Avid Xpress Xpress 2.5 Macintosh Quick start guide

a

tools for storytellers™

Avid Xpress

™

Getting Started Guide

Release 2.5

for the Macintosh

®

Operating System

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2

Copyright and Disclaimer

Avid Xpress Getting Started Guide for the Macintosh Operating System • Part 0130-03043-01 Rev. A • May1999

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3

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

Using the Tutorial Sections................................... 12

What You Need

............................................. 13

Turning On Your Equipment

................................. 14

Installing the Avid Xpress Tutorial Files

....................... 15

Starting Avid Xpress

........................................ 18

Electronic Licensing

......................................... 19

HowtoProceed

............................................. 20

Using Help

................................................. 20

Opening and Closin g the Help System

.................... 21

Getting Help for Windows and Dialog Boxes

............... 21

Getting Help for Screen Objects

.......................... 22

Finding Information with the Help Topics Dialog Box

....... 22

Using the Contents Tab

............................... 23

Using the Index Tab

.................................. 23

Using the Find Tab

................................... 24

Using Buttons in a Help Topic

............................ 25

Printing Help To pics

..................................... 25

Using Online Documentation

................................ 26

Chapter 2 About Avid Xpress

Video Editing with Avid Xpress .............................. 29

Avid Xpress Essentials

....................................... 30

Media Files

............................................. 30

Clips

................................................... 31

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Subclips................................................ 32

Sequences

.............................................. 32

Your Program

........................................... 33

Bins

................................................... 33

Your Project

............................................ 34

The Attic Folder

......................................... 34

The Avid Xpress File System

................................. 34

Chapter 3 Starting a Project

About Av id Projects and Avid Users Folders ................... 37

Using the Bins Display

...................................... 38

About Trash

................................................ 39

Using the Settings Display

................................... 40

Tutorial: Starting a Project

................................... 41

Starting Avid Xpress

........................................ 41

Opening a Project

........................................... 42

Creating a User

......................................... 42

Selecting a Project

...................................... 43

Chapter 4 Digitizing

Selecting Settings........................................... 46

About the Digitize Tool

..................................... 47

About the Audio Tool

....................................... 49

About the Video Input Tool

.................................. 51

Digitizing Preparations Check List

........................... 52

Digitizing

.................................................. 53

Digitizing and Logging at the Same Time

.................. 53

Batch Digitizing

......................................... 54

Redigitizing

............................................ 54

Chapter 5 Getting Ready to Edit

About Bin Views............................................ 56

Controlling Playback

........................................ 57

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Using Position Bars and Position Indicators................ 58

Using Buttons

........................................... 59

Play Button

......................................... 59

Step Buttons

........................................ 59

Using the Tool Palette

.................................... 60

Using the Keyboard

..................................... 60

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

....................... 61

Home, End, and Arrow Keys

.......................... 61

Marking IN and OUT Points

................................. 62

Creating Subclips

........................................... 62

Tutorial: Getting Ready to Edit

............................... 63

Viewing Clips

.............................................. 64

Using Text View

......................................... 64

Using Frame View

....................................... 65

Playing Clips

............................................... 66

Playing Clips in a Source Pop-up Monitor

................. 66

Controlling Playback

.................................... 67

Marking Edit Points

......................................... 69

Marking the

planing ms Clip ............................. 69

Marking the

ducks Clip .................................. 70

Marking the

draw knife cu Clip ........................... 71

Using Timecode to Find a Frame

.......................... 72

Using Frame Offset

...................................... 74

Subclipping

................................................ 74

Clearing IN Points and OUT Points

........................... 75

Closing the Project

.......................................... 76

Ending the Session

.......................................... 76

Chapter 6 Editing a Rough Cut

Viewing Methods........................................... 78

Navigating in the Timeline

.................................. 78

Using the Position Indicator

.............................. 78

Using the Scroll Bar

..................................... 79

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Displaying More or Less Detail............................... 79

Using the Track Selector Panel

............................... 80

Selecting Tracks

......................................... 81

Monitoring Tracks

....................................... 82

Monitoring Video

....................................... 83

Tutorial: Rough Cut

......................................... 83

Making the First Edit

........................................ 84

Using Digital Audio Scrub to Locate a

Specific Frame of Audio ............................... 85

Splicing an Audio Clip

.................................. 85

Playing a Sequence

...................................... 86

Confirming the Duration

................................. 86

Splicing Video into the Sequence

............................. 87

Splicing the

ducks clip ................................... 88

PlayingINtoOUT

...................................... 88

Using the Go to OUT Button

............................. 89

Moving to the Head and Tail of a Shot

..................... 89

Using the Splice-in Button

............................... 90

Splicing a Shot into the Middle of a Sequence

.............. 90

Undoing an Edit

........................................ 91

Using the I/O (IN Point / OUT Point) Tracking Display

...... 91

Chapter 7 Refining the Edit

Using Segment Mode to Edit in the Timeline .................. 94

Editing in Segment Mode

................................ 94

Distinguishing Between Two Types of Editing Buttons

...... 95

Basic Trim Procedures

....................................... 95

Entering Trim Mode

..................................... 95

Leaving Trim Mode

..................................... 97

Selecting Between Trim Sides

............................ 97

Performing a Basic Trim

.................................. 98

Audio Editing

.............................................. 99

Tutorial: Refining Edits

..................................... 100

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Overwriting Shots into a Sequence .......................... 101

Storyboarding

............................................. 102

Marking Clips for Storyboarding

........................ 102

Storyboard Editing the Clips

............................ 104

Rearranging Shots

......................................... 106

Overwriting with the T hree-Point Edit

................... 107

Changing the Order o f Shots in a Sequence

............... 108

Removing Footage from a Sequence

......................... 109

Removing Footage and Closing the Resulting Gap

......... 109

Removing Footage and Retaining the Resulting Gap

....... 109

Trimming

................................................. 110

Adjusting Both Sides of a Transition

Simultaneously (Dual-Roller Trimming)................ 110

Using Dual Rollers to Trim the Outgoing Shot

............. 113

Trimming the

pan lumber Shot........................... 114

Single-Roller Trimming

................................. 115

Adding Synced Audio

.................................. 116

Working with Audio

....................................... 117

Adjusting Audio Level

.................................. 117

Adjusting Audio Pan (Balance)

.......................... 118

Chapter 8 Adding Effects

Effects Editing............................................. 121

Displaying the Effect Palette

................................ 122

Effect Categories

........................................... 122

Effect Types

............................................... 123

Transition Effects

....................................... 123

Segment Effects

........................................ 124

Applying Effects to a Sequence

.............................. 124

Working in Effect Mode

.................................... 125

Rendering an Effect

........................................ 125

Tutorial: Adding Effects

.................................... 125

Adding Transition Effects

................................... 127

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Adding a Dissolve Effect (Fade In) ....................... 127

Dissolving Between Shots

............................... 128

Creating a Series of Dissolves

........................ 129

Creating Audio Dissolves

........................... 129

Adding a Fade-to-Black Effect Within the Sequence

........ 130

Adding a Picture-in-Picture Effect

........................... 131

Using the Second Video Track

........................... 131

Creating the Picture-in-Picture Effect

..................... 132

Repositioning the Image

.................................... 133

Adjusting a Parameter

.................................. 134

Adding Keyframes

..................................... 134

Adding Background Images

............................. 135

Rendering the Effect

.................................... 136

Screening the Sequence

.................................... 137

Chapter 9 Creating Titles

Creating New Titles ........................................ 139

Understanding the Title Tool Window

....................... 139

Working with Text

......................................... 140

Text Formatting To ols

...................................... 141

Choosing C olors and Setting Transparency

................... 142

Adjusting the Color

........................................ 143

Editing a Title into a Sequence

.............................. 144

Tutorial: Creating Titles

..................................... 144

Adding a Title

............................................. 146

Creating a New Title

.................................... 146

Repositioning Text

..................................... 147

Changing Color

........................................ 148

Adding a Shadow

...................................... 148

Saving a Title

.............................................. 148

Editing the Title into the Sequence

.......................... 149

Adding Rolling Credits

..................................... 149

Editing the Title

........................................ 149

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Adding Video B ackground .............................. 150

Viewing the Creation D ate

.............................. 151

Splicing the Title into a Sequence

........................ 151

Deleting Excess Footage

................................. 152

Closing the Title Tool

................................... 152

Chapter 10 Generating Output

Output Options ........................................... 154

Preparing for Outp

ut ...................................... 154

Digital Cut

................................................ 154

Supported File Types for Export

............................. 155

Preparing to Export

........................................ 156

Tutorial: Output

........................................... 157

Recording a Digital Cut to Tape

............................. 158

Chapter 11 Backing Up

About Media Files ......................................... 163

Media Objects and Files

................................ 164

Media Relationships

.................................... 165

Basic Media Tool Features

.................................. 166

Freeing Storage Space

...................................... 167

Consolidating Media

....................................... 167

Backing Up Media Files

.................................... 168

Backing Up Project Folders

................................. 169

Tutorial: Backing Up

....................................... 169

Consolidating the

Boat Shop Sequence....................... 171

Saving Your Work on a Drive or Floppy Disk

................. 173

Restoring from a Ba ckup

................................... 174

Quitting and Shutting Down

................................ 174

Summary

................................................. 175

Index

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Tables

Table 1-1 Help Topic Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Table 6-1

StartingtheTutorial:RoughCut.................. 84

Table 7-1

StartingtheTutorial:RefiningEdits ............. 100

Table 7-2

MarkPointsforTutorialClips .................. 103

Table 8-1

StartingtheTutorial:AddingEffects ............ 126

Table 9-1

StartingtheTutorial:CreatingTitles ............. 145

Table 10-1

StartingtheTutorial:Output ................... 157

Table 11-1

MediaObjectsandFiles ........................ 165

Table 11-2

StartingtheTutorial:BackingUp ............... 170

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11

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

This chapter explains how to use this guide and work through the

tutorial sections that teach you the basics of your Avid Xpress system.

This chapter contains the following sections:

• Using the Tutorial Sections

• What You Need

• Turning On Your Equipment

• Installing the Avid Xpress Tutorial Files

• Starting Avid Xpress

• Electronic Licensing

• HowtoProceed

• Using Help

• Using Online Documentation

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12

Using the Tutorial Sections

The self-paced tutorial sections in cluded in this guide are designed a s

guided Avid editing sessions, using the basic features of the

Avid Xpress system. In the tutorial sections, you’re going to edit a 1-

minute sequence about a company in Amesbury, Massachusetts that

makes small fishing boats called dories.

ThefootageforthesequenceisontheAvidXpressTutorialCD-ROMs

that came with your system. The CD-ROMs contain digitized media

that is ready for you to use.

The instructions in the tutorial sections take you through each step of

the editing process. The tutorial is divided into the following sections:

• Starting a project (in Chapter 3

)

• Getting ready to edit (in Chapter 5

)

• Editing a rough cut (in Chapter 6

)

• Refining the edit (in Chapter 7

)

• Adding effects, titles, and other finishing touches to the sequence

(in Chapter 8

and Chapter 9)

• Preparing output (in Chapter 10

)

• Backing up (in Chapter 11

)

You need a basic familiarity with the Macintosh

®

computer. If you

have never used a Macintos h sy stem, refer to the Apple

®

Macintosh

manuals.

You don’t need any previous experience with the Avid Xpress sy stem

to use this guide. The term s and techniques needed for each tutorial

section are in each chapter. However, it will help to read Chapter 2

of

this guide before starting any of the tutorial sections. You can also use

the Avid Xpress Help (see “Using Help” on page 20

) and online books

(see ““Using Online Documentation” on page 26

)formoreinforma-

tion.

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Completing all the tutorial sections takes approximately 4 hours.

Before you begin, you need:

• An installed Avid Xpress system

If you have not yet set up your Avid Xpress system, see the

Avid Media Composer Products Setup Guide. If you need to install the

Avid Xpress software, see the Avid Xpress Release Notes.

• The Boat Shop media and project files on the Avid Xpress Tu torial

CD-ROM

Depending on your level of expertise in editing on Avid systems, you

can choose to work through the tutorial in either of two ways.

• If you have no experience with Avid Xpress or other Avid systems,

you should go through the entire tutorial.

• If you have used other Avid systems, you might want to read cer-

tain chapters to unders tand the specific features of Avid Xpress,

and complete the tutoria l in that chapter. Each tutorial section is

self-contained.

What You Need

The CD-ROMs packaged with your Avid Xpress system include all

files necessary to complete this tutorial. T hey are:

• OMFI MediaFiles folder — contains the digitized files you need

for the tutorial. You need to copy these files to your external media

drive.

• Avid Projects folder — contains the project and bins you need for

the tutorial. You need to copy these files to your Avid dri ve.

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14

Turning On Your Equipment

Begin your edit session by turning on the various components of your

Avid Xpress 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 more information on setting up your system,

see the Avid Media Composer Products Setup Guide.

c

If you f a il to follow the proper sequence for starting up your system,

you could dam age your computer or storage drives.

Always turn on the devices i n the following order:

1. Fixed-storage drives: Turn on fixed-storage drives before starting

the computer. Allow 1 0 to 15 seconds for the drives t o spin up to

speed before starting your Macintosh.

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

except the Macintosh. These include:

• Monitors and speakers

• Meridien

™

I/O box

• Tape decks and additional autoassembly configurations

(switcher, time-base corrector, and so on) if you plan to digi-

tize or conduct an autoassembly

• Black burst generator (to maintain proper sync between audio

and video while digitizing and editing)

3. The Macintosh: Press the Power On key located at the upper ri ght

corner of the keyboard.

When you start the Macintosh:

• You hear a tone that means the hardware is operational.

• The computer goes through a self-check routine. If the

Macintosh passes all of its internal logic tests, the smiling

Macintosh icon appears.

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15

For information on

Macintosh features,

such as th e desktop and

icons, see your Macin-

tosh documentation.

• The Avid startup screen appears and the initialization process

begins.

• The Macintosh desktop appears.

c

To avoid system damage, do not disconnect or turn off the external

media drives while the Macintosh is on.

Installing the Avid Xpress Tutorial Files

The Avid Xpress Tutorial CD-ROMs contain all the files you need for

the tutorial sections of this guide. The CD-ROMs contain an NTSC ver-

sion and a PAL version of the tutorial media files digitized at a 20:1

compression ratio. The tutorial files require two CD-ROMs for NTSC

and two for PAL. The installation procedure is the same for installing

either type.

Each CD-ROM has its own installation program and is installed inde-

pendently of the other CD-ROM. You will need approximately 1 GB of

free space available on your external media drive.

Avid drive

Media

(external)

(internal)

drives

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16

It takes approximately 30 minutes to install the media files from the

CD-ROMs to the external media drive.

To install Avid Xpress Tutorial Disc 1:

1. Insert Avid Xpress Tutorial Disc 1 into your Avid Xpress CD-ROM

drive. The Xpress Tutorial Disc 1 icon appears on your desktop.

2. Double-click the Xpress Tutorial Disc 1 icon. A window opens

showing the contents of Disc 1.

3. Double-click the Xpress Install 1 icon. The Xpress Install 1 window

opens.

Avid Xpress

Install icon

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17

4. Click the Avid Projects icon and drag it to the Avid drive in the

Drive scroll list. The tutorial project installs on your Avid drive

and a message appears asking if you want to continue the installa-

tion.

5. Click Continue.

6. Click the Media Files icon and drag it to any external media drive

in the Drive scroll list. The drive must have approximately 1 GB of

free space.

It takes approximately

20 minutes to copy the

Disc 1 media files to the

external drive.

• If an OMFI MediaFiles folder already exists on the drive, the

media files are copied into the folder.

• If there is no OMFI MediaFiles folder on the drive, a message

appears asking if you want to create an OMFI MediaFiles

folder on the drive. Click Yes. The folder is created and the

media files are copied to the external drive.

When all the media files on Disc 1 are copied to the drive, the sys-

tem prompts you to insert Disc 2.

n

You cannot remove Disc 1 at this time. You must quit the installation pro-

gram before you can remove Disc 1 from the CD-ROM drive.

Media drives

Avid drive

0304301A.book Page 17 Wednesday, April 21, 1999 2:55 PM

18

7. Click OK. The system notifies you that the installation of Disc 1 is

complete.

8. Click Quit. The installation program closes.

To install Avid Xpress Tutorial Disc 2:

1. Click the Avid Xpress Tu torial Disc 1 icon and drag it to the Trash.

The CD-ROM drive ejects Disc 1.

2. Insert the Avid Xpress Tutorial Disc 2 into the CD-ROM drive. The

Avid Xpress Tutorial Disc 2 icon appears on your desktop.

3. Double-click the Xpress Tutorial Disc 2 icon. A window opens

showing the contents of Disc 2.

4. Double-click the Xpress Install 2 icon. The Xpress Tutorial Install 2

window opens.

5. Click the Media Files icon and drag it to the same drive where you

installed the Disc 1 media files. The remaining tutorial files are

copied to the drive.

6. When the media files on Disc 2 are copied to the drive, a message

appears telling you that the installation is complete.

7. Click Quit. The installation is complete.

Starting Avid Xpress

The Avid Xpress application icon is located in the Avid Xpress folder

on the Avid drive. For most users, the desk top or the Apple menu is a

more convenient location for starting the application.

n

The application will not start properly if the icon is moved from the

Avid Xpress folder. To start the application from a convenient location, Avid

recommends that you create an alias and place it in a convenient location.

0304301A.book Page 18 Wednesday, April 21, 1999 2:55 PM

19

For more information

on making an alias and

using the Apple menu,

see your Macintosh

documentation.

To start the application:

1. Open the Avid drive by double-clicking the Avid drive icon.

2. Open the Avid Xpress folder.

3. Double-click the application icon or alias. The Avid splash screen

appears.

Electronic Licensing

To accept your Avid Xpress product license electronically:

1. Read the License Agreement, then click the Accept button or the

Decline button at the bottom of the screen.

The a greement appears the first several times you start

Avid Xpress. After several starts, a new button appears at the bot-

tom of the screen.

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

Accept and Don’t Show Again button.

A dialog box appears.

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

OK.

After Avid X press starts, the Open Project dialog box appears, as

described in “Opening a Project” on page 42

.

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20

How to Proceed

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

Avid Xpress documentation and other resour ces:

• Complete the tutorial sections in this guide before starting a

project.

• Begin learning about basic procedures by using the default set-

tings. 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. Press Ctrl+Shift and

click on a window to bring up a shortcut menu that shows the

most frequently used commands for that window.

• Keep the Avid Xpress Quick Reference available during editing ses-

sions.

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

trade publications.

• Make use of additional training resources provided by Avid when-

ever possible, such as classes and instructional videotapes. For

more information, contact Avid at 800-867-2843.

• Check the Avid Web site at for listings of courses, schedules, and

locations:

www.avid.com/services/training/training.html

Using Help

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

log boxes, and screen objects through the Avid Xpress Help system.

n

Your system might not contain certain features that are described in Help.

The Help system describes all features regardless of which model you pur-

chased.

0304301A.book Page 20 Wednesday, April 21, 1999 2:55 PM

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