Pinnacle Studio Version 15 Including Studio, Studio Ultimate and Studio Ultimate Collection Your Life in Movies
Documentation by Nick Sullivan Copyright ©1996-2011 Avid Technology, 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 ..............
The Mode panel ..................................................................................... 33 The Compression Options window ....................................................... 36 The Scene Detection Options window................................................... 37 The Filename panel ............................................................................... 38 Selecting media for import ......................................................................
CHAPTER 4: THE MOVIE WINDOW ........................... 97 Movie Window views.............................................................................. 101 Storyboard view................................................................................... 101 Timeline view ...................................................................................... 102 Text view ............................................................................................. 108 The toolboxes ......................
CHAPTER 7: VIDEO EFFECTS................................. 161 Working with the effects list................................................................ 162 Changing effect parameters ................................................................. 164 Keyframing .......................................................................................... 166 Using keyframing ................................................................................ 169 Previewing and rendering ......................
CHAPTER 8: TWO-TRACK EDITING ....................... 187 Introducing the overlay track ............................................................... 187 A/B editing .......................................................................................... 189 The Picture-in-picture tool................................................................... 190 The Chroma key tool ........................................................................... 196 Selecting colors ..................................
Clipboard and delete buttons ............................................................... 253 Text-styling controls ............................................................................ 253 The Classic Title Editor Album............................................................. 255 The Looks Browser ............................................................................. 255 The Backgrounds section.....................................................................
CHAPTER 15: AUDIO EFFECTS .............................. 329 Noise reduction .................................................................................... 330 Ultimate effects ....................................................................................... 332 ChannelTool ........................................................................................ 332 Chorus ................................................................................................. 332 DeEsser ...............
APPENDIX C: TROUBLESHOOTING ....................... 387 Technical help on-line ............................................................................ 388 Top support issues .................................................................................. 390 Errors or crashes during installation .................................................... 391 Studio crashes in Edit mode ................................................................ 392 Studio hangs when rendering...........................
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 Ultimate and Studio Ultimate Collection. Differences between versions will be noted as applicable. Most of the time, the word “Studio” will be used generically to refer to all versions. Similarly, references to “Studio Ultimate” apply also to Studio Ultimate Collection unless otherwise stated.
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.
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 (Studio Ultimate). Sound card with surround-sound output for preview of surround-sound mixes. The hard drive Your hard drive must be capable of sustained reading and writing at 4 MB/sec. Most drives are capable of this.
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. This requires Pinnacle Studio USB-700, PCI-500, PCI-700, or another Pinnacle device with analog outputs.
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. Buttons, menus, dialog boxes and windows Names of buttons, menus and related items are written in italics to distinguish them from the surrounding text, whereas window and dialog names are written with initial capital letters.
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 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. Import: 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), memory cards and other file-based media, and live video from a video camera, camcorder or webcam. Import mode is covered in Chapter 2: Capturing and importing media. 2.
3. Make movie: When your project is complete, generate a finished movie in your choice of format and storage medium: tape, VCD, S-VCD, DVD, AVI, MPEG, RealVideo, Windows Media and more. Make Movie mode is covered in Chapter 16: 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 Support button opens Studio’s technical support site in your web browser. The Premium button lets you expand Studio by purchasing and installing premium content. (See page 12 for details.) 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 Edit mode.
For simplicity, we generally refer to the different options panels independently, as in “the Project preferences options panel”. Detailed explanations of the options in both dialog boxes are contained in Appendix A: Setup Options. Additional options for importing are provided on the Mode panel of the Import Wizard. The options available depend on the type of media you plan to import, as explained under “The Mode panel” on page 33.
See Chapter 3: The Album and Chapter 4: The Movie Window for detailed information on those topics. Studio in Edit mode with the Album, the Player, and the Movie Window, shown here in its Storyboard view. 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.
DVD mode The DVD playback controls emulate the navigation controls on a DVD player or remote control. Use them for previewing your DVD or other 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. While viewing a still frame, you can step by as little as a single frame in either direction with the “jog” controls.
The DVD toggle button Switch between the two playback modes with the DVD toggle button at the bottom right-hand corner of the Player. This button is only available when your edited movie contains at least one menu. Playback controls The Player presents either of two sets of playback controls depending on the playback mode you choose. When you play your movie back as ordinary video, you will be using the standard playback controls.
Standard playback controls These buttons control playback in the Player. Play / Pause: The Play button previews the movie from the current position. Once preview begins, Play becomes Pause. When playback is paused, the Album scene or Movie Window clip at which previewing stopped remains selected. The [Space] key can also be used to start and stop playback. Go to beginning: This button halts playback and skips back to the first frame of the material being previewed.
scrubber position corresponds to the position of the current frame in the captured video file (not just the current scene) or in the edited movie (not just the current clip). Thus the scrubber bar always represents the entire length of the content being viewed. As you move the scrubber, the preview window shows the current frame. If you have activated the audio scrubbing button in the Movie Window, you will also hear snatches of your movie’s audio as you scrub. See page 98 for details.
The master volume slider This control sets the overall audio volume during preview playback. It is equivalent to turning up the master volume on your sound card using the system volume tool. It does not affect the volume of the final movie Studio creates in Make Movie mode. The small loudspeaker icon at the right of the control serves as a master mute button during playback.
Chapter 12: The Classic Title Editor Chapter 13: The Motion Titler Chapter 14: Sound effects and music Chapter 15: Audio effects Expanding Studio One way to add pizzazz to your productions is to use a variety of video and audio filters, animated transitions, titles, VCD and DVD menus, themes and sound effects. Studio includes an extensive selection of hundreds of content items and special effects, but it’s also designed to grow along with your needs.
These commands are found on the dropdown lists in the corresponding sections of the Album. They will enable you to download, try out and purchase additional premium content that was not included with the program installation. By clicking the activate buttons found in some parts of Studio. 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.
at no charge, but your user licenses for both Studio and any premium content you have obtained then apply to the new machine only. Note: Although your Passport is specific to an individual computer, it is not affected by ordinary hardware modifications such as adding or removing expansion cards, drives or memory. 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.
Importing content from past Studio versions If you are an owner of a past version of Studio, the chances are that you already own content items, whether on a “Bonus Content” or “Premium Pack” disc, or on a hard drive attached to your system. The Studio “Transfer Content” wizard walks you through the process of locating all such materials that are available to you, and importing them for use in the current version of the software.
outputting your movie. When cleaning up your hard drive, for example, you must be careful not to inadvertently remove media your Studio projects require. Studio’s Archive and Restore feature solves this problem by allowing you to create a centralized archive containing a project and all the media it references (with some exceptions noted below). If the originals of the files copied into the archive are removed, whether by accident or design, the project remains secure.
seconds, Studio will respond with a dialog box showing the amount of disk space your archive will require. (Note: If your project has unsaved changes, you will be asked to save them before continuing. This is because archiving works with your project as it is stored on disk.) Since the total media size of a Studio project may be quite large, take a moment to make sure that the drive on which you’re planning to store the archive has ample space available relative to the amount required.
After you dismiss the information window, a Save dialog appears for selecting the archive name and location. By default the archive will be created in the same folder as the project itself, in a folder having the same name as the project with the word ‘Archive’ appended. Archiving commences when you click Save. During archiving, a progress dialog showing the estimated time until completion.
Inside the archive folder, we find two new files, including the archive file itself (“One fine day Archive.sta”). A “Media” subfolder has also been created; all your scattered media are centralized there. Restoring an archived project Restoring from the archive is in most ways a mirror image of the archiving process, beginning with the File Restore Project… menu, which presents a File Open dialog. Browse to the archive folder and double-click the archive file we found just above.
After examining the archive, Studio informs you how much space will be required on the destination drive for a successful restore. The final step before restoring the archive is to select a destination project name and location. The remarks concerning drive space during archiving apply again here.
Studio creates a project of the specified name with all its media in a single subfolder. A progress dialog let you monitor the restore process. As with archiving, if you choose to cancel this dialog, Studio puts everything back the way it was, then reverts to your previously open project. Be careful, however, if you choose when restoring to overwrite a previously-restored version of the same project. Canceling in that case will remove both the new and previous versions of the restored project.
CHAPTER 2: Capturing and importing media Studio lets you incorporate many kinds of media in your video productions. When these are stored externally to your computer – on a camcorder tape, say, or a memory stick from your digital camera – they must be transferred to local storage before you can use them. This transfer process is called “capturing” or “importing”.
The Studio Import Wizard The very first step in capturing is to open the Studio Import Wizard by clicking the Import button at the top left of the screen. The Import Wizard consists of a large central area surrounded by a number of smaller panels. One of these, the Import From panel at the top left of the display, has a pivotal role. It provides a list of device types that can serve as the source of your import operation.
panel. Once the import operation is complete, the Import Wizard closes and returns control to Studio, where you can access the imported files through the Album. (See Chapter 3: The Album.) Here the Import Wizard is configured for importing material from DVD. For disc sources, the central area lists the ‘chapters’ available for importing. IMPORT WIZARD PANELS The actual selection of material to be imported takes place in the central area of the Import Wizard.
The Import From panel This is the top left panel of the Import Wizard, a position that reflects its vital role in setting up the import operation. The photos, music and video footage you want to import may reside on a variety of device types and technologies. The supported import sources include: All types of auxiliary file-based storage media, including optical drives, memory cards and USB sticks (see “Import from file-based media”, page 41).
main source entry. In the illustration, DVD / Blu-Ray has been clicked. The user can now choose between the two DVD drives installed on this particular system. Single-frame import Studio provides two special modes for importing single frames, rather than continuous footage. These modes are: Stop motion: Create an animated film by importing one frame at a time from a live video source (see “Stop motion”, page 55).
The Analog Input Levels window lets you adjust a number of video and audio parameters. The Hue slider (fourth from left) is not used with PAL sources. Setting your audio options correctly as you capture will help in achieving consistent volume levels and quality. Particular capture devices may offer fewer options than are shown and discussed here. For instance, with hardware that doesn’t support stereo captures, an audio balance control will not appear.
The Import To panel After importing, your media items will be accessible as files on your computer. The Import To panel of the Import Wizard lets you specify where those files will be stored. Separate folders are available for video, audio and picture items, but the Import To panel only lists those that are relevant to the current import source, as set in the Import From panel.
collection effectively, you can also specify either a custom subfolder name or a method of automaticallygenerating a name based on either the current date or the creation date of the imported material. Click either s“set subfolder” or the more button for the media type to access the subfolder options. (See “Setting a subfolder” below.
Folders that contain subfolders are indicated with a plus icon to the left of the folder icon if they are currently closed, and a minus icon if they are open. Clicking the icon reverses the state of the folder. Click the plus icon to view the contents of a folder. To create a subfolder within the currently-selected folder, click “New Folder” at the bottom of the file selector, type a name for the folder, then press Enter.
open a dialog window that represents an expanded version of the Import To panel, one that includes controls needed to set the subfolder name or naming method for each media type supported by the currentlyselected import source. The expanded Import To dialog window for filebased media. Since files can be of any media type, controls for all three types are provided. Most other sources import only video media, and don’t show the Audio and Photo controls.
Creation date: Each imported file will be stored in a subfolder named with the creation date of the media, in the same format as above. When multiple media items are brought in as part of a single import operation, this may entail creating or updating multiple subfolders. Current month: This is the same as the Today option but without the day portion, e.g “2009-10”. After making your choice, click the button at the top right of the dialog window to return to the Import Wizard.
“The Compression Options window” on page 36.) The fixed presets are: DV: This provides full-quality DV capture, using about 200 MB of disk space per minute of video. MPEG: MPEG compression produces smaller files than does DV, but requires more computational horsepower to encode and decode. This could result in slower performance on older computers.
Stop when no signal is the analog equivalent of the Stop at tape end option described above. When set, Studio will automatically end capture when the signal from the source device is interrupted. Import options for file-based media The Mode panel provides two options affecting importing from file-based media. Delete original: When this option is enabled, the original copies of the files you import will be deleted after copying.
The Compression Options window The options provided in the Mode panel for both DV / HDV and analog import include access to this window for fine-tuning compression preferences. If you select either of the DV and MPEG presets, you can use this window to review the actual settings used. Editing the settings here automatically selects the “Custom” preset. The Compression Options window for digital and analog video import. Because some options are contingent on others, not all will be visible simultaneously.
Audio settings Compression: This dropdown shows the codec that will be used to compress the incoming audio data. Record audio: Clear this checkbox if you are not planning to use the captured audio in your production. The Scene Detection Options window The options provided in the Mode panel for both DV / HDV and analog import include access to this window for configuring scene detection preferences. The Scene Detection Options window for DV or HDV import.
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. The four scene detection options are: Automatic based on shooting time and date: This option is available only when you are capturing from a DV source. Studio monitors the time stamp data on the tape during capture, and starts a new scene whenever a discontinuity is found.
Each type of input source has a default filename assigned by Studio. For instance, the default filename when importing a Snapshot is “Snapshot”. To change it, click in the space and type the name you want. The Import Wizard never overwrites an existing file when importing. If a file with the same name as the target name already exists, a sequence number is added to the name of the incoming file. When importing from filebased media, additional file naming features are available.
displayed only for custom names, gives the available rules for generating the tail part: Number: This is the same rule used by other media types to avoid name collisions. If your stem is “Parade”, the first file copied will be named “Parade” (plus the original file extension), the second will be named “Parade_001”, and the numbers then continue in sequence.
Import from file-based media Select Other devices in the Import From panel of the Import Wizard to prepare for importing from file-based storage media other than local hard drives, including optical drives, memory cards and USB sticks. The job of selecting the files to import belongs to the folder and media file browser in the central area of the display. When importing from file-based media, the Import Wizard provides a folder and file browser in the central area.
The folder and media file browser The left hand column of the browser is a hierarchical view of all folders on all filestorage devices attached to your computer. These devices include hard drives, optical disc drives, memory cards and USB sticks. Navigation in this “folder tree” is similar to that in Windows Explorer and other programs. Folders containing other folders are indicated by a plus sign to the left of the name when they are closed and by a minus sign when they are open.
quick viewing, video files play back within the icon frame itself. Click anywhere on the icon to halt playback; otherwise the entire file is previewed. Here, the folder video\current is open, revealing eight video files. To select (or unselect) a file for import, click the checkbox in the top right corner of its icon. In the illustration, three files have been selected. Full-screen preview: During video playback, a full-screen viewing button is displayed at the top left of the file icon.
Scrub preview: Audio and video clips both provide a scrubber control immediately below the file icon. Click and drag the scrubber knob to manually review any part of the file. The mouse pointer changes to a twoheaded horizontal arrow when it is correctly positioned for scrubbing. Selecting media files for import To select media files one at a time for importing, click the selection box at the top right corner of the file icon. Click the selection box to check or uncheck the file.
You can also highlight a range of icons directly with the mouse, by dragging out a rectangle that intersects the icons you want to include. Click the first icon and move to the last one before releasing the mouse button. Having highlighted some icons you want to import, click the selection box of any one of them to select or unselect the entire group at once. A group of four highlighted video file icons. Selecting or unselecting any one will affect the whole group.
Customizing the browser Several controls allow you to configure the media file browser appropriately for your display hardware and requirements. Close the folder tree: To maximize the space for viewing files, click the left-pointing double-arrow icon at the top of the folder tree scroll bar. This collapses the folder tree to a vertical bar down the left-hand side. At the top of the bar is the right-pointing double-arrow that will reopen the tree. The name of the current folder is also shown.
Move the slider leftwards to reduce, or rightwards to increase, the size of the preview images in the file browser. There are three ways of moving this slider with the mouse: Click on the slider knob and drag to the left or right. Click beside the slider knob to nudge itin the appropriate direction. Click the minus/plus buttons at the ends of the slider scale to move the knob by a larger amount.
hours in either direction. You can use this adjustment to compensate for the time difference when you bring home video from your travels. Set date/time: These fields lets you enter an exact date and time of your choice. The file time of any media files you import will be changed to this. Import from DV or HDV camera To prepare for importing digital video, switch on your DV or HDV device in play mode and select it in the Import From panel of the Import Wizard.
When a DV or HDV source is selected, the central area of the Import Wizard provides controls for previewing and importing the taped material. Below the preview image is a row of controls for automating capture by setting mark-in and mark-out points. See “Recording video and audio” on page 51 for more information. Another row of controls, the transport bar, serves as your navigation console for the source device.
it was shot. The four fields represent hours, minutes, seconds and frames respectively. To the left of the indicator is a pair of arrow buttons; use these to jog the position one frame back or frame forward at a time. From left to right, the transport buttons are play/pause, stop, rewind and fast forward. These buttons relay commands to your camera. Using them is equivalent to using the camera’s onboard controls, but typically more convenient.
Recording video and audio The Import Wizard supports two approaches to selecting a range of video to be imported. In the manual approach, you simply watch the preview playback and press Start Capture at the start of the desired footage. When you reach the end of the segment, press Stop Capture. If you have continuous timecode on the source footage, and have set Stop at tape end to “Yes” in the Mode panel, you can walk away and leave the Import Wizard to switch off when the input is exhausted.
To capture manually with the Start Capture and Stop Capture buttons: 1. Make sure that the mark-in and mark-out points are button associated with not set. If needed, use the the field to clear it with one click. 2. Manually start playback of the source tape before the desired starting point of the capture. 3. Click the Start Capture button when the starting point is reached. The button caption changes to Stop Capture. 4. At the end of the segment click the button again.
Import from analog sources To record analog video (e.g. VHS or Hi8) you need a converter that you can connect to your computer and that has the appropriate video and audio connections. This is also the case when recording from analog sound sources, such as a record player. Currently supported devices include Pinnacle and Dazzle products such as USB 500/510, USB 700/710 and DVC 100, and webcams based on DirectShow technology.
Start the playback device just before the point at which you would like capture to begin. Video and audio previewing should now be active. (If not, check cabling and converter installation.) 3. Click the Start Capture button to start recording. The button caption changes to Stop Capture. 4. At the end of the segment click the button again. The captured material is stored in the Album. 5. Halt the source device. 2.
Previewing the disc files The media on optical discs are accessed through the computer’s file system. For this reason, the previewing controls in the central area, the methods for selecting files, and the procedure for importing, are the same as for ordinary file-based media (except that the unneeded folder view starts in the closed position). Please see page 41 for further information.
or 12 frames per second, the collection of still images you grabbed, or both, depending on your Mode panel settings. To prepare for Stop Motion import, make sure the source device is switched on, then select it by name under the Stop Motion heading in the Import From panel of the Import Wizard. (See page 27 for more information.) Before starting the capture, make sure that your destination folder, options and file name are set up in the other panels the way you want them.
whereby successive frames are shown simultaneously in translucent layers so that the differences can be clearly seen. This feature can be configured on the control bar. The number of images shot so far and the duration of the film (based on the number of images, rounded off) are displayed to the right below the control bar. The Stop Motion control bar This bar provides transport and other functions for Stop Motion import.
Onion skin settings: Click the more button to open a small window where the onion skin feature can be configured. The first slider shows the difference in transparency between successive frames, while the second controls the number of frames, in addition to the current one, that will take part in the effect. Experiment with both settings until you find the levels that work best for your movie. Importing the animation When you have added all the frames you animation, click the Start Import button.
Before starting the capture, make sure that your destination folder and file name are set up in the other panels the way you want them. (See “Import Wizard panels”, page 25.) Now start your camera, or roll your tape, and start monitoring the embedded preview display in the central area of the Import Wizard window. For a full-screen preview, click the button at the top right of the embedded preview. To terminate the full-screen mode, press Esc or click close at the top right of the screen.
thumbnail of the grabbed frame is added to the Image Tray at the bottom of the window. Capture as many additional frames as are required. The Import Wizard adds each one in turn to the collection growing in the Image Tray. In the course of capturing, you can change tapes, re-aim your camera, and so on as you see fit. The source video doesn’t need to be uninterrupted as long as there is signal present when you actually click the Capture Frame button.
To delete a captured frame, select it in the Image Tray, then click the trashcan icon that appears in the top right corner of the thumbnail. To switch back to previewing video after reviewing files in the Image Tray, click the Live indicator beneath the preview display. Importing the frames When you have grabbed all the frames you want from the video source, click the Start Import button. The Import Wizard adds the grabbed images to the still images section of the Studio Album.
CHAPTER 3: The Album The Videos section of the Album in Scenes mode. The icons shown here represent the scenes within a particular movie file. Controls are provided (top) for accessing other movie files anywhere on your system. Click the tabs down the left side of the Album to access the materials in the other sections. With the current explosion of digital media technologies, it is easier now than ever before to obtain high-quality media items and incorporate them in your productions.
replace, the source video’s own soundtrack with music, sound effects and voice-overs. Then there are the special items. For a DVD disc you will want to include attractive navigation menus, while for polish and pizzazz in any production you can turn to Studio’s Montage® theme templates, which let you recombine other resources into dynamic and creative video layouts.
throughout the editing process, ready to use whenever your project is loaded. In this chapter we first cover the Album proper, but most of the concepts and operations described apply equally to the Bin, which is described beginning on page 92. Accessing Album media 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: This section contains video footage you have shot or otherwise obtained.
Titles: This section contains editable titles, which you can use as overlays or as full-screen graphics. You can create your own titles from scratch, or use or adapt the supplied ones. Studio supports rolls, crawls, animated motions, and many typographical effects. See “The Titles section”, page 87. Photos and Frame Grabs: This is a section of photographs, bitmaps and grabbed video frames. You can use these images full-screen or as overlays on the main video.
on your hard drive, additional navigation controls are also provided. A dropdown list of folders in the Photos and Frame Grabs section. Here the current folder contains both image files and subfolders, one of which has been designated a ‘favorite’ (starred). Favorite folders can be quickly retrieved by clicking My Favorite Folders in the list. The resources in each folder are represented by icons. If there are more than will fit the display, a scroll bar provides access to the rest.
This chapter introduces each of the Album sections in turn, beginning with a detailed discussion of the allimportant Videos section. Actually using the contents of the Album to create your edited movie will be the subject of chapters 4 through 15. Source folders for Album content Most Album sections contain ordinary media files of various types, but there are three exceptions.
small folder button . To change the source of the current section, either select a folder from the dropdown list, or click the button, browse to another folder on your system, and select any file. The file you select will be highlighted in the repopulated Album section. Some Album sections also provide a parent folder to facilitate moving around within a group button of folders containing media of the same type.
Files mode and Scenes mode Choosing a particular video scene to use in a movie is a two-step process. First, you must select the video file containing the required scene by browsing for it on a storage device – usually a hard drive – attached to your system. Second, you choose the scene you want from amongst those the selected file contains. To browse for a video file in the Videos section of the Album, select the Files radio button.
In Files mode, the Videos section supports three views at varying levels of detail: Icon view, Details view and Thumbnail view. The two view options available in Scenes mode are: Thumbnail view and Comment view. Interface features The Videos section offers several special interface features: Scenes that have been added to the Movie Window are distinguished in the Album by a checkmark in the top right corner of the scene icon.
To see how a particular Album scene is used in your current project, use the Album Find Scene in Project menu command. Studio highlights any clips in the Movie Window that originate in the selected scene (or scenes). To go the other way, use the Find Scene in Album command, which is on the rightclick menu for Movie Window clips.
Opening a video file The default locations for your video files are the Windows public video folder and the matching folder in your user account. When you are viewing the Videos section in Files mode, both of these locations always appear on the dropdown list at the top of the Album. You can also choose other hard drive folders to access stored video files. Studio lets you navigate to the folder where your files are located by clicking the icons in the Files mode.
Opening a folder Folder contents are displayed in Files mode. Both the subfolders and the digital video files within the current folder are shown. Three ways to open a folder: With the Videos section in Files mode, select the folder name on the dropdown list, or double-click any listed folder. Click the parent folder button in either Files or Scenes mode. Click the browse for file button and use the Open dialog to locate a digital video file in either Files or Scenes mode.
Three ways to open a digital video file: Select the file name on the dropdown list when the Videos 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. Scene detection and thumbnails When you open a video file, the Album fills with the file’s detected scenes. Each scene is denoted by a thumbnail frame – an icon of the scene’s first frame.
ratio you need. These commands also appear on the right-button context menu for video in the Album. Their method of operation is to stretch the original frames to the new frame size. If you set the ratio of a 4:3 movie to 16:9, for example, people and objects will appear widened relative to their height. This is different from the frame-size conversion that occurs when you add a scene to a movie project with the “opposite” aspect ratio.
Viewing video Individual or multiple scenes in an open video file can be viewed at any time. To view 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 Files mode, you can use the Player to preview the video without actually opening the file into Scenes mode. Selecting scenes and files Studio offers a variety of ways to select scenes, files and folders in the Videos 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).
Shift-click to select a range of neighboring items. 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.
For information regarding video files when the Videos section is in folder view mode, select Details view in the Album’s right button context menu. The file name, resolution, aspect ratio, duration and frame rate are displayed. Switch back to a more compact listing with Icon view. Comment view In the default view for the Scenes mode of the Videos section, known as Thumbnail view, each scene is represented by a thumbnail frame icon.
Selecting scenes by name A related option lets you select video scenes by scanning for keywords in the comments. Use Album Select By Name to open this dialog box: 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.
they appear in the Album, regardless of the order in which they were selected. (Album order proceeds across rows and then down the page.) To revert, press Ctrl+Z, or click the undo button. 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.
4. Click OK. A progress bar appears, the scene is subdivided, and new scenes are added to the Album. To revert, press Ctrl+Z, or click the undo button. 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.
initial state and so recombine more than is necessary, the detection process will restore the original scene sequence. To redetect scenes: If you need to recombine any scenes, first select the subdivided scenes, then apply the Album 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.
Obtaining more transitions Besides those installed with Studio, additional packs of Hollywood FX transitions are available for purchase through the Avid web-site. For more information about purchasing premium content for Studio, see “Expanding Studio” on page 12. Displaying the transition name As you move the mouse pointer over the transition icons in the Album, the pointer changes to a grabber symbol (indicating that the transition can be dragged from the Album to the Movie Window).
THE MONTAGE® THEMES SECTION Editing based on Montage® Themes is a powerful feature unique to Studio. Each theme consists of 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 own 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 and graphic 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, any transparent areas of the background are replaced with black. Studio supports two title formats.
background menu command.) As with video scenes, titles that have been added to your current project are indicated in the Album by a checkmark symbol. With Studio’s built-in title editors, you can readily create your own titles when needed. However, you may find it easier still to start with one of the supplied titles, of either type, and customize it in the corresponding editor. The Titles folder: The icons in the Titles section represent files in the folder named at the top left of the section.
of the section. Images can be added to the section by storing them in this folder. For instance, you can save grabbed video frames into the folder from the Frame grabber tool, copy images using the Import Wizard, or save your digital photos from a desktop photo-editing application. You can also select a different folder to be the source of the section (see “Source folders for Album content” on page 68). For information on using still images in your movie, see Chapter 10: Still images.
different folder to be the source of the section (see “Source folders for Album content” on page 68). The motion background symbol: Some of the menus supplied with Studio incorporate a background of moving video rather than a static picture, and you can also create such menus yourself. This “motion background” can help give a professional look to your finished disc. Availability: The motion background feature is available in Studio Ultimate only.
The Sound Effects folder: This section of the Album displays the sound files contained in one disk folder, named at the top left of the section. You can display the sounds in a different folder – not necessarily one of those installed by Studio – by selecting that folder to be the source for the section (see “Source folders for Album content” on page 68).
The Music folder: The wav, mp3 and other audio files come from the folder named at the top left of the section. Other music files can be added to the section by storing them in this folder. You can also select a different folder to be the source of the section (see “Source folders for Album content” on page 68). For information on using background music in your movie, see Chapter 14: Sound effects and music.
contents, click the folder button near the left end of the Movie Window title bar, or use the Toolbox Show Project Bin menu command. While open, the Project Bin appears as a panel in the screen area usually allotted to the Album.
Other: This tab is for miscellaneous resources – classic titles, motion titles, disc menus and Montage® themes. Adding to the Bin As noted above, every time you add content items to your project, the items are also added to the Bin for further use. You can also add items directly to the Bin only, leaving for later their possible inclusion in the project.
Bin itself if it is open. All media types supported by Studio are allowed, and will be appropriately classified. Select the context menu command Add to Bin or Pin to Bin on any Album item. “Pinning” applies only to items that are already part of your movie project. An item that is “pinned” to the Bin will not be removed from there even if you delete it from the project.
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 108.
Marker button. When you add your first marker, more controls appear. The Add Marker button (top) creates a new clip marker at the Timeline scrubber position. After you add a marker to your project, controls for naming and selecting them become visible (bottom). See “Clip markers” on page 105 for full information.
Audio scrubbing makes life much easier when making editing decisions that depend on sound cues. Split clip/scene button – the razorblade Click this button to split the currently-selected clip in the Movie Window, or the currentlyselected scene in the Album. 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.
your project are deleted in any view, the gap in your movie that would otherwise be created by the deletion is automatically closed up, and clips on other tracks are removed or shortened as required to keep everything in sync. If you delete clips on other tracks, the default behavior is that gaps between them are not automatically removed, so the timing of other clips is not affected.
When the Clip properties tool is open, a third scrubber, the trim scrubber, is available for adjusting the current position within the clip during trimming. 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.
Timeline view Timeline view shows the positions and durations of clips relative to the Timescale. This view also displays up to eight tracks on which you can place various types of clip: Video, plus full-screen disc menus, titles 102 and graphics: The video track contains the primary visual material in your production. See Chapter 5: Video clips, Chapter 10: Still images and Chapter 11: Disc menus for more information.
audio track and the background music track to create the final soundtrack for your movie. See Chapter 14: Sound effects and music for full information. Background music: The background music for your movies can be created to any desired duration with the ScoreFitter tool (page 309) or imported with the CD audio tool (page 308). Your soundtrack can also make use of mp3 and other music files (see page 303).
When you delete a video clip, the time segment it used is also removed from any parallel clips. Clips that fall entirely within a deleted video clip’s span are also deleted. These behaviors can be bypassed when necessary with a feature that allows you to “lock” any track independently 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.
Placement feedback Studio gives you several types of feedback about your actions as you place clips in the Timeline view. 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.
Markers can also be used to define start and end points for outputting a portion of your movie as a file or to the Web. See “Create between markers” on page 339 for details. Controls relating to clip markers appear in the Movie Window title bar. In a new project, the only visible 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 .
A clip marker represents a particular frame in a particular clip. Even if that clip is moved around within the project, or trimmed, the anchor location remains unchanged. However, the marker itself can be moved, even to a different clip, by dragging it with the mouse. The clip marker controls include: Add marker, Delete marker: In Timeline view, the add marker button is enabled whenever a clip is selected, provided there is not already a marker at the scrubber position.
Note: Once you have more than a very few markers in your project, managing them becomes simpler if you give them meaningful names. However, names are optional and, as noted above, Studio helps out by automatically keeping the list in time order. 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.
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.
the Classic Title Editor and the Motion Titler, let you combine text, images and other graphic resources to make titles and disc menus for your Studio productions. Access the title editors through the Title and Disc menu tools, or with the Go to Classic Title/Menu Editor and Go to Motion Title Editor commands from the rightbutton context menu in the Movie Window. See Chapter 12: The Classic Title Editor, and Chapter 13: The Motion Titler for full information.
Themes: The Theme editor tool lets you customize clips created from “theme templates”. The tool includes a mini-Album from which you can import video and photos to be used in the theme 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.
PIP and chroma key tool: The PIP and Chroma Key controls occupy separate tabs on the same tool window, so this can be thought of as really two tools in one. It provides an alternative, graphical interface to the Picture-in-picture and Chroma key effects. See “The Picture-in-picture tool” (page 190) and “The Chroma key tool” (page 196) for more information. Video effects: Studio provides numerous plug-in video effects with this tool.
Clip properties: The Clip properties tool lets you adjust (“trim”) the start and end times of any type of clip. You can also enter a descriptive name for the clip to replace the default name if desired. (Clip names are displayed when the Movie Window is in Text view.) The tool’s other controls vary depending on the type of clip. See “Trimming with the Clip properties tool” on page 314 for more information.
version. Studio will create a musical soundtrack that matches the duration of your movie. See “The Background music tool” on page 309 for more information. 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.
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.
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.
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 video file” on page 73 for detailed information on this step. 3. Drag scenes from the second captured file into the Movie Window. Continue in this manner until you have gone through all the files. 2.
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.
The Zoom Picture to Full Frame context menu command for clips in the Movie Window expands the central portion of the original image enough to fill the frame in the project format. Proportion is maintained with this method, but some material is lost. For a fine-tuned version of the same approach, use the 2D Editor effect with keyframing to create a “pan and scan” version your video.
computationally demanding features are used. Until such video has been rendered, it may not display smoothly and with full detail during preview. 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.
corresponding scene. The checkmark remains as 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 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.
dragged both 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 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.
and jog buttons. The layout of each preview area is similar to that of the Player during normal editing. 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.
bracket button beside the counter in the right preview 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.
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: 1. Choose the split point.
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. ADVANCED TIMELINE EDITING Note: Other approaches to the kinds of edit described here, making use of the overlay track, are covered in Chapter 8: Two-track editing.
the menu track) provides a lock button. See “Track locking” on page 103 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. Apart from the menu track, any combination of tracks can be locked.
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.
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. Because the audio track is still intact, having been locked, the video to the right of the insertion point does not move leftwards to fill the gap you have made in the Timeline, for the video and audio would then no longer be synchronized.
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.
The L-cut In an L-cut, the cut to new video comes before the cut in the audio. Imagine a videotaped lecture in which the 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.
To perform an L-cut: Adjust the Timeline so you can easily count off the number of frames or seconds you want to overlap. 2. Select the left-hand clip and trim its right edge to the point where you want the audio to end. 1. 138 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 still locked, drag the second clip’s video to the left until it meets the original clip.
5. Unlock the audio track. The video now cuts away to the second clip ahead of the audio. Video has been trimmed from the end of the first clip, and audio has been trimmed from the start of the second 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.
Lock the audio track. Now drag the right-hand edge of the same clip’s video back to the right by the overlap interval. 4. Unlock the audio track. The audio now cuts away to the second clip ahead of the video. 3. Note: The procedures described above for performing the L-cut and the J-cut are not the only possibilities.
The SmartMovie tool walks you through the creation process with simple step-bystep instructions. To begin, use the Album to locate the video scenes or still images you want to include, and drag them onto the Movie Window. 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.
A brief description of each style is displayed in the status balloon as you scroll through the style list. 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. It tends to give a finished product with a relatively uniform texture, but sacrifices narrative continuity.
tracks. Move the slider all the way to the right if you want to hear only the music track in the finished video. 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.
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”.
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. Here, from left to right, are an Opening, a Segue, and an Ending icon. The zig-zag edges correspond to the placement of full-frame video in the clip.
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.
Like disc menus, themes are configured with a special editing tool, which opens automatically when the clip is added to the project, or when it is later double-clicked. 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 Edit Theme menu command.
The Themes section of the Album In the Album, the templates for one theme may be viewed at a time. As with video scenes, you use the mouse to select, play or add a theme template: Single-click loads the template to the Player, where it can be played back with the transport controls. Double-click loads the template to the Player and begins playback immediately.
Themes with full-frame video, such as opening sequences, can be added to the Main video track (Studio) or the Overlay video track. The default length of a theme clip depends on the design of the individual template. If you drop a new theme clip onto an existing one on the Timeline, the new clip either is inserted beside the old one or simply replaces it. The choice of operation depends on the position of the mouse pointer relative to the target clip when you release the button.
the right-hand edge of the same existing clip, it would be inserted after the clip. Replacing an existing clip: If you drop a new theme clip onto the middle of an existing one, the new clip replaces the old one. The new clip also takes over any existing customizations of the old clip. The placement lines, drawn in blue, show the boundaries of the clip to be replaced; regardless of its designed default length, the new clip will inherit these boundaries.
In an all-animated theme, such as a fancy rolled title, the animation runs to completion at whatever speed the current clip duration dictates. Shortening the clip thus causes the animation to run faster, but does not truncate the sequence. Clips that include video, in contrast, can be trimmed in the usual way. Many themes include a variable-length video subclip.
For a detailed explanation of theme structure, see “Anatomy of a theme” on page 153. 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.
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. Just as the second caption is leaving the frame, an animated panel containing the running video subclip is launched.
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 – exactly the opposite of the Opening sequence described above. The one difference is that in this case the full-frame video portion of the clip is not extendable. The Ending theme is essentially a mirror image of the Opening theme.
While the editor is open, clicking on a different theme clip in the Movie Window changes the preview to that clip without closing the editor. 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.
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.
headed arrow. Click and hold the left mouse button now to control the start of clip slider below the zone. Move the mouse back and forth to set the starting frame of the subclip. 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.
pop-up menu. Locate the clip on the Timeline (at the scrubber position). From this point in, it’s just another clip: trim it to taste, and add or edit effects in the usual way. Finally, drag it back to the drop zone, overwriting the previous contents. The copy of the clip on the Timeline can now be deleted.
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. Copying and pasting effects Once you have added an effect to a clip, and configured it through its parameters panel, Studio provides the ability to apply it to other clips on the Movie Window Timeline as well.
applied to the original image in turn, in the order in which they are listed on the Video effects tool. The checkboxes next to each effect name allow you to enable and disable effects individually without having to remove them from the list (which would cause any customized parameter settings to be lost). In the above illustration, the “Water Drop” effect has been disabled while the other two effects on the list remain in force.
The Video Effects browser is open here to the Studio Ultimate RTFX page, which contains an additional set of effects for Studio Ultimate. The other packs listed contain other premium effects requiring separate purchase. The last ‘category’, More Effects, opens a page on the Avid web-site where additional premium effects are available. Changing the order of effects The cumulative result of using more than one effect on the same clip can vary depending on the order in which the effects are applied.
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 174). Add-on effects are described in their own on-line documentation, which you can access from the parameters panel by pressing function key F1 or clicking the help button at the top left of the parameters panel. Note: Some plug-in effects may provide their own parameter windows with specialized controls.
In versions of Studio that do not support keyframing only static presets are available. Often, the quickest way to configure an effect is to start with the preset that comes closest to what you want, then fine-tune the parameters by hand. Resetting effects: A special type of preset is the factory default setting of each effect. The default can be restored at any time by clicking the Reset button at the bottom of the parameters panel.
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. Availability note: The keyframing feature described here is provided in Studio Ultimate only. Each keyframe stores a full set of parameter values for the effect, and specifies at which frame within the clip those values should be fully applied. With keyframing, new sets of parameter values can be applied as often as desired throughout the clip.
Most effects support keyframing. A few do not, either because they have no parameters or because, as with the Speed effect, keyframing doesn’t readily apply. Keyframing scenarios For each applied effect, a clip may theoretically have as many keyframes as it has frames. In practice, you usually need only a few. Two keyframes are enough to smoothly vary parameter values from one setting to another throughout the clip. Keyframing gives you sensitive control over the way the effect is applied to the clip.
A pan-and-zoom slideshow like that described in under “Editing image clip properties” (page 218) can be created using the Pan-and-Zoom effect on a single still-image clip. Two keyframes with identical parameters define the start and end of each view – however many are required – within the show. Using keyframing In the parameters window for any effect that supports keyframing, locate and check the Use keyframes box.
to the start of the clip, and the other to its end. The parameters for both are set to the non-keyframed value. On the Movie Window timeline, a keyframe appears as a numbered flag on the video clip. The keyframe flags are displayed as long as the effect’s parameter window remains open. Keyframes for the effect currently open in the effect parameters window are shown as numbered flags over a vertical line. The current keyframe, if any, has a highlighted flag, like that of keyframe 3 here.
When you are viewing frames of your movie for which no keyframe has been defined, the indicator shows a dash. The displayed parameter values are those that will apply to the current frame during playback. To create a keyframe at any such point, click the Add button, or simply start to adjust the parameters: when you do, Studio adds a keyframe automatically. Keyframes are numbered in sequence from the start of the clip.
Previewing and rendering While you are working with the Video effects tool, choosing effects and adjusting parameter settings, the Player gives a dynamically-updated preview of the current frame in your movie. Previewing a single frame may not be very revealing when you are working with effects that evolve over the duration of the clip (like the Water drop effect, page 183).In those cases, you will need to play back the clip to see the full impact of the effect you are applying.
Time effects, like Speed, change the tempo of playback without affecting the appearance of the video frames themselves. Style effects like Emboss and Old film let you apply distinctive visual styles for added impact. Overlay effects support the overlay features of Studio, such as Picture-in-picture and Chroma key. Fun effects like Water drop and Lens flare provide extra scope for creativity and fun in your movies.
Some expansion effects are shipped with Studio as locked, premium content. These include Avid’s RTFX Volume 1 and 2 packs. Such effects can be previewed in Studio as usual, but are “watermarked” with a special graphic during playback. Purchasing an activation key will remove the watermark. This can be done without leaving Studio. For more information about obtaining premium content for Studio, see “Expanding Studio” on page 12. Warning: Studio’s plug-in video effects are computer programs.
problems found on a wide range of material. They are not a panacea. Your results will vary depending on the original material and the severity and nature of the problems. Auto color correction This effect compensates for incorrect color balance in your video. The idea is similar to the “white balance” setting on a camcorder. Brightness: Color correction may affect the brightness of the image. You can apply a manual correction, if needed, with this slider.
An outdoor scene with (L) and without (R) the Dream glow effect. Rotate This effect allows rotation of the entire video frame, and also provides controls for independent horizontal and vertical scaling. Full-frame 180° rotation (L); rotation with differential scaling, to produce a simple perspective effect (R). Noise reduction This plug-in applies a noise-reduction algorithm that may improve the appearance of noisy video.
Motion threshold: This slider governs the threshold value. Moving the slider rightwards increases the amount of motion the effect will tolerate, thus tending to increase the proportion of the image that will be affected. At the same time, the danger of introducing unacceptable artifacts into the video is also increased. Stabilize Like the electronic image stabilization feature in many digital camcorders, this effect minimizes any jerkiness or jitter caused by camera movement.
If the clip contains audio, that too is sped up or slowed down. The option of maintaining the original pitch lets you avoid the sudden introduction of cartoon voices into your soundtrack. ULTIMATE EFFECTS The Studio Ultimate RTFX pack of video effects is included with Studio Ultimate. Users of other Studio versions can obtain the effects by upgrading to Studio Ultimate.
Blur Adding blur to your video produces a result similar to shooting out of focus. Studio’s Blur effect allows you to add separate intensities of horizontal and vertical blurring over the whole frame or any rectangular region within it. You can easily blur out only a selected portion of the image, such as a person’s face, an effect familiar from TV news coverage. Emboss This specialized effect simulates the look of an embossed or bas-relief sculpture.
photographic development processes, spots and streaks from dust and lint adhering to the film, and intermittent vertical lines where the film has been scratched during projection. The Old film effect lets you simulate these defects to lend your pristine video the appearance of movies that have suffered the ravages of time. 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.
edging between neighboring tiles from zero (no edging) to the maximum value. Three variations of the Stained Glass effect Luma key This overlay effect works very similarly to Chroma Key (page 199), but in this case the transparent areas of the foreground image are defined by luminance rather than color information. 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.
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. The first option of those shown below lets you remove the light, though its secondary effects – rays and reflections – are still generated. The eight Type options. Magnify This effect lets you apply a virtual magnifying lens to a selected portion of the video frame.
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.
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. Stylize your footage with bold color treatments, add duotone and tritone style colorization, or create striking editorial transitions. Color map can be used for anything from fine control of monochrome images to psychedelic color transformations.
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. Posterize This Studio Ultimate effect lets you control the number of colors used to render each frame of the clip, all the way from the full original palette down to two colors (black and white) as you drag the Amount slider from left to right.
Sepia This Studio Ultimate 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. White balance Most video cameras have a “white balance” option for automatically adjusting their color response to ambient lighting conditions. If this option is switched off or not fully effective, the coloration of the video image will suffer.
CHAPTER 8: Two-track editing Studio provides the power of multitrack video editing to Studio through an auxiliary video track on the Movie Window Timeline called the overlay track. With it you can use advanced picture-in-picture and chroma-key effects while retaining the convenience of Studio’s streamlined and intuitive user interface.
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.
A/B editing The second video track in Studio Ultimate often simplifies the editing tasks – insert edits, L-cuts and Jcuts – discussed under “Advanced Timeline editing” on page 132. 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. (See “The Picture-inpicture tool” below if you want the second video to appear at reduced size so that only part of the main video is obscured.) An insert edit on the overlay track.
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. The Picture-in-picture tool Picture-in-picture (often abbreviated to “PIP”) – the inclusion of an additional video frame within the main video – is a versatile effect familiar from its use in professional TV productions. Picture-in-picture with optional border, shadow and rounded corners (left).
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. Note: If you are planning a split-screen effect, like the one shown at right in the illustration above, it doesn’t matter which of the two clips goes on which track.
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. The adjustments that you make are reflected in the Player preview as you work. The layout area has two modes, selected by the Scale and Crop radio buttons.
The PIP tool in Scale (L) and Crop (R) modes. Presets: Choose a preset name to set up all the PIP controls at once to the predetermined values associated with that name. You can choose a preset as a first approximation to your desired settings, then adjust them manually until you get exactly what you want. Transparency: Use this slider if you want the underlying video to show through the overlay itself. Moving the slider to the right makes the overlay, with its border and shadow, increasingly transparent.
Shadow: These controls set the color, width, angle and transparency of the drop shadow effect that gives the illusion of the overlay frame floating above the background video. Set the width (using the Distance slider) to zero if you don’t want a shadow to appear. The dial-shaped shadow-angle control gives you eight choices for the placement of the shadow relative to the frame. Enable picture-in-picture: This checkbox allows you to turn the PIP effect on and off.
Parameter settings for the Picture-in-picture effect. Size: The Width and Height sliders set the size of the PIP frame as a percentage of its original dimensions. Cropping, if used, can further reduce the final size of the PIP frame on the screen. 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.
The Chroma key tool Chroma key is a widely-used technique that allows foreground objects to appear in a video scene even though they were not present – and often could not have been present – when the scene was shot. When an action star tumbles into a volcano, or battles a giant cockroach, or saves the crew with a daring space-walk, the chances are that chroma key or a related technology was involved in the scene.
Timeline. Drop the clips you want for background video onto the video track. The foreground clip, which should have a uniform, highly-saturated background like the center clip in the illustration above, goes on the overlay track below the main clip. With the clips in place, select the foreground clip and open the Picture-in-picture and Chroma key (PIP/CK) tool. It is the seventh tool in the Movie Window’s video toolbox. Select the Chroma key tab to display the controls you will need.
Presets: The tool provides two presets, called “Green screen key” and “Blue screen key”. These provide good starting points for setting up the tool if you are using one of the standard chroma key colors. Key color: Use the color swatch or eye dropper buttons to select the color that will be removed from the video frame leaving only the desired foreground. See page 202 for information on how to use the color controls.
the “gray scale”, whose extremes are white and black. Chroma key works most effectively when the background is highly and uniformly saturated, allowing a high setting of this slider. In the real world, vagaries of lighting and apparatus often result in a background that falls short of the ideal. Moving the slider left allows a wider range of saturation values to be matched, indicated by a highlighted region that extends farther towards the center of the color circle.
The Chroma key plug-in provides parameter settings almost identical to those offered by the chroma key tool, but provides one more option, Invert Key. When this option is activated, the normally opaque parts of the key are treated as transparent, and the transparent parts as opaque, so that the underlying video shows through everywhere except for the area masked by the colored screen. Parameter settings for the Chroma key effect.
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. Here are some tips to get you started: Light the backdrop as evenly as possible: Very often, background coloring that looks flat to the naked eye will prove on playback to have areas that are too dark or too washed out to work well for chroma keying, which favors even, saturated color.
Choose foreground colors carefully: Don’t have your subject wear green if you are shooting on a green screen, or blue for a blue screen; those areas will be removed if they are taken to match the key color. You have to be especially careful about this when working with less even backdrops that require you to set a wider color tolerance in the chroma keyer.
opens a standard color picker dialog; while the second lets you choose a color by clicking anywhere on the screen. Two ways to set colors: The Windows color picker dialog (L) opens when you click the color swatch button provided in some tools and effects. Click the eye-dropper button to select a color from the Player preview window or elsewhere using a mouse pointer in the form of an eye-dropper (R).
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 84). 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 Avid’s 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 123 for a discussion of the first method.
Trimming with the Clip properties tool The Toolbox 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 128 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, BD and VCD authoring.
area defined by means of an alpha channel as this format allows. Note: Studio provides an additional option, the overlay track, for adding your images to the Timeline. See Chapter 8: Two-track editing, 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 211 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 in the same way as to video clips. See “Video effects – the basic set” on page 172. Editing image clip properties The Toolbox 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 Ultimate 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 166.
THE FRAME GRABBER The Frame Grabber can capture 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. Import it back into your movies as a still image via the Album or one of the title editors.
somewhat, you should not use the option if the overall result is undesirable for a particular image. The Frame grabber tool after grabbing a frame from the movie. The grabbed frame can now be added as a still image to your movie or saved as a picture file. Grab: Click the Grab button when you have located the frame you want to grab in the Player and configured the Reduce flicker option.
CHAPTER 11: Disc menus When movies are designed for the DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VCD or S-VCD disc formats, video becomes 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.
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 Ultimate 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 358).
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 123). 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 Ultimate 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 Classic Title Editor for adjusting the visual content of the menu.
change 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 Classic Title Editor, see Chapter 12: The Classic 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 240 under “Chapter-editing controls”.
preview 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 opening the Classic Title Editor. The “#” character in button captions has a special meaning: Studio replaces it with the button’s sequence number. Use this to ensure that your buttons are correctly numbered regardless of menu layout changes. To edit other characteristics of a button caption – its position, font, and styling – click the Edit menu button to invoke the Classic 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 buttons set or sever the link between the selected chapter button 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 the Movie Window. 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 Classic Title Editor Studio’s built-in Classic 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 Classic 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 Classic Title Editor Album.
The Classic Title Editor is not limited to creating passive titles. For disc projects, you can also add and edit the special buttons needed for handling viewer interaction with the menus of VCD, S-VCD, DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies. Note: Studio Ultimate includes a second title-editing tool, the Motion Titler, with animation capabilities not found in the Classic Title Editor.
To edit a full-screen menu: Double-click the menu in any view and click the Edit Menu button, or rightclick the menu and select Go to Classic Title/Menu Editor. To edit an overlay title: Double-click the clip on the title track or in List View, or right-click it in any view and select Go to Classic Title Editor. To edit a title or menu from the toolbox: With the clip open in the Clip properties tool, click the Edit Menu or the Edit Classic Title button.
The fourth button is for creating disc menus, which you can think of as “titles with buttons”. In fact, a menu is just like any other title except for two attributes: A menu has at least one button. A title has none. Adding a button to a title turns it into a menu, and deleting the last button on a menu turns it into a 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.
Each is used in the same general way. Click one of the three tools, then click the Edit Window at the point where one corner of the object should be. Drag the mouse to outline the new object as indicated by the dotted line. 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 Classic Title Editor Album.
Send to Back: The object moves behind all other objects. Object 3 is now behind object 5. Bring Forward One Layer: Object 3 now lies in front of objects 2, 4 and 5, but still behind object 1. Send Back One Layer: Object 3 is now behind objects 1, 2 and 4, but is still in front of object 5.
activate a text object in the center of the Edit Window if you simply begin typing at a time when no text object already exists. Advanced text editing features As in a word processing program, the Classic 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.
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 Classic 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-tactoe 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 Classic 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 within the Edit Window, which is the function of the object justification menu ).
THE CLASSIC TITLE EDITOR ALBUM The Classic Title Editor Album is the rectangular panel on the right-hand side of the Classic 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 Classic Title Editor Album is controlled by the four buttons shown at right, which are located between the Edit Window and the Album itself.
and shadow of the object to which it applies, plus a separate blurring parameter for each. A final parameter is shadow direction, with 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. Selecting a look in the Looks Browser: Each button in the Standard tab is available in eight styles, which are presented to you as a submenu.
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. Click the color swatches in the corners of the gradient window to set the color for that corner in a color-picker dialog.
The color and gradient options in the Backgrounds section of the Classic Title Editor work in just the same way as those described above for the Looks Browser (page 255), 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 Classic 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.
distinguishes a button that is in the process of being actuated, just before the action is performed. (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 Classic 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.
CHAPTER 13: The Motion Titler Studio’s Motion Titler is a powerful tool for creating and editing animated titles and graphics. Its extensive suite of text and image effects and tools provides endless possibilities for the visual design of your movie. Although the Motion Titler has fewer tools in some areas than the Classic Title Editor, it excels in animation, special effects, usability and fun.
There are five main areas of the Motion Titler display. 1. The Title Bar has four parts with, from left to right: the category and name of your title; a set of text manipulation controls; a duration counter field; and a close button, which has the same effect as the OK button in the bottom right corner. 2. The five sections of the Motion Titler Album provide resources for building your titles.
image is output, it is possible to return to the composition at any time and add new layers, and to adjust, reorder, remove or replace existing ones. The Motion Titler supports compositions with up to eight layers in addition to the background. Building up an image in layers starting with an empty frame (top left). The checkerboard pattern indicates transparency.
using either a tool in the Video toolbox (see page 110) or a mouse command on one of the Timeline tracks (see page 102). To create a full-screen motion title: Select Go to Motion Title Editor from the right-button context menu in the main Timeline video track. To create an overlay motion title: Double-click the Timeline title track, or select Go to Motion Title Editor from the right-button context menu on either the title track or the overlay track.
Edit mode. Your new or updated title is now part of the current project. Click the button at the top right of the window. This is equivalent to clicking OK. Select File Close Title Tool, or File Cancel Title Tool from the main menu bar while working in the Motion Titler. The equivalent keyboard commands are F12 and F11 respectively.
THE MOTION TITLER ALBUM The Motion Titler Album is a tabbed panel on the lefthand side of the Motion Titler screen. It contains resources for building motion titles in the same way that the main Studio Album contains resources for creating movies. The Videos and Photos (shown here) sections of the Motion Titler Album are functionally identical to the equivalent sections in Edit mode. The other three sections contain special resources for motion titles.
selecting a new video, or switching to Scenes mode, affect both simultaneously. The Photos section is also the same as its equivalent Album section, Photos and Frame Grabs. The Objects section contains a collection of graphic objects that you can use to decorate your titles. Individual objects can be sized, positioned and rotated as needed. The Looks section is where you can define the visual styling of a text or shape layer in your title.
To add a motion to any element, double-click it while that element is selected, or drag it onto the element either in the Edit Window or the Layer List. If multiple layers are selected, double-clicking a look or a motion adds it simultaneously to all of them. The Videos section The Videos section of the Motion Titler Album will look familiar to anyone who has spent time in Studio’s Edit mode, for it is simply another view of the same section in the main Album.
To add a video file or scene to your motion title as a layer, use any of the following methods: Double-click the video in the Album. Drag the video from the Album and drop it onto the Edit Window. Right-click the video in the Album and select Add to motion title from the context menu. In all of these cases, the video is added as a full-size layer to the Edit Window, where it can be resized, moved and rotated like other layers to fit your composition.
The picture is added to the center of the Edit Window where it can be manipulated in the same manner as other layers. The image is automatically resized only if it would otherwise be too large to fit. To add an image file as the background of your motion title, drag it from the Album to the Background Panel at the bottom left of the titler display. See “The Background Panel” on page 283 for details.
available space. When added as an ordinary layer, the images are initially centered in the Edit Window frame at their original size. They can then be repositioned, resized and rotated as needed. The Looks section This section of the Motion Titler Album provides visual styles that can be applied to the text and shape layers in your motion title. Preset looks The easiest way to use looks is to select one of the icons in the Presets tab.
To apply a preset look to a text or vector graphics layer, first select the layer with the mouse by clicking in the Edit Window (page 285) or the Layer List (page 292). You can affect multiple layers simultaneously using multiple selection or a layer group (page 299). Having selected the layer or layers to change, use one of the following methods to apply a look: Double-click the icon for the chosen look. Right-click the icon and select Add to selected layer(s) from the context menu.
however, it can be dragged up or down in the layer stack as desired. Face, Edge and Shadow: A new face detail (left, top) is added above the uppermost existing face layer; new edge and shadow details are added below the bottommost layer of their respective types. The properties of individual detail layers can be modified by means of controls on collapsible edit panels in the Looks Editor. The Looks Editor is opened by clicking the Settings tab in the Looks section of the Motion Titler Album.
The following detail properties are available: Offset X and Offset Y: These sliders set the position of the detail layer relative to the nominal position of the text or graphic to which the look is applied. The range of offset is -100 (left, or bottom) to +100 (right, or top). The maximum offsets represent one eighth the width and one eighth the height of the Edit Window work area. In this example, a look with three detail layers has been applied to a single text layer.
Blur: As this slider increases in value from 0 to 100, the detail layer affected becomes increasingly ghostly and indistinct. The detail layers in this example differ only in their blur settings. From left to right: 15, 0, 30. Fill: Click the color swatch button to open a standard color dialog in which the fill color of the detail layer can be set. You can also use the eyedropper button to pick up a color from the screen.
To close down or open up the edit panel of a detail layer, click the or button at the left-hand end its header bar. To reorder detail layers, drag the header bar of the edit panel to its new location. If the look you are editing contains more than two or three layers, it can be easier to follow the action if you close down the panels first so that the whole stack is visible at once.
Each layer is allowed to have one motion of each type. All motions are optional, however, and it’s also quite possible to have a motion title with no motions at all. A quick survey of the motions collection In each of the three classes of motion, most of the animations can be grouped into several standard types based on their mode of action: Letter-based motions operate at the level of individual letters in a text caption (other layers are treated as consisting of a single “letter”).
desired. For example, a layer that enters with the “Words from infinity” motion could be configured to exit with “Words to infinity”. However, this kind of consistency is only an option, not a requirement, and you can mix and match motions of the three types in any way you choose. The Motions section of the Motion Titler Album has tabs for Enter, Emphasis and Exit motions. Each layer in a title can use one motion from each class.
Upon using any of these methods, the motion will be added to the layer, replacing the existing motion of the same type on that layer, if any. At the same time, a looping preview of the title animation will begin to run in the Edit Window so that you can immediately see the effect of the motion on the layer in the context of the overall title. See “Working with the Layer List” on page 292 for details on working with motions in the Layer List.
layers except for the application of looks. See “The Videos section” (page 270), “The Photos section” (page 271) and “The Looks section” 271 for detailed information. Text and shape layers: These are “vector-based” layers, meaning that they are stored not as bitmapped images like video and photo files, but as a kind of “recipe” for recreating the images from straight and curved line segments to which properties (e.g. color) and special effects (e.g. blur) can be applied.
To create a shape layer, click the Add Shape button (to the right of Add Text), then make a selection on the pop-up menu. The available choices include circle, square, ellipse, rectangle, horizontal and vertical “pill” shapes, and triangle. Upon selection, a new layer of the given shape and a default size appears in the center of the Edit Window. Editing layers The remainder of this chapter provides details on editing layers in the Motion Titler.
the background is controlled from the Background Panel at the bottom left of the Motion Titler. The Background Panel lets you create the background layer of a motion title. The preview area at the bottom shows the current content of the background without transparency or foreground layers. The area also serves as a target for dropping videos or images from the Motion Titler Album. The default background for a motion title is fully transparent.
the opacity slider anywhere between fully transparent (all the way to the left) and fully opaque. To reset the background to its default state, click the trashcan button. The Edit window The Edit Window is the main preview and editing area of the Motion Titler. This is where you rearrange, resize and rotate the foreground layers of your title. A necessary first step for most kinds of editing is to select the layer or layers your want to affect.
With text and shape layers, some of the layer content may appear outside the control frame. This occurs if one of the “details” within the look is defined with a horizontal or vertical offset that moves the detail away from the nominal location of the layer. See page 273 for more information. Layer operations in the Edit Window The operations described here are for a single layer, but can be extended to work with multiple layers simultaneously.
instead activate text-edit mode. See “Working with text” below for detailed information. To resize a layer but retain its proportions, click down on a corner point of the control frame and drag outwards or inwards until the desired size is achieved. To resize a layer and modify its proportions, click a side point of the control frame and drag. By resizing with the center control point on two adjacent sides in succession, you can produce any desired size and proportion.
of the context menu commands Delete and Layer Delete Layer(s). Why have two delete commands? In the case of a text layer in text-edit mode, the Delete command (and the Delete key) apply to the layer’s text only. To get rid of the layer altogether, the Layer submenu command is needed (or its equivalent, the trashcan button on the Layer List header bar).
To activate editing for an existing text layer, click anywhere inside the control frame. Text-edit mode becomes active and – to save you an often-required step – all existing text in the layer is automatically selected. As usual, selected text is indicated by highlighting. A text layer with all text selected. From left to right, the text editing controls in the header bar above govern letter styling (bold, italic, underline); text alignment and text flow; and font name and size.
use the mouse or arrow keys as just described, or give the standard shortcut Ctrl+A. Styling highlighted text As we have seen, the Motion Titler provides several text controls, most of them probably quite familiar to you from other applications. Those that apply to the highlighted text only are these: Font styling: To set or unset the bold, italic or underline properties of the selected text, use the toggle buttons in the header bar, or the standard keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I and Ctrl+U.
Font size: The Motion Titler provides several methods of setting the font size. You can enter a new value directly into the font-size edit field, or use the neighboring up and down arrow buttons to change the size in units of one point. Further to the right, the shrink font and enlarge font buttons change the size in intervals that widen as the font size increases.
list), in which each separate line is horizontally centered in the available space. The additional options provide for Align Left, Align Right and Justify. In paragraph-oriented text software, the incomplete final line of a paragraph is usually not stretched across the full width of the column. In the Motion Titler, where the graphical appearance of the text is paramount, even a final line with as few as two characters is spaced to the same width as the others.
controlling the lifespan of the layer within that of the title as a whole, and the durations of any motions that have been assigned to the layer. The Layer List timeline self-adjusts its resolution so as to make visible the title’s full duration, which you can set either by trimming in Edit mode or by entering a value directly into the Duration counter at the top right of the titler.
Ctrl+Click (toggle selection of one item), and Shift+Ctrl+Click (extend selection from last item clicked). See “Working with layer groups” on page 299 for information on how to use multiple selections. Layer names and renaming When you create a new layer, the Motion Titler gives it a default name based on the resource name or file name.
The Layer List offers a more direct approach: simply drag the layer header to a new position in the list. This is particularly handy in situations where overlapping layers make mouse selection difficult. As you drag the layer, an insertion line shows where the layer will appear in the list when dropped. Using multiple selection (see “Selecting layers” above) you can drag several layers at once to a new position.
The Layer List header bar The controls and readouts on the header bar are in five groups. From left to right: The Add Text and Add Shape buttons allow you to create new “vector-based” layers to which looks from the Motion Titler Album can be applied. Clicking Add Text immediately adds a new text layer with a default look and caption. As a shortcut for Add Text, you can simply double-click any unused area of the Edit Window.
Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V and Delete), allow you to duplicate or delete layers of all types. Copy and paste encompass not just the visual properties of the layer but also any timing changes you have made or motions you have assigned. In the case of text layers in text-edit mode, the copy operation applies not to the layer but to the selected text within it.
appearance of a layer in the running title, or to banish the layer before the title itself is complete, drag the ends of the layer along the timeline in the same fashion as clip editing on the Movie Window timeline. Up to three motions – one of each type – are allowed to each layer; these are also displayed on the timeline, where their durations too can be adjusted.
Working with layer groups The Motion Titler allows you to group layers either on a temporary or a permanent footing. To create a temporary group, you will use standard multiple selection techniques either in the Edit Window or on the Layer List. You can then make changes, such as applying a look, to all the members of the group simultaneously. The group remains whole only until you click another layer or an empty area of the Edit Window, whereupon the layers resume their individual existences.
An ordinary layer and a group with three member layers in the Layer List. The timeline graphics show that motions have been applied to the group itself and to one of its members. The mouse pointer is positioned to collapse the group, which would hide the names of the member layers. Temporary groups and permanent groups respond differently to many commands as detailed below.
Edit Window operations on the group Both temporary and permanent groups can be repositioned, resized and rotated: To reposition any group, drag it to the new position as though it were an individual layer. To rotate a permanent group, drag the rotation handle of the shared control frame. All members of the group revolve about their common center like planets revolving around the Sun. To rotate a temporary group, drag the rotation handle of any member.
If you add a motion by right-clicking a motion icon and choosing Add to selected layer(s), the result will be the same as if you had added it to each member individually. If you select a font, or change any other text styling attribute, every text member of the temporary group will be updated. Except in the first case, permanent groups have their own rules for these operations: If you apply a look, it works the same as with a temporary group.
CHAPTER 14: 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.
Background music track: Use this track to include mp3 or wav audio files, ScoreFitter background music 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 91). Create ScoreFitter clips with the Background music tool, and CD audio clips with the CD audio tool (see “The Background music tool” on page 309 and “The CD audio tool” on page 308).
the right side of the Movie Window). See “Advanced Timeline editing” on page 132 for more information. 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.
Having selected the CD and track, you can now optionally trim the clip and give it a custom name using the other controls on the tool. These controls are common to most audio clip types, and are used for editing as well as creating clips. They are covered on page 314 under “Trimming with the Clip properties tool”. Finally, click the Add to Movie button.
To create music for a particular set of clips, select those clips before opening the Background music tool. (To select your whole movie, use Edit Select All or press Ctrl+A.) The total length of the selected clips will determine the initial setting for the music duration, though you can modify the value at any time by 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.
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.
the movie and stopping it at the desired point, or by moving the Timeline scrubber. 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.
Watch this meter to make sure your recording levels don’t get too high or low. The indicator changes color from green (0-70% modulation), through yellow, to red. Generally, you should try to keep your audio peaking in the yellow (71-90%) and out of the red (91100%). 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 361 for detailed information.
Choose from this list, then connect your microphone in the manner indicated (e.g. Microphone or Line In). The Channels and Sample rate adjustments on the options dialog control the quality of voice-overs or other recorded audio. Set them at the highest quality level you anticipate needing, but keep in mind that increasing quality requires more disk space. 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.
To begin with, the tool provides controls that let you view or edit two properties shared by all clips: To set the duration of the clip, change the value in the Duration counter. The Name text field lets you assign a custom name to the clip to replace the default one assigned by Studio. The clip name is used by the Movie Window’s List view, and can also be viewed as a fly-by label when your mouse hovers over the clip in the Storyboard view.
CD Audio For CD Audio clips, the Clip properties tool uses the same trimming controls as above, but additionally provides dropdown selectors for CD Title and Track. You can use these to change the source of the clip at any time. CD Title is also an editable text field, so you can enter the actual title of the CD. 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.
facilitates mixing – separately adjusting the volume and stereo balance of each of the audio tracks. For disc authoring, the Volume and balance tool lets you choose to create a surround soundtrack, rather than stereo. The tool lets you dynamically position any of the audio tracks from front to rear as well as left to right. Availability: Surround sound is supported in Studio Ultimate only. Anatomy of an audio clip An audio clip icon on the Timeline has several parts.
Adjustment lines The orange volume line graphically models the volume changes you have made to the track and clip. If you have not adjusted the volume at all, the line runs straight along the clip at about three-quarters of the clip height. This is the “zero gain” (0 dB) level, where the clip’s original volume has been neither increased nor decreased. If you raise or lower the volume of the entire track, the volume line remains horizontal, but is now higher or lower than the zero-gain base level.
vertical center of the clip, and the adjustment scale is linear. Raising the stereo balance line positions the audio clip’s output further to the listener’s left, while lowering it positions the clip further to the listener’s right. Similarly, raising the fade line moves the clip away from the listener, and lowering it brings the clip towards the listener. Note: You can only view and edit a clip’s fade line when the Volume and balance tool is in surround mode.
When you add a new audio clip to the Timeline: The volume adjustment line of the newly-created clip connects the lines from the preceding and following clips if any are present. If no volume adjustments have been made to other clips on the track, the volume line through the new clip is horizontal. Its height reflects the overall track volume as set in the Volume and balance tool.
this cursor, you can click and drag the adjustment handle both vertically and horizontally. Right-click an adjustment handle to access the context menu command Delete volume setting. This command removes one adjustment handle. Use Remove volume changes to remove all the handles from the clip.
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. See Chapter 9: Transitions for details. To get a cross-fade between two adjacent audio clips, simply drop a Dissolve transition onto the Timeline track between them. (Actually, any transition type other than Fade has the same effect, but Dissolve gives the best visual reminder of a cross-fade.
The Volume and balance tool provides individual level controls for each of the audio tracks: original audio (left in illustration), overlay audio, sound effect and voice-over, and background music (right). The overlay audio controls are displayed only when the overlay video and audio tracks are open in the Movie Window.
The track level knob raises or lowers the overall volume for the track. It therefore affects the vertical position of the volume adjustment lines on all clips on the track, but does not change their contour. Click on the knob and drag it with a clockwise rotation (up to the 2 o’clock maximum position) to increase the volume. Use a counterclockwise rotation (down to the 6 o’clock minimum) to lower the volume. Level knobs, full off (L), default (C) and full on (R).
level meter , which illuminates during playback to show the level at the current time index. The meter scale to the right of the level meter displays the output level. The unit is again dB, but on this scale 0 dB corresponds to the maximum digital sample value. If the track volume reaches or exceeds this value, the output will be marred by audio “clipping” – the unpleasant sound produced by attempting to set volume levels outside the range of a digital signal.
Availability: Surround sound is supported in Studio Ultimate 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. In stereo mode, you set the position of the track by dragging its puck left and right between a pair of main speakers: Positioning the original audio in the middle of a stereo mix with the sound effects track (L) and the overlay track (R) on opposite sides.
of the sound source can be freely varied in two dimensions as with the standard surround mode. Surround and Dialog modes: At left, the music track, in Surround Mode, is positioned at the rear of the listening field. The original audio track at the same time index is in Dialog Mode, shown at right. The Dialog mode focuses the original audio by including the center speaker in the mix. There are two ways to set the position of a track’s icon in the balance control.
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. To select which of the three types of line is displayed, use the commands on an audio clip’s right-button context menu (see “Anatomy of an audio clip” on page 317). The contour lines can be modified directly on the Timeline using adjustment handles. For details, see “Adjusting audio on the Timeline” on page 319.
CHAPTER 15: 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 161) 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. Copying audio effects Effects can be copied and pasted between audio clips just as they can between video clips. See page 162 for details. About the effects The powerful Noise Reduction filter is provided in all versions of Studio. It is covered immediately below.
is a lag of about a second before any new setting has an audible effect, so make changes in small 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.
ULTIMATE EFFECTS The Studio Ultimate pack of audio effects is included with Studio Ultimate only. Users of other Studio versions can obtain these effects by upgrading to Studio Ultimate. 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 Ultimate. ChannelTool The basic action of this Studio Ultimate effect is to route your stereo audio signal.
in volume from one repetition to the next, a variety of results is possible, including flanger-like sounds and other special effects. DeEsser This Studio Ultimate 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.
The sliders let you increase or decrease the contribution of each band’s frequencies to the total sound over a 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. Note: In musical terms, each equalization band covers one octave, and the center frequency is close in pitch to the note B.
Leveler This Studio Ultimate effect helps compensate for a common problem in recording audio for video productions: the imbalance in the recorded volume of different elements 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.
Stereo Echo The Stereo Echo effect, available in Studio Ultimate, allows you to set separate delays on each of the left and right channels, with feedback and balance controls to provide a variety of interesting sounds. Stereo Spread This Studio Ultimate 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 16: 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 even your mobile phone. See page 344. 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 352. 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 355. 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.
OUTPUT TO DISC MEDIA Studio can output movies directly onto VCD (VideoCD), S-VCD (Super VideoCD), DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, if the requisite disc burning hardware is available on your system. Whether or not you have a disc burner, Studio can also create a “disc image” – a set of files containing the same information that would be stored onto the disc – to a directory on your hard drive. The image can subsequently be burned to disc.
On some DVD players. Most DVD players can handle CD-RW media, but many will not reliably read CD-R. DVD players sold in Europe and North America usually cannot read S-VCD discs; players sold in Asia often can. On a computer with a CD or DVD drive and MPEG-2 playback software. DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray If your system has a DVD burner, Studio can create three types of DVD disc: standard (for DVD players), HD DVD format for HD DVD players, and AVCHD format for Blu-ray players.
Your Blu-ray disc, or DVD disc in AVCHD format can be played back: On the Panasonic DMP-BD10, the Playstation 3, and other Blu-ray players (not all players support the AVCHD format, but most do). On a computer with a Blu-ray drive and suitable playback software. 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.
drive storage that will be required during the making of your movie, and the other shows an estimate of the time the movie will occupy on your writable disc. Use the upper folder button to change the hard drive location Studio uses for storing auxiliary files. If you are creating a disc image, it will also be stored in that folder. The matching button on the lower display lets you choose which burning hardware to use, if you have more than one device available. 2.
Quality and capacity of disc formats The differences amongst the various disc formats can be boiled down to these rules of thumb regarding the video quality and capacity of each format: VCD: Each disc holds about 60 minutes of MPEG-1 video, with about half the quality of DVD. S-VCD: Each disc holds about 20 minutes of MPEG-2 video, with about two-thirds the quality of DVD.
Flash Video iPod compatible MOV MPEG-1 MPEG-2 MPEG-2 TS MPEG-4 Real Media Sony PSP compatible Windows Media Choose whichever format matches the needs of your audience and the details of their viewing hardware. 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.
When your output options are in place, click the Create file button. A file browser opens to let you specify a name and location for the video file you are creating. As a convenience, the Output Browser also provides buttons for launching any desired media file in Windows Media Player or Real Player, so you can view your output file in an external player as soon as you have created it. 3GP Studio can generate movies in this widely-used file format using your choice of MPEG-4 or H.
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 371). AVI Although the AVI file type for digital video is itself widely supported, the actual coding and decoding of video and audio data in an AVI file is performed by separate codec software. Studio supplies a DV and an MJPEG codec.
DivX This file format, based on MPEG-4 video compression technology, is popular for video files disseminated over the Internet. It is also supported by a range of DivXcompatible hardware devices, from DVD players to portable and handheld units. Click whichever of the quality presets matches your needs; or choose Custom, then click the Settings button to open the Make File options panel (see page 371). Flash Video Studio supports output in Flash Video (flv) format, version 7.
iPod compatible Like DivX, this file format is based on MPEG-4 video compression technology. The combination of powerful compression with a small 320x240 frame size produces very small output files relative to the more expansive formats. The generated files are compatible with the popular Video iPod devices, and may work with some other devices types as well. The three quality presets select different data rates, each providing a different balance of quality and file size.
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-2 TS is the “transport stream” version of MPEG-2.
MPEG-4 is another member of the MPEG family. It offers image quality similar to MPEG-2 but with even greater compression. It is particularly suitable for Internet use. Two of the MPEG-4 presets (QCIF and QSIF) create “quarter-frame” video sized for cellphones; two others (CIF and SIF) create “full-frame” video suitable for handheld viewers. Custom presets.
small 320x240 frame size produces very small output files relative to the more expansive formats. The generated files are compatible with the popular Sony PlayStation Portable devices, and may work with some other devices types as well. 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.
Output via IEEE-1394 cable If your recording device has a DV input, just connect it to your digital video hardware with an IEEE-1394 (or “i.LINK”) cable. The connector at the camcorder end should be labeled DV IN/OUT. On machines that don’t support recording back to the camcorder, including many PAL devices, the DV connector is called simply DV OUT.
Otherwise, to view your movie as it is recorded, a TV set or a video monitor must be attached to the video outputs of your recorder. Video outputs are not always available on DV camcorders. 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: 1. If you are recording your movie onto DV tape, Studio gives you the option to control the DV device automatically.
OUTPUT TO THE WEB Studio can upload your video directly to either Yahoo! Video or YouTube, for sharing with a potential audience of millions of other Internet users. Both options offers two preset formats, Best Quality and Fast Upload. These provide different combinations of frame size and video data rate. No additional format settings are required for either destination. After selecting the upload site and preset you want, click the Create button.
Unless you are already logged in, the Yahoo! Desktop Login dialog is now displayed. If you have an existing Yahoo! Identity, enter your user information now; otherwise, you must first click the Sign up link to set up a new Yahoo! account. Studio now automatically creates and uploads your movie. Click the Watch video online button if you would like to visit the Yahoo! Video site in your web browser to confirm the success of the upload.
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 your 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 two panels covering options relating to Edit mode.
Project preferences These settings are split into five areas, which are covered in the subtopics below. Hardware settings relating to editing are on the Video and audio preferences panel (see page 361). 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.
Project format By default, your Studio movie project is in the same video format as the first clip you add to it. If you want 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.
from the menu to all the clips that follow it (at least 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.
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.
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). Before launching Studio, the second monitor must be activated as a Windows desktop extension (not in the Span or Clone modes). Studio checks on start-up to see if the above conditions have been met.
Voice-over recording Microphone: A dropdown list of choices for attaching a microphone to your hardware. Channels, Sample rate: These settings control audio quality. A typical setting for voice-overs is 16-bit mono at 22.05 kHz. Background rendering Rendering is the process of generating video for footage that uses HFX transitions, effects or other computationally demanding features of Studio. Until such video has been rendered, it may not display smoothly and with full detail during preview.
DV as your background rendering format may reduce the rendering time of your final movie. You would normally choose MPEG for as the rendering codec for disc-bound movies for the same reason. Another consideration arises if you are planning to preview your video on an external device (Studio Ultimate only). In such cases you may need to set the project format and the background rendering codec to suit the device.
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. To create a VCD or S-VCD requires a CD or DVD burner; to create a DVD requires a DVD or HD DVD burner; to create an HD DVD requires an HD DVD burner; to create a Blu-ray disc requires a Blu-ray burner. You can burn DVDs in standard format for DVD players, in AVCHD format for Blu-ray players, or in HD DVD format for HD DVD players.
Kbits/sec: When the Custom option has been chose in for the previous setting, this combination dropdown list and edit field lets you choose or specify the data rate – and hence the video quality and maximum duration – of the disc. Higher values correspond to better quality and lower capacity.
numbered lines in the other. The eye sees the superimposed fields as a single image. This system, called “interlaced scanning”, produces reasonably good results because of the characteristics of television screens and the human visual system. However, high-definition TV systems and typical computer monitors provide “progressive scanning”, in which the image is drawn from top to bottom at a higher screen refresh rate, potentially producing a clearer image with less flicker.
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”. With some disc types, you may have a choice of disc image formats. Choose the one you want on the Image Type list in the Media and device options area (see page 369).
applicable. Your choice may be important if you are planning to access the image with other software. Eject disc when done: Check this box if you would like Studio to automatically eject the disc after the burn process has been completed. General options These options are provided for both the Make Disc and Make File option tabs. Separately or in combination they let you specify special actions to be taken after your movie disc or file has been created.
Make File settings The File Type and Preset lists, which head the Make File settings panel for all file types, correspond to the Format and Preset lists in the Output Browser (see Chapter 16: Making Your Movie). Most file types share a common control panel. The Real Media and Windows Media file types have special-purpose control panels, covered separately in “Make Real Media file settings” on page 375 and “Make Windows Media file settings” on page 378.
The panel lets you manipulate file and compression settings when the Custom preset has been chosen. Most of the file types support customization to some degree. Custom settings may be used to minimize the size of the output file, to increase its quality, or to prepare it for a special purpose (such as distribution via the Internet) where there may be requirements involving characteristics such as frame size. Note: MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files require special decoder software.
settings for the capabilities of, and codecs supported by, the intended viewer’s computer platform. Resolution: This is a dropdown list of presets providing standard Width and Height options. The Custom preset lets you set the dimensions directly. Width, Height: The frame size is measured in pixels. The default setting is the resolution at which Studio captures. Decreasing the width and height greatly decreases file size. Frame rate: The standard frame rate is 29.
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. As a benchmark, CD-ROM music is 16-bit stereo sampled at 44 kHz.
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 370. Make Real Media file settings The Make Real Media File options panel allows you to adjust Real Media file settings. These configure the creation of files that are to be played back with the popular RealNetworks® RealPlayer®, free for the download from www.real.com.
Title, Author, Copyright: These three fields are used to identify each Real Media movie, and are encoded into it so that they are not visible to the casual viewer. 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.
Voice with background music: This option is designed for situations where, even though background music may be present, the spoken audio predominates. Music: Use this option for a monaural track in which music is prominently featured. Stereo music: Use this option for a stereo music track. Web server: The RealServer option allows you to create a file that can be streamed from a RealNetworks RealServer.
Standard modems (those that use ordinary telephone lines) are classified by the bandwidth they are able to process. Common values are 28.8 and 56 Kbps. In addition to these standard audiences, you can record clips for connection speeds of 100 Kbps, 200 Kbps, or higher. These higher bandwidths are suitable for audiences that use corporate Local Area Networks (LANs), cable modems or Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modems.
Description: This 256-character field lets you enter keywords for encoding into the movie. It is typically used to identify the movie for Internet search engines. 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.
Make tape settings Studio automatically senses the hardware you have installed, and configures the Make Tape playback destination accordingly. If you are printing (making tape) to a DV device, you can choose to have Studio start and stop the device automatically instead of having to do it yourself. 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. 380 2. Click the Tape tab. 3.
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. With most DV devices there is a small delay between receiving the command to record and the actual start of recording. In Studio, this is referred to as the “record delay time”. It varies from device to device, so you may need to experiment with the value for best results with your particular device. 5. Click OK. 6. Click Create.
Analog output If you are printing to an analog device, the choice of Composite or S-Video format may be available if supported by your hardware. Output to the screen One of the options on the Video dropdown in the Playback devices area is “VGA display”. With this option, your completed project will be played back onto your monitor screen rather than to an external device.
APPENDIX B: Tips and tricks Here are some hints from Avid 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.
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 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 15”.
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 358). 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 Programs Studio 15 Tools Uninstall Studio 15, 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.
quite difficult to determine the exact sequence of steps 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. Studio hangs when rendering Answer ID 6386 With this type of problem, Studio “gets stuck” during rendering (preparing your video for output in Make Movie mode).
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. Can you create VCDs and DVDs? Knowing what works, and what does not, may be crucial in identifying and solving the problem. Make sure that you have installed any available Windows service packs.
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. Removing the item or trimming it may allow the rendering to complete, though in some cases the failure may simply turn up elsewhere in the project.
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. After the reboot, double-click the Studio icon. Wait a few minutes to confirm that the application is really hung.
Studio now launches, reconnect the device and reopen Studio. If it fails anew, 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 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 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. Try these steps: 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. Under My Computer, right-click the DVD drive and choose Explore.
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 these tables refer to the arrow (cursor) keys.
L X or Ctrl+Up Y or Ctrl+Down A or I S or O Ctrl+Left Ctrl+Right Alt+Left Alt+Right Alt+Ctrl+Left Alt+Ctrl+Right G D F E or Home R or End Left Right Delete Insert Ctrl+Delete Page up Page down Numeric pad + Numeric pad C V M Ctrl+Page up Ctrl+Page down Ctrl+E Ctrl+D Ctrl+F 434 Fast forward (hit multiple times for faster playback) Step forward 1 frame Step back 1 frame Mark in Mark out Trim in point by -1 frame Trim in point by +1 frame Trim out point by -1 frame Trim out point by +1 frame Rolling trim ou
Motion Titler F11 F12 Alt+Plus Alt+Minus Ctrl+Plus Ctrl+Minus Ctrl+Period Ctrl+Comma Ctrl+D Space bar Cancel (exit titler) Confirm (exit titler) Bring to front Send to back Bring forward one layer Send back one layer Font grow Font shrink Deselect all With cursor in timeline area: Start and stop playback Classic Title Editor F11 F12 Alt+Plus Alt+Minus Ctrl+Plus Ctrl+Minus Ctrl+0 Ctrl+1 Ctrl+2 Ctrl+3 Ctrl+4 Ctrl+5 Ctrl+6 Ctrl+7 Ctrl+8 Ctrl+9 Ctrl+K Ctrl+M Shift+Left Shift+Right Cancel (exit titler) Confir
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 436 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
Index 2 2D editor (video effect), 175 A A/B editing, 183 Abbreviations, xiv Activate Explained, 13 Adding media to the Bin, 88 Album Aspect ratio, 113 Classic Title Editor. See Classic Title Editor Album Clipboard operations, 110 Disc Menus section, 83, 224 Drag-and-drop editing, 110 Favorite folders, 60, 67 Folders, 60, 67 Image sections, 210 Interface features, 65 Menu usage, 66 Motion Titler.
Animation, Stop-motion, 49 Answer IDs (technical support), 384 Aspect ratios (frame formats), 69 Mixing, 112 Audio Adjusting on Timeline, 313 Analog import options, 21 Background music, 300 Insert editing, 130 Muting, 98 Original, 300 Overlay, 182 Overlay, original, 300 Scrubbing, 92 Settings (for File output), 368 Sound effects, 300 Surround, 316 Synchronized with video, 126 Synchronous, 96, 204, 300 Tracks on Timeline, 300 Transitions, 204, 315 Uses of, 297 Using in Studio, 298 Using without video, 111 V
Blu-ray Disc (Import), 48 Buttons Add Marker, 100 Audio scrubbing, 92 Chapter.
With Album and Movie Window, 110 Clips Audio, 96 Changing name, 122 Combining, 126 Deleting, 93 Splitting, 93, 125 Theme, 141, 143, 145 Trimming on the Timeline, 117 Trimming tips, 121 Video, 96 Close-ups, 401 Color correction (video effect), 177 Color effects White balance, 180 Color map (video effect), 178 Colors Selecting, 196 Combine Clips menu command, 126 Compression Audio, 368 Options (Import), 30 Video, 366 Configuration.
Supplied, 224 VCD, S-VCD limitations, 225 Discs Authoring, 1, 60, 83, 209, 223, 254, 310 Dissolve (transition), 202 Drag-and-drop Editing, 110 From Album, 110, 199 Setting menu links, 234 Dream glow (video effect), 169 Drop zones Adding effects, 153 Aligning subclips, 152 Clearing, 152 Muting, 152 Disc menus, 228 Insert, 128 Split, 130 Still images, 211 Editing photos and other images, 213 Editor, Menu and Title, 237 Editors, Menu and Title, 257 Effects Audio.
MP3, 85 Music, 85 Sound, 85 WAV, 84 Preparing for capture, 377 HD, 416 HD DVD Output movie to, 335 Filename panel (Import Wizard), 32 Find Scene in Album command, 66 Find Scene in Project command, 66 Flags Placing on menu track, 229 Folders Album, 60 Favorite, 60, 67 Music, 86 Source, 62 Still images, 82 Titles, 82 Fonts, 248 Frame formats.
Import From panel (Import Wizard), 20 Import mode L Layers In Classic Title Editor, 241 Introduced, 1 Import To panel (Import Wizard), 23 Import Wizard Compression options, 30 Filename panel, 32 Import From panel, 20 Import To panel, 23 Mode panel, 27 Options, 19 Overview, 18 Scene detection options, 31 Selecting media, 34 Importing Overview, 17 Importing content from past versions, 15 Insert edit A/B, 183 Insert editing, 128 Audio, 130 Introduced, 128 Method, 128 Internet Saving movie to, 349 L-cut
Recording, 45 Mark-In, Mark-Out (Import), 44 Media Selecting for import, 34 Media Player, 346 Memory card, importing from. See File-based media Menu and Title Editor, 237 Menu and Title Editors, 257 Menu buttons Highlighting, 255 Menu commands, xv Menu Editor. See Title Editor Menu links. See Links Menu track, 228 Editing, 229 Flags, 228 Menus, Disc. See Disc menus Microphone Connecting, 307 MMC.
Noise reduction (audio effect), 324 Noise reduction (video effect), 170 Properties, 309 Synchronized with video, 126 Original sounds O Objects In Classic Title Editor, 240 Objects section (of Motion Titler Album), 266 Obtaining Disc menus, 84 Sound effects, 85 Themes, 80 Transitions, 79 Old film (video effect), 173 Optical disc.
Parameters for effects Resetting, 160 Parameters for plug-in effects Presets, 159 Parameters for video effects Editing, 158 Passport, 13 Perspectives Varying, 400 Photo cameras.
Requirements, equipment, xii Return to menu link, 229 Reverb (audio effect), 329 RGB color balance (video effect), 179 Ripple transition, 205, 211, 224 Rotate (video effect), 170 S Save to disc, 334 Save to file, 338 3GP, 340 Audio only, 340 AVI, 341 DixX, 342 Flash Video, 342 iPod compatible, 343 MOV, 343 MPEG, 344 Real Media, 345 Sony PSP compatible, 345 Soundtrack, 340 Windows Media, 346 Save to tape, 346 Save to world-wide web, 349 Scanning, progressive vs.
Still Images Rotating, 214 Stop motion, 21 Stop-motion animation, 49 Storyboard view, 95 Studio Import Wizard, 18 Studio Ultimate Audio effects, 324, 326 Keyframing, 160, 163 Video effects, 172 Subclips Adding effects, 153 Aligning to drop zone, 152 Exporting to Movie Window, 152 Muting, 152 Support button, 2 Surround sound, 316 S-VCD Menus, 83, See Disc menus Output movie to, 334 Synchronization (of video and audio) Overriding, 126 T Tape Saving movie to, 346 Technical support, 382 Templates.
Rolls, 239 Section (of Album), 81 Titles and overlays track And still images, 209 Titles tool, 105 Toolbox, 91 Audio, 107 Video, 104 Toolboxes, 102 Tools Audio effects, 108, 323 Automatic background music, 107 Background music, 303 CD audio, 107, 302 Chroma key, 190 Clip properties, 99, 104, 107, 122, 230, 308 Disc menu, 105, 235 Frame grabber, 105 Pan-and-zoom, 213 Picture-in-picture, 184 PIP and chroma key, 106 SmartMovie, 105, 134 Theme Editor, 105, 142, 150, 151 Titles, 105 Video effects, 106, 155 Vo
U UDMA, xiii Ultimate audio effects pack, 326 Ultimate RTFX video effects pack, 172 Undo button, 2 Unlocking Plug-in effects, 157, 168 Premium content, 12 USB stick, importing from. See File-based media Use keyframes (checkbox), 163 V VCD Menus, 83, See Disc menus Output movie to, 334 VGA Output movie to, 376 Video Album interface features, 65 Analog import options, 21 Aspect ratios. See Aspect ratios Capture. See Capture Folders, 67 Frame format.
Standard, 168 The effects list, 156 Tool, 155 Ultimate RTFX, 172 Unlocking, 157 Water drop, 177 Water wave, 177 Video formats, 112 Video levels In analog import, 21 Video monitor Simultaneous output to, 347 Video preview External, 355 Full-screen, 355 Options, 355 Video scene catalog, 223 Video scenes Adding to movie, 109, 110 Combining and subdividing, 75 Comments, 74 Displaying length of, 73 Finding in Album, 66 In-use indicator, 65, 115 Neighboring, 116 Order of, 63 Redetecting, 77 Selecting, 72 Spli
