Avid NewsCutter 2.0 Quick start guide

a

tools for storytellers®

Avid

®

NewsCutter

®

Getting Started Guide

Release 2.0

2

Avid NewsCutter Getting Started Guide • Part 0130-04672-01 Rev. A • November 2000

3

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

About NewsCutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

NewsCutter Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Starting Your System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Starting NewsCutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Electronic Licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

How to Proceed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Using Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Opening and Closing the Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Understanding the Topic Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Getting Help for Windows and Dialog Boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Getting Help for Screen Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Keeping Help Available. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Restoring Help from the Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Using Alt+Tab to Restore Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Finding Information Within the Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Using the Contents List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Using the Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Using the Search Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Using the Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Creating a Favorites List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Using the Browse Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Printing Help Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Using Online Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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Chapter 2 About NewsCutter

Basic Editing Steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Understanding the Pieces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Organizing Your Work with Projects and Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

How Media Is Stored. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

The Attic Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Chapter 3 Starting Your Project

Starting NewsCutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Creating a User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Creating a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Opening an Existing Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Understanding the Project Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Working with Bins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Creating a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

About Bin Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Frame View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Script View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Creating a Quick Transition Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

About Trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Customizing Your Work Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Mapping Keys and Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Setting Up Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 4 Recording

Selecting Settings for Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

The Record Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

The Audio Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

The Video Input Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Recording Preparations Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Recording to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

5

Recording and Logging at the Same Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Recording On-the-Fly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Recording from an IN Point to an OUT Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Batch Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Rerecording a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Chapter 5 Getting Ready to Edit

Using the Command Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Using the Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Mapping Buttons to the Tool Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Mapping Menu Commands to the Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Using the Keyboard Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Mapping Buttons to the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Mapping Menu Commands to the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Modifying Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Controlling Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Using Position Bars and Position Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Using Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

The Play Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Step Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Using Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

J-K-L Keys (Three-Button Play) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Home, End, and Arrow Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Using the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Stepping with the Mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Shuttling with the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Marking IN and OUT Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Creating Subclips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Chapter 6 Creating a First Cut

Viewing Your Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

6

Navigating in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Using the Position Indicator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Using the A and S keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Displaying More or Less Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Using the Scroll Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Using the Track Selector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Selecting Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Patching Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Monitoring Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Making the First Edit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Using Digital Audio Scrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Splicing-in Versus Overwriting Audio and Video. . . . . . . . . . 102

Splicing-in or Overwriting an Audio Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Splicing or Overwriting Video into a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Marking Clips for Storyboarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Using the Go to IN and Go to OUT Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Moving to the Head or Tail of a Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Undoing an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Redoing an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Splicing a Shot into the Middle of a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Chapter 7 Refining the Edit

Editing in Segment Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Guidelines for Editing in Segment Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Identifying Segment Mode Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Rearranging Footage with Extract/Splice-in Mode. . . . . . . . . . 111

Removing Footage with Extract/Splice-in Mode . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Removing Footage with Lift/Overwrite Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Overwriting Shots into a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Rearranging Shots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Overwriting with the Three-Point Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Removing Footage with Lift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

7

Basic Trim Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Trim Using Top and Tail Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Entering Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Selecting Between Trim Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Sync Locking Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Performing a Basic Trim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Dual-Roller Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Single-Roller Trimming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Exiting Trim Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Audio Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Adjusting Audio Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Adjusting Audio Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Chapter 8 Adding Effects

Effects Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Creating Motion Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating Freeze Frame Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating Variable Speed and Strobe Motion Effects. . . . . . . . 131

Displaying the Effect Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Effect Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Transition Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Segment Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Applying Effects to a Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Working in Effect Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Adding Transition Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Adding Fade In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Dissolving Between Shots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Insufficient Footage for a Dissolve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Creating Audio Dissolves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Adding a Fade Within the Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Creating a Quick Transition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Adding Keyframes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

8

Adding a Picture-in-Picture Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Repositioning the Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Adjusting a Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Dissolving the Picture-in-Picture On and Off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Rendering an Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Chapter 9 Creating Titles

Working with Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Understanding the Title Tool Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Adding Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Formatting Text in the Title Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Selecting Objects in the Title Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Choosing Colors and Setting Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Selecting a Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Creating a New Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Working with Title Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Creating a Title Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Using a Title Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Editing a Title Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Removing a Title Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Repositioning Text and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Applying a Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Applying a Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Saving a Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Editing the Title into the Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Editing an Existing Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Chapter 10 Output

Preparing for Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Preparing Tapes for Frame-Accurate Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Previewing a Digital Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Recording a Digital Cut to Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Enabling VTR Play Emulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

9

Chapter 11 Using the NRCS Tool

Opening the NRCS Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Understanding the NRCS Tool Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Opening a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Editing a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Formatting Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Removing the Text Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Adding a Production Cue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Calculating the Read Time of a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Adding the Story to a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Saving Changes to a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Disconnecting from the Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Index

10

Figures

Figure 1-1 NewsCutter Hardware Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Figure 2-1 Project Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Figure 2-2 Bin Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Figure 3-1 Project Window — Bin View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Figure 3-2 Project Window — Settings View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Figure 3-3 Project Window — Info View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Figure 3-4 Bin Window — Text View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Figure 3-5 Bin Window — Frame View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Figure 3-6 Bin Window — Script View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Figure 4-1 Record Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Figure 4-2 Audio Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Figure 4-3 Video Input Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Figure 5-1 Command Palette — Move Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Figure 5-2 Command Palette — Play Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Figure 5-3 Command Palette — Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Figure 5-4 Command Palette — Trim Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Figure 5-5 Command Palette — FX Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Figure 5-6 Command Palette — Other Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Figure 5-7 Command Palette — More Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Figure 5-8 Default Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Figure 5-9 NewsCutter Default Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Figure 5-10 Record Monitor Position Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Figure 5-11 Source Monitor Position Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Figure 5-12 Position Indicator in Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Figure 6-1 Source Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

11

Figure 6-2 Record Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Figure 6-3 Pop-up Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Figure 6-4 Timeline Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Figure 6-5 Timeline Track Selector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Figure 7-1 Trim Mode Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Figure 8-1 Effect Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Figure 8-2 Effect Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Figure 8-3 Picture-in-Picture Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Figure 8-4 Picture-in-Picture Effect with Softness . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Figure 9-1 Title Tool Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Figure 9-2 Title Tool Color Picker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Figure 11-1 NRCS Settings Dialog Box — NRCS Tab . . . . . . . . . . 174

Figure 11-2 NRCS Settings Dialog Box — iNEWS Tab . . . . . . . . . 175

Figure 11-3 NRCS Tool — Login Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Figure 11-4 NRCS Tool Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Figure 11-5 NRCS Tool — Directory Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Figure 11-6 NRCS Tool — Production Cue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Figure 11-7 NRCS Tool — Read Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

12

Tables

Table 2-1 Common Project Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Table 11-1 NRCS Tool Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Table 11-2 Formatting Toolbar Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

13

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the NewsCutter system and the

editing process. Understanding how the system organizes tapes, clips,

sequences, and other media objects helps you to edit projects more

effectively. This chapter contains the following sections:

• About NewsCutter

• NewsCutter Hardware

• Starting Your System

• Starting NewsCutter

• Using Help

• Using Online Documentation

14

About NewsCutter

NewsCutter is a nonlinear editing workstation specifically designed for

editing news stories. It offers flexibility and speed to create

compelling, up-to-the-minute news stories. You can edit a story

several different ways and choose the best one, or you can quickly

create different versions of a lead story for three different broadcasts.

NewsCutter allows you to quickly add transition effects, motion

effects, and 2D digital video effects (DVEs) for added impact, with just

a few keystrokes — even after a story is laid out.

With a linear system, you must lay down the first shot, make sure it

ends at the right point, cue the second shot, make sure it starts at the

right point, and then make the edit. You build the sequence by making

sure each transition is correct before moving to the next edit.

NewsCutter lets you assemble a sequence in any order — you do not

need to edit the first shot first and the last shot last. The system’s

strength is that it lets you make changes without reassembling all the

edits after the change. You can update breaking stories quickly and

easily, save them, and then try different versions.

The system maintains frame-accurate links between each alteration of

the objects you work with and the original media files. This allows you

to experiment with every edit you make through multiple generations.

When you play back your work, the system immediately accesses and

plays the appropriate portions of the recorded video and audio.

You can start by editing a rough version of the entire sequence. You

can see how long it runs and where it drags, adjust individual edits

and transitions, replace or remove shots, and tighten or extend scenes.

Because the audio and video are stored on disk, they can be

manipulated and used over and over again without duplication or

degradation.

15

NewsCutter Hardware

The following hardware components make up NewsCutter, as shown

in Figure 1-1.

n

Your components might differ slightly, depending on the options you

purchased.

• A PC running the Windows NT

®

operating system

•Meridien

™

audio and video interface

• The User Interface (UI) and Playback monitors; recommended

resolution 1024 x 768 with True Color or greater

• Keyboard and mouse

•Speakers

• Audio amplifier if you do not have powered speakers

• Decks or video source to input and output your work

• MediaDock

™

and MediaDrive enclosures for storing your

recorded audio and video

Figure 1-1 NewsCutter Hardware Components

VLX

SCSI IDSCSI ID

Slots

Act

Wide

Dualbus

Fans

Pwr 2Pwr 2

Pwr 1Pwr 1

l

O

44.1 kHz

48

PULL DOWN

AUDIO SYNC

VIDEO SYNC

POWER

kHz

l

O

Video deck

UI monitor

Keyboard

Mouse

Playback monitor

Speaker

Amplifier

V-LAN® VLXi®

Meridien

NewsCutter

MediaDock

I/O box

PC

16

Starting Your System

Begin your edit session by turning on the components of your

NewsCutter system. If any part of your system fails to turn on, make

sure its electrical cord is plugged snugly into an appropriate electrical

outlet or power strip. For information on setting up your system, see

the Avid NewsCutter Setup Guide.

c

If you fail to follow the proper sequence for starting up your system,

you could damage your computer and storage drives and

NewsCutter might not work properly.

Always turn on the devices as follows:

1. MediaDrives: Turn on storage drives before starting the

computer. Allow 10 to 15 seconds for the drives to spin

up-to-speed before starting your computer.

2. Other peripheral hardware: Turn on all other peripheral units

except the computer. This includes:

• Monitors and speakers

• Tape decks or video source

• Meridien I/O box

3. The computer: Turn on your computer according to your

manufacturer’s instructions.

The desktop appears.

c

To avoid damage, do not disconnect drives while your computer is

on.

4. Loading the application: Locate the Avid NewsCutter Release Notes.

Read all the information in the release notes thoroughly then

follow the software installation instructions.

17

Starting NewsCutter

To start the NewsCutter application:

t Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Avid, and click

NewsCutter.

Electronic Licensing

To accept your NewsCutter product license:

1. Read the License Agreement, and then click Accept or Decline at

the bottom of the screen.

n

If you click Decline, the application will not start.

The agreement appears the first several times you start the

application. After you have started NewsCutter several times, a

new button appears at the bottom of the screen.

2. If you do not want to see the license agreement again, click Accept

and Don’t Show Again.

A dialog box appears.

3. Enter the name of your organization in the dialog box, and click

OK.

The Open Project dialog box appears; from here, you create a new

user and a new project, as described in “Creating a User” on

page 36.

18

How to Proceed

The following are a few tips for taking full advantage of the

NewsCutter documentation and other resources:

• Begin learning about basic procedures by using the default

settings. As your confidence increases, begin to explore additional

procedures and settings.

• Instead of using the standard menus to find the command you

need in a window, try using shortcut menus. Using the right

mouse button, click in a window to access a shortcut menu that

shows the most frequently used commands for that window.

• Keep the Avid NewsCutter Quick Reference available during editing

sessions.

• Make a habit of reading Avid’s newsletters, mailings, and other

trade publications.

• Make use of additional training resources provided by Avid

whenever possible, such as classes and instructional videotapes.

• Check the Avid Web site education area for a list of available

courses.

Using Help

You can get help and background information for tasks, windows,

dialog boxes, and screen objects through your Avid Help system. Your

Help system is HTML-based and operates in a Web browser. You need

Version 4.5 or later of Microsoft

®

Internet Explorer. The following

sections describe the Help system:

• Opening and Closing the Help System

• Understanding the Topic Window

• Getting Help for Windows and Dialog Boxes

• Getting Help for Screen Objects

19

• Keeping Help Available

• Finding Information Within the Help

• Creating a Favorites List

• Using the Browse Buttons

• Printing Help Topics

Opening and Closing the Help System

To open the Help system:

1. Choose Avid NewsCutter Help from the Help menu.

The Help system appears in the default browser for your system.

2. Click the Using Help, Contents, Index, Search, Favorites, and

Glossary buttons to access the information you need.

To close the Help system, do one of the following:

t Click the Close button in the browser.

t Choose Exit from the browser File menu.

t Navigate to another Web site.

The Help system closes.

Understanding the Topic Window

Help topics open in the right browser frame. A topic is a single page of

the Help system.

The heading at the top of the topic window indicates the chapter in

which the topic appears. For example, this topic, “Understanding the

Topic Window,” is in the Using Help chapter. The browse buttons are

also at the top of the topic. For more information, see “Using the

Browse Buttons” on page 26.

20

Some topics include a link to additional information about a

procedure. The procedure Saving Bins Automatically, for example,

includes a link to About Saving Bins Automatically. About links are

always at the top of the topic.

Some topics include graphics of buttons used in the procedure

explained in the topic. These are for illustration only; they do not

function if you click them.

At the bottom of each topic are links to related topics, which are listed

under the heading See Also.

You might also see icons and information for Notes, Cautions, and

Warnings that provide important details about the topic.

Getting Help for Windows and Dialog Boxes

The Help system provides you with context-sensitive Help for

windows and dialog boxes, such as tools and settings.

To get Help for windows and dialog boxes:

1. Make sure the Avid application is active.

2. Position the mouse pointer anywhere in the window or dialog box

for which you want help.

3. Press the F1 key on the keyboard.

n

If there is no information about a window or dialog box, a Navigation

Canceled message appears in the browser. Use the Search and Index buttons

in the Help to look for similar functions.

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Avid NewsCutter 2.0 Quick start guide

Avid NewsCutter 2.0 Quick start guide

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