Techniques/How-to

Confused by Track Selectors? - Part 2

drbgaijin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:30:41 GMT

I made this Tutorial as a follow up to the previous Tutorial, where I tried to explain the basics of Track Selectors.

This time I take things a step further and show the use of the 3 point edit when adding a second clip.

Regards,
Douglas

Confused by Track Selectors?

drbgaijin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:26:43 GMT

I made a Tutorial on Track Selectors a while back, but a recent Forum thread reminded me that there are newcomers arriving on Avid's shores all the time.
Those coming from NLEs that have a very different workspace, timeline and workflow from Media Composer's can find things very confusing at first.

So I decided to have a second attempt at clarifying things for just those newcomers.

Regards,
Douglas

Zooming in/out and dragging the Monitor Pictures

drbgaijin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:53:54 GMT

When you use the "Ctrl +L" and "Ctrl + K" shortcuts they can be applied to more than just the height of timeline tracks.

By accident I pressed "Ctrl + L" while my record monitor was active and was surprised at the result.

My new found knowledge is probably more useful when in Effect mode and using some function like AvidFX's Paint Tool.

Regards,
Douglas

Keyboard Mapping Suggestions - "Focus"

drbgaijin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:07:34 GMT

From time to time I will make a short Tutorial in which I will highlight some lesser known key that can be mapped to the keyboard.

This time it is the "Focus" key.

Regards,
Douglas

Go to Next/Previous Edit without entering the Trim Mode

drbgaijin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:39:30 GMT

This topic keeps coming back again and again on the Forums, as newcomers arrive for the first time.

That gives me an excuse for making a short Tutorial on it.

Next time we see the question brought up there will be a Tutorial to refer to...............................

Regards,
Douglas

Shift n Map

drbgaijin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:52:45 GMT

It is mentioned in the User Guide, it is so simple, it is so basic, it was staring me in the face.

But I could not see it for the trees!

Then just a short time ago........................

Regards,
Douglas

24 Keyboard Shortcuts

drbgaijin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:13:59 GMT

Some of these shortcuts have been featured in my earlier Tutorials others are making their first appearance.

I find that I need to refresh my memory as far as KeyBoard Shortcuts go.
It is so easy to forget them.
Especially if you don't use each one daily and if you are getting old, like me!

Hope you get your memory jogged too.

Regards,
Douglas

PS. This was done in MC 3.1.2. Starting from now, I will be using MC 4.0.2 in most of my new Tutorials

PPS. I mention a PDF document listing the shortcuts and their time on the timeline in the tutorial.
You can download the document from HERE.

Boris Continuum Complete's Optical Stabilizer Filter

Rich DAngelo — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:11:36 GMT

The BCC Optical Stabilizer filter enables you to stabilize shaky video footage. The filter uses optical flow technology to determine the movement of the camera and then adjusts the clip's position to compensate. Depending upon filter parameter settings, the motion in the clip will either be smoothed or completely locked down. Unlike many other image stabilization tools, the BCC Optical Stabilizer does not require you to set user-defined tracking points. This is useful for images where tracking data is unreliable.

Because the very nature of post camera image stabilization causes the image to be cropped, BCC Optical Stabilizer includes post image stabilization options to fill the blank areas around the frame - such as repeating pixels along the cropped edges, mirroring the image along those edges, filling them with solid color, or leaving them transparent. An auto-scale function automatically transform scales the image so that it fills the frame across time; it includes seven transform scale algorithms ensuring optimal post image sharpness.

Avid DS Z Buffer FX

Igor Ridanovic — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:25:19 GMT

This Avid DS tutorial explains the basic use of Z buffer information when compositing 3D animation elements in Avid DS.

Not a Tutorial, but......

drbgaijin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:18:41 GMT

I could not find the method of uploading a video file without placing it in some category.
So I ended up uploading it in this area where i usually upload.

Please excuse my intrusion.

The short video is to illustrate a topic that is currently being discussed here:

http://community.avid.com/forums/EditPost.aspx?PostID=426374&ReturnUrl=%2fforums%2ft%2f76176.aspx%3fPageIndex%3d3%23426374

Regards,
Douglas

Deleting a Clip - Revisited yet again!

drbgaijin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:44:42 GMT

After uploading the "Deleting a Clip - Revisited" Tutorial I had a few enquiries as to why I used "CTRL X" rather than plain simple "X".

I started to reply to the enquiries and found it would be easier to make a follow up tutorial rather than explain in words only.

Here is the resulting explanation, as seen from my point of view.

Additional thoughts and explanations are more than welcome.

Regards,
Douglas

That Puzzling Extra Frame!

drbgaijin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:26:57 GMT

After I migrated to Avid Media Composer, I spent about 4 weeks happily and unknowingly adding an extra frame to my clips!

It was really by accident that I discovered my error.

Here is an explanation of my error and why it was happening.

After you understand the error, the solution is simple.

Regards,
Douglas

Controlling Clip Snapping

drbgaijin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:09:18 GMT

When moving clips on the timeline, there are many ways of controlling their movement.

Here are a few pointers that may be useful to you.

Regards,
Douglas

Evapourating Clips!

drbgaijin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:49:23 GMT

Newcomers to Media Composer sometimes get confused when they notice that one or more clips on the timeline seem to be "evapourating" or getting shorter!

I take a look at this strange behaviour and explain why it is happening and how you can avoid it.

Regards,
Douglas

Deleting a Clip - Revisited

drbgaijin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:41:51 GMT

When we are learning something new and we succeed, we tend to remember the success.
Next time we are back in the same situation we usually use the same method that we first succeeded with.
Even with Media Composer - when you first delete a clip successfully, you tend to continue using the same method in the future.

Sometimes, however, there are other ways of achieving the same success.
Sometimes the other ways may be more suitable for deleting a clip under different circumstamces.
Here is another way of deleting a clip that I came upon recently.

Regards,
Douglas