Avid DS Nitris 7.0.1 User manual

make manage move | media

™

Avid

®

Avid

®

DS

Nitris

™

Getting Started Guide

Version 7.01

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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.

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, 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.

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 • 0130-05573-01 • October 2003 • Rev B.

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Contents

Using This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Who Should Use This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Using the Mouse, Pen, and Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Customizing the Pen or Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

If You Need Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Accessing the Online Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

If You Have Documentation Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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

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

Avid DS Customer Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

E-mail Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Web Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

FTP Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Mailing List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Chapter 1 Main Topics: Starting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

The Digital Post-Production Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Logging on to Your Workstation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Starting Avid DS Nitris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Working with Project Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Creating a New Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Chapter 2 Main Topics: Capturing Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Capturing Source Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

The Avid Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Creating Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Configuring the External Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Capturing from Tape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Capturing from File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Changing Bin Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Identifying File Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

6

Logging and Capturing from File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Chapter 3 Main Topics: Conforming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Methods for Conforming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Conforming with AFE Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Creating AFE Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Importing AFE Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Re-creating the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Chapter 4 Main Topics: Getting Ready to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Editing Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Previewing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Using J-K-L Keys for Three-Button Play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Using the Transport Controls for Previewing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Marking In and Out-Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Creating Subclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Chapter 5 Main Topics: Creating a First Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

The Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Navigating in the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Using the Scale Bar and Scroll Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Selecting Objects on the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Marking In and Out-Points on the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Placing Clips on the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Dragging and Dropping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Inserting Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Overwriting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Replacing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Chapter 6 Main Topics: Refining the Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Rearranging Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Removing Clips from the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Copying Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Trimming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Using Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Using Ripple Mode When Trimming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

7

Chapter 7 Main Topics: Working with Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

The Effects Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Effect Bar Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Applying Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Applying Effects to Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Applying Effects to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Applying Effects to the Timeline Effect Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Applying Transition Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Creating Clips with Source Generator Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Applying Effects to the Effects Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Applying Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

The Effects Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Using the Viewers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Editing Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Selecting Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Adjusting Effect Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Moving Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Copying Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Reordering Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Viewing Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Bypassing Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Trimming Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Adjusting Effect Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Loading Other Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Saving Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Replacing Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Deleting Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Animating Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Mix Parameter for Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Mixing Effects to the Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Mixing Effects to Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Chapter 8 Main Topics: Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

How Do I Process?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

8

Chapter 9 Main Topics: Adding Graphics and 2D Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

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

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

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

Using the Graphics Object View (GOV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

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

Setting the Drawing Tool Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Displaying the Safe/Action Title Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Defining Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Creating Graphics and Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Changing the Properties of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Finishing a Graphics Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Chapter 10 Main Topics: Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Choosing a Compositing Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Simple Track-based Compositing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Compositing with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Chapter 11 Main Topics: Outputting a Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Outputting to Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Outputting to File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Appendix A Main Topics: Working on the Desktop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Accessing the Default Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Accessing the Alternate Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Creating a New Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Copying Layouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Saving Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Editing Existing Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Restoring Default Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Importing a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Title Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Using the Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Undoing and Redoing Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

9

Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Using the Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

View Switcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Splitting Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Using the Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Customizing Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Creating and Deleting Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Property Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Entering Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

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Using This Guide

Congratulations on your purchase of an Avid DS Nitris system. You can

use your system to 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.

n

The documentation describes the features and hardware of all models.

Therefore, your system might not contain certain features and hardware

that are covered in the documentation.

Who Should Use This Guide

This guide is intended for users who are new to Avid DS Nitris. This guide

provides basic information on how to create a project from start to finish.

You’ll learn how to capture media, edit clips and sequences, add titles,

composite clips, add effects, and process the project for output.

Using This Guide

12

Symbols and Conventions

Avid DS Nitris documentation uses the following symbols and

conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

n

A note provides important related information,

reminders, recommendations, and strong suggestions.

c

A caution means that a specific action you take could

cause harm to your computer or cause you to lose

data.

w

A warning describes an action that could cause you

physical harm. Follow the guidelines in this

document or on the unit itself when handling

electrical equipment.

> This symbol indicates menu commands (and

subcommands) in the order you select them. For

example, File > Import means to open the File menu

and then select the Import command.

t

This symbol indicates a single-step procedure.

Multiple arrows in a list indicate that you perform

one of the actions listed.

Margin tips In the margin, you will find tips that help you perform

tasks more easily and efficiently.

Italic font Italic font is used to emphasize certain words and to

indicate variables.

Courier Bold font

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

Bold font Bold indicates a user interaction.

Symbols and Conventions

13

Using the Mouse, Pen, and Keyboard

In Avid DS Nitris, you can use a two-button mouse (with wheel) or a pen

and tablet. The left and right mouse buttons perform different operations.

Unless otherwise stated, use the left mouse button.

The mouse and pen operate slightly differently. All the procedures in this

guide are documented for the mouse. You can, however, easily use a pen or

the keyboard. The following table shows the terms relating to the mouse,

pen, and keyboard.

This Term Means This with a Mouse Means This with a Pen

Click Quickly click and release the

left mouse button. Always use

the left mouse button unless

otherwise stated.

Tap the tablet once with the tip of

the pen, or touch the pen to the

tablet with enough pressure to

click.

Double-click Click the left mouse button

twice rapidly.

Quickly tap the tablet twice in the

same screen pixel or press the F5

key to go from single to double-

click.

Right-click Quickly click and release the

right mouse button.

Press the top portion of the switch

on the side of the pen or press the

F6 key to go from left to right-

click.

Drag Click and hold the left mouse

button or the wheel while you

move the mouse.

Press the pen to the tablet while

moving the pen.

Alt+key,

Ctrl+key,

Shift+key,

etc.

Press and hold the first key while you press the second key. For

example, “Press Alt+F1” means to press and hold the Alt key

while you press the F1 key.

Using This Guide

14

Customizing the Pen or Mouse

By customizing the pen, you can adjust the click pressure, switch

functions, and other features. For information on customizing the pen,

refer to the documentation provided with your Avid DS system.

You can also customize the mouse. For example, you can select left-

handed configuration or change the double-click speed. For information on

customizing the mouse, refer to the Windows online Help.

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using Avid DS:

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” on page 16.

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

For international enquiries and support services, contact your local

Avid Reseller. Support offerings may vary per location.

Accessing the Online Documentation

The online library contains all the Avid DS documentation in PDF format.

If it was installed on your workstation, you can access it from the Help

menu in Avid DS.

If You Need Help

15

n

You will need to install Adobe

®

Acrobat

®

Reader

®

to view the online

documentation.

To access the online library, do one of the following:

t In Avid DS, select Help > Online Library.

t Insert the Software CD or the Drivers CD into your CD-ROM drive,

and select Online Library from the main menu.

To install Adobe Acrobat Reader:

1. Insert the Drivers CD into your CD-ROM drive.

2. Select the required workstation and choose Utilities.

If You Have Documentation Comments

We’d appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have about the

Avid DS documentation.

Please e-mail your documentation comments to:

dsdocs@avid.com

Include the title of the document, its part number, and the specific section

you are commenting on in all correspondence.

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.

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).

Using This Guide

16

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 Customer Support and Download sections at

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

FTP Support

For troubleshooting purposes, an FTP server is available for uploading

large files for Avid DS Customer Support personnel to examine. You can

upload a project's archive, media files, or other large piece of data. Simply

zip the files to upload and use a short name for easy retrieval, such as

archive.zip or Case274877.zip. You can use a Windows Command Prompt

or an FTP application to upload files to our server.

Avid DS Customer Support

17

Command Prompt Commands

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.

Mailing List

Although the Avid DS mailing list 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, with a constant stream of new subscribers.

To subscribe, send an e-mail to [email protected] 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

majordomo@softimage.com with “help” as your message.

You can also go to http://www.avid.com/support/forums.html, which is

another great source of info on the Avid web site for Avid DS.

Command Description

Site access ftp ftp.softimage.com [Enter]

Folder access cd incoming [Enter]

User name anonymous [Enter]

Password “your e-mail address” [Enter]

Transfer mode bin [Enter]

Upload command Put “path:\file name” [Enter]

Using This Guide

18

Chapter 1

Starting a Project

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

You will learn how to start Avid DS Nitris and create a new project.

Starting a Project

20

The Digital Post-Production Process

Since Avid DS Nitris is a digital, nonlinear, post-production environment,

you no longer have to mount, shuttle through, and cue tapes every time you

want to access parts of the footage.

Once you’ve converted the footage into a digital format and stored it on a

storage disk, Avid DS Nitris gives you complete, random access to the

media with instantaneous retrieval of clips and sequences. You also have

quick, nonlinear access to any part of your sequence, and the ability to

apply a wide variety of digital effects at any stage of your production.

Each post-production facility has its own way of doing things, and every

post-production job is unique. You can use different tools and techniques

to accomplish your jobs—import sequences “offlined” on other systems

and proceed with your finishing in Avid DS Nitris, or build a full editorial

from start to end directly in Avid DS Nitris, using full resolution,

uncompressed media!

After your job is complete, you can neatly package all of its media and

files, making space for your next job. If you need to, you can always

restore the job at any time.

In Avid DS Nitris, everything that you do to your clips is non-destructive,

and can be edited and reconstructed at any time. This is because of the way

Avid DS Nitris was designed; its integrated environment allow a seamless

workflow between editing, compositing, graphics design, and audio.

The following illustration shows you the complete Avid DS Nitris

production cycle, and how Avid DS Nitris adds flexibility and creative

independence to the post-production process.

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Avid DS Nitris 7.0.1 User manual

Avid DS Nitris 7.0.1 User manual

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