Pinnacle Studio Version 12 Including Studio, Studio Plus and Studio Ultimate Your Life in Movies
Special thanks to Markus Duerr, Travis White, Bertrand de Vregille, Richard Edgley, Jörg Tewes, Jan Piros, Jörg Weselmann, Mikel Zwissler and Sulekha Somasekhar. Documentation: Nick Sullivan Copyright ©1996-2008 Pinnacle Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Please respect the rights of artists and creators. Content such as music, photos, video and celebrity images are protected by the laws of many countries. You may not use other people’s content unless you own the rights or have the permission of the owner.
Table of contents BEFORE YOU START .................................................. XI Equipment requirements ........................................................................ xii Abbreviations and conventions............................................................. xiv On-line help .......................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1: USING STUDIO ....................................... 1 Undo, Redo, Help, Support and Premium ..............
Analog capture.......................................................................................... 30 Capture quality options.......................................................................... 31 Audio and video levels – analog ............................................................ 31 Importing video from DVD ..................................................................... 33 Importing media from external devices..................................................
CHAPTER 5: VIDEO CLIPS ........................................ 81 Video clip basics ....................................................................................... 82 Adding video clips to your movie ......................................................... 82 Working with multiple capture files ...................................................... 83 The project video format ....................................................................... 84 Interface features .............................
Video effects library ............................................................................... 136 Standard effects ...................................................................................... 138 Auto color correction ........................................................................... 138 Noise reduction .................................................................................... 139 Stabilize .................................................................................
CHAPTER 9: TRANSITIONS ..................................... 169 Transition types and their uses ............................................................ 171 Previewing transitions in your movie .................................................. 174 Audio transitions ................................................................................. 174 The Ripple Transition command ......................................................... 175 Trimming transitions .........................................
CHAPTER 13: SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC........ 229 The Timeline audio tracks ................................................................... 232 The CD audio tool ............................................................................... 234 The Background music tool ................................................................. 235 The Voice-over tool ............................................................................. 237 Trimming audio clips .............................................
APPENDIX A: SETUP OPTIONS .............................. 283 Capture source settings ........................................................................ 284 Capture format settings........................................................................ 287 Project preferences .............................................................................. 290 Video and audio preferences ............................................................... 294 Make Disc settings ................................
Before you start Thank you for purchasing Pinnacle Studio. We hope you enjoy using the software. This manual covers all versions of Studio, including Studio Plus. Differences between versions will be noted as applicable. Most of the time, the word “Studio” will be used generically to refer to all versions. If you have not used Studio before, we recommend that you keep the manual handy for reference even if you don’t actually read it all the way through.
Equipment requirements In addition to your Studio software, an efficient Studio editing system requires certain levels of hardware performance as noted in this section. Remember too that while specifications are important, they do not tell the whole story: the proper functioning of hardware devices can also depend on manufacturer-supplied driver software.
GeForce 6 recommended); 256 MB required for HD and AVCHD editing (ATI Radeon 9600+ or NVIDIA GeForce 6 recommended). • DirectX 9 or higher or compatible sound card. • 1 GB of disk space to install software and 3+ GB to install bonus content. • DVD-ROM drive to install software. The following items are optional: • CD-R(W) burner for creating VideoCDs (VCDs) or Super VideoCDs (SVCDs). • DVD-/+R(W) burner for creating DVD, HD DVD and AVCHD discs. • Blu-ray burner for creating Blu-ray discs (BDs).
Video capture hardware Studio can capture video from a variety of digital and analog sources. Please see “Capture hardware” on page 23. Video output hardware Studio can output video to: • Any HDV, DV or Digital8 camcorder or VCR. This requires an OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 (FireWire) port (as provided by Pinnacle Studio DV). The camcorder must be set up to record from DV Input. • Any analog (8mm, Hi8, VHS, SVHS, VHS-C or SVHS-C) camcorder or VCR.
HDV: A “high-definition video” format that allows video in frame sizes of 1280x720 or 1440x1080 to be recorded in MPEG-2 format on DV media. 1394: The term “1394” refers to OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394, FireWire, DV or i.LINK interfaces, ports and cables. Analog: The term “analog” refers to 8mm, Hi8, VHS, SVHS, VHS-C or SVHS-C camcorders, VCRs and tapes, and to Composite/RCA and S-Video cables and connectors.
On-line help Two kinds of immediate help are always available while you are working in Studio: • Help file: Click the help button in the Studio main menu bar, or select the Help ¾ Help topics menu, or press F1 to open Studio’s help file. • Tool tips: To find out what a button or other Studio control does, pause your mouse pointer over it. A “tool tip” appears explaining its function.
CHAPTER 1: Using Studio Creating movies with Studio is a three-step process: 1. Capture: Import source video material – your “raw footage” – to your PC hard drive. Possible sources include analog videotape (8mm, VHS etc.), digital videotape (HDV, DV, Digital8), and live video from a video camera, camcorder or webcam. Capture mode is covered in Chapter 2: Capturing video. Availability: HDV capture is supported in Studio Plus only. 2.
storage medium: tape, VCD, S-VCD, DVD, AVI, MPEG, RealVideo or Windows Media. Make Movie mode is covered in Chapter 15: Making your movie. Setting the mode Select which step of the movie-making process you want to work on by clicking one of the three mode buttons at the top left of the Studio window: When you switch modes, the Studio screen changes to display the controls needed for the new mode.
• The Premium button lets you expand Studio by purchasing and installing premium content. page 11 for details.) (See All other controls on the Studio screen are dedicated to tasks within the current mode. Setting options Most options in Studio are set using two tabbed dialog boxes. The first lets you control options related to Capture mode and Edit mode. It has four tabs: The other dialog box is concerned with options relating to Make Movie mode.
EDIT MODE Studio opens in Edit mode each time it is launched, because that is the mode you use most often. The Edit mode display includes three main areas. The Album stores resources you will use in your movies, including your captured video scenes. The Movie Window is where you create your edited movie by arranging video and sound clips, and by applying transitions and effects. The Player provides playback and previewing for whichever item is currently selected in Studio.
The Player The Player displays a preview of your edited movie, or of the item currently selected in the Album. It consists of two main areas: a preview window and playback controls. The preview window displays video images. The playback controls allow you to play the video, or go to an exact position within it. These controls come in two formats: standard and DVD. Standard mode The standard playback controls are similar to those on a camcorder or VCR. They are used for viewing ordinary video.
for previewing your DVD, VCD or S-VCD disc productions, including menu interaction. The preview window This is a point of focus in Studio because you use it so often, especially for previewing your movie. It can also be used to display: • Any type of Album content. • Still images or titles from your movie. • Changes to video effects in real time while you adjust the parameter controls for the effects. • Still frames from your video.
above the Player to the left of the Undo button when reorganizing the display is possible. Drag the control knob rightwards to increase the Player size, or leftwards to decrease it. The leftmost knob position corresponds to the smallest size, which is also the default. Resizing the Player optimizes your use of screen “real estate” to obtain a larger video preview. The DVD toggle button Switch between the two playback modes with the DVD toggle button at the bottom right-hand corner of the Player.
movie uses disc menu navigation, you can play it back as an optical disc with interactive on-screen menus by using the DVD playback controls. Both groups of controls are covered below. The full-screen preview button: This button, just above the top right-hand corner of the preview window, switches to a full-screen preview. It is available in both playback modes. On a single-monitor system, the fullscreen display ends when your movie ends, or you double-click the screen or press the Esc key.
scan for a particular piece of video you want to work with. Click the buttons repeatedly to loop through the speed factors. Loop: This button causes the currently-selected clips in the Movie Window to play back repeatedly. This feature is especially convenient whilst selecting and editing add-on effects and transitions. Click any playback button to halt looping. The loop button lights up while looping is active. Looping is maintained even if you switch playback speeds.
you move the scrubber, the preview will jump frames. The point at which it does so depends on your hardware. The smoothness of the preview also diminishes as the overall length of the material being scrubbed increases. The counter The counter displays the current playback position in hours, minutes, seconds and frames. You can directly modify the counter fields to select an exact frame to view or at which to start playback. Simply click on the number you wish to change and type a new value.
Further editing topics Please see the following for details on specific editing topics: • Chapter 5: Video clips • Chapter 6: Themes and theme editing • Chapter 7: Video effects • Chapter 8: Two-track editing with Studio Plus • Chapter 9: Transitions • Chapter 10: Still images • Chapter 11: Disc menus • Chapter 12: The Title Editor • Chapter 13: Sound effects and music • Chapter 14: Audio effects Expanding Studio One way to add pizzazz to your productions is to use a variety of video and audio filters, ani
Premium content items, like the Hollywood FX transition whose icon appears at left, are listed in Studio with a small treasure chest symbol in the top-left corner of the icon. Such items can be upgraded by purchasing a code called an activation key. Each key activates a small group or theme pack of related content. You can easily try out bonus content before purchase to make sure that it meets your needs.
These buttons can be found whenever premium content is on display within Studio. The one above, when seen in the Audio effects tool and the Video effects tool, would let you activate a pack of audio or video filters. You may encounter similar buttons in the Album that let you purchase all the media on a particular Album page as a theme pack.
If you don’t have an Internet connection... You can purchase and apply premium content activation keys even if you don’t have an Internet connection on the computer where Studio is installed.
current version of the software. Among the item types handled by the wizard are: • Titles • Disc menus • Sound effects • Hollywood FX 3D transitions • RTFx video effects To launch the wizard, look in the Studio group on your Start ¾ All Programs menu, and select Tools ¾ Transfer Content.
CHAPTER 2: Capturing video Capture is the process of importing video from a video source such as a camcorder to a file on your PC’s hard drive. Clips from this “capture file” can then be used in Studio as ingredients of your edited movies. You can open capture files into the Album in Studio’s Edit mode (see Chapter 3: The Album). Capture is the first step in using your video footage. Studio is able to capture from both digital (DV, Digital8, HDV) and analog video sources.
This opens the Capture mode interface, enabling you to set up and carry out video capture. The details of the interface are somewhat different for analog than for digital video sources. Topics in this chapter • “The Capture mode interface” (below) introduces the controls and displays for both analog and digital captures. • “The Capture Process” (page 22) covers setting up your hardware, gives step-by-step capturing instructions, and describes the automatic scene detection feature.
Digital capture If your video source is digital, your Capture mode screen will look like this: The Album, at the top left of the screen, displays icons representing the video scenes as they are captured. The Player, at top right, lets you view the incoming video while cueing for capture, and monitor the capture itself. Readouts on the Player tell you the exact length of the captured video, and the number of frames dropped during the capture (normally zero).
Analog capture Both the Album and the Player are used in analog as well as digital captures, so when you capture from an analog source the top half of the screen is the same as shown and described above for digital sources. Not the bottom half of the screen, however. It now features a second version of the Diskometer, with two fly-out panels for adjusting audio and video levels during capture. (The panels are described under “Audio and video levels – analog” on page 31.) Digital vs.
of video that can be accommodated, which depends on both the available space and the configured capture quality. Capture quality settings are selected using the preset buttons that are displayed on the Diskometer for some capture devices, or by entering custom settings. See “Capture source settings” (page 284) and “Capture format settings” (page 287) for information on capture settings. The Diskometer when capturing from a digital source (L) and an analog source (R).
The Camcorder Controller This panel of transport controls is shown in Capture mode if you are capturing from a digital video source. (Analog devices must be cued and operated manually.) The Camcorder Controller and a close-up of the transport controls. The counter window above the control buttons displays the current source tape position, and the camcorder’s transport mode. From left to right, the transport buttons are: Stop, Rewind / Review, Play, Fast forward / Cue and Pause.
Performing the actual capture is a straightforward stepby-step procedure (see page 24). As the capture proceeds, Studio automatically detects the natural breaks in the incoming video and divides the material into “scenes”. Upon detection, each scene is added to the Album, where it is represented by an icon of its first frame. Automatic scene detection is described starting on page 26. Some capture options apply to digital captures only or to analog captures only.
To select a capture device: Click the Setup ¾ Capture Source menu command. The Capture source options panel appears. 2. Select the devices you want to use from the Video and Audio dropdown lists in the Capture devices area, and click OK. 1. See “Capture source settings” on page 284 for detailed information about the Capture source options panel. Standard vs. widescreen capture Studio can capture in both the standard (4:3) and the widescreen (16:9) frame-aspect ratios.
Further information relating to some of the steps can be found elsewhere in this chapter. Also see Appendix A: Setup Options (page 283) for detailed descriptions of the Capture source and Capture format options panels. To capture video: Verify that your equipment is properly connected. For a digital capture, your camcorder or VCR must be connected to your PC’s 1394 port. For an analog capture, connect the source video to the Composite or S-Video input of your capture hardware.
4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Click the Start capture button on the Diskometer. The Capture Video dialog box is displayed. Type in a name for the video capture file you are about to create, or accept the default name. You can optionally also enter a limiting duration for the capture. If you are capturing from an analog camcorder or VCR, start playback now. This step is unnecessary with a digital-source capture, as Studio will control the playback equipment automatically when needed.
icon is created in the Video Scenes section of the Album for each scene detected. Depending on which capture device you are using, automatic scene detection is carried out either in real time during capture, or as a separate step immediately after capture is completed. You can configure scene detection using the options under Scene detection during video capture on the Capture source options panel (Setup ¾ Capture Source). Not all scene detection options are available with every type of video source.
DIGITAL CAPTURE This section covers aspects of capturing from a DV source deck (camcorder or VCR) and a 1394 port. To read about capturing from analog hardware, please see “Analog capture” on page 30. You have two choices for the way the video data is encoded and compressed in full-quality captures. For most purposes, DV format is the logical choice, but if you are planning to output your finished movie to disc (VCD, S-VCD or DVD), you may prefer the MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 format instead.
directly from the camcorder tape to your PC hard drive with no changes or additional compression. Capturing DV video does consume a lot of drive space, so you may want to pick and choose small segments to capture instead of the entire tape if space is an issue on your system. You can calculate the amount of disk space you will need by multiplying the length of your video in seconds by 3.6, which gives the number of megabytes required. For example: 1 hour of video = 3600 seconds (60 x 60) 3600 seconds x 3.
Audio and video levels – digital With digital captures, you are using audio and video that have been encoded digitally during recording, right in the camera. When you transfer the footage through a 1394 port to your computer, the data remains in the compressed digital format throughout, so you cannot adjust the audio or video levels during the capture. This is in contrast to analog captures, where the audio and video can be adjusted as capturing takes place.
• A USB video camera or webcam. If you are using a digital camcorder connected to your computer via a 1394 port, please refer instead to “DV capture” on page 28. Capture quality options With most analog capture hardware, Studio offers three preset quality choices – Good, Better and Best – plus a Custom option. Your hardware’s capabilities determine how the presets translate into particular settings for picture size, frame rate, compression characteristics and quality.
Video (L) and audio (R) panels for setting levels during analog capture. Particular capture devices may offer fewer options than are shown and discussed here. For instance, with hardware that doesn’t support audio captures in stereo, a balance control will not appear on the audio panel. Video Choose the type of video you are going to digitize by clicking the appropriate Source button (Composite or S-Video).
IMPORTING VIDEO FROM DVD Although it isn’t capture in the strict sense, you can also bring video into Studio by importing it from a nonprotected DVD disc or a DVD disc image on your hard drive. The File ¾ Import DVD Titles menu command opens a dialog that lets you locate and preview the DVD material of interest, then import it as an MPEG-2 file to the folder of your choice. Note: If the audio on the DVD is in AC3 format, it may be necessary to purchase an activation code for the AC3 codec software.
Enter a name for the DVD. This will be used as part of the imported file names. For example, if you name the DVD or image “My DVD”, and import Title 12, the resulting file name will be: My DVD_Title_12.mpg 4. Select the title or titles you wish to import by checking the boxes next to the names. You can use the player controls on the right side of the dialog to preview the content of the currently-selected title. 5. Click the Import button.
Devices that often contain importable media include: • External optical disc drives, hard drives and flash memory drives • Camcorder or digital camera on-board drives of any of these types The Show Video and Show Photos checkboxes let you specify which kinds of media files to list. By default, both video and photos are shown. The View buttons select either of two listing types: • Thumbnails view provides a miniaturized image for each file, along with the file name and datestamp.
You can select multiple files to import by using standard Windows mouse and keyboard commands, along with the Select All and Deselect All buttons as required. Import options Check Rename Files and type into the provided edit box if you would like the names of all the imported files to share a common stem. For instance, if you check Rename Files, enter the word “Monday”, then import some JPEG files, the imported files will be called “Monday 1.jpg”, “Monday 2.jpg”, and so on.
CHAPTER 3: The Album The Video Scenes section of the Album. Click the tabs down the left side of the Album to access the materials in the other sections. The source materials you need for making a movie are stored in the various sections of the Album, each of which is accessed by its own tab as follows: Video Scenes: This section contains your video footage. The supported video file formats are: avi, mpg, mpeg, mod, mp2, mp4, m2ts, tod, m1v, m2v, mpv and wmv.
Transitions: This Album section contains fades, dissolves, slides, and other transition types, including the elaborate Hollywood FX transitions. To use a transition, position it next to or between video clips and graphics in the Movie Window. See “The Transitions section”, page 55. Themes: A Theme in Studio is a set of matching templates. You can use the templates to create effective sequences that combine your video and still images with built-in animations and effects. See “The Themes section”, page 57.
are: wav, mp3, mpa, m4a, wma, avi and ac3. See “The Sound Effects section”, page 61. Music: In this Album section you can locate and use music files stored on your hard drive. The formats supported are: wav, mp3, avi, mpa and wma. See “The Music section”, page 62. Using the Album Each section of the Album contains as many pages as are necessary to hold the icons representing the items in that section.
particular disk folder. Each of these sections – Titles, Images, Disc Menus, Sound Effects and Music – has a default folder assigned to it, but you can select a different folder if desired. The icons in the Titles section represent files stored in a selected source folder on your hard drive. The dropdown list at the top of the Album page lets you select either “Standard Titles” or “My Titles” from the installed “Titles” folder. Other folders of installed titles may also be listed.
THE VIDEO SCENES SECTION This is where the editing process really begins – in the Video Scenes section of the Album with your captured raw footage. In a typical production, your first step will probably be to drag some scenes from the Album down into the Movie Window (see Chapter 5: Video Clips). In the Album, scenes are displayed in the order in which they were captured.
To browse for a video file in the Video Scenes section of the Album, select the Files radio button at the top of the right-hand Album page. View options Both the Files and Scenes modes support multiple view options that let you tailor the display to your needs by showing more or less information about each Album item. Studio provides several methods of accessing these view options: • Through commands on the View menu. • Through the right-button context menu on the Album page.
The two view options available in Scenes mode are: n Thumbnail view and o Comment view. Interface features The Video Scenes section offers several special interface features: • Scenes that have been added to the Movie Window are distinguished in the Album by a green checkmark. The checkmark remains as long as any clip in the Movie Window originates with that scene. • To see how a particular Album scene is used in your current project, use the Album ¾ Find Scene in Project menu command.
Summary of operations Because of its central role, the Video Scenes section of the Album provides an extensive set of operations.
The capture folder’s real name is My videos, but Windows Explorer and Studio customarily call it by an alias, Shared videos. This distinguishes it from My videos in the user’s personal documents folder. See The Video Scenes Section (page 41) for details about modes and view options when working with video scenes in the Album. Opening a folder Folder contents are displayed in the Album’s Files mode. Both the subfolders and the digital video files within the current folder are shown.
Opening a file When you open a video file, icons are displayed that represent the scenes in the file: Three ways to open a digital video file: • Select the file name on the dropdown list when the Video Scenes section is in Scenes mode. • Double-click a file listed in Files mode. • Click the browse for file button and use the Open dialog to locate a digital video file of any supported type on your hard drive.
Video aspect ratios Most digital video files provide format information that allows Studio to detect the frame aspect ratio of 4:3 or 16:9 automatically. If the file does not provide aspect ratio information, Studio defaults to the standard 4:3 format. The Aspect Ratio 4:3 and Aspect Ratio 16:9 commands on the Album menu let you manually set whichever ratio you need. These commands also appear on the right-button context menu for video in the Album.
Viewing captured video Individual or multiple scenes in the open captured video file can be viewed at any time. To view captured video starting at a selected scene: 1. Click on the scene’s icon in the Album. The Player displays the first frame of the selected scene. 2. Click the Play button in the Player. The Player now plays the selected scenes and any subsequent ones. Progress is indicated in three ways. • The scenes highlight successively as they are played.
Previewing digital video files When a video file is selected in the Album’s Files mode, you can use the Player to preview the video without actually opening the file into the Album. Selecting scenes and files Studio offers a variety of ways to select scenes and other items in the Video Scenes section of the Album. Selected video scenes are indicated by a highlighted border. Selected folders and video files are shown with text highlighting. Selected scenes have a highlighted border (center).
• Ctrl-click to add or remove individual items from the selection. • Starting with the mouse pointer over a blank area of the Album page, click and drag to “marquee” an area, selecting all the items that intersect the area. • Use the arrow keys to navigate the Album grid. Use the arrows in combination with Shift to select items as you go. Selected folders and video files have highlighted text.
Comment view In the default view for the Scenes mode of the Video Scenes section, known as Thumbnail view, each scene is represented by a thumbnail frame icon. To see more information about each scene, switch to Comment view using any of the methods described on page 42. In comment view, editable captions are displayed for Album scenes. The usage of these captions is up to you: they might be search keywords, or scene names, or text comments describing the scene content.
Enter a keyword into the text field and click OK to highlight all Album scenes whose caption contains the keyword. The default captions are not searched – only the ones you have customized. Combining and subdividing scenes After previewing your scenes, you might want to combine or subdivide some into larger or smaller units. Such adjustments are easily made. To combine scenes in the Album: Select the scenes to be combined. 2. Select Album ¾ Combine Scenes. The selected scenes are combined into one.
If the scenes you selected were not all neighbors, each set of adjacent scenes is combined, but the different sets are not combined with each other. Several selected scenes (black) are merged into two longer scenes. Having no neighbors, scene 4 is unaffected, even though it was part of the selection. To subdivide scenes in the Album: Select the scenes to be subdivided. 2. Select Album ¾ Subdivide Scenes. The Subdivide Selected Scenes dialog box appears. 1.
You can subdivide these scenes still further, if desired, down to the minimum duration of one second. Three selected scenes are subdivided to a duration of five seconds. The vertical stripes indicate fivesecond divisions within each scene. The uneven clip timings at right occur because time left after subdivision is added to the final divided scene; that is also why scene 2 is ultimately unaffected by the subdivision operation.
To redetect scenes: If you need to recombine any scenes, first select the subdivided scenes, then apply the Album ¾ Combine Scenes menu command. 2. Select the scenes you wish to redetect. 3. From the Album menu, select either Detect Scenes by Video Content or Detect Scenes by Shooting Time and Date. A progress window appears as Studio detects the scenes and repopulates the Album. 1. THE TRANSITIONS SECTION The Transitions section of the Album provides a large set of drag-and-drop clip transitions.
a starting set of unrestricted Hollywood FX 3-D transitions. Obtaining more transitions Besides those installed with Studio, additional packs of Hollywood FX transitions are available for purchase through the Pinnacle web-site. For more information about purchasing premium content for Studio, see “Expanding Studio” on page 11.
THE MONTAGE® THEMES SECTION Editing based on Montage® Themes is a powerful feature unique to Studio. Each theme is a set of matching templates. Use the dropdown list to select the Theme whose templates you want to view. The templates available for each theme provide slots for your video, photos, captions and settings. When you create a theme clip from the template (by dragging it to the Movie Window), the Theme Editor opens to accept your customizations.
THE TITLES SECTION This section of the Album contains a collection of text titles in a variety of styles. They can be used in your movie as either full-screen or overlay titles. The difference is that in an overlay title the transparent background is replaced by other material (usually a video clip), whereas in a full-screen title, the background is replaced with black. In the Album, a gray checkerboard is used to indicate the portion of a title that will be treated as transparent in overlays.
THE STILL IMAGES SECTION This section of the Album displays thumbnail icons of image files, which may include grabbed video frames, photographs and bitmapped drawings. Most standard image file formats are supported. As with video scenes, images that are in use in your current movie are indicated by a green checkmark symbol. The Still Images folder: The icons in the Still Images section represent files in the folder named at the top of each left-hand page in the section.
As with video scenes and other visual resources, disc menus that are in use in your movie are distinguished in the Album by a green checkmark symbol. For information on using disc menus in your movie, see Chapter 11: Disc menus. The Disc Menus folder: The icons in the Disc Menus section represent files in the folder named at the top of each left-hand page in the section. Menus can be added to the section by storing them in this folder.
THE SOUND EFFECTS SECTION Studio comes with a wide range of ready-touse sound effects. These wav files are installed into a number of folders, covering categories such as “animals”, “bells” and “cartoons”. The Sound Effects folder: This section of the Album displays the sound files contained in one disk folder, named at the top of each left-hand page in the section.
THE MUSIC SECTION This section of the Album displays the music files in a folder on your hard drive. To use a file drag it onto the Music track or another audio track on the Movie Window Timeline, The Music folder: The wav, mp3 and other audio files come from the folder named at the top of each left-hand page in the section. Other music files can be added to the section by storing them in this folder.
CHAPTER 4: The Movie Window The Movie Window, where you build your movie from the raw materials in the Album, occupies the bottom half of the screen in Studio’s Edit mode. To access the Movie Window, first switch to Edit mode if you are not already there: The Movie Window title bar contains several important controls and displays. The toolbox buttons at the left of the title bar open the Video toolbox and the Audio toolbox, which are discussed on page 74.
To the right of the toolbox buttons is a text area where the project file name is displayed. Status and warning messages are also displayed in this area when required. The next controls relate to clip markers, which are like bookmarks attached to clips in your project. In a new project, the only visible clip marker control is the Add Marker button. When you add your first marker, more controls appear.
No information is lost. If the item is an Album scene, it is split at the indicated point into two shorter scenes. If the item is a clip in the Movie Window, it is duplicated and automatically trimmed to the split point. The razorblade button can be used with the tracklocking buttons in the Movie Window’s Timeline view to carry out special operations such as insert editing, and edits in which the audio leads or lags behind the video. See “Advanced Timeline editing” on page 98.
for the current track is reversed. That is, on the main video track, Ctrl+Delete leaves a gap when the clip is removed, while on the other tracks, the gap on the track is closed up. In neither case are other tracks affected. You can also access the delete operations through the right-button context menu for clips on the Timeline. The delete options on the right-button menu for Timeline clips are not the same for clips on the main video track (L) as for those on other tracks (R).
MOVIE WINDOW VIEWS The Movie Window provides three different views of your project: Timeline, Storyboard and Text. Select the one you want to use by clicking the view selection buttons in the upper right corner of the Movie Window. Storyboard view Storyboard view shows the order of video scenes and transitions. It uses thumbnail icons for quickly structuring a movie.
• Original (or “synchronous”) audio: The original audio track contains the audio that was captured along with the video from your camera. You can manipulate the audio clips on this track to achieve various effects using insert-editing and splitediting techniques. See “Insert editing” (page 100) and “Split editing” (page 102) for more information.
soundtrack can also make use of mp3 and other music files (see page 229). • Disc menus, chapter marks and return-to- menu links: This is an extra track that appears above the video track whenever the movie has at least one disc menu. See Chapter 11: Disc menus for information. Because many editing operations can be carried out only in Timeline view, you should choose it whenever extensive, detailed or advanced editing is required.
dently of the others, thereby excluding it from editing and playback operations. The padlock buttons along the right edge of the Movie Window, can be clicked to toggle locking for the corresponding track. Tracklocking gives Studio insert-edit and split-edit capability (see Chapter 5: Video clips). Track muting and hiding The audio tracks can be individually muted with the mute buttons at the right edge of the Movie Window.
The status line: The status line area on the left of the Movie Window title bar displays messages as you place clips and perform other actions. Placement symbols: While you are dragging a clip into position on the Timeline, Studio provides feedback to tell you whether the current placement of the clip is valid. The mouse pointer shape and the colors of the vertical placement lines indicate what you can and cannot do.
control in the group is the add marker button. The remaining controls appear only after the first marker has been added. In a new project, the only visible clip marker control is the Add Marker button n. Clicking the button (or pressing your ‘M’ key) creates a marker at the position of the Timeline scrubber. Once a marker has been added, the Add Marker button changes to Delete Marker, and the remaining controls appear o. Notice marker tab ‘01’ at the scrubber position p.
The clip marker controls include: • Add marker, Delete marker: In Timeline view, the add marker button is enabled while any clip is selected, provided there is not already a marker at the scrubber position. If a marker is present, the delete marker button appears instead. • Previous marker, Next marker: These buttons allow you to step through the markers in your project. Unlike the add marker and delete marker buttons, these buttons are enabled in all Movie Window views, not just Timeline view.
Text view The Movie Window Text view is a list showing the start and end times of clips, as well as their duration. In addition, custom names for clips are visible in this view. THE TOOLBOXES The toolboxes provide a convenient point-and-click interface for editing operations – adding clips to your movie, modifying existing clips and applying special effects. Studio provides separate toolboxes for video and for audio operations. The toolboxes are available only in Edit mode.
Select the toolbox you want to open by moving your cursor over the icons. The individual buttons highlight, indicating which toolbox will open when you click. The Album is then replaced by the toolbox display, which contains two main areas: • Tool selector buttons in a panel on the left. Clicking one of these opens the corresponding tool. • The currently-selected tool on the right.
tools, or with the Go to Title/Menu Editor command from the right-button context menu in the Movie Window. See Chapter 12: The Title Editor for full information. The Video toolbox The seven tools in this toolbox modify or create visual clip types, including video clips, themes, titles, still images and disc menus. Clip properties: The Clip properties tool adjusts the start and end times of any type of clip. This is called “trimming”. The tool also allows you to type in a descriptive name for the clip.
Some theme templates also provide text captions or other parameters that allow customization. See Chapter 6: Themes and theme editing for more information. Titles: This tool lets you edit the names and lengths of titles. The Edit Title button provides access to the Title Editor window, where you can change the text and appearance of the title. See Chapter 12: The Title Editor for more information.
Chroma key effects. See “The Picture-in-picture tool” (page 154) and “The Chroma key tool” (page 160) for more information. Video effects: Studio provides numerous plug-in video effects with this tool. Each video clip, theme clip or still image in your project can use effects, whether alone or in combination. Along with its basic library of useful effects, Studio provides some “locked” premium effects that you can try out. See Chapter 7: Video effects for details about this tool.
Text view.) The tool’s other controls vary depending on the type of clip. See “Trimming with the Clip properties tool” on page 240 for more information. Volume and balance: This tool gives you master volume controls for each of the three audio tracks: original audio (audio captured with video), sound effects and voice-overs and background music. It also enables you to mute any or all of the tracks, and to add real-time volume fades.
Audio effects: This tool lets you apply plug-in effects to any audio clip. The popular VST standard for audio plug-ins is supported, enabling you to augment your library with add-on and third party effects. A configurable noise reduction filter is supplied as a standard effect. Effects available in Studio Plus also include both graphic and parametric EQ, reverb, chorus and others.
CHAPTER 5: Video clips The cornerstone of most Studio video projects is the Album section containing your captured video scenes. To create your edited movie, you drag scenes from the Album into the Movie Window, where they are treated as editable video clips. This chapter explains how to set the “in” and “out” (start and end) points for each clip. The Movie Window’s editing interface makes this “trimming” process simple, rapid and precise.
VIDEO CLIP BASICS The first step in creating a movie is to introduce some video scenes from the Album into the Movie Window, where they become editable clips. At some point you will probably also add some transitions, titles, audio and other extras, but a set of video scenes is the starting point for just about any project. This section explains how to add scenes to your movie, and how to work with scenes from multiple capture files.
Ctrl+C for copy, Ctrl+V for paste), or select the desired operation from the right-button menu. When the Movie Window is in Timeline view, you can drop a video scene or clip onto any of the following: • The main video track. If the clip has associated audio, it is added to the original audio track. This video will serve as the background for any overlay video or titles on the lower Timeline tracks. • The overlay track. Video on this track is superimposed on the contents of the video track.
of the files in turn and drag whichever scenes you want from each file into your movie. To use multiple capture files: Drag scenes from the first capture file into the Movie Window. 2. Using the dropdown list or the folder button in the Video Scenes section of the Album, open the second capture file. Studio displays scenes from only the current file in the Album. See “Opening a captured video file” on page 44 for detailed information on this step. 3.
format box on the Project preferences options panel lets you specify the format for new projects either explicitly (e.g. “NTSC Widescreen”) or implicitly, from the format of the first clip you add to the project. The current project format is displayed as a tooltip over the project title in the Movie Window. The project format applies to all video and image clips in the Movie Window, and to the preview of those clips in the Player.
some distortion. Please see “Video aspect ratios” on page 47 for more information. • Use the 2D Editor effect with keyframing to create a “pan and scan” version your video. Studios often use this technique to make their movies fit a standard television screen when they are transferred to videotape or DVD. There is no distortion with this method, but some material is lost from each frame.
Studio is able to carry out rendering behind the scenes while you work. This feature is controlled from the Background rendering box on the Video and audio preferences options panel. Following the dialog’s advice regarding the codec to use for background rendering may help reduce the rendering time when your final movie is output.
long as any clip in the Movie Window belongs to that scene. • To see the original location of a clip in your source video, use the Find Scene in Album command on the right-click menu for Movie Window clips. Studio highlights the Album scene from which the selected clip is drawn. To go the other way, use Album ¾ Find Scene in Project to show how a particular Album scene is used in your current project.
TRIMMING VIDEO CLIPS In general, captured video scenes contain more material than you actually require for your movie. “Trimming” – the process of adjusting the in and out points of a clip to remove unwanted footage – is a fundamental editing operation. No data is lost by trimming: Studio sets new start and end points for the clip in the Movie Window, but the source of the clip – the original Album scene – remains intact.
Let’s first consider the simplest trimming case, in a movie with only one clip. Then we’ll turn to the more usual situation of trimming a single clip that is surrounded by other clips. To trim a single clip on the Timeline: 1. Delete all but one clip from the Timeline. If the Timeline is empty, drag a scene in from the Album. 2. Expand the Timescale to make fine adjustments easier. Position the mouse pointer anywhere on the Timeline except directly over the edit line. The pointer becomes a clock symbol.
left and right. You can reduce the clip to as little as a single frame, or increase it up to the end of the source scene. 5. Release the mouse button. The clip is now trimmed. Multiple clips The secret to trimming a clip when multiple clips are on the Timeline is that you must first select the clip to be trimmed by clicking on it with the mouse. To trim with multiple clips on the Timeline: 1. Set up the Timeline with two short clips. 2.
4. With the second clip still selected, move your mouse pointer over the left edge of clip until the pointer changes to a right arrow. 5. Drag the left edge of the second scene to the right. As you drag, the first frame of the clip is displayed in the Player. As long as the clip remains selected, you can continue to trim more video by dragging the edge to the right, or restore some of the trimmed video by dragging the edge to the left. 6. Release the mouse button.
This default trimming behavior simplifies editing under most circumstances, but Studio also gives you a way to invert the behavior when needed. If you press the Ctrl key before you begin trimming a clip on the video track, neither that clip nor any other will be repositioned, and gaps are not closed up. There is no effect on other tracks. Meanwhile, using Ctrl when trimming clips on other tracks again inverts the normal behavior. The clips on the track will close in to fill any gap left by the trim.
Trimming with the Clip properties tool Although it is possible to trim video clips directly on the Timeline with full frame accuracy, rapid, precise trimming is often easier to achieve with the Clip properties tool. To access this tool, select the clip you want to change, then use the Toolbox ¾ Modify Clip Properties menu command, or click one of the toolbox buttons at the top left of the Movie Window. (Clicking the same button a second time will close the tool.
Setting playback position: A scrubber control across the bottom of the tool lets you set the playback position anywhere within the clip. You can also set the playback position using the counter and jog buttons located between the two preview areas. Using the counters: The positions reported by all three counters are relative to the beginning of the clip, which is position 0:00:00.0.
area, set their respective trim points to the current position. You can also adjust either trim point by: • Entering a value directly into its counter • Adjusting a counter field with the jog buttons • Dragging the corresponding trim caliper The Duration text field: This field shows the length of the trimmed clip in hours, minutes, seconds and frames. If you modify the value, either by editing the numbers directly or by clicking the associated jog buttons, the effect is to change the out point of the clip.
SPLITTING AND COMBINING CLIPS If you want to insert one clip on the video track into the middle of another clip, split the latter into two parts then insert the new item. “Splitting” a clip actually results in it being duplicated. Both clips are then automatically trimmed so that the first ends at the split point and the second begins there. To split a clip in Timeline view: Choose the split point.
• Delete one half of the split clip, and trim out the other. To combine clips in the Movie Window: Select the clips you wish to combine, then right-click and choose Combine Clips. The operation is allowed only if the combination of clips will also be a valid clip – that is, a continuous excerpt of the source video. On the Timeline, clips that can be combined meet along a dotted edge.
Such special edits are possible using the track lock buttons along the right edge of the Movie Window in Timeline view. Each of the standard tracks (all except the menu track) provides a lock button. See “Track locking” on page 69 for more information on track locking. A locked track is grayed out in the Timeline view, indicating that the clips on the locked track cannot be selected or edited in any of the three views; nor are they affected by editing operations on unlocked tracks.
Insert editing In ordinary Timeline editing, a video clip and the original audio that was captured with it are treated as a unit. Their special relationship is symbolized in the Movie Window by the line connecting the video track indicator with the original audio track indicator, showing that the latter is dependent on the former.
2. Clear space on the video track for the video clip you want to insert. Position the Timeline scrubber at the point you want the insertion to start and use the Split clip/scene button. Now move to the point where the insertion should end and again split the clip. Finally, delete the portion of video that will be replaced by the insertion.
Insert editing on the original audio track The converse insert-editing operation, in which a sound clip is inserted into the original audio track over unbroken video, is needed less often but is also readily performed in Studio. The procedure is analogous to the one for inserting video: simply reverse the roles of the two tracks at every step. Split editing In “split editing”, a clip’s audio and video are separately trimmed so that the transition to one occurs before the transition to the other.
video periodically cuts away from the speaker to show travel or nature scenes illustrating the lecture topic. Audio and video cut simultaneously. Instead of cutting the audio and the video simultaneously, you might decide to let the speaker’s voice overlap into the following scene. This makes it clear to the audience that the new scene they are now watching illustrates whatever explanation the speaker has been providing. Notice that the video and audio clip boundaries in the completed cut form an L-shape.
104 2. Select the left-hand clip and trim its right edge to the point where you want the audio to end. 3. Lock the audio track. Now drag the right-hand edge of the same clip’s video leftward to the point where the following clip’s video should start. 4. With the audio track locked, drag the second clip’s video to the left until it meets the original clip.
The J-cut In the J-cut, the new audio cuts in before the video switches. This can be effective when the second clip’s audio prepares the viewer for the material in the scene. Returning to the videotaped lecture example, let’s say we are now going to switch back to the speaker at the end of the interpolated footage. If we let the next part of the lecture appear on the soundtrack a few moments before the video shows us the podium again, the change will be much less abrupt.
Note: The procedures described above for the L-cut and the J-cut are not the only possibilities. With the Jcut, for example, another method would be to trim the right-hand clip to the desired start point of the video then, with the video track locked, drag the audio portion left to overlap the audio of the left-hand clip. THE SMARTMOVIE MUSIC VIDEO TOOL Creating a music video seems like a big job, even with the convenient editing features of Studio.
With the visuals in place, add a ScoreFitter,CD audio or digital music (wav, mp3) clip to the background music track. The duration of this clip – and not the amount of visual material you supply – determines the length of your music video. If you don’t supply enough visual material, SmartMovie will use your video clips or images multiple times in order to achieve the required duration. Conversely, clips or images will be omitted if you provide more than can be used within the duration of the song.
For video styles, you will get the best results if the starting duration of your video footage is about double the length of the soundtrack. Each of the slideshow styles has its own ideal ratio between the number of pictures and the length of the song. The status balloon provides guidance for getting the proportions right. SmartMovie options The Use clips in random order option lets you mix up the visual material without regard to its initial sequence. This option is the default with some styles.
The last configuration step is to enter the text to use for the opening and closing titles. Each text line consists of two edit fields. Use Tab and Shift+Tab to jump between the left and right fields. The big moment… Finally, click the Create SmartMovie button and sit back while Studio generates your movie. Using SmartMovie from Capture mode Studio lets you jump directly from capturing your video right into the SmartMovie tool.
CHAPTER 6: Montage® themes and theme editing Studio’s customizable Montage® “themes” provide a powerful but easy to learn method of achieving slideshow, animation and multitrack editing effects. With themes you can quickly give your videos a more professional look while maintaining a coherent structure. Each theme consists of a set of templates that can be added to your project as “theme clips”.
The themes provided are each designed to cover a typical need. Within each theme, the available templates are designed to complement one another when used in the same project. For instance, most themes provide an Opening template and a matching Ending template. Many themes also provide one or more Segue templates for transitioning from one video or image clip to another. The appearance of a theme clip’s Timeline icon reflects its structure.
USING THEMES Theme templates are stored in the Themes section of the Album. The Album displays all the templates in a given theme, as selected from a dropdown list. To use a template, simply drag its icon from the Album into the Movie Window. Pick a theme from the dropdown list (L) to show the templates available (R). To use a template, drag its icon down into the Movie Window. When the Movie Window is in Timeline View, theme clips can be trimmed and edited much like ordinary video.
The Theme Editor tool allows the user to customize a theme clip by adjusting its built-in settings or specifying video and audio subclips for it to use. The editor can also be accessed with the Toolbox ¾ Edit Theme menu command. The Theme Editor tool lets you specify theme elements such as video or image clips, property settings, and text captions. Clips are added by dragging them either from the editor’s own miniAlbum (left side of tool) or from the Movie Window.
As with menus, a special editor tool opens automatically when a theme clip is added to the movie. Creating theme clips To create a theme clip, use any of the standard methods of adding content to your project: • Drag an icon from the Themes section of the Album to the Movie Window. • Select Add To Project in a theme template icon’s right-button context menu. • Paste the contents of the Windows Clipboard after you have cut or copied an existing theme clip.
Inserting a theme clip before or after an existing clip: If you drop the new clip near the start or end of an existing theme clip, it is accordingly inserted before or after the existing clip. The placement lines that show the position of the new clip on the Timeline are drawn in green. A new theme clip, represented by the ‘copy’ mouse pointer, is dragged near the beginning of the lefthand clip. Green placement lines indicate where the new clip will be inserted.
A new theme clip is dropped onto the middle of the left-hand clip, replacing it. The positions of other clips are not affected. Working with theme clips on the Timeline Theme clips behave like ordinary video clips when it comes to operations like trimming and adding transitions. When a theme clip is trimmed... Although trimming operations on the Timeline are the same for theme clips as for video clips, the actual result produced by trimming depends on the nature of the clip.
can be expanded as far as the length of the subclip will allow – indefinitely, if the subclip happens to be a still image. Transitions and effects Transitions can be used at the beginning and end of theme clips in the same way as with other clip types. Video and audio effects can also be added to theme clips as usual, and apply to all the content the clip embodies. However, a few effects, such as Speed, are not available for use with theme clips.
The scrolling background animation runs through most of this sequence. Within the animation, two customizable captions are displayed. They are represented in the diagram below by lines on the “Animation” bar. Both captions are flown into and out of the frame (dark line color), with a one and a half second pause for stationary display (light line color) in between. Schematic representation of the Opening template in the ‘50s Modern’ theme, at its default length of about 14 seconds.
Segue A integrates multiple video sources. Segue B: This Segue achieves the basic aim of connecting two video clips more simply than the previous one. The first subclip starts at full frame, then zooms out while rotating away from the viewer. When the reverse side of its rotating panel comes into view, the second subclip has replaced the first. The panel zooms in to fill the frame towards the end of the clip. Segue B creates a simpler transition.
Ending: The purpose of an Ending template mirrors that of an Opening template, and in this example the internal structure is also mirrored almost exactly. Fullframe video recedes to a flying panel that gives way to animated captions – just the opposite of the Opening sequence described above. The one difference is that in the Ending clip the full-frame portion is not extendable. The Ending theme mirrors the Opening theme.
Using the Theme Editor tool Each theme template has its own set of slots for video and photo content, represented by “drop zones” in the Theme Editor. Most templates have at least one of these; the maximum is six. Some also provide text captions and other parameters as required to customize special features. The Theme Editor is split down the middle into two parts. On the left, a mini-Album provides access to your video and still image libraries; on the right is a customization panel.
Working with drop zones Clearing drop zones: To delete a subclip from its drop zone, right-click the zone and select Delete from the pop-up menu. Copying subclips to the Movie Window: To copy a subclip from a drop zone in the Theme Editor to the Timeline (or other Movie Window view), right-click the zone and select Add to Timeline from the menu. This is normally used to add or modify an effect on the subclip before dragging it back into the theme clip.
now to control the start of clip slider below the zone. Move the mouse back and forth to set the start frame. As you scroll the start of clip slider, the icon in the drop zone is updated to show the new starting frame. At the same time, the Player shows the frame at the current scrubber position. If the drop zone you are working with is active at that time index, the preview will reflect any changes to the start frame.
CHAPTER 7: Video effects Most video editing consists of selecting, ordering and trimming video clips, of connecting clips with transition effects and combining them with other materials such as music and still images. Sometimes, though, you also need to modify the video images themselves, manipulating them in some way to achieve some desired effect. Studio’s Video effects tool provides an extensive set of plug-in video effects that can be applied either to video or still images.
Video effects vs. audio effects In most respects, the Video effects tool and the Audio effects tool work identically, except for the type of material they apply to. Working with the effects list Each video or image clip in your project can be modified by one or more video effects. Each effect is applied to the original image in turn, in the order in which they are listed on the Video effects tool.
To remove the currently-selected effect from the list, click the delete effect (trashcan) button. The Video Effects browser is open here to the Studio Plus RTFX page, which contains an additional set of effects for Studio Plus. The other packs listed contain other premium effects requiring separate purchase. The last ‘category’, More Effects, opens a page on the Pinnacle web-site where additional premium effects are available.
list, you can control the position of each effect in the processing chain. The buttons apply to the currentlyselected effect. Changing effect parameters When an effect is selected in the effects list, the parameters panel on the right-hand side of the Video effects tool window provides controls for adjusting the effect’s parameters, if any. The controls for the basic library of effects supplied with Studio are described below (beginning on page 138).
Using parameter presets In order to simplify the use of parameters, many effects offer presets that let you configure an effect for a particular use simply by selecting a name from a list. In Studio Plus, there are two kinds of preset: static, which store a single set of effect parameters, and keyframed, which store multiple sets of parameters in the form of keyframes (see below). In versions of Studio that do not support keyframing only static presets are available.
Keyframing The parameters for Studio video effects are ordinarily applied at the first frame of the video clip and continue unchanged to its end. This is the standard behavior for each effect you add to the clip. Ordinarily, an effect’s parameter values do not vary throughout the video clip the effect belongs to. Keyframing – the ability to change parameter values smoothly within a video clip – opens a wide range of new possibilities for using effects in your movies.
Between keyframes, numeric parameter values are automatically adjusted from frame to frame to connect the keyframe values smoothly. A graphical view of the keyframes in the example above. The values of Zoom (Z), Horizontal Position (H) and Vertical Position (V) are set by keyframe 1 at the start of the clip, by keyframe 2 about a third of the way in, and by keyframe 3 at the end. The values change smoothly over intermediate frames. Most effects support keyframing.
Keyframing gives you sensitive control over the way the effect is applied to the clip. It becomes a simple matter to ease an effect in and out, for example. With a set of four keyframes you can ease in one or more parameter values at the start of a clip and ease them out again at the end. A pan-and-zoom slideshow like that described in under “Editing image clip properties” (see page 182) can be created using the Pan-and-Zoom effect on a single still-image clip.
Using keyframing In the parameters window for any effect that supports keyframing, locate and check the Use keyframes box. Until you do this, the effect maintains a single set of parameter values throughout the clip. When you switch on keyframing for an effect, two keyframes are created automatically. One is anchored to the start of the clip, and the other to its end. The parameters for both are set to the non-keyframed value.
At the same time, additional controls are displayed at the bottom of the parameters window: the Add and Delete buttons, the Current keyframe indicator with forward and back arrows, and the Keyframe time counter with jog arrows. New controls appear at the bottom of the parameters window when keyframes are enabled. The Current keyframe indicator shows the number of the keyframe attached to the frame you are viewing in the Movie Window. Use the arrows to advance from keyframe to keyframe.
The Delete button is available whenever the current frame has a keyframe; that is, whenever the Current keyframe indicator shows a number rather than a dash. The Keyframe time counter shows the time offset within the clip of the current movie time – the frame showing in the Player. The first keyframe is therefore at time zero, and the last is at an offset equal to one frame less than the duration of the clip.
be instantaneously available in most cases. Each time effects are added or removed, or settings are changed, Studio commences “rendering” the clip – recalculating its final appearance – in the background without interrupting your workflow. A colored bar appears in the Timescale above the clip while background rendering is in progress. Background rendering is optional. You can disable it, if required, in the Project preferences options panel (Setup ¾ Project Preferences).
Plug-in effects are organized into packs of one or more effects each. In this manual, we cover the five effects in the Standard RTFX pack (see page 138), which is included with all versions of Studio. Further on, we briefly describe the more than 20 additional effects in the Plus RTFX included with Studio Plus (page 140).
STANDARD EFFECTS This section describes four of the five effects included in the Standard RTFX group at the top the Studio effects browser. The fifth, Pan and zoom, is covered under “The pan-and-zoom effect interface” on page 188. Auto color correction, Noise reduction and Stabilize are classified as cleaning effects, which help correct defects in the source video, such as noise and camera shake.
Note: The Auto color correction effect may introduce video noise into the clip as a side-effect of processing. If this happens to a troublesome degree, add on the Noise reduction effect described below. Noise reduction This plug-in applies a noise-reduction algorithm that may improve the appearance of noisy video.
Studio’s Stabilize effect works by expanding a selected area (inner lines) to full-frame size. The area is adjusted from frame to frame to compensate for slight aiming differences caused by camera shake. Speed This sophisticated effect allows you to set the speed of any video clip over a continuous range from 10 to 500 percent of normal, in either forward or reverse motion. The length of the clip changes as you vary its speed. If the clip contains audio, that too is sped up or slowed down.
This section gives a brief description of each effect in the group, except: • Two of the Overlay effects are covered elsewhere (Chroma key on page 164, and Picture-in-picture on page 159). • The HFX Filter effect, which allows you to create and edit animated 3D transitions with Pinnacle’s Hollywood FX software, opens externally to Studio, and provides its own on-line help. HFX Filter uses a special Pinnacle category icon.
Emboss This specialized effect simulates the look of an embossed or bas-relief sculpture. The strength of the effect is controlled by the Amount slider. Emboss can often be enhanced by adjusting contrast and brightness with the Color Correction effect (right).
Soften The Soften effect applies a gentle blurring to your video. This can be helpful for anything from adding a romantic haze to minimizing wrinkles. A slider controls the strength of the effect. Stained glass This effect simulates the appearance of viewing the video through a pane of irregular polygons arranged into a mosaic.
2D Editor Use this effect to enlarge the image and set which portion of it will be displayed, or to shrink the image and optionally add a border and shadow. Earthquake The Studio Plus Earthquake effect jiggles the video frame to simulate a seismic event, whose severity you control with sliders for speed and intensity. Lens flare This effect simulates the flaring seen when direct bright light overexposes an area of a film or video image. You can set the orientation, size and type of the main light.
Magnify This effect lets you apply a virtual magnifying lens to a selected portion of the video frame. You can position the lens in three dimensions, moving it horizontally and vertically within the frame, and nearer to or further from the image. Motion blur This effect simulates the blurring that results when a camera is moved rapidly during exposure. Both the angle and the amount of blurring can be set.
Water drop This effect simulates the impact of a drop falling onto the surface of water, producing expanding, concentric ripples. Stages in the Water Drop effect (“Big drop” preset). Water wave This effect adds distortion to simulate a series of ocean waves passing across the video frame as the clip progresses. Parameters allow you to adjust the number, spacing, direction and depth of the waves.
Color correction The four sliders in the parameters panel for this effect control the coloration of the current clip in terms of: Brightness: The intensity of light Contrast: The range of light and dark values Hue: The location of light on the spectrum Saturation: The quantity of pure color, from gray to fully saturated Color map This effect colorizes an image using a pair of blend ramps, or color maps.
This effect uses the YCrCb color model, which has one channel for luminance (brightness information) and two channels for chrominance (color information). The YCrCb model is often used in digital video applications. Lighting The Lighting tool enables correction and enhancement of existing video that was shot with poor or insufficient lighting. It is particularly suitable for fixing backlit outdoor sequences in which the subject’s features are in shadow.
allows you to apply a color bias to achieve a particular effect. For example, a night scene can often be heightened by adding blue and slightly reducing overall brightness. You can even make video shot in daylight look like a night scene. Sepia This Studio Plus effect imparts the appearance of antique photography to the clip by rendering it in sepia tones rather than full color. The strength of the effect is controlled with the Amount slider.
CHAPTER 8: Two-track editing with Studio Plus Studio Plus brings the power of multitrack video editing to Studio with the addition of an auxiliary video track on the Movie Window Timeline called the overlay track. Now you can use advanced picture-inpicture and chroma-key effects while retaining the convenience of Studio’s streamlined and intuitive user interface.
Drop video on the title track to open the overlay track. Along with the overlay track, Studio adds an overlay audio track to accommodate the video clip’s original audio information. Once the overlay video and audio tracks have been opened, Studio no longer accepts video clips on the title track. Drag clips from the Album directly onto either the video or overlay track as required. Video clips on the video and overlay tracks.
“context” menu that appears when you click on the Movie Window with your right mouse button. A/B editing The second video track in Studio Plus often simplifies the editing tasks – insert edits, L-cuts and J-cuts – discussed under “Advanced Timeline editing” on page 98. An insert edit, for instance, becomes a trivial operation: simply drag the clip to be inserted onto the overlay track, and trim it as desired.
In the J-cut and the L-cut, the audio portion of a clip begins a little before (J) or a little after (L) the video. They are often used together to soften the start and end of an inserted clip. Split editing on the overlay track. The overlay video track has been locked, allowing the B clip’s audio to be trimmed. The main audio can be reduced or muted as needed.
Picture-in-picture with optional border, shadow and rounded corners (left). Split-screen effects, like the vertical split at right, are among the variations that show off the versatility of the PIP tool. To use picture-in-picture, start in the usual way by dragging some video clips onto the Movie Window Timeline. Drop the clips you want for background video onto the video track. The foreground clip – the PIP clip – goes on the overlay track underneath the main clip.
The Picture-in-picture and Chroma key (PIP/CK) tool is really two tools in one. Because they are used independently, we treat them as separate tools. This illustration shows the PIP side of the tool. Click the Chroma Key tab at the top of the tool to switch. Picture-in-picture tool controls Most of the left-hand side of the PIP tool is taken up with an interactive layout area where you can both view and modify the dimensions, placement and cropping of the overlay video.
• Use the center control points on the edges of the PIP frame to change its dimensions arbitrarily. • Use the control points at the corners of the PIP frame to change its size but not its proportions (“aspect ratio”). Crop mode: In this mode the layout area represents the entire overlay frame, regardless of its actual dimensions as set in Scale mode. The rectangle defined by the control points shows which portion of the frame is visible.
Border: These controls set the color, width and transparency of the border that will be drawn around the overlay frame. Set the width to zero (slider all the way to the left) if you don’t want a border at all. See page 167 for information on how to use the color controls. The Softness slider controls the amount of blurring on the outside edge of the border. Move the slider left for a hard edge, or right to blend the border with the background video.
onto the overlay track, using the same settings that were displayed the last time the tool was open. The PIP effect interface If you prefer to enter your PIP parameter settings numerically rather than graphically, you can turn to an alternative interface provided by the Video effects tool. You can also combine the two methods, using the PIP tool’s graphical interface to specify the initial settings, then fine tuning them with the numerical effect parameters.
Cropping: The four sliders in this group trim away a percentage of the original PIP video frame, allowing you to remove unnecessary portions of the image and focus on the main subject. Video: The Transparency slider lets the background video show through the PIP overlay to any desired degree.
Chroma key effects are often called “blue-screen” or “green-screen” effects because the foreground action is shot in front of a uniform blue or green background. The background is then electronically removed, leaving only the foreground action to be superimposed on the actual background of the final scene, which has been separately prepared.
The chroma key side of the PIP/CK tool. Chroma-key tool controls The chroma key tool constructs a “mask”, shown in the Key channel graphic on the left side of the tool, where the transparent part of the frame is drawn in black, and the opaque part – the part you will see in the final video – is drawn in white. Most of the remaining controls are used to define exactly which areas of the frame will be included in the transparent part of the mask by setting the “key color” and related properties.
saturation and intensity – that in combination with hue make a complete color specification. The chosen hue is shown by the position of the highlighted region on the circumference of the color circle display. The color circle on the Chroma key tool highlights a range of hues (around the circumference) and color saturation values (along the radius). Any pixel in the overlay frame whose hue and saturation fall within the highlighted region will be treated as transparent.
Softness: This slider controls the density of the underlying video. When it is all the way to the left, the main video is entirely black. As you move the slider to the right, the main video is brought up to full density. Spill suppression: Adjusting this slider may help suppress video noise or fringing along the edges of the foreground object. Enable chroma keying: This checkbox allows you to turn the chroma key effect on and off.
Parameter settings for the Chroma key effect. The chroma key tool lets you inspect its transparency key. To get this view in the Player while working with the effect parameters, click the Show Key checkbox. Using Show Key: At left the key, at right the real thing. Chroma key tips No matter how good your software may be, successful use of chroma key depends on carefully setting up your shot, and may require experimentation to get the details just right.
which favors even, saturated color. Use multiple lights on the backdrop to ensure that it is well-lit across its whole area and without hotspots. Diffuse sunlight, as produced by a light overcast sky, can work well when shooting out of doors is an option. Note: A professional background cloth for chroma key work is available for purchase at the Pinnacle web-site. Don’t let the subject shadow the screen: Arrange your subject and foreground lighting to avoid shadows across the backdrop.
have your subject present a smooth profile to the camera. Hair is particularly tricky, and should be slicked down if possible. If the subject can wear a hat, so much the better. Use tight framing: The wider your frame, and thus the larger your background, the harder it is to control your shot. One way to keep things simple is to shoot your subject from the waist up rather than in full view.
CHAPTER 9: Transitions A transition is an animated effect that eases – or emphasizes – the passage from one clip to the next. Fades, wipes and dissolves are common types of transition. Others are more exotic, and may even involve sophisticated 3-D graphics. Transitions are stored in their own section of the Album (see “The Transitions section” on page 55). To use a transition, drag it from the Album into the Movie Window and drop it beside any video clip, theme clip or still image.
bridge between two full-screen clips (or between one clip and blackness if the transition has only one neighbor, as at the beginning of the movie). On the overlay and title tracks, the transition bridges two neighboring clips (or one clip and transparency). Diagram: Five snapshots from the life of a 2-second diagonal wipe transition.
Transition types and their uses Like all effects, transitions should be used not for their own sake but to serve the overall needs of your movie. Well-chosen transitions can subtly reinforce the meaning of the movie and how it plays without drawing attention to themselves. Observing the way transitions are used in professionally-produced video on television will suggest many ways to improve your own movies.
next; for instance, when the camera changes position or angle within a scene. Fade: This transition fades into the beginning of a video clip from a black screen, or from the end of a clip to a black screen. A fade dropped between two clips creates a fade down followed by a fade up. The fade transition is the first transition icon in the Album. A fade is usually used at the beginning and end of a movie, or when there is a large break in continuity, as when a new section begins.
its home position. The effect is reminiscent of a blind being pulled down over a window. A push is similar to a slide, except that the old video is pushed out of the frame as the new video enters, like advancing a filmstrip from one frame to the next. Hollywood FX for Studio Pinnacle Systems’ Hollywood FX includes a large number of dramatic 3-D transitions and effects. These are ideal for opening sequences, sports and action footage, or music videos.
Previewing transitions in your movie Studio lets you preview transitions in the Player. Just drag and drop a transition into the Movie Window, click the Play button (or hit [Space]) and see how the transition works with your material. You can also preview transitions by scrubbing through them in the Player or on the Timeline of the Movie Window.
transition is placed between two clips, the audio crossfades (the audio equivalent of a dissolve). The only exception to this rule is the Fade transition, which takes the audio completely out then back in again. Normal transitions cause a cross-fade in the audio (left). In a Fade transition (right), the audio fades down then up along with the video.
Studio inserts a duplicate of the original transition between each pair of selected clips. TRIMMING TRANSITIONS Although transitions are not true clips, they are handled very similarly to clips within Studio’s editing environment. Like clips, you can trim transitions either directly on the Movie Window Timeline, or by using the Clip properties tool. See “Trimming on the Timeline using handles” on page 89 for a discussion of the first method.
Trimming with the Clip properties tool The Toolbox ¾ Modify Clip Properties menu command invokes the Clip properties tool for the selected clip. For all transition types, this tool provides previewing controls, and the ability to set two properties: • To set the duration of the transition, change the value in the Duration counter. A transition’s duration must always be less – if only by a single frame – than the shorter of its neighboring clips.
Previewing in the Clip properties tool The Clip properties tool provides previewing controls for transitions similar to those for video clips. See “Trimming with the Clip properties tool” on page 94 for more information. The preview areas show the last full frame of the outgoing clip and the first full frame of the incoming one. The preview frames update as you edit the Duration field. The transport controls let you preview the transition effect in the Player either frame by frame or at full speed.
CHAPTER 10: Still images Video usually means images in motion, but most productions also include stationary titles or graphics, and may include other types of still image as well. The still images you can use in your movies include: • All types of text captions and graphics, including scrolling credits and “crawled” messages. • Photos or drawings stored in disk-based image files. • Individual video frames obtained with the Frame grabber tool. • “Disc menus” for DVD and VCD authoring.
transparent area defined by means of an alpha channel as this format allows. Note: Studio Plus users have an additional option, the overlay track, for adding their images to the Timeline. See Chapter 8: Two-track editing with Studio Plus, for details. The Album has separate sections for titles, bitmapped images and disc menus. All these resources are stored as separate files on your hard drive.
replacing the video. The transparent area of the image must be defined by means of an alpha channel. Making a slideshow If you would like to assemble a quick slideshow of still images or video clips, you may want to take advantage of Studio’s Ripple Transition feature to quickly insert a chosen transition between each pair of clips or images. See page 175 for details. Applying effects Most of Studio’s plug-in video effects can be applied to still images.
duration you choose, whereas a video clip can be no longer than the original Album scene. Effects like Blur, Posterize and Color correction can be applied to still image clips of all types in the same way as to video clips. See “Video effects – the basic set” on page 136. Editing image clip properties The Toolbox ¾ Modify Clip Properties menu command opens a version of the Clip properties tool appropriate for the type of the selected clip. The topmost tool icon in the video toolbox can also be used.
Editing photos and graphics The Clip properties tool for editing bitmapped images allows you to perform several important imageprocessing tasks: • Zoom in on your pictures and photos in order to crop away unneeded material and focus on only the essential part of the image; • Rotate the image in 90-degree increments to permit the use of photos taken in “portrait” mode; • Remove the “red-eye” effect that can occur when the subject of a photograph looks directly into the camera when the flash goes off; • In S
If an image needs rotating by 90 degrees to bring it into “landscape” mode (wider than high), start by clicking one of the image rotation buttons. If needed, click the button more than once until the clip is properly oriented. If you want to reframe the image, click directly on the tool’s preview window and, while holding the left mouse-button down, drag the image in any direction until it is properly positioned. Release the button to complete the operation.
one that encloses the eyes and no more. If the red-eye reduction does not clear up the problem entirely on the first attempt, try again with a different rectangle size. Studio’s red-eye reduction algorithm provides excellent results with a wide variety of photos. However, some photos are better-suited to the process than others. To remove red-eye reduction once applied, click the right-hand button in the red eye group.
The procedure above describes the simplest form of pan-and-zoom animation. Effective uses include: • Moving from a full-frame photograph to a detail view of a person or thing somewhere in the image. This gives a similar result to zooming in while shooting video. This might be used to prepare the viewer for a sequence of shots exploring the same close-up subject in multiple views, or providing further close-ups of different parts of the same scene.
previous clip, in order that the sequence of moves will be smoothly connected. On the second clip, and all those that follow, click the Match previous clip button wherever you want continuity. In order to allow the movie to dwell on each detail for a while after you pan to it, insert a non-animated copy of the image between each move. Connect these static clips into the sequence as usual with the Match previous clip button.
Animating pan-and-zoom with keyframes Studio Plus users have another option for animating their pan-and-zoom productions: keyframing. The use of this feature enables a string of pan-and-zoom movements to be associated with a single clip, instead of having a single movement on each of a series of clips. See “Keyframing” on page 130.
THE FRAME GRABBER The Frame Grabber can capture a still image from any video capture source supported by Studio, or extract a single frame from any video clip in your current project. The grabbed frame can be added directly to your movie or saved out to disk in any of a number of standard graphics formats. Once you have saved a grabbed frame to disk, you can: • Use it in other software applications. • Manipulate it in image-editing software.
frame grabber will use your current video source, as configured in the Capture source options panel (page 284) and the Capture format options panel (page 287). Note: Grabbing a frame from the camcorder is not supported for HDV equipment. The Frame grabber in grab-from-movie mode. When you grab from an external source (e.g. a camcorder), the Camcorder Controller is displayed. With DV equipment, you can navigate the source tape from within the tool.
Grab: Click the Grab button when you have located the frame you want to grab in the Player and configured the Reduce flicker option. The grabbed frame is displayed in the tool’s preview area, and the two output buttons (Add to Movie and Save to Disk) are enabled. Add to movie: This button inserts the grabbed frame into the Movie Window video track ahead of the currently-selected clip.
CHAPTER 11: Disc menus With the advent of the DVD, VCD and S-VCD disc formats, video became an interactive medium, with new possibilities for both videographer and audience. Developing – “authoring” – a disc in one of these formats means going beyond the old idea of creating a movie to be viewed in strict sequence from beginning to end. Now the audience can decide which parts of the movie to view, and in what order. The essential new feature that makes disc authoring possible is the menu.
Unlike any other kind of clip, menus automatically loop. When the end of a menu clip is reached during disc preview or playback, it is immediately restarted. This produces a jump in the playback position affecting all clips that run simultaneously with the menu, regardless of type – video (if the menu is an overlay), audio or still image. The following diagram is patterned after the Movie Window storyboard.
second page is the one appearing in the illustration.) We’ve also given each page a link to the M2 menu. The simple layout of this short movie can easily be extended to organize large numbers of clips. Much more complex movies are also constructed from the same elements: multi-page menus with links to chapters and to other menus. Availability: Discs with multiple menus are supported in Studio Plus only.
track appears at the top of the Timeline, and a small “flag” appears over each of your clips. These represent links from the menu you just added. And that’s it – sit back and watch the show. Instant slideshow: This time, start in the Still Images section of the Album. Drag as many images as you like onto the video track of an empty project, then drag in any disc menu as the first clip on the Timeline, and again click Yes when asked if you want links automatically created.
thumbnail frames), and a pair of Next page and Previous page buttons. The number of chapter buttons per page varies from one menu design to another, so one criterion for selecting a menu is the number of clips you want it to handle. It is generally more convenient for the viewer to browse a few menu pages with many buttons per page than many pages of a few buttons each. During editing, you see all the buttons that the menu provides.
situation. If you check the Don’t ask me again checkbox, your choice of Yes or No becomes the default action when you drag in a menu in future. You can also set the default action, or reinstate the confirmation window, in the When adding a disc menu area of the Project preferences options panel (see “Project preferences” on page 290).
A grouping of DVD controls appears and activates below the Player preview screen: Here are the functions of the individual DVD controls: Main menu: Jumps to the first menu in your movie and begins (or continues) playing. Previous menu: Jumps to the most recently active menu and begins (or continues) playing. Clicking the button again jumps back from the menu to the most recent clip.
Editing menus on the Timeline Menus can be trimmed on the Timeline just like any other still image clip (see “Trimming on the Timeline using handles” on page 89). Setting the clip duration is generally less crucial for menu clips than for other types, since menus cycle during playback while waiting for user input. If you want a looping video background or looping audio with your menus, though, you will want to match the menu’s duration to that of the clips involved.
The next part of the Timescale in the overview illustration above includes the fourth chapter link from M1, and a link (the left-pointing arrow) from the end of the previous clip back to the menu. A result of setting this link is that the C4 clip can only be reached from the menu. The C4 clip is followed by menu M2, which – along with the flags that belong to it – is automatically drawn in a new color. Availability: Discs with multiple menus are supported in Studio Plus only.
To reposition a link: Click the flag for the link and drag it along the menu track to its new position. To delete a link: • Right-click the link flag and choose Delete from the pop-up menu; or, • Select the flag, highlighting it, then press the Delete key. Editing with the Clip properties tool The Clip properties tool for disc menus allows you to create, edit and fine-tune chapter links, and provides access to the Title Editor for adjusting the visual content of the menu.
every visual aspect of the menu: its background and button images, the appearance and contents of its captions, and more. For full information about the many capabilities of the Title Editor, see Chapter 12: The Title Editor. The preview area on the left side of the tool shows how the menu looks and also has interactive features you can use when establishing chapter links. (These are described on page 206 under “Chapter-editing controls”.
area over every button in the menu. The link numbers match the format and color of the chapter flags on the menu track. The Menu type options This pair of options determines whether you or Studio will organize the chapter links for this menu. If you choose Auto scene index, Studio will ensure that your chapter links are in the same order on the menu as they are in the movie itself, seven if you shuffle the order of the clips in the Movie Window.
Button caption text field: Edit the text for the current button without going to the Title Editor. The “#” character in button captions has a special meaning: Studio replaces it with the button’s sequence number. Use this feature to ensure that your buttons are correctly numbered regardless of changes in the layout of the menu. To edit other characteristics of a button caption – its position, font, and styling – click the Edit menu button to invoke the Title Editor.
Chapter-editing controls The controls in this area select or modify the individual chapter buttons within a menu. The Set chapter buttons: These set or sever the link between the selected chapter button on the menu and its target clip. To set a link: Position the Timeline scrubber within a menu, video, theme or still image clip, and click the button. For video and still image Create chapter clips, the chapter point is set to the exact location of the scrubber within the clip.
To create a link using drag-and-drop: • Click the clip in the Movie Window that you want to link to, and drag it onto a button in the Clip properties tool preview area. The button is linked to the first frame of the clip. Or, • Click the button for which you want to create a link, and drag it onto a clip in your move. In this case you are linking to the point within the clip at which you “drop” the button – generally not the first frame.
CHAPTER 12: The Title Editor Studio’s Title Editor is a powerful facility for creating and editing titles and other graphics. Its extensive suite of text and image effects and tools provides endless possibilities for the visual design of your movie. Creating a title in the Studio Title Editor tool. The large area containing the picture and the text is the Edit Window, while the panel occupying most of the right-hand side is the Title Editor Album. Other controls are in clusters around the Edit Window.
buttons needed for handling viewer interaction with the menus of VCD, S-VCD and DVD movies. Launching the Title Editor Reflecting the versatility of the Title Editor is the variety of ways of accessing it from Studio’s Edit mode, using either one of the tools in the Video toolbox (see page 76) or a mouse command on one of the Timeline tracks (see page 67).
THE TITLE EDITOR CONTROLS The main Title Editor controls are laid out in clusters around the Edit Window (see the picture on page 209). Title-type buttons The four buttons in this cluster sit on the left side of the screen above the Title Editor’s Edit Window. Only one of them can be selected at a time. Choose the first button if you are creating a still title.
By the same token, if you click the Menu button while editing a title, Studio automatically adds a button to the title. • A menu cannot have rolling or crawling text. The Title Editor does not allow you to add menu buttons to a rolled or crawled title. Because disc menus are allowed only on the main Video track of the Movie Window Timeline, the button for creating disc menus does not appear when a title from one of the other tracks is being created or edited.
When the object has the size and proportions you want, release the mouse. Whatever its type, the object is created with the specified dimensions. Its other attributes – color, shading, shadow, etc. – are determined by the currently selected look in the Title Editor Album. All attributes can later be changed at will. After the object is created, the object tool you used deselects, and the selection arrow again becomes active.
About text objects Selecting a text object is different in one important way from selecting a rectangle or ellipse: the object’s text field is put into a “ready” state in which any keyboard activity will cause the field to activate and start displaying the input text. The activation of the text field is indicated by a text insertion cursor, the changed appearance of the object frame, and the disappearance of the control points.
Advanced text editing features As in a word processing program, the Title Editor allows you to format a selected range of characters. Simply mark an adjacent set of characters with the mouse and apply the formatting you desire. Supported operations on character ranges include text styling (font, style and look), clipboard operations (cut, copy, paste), delete, and a number of special positioning, spacing and scaling commands that are accessible only from the keyboard.
• Clicking the second button enables the skew operation, which requires only a single control point.
Object layout buttons The two left buttons in this cluster are for grouping and ungrouping Title Editor objects. The first button is available when multiple objects are selected. Its action is to link the objects into a group – a composite object that is treated as a single entity by editing operations. When a group is selected, all its control points are visible simultaneously, and any of them may be used to manipulate the group.
either the vertical or horizontal directions, and the final three resize the objects so that they have equal width, equal height, or both. All of these commands are particularly useful in menu creation, since you generally want menu buttons to be laid out in a regular fashion. The final object layout button opens another pop-out menu, this one concerned with object justification. The nine options here are in a graphical form resembling a tic-tac-toe board.
Clipboard and delete buttons The buttons in this cluster provide the familiar editing operations Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete, all of which operate on groups, individual objects, or on selected text within a Title Editor text object. The first three work with the Windows Clipboard, while the fourth simply deletes the chosen material without affecting the Clipboard.
The fourth button opens a pop-out menu of text-formatting options. Unlike the other controls in the cluster, which govern the appearance of individual characters, the options on this menu apply to all the text in a given text box. The three justification options – Left, Center and Right – affect the placement of the text within its box (and not the placement of the box itself within the Edit Window, which is the function of the object justification menu ).
THE TITLE EDITOR ALBUM The Title Editor Album is the rectangular panel on the right-hand side of the Title Editor screen. It contains resources for building menus and titles in the same way that the main Studio Album contains resources for creating movies. The Title Editor Album is controlled by the four buttons shown at left, which are located between the Edit Window and the Album itself.
or transparency) for each of the “face” (surface), edge and shadow of the object to which it applies, plus a separate blurring parameter for each. A final parameter is shadow direction, for which there are eight possibilities. To change the look of an existing object, simply click on the look you want while the object is selected. New objects are created with the most recently selected look.
The three option buttons across the top select a solid color, a gradient, or no color (transparency). Clicking the color swatch beside the first button invokes an otherwise standard Windows color-picker dialog to which an Opacity slider (0-100%) has been added. The swatch beside the second button pops up a gradient designer that lets you define a gradient by assigning the starting colors to each corner of a square surface.
The color and gradient options in the Backgrounds section of the Title Editor work in just the same way as those described above for the Looks Browser (page 221), except that the color or gradient you select is instantly applied to the background of the title you are editing. If you are working on an overlay title, you may find interesting ways to use the Opacity setting on the colorpicker dialogs for these buttons, especially when the overlay is coupled with transitions.
Movie Window. If the movie is shorter than the clip, it is simply repeated as necessary to fill out the required time; if longer, it is truncated. You can adjust the length of the menu by trimming on the timeline or in the Clip properties tool as usual. • If you add a widescreen movie as a menu background in a project in standard format, or a standard movie to a widescreen project, the movie is stretched or squeezed as required to match the project format.
The Buttons section Since buttons are the magic ingredient that turns titles into interactive menus, this section of the Title Editor Album is available only when the menu or title being edited is on the main video track, the only track on which menus can be placed. Broadly speaking, a button is an area of the screen with which the user can interact in some way.
program like Adobe PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro will show that the transparent portion of the button image, and the special area for the display of thumbnails (where applicable), are defined by an alpha channel included with the image. As usual, a folder button lets you select the disk directory from which the displayed images are obtained. To use a supplied button, simply drag it from the Album into the Edit Window, where it becomes a button object – essentially an identical twin of the picture object.
(You can preview this highlighting effect in the Player, and interact with the menu using either the mouse or the Player’s DVD controls.) The Title Editor lets you assign the color that will be used for each type of highlight, and a style option that governs how the highlights will be drawn. The controls for these settings are located below the button-type list. Click the Active and Selected color swatches to set the highlight colors that work best with your menu.
CHAPTER 13: Sound effects and music Video may be thought of as primarily a visual medium, but the role of sound in your movies is often no less important than that of the images on the screen. Feature film and television productions include numerous types of audio, beginning with the dialog and other sounds created during live action. In your movies, that raw soundtrack is brought in along with the video during Capture mode.
• You can drop mp3 files from the Album onto the Timeline or import audio or MP3 tracks from a CD with the CD audio tool. • The Voice-over tool lets you add narration or commentary as you preview your edited video. Audio, whatever its type, is added to your production as clips in the Movie Window. These can be moved around, trimmed and edited in much the same way as video clips and still images. Once a sound clip is part of your movie, you can modify it with fades and other volume adjustments.
A surround soundtrack can be output to the DVD in either of two forms: • In Dolby Digital 5.1 format, each of the six surround channels is stored discretely on the disc and will be routed directly to the corresponding speaker when played back on a full 5.1 surround playback system. • In Dolby Digital 2.0 format, the surround mix is encoded onto two channels. When your DVD is played back on systems with a Pro Logic or Pro Logic 2 decoder, and a 5.
The Timeline audio tracks The Movie Window’s Timeline view contains several audio tracks: Original audio track: This contains the audio captured along with your video clips. It is sometimes called “synchronous” audio because it is recorded simultaneously with the video track. Overlay audio track: The original audio for video clips on the overlay track. Sound effect and voice-over track: Sound effects and voice-overs are the typical content on this track.
generated by Studio, and music (or other content) from audio compact disks (CDs). Audio files are imported via the Music section of the Album (see page 62). Create ScoreFitter clips with the Background music tool, and CD audio clips with the CD audio tool (see “The Background music tool” on page 235 and “The CD audio tool” on page 234). Switching audio tracks Although the audio tracks do have their specialized roles, as described above, these mainly control the choice of track where new clips will appear.
The CD audio tool Use this tool to create an audio clip from a CD track. You can preview tracks within the tool, and select either a whole track or an excerpt to add to your movie. If there is a CD in the drive that you have not previously used in a Studio project, Studio will ask you to enter its name before continuing. The controls on the tool will become available only when Studio can offer at least one entry on the CD Title dropdown list.
page 240 under “Trimming with the Clip properties tool”. Finally, click the Add to Movie button. Studio captures the music clip from the CD drive and adds it to the background music track beginning at the current time index (as shown by the Timeline scrubber and the preview frame in the Player). The Background music tool Studio’s ScoreFitter automatically creates background music in the style of your choice.
trimming on the Timeline or directly editing the Duration counter in the tool. In the Background music tool, choose a style, song and version from the lists provided. Each style offers its own selection of songs, and each song its own selection of versions. Use the Preview button to audition the song while the tool is open. Enter a name for the clip in the Name field and adjust its duration with the Duration counter, if desired.
The Voice-over tool Recording a voice-over in Studio is as easy as making a telephone call. Just open the Voiceover tool, click Record and speak into the microphone. You can narrate as you watch the movie play so your words match the action on the screen. You can also use the tool as a quick way of capturing ambient music or home-made sound effects via your microphone. Before you can record audio using the Voice-over tool, you need to connect a microphone to the input jack of your PC sound board.
Position the microphone for use and try speaking a test phrase to check your recording level (see “Voice-over level” below). When you are satisfied, click the Record button (which toggles to a Stop button). Wait for a few moments as the recording lamp first signals STAND BY then steps through a 3-2-1 countdown. When the recording lamp signals RECORDING, and the movie begins to play back in the Player, perform your narration. Finally, click the Stop button.
Voice-over recording options The Studio setup dialogs include several settings that affect your recording configuration and quality. This section provides a brief summary. See “Video and audio preferences” on page 294 for detailed information. To access these options select Setup ¾ Video and audio preferences from the main menu bar. The Microphone dropdown list on this dialog lists the multiple ways a microphone can be connected to your particular sound card.
TRIMMING AUDIO CLIPS As with other clip types, you can trim audio clips either directly on the Timeline or by using the Clip properties tool. See “Trimming on the Timeline using handles” on page 89 for a discussion of the first method. Most types of audio clip can be trimmed from a minimum of one frame up to the full original length of the clip content. ScoreFitter clips can be trimmed on the Timeline down to as little as three seconds, and upward without limit.
The other controls provided by the tool depend on the type of audio clip you give it. Original audio, sound effects and voice-overs The Clip properties tool provides the same kind of trimming controls for sound-effect and voice-over clips as for video clips, but displays a graph of the audio waveform instead of visual preview areas. To learn how to trim with these controls, see “Trimming with the Clip properties tool” on page 94.
ScoreFitter ScoreFitter clips can be edited to almost any length, except that very short clips at some particular durations may not be available in every combination of Style and Song. This tool is essentially identical to the tool for creating ScoreFitter clips (described under “The Background music tool” on page 235), except that the Add to movie button is replaced by the Accept changes button.
Anatomy of an audio clip An audio clip icon on the Timeline has several parts. The boundaries of each clip are denoted by vertical bars. The actual content of the audio is indicated by a waveform graph: Waveform graph excerpt from three neighboring clips. The appearance of the waveform graph tells you something about the character of the sound. A quiet sound has a narrow waveform, close to the centerline of the clip.
Finally, if you make volume adjustments within the clip, the line consists of sloping segments that meet at volume adjustment handles. Unlike the waveform graph, or the adjustment lines for balance and fade (see below), the volume adjustment line is scaled logarithmically. Perceived volume varies logarithmically with the strength of an audio signal, so this feature allows the adjustment line to model more accurately what you really hear.
To select which of the three adjustment lines is currently displayed, use the audio clip’s right-button context menu: . Availability: Surround sound is supported in Studio Plus only. Adjusting audio on the Timeline Audio levels can be adjusted directly within a clip on the Timeline. Use the mouse pointer to adjust the volume line or either of the balance lines (see “Anatomy of an audio clip” on page 243).
The volume adjustment cursor will appear: Click the left mouse button, and drag up or down in the clip. The volume line bends as it follows the mouse. When you release the mouse, Studio creates an adjustment handle on the volume line. When your mouse pointer is positioned over an adjustment handle on a selected clip, a highlighted version of the volume adjustment cursor appears. With this cursor, you can click and drag the adjustment handle both vertically and horizontally.
the line upwards moves the apparent source of the audio away from the listener; adjusting it downwards brings the audio closer (towards the rear speakers). Removing changes Audio adjustment handles can be removed either individually or for an entire audio clip at once. Select the appropriate command on the clip’s right-button pop-up menu: Transitions on the audio tracks A quick way to create a fade at the beginning or end of an audio clip is simply to add a Fade transition as you would for a video clip.
The Volume and balance tool Compared to adjusting audio on the Timeline, the Volume and balance tool offers a greater degree of adjustment functionality organized into one convenient location. It also provides both left-right and surround-sound balance controls. The tool operates in a similar way to a traditional audio mixer. Availability: Surround sound playback is supported in Studio Plus only.
surround (two-dimensional) modes. The mode is selected in the dropdown list above the control. Each audio track has its own set of level controls. The set for the original audio track is shown at left. The individual controls and displays include a track mute button n. When this button is in its down position, no audio clips from the track will be used in your movie. The track mute button’s icon has a second purpose: it identifies which track the level controls apply to.
The position of the fader knob shows the volume level at the current playback position in your movie, relative to the original level. Drag the knob up or down to modify the level. The knob is “grayed” (disabled) if there is no clip on the track at the current time index. If the track is muted, the knob is grayed and set to the bottom of its range. Adjusting the fader results in a volume adjustment handle being added to the track as described above.
The balance control This control has three modes, stereo, surround and dialog, which you select from the dropdown list above the control. The mode can be changed whenever desired – even within an individual audio clip. Availability: Surround sound is supported in Studio Plus only. In any mode, the position of each track at each point in the movie is shown by its speaker icon, or “puck”. The icon matches the one on the muting indicator for the corresponding track.
anywhere within the rectangular listening area defined by the four corner speakers. Dialog mode is similar in concept, but includes the center speaker at the front of the listening area. Sending a portion of a clip’s audio through the center helps stabilize the apparent location of the sound within the shifting surround mix. At the same time, the placement of the sound source can be freely varied in two dimensions as with the standard surround mode.
control adjusts the left-right positioning of the audio output from the currently-selected clip, while the knob on the right adjusts the front-back positioning. Drag track icon directly (L) or with locator knob (R). Viewing volume and balance contours Each audio clip in your project displays a contour line showing one of its volume, left-right balance or frontback balance.
CHAPTER 14: Audio effects You can modify any audio clip in your project using Studio’s plug-in audio effects, which are accessed with the Audio effects tool, the sixth tool in the Audio toolbox. The operation of this tool is identical to that of the Video effects tool. See “Using video effects” (page 125) for a complete description. As with video effects, your library of audio plug-ins is expandable.
In the illustration, the Noise reduction effect has been applied to both audio clips. The star icon below the video clip shows that one or more of the effects in the Fun category has been applied to it. About the effects The powerful Noise Reduction filter is provided in all versions of Studio. It is covered immediately below. Studio Plus includes an extra group of audio effects. These are each briefly described starting on page 258.
amounts then pause to check if there is an improvement. Noise reduction: When a camcorder is used outdoors with the actors distant from the microphone, the “source noise” may be very high, and to make matters worse the internal noise of the camcorder may be amplified to intrusive levels. If a lapel microphone connected to the line input of the camcorder were used when taping the scene, however, the source noise could be quite low. Adjust this control to match the noise conditions of the actual signal.
PLUS EFFECTS The Studio Plus pack of audio effects is included with Studio Plus only. Users of other Studio versions can obtain these effects by upgrading to Studio Plus. This section briefly introduces each effect in the group. Full descriptions, including all parameters, are available in the context-sensitive help when the effect parameters window is open in Studio Plus. ChannelTool The basic action of this Studio Plus effect is to route your stereo audio signal.
DeEsser This Studio Plus audio filter unobtrusively removes excessive sibilance from recorded speech. Parameters allow you to fine-tune the effect to the particular recording you need to correct. Equalizer Graphic equalizers like this one in Studio Plus are similar in concept to the treble and bass “tone” controls on audio equipment, but provides a much finer degree of adjustment. Studio’s equalizer divides the audio spectrum into ten bands, each centered on a different sound frequency.
range of 48 dB (-24 to +24). The adjustment to a band is applied full strength at the center frequency, and tapers to zero in either direction. The display above the slider shows the activity across the audio spectrum as your project is played back. Grungelizer The Studio Plus Grungelizer adds noise and static to your recordings. It can make your clips sound as though you were hearing them on a radio with bad reception or a worn and scratched vinyl record.
in the original audio. For instance, your commentary as you shoot the video may be recorded at such a high level that it overwhelms other sounds at the location. The trick in using the Leveler is to find a target volume somewhere between that of the loud and soft audio in the original clip. Below that volume, Leveler acts as an expander, increasing the original level by a fixed ratio. Above the target volume, Leveler acts as a compressor, reducing the original level.
Stereo Spread This Studio Plus effect allows you to decrease or increase the apparent width of the stereo listening field in an audio clip. Most often it is used to create a mix that sounds more open and spacious.
CHAPTER 15: Making your movie One of the great things about digital video is the large and growing number of devices that can make use of it. Studio lets you create versions of your movie for whatever video viewers your audience will be using, from hand-held DivX players and mobile phones to HDTV home theaters. When you have finished editing your project, switch to Make Movie mode by clicking the Make Movie button at the top of the screen.
File output creates files that can be viewed from your hard drive, your web-site, your portable movie player, or your mobile phone. See page 270. Tape output records your movie onto tape in a camcorder or VCR. This tab also lets you output the movie to your monitor screen. See page 277. Web output creates a file including for uploading to YouTube or Yahoo! Video. On these popular web sites, your work has a potential audience of millions. See page 279. The Output Browser.
If you need hands-on control, click the Settings button to open the correct panel of options for your chosen media type. When you have confirmed your settings, click the Create button to begin output. Preparing your movie for output Before your movie is completely ready for output some preprocessing will usually be required. In general, Studio will need to “render” (generate video frames in the output format for) any transitions, titles, disc menus and video effects you’ve added to your movie.
CD formats If your system is equipped with a CD burner or a DVD burner, Studio can create VCD or S-VCD discs on either CD-R or CD-RW media. Your VCD discs can be played back: • On a VCD or S-VCD player. • On some DVD players. Most DVD players can handle CD-RW media, but many will not reliably read CD-R. A majority of DVD players can handle the VCD format. • On a computer with a CD or DVD drive and MPEG-1 playback software (such as Windows Media Player).
If your system has an HD DVD or Blu-ray recorder, you can record onto any recordable media supported by the device. Your standard DVD discs can be played back: • On any DVD player that can handle the recordable DVD format your burner creates. Most players can handle the common formats. • On a computer with a DVD drive and suitable playback software. • On any HD DVD player. Your DVD or HD DVD disc in HD DVD format can be played back: • On any HD DVD player, including a drive-equipped Microsoft Xbox 360.
Outputting your movie Studio creates your disc or disc image in three steps. First the entire movie must be rendered to generate the MPEG-encoded information to store on the disc. 2. Next, the disc must be compiled. In this phase, Studio creates the actual files and directory structure that will be used on the disc. 3. Finally, the disc must be burned. (This step is skipped if you are generating a disc image rather than an actual disc.) 1. To output your movie to disc, or to a disc image: 1.
hardware to use, if you have more than one device available. 2. Select the Disc Type you are using, then whichever Video Quality / Disc Usage preset best matches your intent. If you wish to fine-tune your output settings, choose the Custom preset then click the Settings button to bring up the Make Disc options panel (see “Make disc settings” on page 299). 3. Click the green Create disc button.
• DVD: Each disc holds about 60 minutes of full- quality MPEG-2 video (120 minutes if the disc recorder supports dual-layer recording). • DVD (AVCHD): Each disc holds about 40 minutes of full-quality AVCHD video per layer. • DVD (HD DVD): Each disc holds about 24 minutes of full-quality DVD HD video per layer. • DVD HD: Each disc holds about 160 minutes of full-quality DVD HD video per layer.
The size of the output file depends on both the file format and the compression parameters set within the format. Although compression settings can easily be adjusted to produce small files, heavy compression comes at the expense of quality. The detailed settings for most formats can be adjusted by choosing the Custom preset and clicking the Settings button. Other presets load settings designed for typical situations. See Appendix A: Setup options for information about options in Studio.
The list of presets for this file type offers two frame sizes in either encoder. Choose Small, at 176x144, or Very Small, at 128x96. Audio only Sometimes a movie’s soundtrack can stand alone without visuals. Live entertainment footage, and video recordings of interviews and speeches are instances in which an audio-only version might be desirable. Studio lets you save your soundtrack in wav (PCM), mp3 or mp2 format.
Studio supplies a DV and an MJPEG codec. If you wish to output your movie as an AVI in some other format, you can use any DirectShow-compatible codec installed on your PC, as long as that codec is also installed on the PC that will play your movie. Click the preset that best meets your needs; or choose Custom, then click the Settings button to open the Make File options panel (see page 304).
Flash Video Studio supports output in Flash Video (flv) format, version 7. Virtually all current web browsers are able to display this popular format, which has been widely adopted by social networking sites and news sites. Click the quality preset that matches your needs; or choose Custom, then click the Settings button to open the Make File options panel (see page 304). iPod compatible Like DivX, this file format is based on MPEG-4 video compression technology.
MPEG MPEG-1 is the original MPEG file format. MPEG-1 video compression is used on VideoCDs, but in other contexts it has given way to newer standards. MPEG-2 is the successor format to MPEG-1. Whereas the MPEG-1 file format is supported on all Windows 95 and later PCs, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files can only be played on PCs with appropriate decoder software installed. Two of the MPEG-2 presets support HD (High Definition) playback equipment. MPEG-4 is another member of the MPEG family.
Settings button to open the Make File options panel (see page 304). Real Media Real Media movie files are designed for playback on the Internet. Real Media movies can be played back by anyone around the world who has the RealNetworks® RealPlayer® software, which is a free download from www.real.com. See page 308 for information about configuring your output with the Make File – Real Media options panel. Sony PSP compatible This is another file format based on MPEG-4 video compression technology.
Windows Media The Windows Media file format is also designed for streaming Internet playback. The files can be played on any computer where the Windows Media player – a free program from Microsoft – is installed. See page 311 for information about configuring your output with the Make File – Real Media options panel.
Note: On machines that don’t support recording back to the camcorder, including many PAL devices, the DV connector is called simply DV OUT. Output with analog audio / video cables If you have a Studio product with an analog (TV or video) output, such as Studio DVplus or DC10plus, connect the video outputs of the capture card to the inputs of the video recorder and the audio outputs of the sound card (or the capture card, if it has them) to the audio inputs of the video recorder.
Output your movie to videotape Verify that the camcorder/VCR is powered on and configured, and that you have inserted a tape cued to where you wish to begin recording. You now have two options: If you are recording your movie onto DV tape, Studio gives you the option to control the DV device automatically. Click the Settings button then activate the check box in the Output options area. With most DV devices there is a small delay between receiving the command to record and the actual start of recording.
The Yahoo option offers two preset formats, Best Quality and Fast Upload. These provide different combinations of frame size and video data rate: • Best Quality scales your video to a 480x480 frame size, and requires a data rate of 2400 Kbits/second. • Fast Upload uses a 352x240 frame size, and requires a data rate of 1150 Kbits/second. The YouTube option offers only one preset, Best Quality. The frame size is 320x240, and the data rate is 256 Kbits/second.
No additional format settings are required for either destination. After selecting the upload site and preset you want, click the Create button. This opens the Web Upload dialog box, where you can enter editorial information about your production. Set the title, description and comma-separated search tags as desired, then check up to three categories in which your movie should be listed.
APPENDIX A: Setup options Settings are provided to adjust various aspects of Studio’s operation. The default values have been chosen to work well for the majority of situations and hardware. However, you may wish to modify them to suit your work style or equipment configuration. About Studio setup options Studio’s setup options are divided between two tabbed dialog boxes, both with several panels. The Main Options dialog box has four panels covering options relating to Capture mode and Edit mode.
Capture source settings Remember that any changes you make on this panel affect all future captures. If you want to configure only one capture session, make sure you restore the old values before the next session. The settings are grouped into areas: Capture devices, Scene detection during video capture and Data rate. Capture devices Studio senses which capture hardware you have installed on your system for both video and audio.
TV standard: Choose the standard that is compatible with your capture device and your TV or video monitor (NTSC or PAL). NTSC is the standard used in North America and Japan. PAL is the standard used in most other places. With some capture devices you may have an additional choice: the SECAM standard used in Russia, France and some other countries. If you purchased your Studio product in North America, the option is permanently set to NTSC.
The first option, “Automatic scene detection based on shooting time and date”, is available only if you are capturing from a DV source. Your DV camcorder records not only images and sound, but also the time, date, and various camera exposure settings (see your camcorder manual for more detail). This information is termed data code, and is transferred through the IEEE-1394 link along with the video and audio.
Capture format settings The options available here depend on the capture device you are using (from the Capture source tab). You will not see all the settings described below displayed at once. Presets The settings in the other areas on the Capture format panel depend on your choice in this Presets area. The available presets depend in turn on your capture hardware. For a DV capture source, the main capture options are selected in the first of two dropdown lists.
devices on which your movie will be played. Use Low if you are outputting only for VCD; Medium if you need to accommodate S-VCD; and High if your movie will be output for DVD. Other types of capture device provide a single list of quality options – generally Good, Better, Best and Custom. Studio AV/DV Analog captures use fixed capture settings with no further options. Video settings The settings available in this area depend on both the capture device and the options selected for it in the Presets area.
Quality, Data rate: Some codecs present quality options in terms of a compression percentage (Quality), and others in terms of the required data transfer rate in KB/sec (Data rate). MPEG type: Select one of the two flavors of MPEG encoding: MPEG1 or MPEG2. The former is almost universally supported on Windows computers; the latter gives better quality for a given compression ratio. Resolution: This is a dropdown list giving the resolutions available with the capture options you have picked.
Options: This button gives you access to any setup options offered by the codec (compression/ decompression software) you have chosen. Compression: This dropdown shows the codec that will be used to compress the incoming audio data. Channels, Sample rate: These settings control audio quality. “CD quality” is 16-bit stereo, 44.1 kHz. MPEG capture This area is visible only when an MPEG preset for the capture format has been selected.
relating to editing are on the Video and audio preferences panel (see page 294). Editing environment Automatically save and load my projects: If this option is checked, Studio will continually update your stored project while you work without you having to save your changes explicitly. If you would prefer to look after your own loads and saves, leave this option unchecked.
to force new projects to a different format, click Use this format for new projects, and select your desired format from the dropdown list. Default durations These duration times are measured in seconds and frames. The seconds counter advances every 30 frames for NTSC, or 25 frames for PAL. The three settings here control the initial duration value for transitions, still images and volume fades when added to your movie. The durations can be trimmed to custom values during editing.
until the next menu). The choices on this dropdown list let you avoid the confirmation dialog by specifying that you always don’t or always do want the links to be created, or that you want Studio to create links from a new menu to its chapters and also return links back to the menu from the end of each chapter. A final option, “Ask if chapters should be created”, enables the confirmation dialog, restoring the factory default.
Video and audio preferences The five areas on this panel provide hardware and previewing settings. Video preview Because of the central role of previewing during interactive video editing, Studio provides a number of settings that affect preview behavior. For previewing on a computer monitor, the default preview, at quarter-frame resolution, is probably quite good enough.
full-screen button on the Player. The options available on the list depend on your display hardware. On a single monitor system, a full-screen preview (other than external) must obviously use the same screen as Studio’s own interface. This is the Main VGA monitor option. In this special instance, full-screen playback begins from the current play position when you click the full-screen button, and ends either at the end of the movie or when you press the Esc key.
modes are offered only if your dual-output video card is one of the following types: • ATI Radeon 9600 (or better) with version 5.8 (minimum) of the Catalyst™ display driver. In order to use the additional preview modes, you must deactivate the second monitor in the Display Properties dialog (or the Catalyst control center) before launching Studio. • nVidia GeForce Fx5xxx or better, or an equivalent card in the Quadro series. The minimum driver versions are 81.85 (GeForce) and 81.64 (Quadro).
Safe mode second VGA, small preview: In this mode, Studio matches your project video format as well as possible to the formats supported by the monitor. For instance, if the 720x480 frame format is unavailable, Studio will set the display to 800x600 and center the frame on the monitor screen. Similarly, if the monitor does not support 50 Hz (PAL) output at a particular screen size, it will display at 60 Hz instead.
Enable background rendering: Uncheck this box if you do not want to use background rendering at all. One might do this on a slower computer if intensive rendering were causing other operations to become sluggish. Set codec automatically: Let Studio decide which codec to use for encoding your rendered video. Use this codec for background rendering: If you know that your project is going to DV tape, choosing DV as your background rendering format may reduce the rendering time of your final movie.
CD drive (for ripping audio files) If you have used any music from CD in your project, Studio digitally transfers (“rips”) the audio data from the disc to the computer. The dropdown list here lets you select which CD device to use for ripping, if you have more than one available. Make Disc settings These settings allow you to adjust options for creating VCD, S-VCD, DVD, HD DVD or Blu-ray discs, and for creating a disc image on a hard drive.
create a DVD readable in most Blu-ray devices, choose AVCHD. Video quality / disc usage: These settings (Automatic, Best video quality, Most video on disc and Custom) are available except in the case of VCDs, where the format is fixed. The first three settings are presets that correspond to particular data rates. The Custom option lets you set the data rate to another value. In each case, an estimate is provided of the amount of video the disc can accommodate at the current setting.
mix on playback requires a surround amplifier and speaker system. Use progressive encoding: Each frame of a normal television picture is displayed as two successive “fields”, each containing half of the several hundred horizontal video lines that make up the entire image: the odd-numbered lines in one field, and the evennumbered lines in the other. The eye sees the superimposed fields as a single image.
Burn options Create disc content and then burn: This is the default option for creating discs. In the first phase, the data that will be written to disc is generated and stored temporarily on your hard drive. In the second phase, the generated data is burned to the optical disc. Create disc content but don’t burn: With this choice, your disc burner is not used. Instead, the same files that would normally be saved onto a disc are stored to a hard drive folder as a “disc image”.
Copies: Select or enter the number of copies of this disc that you want to create. Write speed: Choose one of the available speeds, or choose Auto for the default selection. Image type: When you are generating a disc image rather than burning an actual disc, this dropdown list lets you choose amongst available formats, if applicable. Your choice may be important if you are planning to access the image with other software.
you. This is handy if you want work nearby while the CPU-intensive work of generating the movie gets done. Make sure that your speakers are switched on and that the volume is suitably set when you rely on this feature. Shut down PC when finished: Upon outputting your movie, Studio instructs Windows to shut down your computer. This option ensures that the system will be powered down even if you are away from your desk, or even asleep, when output is completed.
for a special purpose (such as distribution via the Internet) where there may be requirements involving characteristics such as frame size. The common Make File settings panel is shared by all file types except Real Media and Windows Media. Not all the options are available for all file types. Note: MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files require special decoder software. Without a matching decoder installed on your PC you will not be able to play files of these types.
Using codecs that have not been certified by Pinnacle Systems may produce undesirable results. Pinnacle Systems cannot provide technical support for problems associated with the use of uncertified codecs. Options: The Options button opens a codec-specific option panel if one is available. Compression: Choose the compressor (codec) that is most suitable for your intended use.
Quality, Data rate: Depending on the codec being used, you can adjust the quality percentage or data rate with the slider. The higher the percentage or rate you choose, the larger the resulting file. Audio settings If you want to keep file sizes to a minimum, audio for many digital uses can be set to 8-bit mono at 11 kHz. As a rule of thumb, try 8-bit 11 kHz for audio that is mostly speech, and 16-bit stereo at 22 or 44 kHz for audio that is predominantly music.
stereo. Audio can be sampled at frequencies as low as 11 kHz for some digital uses, particularly for speech. Data rate: This dropdown controls the data rate, and hence the compression ratio, for audio. Higher data rates yield higher quality at the cost of larger files. Data settings The Sony PSP Compatible file type provides an area named Data in which you can specify a title for your saved movie. General settings These are the same as described for the Make Disc tab on page 303.
Keywords: This field accepts up to 256 characters, and allows you to encode keywords into each movie. It is typically used to identify the movie for Internet search engines. Video quality: These choices let you balance the rival requirements of image quality and frame rate. • No video: When this selection is made, the output • • • • file will contain audio only. Normal motion video: Recommended for mixed content clips to balance video motion and image clarity.
information to select the best audio compression for your Real Media file. Each successive option provides better audio quality but a larger resulting file. • No audio: When this selection is made, the output • • • • file will contain video only. Voice only: This option provides adequate quality for spoken audio in clips without music. Voice with background music: This option is designed for situations where, even though background music may be present, the spoken audio predominates.
Target audience: This selects the target audience modem connect speed. The lower the speed, the lower the quality of the video. If you wish your viewers to be able to view your movie as it loads, you should select a target audience rate that their modems can handle. When you select a target audience, you are actually specifying a maximum bandwidth for your RealMedia stream.
Rating: Entering a rating in this field if it will be helpful to your viewers. Profile: Choose the playback quality of your movie based on the capability of the target platform – the computer(s) that will play the movie. The exact audio and video parameters corresponding to the current choice are displayed in the space below the list. The Custom option lets you fine-tune the settings by selecting from a list of possible combinations.
• No markers: The movie file will be created without markers. • Markers for every clip: Markers are automatically created for every clip in the movie. If you have not given the clip a custom name, a default one will be generated for it based on the project name. • Markers for named clips only: Markers are generated only for those clips to which you have given a custom name.
To control printing automatically: 1. Click the Make Movie button on the main menu bar. The upper half of the screen changes to display the Make Movie window. 2. Click the Tape tab. 3. Click the Settings button. The Make tape options panel opens. 4. Check the Automatically start and stop recording box to enable the automatic function. This setting makes it unnecessary to manually start recording in step 6.
hand, if your movie begins by holding onto the first frame as though it were a still photograph, you should decrease the setting. Hint: If you wish to send black to your recording device during its record delay time, place a blank title in the video track just before the start of your movie (a blank title is video black). If you wish to record black at the end of your movie, place a blank title in the video track following the final frame of your movie.
APPENDIX B: Tips and tricks Here are some hints from Pinnacle technical specialists on choosing, using and maintaining a computer system with video in mind. Hardware To use Studio effectively, your hardware should be optimally prepared and configured.
(or set your firewall to block all Internet traffic) when taking this step. Software utilities are available to assist with closing background processes. • Right-click on the name of your capture drive in Windows Explorer, and select Properties on the popup menu. On the Tools tab of the Disk Properties dialog, click Check Now and run a detailed scan of the drive to make sure that it is error free.
Motherboard Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz or higher – the higher the better. Windows Vista and AVCHD editing both demand a more powerful CPU. The minimum recommendation ranges up to 2.66 GHz for editing 1920-pixel AVCHD video. Graphics card To run Studio, your DirectX-compatible graphics card needs: • For typical use, at least 64 MB of onboard memory (128 MB preferred). • For Windows Vista, at least 128 MB (256 MB preferred). • For HD and AVCHD, at least 256 MB (512 MB preferred).
To adjust the display in Windows Vista: Position your mouse over your Desktop, right click, and select Personalize. In the “Personalize appearance and sounds” window click the “Display settings” link. The Display Settings dialog box appears. 2. If you have multiple monitors, select the one to which the new setting should apply. 3. Under Colors, choose “Medium (16 bit)”. 1. The color setting affects only the display on the computer monitor.
APPENDIX C: Troubleshooting Before you begin troubleshooting, take some time to check your hardware and software installation. Update your software: We recommend installing the latest operating system updates for Windows XP and Windows Vista. You can download these updates from: windowsupdate.microsoft.com/default.htm Make sure you have the latest version of the Studio software installed by clicking the Help ¾ Software Updates menu from within the program.
Opening Device Manager The Windows XP and Windows Vista Device Manager, which lets you configure your system’s hardware, has an important role in troubleshooting. The first step in accessing Device Manager is to rightclick on My Computer, then select Properties from the context menu. This opens the System Properties dialog. The Device Manager button is on the Hardware tab in XP, and is listed on the left side panel in Vista.
Access the knowledge base with your web browser by visiting: http://www.pcle.com/selfhelp The knowledge base home page will appear. You don’t have to register to browse the knowledge base, but if you want to send a specific question to technical support staff you will need to create a knowledge base account. Please read any knowledge base articles relevant to your inquiry before contacting technical support. Using the knowledge base In the Product dropdown, select “Studio Version 12”.
crashes in Edit”, lists the known causes for this issue and their remedies. If you search instead on the single keyword “Crash”, you will get far fewer hits, all relating to crashes in Studio. If one search does not turn up an article that seems relevant to your problem, try modifying the search by choosing a different set of keywords. You can also use the Search by and Sort by options to select for specific or popular articles.
Errors or crashes during installation Answer ID 13122 Errors during the installation of Studio may appear as a dialog box with the title “CRC Error”, “Feature Transfer Error” or “I/O Error”. In other circumstances, the install routine may crash or appear to freeze. In all such cases, try the following steps in turn until the problem is resolved: • Inspect the discs: Check each disc’s surface for dirt, smudges and fingerprints. Clean off the disc with a soft cloth if necessary.
Studio crashes in Edit mode Answer ID 6786 If Studio is crashing, the cause is most likely either a configuration issue or a problem with a project or content file. This type of issue can often be fixed with one of the following methods: • Uninstalling and reinstalling Studio. • Optimizing the computer. • Rebuilding a corrupt project. • Recapturing a corrupt clip.
Be sure to close all other programs before installing a new version. Adjust Studio settings: Choose No background rendering in the Rendering dropdown list, and clear the Use hardware acceleration checkbox. Both options are found on the Edit options panel (see page 290). End background tasks: Close other applications and unload any background processes before using Studio. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to open the Task Manager.
displayed. Double-clicking the name opens another dialog, where you choose the Driver tab. Now you can view information about the driver’s manufacturer, and the names of the driver’s constituent files. The sound card is displayed in the Sound, video and game controllers section of Device Manager. Again, double-clicking the name lets you access the driver details. Go to the manufacturers’ web-sites to get the latest drivers for your sound and graphics cards.
Uninstall, reinstall and update Studio: In case your Studio installation has become corrupted, try this procedure: Uninstall Studio: Click on Start ¾ Programs ¾ Studio 12 ¾ Tools ¾ Uninstall Studio 12, then follow any on-screen instructions until the process is complete. If the uninstaller asks whether you want to delete a shared files, click Yes to all. Disconnect the camera and cable from your DV board, if you have one. 2. Reinstall Studio: Insert your Studio CD and reinstall the software.
particular clip you have may be corrupt or in an uncommon format. If you have a wav or mp3 file that seems to be problematic, convert the file to the other format before importing the file. Many wav and mp3 files on the Internet are corrupt or non-standard. Reinstall Windows: This is quite a drastic step, but if the previous steps have not helped, Windows itself may be corrupt.
that produces the failure, you will need to be methodical in your approach. Creating a small test project, as described for Case 2, helps eliminate variables that may confuse your test results. “Video Device Not Found” error appears in Capture mode Answer ID 13618 This error dialog tells you that Studio “is unable to connect to your video device”, then provides basic instructions for both digital and analog capture devices.
If no DV Camcorder option is listed, Windows is not loading the driver for the 1394 Host Controller. Skip to the “Device Manager” step below to troubleshoot this problem. Once the driver is loaded properly, verify that capture in Studio is successful. 2. DV, Digital 8 or HDV camcorder checklist: • Ensure the camera is in play mode. Some camcorder vendors may use different terminology such as VTR or VCR. They all mean the same thing, that the camcorder is going to play from the tape.
• The driver for the 1394 card is listed under the heading “IEEE 1394 Bus Host Controller” as a “Texas Instruments OHCI-IEEE 1394 Host Controller”. The chip on your card may be from a different vendor so there may be a different name listed than Texas Instruments. If this device has an exclamation mark error icon, the device is not loaded properly. • The driver for the camcorder is listed under Imaging devices as a “brandname DV camcorder” (substituting “Sony”, “Canon”, “JVC”, etc. for brandname).
properly, return to Studio to verify that capture now succeeds. 4. AM Capture (often shortened to “AmCap”): If both the 1394 controller and DV camcorder drivers are listed properly in Device Manager and Studio will still not capture from the device, then try to capture using AM Capture, a small, basic, capture utility from Microsoft that can capture from DV devices. • Click Start ¾ Programs ¾ Pinnacle 12 ¾ Tools ¾ AM Capture. Studio • Select the Device ¾ Microsoft DV Camera and VCR menu command.
Analog capture devices If you are capturing from an analog source (8mm or Hi8 camcorder, VCR, etc), make sure that both video and audio are set to the analog device you are using. Select your hardware on the lists provided under Capture Devices in the Capture source options panel: Some analog capture devices have no audio input.
Work through the following troubleshooting steps in turn until you solve the problem: • Cabling: As the error message suggests, an obvious • • • • • 336 first step is to verify that your cables are properly plugged in. The “video out” connector of your video source (camcorder, VCR) must be connected to the “video in” connector of your capture device, using either a composite (RCA) cable or an S-Video cable.
Capture tab. This simple fix has been reported to help in some instances. • Other USB devices: If your capture device is connected to the computer using USB, try disconnecting all other USB devices, then retry the capture. If this is still unsuccessful, shut down the Studio program, disconnect and immediately reconnect the capture device, then relaunch Studio. • Reinstall capture driver: Shut down Studio and reinstall the capture driver.
your system. Try rendering the supplied demo video. If this fails, the problem is confirmed as a system issue, since we have not been able to reproduce a render problem with the demo file during our in-house testing. Possible solutions: • Uninstall and reinstall Studio. • Uninstall other software that might conflict with Studio (other video editing software, other video codecs, etc.). • Try rendering to other file or disc types in Studio. Try creating MPEG 1 and MPEG 2 files, and an AVI file in DV format.
Case 3: Render always stops at the same point If rendering always hangs at the same spot in a particular project, see if other projects have the same problem. If not, the problem project could be corrupt; if they do, try to isolate a common factor. Finding a solution to this type of failure is much easier if you can identify a particular item in the project that is causing the rendering to stop.
import the AVI file, and add your menus. Rendering will now consume fewer resources, and thus be more likely to succeed. Studio hangs on launch or does not launch Answer ID 1596 Problems on launch can manifest in various ways. Studio may give an error message when launching, or it may freeze in mid-launch, or it may “hang” – fail to return control to you – after what had seemed an uneventful launch. In all such cases, try any or all the following: • Restart the computer.
• Disconnect capture hardware. Start with Pinnacle external devices such as Dazzle and MovieBox. If Studio now launches, reconnect the device and reopen Studio. If it fails, continue to the next step. • If you have a webcam, try launching Studio with the device unplugged, and again with it plugged in. If the launch succeeds in one of these states but not the other, make sure to use the same set-up whenever you launch Studio in the future. • Next, investigate capture cards mounted in your computer.
from ever being run by editing your list of startup programs. Editing startup applications To keep applications from loading when your PC is started (or rebooted): Click on Start ¾ Run 2. In the Open box, type: msconfig 3. Click OK In the System Configuration Utility window, click on the far right tab called Startup. Remove all checks from the boxes except for Explorer and System Tray (SysTray.exe). 1.
• Restart Studio: Shut down Studio, then relaunch it. Now try to create the disc again using the safe mode setting as above. • Restart the computer: Try opening the door of the DVD burner. If it won’t open, shut down Studio, then restart the computer. After relaunching Studio, try to create the DVD using the safe mode setting. • Verify media: Make sure that there blank, write- once media or rewriteable media in the DVD burner, and that your DVD burner supports the media type you are using.
DVDs created by Studio do not play back, or appear blank. Answer ID 13092 In some cases, a DVD created by Studio may not play back in your DVD player. These steps will help to resolve that problem. • Check the disc for cleanliness. Ensure that there are no obvious smudges or scratches on the disc surface. • Verify that the expected folders and files have actually been created on the burned DVD. Insert the DVD into a DVD ROM drive.
Tip: While troubleshooting burn or playback issues, using rewritable media will prevent wasting discs. No video or poor quality video in the Capture preview window Answer ID 14008 There are several possible causes for video being either absent or of poor quality in the Capture preview window.
• VCR input option: If the video displayed in the preview window is of very poor quality when capturing from a Pinnacle device (Studio 500-USB, Studio 700-USB, or MovieBox Deluxe), it is likely that the VCR Input checkbox has not been checked. Rectify this in the Capture source options panel. • Graphics card hardware acceleration: Try lowering the hardware acceleration for the graphics card.
• Use a single monitor: If multiple monitors are being • • • • • used, try using only one monitor and see if performance improves. Run the DirectX Diagnostic Tool: Open the Windows Run dialog (Windows+R), type “dxdiag”, and press Enter. To check for errors in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, look at the Notes section in the various tabs of the tool. Any problem found should be referred to the vendor of the device displaying it.
APPENDIX D: Videography tips To shoot good video, then create from it an interesting, exciting or informative movie, is something anyone with a little basic knowledge can achieve. Starting from a rough script or shooting plan, the first step is to shoot your raw video. Even at that stage, you should be looking ahead to the editing phase by making sure you will have a good set of shots to work from. Editing a movie involves juggling all your fragments of footage into some kind of harmonious whole.
can be as simple or as complex as you like. A simple list of planned scenes might be enough, or you might also want to include some notes regarding detailed camera directions or prepared dialog. The really ambitious can go all the way to a full-fledged script in which every single camera angle is described in detail along with notes about duration, lighting and props. Title: “Jack on the kart track” No.
editing, you can use the best camera angles alone or in combination. Make a conscious effort to tape events from more than one camera angle (first the clown in the circus ring, but then also the laughing spectator from the clown’s point of view). Interesting events can also take place behind the protagonists or the protagonists may be seen in a reverse angle. This can be helpful later when trying to establish a sense of balance in the movie.
and in movies they often have to be represented in severely abbreviated form. Nonetheless, the plot should remain logical and cuts should almost never call attention to themselves. This is where the transition from one scene to the next is important. Even if the action in neighboring scenes is separated in time or space, your editorial choices can make the juxtaposition so smooth that the viewer bridges the gap without conscious attention.
unable to follow the events unless the storyline is logical. Capture viewer interest from the very beginning with a fast-paced or spectacular start and maintain that interest until the very end. Viewers can lose interest or become disoriented if scenes are strung together in a manner that is illogical or chronologically false, or if scenes are too hectic or short (under three seconds). There should be some continuity of motif from one scene to the next.
half of the frame one moment and in the right half of the frame the next, or may appear first with and then without eyeglasses. Do not string together pan shots Pan shots should not be strung together unless they have the same direction and tempo. Rules of thumb for video editing Here are some guidelines that may be helpful when you come to edit your movie. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules, especially if your work is humorous or experimental.
• Make harmonious cuts; avoid visual disjunction. • The less motion there is in a shot, the shorter it should be. Shots with fast movements can be longer. • Long shots have more content, so they should also be shown longer. Ordering your video sequences in a deliberate manner not only permits you to produce certain effects, but even enables you to convey messages that cannot or should not be shown in pictures. There are basically six methods of conveying messages through cuts. Let’s look at each in turn.
Substitutionary cut Events that cannot or should not be shown are replaced by other events (a child is born, but instead of childbirth, the blossoming of a flower bud is shown). Cause and effect cuts Shots are related by virtue of cause and effect: without the first shot, the second would be incomprehensible. Example: A man fights with his wife and, in the very next shot, winds up sleeping under a bridge.
Preserve original sounds Spoken commentary should be mixed with both the original sounds and the music in such a way that the original sounds can still be heard. Natural sound is part of your video footage and should not be cut away altogether if at all possible, because video without natural sound can easily seem sterile and lacking in authenticity. Frequently, however, the recording equipment captures noises from aircraft and cars that do not appear in the scene later.
Title colors The following combinations of background and text are easy to read: white with red, yellow with black, and white with green. Exercise caution with very white titles on a very black background. Some video systems are unable to handle contrast ratios in excess of 1:40 and are unable to reproduce such titles in detail. Time on screen As a rule of thumb, a title should be displayed long enough to be read twice. Allow about three seconds for a title with ten letters.
APPENDIX E: Glossary Multimedia terminology contains computer and video terminology. The most important terms are defined below. Cross-references are indicated by . 720p: A high-definition (HD) video format with a resolution of 1280x720 and progressive (noninterlaced) frames. 108i: A high-definition (HD) video format with a resolution of 1440x1080 and interlaced frames. ActiveMovie: Software interface by Microsoft for the control of multimedia devices under Windows.
Aliasing: An inaccurate display of an image due to the limitations of the output device. Typically, aliasing appears in the form of jagged edges along curves and angled shapes. Anti-aliasing: A method of smoothing out jagged edges in bitmap images. This is usually accomplished by shading the edges with pixels intermediate in color between the edge and the background, making the transition less apparent. Another method of antialiasing involves using higher resolution output devices.
8-bit: allows 256 colors or gray shades. 16-bit: allows 65,536 colors. 24-bit: allows about 16.7 million colors. Bitmap: An image format made up of a collection of dots or “pixels” arranged in rows. Pixel Blacking: The process of preparing a videotape for insert editing by recording video black and continuous control track on the entire tape. If the recording deck supports timecode, continuous timecode will be recorded simultaneously (also called “striping”). Brightness: Also “luminance”.
and paste operations. Any new data you place onto the clipboard immediately replaces the existing data. Closed GOP: GOP Codec: Contraction of compressor/decompressor – an algorithm that compresses (packs) and decompresses (unpacks) image data. Codecs can be implemented in either software or hardware. Color depth: Number of bits delivering the color information for each pixel. A 1-bit color depth allows 21=2 colors, an 8-bit depth allows 28=256 colors, and a 24-bit depth allows 224=16,777,216 colors.
lossy. Files compressed with a lossless scheme can be restored unchanged from their original state. Lossy schemes discard data during compression, so some image quality is sacrificed. The loss of quality may be negligible or severe depending on the amount of compression. Cropping: Choosing the area of an image to be displayed.
Dissolve: A transitional effect in which the video is faded from one scene to the next. Dithering: Increasing the number of apparent colors in an image by the application of color patterns. Decibel (dB): A unit of measurement of the loudness of sound. An increase of 3 dB doubles the loudness. Digital8: Digital videotape format that records DVcoded audio and video data on Hi8 tapes. Currently sold only by Sony, Digital8 camcorders and VCRs can play both Hi8 and 8mm cassettes.
EPROM: “Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory”. Memory chip that after programming retains its data without power supply. The memory contents can be erased with ultraviolet light and rewritten. Fade to/from black: A digital effect that fades up from black at the beginning of a clip or down to black at the end. Field: A frame of video consists of horizontal lines and is divided into two fields. The odd lines in the frame are Field 1; the even-numbered lines are Field 2.
per unit of time. Usually measured in repetitions per second, or Hertz (Hz). GOP: In MPEG compression the data stream is first divided into “Groups Of Pictures” – sections of several frames each. Each GOP contains three types of frames: I-Frames, P-Frames (pictures) and B-Frames. GOP size: The GOP size defines, how many I-Frames, B-Frames and P-Frames are included in one GOP. For example, current GOP sizes are 9 or 12.
codec, HDV uses a flavor of MPEG-2 . There are two varieties of HDV: HDV1 and HDV2. HDV1 is 1280x720 resolution with progressive frames (720p). The MPEG transport stream is 19.7 Mbps/s. HDV2 is 1440x1080 resolution with interlaced frames (1080i). The MPEG transport stream is 25 Mbps/s. Hi8: Improved version of Video8 using S-Video recorded on metal particle or metal evaporated tape. Because of higher luminance resolution and wider bandwidth, the result is sharper pictures than Video8.
pictures, consisting of pixels, that can be shown on a computer display and manipulated by software. Image compression: Method of reducing the amount of data required to store digital image and video files. Interlaced: The screen refresh method used by television systems. The PAL TV image consists of two interleaved image halves ( fields) of 312½ lines each. The NTSC TV image consists of two image halves of 242½ lines each. The fields are displayed alternately to produce a blended image.
Key frames: In some compression methods, such as MPEG, the video data of certain frames – the key frames – is stored completely in the compressed file, while any intervening frames are only partially saved. On decompression these partial frames reconstruct their data from the key frames. Laser disc: Medium that stores analog video. Information on laser discs cannot be modified. LPT: Parallel port Luminance: Brightness M1V: (File extension for) an MPEG file that contains video data only.
MPEG: Motion Picture Experts Group, and the standard developed by them for the compression of moving images. Compared to M-JPEG, it offers 7580% data reduction with the same visual quality. MPG: (File extension for) an MPEG file that contains both video and audio data. M1V, MPEG, MPA MPV: (File extension for) an MPEG file that contains video data only. MPA, MPEG, MPG Non-interlaced: Describes an image refresh method in which the complete image is generated as a single field without skipping lines.
Port: Electrical transfer point for the transmission of audio, video, control or other data between two devices. Serial port, Parallel port Primary colors: The colors that are the basis of the RGB color model: red, green, and blue. It is possible to create most other colors on a computer screen by varying the blend of these primaries. QSIF: Quarter Standard Image Format. An MPEG-1 format specifying a resolution of 176 x 144 under PAL and 176 x 120 under NTSC.
ROM: Read Only Memory: Memory storage that, having been programmed once, retains its data without requiring electrical power. EPROM Run Length Encoding (RLE): A technique used in many image compression methods, including JPEG. Repeating values are not stored separately but with a counter to indicate how many times the value occurs in succession – the length of the “run”. Scaling: Adaptation of an image to a desired size. SCSI: Small Computers System Interface.
Software codec: Compression method that can create and play back compressed digital video sequences without special hardware. The quality of the sequences depends on the performance of the complete system. Codec, Hardware codec Still video: Still images (or “freeze-frames”) extracted from video. S-VHS: Improved version of VHS using S-Video and metal particle tape to deliver higher luminance resolution, resulting in sharper pictures than VHS.
TrueColor normally refers to 24-bit RGB color, which allows about 16.7 million combinations of the red, green and blue primary colors. Bit, HiColor TWAIN driver: TWAIN is a standardized software interface allowing graphics and capture programs to communicate with devices that supply graphical data. If the TWAIN driver is installed, the capture function of a graphics application can be used to load images directly from your video source into the program.
video scan rate, the higher the image quality and the less noticeable the flicker. WAV: (File extension for) a popular file format for digitized audio signals. White balance: In an electronic camera, this is the adjustment of the amplifiers for the three color channels (red, green and blue) so that white areas of the scene do not show a color cast. Y/C: Y/C is a color signal with two components: brightness information (Y) and color information (C).
APPENDIX F: Keyboard shortcuts The terms Left, Right, Up and Down in this table refer to the arrow (cursor) keys.
R or End Left Right Delete Insert Page up Page down Numeric pad + Numeric pad C V M Ctrl+Page up Ctrl+Page down Go to end Select previous clip Select next clip Delete selected clip(s) Split clip at scrubber position Go to next page in Movie Window Go to previous page in Movie Window Zoom in the Timeline Zoom out the Timeline Set menu chapter Clear menu chapter Set return to menu Go to previous menu chapter Go to next menu chapter Title Editor Alt+Plus Alt+Minus Ctrl+Plus Ctrl+Minus Ctrl+0 Ctrl+1 Ctrl+2 Ct
Ctrl+Left Ctrl+Right Ctrl+Down Ctrl+Up Shift+Ctrl+Left Shift+Ctrl+Right Shift+Ctrl+Down Shift+Ctrl+Up Alt+Left Alt+Right Shift+Alt+Left Shift+Alt+Right Reduce horizontal scale of, or squeeze (kern), text selection depending on current edit mode (move/scale/rotate or kern/skew/leading) Increase horizontal scale of, or stretch (kern), text selection Reduce scale or leading of text selection depending on current edit mode Increase scale or leading of text selection Same as Ctrl+Left (coarse) Same as Ctrl+
Index Album menu 2 2D editor (video effect), 144 A A/B editing, 153 Abbreviations, xiv Activate Explained, 13 Album Aspect ratio, 85 Clipboard operations, 82 Disc Menus section, 59, 196 Drag-and-drop editing, 82 Filled during capture, 19 Image sections, 180 Interface features, 43 Introduced, 19 Menu usage, 43 Music section, 62 Overview, 37 Previewing, 5, 39 Selecting video scenes, 49 Sound Effects section, 61 Source folders, 39 Still Images section, 59 Themes section, 57, 112, 113, 114 Titles section, 58
Original, 232 Overlay, 152 Overlay, original, 232 Scrubbing, 64 Settings (for File output), 307 Sound effects, 232 Surround, 248 Synchronized with video, 98 Synchronous, 68, 174, 232 Tracks on Timeline, 232 Transitions, 174, 247 Uses of, 229 Using in Studio, 230 Using without video, 83 Voice-overs, 232 Volume and mixing, 242, 248 Audio clips, 67 Interface details, 243 Trimming, 240 Audio compression, 307 Audio effects, 255 Applied to theme clips, 118 ChannelTool, 258 Chorus, 258 DeEsser, 259 Equalizer, 25
Split clip, 97, 101 Split clip/scene, 64 Start/stop capture, 21 Tool selector, 75 Toolbox, 74 Track-locking, 99 Undo, Redo, Help, Support and Activate, 2 View selection, 64 Buttons section Of Title Editor Album, 226 C Camcorder Controller, 19, 20, 22, 190 Capture, 17 Analog quality options, 31 And the Album, 19 Audio and video levels, 31 Change directory, 21 Device selection, 24 Devices, 284 Digital vs.
Selecting, 167 Disc menus, 193 Combine Clips menu command, 98 Compression Audio, 307 Video, 305, 306 Content Importing, 14 Continuity (videography tip), 353 Controls Clip marker, 64 Conventions, xiv Counter, 10 Cross fade In audio, 174 Cut (transition), 171 Cuts Associative, 355 Cause and effect, 356 Contrast, 355 Formal, 356 Parallel, 355 Substitutionary, 356 Tempo of (videography tip), 353 D DeEsser (audio effect), 259 Delete clip button, 65 Deleting clips, 65 Deleting scenes, 65 Devices Capture, 2
Default duration of, 292 DVD Image on hard drive, 265 Importing video from, 33 Menus, 59 MPEG encoding, 28 Output movie to, 266 Playback controls, 5, 10, 195 Player control, 198 Previewing, 198 E Earthquake (video effect), 144 Edit Video clips, 81 Edit line Clips inserted at, 82 Edit menu button, 77 Edit mode Interface, 4 Introduced, 1 Edit Theme command, 114 Editing, 350 A/B, 153 Advanced, 69, 151 Disc menus, 200 Insert, 100 Split, 102 Still images, 181 Editing photos and other images, 183 Editor, Me
Importing media from external devices, 34 Importing video from DVD, 33 Insert edit GOP Closed, 362 Size, 366 Grab frames tool Described, 189 A/B, 153 Graphics Insert editing, 100 Editing, 183 Groups Temporary, In Title Editor, 218 Grungelizer (audio effect), 260 Audio, 102 Introduced, 100 Method, 100 Internet Saving movie to, 279 H Invert, 147 Hard drive Preparing for capture, 317 Space for video capture, 29 Speed for video capture, 29 Hardware Capture, 23 HD, 366 HD DVD J J-cut A/B, 154 Def
Links Adjusting, 201 Automatic creation of, 197 Creating, 201 Deleting, 202 Editing, 202 In disc menu tool, 206 On disc menus, 193 Repositioning, 202 Return to menu, 201 Setting with drag-and-drop, 206 Show numbers while editing, 203 Locked content Activating, 11 Locking tracks, 70 Indication of, 99 Long shots (videography tip), 351 Luma key (video effect), 143 M Magnify (video effect), 145 Make Movie mode, 263 Introduced, 1 Making movies, 263 Markers.
In Title Editor, 212 Obtaining Disc menus, 60 Sound effects, 61 Themes, 57 Transitions, 56 Old film (video effect), 142 Optical disc Image on hard drive, 265 Optical disc summary, 269 Options, 283 Aspect ratio for analog capture, 285 Audio for file output, 307 Capture devices, 284 Capture format, 287 Capture source, 284 Data rate and quality, 307 Frame rate, 306 Include audio, 307 Include video, 305 List all codecs, 305 Main dialog, 283 Make audio file, 304 Make AVI file, 304 Make Disc, 299 Make Movie, 2
Parameters for effects Resetting, 129 Parameters for plug-in effects Presets, 129 Parameters for video effects Editing, 128 Passport, 13 Perspectives Varying, 350 Photos Editing, 183 Panning and zooming, 184 Red-eye reduction, 184 Rotating, 184 Picture-in-picture Tool, 154 Video effect, 159 Preview Window, 6 Previewing Discs, 198 Hollywood FX, 174 Menus, 5 Transitions, 56, 174 Video effects, 135 Problems and solutions, 321 Product names, xiv Progressive encoding (advanced output setting), 301 Project
Save to file, 270 3GP, 271 Audio only, 272 AVI, 272 DixX, 273 Flash Video, 274 iPod compatible, 274 MPEG, 275 Real Media, 276 Sony PSP compatible, 276 Soundtrack, 272 Windows Media, 277 Save to tape, 277 Save to world-wide web, 279 Scanning, progressive vs.
Synchronization (of video and audio) Overriding, 98 T Tape Saving movie to, 277 Technical support, 322 Templates. See Themes Text editing Advanced, 215 Text view, 67, 74, 94 Theme clips Creating, 115 Insert vs. replace, 115 Track selection, 115 Transitions and effects, 118 Trimming and editing, 117 Theme Editor Mini-Album, 114 Theme Editor tool, 76, 121 Themes Adding to movie, 113 Anatomy, 118 Clips.
Tools Audio effects, 80, 255 Automatic background music, 79 Background music, 235 CD audio, 79, 234 Chroma key, 160 Clip properties, 71, 76, 78, 94, 202, 240 Disc menu, 77, 207 Frame grabber, 77 Pan-and-zoom, 183 Picture-in-picture, 154 PIP and chroma key, 77 SmartMovie, 77, 106 Theme Editor, 76, 114, 121, 122 Titles, 77 Video effects, 78, 125 Voice-overs, 79, 237 Volume and balance, 79, 242, 248 Track lock buttons, 99 Tracks Audio, 232, 233 Background music, 232 Indication when locked, 99 Locking, 70 Menu
V VCD Menus, 59 MPEG encoding, 28 Output movie to, 266 VGA Output movie to, 315 Video Hiding, 70 Options, 32 Output hardware, xiv Settings (for File output), 305 Video and audio preferences (options panel), 294 Video capture Step-by-step, 24 Video clips, 67 Applying effects to, 125 Changing name, 94 Changing playback speed, 140 Combining, 98 Editing, 81 Finding Album scene, 88 Interface features, 87 Properties tool, 95 Shortened by transition, 170 Splitting, 97 Synchronization with audio, 98 Trimming, 8
Adding to movie, 81, 82 Album interface features, 43 Combining and subdividing, 52 Comments, 51 Displaying length of, 50 Finding in Album, 43 Folders, 44 In-use indicator, 43, 87 Neighboring, 88 Order of, 41 Redetecting, 54 Section (of Album), 41 Selecting, 49 Splitting, 64 Thumbnail frames, 46 Viewing, 48 Video Scenes section Views, 51 Video toolbox, 76 Video track, 69, 83, 98 And still images, 179 Linked to audio track, 100 Videography, 349 Videotape Output to, 279 Views, Movie Window Storyboard, 67 T
