing footage from 126 Serial adapter 2
editing title into a sequence 159 fading 160 saving 159 Tool palette displaying button names on 101 opening 100 tearing off 100 using 99 ToolTips 100 Track Selector panel using 107 Tracking Information display 87 Tracks monitoring 108 selecting and deselecting 108 Transcoder connecting 209 Transition effects applying 138 Transition point defined 105 Trim mode in workflow 50 Trimming 128 dual-roller 129 single-roller 131 Turning off equipment 37 Turning on equipment 15 Tutorial installing 36 instructions for
