When you first launch your project in Avid Xpress Pro this is the typical layout of windows that you will see. With one editing monitor called the Composer a timeline and the project window. This is a little bit different then the standard view you'll find in other Avid software such as Media Composer or Avid Adrenaline. Those two products have a 2-monitor editing system, which we can mimic by going to the Toolset Menu and scrolling down to select Source/Record Editing. Now I have two editing monitors, like most of the other Avid systems. On the left is the source monitor, which is similar to Final Cut Pro's viewer and on the right is the record monitor, similar to Final Cut Pro's canvas. I still have the timeline underneath and the project to the left. So let's close these windows and take a closer look at the project.

In the title bar of the project window is the name of the project followed by the name of the current user. In the Avid you can only have one project open at a time so although you see tabs across the top of the project these do not represent separate projects. Instead they represent separate aspects of the current project. And by default the first tab labeled Bins is selected and this is the view you will probably be using most often. The second tab is called Settings. And this is where all the settings for the Avid software are located in one handy to reach window. You can scroll up or down through this list and when you find a setting you want to change double-click on it to open it. For example I want to change the bin settings so I'm going to double-click it, it opens up a new window called Bin Settings. Down here at the bottom enable "super bin" has been selected. Super Bin is a really handy feature for people editing on systems with only one monitor, who need to conserve their screen space. I'm going to turn it off for the tutorial, and then click OK and that saves my change.

You'll notice up at the top of the setting window is also a pull-down menu listing the users accessible on the system. So for example, if it's the end of my shift, and I'm going home and another editor is going to come in and work on this project, I click in here and I can switch to the User Profile of another editor or create a new one. In this case I'll create one for David and click OK. And now the Tempest project is being edited by David. If I want to go back to my settings I just click in that window again and choose my name from the list and it's switched back to me. It's very handy in the Avid to keep user settings separate and distinct and yet very easily accessible. I never have to log out of the project, I never have to quit out of Avid Xpress Pro and I certainly don't ever have to log out of the operating system to switch users. And if you take a look here again at the Users Tab you can see it lists all of the people who's user settings have already been created.