Avid DS Nitris 7.6 User manual

make manage move | media

™

Avid

®

Avid

®

DS

Nitris

™

Getting Started Guide

Version 7.6

2

Copyright and Disclaimer

Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part

of Avid Technology, Inc. The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement.

You can obtain a copy of that license by visiting Avid's Web site at www.avid.com. The terms of that license

are also available in the product in the same directory as the software. The software may not be reverse

assembled and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement. It is

against the law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the license

agreement.

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission

of Avid Technology, Inc.

USA.

The Avid DS and Avid DS Nitris application uses JScript and Visual Basic Scripting Edition from Microsoft

Corporation.

Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. This Software and its documentation are “commercial

computer software” or “commercial computer software documentation.” In the event that such Software or

documentation is acquired by or on behalf of a unit or agency of the U.S. Government, all rights with

respect to this Software and documentation are subject to the terms of the License Agreement, pursuant to

FAR §12.212(a) and/or DFARS §227.7202-1(a), as applicable.

Trademarks

888 I/O, Adrenaline, AirPlay, AirSPACE, AirSPACE HD, AniMatte, AudioSuite, AudioVision, AutoSync, Avid,

Avid DNA, Avid DNxHD, AVIDdrive, AVIDdrive Towers, AvidNet, AvidNetwork, AVIDstripe, Avid Mojo, Avid

Unity, Avid Xpress, AVoption, AVX, CamCutter, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, DAE, D-Fi, D-fx, Digidesign,

Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, DigiDrive, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator,

DigiTranslator, DINR, D-Verb, Equinox, ExpertRender, FieldPak, Film Composer, FilmScribe, FluidMotion,

HIIP, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, IllusionFX, Image Independence, Intraframe, iS9, iS18, iS23,

iS36, Lo-Fi, Magic Mask, make manage move | media, Marquee, Matador, Maxim, MCXpress,

Media Composer, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, Media Fusion, Media Illusion, MediaLog, Media Reader,

Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaShare, Meridien, MetaSync, NaturalMatch, Nearchive, NetReview,

NewsCutter, Nitris, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management,

ProEncode, Pro Tools, QuietDrive, Recti-Fi, RetroLoop, rS9, rS18, Sci-Fi, Softimage, Sound Designer II,

SPACE, SPACEShift, Symphony, the Avid DS logo, Trilligent, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Video Slave Driver,

VideoSPACE, Xdeck, and XSI are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in

the United States and/or other countries.

All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Footage

Saturn “Calvin Egg” — Courtesy of Cossette Communications.

GOT FOOTAGE?

Editors — Filmmakers — Special Effects Artists — Game Developers — Animators — Educators —

Broadcasters — Content creators of every genre — Just finished an incredible project and want to

share it with the world?

Send us your reels and we may use your footage in our show reel or demo!*

For a copy of our release and Avid’s mailing address, go to www.avid.com/footage.

*Note: Avid cannot guarantee the use of materials submitted.

Avid DS Nitris Getting Started Guide • 0130-05573-03. February 2005.

Contents

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Before you begin... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Installing the DivX Codec and QuickTime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Using the Avid DS Training Station. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Accessing the Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Logging on to Your Workstation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Avid DS Customer Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

E-mail Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Web Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Upload Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Avid Community Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

How to Order Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Avid Educational Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 1 Starting a Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

The Digital Post-Production Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Working with Project Files and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

What is a Project? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 2 Working on the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Restoring the Default Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Title Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Accessing the Default Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Using the Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4

Status Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Accessing the Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Combo Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Using the Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Entering Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Using Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Getting Help in Avid DS Nitris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Chapter 3 Capturing Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Capturing Source Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

The Avid Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Organizing your Project Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Changing the View Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Identifying File Types in a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Configuring the External Device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Capturing from Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Capturing from File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Chapter 4 Getting Ready to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Editing Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Previewing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Using J-K-L Keys for Three-Button Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Marking In and Out-Points in the Source Viewer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Creating Subclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Changing the Thumbnail of a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Chapter 5 Creating a First Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

The Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Working with Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Selecting Tracks and Regions of Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

5

Adding, Reordering and Deleting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Setting the Track Height. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Muting Audio and Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Setting Tracks to Solo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Navigating the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Using the Scale and Scroll Bars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Selecting Objects on the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Placing Clips on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Dragging and Dropping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Inserting Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Overwriting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Replacing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Chapter 6 Refining the Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Rearranging Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Copying Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Removing Clips from the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Trimming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Using the Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Using Ripple Mode When Trimming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Chapter 7 Applying Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

The Effects Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Effect Bar Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Applying Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Applying Effects to Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Using the Property Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Applying Effects to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Applying Transition Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Applying Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Creating a Stack of Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

6

The Effects Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Using the Viewers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Chapter 8 Working with Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Editing Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Opening an Effect’s Property Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Bypassing Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Saving Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Substituting Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Animating Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Chapter 9 Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Processing Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

How Do I Process?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Chapter 10 Adding Graphics and 2D Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Starting a Graphics Session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

The Graphics Combo View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

The Graphics Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Displaying the Safe/Action Title Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Using the Graphics Property Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Setting the Drawing Tool Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Defining Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Creating Graphics and Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Using the Graphics Object View (GOV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Changing the Properties of Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Finishing a Graphics Session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Chapter 11 Compositing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

About Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Compositing Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Creating a Basic Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Viewing the Alpha Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

7

Keying out the Blue Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Simple Track Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Using Composite Container Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

The Layers View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Applying Effects to Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Viewing the Results of Composited Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Chapter 12 Outputting a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Outputting to Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Outputting to File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Chapter 13 Conforming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Methods for Conforming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Conforming a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Defining Your Storages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Conforming the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

8

Prerequisites

The Avid DS Nitris system lets you create broadcast-quality output,

incorporating every possible production element—from full-speed, high-

resolution footage, to multimedia artwork and animation, to computer-

generated effects and titling.

The Getting Started Guide consists of 13 chapters of the basic information

you’ll need to get working in Avid DS Nitris. The following table lists the

approximate amount of time needed to complete each chapter.

Chapter Time to complete

Chapter 1: Starting a Project 15 minutes

Chapter 2: Working on the Desktop 30 minutes

Chapter 3: Capturing Material 60 minutes

Chapter 4: Getting Ready to Edit 30 minutes

Chapter 5: Creating a First Cut 45 minutes

Chapter 6: Refining the Edit 30 minutes

Chapter 7: Applying Effects 90 minutes

Chapter 8: Working with Effects 30 minutes

Chapter 9: Processing 30 minutes

Chapter 10: Adding Graphics and 2D Titles 30 minutes

Chapter 11: Compositing 60 minutes

Chapter 12: Outputting a Sequence 20 minutes

Chapter 13: Conforming 45 minutes

Prerequisites

10

Before you begin...

Before using the Avid DS Nitris Getting Started Guide, your Avid DS Nitris

system should be properly configured with the appropriate hardware.

You should also have a working knowledge of your computer and its operating

system. You must know how to use the mouse or pen, standard menus and

commands, as well as how to open, save, and close files. If you need to review

these techniques, refer to Windows online help.

Installing the DivX Codec and QuickTime

Before you can view or capture the media files for this guide, you will need to

install the DivX codec and Apple QuickTime (if you do not already have them).

• DivX codec: Install the free standard codec from: www.divx.com/divx/

• QuickTime: Install the latest version of QuickTime from

www.apple.com/quicktime/

Using the Avid DS Training Station

11

Using the Avid DS Training Station

If you are using the software-only Avid DS Training Station, you should know

that although it functions just like the software running on Avid DS Nitris

systems, there are some notable exceptions:

• A license or hardware key (dongle) is not needed to run the Avid DS

Training Station.

• You won’t be able to output to tape or file, nor export OMF

®

, EDL,

or AAF files.

• There are no indexing services.

• Any archives created on an Avid DS Training Station can only be used

on other Avid DS Nitris Training Stations.

• Archiving is limited to project data (media cannot be included).

• Remote processing is not available.

• Captured and processed media, sequences, clips, and presets use

a different format than the standard Avid DS Nitris software.

Accessing the Media

The media files that you’ll be using in this guide were installed along with the

Avid DS Nitris software. You can find the media in the C:\Program

Files\Avid\DS_v7.6\Media_GetStarted folder. In addition, you’ll need

a videotape with some material on it to practice capturing material from tape

and outputting to tape.

Prerequisites

12

Logging on to Your Workstation

Before you start Avid DS Nitris, you must log on to your workstation with

your Windows user name and password. Since many users can work on the

same workstation at different times, Windows gives you security and a unique

user profile, so as not to conflict with the settings of other users.

When you run Avid DS Nitris, you are accessing an environment that can be

customized. If you set any personal or project preferences while logged on,

Avid DS Nitris saves them to your user profile. The next time you log on

to that workstation, it recalls your previous settings.

To log on to your workstation:

1. When the Welcome to Windows dialog box is displayed, press

Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

2. In the Log On to Windows dialog box, enter your user name and password.

3. Click OK.

Once you have logged on to Windows, you can access your applications

and files.

To start Avid DS Nitris, do one of the following:

t Double-click the Avid DS v7.6 icon on the Windows desktop.

t Select Start > Programs > Avid Products > Avid DS v7.6 > Avid DS v7.6.

The Avid DS Nitris Release Notes window displays. After you close the

Release Notes, the Open Project dialog box displays.

Later on, when you have created a project, here’s how you can exit

Avid DS Nitris. For now, do not exit Avid DS Nitris.

To exit Avid DS Nitris, do one of the following:

t Select File > Exit.

t Click the X (close) button at the top-right corner of the title bar.

t Press Alt+F4.

When you exit Avid DS Nitris, any changes that you made to the desktop

layout or user preferences are saved with your user profile and recalled the

next time you log on to the workstation.

If You Need Help

13

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using Avid DS Nitris:

1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that task in

this guide. It is especially important to check each step of your workflow.

2. Check for the latest information that might have become available after

the documentation was published in one of two locations:

- If release notes are available, they ship with your application.

- If ReadMe files are available, they are supplied in your Avid

application folder. ReadMe files are also available from Help.

3. Check the documentation that came with your Avid application or your

hardware for maintenance or hardware-related issues.

4. See “Avid DS Customer Support” below.

5. For Technical Support, please call 800-800-AVID (800-800-2843).

Avid DS Customer Support

The following sections describe various Avid DS Customer Support options.

E-mail Support

The e-mail address for Avid DS Customer Support is: dssupport@avid.com.

You can use it for sending bug reports, usability questions, and avidds.cab

audit reports for system analysis. All e-mails are logged in the support

database and assigned a case number. Send one support request per e-mail.

n

It is mandatory that you include your SID number in the body of your e-mail

message for verification of your maintenance contract and case logging.

Otherwise, response will be delayed.

Web Support

The Avid DS Support Center at http://www.softimage.com/avidds provides

quick access to a wide range of resources from the Avid DS teams and user

community. Downloads, including presets, drivers, and Quick Fix Engineering

(QFE), provide the latest solutions for use with your Avid DS system.

Prerequisites

14

Online documentation, tutorials, and Knowledge Base articles ensure that you

get the most out of your work with Avid DS. It's like having a dedicated

Avid DS Customer Support engineer sitting at your desk!

Upload Utility

For troubleshooting purposes, you can upload your files for Avid DS

Customer Support to examine. You can upload a project's archive, media files,

or other necessary data. Simply zip the files that you need to upload and use

a short name (for easy retrieval), such as archive.zip or Case274877.zip.

To upload your files:

1. Go to the Avid DS Customer Support web site at

http://www.softimage.com/avidds.

2. Select Contact > Upload Tool.

3. Once the file upload is complete, send an e-mail to [email protected]

to inform Avid DS Customer Support as there is no automatic notification

when a file is uploaded on the FTP server. Please provide the complete

and exact file name (case sensitive) to retrieve.

Avid Community Forum

Although the Avid DS community forum is frequently monitored by Avid

employees, it is not part of the official support channels. You are invited

to send your support requests to any of the above channels when required.

If you have an e-mail account, you can join the worldwide network of Avid DS

users exchanging ideas. The mailing list has proven to be quite useful for

users, and there is a constant stream of new subscribers.

To subscribe, send an e-mail to majordomo@softimage.com with the

following text in the body of your message: subscribe ds. You can get further

information on using the automated list server by e-mailing

[email protected] with “help” as your message.

You can also join other Avid forums on the Avid web site at:

http://www.avid.com. Select Support > Forums.

How to Order Documentation

15

How to Order Documentation

To order additional copies of this documentation from within the

United States, call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843). If you are

placing an order from outside the United States, contact your local

Avid representative.

You can also download printable PDF versions of the documentation from the

Avid DS Customer Support web site at http://www.softimage.com/avidds.

Avid Educational Services

For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications,

courseware, and books, please visit www.avid.com/training or call Avid Sales

at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843).

Prerequisites

16

Chapter 1

Starting a Project

This chapter introduces you to the Avid DS Nitris post-production process.

You will learn how to create a project in Avid DS Nitris.

This chapter takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.

Chapter 1 Starting a Project

18

The Digital Post-Production Process

The Avid DS Nitris system is a digital post-production environment. Once

you’ve acquired your footage in a digital format and put it on a storage device,

Avid DS Nitris gives you complete, random access to the media with instant

retrieval of clips and sequences. You also have quick, nonlinear access to any

part of your sequence, as well as the ability to apply a wide variety of digital

effects at any stage of your production.

Because each post-production facility and its projects are unique, you can use

the different tools and techniques available in Avid DS Nitris to complete

them. You can import sequences “offlined” on other systems and proceed with

your finishing tasks in Avid DS Nitris, or you can build a production from start

to finish directly in Avid DS Nitris.

After a project is complete, you can archive the media and files, making space

for your next project. If you need to go back and re-edit a project, you can

restore it at any time.

The following illustration gives you an overview of the Avid DS Nitris

production cycle.

The Digital Post-Production Process

19

Create a rough cut of clips and

decide on timing of cuts and

transitions.

Fine-tune timing of cuts,

transitions, and other effects.

Capture material

“Offline” edit

Digitize source material at

low resolution directly from

file or tape.

Output sequence to tape or

file, such as .avi.

Output media

- Archive project and/or media to tape.

- Project and media can be restored at

any time.

Process all effects applied to

clips and create new media

files (source media remains

untouched).

Archive the project

Process

Redigitize source

material in full,

uncompressed

resolution from file

or tape.

2

Repeat if necessary

- Create composites.

- Add 2D and 3D effects.

- Mix and sweeten audio.

- Add titles and graphics.

- Perform dust/scratch

removal and color correction.

4

Apply effects

3

5

6

7

1

If offlined externally, load *AAF, AFE,

OMF files or EDLs, and digitize

material from file, tape, or audio.

*AAF: Advanced Authoring Format, AFE: Avid File Exchange,

OMF: Open Media Framework, and EDL: Edit Decision List.

Fine-tune edit

Chapter 1 Starting a Project

20

Working with Project Files and Media

It is important to understand how Avid DS Nitris handles your data, so that

you can work efficiently when using large sizes of digitized video and audio

files.

When you capture material, the digitized media is placed on an external

storage device, and the project files representing this media are stored in the

DS Projects folder on your workstation’s local disk drive. The project files

point Avid DS Nitris to the location of the corresponding digitized media

on the storage device.

Source material

Captured video and/or audio are

represented as master clips in

Avid DS Nitris.

Actual digitized material

(media) is on storage device.

Clips refer to

media on

storage device.

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Avid DS Nitris 7.6 User manual

Avid DS Nitris 7.6 User manual

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