Every time you launch the Avid software, the first thing you see is the Select Project window where you can pick both the user and the project that you're going to work with. The Avid assumes by default that you're going to work in the user settings of the person who logged into the computer. But you don't need to do that. You can click in the pull-down menu and choose Create User Profile to create settings for an additional editor. I'm going to leave the settings at Laura. But the advantage with the Avid is you don't have to create all your user settings at the operating system level. You can create them right within the software itself. Now, if I had an existing project I wanted to select it would appear in the menu here on the lower left. But, this is the first time we've launched the software, so we need to create a new project. And we need to decide where to save it. Click Private, if you're the only person using your computer or if you're sharing it with other people you want to make a project that's not accessible to other people. It will store the project in your personal user documents folder and only you will be able to read and write to it. Click the Shared button if you're sharing the computer with other editors and assistants who each in their own turn are going to need to access the same project. That project will be saved in the shared users folder and anybody who logs into the Avid will be able to open it up and make changes. The third option is External. Click that, and then this folder button to open up your directory listing and navigate to another place where you would like to create a project.

In this example, we're going to create a shared project, so I'm clicking the Shared button and then the New Project button. Which opens up the new project window where I assign a name and format to the project and decide whether or not I want to track film information. Unlike Final Cut Pro, the Avid requires you to name your project before you start using it. This eliminates all of the problems associated with digitizing media into an untitled project. In this case I'm going to call the project "Tempest" and choose a format from the pull-down menu at the right. Because this is the only opportunity you'll have to name your project and determine its format and because it's difficult if not impossible to change some of these later, make sure you have all the proper settings selected now. If your project originates on film, there is a matchback option that once selected allows you to track all of the film information for that project. So click the button and from the menu at the right select a film format. If your project starts on film and ends on film the Avid is able to track all that in its own software without using an external program. Set your project at 23.976p, for example, and the matchback option turns into a film option. Click on the film button and then choose a film format. Again, this will let you track all the key code and ink numbers that you need to for your project. In our example we're going to create a project at 720p/59.94 and turn off the matchback option and then click OK. Our project now appears in the menu on the left under the shared button. If I click on the Private button instead, you'll see that there are no projects created in the private directory. In order to open my project I need to click the shared button. Make sure the project is highlighted. Make sure the appropriate user settings are selected and then click OK to launch the project for us to start using.