Avid® Media Composer®

MC 025 - Effect Editor Changes in Media Composer 5.5.2

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Tue, 31 May 2011 05:00:00 GMT

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Two updates to Media Composer’s Effect Editor: Start and End Key Frames is now available as a contextual menu pick and the default frame interpolation is now linear.

Download: PhraseFind (M4V) Run time: 3:04

• Please send in questions, comments and suggestions - via email

• Subscribe to new episodes on iTunes

• ...or on RSS

• Share our video episodes on YouTube or Vimeo

Download our 30-day free trial of Avid Media Composer and try it out for yourself.

MC 024 - PhraseFind

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 06:00:00 GMT

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Stop wasting time and money generating transcripts of your project just to locate clips more easily. With PhraseFind—a powerful new software option for Media Composer, Symphony, and NewsCutter—you can find the right clips fast, with highly accurate results. PhraseFind's powerful search engine automatically analyzes clips and indexes all dialog in your project's media phonetically, so you can quickly find clips by simply typing a word or phrase—right from within your software.

Download: PhraseFind (M4V) Run time: 3:00

• Please send in questions, comments and suggestions - via email

• Say hello to me on Twitter at @MattFeury

• Subscribe to new episodes on iTunes

• ...or on RSS

• Share our video episodes on YouTube or Vimeo

Download our 30-day free trial of Avid Media Composer and try it out for yourself.

-Matt

MC 023 – Avid Artist Controllers

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:30:00 GMT

One of the things we try to stress to people when they’re getting to know Media Composer, is the importance of getting to know the keyboard. Knowing all the shortcuts and ins-and-outs of the keyboard brings a greater degree of control over the application than just using the mouse to click-around. But there are still going to be times when the keyboard cannot replace the presence of a dedicated control surface. Now in Media Composer 5.5 we're introducing the Artist Series of controllers—Artist Transport, Artist Mix, and Artist Control. These are three Ethernet-based control surfaces that really raise the level of interaction between you and Media Composer. Let’s take a look.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Download: Avid Artist Controllers (M4V) Run time: 9:06

• Please send in questions, comments and suggestions - via email

• Say hello to me on Twitter at @MattFeury

• Subscribe to new episodes on iTunes

• ...or on RSS

• Share our video episodes on YouTube or Vimeo

Download our 30-day free trial of Avid Media Composer and try it out for yourself.

-Matt

MC 022 - SmartTool v2: Transition Manipulation

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

When Media Composer® 5.0 was first introduced in 2010, one of the biggest changes to the application was the introduction of the SmartTool. The SmartTool is a palette or a collection of five different modes that are very common to working in the timeline. In Media Composer 5.5, the Keyframe button has been moved out of the palette to make room for a new button called "Transition Manipulation". Let's take a look.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Download: SmartTool v2: Transition Manipulation (M4V) Run time: 5:26

• Please send in questions, comments and suggestions - via email

• Say hello to me on Twitter at @MattFeury

• Subscribe to new episodes on iTunes

• ...or on RSS

• Share our video episodes on YouTube or Vimeo

Download our 30-day free trial of Avid Media Composer and try it out for yourself.

-Matt

MC 021 - New Find Tools featuring PhraseFind™

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

One of the most important aspects of any editing project is organization. One of the great strengths of Media Composer® has always been how well it manages and organizes metadata. Media Composer 5.5 takes another huge leap forward with new Find functionality and the new PhraseFind™ option. Let’s take a look.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Download: New Find Tools featuring PhraseFind (M4V) Run time: 9:43

• Please send in questions, comments and suggestions - via email

• Say hello to me on Twitter at @MattFeury

• Subscribe to new episodes on iTunes

• ...or on RSS

• Share our video episodes on YouTube or Vimeo

Download our 30-day free trial of Avid Media Composer and try it out for yourself.

-Matt

MC 020 - Work More Easily with Audio

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Media Composer 5 introduced several improvements to audio (RTAS plug-ins, Stereo Audio Tracks, ability to view automation gain on individual tracks). At the time MC5 was introduced, Pro Tools couldn’t open RTAS plug-ins and stereo tracks from MC.With the intro of PT 9, not only can Pro Tools open RTAS plug-ins and Stereo Tracks, it can also read Media Composer locators as markers, greatly improving the communication between Media Composer projects and Pro Tools sessions.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Download: Work More Easily with Audio (M4V) Run time: 3:29

• Please send in questions, comments and suggestions - via email

• Say hello to me on Twitter at @MattFeury

• Subscribe to new episodes on iTunes

• ...or on RSS

• Share our video episodes on YouTube or Vimeo

Download our 30-day free trial of Avid Media Composer and try it out for yourself.

-Matt

MC 019 - Streamline your RED Workflow

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:30:00 GMT

Join me and Michael Philips from Avid and special guests Ted Schilowitz and Deanan DaSilva from RED in an in-depth webinar that’ll help you make better, more informed decisions about your RED-based projects.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Download: Streamline Your RED Workflow (M4V) Run time: 52:14

• Please send in questions, comments and suggestions - via email

• Say hello to me on Twitter at @MattFeury

• Subscribe to new episodes on iTunes

• ...or on RSS

• Share our video episodes on YouTube or Vimeo

Download our 30-day free trial of Avid Media Composer and try it out for yourself.

-Matt

MC 018 - Create Once, Publish Anywhere

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:00:00 GMT

Avid Media Composer 5 as well as previous versions has tight integration with Sorenson Squeeze. With Squeeze you have access to the highest quality encoding and a complete publishing and distribution solution. Squeeze is bundled with Media Composer to help you get the most out of the hard work you’ve poured into your edits. In this video, I will walk through how to export from Media Composer 5 as well as answer a few common workflow questions such as publishing and using filters.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Here I am in Media Composer 5. I have my project loaded and my video on the timeline. First I’ll select the timeline I want to export then for to File -> Send To -> Encoding -> Sorenson Squeeze. A dialog box will come up. If this is your first integration with Squeeze, then you must first set up Media Composer to send to Squeeze. Settings are mostly in place, but I’ll need to direct Media Composer to where Squeeze is installed on my machine, and tell it to open after send to. First check the Auto Launch button to make sure the project loads into Squeeze. Choose “Add Item”. Now I need to locate Squeeze. On a Mac it will be in the applications folder, and on Windows it will be in your program files, or program files x86 for 64-bit systems. Now I’ll save this profile. I’ll just overwrite the existing Squeeze template, and the next time I use Squeeze, it will be ready. Now click “OK”. Squeeze will auto-launch and the video will auto-populate as a QuickTime reference movie.

In this example, I’ll encode this project to local network storage so it can be grabbed by editors on different systems. I want to make it universal so that the audio editors or compositors have easy access to it. Here in Squeeze there is a tab called “Editing” in the Presets window. I can see “Motion JPEG”. Motion JPEG is a highly universal, highly editable, low-loss codec that is also fast to encode. To apple the preset I can either click it and click apply, or drag-and-drop it into the job window. Now I need to define an output path. In the job window, there are three columns—settings, destination, and progress. In the destination column it says “default” for the job in dark grey. In Squeeze there are three ways to specify a destination for your output video.

The first way is found in the preferences menu in the Squeeze drop-down on a Mac, or the File drop-down on Windows. Here on the Output tab you can set the default output location. The default setting is same as source, but I have mine set to a Squeeze folder on a local drive. The second way is to right-click on the destination column. I can either specify a new output location for each video or for the job as a whole.

The third way is to add a publishing preset. The publish presets act differently than the first two methods in that Squeeze will publish to your default or specified location and your publish destination. They also have the added benefit of being presets. So if I’m not pushing to a specific network all the time I don’t have to fuss over setting it as a default or changing it manually each time. To add a new preset, I click the plus sign and this dialog appears. Since this is local network area attached storage I choose the “Send to Folder” and choose the network location. I’ll call it “NAS” and click OK. Add this preset the same way you’d add any preset by clicking Apply or dragging-and-dropping. Now my file will compress to the local drive and the NAS. I click “Squeeze It” and let it go.

With Squeeze 6 and higher you can publish locally to various destinations including local directories as in the previous example or directly to applications for further processing. In addition, Squeeze has many online publishing options including Amazon Web Services, YouTube, Akamai, Limelight, FTP, Sorenson 360 and many more. Let’s run through what you can do with these publishing presets if you’re connected to the Internet.

One of the biggest challenges many editors face is the timely review and approval of edits—either completed deliverables or just dailies. In the past this has meant burning DVDs or sending files via FTP or sending via email. There is an easier way, let me show you how it’s done.

Before we begin we need the optional companion to Squeeze—Sorenson 360. 360 is a full-featured online video platform, and as an Avid customer you get special pricing starting at just $36 USD per month. Visit http://www.sorensonmedia.com/avid to get started.

Now that I have my account information, I’ll add it to Squeeze by adding a new preset. Click the plus icon, and then choose Publish to Sorenson 360. Enter your credentials then click “Verify this account”. Squeeze will then add a new set of presets to my Web tab. If I check in Web -> Destinations -> Sorenson 360, I can see that it did. If I go back into my Media Composer project, I can send to Squeeze as I did before. What I want to do is send this daily to the project manager in the creative department for sign-off on the graphics. First thing is to create notifications for these people. In the lower-left is the notifications window. Just like adding a preset or publish destination, I click the plus icon to bring up the dialog. I’ll set-up the project manager first. Enable review and approval, and if I want to I can password protected as well. I’ll also add myself so I know when the job is complete. This can be a lifesaver if you have a long project and don’t want to sit around the office waiting on an encoding job. Now I want to add all these notifications to my project. I also want to add a timecode for reference. Over in my filters is a timecode filter. I can double-click it to make changes to the font, the background color, the transparency and more, but I’m going to leave it as it is and click apply and drag-and-drop it over. Now I’ll add an encoding preset and click “Squeeze it”. Now that it’s done encoding, I’ll get an email. My project manager and creative team get similar messages. Clicking on the link takes me to a page to view the video and add notes. I have a “Please Revise” notice with timecode notes right here in the window. I also get emails with any comments that have been made. Now I can go right back into my Media Composer project and make the changes saving me time and effort.

These are just a few of the many advantages of using Squeeze in the Media Composer workflow. For more information including tutorials and videos, visit http://www.sorensonmedia.com.

Download: Create Once, Publish Anywhere (M4V) Run time: 7:36

• Please send in questions, comments and suggestions - via email

• Say hello to me on Twitter at @MattFeury

• Subscribe to new episodes on iTunes

• ...or on RSS

• Share our video episodes on YouTube or Vimeo

Download our 30-day free trial of Avid Media Composer and try it out for yourself.

-Matt

MC 017 - Marquee: AutoTitler

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Although it’s primarily relied upon for creating motion titles and graphics in 3D space, Avid® Marquee® can also make quick work of still graphics and titles. One example of this is the creation of lower-third graphics.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Often times editors are asked to create multiple lower-third titles for a project with all the titles having a common look, just different text information. Marquee comes with pre-built templates for a number of graphic styles including lower-thirds. You can certainly use any of these just by double-clicking them. We’re going to create our own using Marquee text and shape tools.

We’ve been given a text file with a list of all the titles needed to be created for our project. That will come in very handy after we create the look of our title. To begin creating our template we’ll use the text tool to identify where we want our title to go along with the font we’ll use. To give the title some depth we can go to the Shadow properties tab and turn on shadows for our font and then soften it up a little bit. Since our title will have two lines we want to use the rectangular shape tool to add a line below our title name. This time, we’ll use the surface properties tab to change the color to blue and to enable lighting for this shape. Marquee has multiple light sources that can be animated to help your title pop a little better. Finally, we’ll use the text tool again to add another line of text to the graphic. We’ll also tweak the kerning to expand the spacing to this line of text as well as add the same shadow properties we did for the first line. Looking closely at the layers window we can see the three different objects representing our title. In fact, we can re-order these to better reflect how our title is laid out. It has no bearing on how the title is layered. This is a key difference between the Marquee timeline and Media Composer®. In Marquee how objects are composited has to do where they are in 3D space in the overall scene as opposed to how they’re layered in the timeline.

Before we start using the AutoTitler feature we need to use the Info properties tab to number the text objects accordingly. Each text box must retain the same text box name followed by sequential numbers starting with 1. We’ll select the first text box in our title and add a number one to its name. Next we’ll select the other text box and add a 2. These numbers will tell the AutoTitler feature how to place the credits found in our text file into the template we created. Even though our title has only two lines of text, you can create templates to create as many lines of text as you like. Under the File menu, we’ll select the AutoTitler and point it toward our text file. The text file needs to be saved as a plain text file to work successfully. This operation takes place very quickly. To review any of the titles select them from the Window menu. Once we’re happy with the titles we can just save them to the Media Composer bin.

Using AutoTitler is a great way to accelerate your graphics workload. And just one of the many cool things to be found inside the Marquee title tool.

Download: Marquee: AutoTitler (M4V) Run time: 3:43

• Please send in questions, comments and suggestions - via email

• Say hello to me on Twitter at @MattFeury

• Subscribe to new episodes on iTunes

• ...or on RSS

• Share our video episodes on YouTube or Vimeo

Avid Marquee comes standard with Avid Media Composer Software. Check out our 30-day free trial of Avid Media Composer and try it out for yourself.

-Matt

MC 016 - Avid Media Access v2

emarketing@avid.com (Avid) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:30:00 GMT

Since being introduced in 2009, the AMA architecture has been expanded in Media Composer© 5.0 to include even more file-based formats. Now in MC5 users can directly link to and have immediate access to formats such as RED©, QuickTime© with H.264, QuickTime with ProRes, Canon’s new XF plug-in, the P2 DVCPRO© format, XDCAM HD, as well as Ikegami’s GFCAM.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

To stay on top of all the formats and functions supported by AMA, please check out Avid.com/AMA.

Using the “Link to AMA Volume” feature editors can directly access the entire contents of P2 and XDCAM discs right within the bin. Where you can also access a copy of those discs referred to as a virtual volume. Now in Media Composer 5.0 that same functionality can be applied to QuickTime. In this case we have a folder of ProRes media. To gain a better understanding of how AMA actually works, let’s compare it to the traditional process of importing files, or capturing tape-based material directly into Media Composer. To start, we’re going to drag-and-drop a clip from our desktop directly into an Avid bin. This will initiate the import process. When it’s complete, you’ll notice we have a new clip in our bin. But also in the media files folder which is the central repository for all Avid media we have three new files representing the video and two tracks of audio in that clip. Notice all the metadata is maintained with that clip in the bin. The Media Tool is Media Composer’s central media database for managing all material that’s been imported, captured, or rendered by Media Composer. You’ll notice that when we refresh the Media Tool, it’s aware of this new clip we’ve created. With this structure in place if we tried to delete a clip, we’re given the option of deleting the master clip information and/or the media files. To delete just the clip—because that information is still in the media files folder, it can be recreated by dragging it back to the media database. If we choose to delete both the master clip and the media files the metadata is removed from the database and the raw essence media is deleted from the system completely removing the clip. This time instead of importing the file we’re going to use the AMA method to link directly to the movie. New in Media Composer 5.0 s the ability to link directly to a file as opposed to an entire volume. Even though we now have a clip in our bin, you’ll notice the media files folder hasn’t been updated; there are no new media files in that structure. And if we check the Media Tool it’s also unaware of this new media. But it can be played and edited, just as if it were captured via the traditional method. The link from the clip to the source media is contained within the clip itself. It’s essentially the path information for where the system would find the clip. If that source media is moved or deleted the link would be broken. But because the link is always active if that media were moved back, the clip would come online again. You could also reestablish that link from within Media Composer using the “Relink to AMA File(s)” option. In fact, if the source media source had the same name, duration and file type you could actually link the clip to a new and different file.

Let’s take a look at a practical example of how this functionality can come into play. What I’d like to do is add an animated title to the beginning of this sequence. To do that, I’m going to use AMA to link to a temporary file while the final version is still being created. As you can see from the metadata in the bin, this file is a QuickTime movie rendered using the animation codec. Now let’s jump over to After Effects where we’ve updated our composition so that it has a “type on” effect. When we render out this new composition we use the same name as the original file. While that file is being overwritten it temporarily goes offline in Media Composer but as soon as the render is complete that file is updated both in the bin and anywhere it may have been cut into the sequence.

To stay on top of all the formats and functions supported by AMA, please check out Avid.com/AMA.