The overview of the PDF says,
=============
This document is intended to complement the material that is supplied with
Edition, and has been designed specifically to assist Adobe Premiere users
transfer their skills to Edition as painlessly as possible.
The Premiere Detox covers the following areas:
• Input - capturing and digitizing footage
• Editing - working with the timeline
• Output - putting a finished story to tape, or as a digital file
• Data Management - organizing both your project and your media
Please note that while both interfaces can be customized, this guide will
be based on the default settings of both applications & using a single
screen (for the serious user a dual-screen set up is recommended).
=================
FYI... in addition to using the standard audio
module you can....
1. Double clicking on the timeline audio
track will allow the audio volume to be adjusted on a clip to clip basis.
2. Right clicking on the timeline audio
track offers the option for "Audio Adjust" which allow various parameters,
i.e. Lift or Lower lever by numerical input, Pan via numerical input as
well as change from mono or stereo via checkbox input.
*See next section for overall audio solution for video recorded with low
volume.
Often, due to circumstances beyond your
control, the audio may have problems with volume levels, noise that must
be eliminated, etc. At other times it may be the desire to simply edit and
enhance the audio tracks.
It is extremely important DO NOT cut, paste or alter the length of the
files in any manner during this process.
After capturing video clips, close down Edition.
Open audio editor of choice. My favorite is Cool Edit Pro 2.
Go to "My Computer" and navigate to (X substituted for capture drive
location, liquid users may disregard the first parent directory)
X\MediaAV\FS_MEDIA_AV\Reels\project name. Here you will find the
logged video and files for the project.
Change view to details and click on the top-bar of the "Type" column
to sort by type. The audio files are readily identifiable.
Drag and drop the desired files into your audio editor.
Make changes to volume, equalization, normalize, noise removal, etc.,
as desired.
Save each file when completed.
Open Edition and resume editing with the newly affected audio.
Alternate procedure when only portions of the video is to be used or has
only problematic areas which may be affecting the audio.
With video on the timeline set markers at the desired in an out points
for future reference.
Set in and out edit points at the marker location.
Go to >Start>Tools> and choose "Fuse Sequence" from the drop down
menu.
Select a directory of your choice on the video drive. I recommend
creating and maintaining a directory named "Work" on all drives.
At this point you can also give your clip a unique name, also
recommended.
Use steps 2 through 7 as in previous example to affect audio.
Open Edition and resume editing.
Set the style to insert mode editing.
You can now drag your new fused sequences to the timeline using the
shift key to insert and overwrite, replacing the existing video at the
markers set during step 1 of this section.
1.
Export the audio track as a .wav file
2. Import the saved .wav file
"...As I was
creating the file I realized that every Wav file I import (Music & FX) is
always very 'hot' so having exported the file I simply 'Imported' it again
and bingo, I had a useable audio track."
There are
several ways to accomplish setting group volume for selected track audio;
Solution A.
1. Group select the desired clips in rack.
2. Use Ctl-C and Ctl-V to make copies of the selected clips in rack.
3. Use the properties to de-select the video for these clips. See
Changing length
4. Place the group on a audio track on a timeline as a separate sequence.
5. Use the global (mixer on bottom right screen) settings to set the
volume.
6. Open project sequence.
6. Drag the sequence into your work sequence, placing it onto an audio
track as a container.
Solution B.
1. Use the "Mark In" and "Mark Out" markers to define the area of the clip
or group of clips.
2. Export as .wav file.
3. Edit the resulting .wav file in an external audio editing program.
4. Import the new modified .wav file and use it.
Solution C.
A. Make the tracks of the files to be affected the only tracks active.
(Settings to the right of the timeline by clicking on or right clicking
and selection.)
B. Open the Audio Editor.
C. Place the cursor on the first frame of the first desired audio track
and...
Use the
icon or menu to "Select after playline"
Right
click on the timeline audio and select "Adjust Audio" (The audio
editor must be active in order for this selection to appear)
A
requester will appear. Input the desired settings and close
Once this
adjustment has been made it can be turned off on individual clips by
right clicking the clip and choosing "FX Properties" and removing the
check mark from the "Audio Fader" box or by dragging the "Audio Fader"
selection to the trash can.
Or you can
work with individual keyframes by using steps A through C, ignoring
the bulleted steps 1 through 4 and continue with...
Use the
slider or numbers to set the desired volume
Use the
"Copy to next keyframe" Icon to copy this setting to the next keyframe
Continue
to use the "Copy to next keyframe" until all clips have been affected
Audio scrubbing is more effective if you enable only the tracks you a
need at the moment by turning them in "scrub enabled" tracks by
clicking on the timeline speaker icon while holding the shift key and
toggling the icon for that track.
A solid colored speaker indicates the sound is on.
A hollow (outlined) speaker icon indicated the track is enabled for
audio scrubbing.
Scrubbing with the mouse with audio enabled provides a very limited
playback speed.
Mouse works OK if the time line is zoomed in tightly for finite
location of audio.
Right click on the timeline speaker Icons and select show waveforms
for a visual view of the sound bite.
Audio scrubbing is much more responsive when using the "JKL" keys than
with the mouse. (See Keyboard section for description of JKL key use.)
The ultimate solution is to purchase one of the Contour "Shuttle-Pro"
jog shuttles which will greatly enhance your navigation in all editing
and capture modes.
For a better view, drag the boxes on the
left of the timeline to increase or decrease the height of the tracks.
To do the finite cuts with sound, I've found it best to really zoom in on
the timeline in order to isolate a position.
Also useful is to turn on the audio graphs and expand the audio track by
dragging it to size using the separation is the boxes to the left, making
the wave form much more readable.
Switching from "Digital" to "Analog" may be accomplished by right clicking
on the volume controls at the bottom of the timeline.
Using the JKL keys for playback will
provide full sound scrubbing. (See Keyboard section for description of JKL
key use.)
With the wave forms turned on and the timeline zoomed in to the specific
area of isolation (using the up and down arrow keys), the mouse scrub can
be very finite in it's definition.
First, the icon on the audio time line must be and outline icon only, not
the white filled-in icon. You can change back and forth by holding the
shift key and clicking on that icon.
Once it is hollow, hit the "Scroll Lock" key on the keyboard. This toggles
the audio scrubbing on and off. The hollow icon designates a
particular track for audio scrubbing.
Open the mixer panel and you will see the microphone icon. This is the key
to recording voiceover. You may have to do a quick read in the sound mixer
overview of the help files.
Is the playback volume louder in the "Clip View" than when the clip is
placed on the timeline?
Often times the audio and video icon are both enabled on video track on
the timeline even though the audio is disbanded and has it's own tracks on
the timeline. The result is a lower than normal or desired audio level. If
this is the case, turn off the audio icon present on the video track. The
overall volume should show an increase.
You can also, if need be, increase the overall volume of the entire
project by selecting the mixer icon on the lower right screen and
adjusting there.
Finally, check your windows mixer and make sure the settings are correct
there.
Back up the project files, graphics, titles and any additional
imported files, i.e. sound tracks etc.
When the project is restored from back up, the project will open with
all sequences and bin content, exactly as they existed.
At this point simply instruct the system to re-digitize the footage,
supply the correct tapes when requested.
The system will re-assemble and render the project and sequences,
restored as they existed on the time line prior to backup.
Note: If the files were backed up to CD-Rom, be sure and change the
attributes back from read only. Zipping the files prior to archiving
to CD will prevent this step.
If you are ready to delete the project, select and open another project.
Then choose, "Delete Project" from this new project.
Material from clips on the same reel cannot be in conflict by overlapping
or in essence, occupy the same space. In your example each
consecutive clip begins on the same frame as the ending frame in the clip
preceding it.
The
EDL may import as there is no error checking. If conflicts or errors
exist, those clips in question will simply not show up in the batch
capture list
Example: If a clip ends on frame 11, the following clip must begin
on frame 12 or later.
The live feed does not work with time code so no need to use the logging
tool. To capture live feed...
Place the player manually into the play mode.
Click on the digitize button, it will turn red to indicate that
digitizing is taking place.
When the end of the desired footage is reached, click on the
digitizing button again to complete the capture process.
Note: It is important that you use the digitize button and not the "stop"
button to complete the process as the stop button when used in the live
mode will abort rather than stop the digitization
Note: In Edition 5 capture with scene detection s is possible.
It must be set to on in the preferences prior to capture.
Your drives could be too full or... You might be overwriting the files
inadvertently. The Media Management, while powerful, has to be understood
properly. For instance, if you have a tape called Flower 1, and you
capture clips, Edition will stick the captured clips in a folder called
Flower 1. Each clip gets labeled by its start and stop timecode. If you
have tc that resets, this is where problems can occur. Basically, you
capture a clip from 1:00:00 to 1:20:00. Then there is a tc break and you
capture another clip from 1:00:00 to 1:40:00. Now Edition has a problem,
these clips are within the same range. It will consider the first clip as
part of the second clip. To get around this, create a new reel after the
tc break, call it Flower 1 1 or something, but name it different. Now
capture and you should be able to have all your clips.
Take a look at the media management section in the manual. Probably the
most boring section, but it is imperative to understand the backbone of
media management.
Thanks to: James Murphy / Product Specialist Back to Index
A device and tape must be present. Be sure and give each tape/reel
involved a unique and individual name before logging entries for that
tape.
In the logging window, Provide a clip name, unique to the reel name.
Click on the plus to the right of the clip name which will increment
each new clip by 1.
There are three time code windows under the preview window. The left
is the TC in, and the right is the TC out. The center will show the
clip duration once the in and out are marked.
Click in the mark-in window and a drop down window will appear
allowing numeric TC entry. The trick to data entry is to type in only
those numbers required. Example: Tape time code of ten seconds would
require an entry of 1 and three zeros, followed by return. Tape time
code of ten minutes would require and entry of a 1 and five zeros
followed by a return.
Click in the mark out window and make entry.
Following the entry of each in and out point, click on the "Log Clip"
crouton. This is essential. Note that once the "Log Clip" button is
clicked, the clip name advances by one.
DV is rarely transcoded into something else other than by intent when
captured via firewire. In essence it remains DV, or Digital Video, a
series or 1's and 0's as like any other digital medium.
That being said, different systems use what is referred to as a "wrapper"
which provides system information and may or may not be unique to their
system. Fast uses a .dif (QuickTime) wrapper. In-Sync with the DV Master
uses a proprietary dvsd wrapper. Many use various .avi wrappers. No matter
which "wrapper" is used the basic DV stream remains unchanged until
rendering is required. This is where the specifics differentiate in how
they achieve the end result.
You can also just double click on the clips in the rack and set your in
and out points while reviewing them.
Hold down the Alt Key and click on the clip in the rack as well causing it
to playback in the icon mode.
Move the clips around by dragging them and placing them in the rack,
hi-light all, right click and select preview to see the entire playback.
This will also provide you with the time of the combined clips.
You could also select and drag clips to the desktop, adjust them there,
drag and stack them and use the right click - preview option. And much
more...
Use the 2D editor to crop clips. The 2D editor also has a variety of tools
for placing, sizing and manipulating the clip. Great for PIP
effects. Use it for scrolling titles.
To create and replace the default Liquid Splash Screen with a custom
screen…
·Create a graphic in your favorite
editor that is 700 pixels wide by 394 pixels high, 24-bit color depth, 72
dpi.
·Save it as FS.VMB.
·Copy it to.. Liquid
7\Program\Resource on your drive and proper folder location using the
example location (C:\Program Files\Avid\Liquid 7\Program\Resource)
This is all described
in chapter 13 of the Liquid 7 manual (it starts on page 776 of the 7.0
book; I haven't looked it up in the 7.1 manual). The manual is included as
the PDF under Liquid's Help.
The short of it is:
·Load the clip into the color
correction editor
·Expand the CC dialog to display all
of the controls (it's the triangle icon at the bottom middle of the
dialog)
·Click on Add Selective Color. This
activates the pipette (color picker tool). Click on the color you want to
isolate. You can also drag to choose a range of colors. Holding down the
control key lets you add to the colors as well, so you can use
Ctrl-left-click to select colors. The colors here that you're selecting
will be averaged, so for example you want to get all the ranges of red.
·
You can see how well you're picking by selecting the first color, and
going down in the Selective tool and changing the Cr or Cb to the highest
level. This will change the color of what you've selected, so you can go
on and select the rest of the range for that color. It will also show the
trouble spots (colors on thing you don't want selected that are real close
to the selected color).
·Fine tune the selection by changing
the Color Isolation L, S, and H parameters. This may remove unwanted color
from the selection.
·Set the Cr and/or Cb back to normal.
·Click on Add Selective Color again
and repeat for each color you want to isolate (so do once for the red
flowers, and then again for the yellow, etc.)
·To work on all the colors you
didn't select, click on the grey area around the color wheel.
·Reduce the saturation (S) until the
rest of the scene goes B&W. The flowers should remain red and yellow.
What you'll probably
find is that there are colors in items that you didn't want selected but
for which you couldn't isolate. For these, you have to use the Keying
editor. Put a copy of the clip in the track below this track, and turn it
to B&W. Now on the top track, add the Classic Keying Editor and key out
the problem areas. This will allow the B&W on the track below to show
through. Note that the keying editor is keyframeable, so you can change
the keys to follow the action in the scene.
Color passes can be difficult if you pick the wrong colors to work on. For
example, it's very difficult to isolate pale reds, pinks, yellows, orange,
and brown as these are normally found in human skin tones. It's much
easier to isolate vibrant colors.
Curtesy: Dave Stone
Color
correction with Multi-Cam editing
One method is
to color correct each clip as needed, fuse the corrected clips and use
them in the editor. On long projects this can be very time consuming
and space sensitive.
For long
clips, or otherwise....
No need to color correct the entire clip and fuse. Instead,
1. Perform the color correction desired to a small portion of the clip or
clips in question
2. Create a Rack called "Custom" in the FX section
3. Right click on the color bar at the top of the clip and choose copy.
4. Right click in the "Custom" rack and choose paste. Do this for each
clip corrected. You have now created custom correction
effects that can be dragged and dropped onto clips when needed.
5. Name each of the newly created Icons according to camera.
5. When the multicam editing is completed, drag the appropriate picon from
the rack to position where needed.
This circumvents rendering of video that is ultimately not going to be
used.
The other methods work as well but I've found this to be a saver of time
and hard drive space.
Application of
color correction to multiple clips or scenes
Once the color
corrections is applied to one clip you can right click on the "red line"
and copy the FX and paste it to subsequent clips.
You can also store the current settings as reference sets. This option is
located in the bottom right hand corner of the extended display.
Primer on Color Correction
A primer on color balancing footage:
First, the tools you want are the 1, 2 & 3 point gray balance keys. Load
your shot, now go to the:
1 point Gray balance key.
You'll have a little cursor. That cursor will sample about a 3 pixel area.
What you want to do is find an area that you would say should have been
gray when you were shooting the scene. White walls with shadows, gray
concrete curbs, a pale white sky...these work well, as do someone with a
white shirt, just find the shadow area (not black shadow, the gray
ones...the idea here is gray balance). Now left click on that area. The
scene will be rewhite balanced based on this area. That is quick and
dirty. Don't like the results, try another area, keep clicking and
experimenting. You'll get a better idea the more you play with it and soon
you'll know the best areas for clicking.
2 point gray balance key.
This is more refined color balancing. Same concept, but now you have to
find two points and in this case, you want to find a light gray and dark
gray area in the scene. So select 2 point gray balance and now click on
the light gray area in your scene, hold and drag to the dark gray point.
Release. With two color points, you get more information for the scene to
use to calculate the color correction.
3 point gray balance.
This is the big boy. Ok, when you click on it you get 3 points on the
screen, white, black and gray, with lines connecting them. You want to put
one of the three points first on the whitest white, next the darkest dark
and finally the middle tone gray. Take the first point, doesn't matter
which, and drag it to the whitest point. Next, grab the middle dot and
drag it to the middle tone gray. Finally, drag the last dot to the
blackest black. Now, when all three points are there, nothing
happens...WHAT!?!? You have to right click on the mouse in the image area
to apply the three point gray balance. Viola! Even more refined color
correction.
Of course, the best thing is to do it right the first time, in the camera,
and get a good balance. Not always possible, so try the above.
If all else fails, higher one of those DaVinci guys at their meager rate
of $250/hr and have them do it for you ;'D
Hope this helps as a crash course,
Signature:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Murphy
Pinnacle Systems
Product Specialist
drive letter:\Pinnacle\Edition\Media\Test Patterns\NTSC (or Pal) and
choose from the following:
75% Color Bars.tif
Active Picture Mark.tif
Convergence.tif
Full Field Pluge.tif
Pulse and Bar.tif
SKI Check Field.tif
Serial Black.tif
SMPTE Color Bars.tif
You might want to copy these to a directory of your choice.
The build rack from sequence has been replaced by the condense
feature. If you right click on a sequence or clip, you will get a condense
or consolidate choice. Condense will make a rack with the clips you need
to recapture. You can also do this and then just rebatch the sequence with
a right click, same idea.
Consolidate will make a digital copy of the media you used, you still need
to go in and manually delete the original clip. For instance, if you have
a 10 minute clip and only used 1 minute of it, consolidate will make a
digital copy of the 1 minutes worth and then you can delete the 10 minute
original piece.
PIN OUT for DB9 Femal to DB9 Male cable for machine control
Here is the PINOUT of the DB9 Female > DB9 Male cable :
Female - pin 2 to > Male - pin 2
Female - pin 3 to > Male - pin 8
Female - pin 5 to > Male - pin 3, 4 and 6
Female - pin 7 link to 8 ( to work with PipeLine VTR Pro Software, not
needed to work with LE 5.5 )
An Online Demo of which provides an excellent overview and virtual tour of
EditionDV and it's features. This demo is also applicable in many
respects to Liquid Studio.
I'm not sure that there is a single answer to the question "How many hard
drives?"
Ideally and practically a uniques system drive and two video drives, large
enough and compatible speed-wise with your worlk flow needs should
suffice. That's in an ideal world.
I
have three systems with LE on each of them. Two of the systems have heavy
workflow requirements with multiple ongoing projects of one type or
another. I find myself adding drives to accomodate the workflow. On my
system with the most usage I have a SCSI chain with 8 drives, 2sets of 4
striped, an external firewire 400 case with 4 drives striped into two sets
along with my favorite which is a firewire 900 "G" drive. Also on this
system I have additional large USB drives which only come into play for
backup work, one for myself and others for unique clients..
Note: I use the SCSI's because I've had them forever and because no one
uses them much anymore, they can be had relatively cheap if you search.
Also in favor of the SCSI's, they don't use CPU cycles. On the down side
is the fact that SCSI drives are more expensive and the capacity is
somewhat limited.
Another excellent solution is the external eSata drives. They are cheap
and the throughput is 300MB. I am currently replacing the SCSI’s in my
systems with these. If your system is not equipped with an external eSata
port the installation of an eSata card will be necessary. Note that an
external combo USB/Firewire/eSata drives are cheap. My Favorite is the
G-Drive Q seriesCPU time to get the job done.
I
guess the bottom line in answer to the question is another question, "How
many can you keep your head around to accomodate your need without
interfering with your workflow?"
Once you have your new drives in place and active on the system....
1. Open Edition / Liquid
2. Go to >Start>Tools>Logging Tool
3. Below your logging window there is a drop down requester where you
choose drives.
4. Click on the "AV" icon on the left of the requester window
5. Choose "Add" option, navigate to, and add the new drive.
6. Choose the drive of your choice prior to capturing your footage.
To the right, next to the clip info is a plus sign. If you click on it,
(toggling it to the on position) the clips will incrementally increase by
one each time the logging button is pushed.
In your instance once you have set the mark in, you should be able to hit
the digitize button to commence recording. When you have reached the
desired out point, hit the digitize icon again to complete the process.
To manually digitize, roll tape, hit the "digitize" button. It will turn
red and recoding will commence. To terminate the recording process, once
again hit the "digitize" button and recording will cease. You will get the
busy icon while the clip is finalized on the hard drive.
Do not terminate the manual capture process in any other manner or the
clip will not be available.
When logging, and you have entered both the in and out points you must use
the "log clip" icon to complete the logging process for each clip.
What I normally do is, once all clips are logged, I close the logging tool
interface. From the rack I'll choose the >right mouse>capture> and choose
selected clips or all. Go have coffee and come back when the job is done.
The calculator
was originally designed for DVD, but has been updated and can now be used
to determine the bitrate values for several different formats. All the
calculations are done in your browser, by a script. Therefore you need a
browser with JavaScript support, and script execution must be enabled.
This calculator has been tested in Opera, Mozilla and IE.
I've made, to date, hundreds of DVD's using Liquid. Many with one and two
page menus and some with extensive menus. One with a menu system that was
8 deep and four to six pages pages per menu. Had a couple problems with
content by never with the menu structure.
Simple procedure...
1. Complete the timeline and renders
2. Bring up the markers list and delete any existing markers
3. Go the the beginning of timeline
4. Make sure all tracks are active
5. With the playline at the beginning of the timeline hit the U key on the
keyboard to select everthing from the playline to the end of the timline
6. With the entire contents selected, click on the first clip and move
the entire timeline content to begin at about 15 seconds (your choice)
7. Navigate your timeline and place markers anywhere menu interaction is
desired
8. Place the playline at the very beginning of the timeline, zero....
9. Make sure you are in the insert edit mode
10. Select the DVD menu wizard
11. Choose from the selection of templates available
12. Select only the Sequence markers checkbox
13. Choose apply
14. If cosmetic menu changes are desired, choose "Edit Menu" at this time
and make desired changes to the background, layout, holding frames, fonts,
etc.... (Note: This new layout can be saved as a template for future use
and reference before returning to the authoring.)
15. Choose OK when completed
16. Picons can be changed by moving the playline to desired position and
choosing "Set Picon".
17. Double click on existing text to change content.
18. Preview DVD
19. If all is working as expected, exit the preview mode, then click on
the running man and exit the DVD authoring mode.
20. You are now ready to enter the "File > Burn to Disc > DVD mode.
DVD Menu Creation Single menu and simple multiple menu creation
I'd have to interject here that I've made
hundreds of DVD's some with no menu's, a great number with average simple
multi-page menus and a few with fairly complex menu structures, seven or
eight menus several pages deep with six links per page.
I've had very few problems with the resulting DVD's compatibility
restricted to an older Panasonic set top recorder. If I can get it to play
there, it'll play anywhere.
That being said, there are times when a project requires more than LE can
offer by way of DVD authoring. That's why the the alternative authoring
progams often cost as much and sometimes way more that the prices of LE.
It get's to be a pretty exacting science in it's own way, dependent of the
project demands.
I have other authoring options which I use from time to time depending on
the circumstance. These are DVDLab, Sonic DVDit Pro 6, and Sony's Vegas
DVD 4.0.
I'm not so sure that a training workshop of some kind and more in depth
tutorials wouldn't solve many of the problems related to LE's DVD
authoring.
My workflow for the basic menu is
1. Finish the timeline
2. Place the playline at the head of timeline
3. Hit the keyboard U key
4. Move the entire timeline to a desired position, i.e. @ 15 seconds
5. Remove all existing markers
6. Set markers at desired chapter points
7. Set the playline to the very beginning of the timeline (zero)
8. Open the DVD wizard
9. Select and double click a template that remotely resembles what I could
use and modify
10. Click the sequence markers box and clear other boxes
11. Choose apply. Grab an edge of the menu and stretch to the desired
length.
12. The menu is created using as many pages as required for the project
13. Important: No matter how many menu's or pages, this is the time to
open the menu in the menu edit mode and make changes to the background,
frames, etc. Opening a menu in the Edit Menu mode at a later time is
likely to destroy may settings that are in place.
Multiple menu (Master menu and chapters menu)
1. Finish the timeline
2. Place the playline at the head of timeline
3. Hit the keyboard U key
4. Move the entire timeline to a desired position, i.e. @ 30 seconds
leaving room for multiple menus
5. Remove all existing markers
6. Set markers at desired chapter points
7. Set the playline to the very beginning of the timeline (zero)
8. Open the DVD wizard
9. Select and double click a template that remotely resembles what I could
use and modify
10. Click the sequence markers box and clear other boxes
11. Important. Select "Skip" instead of apply.
12. A menu will be created at the playline position.
13. Click on this menu on the timeline, hold the control key and drag it
to the right and release. A second menu, (copy of the first) will be
created.)
14. With this second menu hightlighted, select the auto link tab.
15. Making sure that the "Sequence Markers" box is checked, select "Apply"
at this time.
12. The menu structure is created using as many pages as required for the
project
13. Now click on the first menu (Menu 1) that was initially created.
14. Clicking on the first picon in that menu, drag it and drop it onto the
second menu on the timeline, thereby creating a link to menu 2.
15. Click on the second menu, locate and click on the last UNUSED PICON,
drag and drop it onto the first menu on the timeline, creating a link to
menu 1.
16. Choose apply. Grab an edge of the menu and stretch to the desired
length.
17. IMPORTANT: Prior to adding addition links via drag and drop placement,
etc., NOW is the time to use the "Edit Menu" option! No matter how many
menu's or pages, this is the time to open the menu in the menu edit mode
and make changes to the background, titles, frames, buttons, etc. Opening
a menu in the "Edit" Menu mode at a later time is likely to destroy many
link settings that are in place.
18. Once the menu is edited as desired close and return to the timeline.
19. Click preview to review the results.
IMPORTANT: Make sure that the first menu is exactly at the very beginning
of the timeline. Failure to do may result in an error message prior to
preview.
Additing additional
chapter points to an existing page
Example: I have 8
chapters on the timeline. I want them all to appear on one page.
1. Add markers to timeline as needed
2. Open the DVD Wizard
3. Choose a menu from the selections available, double click your choice
4. By pass the options of automatically adding chapter points
5. Open the menu in the Menu editor
6. Select the available menu items/chapters by holding the CTL key and
clicking until all are selected
7. Click on the corner of the multiple selection marquee
8. Drag, position and and resize until menus are of suitable size to
accomodate the 8 chapter points
9. Ctl-click on menus to be aligned and use the alignment tool
10. Click on and highlight the last menu
11. Use the Ctl-C to copy
12. Use Ctl-V to create additional menu items as desire
13. Highligh items, position them and use the alignment menu to position.
Add modifications to the background, highlight colors, buttons, etc.
14. Close the Menu editor to return to DVD editor
15. Click on the AutoLink tab and click in the Sequence Marker box
16. Choose "Apply". There are now 8 chapter Icons on the single page
17. Double click each text box and change menu text
18. Select the "Links" tabe
19. Click on each of the chapter picons to access that chapter on the
timeline
20 Scub the timeline at each chapter point to locate an appropriate
chapter picon
21. Click on the Set picon button in the DVD menu bar
Also note:
The Menu Editor can also be used to delete existing chapter points, then
reposition and re-size those remaining in the event that only a couple of
chapters points are required.
1. Create or
edit digitized clips in a rack or racks and set length equal to that of
your menu. Using LE 7 simply set the desired in point and the length is
automatically set when placed.
2. Open the DVD Menu
3. Open media manager folder, lower left of editor
4. Drag desired clips onto desired buttons.
In order to achieve
active playback from menu buttons a link between the button and the
timeline must be created.
1. Drag desired
button to desired location in timeline. A link between the location
and the button will be created at the point where the button was
released... or
2. Set timeline markers before the creation of the DVD menu and
designate timeline markers as links.
Transpareny background
selected in the Menu editor will allow an active video background to be
used on the menu...
1. Exit the menu
editor
2. Choose a desired clip from a rack for use as background
3. Set the length to menu length. Using LE 7 simply set the desired
in point and the length is automatically set when placed.
4. Open the media manager on the lower left of timeline
5. Drag the designated / desired clip and drop it onto the
background area of the menu.
Exporting to DVD
Real time using Set top Recorders
If all you require is DVD with simple menus, probably the best way to go
is to get a Panasonic DMR-E20 or one of the other available stand alone
DVD Recorders and record directly from the timeline to the deck.
I've been using the E20 for some time and am very happy with the results.
Limited menus but excellent DVD quality.
No render, no muss, no fuss...
If you want to go one step further and create a DVD with custom menus,
continue on to the next topic below.
The tutorial on the left deals with converting VOB files created by the
DMR-E20 or DMR-E30, (or other sources) to MV2 Mpg and AC3 audio for use in
DVD authoring programs, DVDit PE works very well for this process and
handles the AC3 audio format.
This process is very simple and the conversion process is way faster than
real time.
Thanks to: Anton Strauss for his expertise assistance and permission.
It
is with great retiscence that I mention this topic again since my last
episode left me with some egg dripping off the end of my nose but it seems
that I will never learn. My problem is that again I have a problem with
DVD's -skipping at cuts. My work flow was to use the m2V and Ac3 files
from liquid and take them into DVD lab. I made doubly certain that the DVD
player had clean lenses and when I tested the offending DVD I did so in
two other machines and on two computers. In all cases the skipping was
clearly visible and was witnessed by two others.
I solved this issue by avoiding demuxing in DVD lab. I instead imported
the file from the video ts folder created by Liquid using the "join VOB's"
option and choosing not to Demux. The resulting DVD was perfect and didn't
look like skipping.
In researching the cause of this issue it occured to me that one of the
contributing causes could be a data rate peak after each cut. In fact when
I measured the data rates using a plug in for DVD lab I found (not
surprisingly) that the data rates did peak after cuts . When I encode
using liquid I set the maximum data rate to 4700 (average 4500) however,
I measured the peaks with DVD lab at about 6900, so clearly the limiter on
the VBR encoding either doesn't always work or is modified by other
considerations.Why preventing demuxing in DVD lab cures the problem I
don't know? however this is what I observed.
This also explains why few others on this forum would see this problem
because most people use liquid to encode, author and burn. and the
resultant video ts folder created by Liquid does not show the problem .
Hope this may be of value to some fellow traveller.
The
system may have problems for one reason or another, in locating your
firewire input device. This will often be accompanied by a "HW
Version error. No hardware found" message. Use this procedure to
check if the device is recognized by the operating system. If
Edition is running, close Edition and turn off your input device.
1. Right click
on "My Computer".
2. Go to Manage and choose device manager.
3. Make sure camera is plugged in
4. Turn camera on.
5. You should see the camera show up under "Imaging Devices" if you're
using the OHCI driver.
6. If you're using Texas Instrument device drivers you may have to look
for the camera to show up under the "Sound, video and Game Controllers.
If your device is not present in either of the locations, you may
have to check for problems with the firewire cord, the card, or the camera
source.
If it has shown up in one of these areas, Edition should be able to find
it.
I have been using a Sony GV-D900 with the built in 5 inch LCD monitor for
quite some time now with excellent results. In fact it has worked so well
for me, not only as a source deck but also for other applications such as
sourcing my duplication and deck-to-deck transfers that I purchased a
second unit.
I'm sure there are various other decks that will fill the bill as well.
DVD burners are becoming too
numerous to keep track of. It is best to check with Pinnacle
or Avid Websites for a current update listings of compatible
burners.
A DVD can contain several menus, each of which may contain
many pages or chapters. Each menu will auto link to it's next page when
the current links on that page are used, an overflow so to speak, thereby
enabling the "previous and forward" button feature of the existing page.
Here is the procedure for creating additonal menus and
links between them.
1. Open the "Project Browser", (Folder Icon, left and
above timeline.
2. Locate DVD Menu which closely resembles what you wish to do,
enable Icon view
3. Click and drag the selection of your choice to the timeline and
place it, next to but downstream of your existing menu
4. Close Project Browser
5. Open the DVD editor
6. Select an unused Icon from the first menu and drag it to the
newly placed menu
7. Navigate to the second menu and drag an unused Icon from there to
your first menu
8. With the DVD Editor open you can select from any of the existing
templates and apply this to your current active menu
9. Add as many menus as you need using this process
Here's an
example as follows for a menu with two buttons - order of layers from top
to bottom:
(^2) Button 2 Hi Lite
(#2) Button 2
(^1) Button 1 Hi Lite
(#1) Button 1
(B) Background
Save off your .psd file with layers and open Edition.
Open the DVD Menu Wizard. This is a button on the extreme right hand side
with other buttons such as the 2D/3D editor, Audio Editor etc. The icon
has the letters "DVD" with a flash type arrow running underneath.
If it's not there you can right mouse click in the area and hit
"Customize". The icon you need is in the "Special" tab.
When in the DVD Menu wizard it opens a "Templates" tab. Hit the browse
button and find the folder containing the psd file.
You should see all acceptable files in the window. Highlight the one you
want.
To the top right is a space to type in the duration of the menu. It's set
to a default of 3 secs. It's good to set the menu to at least 30 secs for
a static menu - but you can adjust the length if you are running video or
audio in your menu.
Alternatively the duration can be adjusted on the timeline by extended the
clip manually - simliar to the editing process.
Now hit the "Insert Source Into Master" arrow. This can also be switched
to "Film Mode" as in normal editing functions.
The Menu will now appear on the timeline in the DVD Menu track. The first
time you drop it in, it will create a DVD Menu channel. Any menus added
after that - you'll have to select the track manually in the same way you
select a track when dropping clips onto the timeline.
The wizard gives you further options at this point - although I tend to
come out at this point and do everything manually from now on.
Close the DVD Menu Wizard with the top right hand icon.
You can double-click on the menu in the timeline and this opens the DVD
Menu Editor. You can create all the links etc. in here.
In your instance once you have set the mark in, you should be able to hit
the digitize button to commence recording. When you have reached the
desired out point, hit the digitize icon again to complete the process.
To manually digitize, roll tape, hit the "digitize" button. It will turn
red and recoding will commence. To terminate the recording process, once
again hit the "digitize" button and recording will cease. You will get the
busy icon while the clip is finalized on the hard drive.
Do not terminate the manual capture process in any other manner or the
clip will not be available.
When logging, and you have entered both the in and out points you must use
the "log clip" icon to complete the logging process for each clip.
What I normally do is, once all clips are logged, I close the logging tool
interface. From the rack I'll choose the >right mouse>capture> and choose
selected clips or all. Go have coffee and come back when the job is done.
Additing additional
chapter points to an existing page
Example: I have 8
chapters on the timeline. I want them all to appear on one page.
1. Add markers to timeline as needed
2. Open the DVD Wizard
3. Choose a menu from the selections available, double click your choice
4. By pass the options of automatically adding chapter points
5. Open the menu in the Menu editor
6. Select the available menu items/chapters by holding the CTL key and
clicking until all are selected
7. Click on the corner of the multiple selection marquee
8. Drag, position and and resize until menus are of suitable size to
accomodate the 8 chapter points
9. Ctl-click on menus to be aligned and use the alignment tool
10. Click on and highlight the last menu
11. Use the Ctl-C to copy
12. Use Ctl-V to create additional menu items as desire
13. Highligh items, position them and use the alignment menu to position.
Add modifications to the background, highlight colors, buttons, etc.
14. Close the Menu editor to return to DVD editor
15. Click on the AutoLink tab and click in the Sequence Marker box
16. Choose "Apply". There are now 8 chapter Icons on the single page
17. Double click each text box and change menu text
18. Select the "Links" tabe
19. Click on each of the chapter picons to access that chapter on the
timeline
20 Scub the timeline at each chapter point to locate an appropriate
chapter picon
21. Click on the Set picon button in the DVD menu bar
Also note:
The Menu Editor can also be used to delete existing chapter points, then
reposition and re-size those remaining in the event that only a couple of
chapters points are required.
Executive Software has, IMHO, the best by far
HD defrag program avaialbe, a must have item which I've used since version
1.0. However, less known is another utility they market called "Undelete"
which I've also used for years and which has bailed me out of many a tight
spot.
Tonight I discovered just how useful it can be with Liquid in recovering a
clip.
Ever hit the wrong button during the digitize process and discover one
click away that you've aborted the digitization? I have on occasion. DId
it tonight on a 25 minute capture.
Just for grins, I opened up the "Recovery Bin" and lo and behold, there
was the aborted clip. I hit the restore button and chose a location, then
opened LE and imported the clip, weird name but intact. Had it auto locate
and create clips, back up and running.
It is possible that
menus which are too close together may cause VOB errors.
I certian
circumstances, a VOB error could be created by having two menus that are
two close to each other, or indeed a menu that is too close to any other
object, such as a sound or video or image clip.
Solution: Try moving
them appart by a minimum of three seconds.
See the tutorial like on the left for a step by step process with images
Do this in the rack...
Step One
1. Right click on camera clip
2. Choose properties
3. De-Select video
4. Repeat on second and subsequent cameras
Then...
Step Two
1. Double click on clip and audio graph only will appear in your preview
monitor
2. Find a distintly identifiable spot on track
3. Place marker, (NOT MARK IN) at this point
4. Repeat this with subsequent clips
Now go back to step one and re-enable the video
Step Three
1. Send clip from camera A to timeline, you will see the markers that were
set in the previous step
2. Drag clip from camera B to the timeline onto track above camera A
3. Slide Camera B clip until it's markers align with Camera A markers
4. Once the markers are relativly aligned, zoom in on the timeline to a
frame view and fine tune the alignment
Tip for editing
1. Disband the lower track, Camera A so the audio track is available
2. Turn on audio graph on this track
3. In the area on the left of the timeline, click so this track is not
active and will not be affected by cuts, etc.
4. Audio can be enabled or dis-abled on the video tracks when and as
desired.
5. Use the PIP on the Camera B (upper) track allowing view of both tracks
at once
6. Place cuts as desired, restrained to upper track only and delete
unwanted footage
Keep in mind that the upper track has playback priority...
Place the most desirable clip (cam A) on the bottom track.
Protect this track from cuts and edits by selecting "protected", right
mouse selection in the "name" area on the right.
Place the second clip on the track above. Click on all "audio" icons
until they are off on this track.
If you're using Edition 5 use one of the realtime PIP clip effects on
the upper track. You can now see both tracks in the preview.
Add a camera? Add a PIP.
At this point you will have the upper video playing with the audio
from the lower track.
Scroll the timeline until you find a "keeper" scene in the upper
track.
Cut the track at this point. If you've done all correctly the cut
should only affect the upper track and related audio.
You can now peel back the area around the cut, which will reveal the
lower track.
Use this method to determine and select the in and out points, making
a cut at each end.
Continue through the project repeating this process.
You can delete the sections you do not wish to keep from the upper
track. Make sure you're in the video edit style rather than film.
Once finished, go back and fine tune the in
and out points.
1. De-activate all tracks no to be affected by clicking on the "Name" box
at the beginning of the timeline.
2. Tracks that are de-activated will be dark in color
3. The only active track should be the track to be manipulated.
4. This track will be light grey in the track title area indicating that
it is active.
5. Place the playline inidicater at the beginning of the timeline
6. Group select the clips on the active track by clicking on the double
arrow icon (Select tracks after playline), above the timeline
7. Use the keyboard to collapse the tracks by holding the control key and
pressing the down arrow cursor to collapse the tracks.
Liquid
Edition's unique CX Color Correction offers a wealth of tools for top
quality professional primary and secondary color correction including, but
not limited to, one and three point tone, grey and color balance, primary
and secondary selective color correction and a full set of color scopes.
Dynamic
Slow Motion
Dynamic Slow
Motion provides exceptionally fine control over the speed of clips and
optimizes the ability to make adjustments to speed over time.
Networked Drives
With Liquid
Edition it is possible to use networked drives as well as local drives for
direct playback and rendering in a networked workgroup environment. When
attached to a Pinnacle Palladium solution, Liquid Edition benefits from
guaranteed high bandwidth video connections, as well as workgroup
productivity improvements.
XSend Communication to Broadcast Products
Liquid Edition
offers options such as XSend to Pinnacle Thunder and DekoCast, as well as
communication with broadcast servers, automation and asset management
systems. These interfaces provide for direct exchange of media and
metadata for workflow integration. Furthermore, XSend to Macromedia Flash
Video Files allows one to send video clips and projects directly to
Macromedia Flash MX for applying enhancements targeted for web
distribution.
RS-422 Machine Control
Professionals
will appreciate the greater responsiveness and improved accuracy of deck
and device control when using the RS-422 machine control built into Liquid
Edition.
DVCPRO25 Support
In addition to
DV and DVCAM, Liquid Edition supports DVCPRO25 as a native codec.
Jog/Shuttle Control Support
Pinnacle
offers a broadcast quality Jog/Shuttle controller for fine control of the
tape machines and editing in the timeline.
Midi Support
Control sound
levels in Liquid Edition's audio editor via external faders attached by
Midi.
ALE/OMFI Project Support
Liquid
Edition's ability to import and export ALE files allows for the open
exchange of clips, bins and project metadata with other editing systems,
audio post production suites and asset management databases.
Sony Cliplink Support
With Sony
Cliplink support, you can save time and resources by directly importing
all Cliplink cut points and picons on capture.
Blue stars indicate that the clip has an effect which is active, perhaps
audio adjustment, etc.
In any even, right click on the Icon or clip and choose FX Properties. You
should be able to see what fx is in play. You can toggle the effect on or
off by removing the check in the checkbox.
Assigning a different effect as the default transition to the add dissolve
function. You basically can add any default transition you like. This also
allows the use of HollywoodFX.Follow these steps:
1. Create the effect you want as the default.
2. Go the the FX tab and create a new rack if one doesn't exist.
3. Copy and paste the effect you like in the the new rack in the FX
tab.
4. While holding the control key down, right click on the effect and
select the new menu choice that appears labeled, "Set as System
Object">EDL default DVE
1.
Open FX-Properties and select all FX with the mouse choose copy, click on
next clip and rightmouse-click paste in FX-Properties, or paste them to
the rack.
2. Keep the Clip FX Properties dialog open, select all FX, and then
move from clip to clip while pasting the same group of selected FX into
the dialog!!
Variation:
Copy and paste each effect created into a single rack. Select all the
effects to be used on a clip, copy them and paste them all at once onto
that clip and they are saved in a rack for future use. Amazing!!
Variation:
Paste the FX directly on the video track. All clips on this track have the
filter applied automatically.
Tip: Create a
project giving it a unique name, i.e., “My Effects”, and save it with your
rack of FX. Use this project to cut and paste the FX rack into a new
project. Open “My Effects” project to add additional effets via cut
and paste.
A detailed and in depth description of the Liquid Editors and effects.
What they are, how they work and what the do. Go to:
Mike Shaw's Pages on Edition
BorisFX, Boris Red and Grafitti. A whole new world of unlimited effects
and transitions. This is also a "must have" utility for serious
production work. Fast, intuitive and easy to use with an excellent
support system.
NOTE:
Adobe has purchased Cool Edit Pro and released it as "Adobe Audition".
This is an excellent audio editing program to say the least. More
powerful than ever, Adobe Audition is packed with the latest and greatest
features
that the digital audio industry has to offer, yet retains the ease of
use that has won the favor of a growing community of users worldwide.
If you are, what codec are you using? If you're saving as uncompressed
.avi files there's no way most systems will play this file back
smoothly.... that being said, there are many usable options under export
to choose from once the final use of the finished file is determined.
If you simply want a DV compliant .avi of your finished project, "Fuse" is
the option you should use.
Other options would be to save out as Mpeg4 format. These files playback
very well on most up to date systems using Media Player.
I have also gotten excellent results saving to .avi and converting to .wmv
using Microsoft’s WM8 encoder.
I recently did an interactive CD using Multimedia Builder, which contains
around a hundred video clips totaling about an hour and twenty minutes of
video at 320 x 240. Demo at...
If you're using firewire and you switch off your source, Edition will go
into the "emulation mode" until it sees a valid firewire device to talk
to. It's not a bug, it's a feature.
The fused file is a complete new file. I often fuse a section after it has
rendered so that I can use it in another section of video, adding titles
to it, etc., in order to avoid redundant rendering. I often fuse to save
clips for use in other projects, being careful to send them to unique
directories, which I create for archival purposes.
I will also fuse finished projects, saving them to another directory so
that I can dump the present project and free up drive space.
You could, as you did, fuse the sequence and then highlight the clips in
your rack and choose delete. You have an option at this stage of deleting
"Clips" or "All corresponding media files" material on the hard drive or
both. If you leave the clips, I believe you can re-capture them at such
time as you need them.
For locating those elusive "gaps" in the timeline..
1. Right click on tool bar
2. Choose the "Player" menu
3. Select "Go to next gap" or "Go to previous gap"
4. Take appropriate action if gaps are located
This is (as you no
doubt guessed) as designed and a marketing decision. You can still get to
the classic interface by going to the shortcut icon, access the properties
and after the location string edit the Target text to read:
1. Program Files/Avid/Avid Liquid7/Program/Resource. Look for the
file: FS.VMB
2. Make a copy and rename it: FS.BMP
3. Open it in a photo program and alter the image
4, Then, rename back to .VMB and replace the original
As these are just
standard HDV miniDV camcorders you should have no problem using them with
Liquid. However, getting HDV from any camcorder into Liquid can be tricky.
1. Do not use
EZCapture. Use the logging tool.
2. Make sure the
output of camera, in the camera menu, is NOT set to Automatic but is set
to HDV output for firewire.
3. Make sure you
create an HDV timeline before you begin capturing.
4. Make sure the
output options are also set correctly for your camera (it should be HDV2).
You do this in the Liquid control Panel under Site>System
Settings>Input/Outputs>Video Outputs>IEEE 1394 and set the Mpeg output
format to HDV2.
5. It sometimes helps
to have the camera playing the video before you attempt to capture.
5. Finally, when you
connect the camera to your computer with the camera locked to HDV output
(not auto) make sure it is recognized by XP in My Computer as an AVC
device before you start Liquid.
All flight control is now handled through
the wheel you see with Flight Rotation. It can be done to positive or
negative 359 degrees.
Re-installation problems: Solution 1
First write down your HFX serial number. If you can't find your
number, locate the easy_FX.EXE file in the Edition/HFX subdirectory.
Double click--this brings up the standalone HFX editor. On the bottom
edge of the dialog if you click the ABOUT button, it will display the
serial and machine ID.
Un-installing it doesn't seem to remove all remnants of the program for
some reason.
Here's what to do...
1. Un-install Hollywood FX.
2. Go to My Computer open
3. Right click on the System (C:) drive
4. Select search from the drop down menu
5. Enter the following into the search criteria: HFX*
6. Delete any files that come up
Re install Hollywood FX and you should be good to go. If problems
remain you may have to use regedit to locate Hollywood FX keys in the
registry and delete them as well.
During install of Edition 5 make sure that
you install Edition with the same media and render directories as Edition
4.5. Edition 5 should detect those directories and auto-select them. If
not, you will have to manually specify these directories.
After Installing Liquid restart your computer and launch Liquid.
Once open, go to Pinnacle Start>Projects>open/Create Projects and
browse to the previous Liquid Project directory.
You can now open your previous projects although you may be presented
with a prompt asking if you would like to create a back up whcih is a
good idea. You should see all your clips and associated media in
the project window. If not then media management settings need to be
configured.
Go to Pinnacle Start>settings>Site>media Management.
Make sure you have the correct path specified for your media files.
If you add a new path you will have to shut down Liquid and restart
for the additional paths to be functional.
OnceLiquid has restarted, your media should be viewable in your
project file. If files are still missing, then most likely the media
was moved or renamed using Windows Explorer, or it was an imported
clip that was not in the media location specified.
Go to the Project Window. Right click in the open area of a rack and
select “verify imported media”, select “all in rack”, and then select
“copy” from the pull-down menu. This should re-link all imported
media. If Edition can not find a media file a dialog will appear that
will allow you to manually locate the media.
If your project media files have moved and are not viewable in Liquid 5
you will need to move these files to the location that they were
previously. It is important that the drive letter and path for your
project media
Open the project
browser box (it's the small project dialog to the left of the timeline,
not the large independent dialog box). Right-click on the Show Rack Tree
icon (it's the little tree icon above the list of sequences). This lets
you pick from the list of recently opened projects. Change to the project
and you now have access to the sequences and clips. You can drag them into
the current timeline and edit. You can also use copy and paste to paste a
copy into your original rack. To get back to the working project,
right-click on the Show Rack Tree icon and choose Working Project.
There is no basic difference between importing an .avi or a sequence of
.tga's into Edition.
For best results, use the .tga's with alpha channel. They will be saved
with sequential numbering.
1. Choose import media clip from the rack.
2. Navigate to the desired directory holding the sequence.
3. Make sure that the "Auto Detect Animation" box is checked.
4. Select the first frame of the sequence only
5. The animation will be instantly imported with the alpha channel intact.
6. Drag it to the desired location on the timeline and place it on a track
above the video to be overlaid.
1. Choose import media clip from the rack.
2. Navigate to the desired directory holding the sequence.
3. Make sure that the "Auto Detect Animation" box is NOT checked.
4. Group select the desired range of images
5. The selected individual images will be imported as single frames.
The JKL keys become your access to playback functions. As you can see, the
"J, K, and L" keys are together on the keyboard and readily accessible.
They will control your source deck as well as your preview and timeline
functions. They perform in the following manner:
The "J" will provide you with reverse playback. Tapping it repeatedly
will provide an incrementally faster reverse preview.
The "K" is the pause key
The "L" will cause forward play. Repeated tapping of the "L" key will
provide an incrementally faster preview.
When the audio scrubbing key in toggled to the "on" position it provides
the same audio scrubbing along with the video.
If you have not
remapped your keyboard, pressing the P key will show every frame and
pressing the bracket key to the right of P will show entire timeline.
Re: Keying and Overlays. In Edition and LiquidStudio the upper
tracks have dominance on the timeline. This being to case, the background
would be the bottom most track and clips with effects or overlays would be
stacked, in order, above this track.
Try setting all the parameters, i.e., size, borders, shadows, etc., in
keyframe 1 and copy this frame to the existing end keyframe. This then
becomes the image that will be affected by any additional manipulation.
Some of the editors have an option that toggles the use of keyframes on or
off.
Edition 5 will allow drag and drop of parameters to keyframes via the icon
in the left menu.
When using the "Mark In" and "Mark Out" on the timeline, etc., it is
important to understand how they work and what they represent. Example:
1. Single clip on timeline = to 180 frames in length
2. "Mark In" at beginning visually represents frame 01
3. "Mark Out" at end visually represents frame 181 or black
Therefore it is important when marking an entire sequence or clip to be
used in XSend, Fuse, or Container to back up one frame from the end before
placing the "Mark Out" and proceeding.
Back to Index
Here's how it works, there is a logic to
the madness:
When you capture, Liquid will create
a directory on the harddrive, typically, if you went with the defaults,
it will be R:/FS_Media_AV or R:/Media_AV (R is your capture directory
and could be any drive letter, R is the standard Pinnacle uses).
When you create a new reel in the
logging tool, a Reels folder in the FS_Media_AV directory is created and
a subfolder with your reel name is generated. So you'll have
R:/FS_Media_AV/Reels/'Tape Name'
Within the 'Tape Name' folder (where
tape name is arbitrary, you create this when you log tapes), a lot of
clips will be created. They are named based on the TC start,
drop/nondrop tag, TC End, drop/nondrop tag, V0 for video track 1, or
A0/A1 for audio tracks. Then you'll get the extension, likely .dif, .avi
or .wav. There will be a lot of supporting files.
So if you know your footage came from a
tape called My Shots, go to the R: drive, FS_Media/Reels/My Shots/ and
look for the TC that your shots came from. Are they there?? If so, your
media is still online. If not, you're hosed. LIQUID WILL NOT DELETE
FOOTAGE ON ITS OWN. If the media is missing, something or someone deleted
it. Check for Gremlins under your table.
If it is there, go to the Start Menu>Control Panel>Site tab>Media
Management. Now choose the directory that is one step back from the Reels
folder, in the case above, it would be mapped R:/FS_Media_AV and then you
would exit. If the footage is there, it will magically appear in the rack.
If it is in another directory, you have to map that directory. Search for
spurious Reels folders on the capture drive. Point the MM to that
directory. I have worked on Liquids for 6 years and never lost a clip.
Finally, this procedure is for clips captured from a tape or live source.
For graphics or imports, use Andy's procedure which is
Right click on the clip and check
properties. Under the video tab should be the drive name, folder and
location of the clip.
(Can you locate these clips using this information, using windows
explorer and be certain that they do exist on your system?
If they do...
Right click on an empty space in the rack and choose verify media and
select all clips.
If the clips are not found, you should get a requester which will allow
you to browse to the proper location and re-establish connection with
the missing clips.
I organize my
projects by using the Media Management in the Liquid control panel. For
each new project, I create a new folder on my capture drives, and then map
to it specifically. When I change projects, I change the mapped path. It's
a little cumbersome I will admit, but, it keeps everything neat and tidy
and I always know where everything is.
1. Right click on trash can and select "Delete all render files"
2. Right click on trash can and select, "Clean Up Project"
3. Select and open another project. Then choose, "Delete Project"
from this new project.
DON'T: Do not use Windows Explorer to move, manage, or delete files.
Everything is put where it belongs for a reason. Manage the media from
within Edition. If you have to back up files, you have to know what tapes
were used and back those reels up from the explorer level.
DON'T: When deleting media from the rack, you are presented with a
requester which allows options for the deletion to take place. If
the clips is something you may need later, select the media only, DO NOT
delete the clip. The project contains info on the reels, racks,
timeline as well as the clip information which in turn contain the logging
data for re-digitizing the clips. This is the skeleton that lets you
rebuild the entire project. With these files, you can recapture your media
and have it show up in the timeline.
DO: Be sure to delete all rendered files and clean up the project prior to
backup and deletion of the project. If these rendered files are not
deleted from within the project they will remain on the hard drive after
the project has been deleted and will have to be dealt with via explorer.
Back to Index
Moving
projects to new drives
There are
several ways to accomplish this. The easiest, by far, would be to:
1. Copy everything to the new drives using explorer.
2. Open the OS disk management tools
3. Re-assign the drive letter of the existing drive to another available
letter.
4. Re-assign the drive letter of the old drive to the new drive.
This is based on the assumption that none of the files in question are
your system drive.
Video output to a
computer monitor via a graphics card (VGA Second Head)
If your graphics card has a second output and appropriate driver software,
you can also display the video signal on a secondary monitor (fullscreen).
· ATI cards: Catalyst 06.2 driver version required (or
later);
Right-click the Windows Desktop > Properties > Settings, and disable for
the secondary monitor the function named „Extend my windows desktop onto
this monitor“, start Liquid, go Edit > Control Panel > Site > System
Settings > Inputs/Outputs > Video Outputs > VGA Second Head and then
select:
Output Resolution = Use Monitor Setup; Refresh-Rate = Custom.
(These Liquid settings appear only after the graphics adapter was set to
display separate desktops).
· For nVidia cards, first clone the desktop in the
nVidia driver software. Then restart the system and configure an extended
desktop (Windows Control Panel > Display > Display Properties window >
Settings > Extend my Windows Desktop ….) to this monitor.
· Finally, in Avid Liquid: Click the Monitor icon on the
task bar at the bottom right and select Liquid > VGA Second Head. If this
option was already selected, deactivate and then reactivate it.
The core of TCP/IP
networking (that's what it's called) is the IP address.
Essentially it's a string of 4 bytes that are interpreted with their
numerical values, 0-254. Every device connected to the internet has an IP
address, but there are a few IP address ranges that are not used on the
internet, and solely used for internal networking. One of those is
192.168.x.x (the most common), another is 10.0.x.x (the one Anton is
using).
Each computer on your network must have the SAME numbers for the first 3
bytes, and a UNIQUE number for the last one. So you might have
192.168.1.20, and 192.168.1.21. These will play happily together.
The second string of numbers you have to worry about is the "Subnet Mask."
This is a similar string of 4 bytes that's used because 4 bytes is not
enough to manage the entire internet. There are entire books written about
subnet masking, but if you have a network with less than 254 computers,
you
use the subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Don't ask me why, it's really
complicated.
The third critical piece of IP settings is the Gateway. This is the IP
address of your router, or the machine that actually connects you to the
internet. Often this is 192.168.1.1, or sometimes 192.168.1.254 (first or
last on the list). This depends on the brand of the router, but it can be
changed in the router's setup panel.
Next, we have to worry about Domain Name Services, or DNS. This is what
translates the URL we all know and love into the IP address of the website
we want to visit, or your email service provider. Without DNS you can go
to
websites only via their IP addresses, but entering domain names will
crash.
Your ISP should be feeding your router with its DNS numbers, and you
router
will either forward those numbers on to your machines, or list itself as
the
DNS server. If you ever have trouble reaching Web sites, but everything
else shows you are connected, there's a DNS error somewhere.
The good news to all the above, if you have your router set to provide
"DHCP" Services (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), and you have your
machine set to "automatically set IP address," all this is taken care of
for
you. The router manages these parts of your network. You can check this
with the IPCONFIG command and see what your machine's IP address is, what
the subnet mask is, and what your gateway's IP address is, and the DNS
server addresses. (You can also right-click the network icon next to the
clock and choose "Status," and then the "Support" tab, and that will give
you the same information." While there you can click "repair" to
renew the
IP address.)
One of the ways people get into trouble is to add a wifi router to an
established network. Most wifi routers ALSO provide DHCP services, and you
can have ONLY one DHCP server on a network. So before you add a wifi
router
to an established network, turn off the new router's DHCP server!
So that's the main part of TCP/IP networking. Now to get machines to talk
to each other:
You have two choices, peer-to-peer networking, or client/server
networking.
In a Client/Server network, the Server controls the workstation computers,
and everything is kind of taken care of on that level. You join the
workstations to the domain and permissions and sharing are pretty cut and
dry. (The beauty of Client/Server is that you can log on from any
workstation and see YOUR stuff, since it's on the server, and the
workstation only shows you a picture of it. I highly recommend Windows
Small Business Server! It's revolutionized my life.)
Most of us are using peer-to-peernetworking. Like IP addresses, you have
to
define a "workgroup" name thatyou have to give each computer, and then
each
computer needs to have a unique name. This is done by right-clicking My
computer
and clicking Properties, then change Computer Name. Make sure each
computer
on the network has
the same Workgroup name.
Next comes Network Shares. With NTFS file system, this is a little tricky.
It's recommended that you NEVER share the root folder of a disk. That
opens
you up to vulnerabilities that hackers can possibly exploit, but most
people
do it. So the first thing to do is right-click the folder you want to
share, then click "Sharing and Security." If file sharing has not been
enabled, you will be prompted to enable it. Give the share a name. Click
"Permissions" and give permission to all users. Then if this is an NTFS
disk, click "Security," and here's where you can grant permissions to
different users on the network. You'll probably want to grant full access
to everyone.
Now on another networked machine, go to My Network Places and the share
should show up. If not click the "Entire Network" icon, choose the
computer, and drill down to the share. Once you've accessed the share, it
will show up in My Network Places. You can then set it as a shortcut on
your desktop.
You can similarly share printers by right-clicking your printer in
printers
& faxes, click sharing, giving it a name and accepting it. On the other
machine, add a network printer, choose the machine, and the printer will
install itself over the network. That much is really simple.
So that's the BRIEF overview of networking for vidiots.
Special thanks to
Steve Puffenberger
Digital Content Creator
Advent Media, Inc., Columbus OH
614-538-1622
www.advent1.com
There are presets available to achieve this effects and it can be
accomplished using Hollywood FX and other plugins as well. This is a
simple procedure using the Liquid Studio 2D or 3D Editors. Once you
see how easy it is set up and control an effect the power and simplicity
will become apparent. This variations of this procedure works very
well for alpha channel title screens and graphic overlays as well.
Place clip to be used as background on timeline
Place clip to be used as PIP on timeline above the back ground clip
Adjust the length and position of the PIP clip
Click on the PIP clip so it is active
Click on the 2D editor or 3D Editor
*Click on the icon below the screen to move to the first key frame
Click on the "Re-Size" icon and adjust the size by dragging on the
screen or numerically in the tabs on the left of the screen
Click on the "Move" icon and drag the resized clip to the desired
position
Click on the "Copy Key frame" icon below the screen
Click on the icon below the screen to move to the last key frame
Click the "Paste Key frame" icon which will result in a duplicate of
your PIP from the first key frame
Click on the "Move" icon and reposition the PIP as desired
Close the editor and let render
*Note: If it is desirable for the PIP, (or other effects), to remain
static, the use of keyframes can be disabled by placing a check in the "Do
not use keyframes" box. This would eliminate steps 6, 9, 10, 11 and 12 in
the above example. Personally, I may with to add other parameters
like a fade in and fade out and possibly a blur over given intervals as
well as a tumble or fly in, etc. These would necessitate the use of
additional keyframes.
Additional or multiple PIP's can be achieved by using steps 2 and 3.
Then simply right click on the colored line at the top of the original PIP
and choose copy, select the next, right click and choose paste effect or,
Right click on the colored line at the top of the PIP, choose copy, then
paste to a rack or the desktop and simply drag and drop from there to
clips where the effect should be used.
The performance of your effects can be further enhanced through the use of
additional modifiers available via the icons as well as the drop down tabs
to the left of the editor screen. Additional key frames and
modifications can be used to vary the performance of the PIP as it
progresses. A more fluid motion can be achieved by using the "acceleration
" - "deceleration" for easing-in and easing-out of the assigned key frame
moves.
I've just been through
this rebuilding the cached effects with Harold's plugin. Here are the
steps (and it's much faster than a reinstall).
1. Exit Liquid.
2. Go into the RTFx/VirtualDub folder you created for using Harold's VDub
bridge and remove ALL .XML files.
3. Go to the RTFx directory and remove the two cache files: EditorCache
(plus some numbers) and EffectsCache (plus some numbers).
4. Go up one level and rename RTFx to RTFx_RENAMED or something like that.
5. Start Liquid (should startup pretty fast as it is looking for the RTFx
folder and can't find it so it just installs what it can).
6. Exit Liquid.
7. Rename RTFx_REMOVED back to RTFx
8. Launch Liquid.
9. When it gets to the 40% mark, it holds there for quite a long time (go
for a coffee). On my machine it must have taken 15 to 20 minutes.
10. Once Liquid finishes check the effects folders - you should have all
your effects editors back.
I just completed this exact process and successfully removed the neat demo
VirtualDub plugin and added the Cartoonizer plugin - and I still have my
Commotion filters, Magic Bullet and Boris - I know this has been beaten
like the proverbial dead horse but I thought a step-by-step might help
someone (if not me the next time I forget these steps).
Pinnacle video editing boards like DC10plus, DC30, Studio DV/Studio
Dvplus, Studio AV/DV, DV500, PCTV Sat or Pro-One require a certain
bandwidth on the PCI bus to transfer video and audio data. Without that,
problems like dropped frames or bad frames may occur during video capture
or video output.
Such problems are typically caused by other PCI devices consuming too much
bandwidth, and/or by wrong PCI settings within the BIOS setup.
The PPE tool attempts to fix these problems by changing some BIOS PCI
settings. In most cases it cures the dropped frames / bad frames problem,
in some cases it does not help, and in some cases it makes the PC work
worse than before.
It needs to be used to run a Pinnacle video editing board in a PC using a
VIA main board chipset.
When and how to use PPE?
If you see the problems described above with your Pinnacle video editing
board and want to attempt fixing this with the PPE tool, install it by
running the ppe.exe file. Restart your PC to activate the new settings.
How to un-install PPE?
To un-install the PPE tool in case it causes problems or does not work,
use 'Control Panel' / 'Install/un-install Programs', select the PPE tool,
and click 'Add/Remove'. Then restart your PC to switch back to the default
BIOS PCI settings.
Note: Its not the BIOS that is seen and editable. The PPE tool attempts to
change timing setting that are not changeable with the BIOS user interface
that we all know.
Being a long time
user, I have sucessfully re-installed LE many times over the years for one
reason or another without damage to projects or other related problems.
FYI... To alleviate
worries in this area, I have long ago implemented, and highly recommend to
others, the creation a "Projects" folder outside the confines of the
Liquid directory. In fact I use this for all of my projects...
Example "Projects" tree.
Overview of
how rendering takes place and what you can do to speed it up or enhance it
some
interesting tips and a look at the under belly of edition
maybe it will help many edition users.
Edition and only edition supports these which the user can find in the
control panel of edition.
Render mode/ output color space yuv/rgb ( I always work in YUV)
Nearest /linear filter/ five tap filter
Perspective /near/bilinear/anastropic 0 and 1
Positioning /nearest / bilinear
Scale filter (a real goody for documentary makers)
Normally
Photoshop scaling is done in bicubic but edition provides some very
powerful routines only found on very costly machines, they are:
Quadratic bspline scaling
Cubic
bspline and cubic spline
3
lobed lanczos as well as 6 lobed lanczos. This is the best
in the industry, you can zoom in and pan and slide through your
clip and the clip remains near perfect (Photoshop and other
scaling method cannot touch this class) further it even provides
sync 8/8, 16/16, and 32/32 as well as mom 3
Rotation
filters include all the above scaling one.
This can also
be done in 16bit color space instead of usual 8 bit color space, which
will result in extraordinary quality.
Usually you go for the final kill in the end of edit and usually let edit
happen in lower quality modes.
This is the real power of edition- some thing which many users are not
aware of.
Special thanks to: Vaman who comes from a software background and
knows and appreciates the matrix of render math some times
You should be able to play the timeline, (another location other than the
rendering area) and continue work while rendering is taking place.
As to your cutting with layered video. This works just fine, a technique I
use often with multiple cameras.
I think, the reason for the long render...
Are you dissolving between the upper and lower video? If so, you are, in
essence, causing a new render of all previous effects to take place
because the effect you presently place affects the entire track.
Do this. Make a cut on the track, just before and after the point you want
the dissolve to take place. This process will treat each effect as an
individual entity, rather than the entire track.
Try placing a cut prior to the area to be worked on.
Waiting for renders to complete
You don't have to wait for the render to complete before proceeding to the
editor stage...
The render will automatically cease while you configure your event in the
2D or 3D editor and resume rendering the changes once you close the 2D or
3D module.
Alternative methods of moving or copying sequences
When several sequences have been created you can integrate these sequences
in several different ways, one of which is the actual creation of a
container....
Use the "Film" style edit with "Auto select linked item" enabled. Using
the "Send to Timeline"
Alternate Method 1: A sequence can treated the same as an existing clip.
This method automatically converts the "Sequence" to a "Container"
1. Drag & Drop to timeline
2. Send to a cursor position on the timeline using the "Send to Timeline".
(Preferred Method.)
Alternate Method 2: Using the "Source Viewer" to define and use selected
areas of "Source Sequence"
1. Open or create "Target Sequence"
2. Drag "Source Sequence" from bin / folder to "Source Viewer
3. Mark "In" and "Out" points and use the "Send to Timeline" icon
Alternate Method 3: Assembling a sequence using sequences.
1. Open "Source Sequence"
2. Place "Playline" at desired position. A cut may be required at the
desired position if it is not the beginning of a clip
3. From the tool bar, click on the "Select after playline icon
4. Use the keyboard command, Ctl+C to copy material
5. Open "Target Sequence" and set "Playline" at desired position
6. Use the keyboard command, Ctl+V to paste
Alternate Method 4: Using part of a sequence. The results are equivalent
to Alternate Method 2, but may be a desirable alternative in certain
circumstances.
1. Open "Source Sequence"
2. Place "Mark In" and "Mark Out" points at the desired location.
3. Place "Playline" at blank area of end of sequence
4. Right click toolbar and select Edit>Copy Range
5. Select this newly created section
6. Use keyboard command Ctl-c to copy selection
7. Open "Target Sequence"
8. Place the "Playline" at the desired location
9. Use keyboard command Ctl-v to paste the selection
In the event of a crash and re-boot, Edition creates a new empty
sequence upon opening. The original sequence still exists in the
Sequences Bin or Folder. Simply click on the sequences until the
desired project opens.
Tip: Give each sequence a unique and identifiable name. Right
clicking in the toolbar and selecting >Edit>Select separate index picture
will allow the frame at the cursor position to be assigned as the image
for the Sequence or Clip picon. Easy recognition.
Although this may be accomplised in the realtime (GPU) 2D editor or the
CPU 2D editor, I wouldastev recommend the 2D Classic editor.
This means your clips will have to render. My advice is to use (high
quality) JPEGS - there is no noticeable difference in quality but they
load more quickly.
Also I often put my scanned photos into a new sequence, add the
zooms/pans, plus any other effects like colour effects or filters, let
them render and then fuse them. This means that they can be used as
finished clips and will not require re-rendering in the event something
changes. The sequence is also available and can be changed, moved or
altered and re-fused if necessary.
Another tip - if you are planning to mix between the moving pictures while
they are still moving then use a linear acceleration curve in the move. If
you plan to let the picture come to rest before cutting/mixing then use
the accelerate/decelerate curve with a setting of -20 which will give it a
"soft landing" at the end of the move.
I think this is one of edition's real strong points. I've worked on a
couple of projects lately which have used entirely scanned photos with
these rostrum style moves and my clients have been amazed at the quality.
BTW - here in the UK we'd probably call these "Ken Morse moves" - for
years he seemed to be the only guy in the UK with a rostrum camera and
appeared in the credits of virtually every TV programme!
Special thanks to: John Hanlon, Backyard Films Ltd
With the timeline cursor at this point, hit the "i" key, then the "o"
key, marking the in and out point which will be one frame.
Go to >Start>Tools>Export Sequence As, then select the format of your
choice, preferably .tga and a location where you want the still, or
accept the default.
The still will be created and appear in
your active bin.
Select the still and choose properties using the right mouse button.
DO NOT close the properties window until this entire operation is
complete.
In the properties window, click in duration window. This will allow
you to type in the length of your desired duration.
It is not necessary to make any entry other than a numeric change,
i.e., a desired duration of four seconds would require only the input
of a four followed by two zeros and return.
DO NOT close the properties window. Simply click on the next image and
make appropriate changes to the properties window.
Repeat steps three through five until all image durations have been
changed.
In order to import sequentially numbered stills as individual images,
make sure that the box labeled "Autodetect Animation" is un-checked
before importing.
It is not necessary to import the stills individually. Using
windows explorer protocol, you can select a group of images by using
either the shift or control key to select multiple images prior to
import.
Drag and drop is supported so if you have an image browser on your
system, (I recommend ACDSee) you can drag selected images from there
directly to your rack.
Importing sequentially numbered stills as animation
Liquid Edition
will import sequentially numbered images as an animation or clip.
How...
Right click in empty area of rack, chose import>Media Clip. Make sure that
the Auto detect animations box is checked. Navigate to the directory and
click only on the first image in the sequence.
A six second, 180-frame .jpg sequence imported in just a couple of
seconds. Rendering on the timeline with In-time took about 30 seconds or
less.
Problem: Digital or scanned imaged "shake" on external monitor or when
viewd on NTSC
This is caused by graphic elements, usuaally a pixel in width, found in
sharp details of images, i.e., leaves on trees, herringbone patterns in
clothing, teeth, etc.
On those problematic mages it is best to run a mild blur operator, either
regionally defined within the image or on the image using an external
graphics program prior to importing.into Edition
1. Above the timeline on left, go to the toolbar and find an icon
that looks like a figure eight laying sideways. (Auto select linked
items). This is the toggle for linking
2. Click on this, highlighted, enabled
3. Enable the Film Mode
4. Clips can now be inserted using the "Send to Timeline" option
from the Source Viewer or the Clip Bin/Folder. Do not use drag &
drop.
5. Your tracks will now be ripple to accommodate the inserted
material
Note: Areas of the timeline may be cut and deleted using these
options
There is also another handy icon in that area that will select all tracks
to the right of the cursor and allow you to drag the entire timeline.
Method 1. Turn on the wave graphs and zoom in once you find
something that stands out audibly. Try to sync to that.
Method 2. Turn of the video in properties, then playback and place
markers while looking at the giant waveforms in the event viewer. Once
markers are in place, turn the video back on in properties.
1 GHz processor
256 MB RAM
Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP operating system
64MB graphics card and SVGA monitor capable of 1024 x 768 @ 32-bit
resolution
Hard drive (AV-rated, minimum data transfer rate 10MB/s)
OHCI-compatible 1394 card (included)
Soundcard
Recommended Specification
Dual 1.8GHz processor or above
512 MB RAM
Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP operating system
64MB graphics card and SVGA monitor capable of 1280 x 1024 @ 32-bit
resolution
Separate hard drive (AV-rated, minimum data transfer rate 16MB/s)
OHCI-compatible 1394 card (included)
Soundcard
System Requirements for Pinnacle Edition 5 Pro:
Minimum Specification
1.8 GHz processor
256 MB RAM
Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP Operating System
Monitor capable of 1024x768 @ 32-bit resolution
Hard drive (AV-rated, minimum data transfer rate 10MB/s)
AGP 2x or faster graphics slot
Soundcard
Recommended Specification
Dual 1.8GHz processor or above
512 MB RAM
Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP operating system
Monitor capable of 1280 x 1024 @ 32-bit resolution
Separate hard drive (AV-rated, minimum data transfer rate 16MB/s)
AGP 2x or faster graphics slot
Soundcard
The following information are intending to
assist you in choosing appropriate hardware to use with Pinnacle video
capture and editing systems. Please note that specifications are subject
to change without any notification. Pinnacle Systems doesn't makes
warranties or representations that hardware listed as recommended will
perform adequately or meet your particular needs. Other untested systems
may provide equal or higher performance. This list only includes
motherboards which were successfully tested. Motherboards which are not
included in this list are either considered as not compatible or were not
yet tested. We recommend you to contact one of our authorized dealers
(Pinnacle Partners) to get more information about motherboard
compatibility.
The following is provided as a sample for template creation.
The template I've created contains the following racks...
1. LEADERS (This rack contains black still frame, a couple of different
colorbars for 75% and 100% IRE, a video clip of my studio id animation and
a countdown animation as well as test tones and audio for the countdown,
in short, everything I need each time a new project is called.)
2. TITLES (empty)
3. GRAPHICS (empty)
4. VIDEO (empty)
5. AUDIO (empty)
6. SEQUENCES (As described in next step, name sequence appropriately)
I create a timeline and name it, consisting of black leader, colorbars
with test-tones, my animated ID used for client content identification,
and the countdown from 8 to 3 ending in two seconds of black.
Go to File>Manage Projects> and choose save as template. Give it a unique
name and save.
When you open a new project your template will show up in the drop down
list.
When you open the project based on your custom template it will open with
all of the racks and amenities as well as your sequence with the built in
leader available as a sequence, ready to go.
I suppose the answer would lie in the logic of the time code structure.
In math it is possible to precede a zero setting by using minus values.
In time code there is no equivalent to this. All values are positive so
the logical setting of 01:00:00:00 for a start time. Given this logic a
leader of black, colorbars, ID, countdown etc with a given time frame of
one and a half minutes, could begin at 00:58:30:00 (in reality a positive,
but for practical purposes a negative value) allowing the program to begin
at 01:00:00:00.
Arguably, in the previous example, a value of 59 could have been added to
the first two digits, arriving at a start time of 00:00:00:00...
In short, the practicality of the default start time makes sense, given
the fact that it is configurable by the user.
For and in depth explanation and overview of the timeline and how it works
check out the featured tutorial on Mike Shaw's Site at:
http://www.mikeshaw.co.uk/timeline.htm
Click on
the "Add Dissolve" picon on the toolbar. A crossdissolve will be
added to every cut transistion in the sequence according to your
options:
Restrict
duration to available heads and tails: If you want a dissolve on every
transition even if you haven't left enough leeway (you can fix leeway
later), make sure you clear this option. You'll get transitions with
red areas to fix where there wasn't enough leeway for the duration
specified.
There is
an option for applying to only a marked range as well of the whole
sequence if you need. This function is really great
for still images, as they don't need any pre or post trimming,there is
always enough leeway in a still.
Note on using
this automatic insert...
If there is a "Mark in" and "Mark out" in the timeline, remove it before
using the auto fade insert.
Re: Keying and
Overlays. In Edition and LiquidStudio the upper tracks have
dominance on the timeline. This being to case, the background would be the
bottom most track and clips with effects or overlays would be stacked, in
order, above this track.
1. There are two modes of placing video with audio on the timeline via
"Send to timeline" option. Accessed by right clicking in the left
uppermost box in the control area left of the timeline, these modes are:
"Insert grouped" Enabled, check mark present) and
"Insert grouped" Disabled, check mark cleared).
2. "Insert Grouped" (enabled) places both the video and audio on a single
track when "Send to timeline" is used.
3. "Insert Grouped" (disabled) places video and audio on separate tracks
when "Send to timeline" is used.
4. "Dragging and dropping" clips to timeline will result in a grouped
track.
5. Video or audio tracks can be toggled on or off by clicking the Monitor
or Speaker Icon in the column left of the track on the timeline.
6. A video track can be expanded to allow access to the audio tracks by
right clicking on the clip and choosing "Disband Clips" from the drop down
menu.
Right click on the desired track name, right side of the timeline and
choose rename. Rename individual video or audio clips by right
clicking on the clip or track itself and choosing rename.
The manual does a great job, even providing examples.
Here's the key stumbling block, get your head around this and all should
fall into place.
First, the top graph is the direction graph. The line: Left to right,
bottom to top, means you are going forward. Flat means a still. Right to
left, you are going in reverse.
Second, the bottom graph is speed. First line is 100% (normal forward
speed), the next dotted line is 0% and the last line is -100%. You can go
to any speed you desire beyond that.
Finally, you add key points. Dragging the key point down you get a slope.
Move the mouse over to the right or left of the key frame and you get a
linear speed change (arrow next to hand). The first example is how you
slow a shot down in a smooth fashion, the second is how you create a cut
to a different speed.
Ok so far?
Here's the key stumbling block. Say you have two keyframes, at the second
one you want the image to slow down to 25% normal speed. So you drag it
down and what happens?? You get a 'bow' in the speed. The clip actually
will speed up and then slow to 25%. There is a logic behind this, but the
key point is...pay close attention...go to the top graph (the direction
graph) and grab that second keyframe. Now drag it down and to the right or
left, see what happens?? That's right, it is now smoothing out the 'bow'
and giving you a nice slow down to 25% speed.
I hope this helps, it is a very cool editor. As for the explanation of why
you get the 'bow' or increase in speed, well it is German logic. The
manual does not do a good job detailing how to get a smoothing effect, but
it does a decent job of explaining this powerful and complicated editor.
I create 99%
of my titles for LiquidStudio, Premiere, Vegas Video 3, Speed Razor, and
Blade using either PhotoImpact, (my personal preference) or Photoshop,
saving the results as .tga.
Using 2D Editor or 3D Editor provides total flexibility in manipulating
and transitioning them, providing far more control over titling than
possible with CG effects alone.
Effects are simple to create and once created they can be saved for re-use
within the project and future projects.
In order to avoid the "jitters" during
scrolls and transitions, the particular font as well as size and style of
font you select will come into play.
Avoid using fonts that have a "thick and thin" stroke approach, expecially
those with exagerated serifs.
When using outlines you may resort to a larger than single pixel outling.
Try the scrolls using fonts with no outline.
These are all technical factors that enhance moving images and titles and
increase your chances of success with scrolls and transitions....
Scrolls
Here's a simple way to create and manipulate scrolls
Create the graphic in Photoshop or paint program of choice. File
should be 720 wide and length as necessary to accommodate the
information.
Save as .tga.
Import file, making sure the check mark is removed from the resize
option.
Stretch to graphic on the timeline to the desired time or length.
Using the 2D editor, move to the first keyframe and move the graphic
down, off screen, while holding the shift and control keys in order to
restrain its horizontal movement.
Move to the last keyframe and while holding the shift and ctl keys,
move the graphic up and off screen.
Close the 2D Editor and you should have a perfect scroll. If
desired, add a fade effect to the beginning and end of the graphic.
Pinnacle
online training. Watch video's online. 10 complete video
chapters on Edition as well as numerous other video products and utilities
featured. Click on the Broadcast Network logo above.
1. A transition will always require a proportional segment of either the A
or B clip, depending on the length of the desired transition. When cutting
in your EDL allowances must be made for this transitional space.
2. If the clip length to be captured is to be viewed it's entirety, after
transitions, allowances must be made to accommodate a pre-determined
average transition length when compiling the EDL.
3. Captured clips must be trimmed to compensate for the time duration to
be used by the transition.
What does matter is that the additional video must be available on
incoming or outgoing video. Care must be given during capture or editing
to allow adequate head and tail to compensate. If no such head or tail
room exists, the missing frames will be replaced by black.
No matter the editing system used, the above are true although each has
it's way of reaching the end result.
Assigning a different effect as the default transition to the add dissolve
function. You basically can add any default transition you like. This also
allows the use of HollywoodFX.Follow these steps:
1. Create the effect you want as the default.
2. Go the the FX tab and create a new rack if one doesn't exist.
3. Copy and paste the effect you like in the the new rack in the FX
tab.
4. While holding the control key down, right click on the effect and
select the new menu choice that appears labeled, "Set as System
Object">EDL default DVE
1. Open the 2D editor
2. click on your title to make it active in the editor
3. Create two additional keyframes near the beginning and end of the
existing keyframes.
4. Go to the beginning keyframe and set the transparency to 100%.
5. Go to the end keyframe and set this to 100% as well.
6. Close the 2D editor.
7. Right click on the redline at the top of the clip and choose copy.
8. Click on the background screen or rack of your choice and choose paste.
9. You now have a copy of the fade transition which can be dragged to each
subsequent title and it will automatically perform the fade function.
If you only need a one time application... Open the stock transitions and
drag a dissolve to the beginning of the CG title and another to the end.
Advance the cursor to the edit point where the clips intersect.
Open the appropriate FX tab and select the transition of your choice,
right click on it and choose send to timeline or...
Click on it and while holding down the left mouse button; drag it to
the edit point
You must have head and or tail room on a clip to accommodate the
transition. If a selected transition is 30 frames, there must be a
cumulative 30 frames available at the edit points. If you do no, the
in and out points must be adjusted.
Once on the timeline, the transition properties can be changed by
right clicking on the effect where you may numerically change the
length.
Right click on transition and choose Align
Selecting Align will provide the options, "Start at Cut", "Center on
Cut" and "End on Cut.
Choose the option "Start at Cut" or "End at Cut" and the headroom will
be provided from the clip preceding the cut of following the cut,
accordingly
The dissolve or fade can be inserted by
moving the cursor to the edit point, (page up or page down to move to edit
points) and using the forward slash key, which will insert the fade.
The viewers
work together when the close trim edit option is enabled, clip A on the
left and clip B on the right. You can use this feature to fine tune your
clips and view the results as you make the adjustments.
You can do a quick playback preview, fine-tune if need be, and then
quickly jump from edit point to edit point.
Setting up the
system for dual display using Edition 5 Pro
1. Use the AGP card furnished with Edition Pro as the primary
display
2. Use a secondary, PCI graphics display card as the second monitor.
3. Make sure that they are lined up correctly in the display
settings and that they have the same resolution
4. Check the system bios and insure that the PC is set to boot
AGP first
5. Choose the proper display options from within Edition using the
"eye" icon on the lower right area of the screen
Note:
The use of a dual display PCI card will offer no advantage
Click on the links to view and choose. You can drage and drop the
image from the view window to a directory of your choice. You coula
also right click on the link as well and choose the Save As option.
Copy the image of your choice to your system Windows directory. To
change the wallpaper, right click anywhere on the desktop and choose
"properties". Click on the "Desktop" tab and use the scrollbar to
locate the LE wallpaper. Use the center option for the 1024
versions. Use the tile option for the 2048 with dual monitors.
For use with larger screen sizes, center and Click on the "appearance" tab
to change the desktop fill color to match the wallpaper.
1. De-activate all tracks no to be affected by clicking on the "Name" box
at the beginning of the timeline.
2. Tracks that are de-activated will be dark in color
3. The only active track should be the track to be manipulated.
4. This track will be light grey in the track title area indicating that
it is active.
5. Place the playline inidicater at the beginning of the timeline
6. Group select the clips on the active track by clicking on the double
arrow icon (Select tracks after playline), above the timeline
7. Use the keyboard to collapse the tracks by holding the control key and
pressing the down arrow cursor to collapse the tracks.
DVD writing
will default to the specific sequence name. There fore it is best to
provide your sequences with unique names. By doing so, your new DVD
creation will not overwrite or attempt to overwrite the image and contents
of a DVD saved by another existing project. It also makes locating
and archiving specific DVD images and files much easier.
Whenever
practical in the case of time warping, color correction, etc.,I usually
1. Drag the clip to be affected to the end of the timeline
2. Apply the effect
3. Fuse the affected clip
4. Delete the original clip with effects or copy it to the rack for use
later in a container form.
5. Use the fused clip
There are times when it may not be practical to use this technique but in
instances where titles, overlays, compositing or other effects may added,
using the fused version saves a lot of re-rendering.
It's not possible to
change a WMV profile with Liquid. Only way to do it is to use the WMV
Encoder for WinXP. This install a small tool "Profile Editor" too and you
can use it to make your own presets. Save it as PRX file and open it with
Liquid (WMV Export->modify Custom preset-> click on "advanced")
Xsend moves digital files to another program or location. So you can Xsend
a file to After Effects or an entire timeline. Xsend often gives you two
choices, fuse or composition of clips. Fuse is a combination of the entire
timeline, a video/audio mixdown of sorts. So you can Xsend to a location
and fuse would be one of your choices. You can also just Fuse a timeline
and end up with the single file. This file may be run through
another processing application.
Xreceive brings digital files into Liquid. The current API has been
written to take advantage of the Sony DU-1. You can attach the hard drive
and Xreceive the digital content of the disk in its raw form.
XSend and XReceive do not necessarily work hand in hand.
Thanks to
James Murphy
Pinnacle Systems Product Specialist
It is also possible to mark and Xsend a group of files from the desktop.
Switch to desktop mode
Drag and drop selected shortcut picons down from the window onto the
desktop
Set mark in and mark outs for each clip by double-clicking a clip to
open clip edit window or by holding down the alt key and double
clicking, which plays the picon and allows mark in and mark out
settings
When you are finished trimming, stack your clips in the desired order
from front to back
Draw a box around all the clips using the left mouse button
If you're using Edition 5 use one of the realtime PIP clip effects on
the upper track. You can now see both tracks in the preview.
Add a camera? Add a PIP. 
