Search results matching tag 'basic tips'

Expanding Library of Media Composer Tutorials

drbgaijin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:40:12 GMT

I am a relative newcomer to Media Composer (early 2008) and as I began to feel my way around I got the idea of documenting my adventures by creating short video tutorials,
Avid had already a large number of excellent, professionally produced tutorials online.
I learned very much from watching them. However I sometimes felt that newcomers like myself needed a much more basic approach to many of the things that were being taken for granted.

The first 20 or so tutorials were specifically made to help migrants from Avid/Pinnacle Liquid. However, many of those contain tips that can be useful to any newcomers.

The two main points that I have learned since arriving here are:

1. Media Composer has many, many ways of achieving a given result. My tutorials usually show only 1 of them. Be flexible and experiment for yourself. Nothing is set in stone.

2. If you are coming from a different NLE family, try and leave your old workflows behind you.
Don't try and figure out how to emulate them in MC.
The sooner you begin to accept the MC way, the sooner you will get up to speed and discover its flexibility.
It took me only 14 days before I completely stopped using Liquid.

SEE ALL THE TUTORIALS HERE on the MEDIA COMPOSER - PC FORUM

The tutorial page is, as the title above says, "Expanding".
Please drop in every now and then to see what has been added!

Hope you find something useful.

Regards,
Douglas

Creating a "Freeze-Frame" in MC

drbgaijin — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:23:19 GMT

Easy to do when you know how, but sometimes difficult for a newcomer to figure out!

NB. When actually in the "Freeze-frame" pulldown menu, there are many more choices than I mention in this tutorial. For example you can choose "others" and specify an exact length for the created Freeze-frame.

Regards,
Douglas.

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Audio 2 - Manually adjusting the Gain

drbgaijin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:51:21 GMT

Audio has never been my strong point.
Any simple and straightforward way I can find of working with audio is of great interest to me.
Here is my description of how I manually adjust audio gain without getting tied in knots.
This is really a follow up to my first Audio tutorial - Audio Gain and Keyframes.

Regards
Douglas

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Paint a Path with AvidFX

drbgaijin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:25:32 GMT

I once used BorisFX as a plug-in to Avid Liquid and later in MC 2.8 to paint paths.
I never could get consistent results.
After upgrading to MC 3.x and installing Avid FX I found that the Paint a Path effect was much

easier to apply and control.
AvidFX (Boris Red) still presents a steep learning curve, so I would like to try and lead newcomers

through the steps........ in a very basic and simple way.

Good luck!

Douglas(Please visit the site to view this media)

Preventing MC from "hanging" when changing Languages in the Title Tool

drbgaijin — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:58:11 GMT

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I have seen threads started by users who have problems when using Title Tool or SubCaps.
If they are working in more than one language and they try to change languages MC will quite often "hang".
I recently received a tip from Mr. Egawa of Avid Technology in Japan about a setting in Windows that should prevent this from happening.

Although this may not be troubling many users I feel it is a very useful tip.

Regards,
Douglas

SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5 - Mood Mapping Tutorial

Brian Dickman — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:47:30 GMT

This brief tutorial shows you how to use the Mood Mapping feature of Sonicfire Pro to adjust individual instrument layers and make music adapt to the changes in your production. This feature has won over 10 industry awards...you'll understand why once you've seen it.

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(Problems viewing this video on Safari for Mac? Try Firefox.)

Watch more Sonicfire Pro 5 Tutorials:

Sonicfire Pro 5 Express Track Edition (Free with SmartSound Music album purchase)

Express Track - The fastest tool for finding and customizing library music to your exact needs.
Finding Music with Express Track - Learn the basics of Express Tracks music searching and tracking.
Sensory Searching and Tempo Changing - Unique music searching and easy tempo/pitch adjustments.

Sonicfire Pro 5 Scoring Edition ($99.95 upgrade)

Scoring Edition Overview - A quick tour of the intuitive interface for turning library music into a custom score.
Mood Mapping - (You are here)
Timing Control - Move music beats to match your video events without losing rhythm or timing.
Spotting Tools - Mark the key events in your video and instantly sample tracks that best hit the mark.
Smart Recall - A revolutionary feature that allows resizing and instrument control in .WAV and .AIFF files.
Configuration Options - A review of important configuration options for Sonicfire Pro 5 users.

About SmartSound and Sonicfire Pro 5

SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5 is the largest and most powerful solution for empowering video editors to create professional-quality soundtracks. Instead of building music from scratch, Sonicfire Pro gives editors the ability to fully customize thousands of music tracks, turning library music into a custom music score. With the Strata Series multi-layer music, editors can customize the length, musical arrangement and instrument mix to make each track uniquely suited to every production.

Sonicfire Pro 5 Scoring Edition is included FREE with Avid Media Composer products. Add more music at www.smartsound.com/music

If you have received Sonicfire Pro 4 with your past Avid purchase, you can upgrade to Sonicfire Pro 5 for free. Download Sonicfire Pro 5 Upgrade.

How to avoid getting dropped frames during real-time playback of BCC RT filters in Avid Media Composer

Johnla — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:24:42 GMT

To achieve real-time playback of BCC AVX RT plug-ins without dropped frames, make sure your Avid project meets the following criteria:

- Use BCC filters from the BCC Real Time and BCC RT Static Textures categories in your Effect Palette.

- Select a lower playback quality from the 'Video Quality Menu' at the bottom of the Timeline window. Right click and select Draft Quality (yellow-green mode). This will also enable 8-bit processing during playback, which is faster than 10-bit processing (Full Quality).

- Make sure 'Real Time Update' is selected inside your Effect Editor settings.

- Open your Video Display settings and reduce the 'Stream Limit' value in Maximum Real Time Streams.

- Use the 'Expert Render' command on parts of the sequence where the system has difficulties during playback. The system marks these sections of the sequence in the Timeline. For more information, see the section in your Avid Help called "Using the ExpertRender Command After a Real-Time Playback Attempt".

- If possible, start playback earlier in the sequence, before the effects that cause difficulties. This allows the system to process some of the effect frames before displaying them, decreasing the chance of playback difficulties.

- If you still experience dropped frames, open your project's Video Display settings and set the 'Pre-Filled Frames' amount to a few seconds. This preloads the specified amount of video and can help if the system has trouble maintaining real-time playback.

- Use the Submaster Effect or Perform a Video Mixdown.

When should you preview BCC RT Effects in Full Quality
Some aspects of BCC AVX RT effects appear a bit different during real-time preview than non-real-time preview and final render. This is particularly true of effects using geometric distortions (Scale, Tumble, Spin, Rotate) and effects that blur and choke edges. While fine-tuning these parameters, it is recommended to change the Video Quality Menu to 'Full' (green-green) to check the quality before final rendering.

BCC RT Effects and Avid Titles
Note: BCC AVX RT filters are not fast enough to apply to Avid titles and play back in real-time. Therefore, the real-time version of BCC AVX filters do not include a Title Matte parameter group. Use the non-real-time version to apply to a title or matte.

Supported Real-Time Systems
The filters in the BCC AVX RT category play back in real-time on Avid systems with Adrenaline or Mojo hardware. BCC AVX RT filters apply, render and use presets the same way that BCC AVX filters do. The real-time filters are a subset of the existing filters.

Supported Real-Time Avid Hosts
Supported real-time systems include Xpress Pro 5.1.4 or later, and systems with Adrenaline hardware. Real-time playback is largely determined by the speed of the system hardware. These filters are intended to provide real-time Draft-Quality previews. You should render these filters before outputting to tape, even on systems with Mojo or Adrenaline hardware. You do not have to replace the real-time filters with the corresponding non-real-time filter. Simply render the real-time filter.

Supported Operating Systems and Hardware
The BCC AVX RT filters requires the following operating systems and hardware:

Windows

The BCC AVX RT plug-ins require a Pentium 3 or Pentium 4 processor running Windows XP® as well as Avid Adrenaline or Mojo hardware.

Macintosh

The BCC AVX RT plug-ins requires a Macintosh system running a minimum of Mac OS™ X 10.4.0 or above as well as Avid Adrenaline or Mojo hardware.

Important Notes on the BCC Real-time Effects
The real-time effect playback is largely determined by the speed of the system hardware.
Additionally, real-time playback depends on the settings you adjust in the effect. If you adjust multiple parameters, it is likely the effect will not play back in real-time. For example, if you apply blur and choke to a PixelChooser matte, the filter may require rendering. When you work with the real-time filters, the Fields menu only applies when you render the effect. It does not affect previews and playback. Although some real-time filters may include the Motion Tracker parameter groups, you should not use the real-time version of a filter to motion track. Use the non-real-time version.

Post by John Lafauce, Avid Customer Support Representative

Audio Mixer Tips

TrainerDave — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:17:04 GMT

So you think you know everything there is to know about the Audio Mixer tool eh? Think again, This is a powerful tool with many facilities to help you "tweak" your audio mix quickly and easily. Check it out!

(If it doesn't play here, you can always see it in the Videos section here: http://community.avid.com/media/p/365882.aspx )

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From Avid Media Composer to DVD in easy steps

Gressy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:59:49 GMT

This is a video of one easy way I like to work using Avid Media Composer, Sorenson Squeeze and DVDitPro to author a DVD.

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Using Paint Effect to create a simple Vignette

drbgaijin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:47:27 GMT

Inspired by an idea from an Avid editor friend!

The Vignette effect shown here is very simple to apply - but it can be the base from which your own imagination and creativity can produce an infinte number of special Vignettes.

Regards,
Douglas

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