Source / Record

QuickTime Import Writeup at kwancentral

GregStaten — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:45:03 GMT

Avid codec engineer Justin Kwan has written up an excellent article regarding working with QuickTime imports and the RGB / 601/709 import setting. Anyone who creates or works with QuickTime movies for import into Media Composer or Symphony should definitely give it a read.

-greg

Fast, Cheap Approval Copies

fcapria — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:08:00 GMT

My favorite new feature in Media Composer 3.0 isn't terribly sexy. It's the real-time timecode effect plug-in. Burn-in timecode isn't anyone's idea of a good time, but the ability to spit it out in real-time out of the NLE while striking approval dubs allows me to start the weekend just a little bit earlier.

Many edit suites have DVD recorders available for approval cuts. DVDs are fine, but often they can't get where they need to go quickly enough.

I've been playing with a nifty gadget that encodes an H.264 MPEG-4 file in real-time. Pinnacle's Video Transfer takes an NTSC or PAL signal and outputs a .mp4 file directly to a USB memory stick, iPod, or PlayStation Portable. (If you've been looking for a tax-deductible way to upgrade your iPod, here's your chance.) I've been feeding it with an older analog Mojo, but any video player with a composite or S-video output and RCA audio outs will work. Just plug in the Video Transfer, attach it to a video signal, insert a USB memory stick, and press record. That's it. When you're finished recording, pull the USB stick and send the file wherever it needs to go -- usually via FTP.

There's a small catch. Like many consumer video devices, Video Transfer assumes all NTSC or PAL video is 4:3. It only scales images to 320x240 or 640x480. (There is a full raster, dual field option as well, but for web delivery it's not very useful.) To get 16:9 video to display properly, you will need to open the file with Apple's QuickTime Pro. Select Show Movie Properties (control/command j), uncheck the maintain aspect ratio box, and change the display properties to either 320x180 or 640x360. Save the file, choosing the self-contained movie option.

Of course you can choose to export a QuickTime reference file from Media Composer and create a QuickTime, Flash Video, or Windows Media file in Sorenson Squeeze, but the process will take much longer than 1x real-time because effects, even real-time ones, will need to be rendered upon export.

For the adventurous

Since Video Transfer creates iPod-friendly files, it's easy to deliver your approval copies to your client via a podcast in iTunes. It's even possible to keep your files in a password-protected space online. Here's an article on how to create an RSS feed to deliver your MP4 files as podcasts.

Pretty Suite Story

fcapria — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:08:00 GMT

A somewhat overlooked piece of the Media Composer 3.0 story is that the current bundle gives customers a complete suite of tools - something many have been clamoring for. Avid FX for compositing and motion graphics, Squeeze for compression and transcoding, Sonicfire Pro for music scoring, and Avid DVD by Sonic rounds out a complete package that includes the full Boris Continuum Complete filter set. It's a very solid package.

Yes, Avid has a suite. Every copy of Media Composer 3.0 is a complete suite. It's that simple. The applications are tightly integrated with the host NLE. Avid FX is an AVX plug-in. Add the effect on any clip in the timeline, and you're ready to go. No "sending" the clip to a companion application is required. The base layer of the composition is already in place. Avid FX is the full version of Boris Red, available within Media Composer. No heavy lifting required. (And fully documented within the Avid help system, so there's no reason not to give it a try.)

For years Avid editors have complained of Title Tool's anemic toolset and Marquee's complex UI. Avid FX can now be their titler of choice. Admittedly, using Avid's Pan and Zoom tool for stills animation is a bit like trying to paint with a fork, but Avid FX makes quick work of stills animation. Just give it a try and you'll never go back.

Sorenson Squeeze is the best compression and transcoding tool available in any NLE bundle. Fully featured, with a plethora of presets and codecs, it's available directly from the Media Composer menu.

The Avid suite has a nifty advantage over competing solutions. Unlike the Apple and Adobe suites, the complete Avid suite doesn't have to be loaded onto a single machine. For example, Squeeze can be installed on a separate Mac or PC. Avid FX can be used as a standalone application on a separate machine as well. The NLE need not be tied up as graphics are being composited or files transcoded.

Certainly many customers will continue using tools outside the bundle. It's impossible to overlook the popularity of Adobe's After Effects for motion graphics work. But that's exactly where the discussion gets interesting. The integrated suites offer the compelling story of being a full post production studio in a box, but upon closer examination very few editors and video designers end up using only one solution.

If every editor and every facility has its own needs, why offer the bundle? They are going to shop a la carte anyway. Because even to the customer who buys additional tools, the suite offers value. Many customers will only need one additional application outside the suite. To those users, the suite still saves money and streamlines the workflow. I may need a very specialized, high performance third party compression tool for web video, but I can make do with a variety of compositing and DVD authoring solutions. A suite still would save me from purchasing those useful, but less than mission critical applications. In a multi-seat environment, those costs can add up quickly.

Now that Avid has offers a suite with every Media Composer, editors can rely on these tools being available as long as they are running the current release.

New Trim Technique: Two Tails or Two Heads

GregStaten — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:04:40 GMT

This post is the second in a series of articles about some of the smaller features and changes in version 3.0 of Media Composer and Symphony.

Here's a fairly common scenario.

You are well into the edit and need to shorten clip B/2X in the above sequence. Unfortunately, the duration of the scene is already locked. What are your options? Well, you could use a dual roller trim at the edit point between B/2-X and B/1-A, but that would change the head frame edit on B/1-A, which is undesirable. Alternatively you could slide B/1-A, but that would change the head frame edit on BA/3-X, which is also undesirable.

Since neither single trim approach really works for you, you'll likely do an A-side trim on the tail of B/2-X, write the number of frames trimmed on a piece of paper, then find the tail of another shot in the scene that you could extend. It works, but hopefully you won't get distracted by a panicked producer while you're searching for that other clip.

In Media Composer version 3.0 we've provided a new trimming technique that not only solves this problem, but many other similar problems. Indeed, I may never do another slide trim again. You can now select two A-sides (tails) or two B-sides (heads) anywhere in the timeline and perform an asynchronous trim on those two edits!

In this scenario I'll select the tail of B/2-X and BA/3-X, as seen in the timeline below:

Note the trim rollers. To make the above selection I lassoed the edit between B/2-X and B/1-A, switched to an A-side trim, Shift+clicked on the other two rollers. Once selected you can use any trim technique you desire (drag, J-K-L, on-the-fly, etc). After trimming the tail of B/2-X, the timeline looks like the following:

Notice that the position of shot B/1-B (and everything afterward) has not changed. You made your adjustment in one interactive trim without changing the duration of the scene.

Give it a try when you get version 3.0. I think you'll like it!

-greg

What I've Learned My First Month at Avid

fcapria — Tue, 27 May 2008 22:58:00 GMT

It's hard to believe I've been at Avid a month already.

When I was a kid my dream job was to be a major league center fielder. Like the rookie being called up from the minors, coming on board here at Avid has triggered a range of emotions. First there's the adrenaline rush of the initial call up, quickly followed by the realization that this is the big leagues and they throw 97 mph and the curves fall off the table. It's been humbling. There are a lot of big brains here. A lot of stuff goes by me at 97 mph.

For those who don't know me... Most of my professional life has been spent in television post production, as an editor and a post production director at WGBH in Boston, and a freelance motion graphics artist. I also have a business background - working as a creative director in a large professional services firm, and as a founding partner of two smaller firms.

Perhaps I'm best known in this space as longtime contributor to DV Magazine and prolific blogger. Over the years I've written a lot about Avid, some of it positive and some less so. That experience led me to believe that I had a pretty good understanding of Avid - the challenges it faces and what it needs to do. Now on the inside, I realize how much I didn't know.

One month in, some of my most closely held beliefs about Avid have been disproved. We can call these personal Avid Urban Legends.

Urban Legend #1

Frank was hired because Avid realizes its editing tools needs to move in a new direction, and Frank will shake things up.

Like many urban legends, this is partially true. Avid does need to move in new directions, but it was committed to doing that before I was brought on board. I'm here to support and complement my team's efforts in bringing new capabilities to a venerable line of editors. I'm not here as a revolutionary leader, just a member of the movement.

Urban Legend #2

Avid product designers, engineers, and marketers live in an ivory tower, oblivious to market realities and the competitive landscape.

Right up until the day I started in Tewksbury, I was making a living using a variety of tools - including Adobe's CS3 suite and Apple's Final Cut Studio. Though I may be among the more experienced FCP jockeys at Avid, I'm far from the only one. I've been pleasantly surprised at the depth of knowledge of competing tool and the acknowledgment that the competition is does a lot of things well.

We take pride in what we do and the value we deliver to our customers, but the antipathy to solutions "not invented here" that is so prevalent throughout the high tech sector is not evident at Avid.

Urban Legend #3

Avid is slow and lethargic, lacking in energy and direction.

Anyone who has spent even an hour in the office here would be struck by the palpable sense of urgency on the team. Avid's a big company. From a distance a change in direction may appear slow, but once momentum is built it is unmistakable. Avid's change in direction will be apparent in the coming weeks - first with the release of the 3.0 editors, then with subsequent announcements and releases.

Urban Legend #4

Current customers are frustrated with the pace of Avid development, and are looking for reasons to switch to the competition.

Customers have been frustrated, but I've been blown away by how much customers want Avid to succeed. They are not looking for a reason to jump to another NLE so much as a reason to stick with Avid. While we think the next release goes a long way towards reassuring customers that Avid is serious about remaining the gold standard of editors, we also know that we need to keep moving forward. Avid has committed the resources to the editors group to keep the momentum going. Avid's current customer base is its greatest resource.

Urban Legend #5

Avid is ready to acknowledge the NLE is a commodity product.

A few variations on this theme are in circulation. One of my favorite bloggers and a close personal friend has declared, "Avid will be a server company in two years." (You know who you are.)

In its simplest form, as a stand alone application working in isolation, one NLE can be very much like every other - a commodity. But for the vast majority of our customers, the NLE is the nerve center of a complex, collaborative creative environment that can't be commoditized. Not every editor needs ScriptSync, Animatte, or asynchronous head and tail trimming, but those who do definitely don't consider the NLE a commodity.

While I'm quite obviously not at liberty to divulge everything we're working on to maintain Avid's leadership position in NLE market, suffice it to say that if I wasn't convinced that Avid is committed to future NLE development I just made among the stupidest career moves imaginable.

Avid's Biggest Problem

It's been an interesting month. I've been able to meet scores of customers at NAB, at user group meetings, and one on one on-site meetings. Editors and facilities managers present us with their needs. Perhaps the my most surprising discovery is that quite often the software already can do what they need it to do. They just didn't know the feature was there.

It's painfully clear that we sometimes do a pretty poor job of making the case for Avid to our existing customers. This blog is part of the solution to that problem. Face time with customers, participation in online forums and user groups, and availability to users, customers, and editors will help too. This is not marketing's problem. It's a shared responsibility.

At the end of the day, it comes down to establishing trust. If customers believe that we understand their needs, then they will assume we're addressing those needs. Right now, for too many customers, the assumption is we're not doing that. That's going to change.

ScriptSync Writeup in Videography

fcapria — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:21:00 GMT

Oliver Peters has just written an article for Videography on ScriptSync. I'm glad the word is getting out. ScriptSync is one of those features that really separates Avid from every other NLE. Typical of Peters, he did his homework and spoke with two editors using ScriptSync for network television. This pretty much sums up the goal of ScriptSync:

A process that used to takes hours has literally been reduced to minutes and is probably one of the greatest productivity gains of any new NLE feature to come along in years.

We know there are a lot of fans of ScriptSync out there, but we also know that we've not done a great job in getting the word out about this feature. It comes down to this: If your material is transcribed, there's almost no reason not to use ScriptSync.

New in Version 3.0: Ode to the Weightlifter Guy

GregStaten — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:00:00 GMT

(aka New Icons for Media Composer)

This post is the first in a series of articles about some of the smaller features and changes in version 3.0 of Media Composer and Symphony.

Something that you’ll likely quickly notice in version 3.0 is that the Lift and Extract icons have been changed and the weightlifter guy has been replaced with an icon using an up arrow. Scandalous, you might say! How could Avid possibly get rid of that goofy icon that we’ve all come to love? Well, considering I was one of those that was a party to his removal, I’ll tell you.

One of the challenges with quirky/idiosyncratic icons and features is that they are difficult to discern by new users or those who “grew up” in a different editing program. Though we would never want to homogenize the system so that every editing program behaved identically, there are certain assumptions that users make, simply based on how most programs — both editorial and non editorial — function today. The old Lift (weightlifter) and Extract (scissors) icons created problems for new users. The lift icon’s function wasn’t obvious and, more importantly, the scissors icon actually implied a different function. (Scissors typically are used to indicate a “Cut” command — as part of the Cut/Paste paradigm — which is a very different operation from Extract.) In addition, the key point that the Lift and Extract commands were complements to the Overwrite and Splice commands, respectively, wasn’t clear from their icons.

We did some focus testing and came up with a new set of icons with upward arrows that better informed the user of the function and, by using yellow and red icons, their relationship to Splice and Overwrite. Here's a quick look at the evolution of the icons. Notice that an interim version used a curved arrow which we determined wasn't clear enough.

Original	Interim	New Icon

These weren't the only icons that changed, by the way. Here's a list of all the icons that changed in this release:

	Original	New Icon
Splice-in
Overwrite
Replace Edit
Segment: Extract/Splice
Segment: Lift/Overwrite
Fit To Fill
Play Loop
Audio Play Loop
Cycle Picture/Sound
Cycle Trim Sides
Copy to Clipboard
Clipboard Contents

Naturally there were some long standing users who mourned the loss of the weightlifter (though, sadly, no one mourned the loss of the scissors) and one even wrote a very funny ode to the weightlifter guy, which I've repeated below:

I woke up this morning expecting just another day at work. Everything seemed normal when I got here. But as I looked around I realized there was a familiar face that was missing (OK, so the guy doesn't so much have a face per se, but does that make him any less human than you or I? If you click him, does he not bleed?). I launched the Avid, opened a sequence and marked a clip. Just like I do every morning. But today was different. Today, there was no little man to help me lift that clip out of my sequence. In his place, there was just an arrow. An *ARROW*. Like that clip was just going to remove itself from my timeline automagically!

Unfortunately, the cold reality is that media files are heavy. It takes a strong man to move a media file. I mean, that's why people buy Avid software. Editing on Avid is like being with a strong man. Or at least it used to be.

So when you get home and crack open that 40 of OE tonight, pour a little out for the little man.

My apologies to those of you out there who will miss the little guy. He's on his way to the place where the purple triangle lives.

-greg

Get the Conversation Started

fcapria — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:47:00 GMT

Welcome to Source/Record, a blog by the Product Management team of Avid’s editors. Our goal is to make the process of getting Avid’s creative tools to market more transparent. We’ll share some examples of what we’re working on, some of the thinking that guides our decision making, and what we’ve learned along the way. The whole team will be participating in this venture, but mostly you’ll be hearing from the two Senior Product Designers, Greg Staten and me.

As the newest member of the team, with two full weeks under my belt, it’s been an exciting time for me to come to Avid. We’ve got the 3.0 release of Media Composer and Symphony with Mojo DX and Nitris DX coming in a few weeks, we’re well underway working on the next release, and everyone’s been energized by the positive feedback we received at NAB.

This is blog is a conversation, not a lecture. We need to hear from you – what’s important to you, what’s less so, and what you need us to do to make you work easier and more enjoyable.