Avid NewsCutter® Adrenaline™ FX 5.3.5 ReadMe

WARNING: The ATTO™ 3300 and 3305 Fibre Channel boards are designed for 100 MHz PCI bus slots. If these Fibre Channel boards are installed into a PCI-X 133 MHz bus slot, you will experience data loss. Make sure you install the ATTO 3300 or 3305 Fibre Channel board in a PCI slot that runs at 100 MHz or slower.

CAUTION: Do not update the system's BIOS unless you are instructed to do so by Avid Customer Support. A newer system BIOS might not be supported on your Avid editing system.

NOTE: NVIDIA graphics card drivers are updated frequently. See the following sections for adjustments you might need to make to work properly with your Avid system setup.

NVIDIA Setup

1. Right-click the Desktop and select Properties.

The Display Properties dialog box opens.

2. Click the Settings tab.

3. Click the Advanced button.

4. Click the Quadro4 980 XGL tab.

The version number is listed under the Driver Version Information window, next to the Description: Display driver.

If you have an HP Workstation xw8000 with an NVIDIA display driver version v6.14.10.5303, the single-display mode is the default; you do not need to select it. The v6.14.10.5303 display driver is included with the Avid editing software.

1. Navigate to the following location: drive:
ProgramFiles\Avid\Utilities\nVidia\Quadro4_980XGL\
45.23_win2kxp_international_whql.exe
or
ProgramFiles\Avid\Utilities\nVidia\QuadroFX_1100\
nVidia_980XGL.exe

2. Double-click .exe file.

3. Follow the installation instructions.

If you are using a two-monitor setup, you need to set dual-view mode in the Display Properties dialog box. The NVIDIA display driver Avid includes with this release has single-display mode selected by default.

1. Right-click the Desktop and choose Properties.

2. From the Display Properties window, click the Settings tab.

3. Click the Advanced button.

4. Click the Quadro4 980 XGL tab.

5. In the pop-up settings window, click Performance and Quality Settings.

6. Click Open GL Settings.

7. From the Multi-Display Hardware Acceleration menu, choose Single-Display Mode.

8. Click Apply and then OK.

9. Restart the Avid application.

1. Right-click the Desktop and select Properties.

The Display Properties dialog box opens.

2. Click the Settings tab.

3. Click the Advanced button.

4. Click the Quadro4 980 XGL tab.

5. In the pop-up settings window, nVidia Display Mode.

6. Click the nView Mode menu.

7. Choose Dual View.

8. Click Apply, and then OK.

9. Restart the Avid application.

Adjusting Graphics Controls in the NVIDIA Settings

If you see the video display shift in brightness, contrast, hue, or saturation when you pause and play video, you should adjust the graphics controls in the NVIDIA settings.

1. Right-click the Desktop and select Properties.

The Display Properties dialog box opens.

2. Click the Settings tab.

3. Click the Advanced button.

4. Click the Quadro4 980 XGL tab.

5. Click Overlay Controls and adjust the Brightness, Contrast, Hue, and Saturation to settings that work best for your video display.

Disabling the NVIDIA Driver Helper Service

The NVIDIA Driver Helper Service is a background program that runs with the NVIDIA Driver installed. This service informs you when an update to the NVIDIA Driver is available. There have been instances where this service causes slow reboots and shutdown with the Avid Adrenaline or Avid Mojo attached. It also can prevent Adobe Photoshop's Gamma loader from operating and causes color correction settings to not work properly. If this occurs, you should disable the NVIDIA Driver Helper Service.

1. Right-click My Computer.

2. Click Manage.

3. Double-click Services and Applications.

4. Double-click Services.

5. Right-click NVidia Display Driver or NVidia Driver Helper Service.

6. Click Properties.

7. Choose Disable from the Startup Type menu.

8. Click OK.

NOTE: The term fader controller applies to the following controllers:

CAUTION: To reduce traffic on the USB bus, connect the USB-to-MIDI converter only if you need to use the JL Cooper FaderMaster Pro, the JL Cooper MCS-3000X, or the Yamaha 01V fader box.

Installing the MIDISPORT 2x2 Drivers

1. Ensure that the MIDISPORT 2x2 USB to MIDI converter is not connected to the system. When you are ready to load the drivers, you will use a USB connector to connect the MIDISPORT 2x2 USB-to-MIDI converter to your computer.

2. Download the latest MIDISPORT 2x2 drivers from the following Web site: http://www.m-audio.com/ .

The system downloads a compressed, executable file.

3. Double-click the downloaded file to uncompress the driver files to a floppy disk or to a folder on your system.

4. Double-click the Install.txt file that is included with the downloaded files. This file contains the instructions for loading the drivers.

5. To initiate the driver installation, use a USB connector to connect the MIDISPORT 2x2 USB-to-MIDI converter to the system. It is not necessary to connect the external fader to the MIDISPORT 2x2 device.

The system automatically detects that a new device has been connected and opens the Found New Hardware Wizard dialog box.

6. Follow the instructions in the Install.txt file.

NOTE: The drivers and firmware for SCSI devices are automatically loaded by the Avid application installation software.

WARNING: The information in the Goodies folder is provided solely for your reference and as suggestions for you to decide if any of these products fit into your process. Avid is not responsible for the manufacture, support, or sales of these products. Avid is also not responsible for any loss of data or time, or any other adverse results related to the use of these products. All risks of using such products or accessing such Web sites are entirely your own. The Web sites listed in the Goodies folder are not under the control of Avid, and Avid is not responsible for their content, any changes or updates to them, or the collection of any personal data or information by the operators of such Web sites. All information and product availability is subject to change without notice.

Using the Panasonic AG-DVX100 Camera with a 24p Project

To capture an NTSC 24p project in DV, your footage needs to have been shot with advanced pulldown. This is currently available using the Advanced option of the Panasonic AG-DVX100 camera.

If you want to use 1394 deck control to capture from the Panasonic AG-DVX100 camera, set the menu in the device as follows:

Menu > RECORDING SETUP > 1394 TC REGEN > OFF

Panasonic AG-DVX100 Camera Communication Error

You might lose communication with the Avid Adrenaline if you switch between the Capture tool and the Digital Cut tool when performing a digital cut with DV device control.

If you do lose communication, quit the application, power the Avid Adrenaline DNA, then restart the application.

NOTE: For information on how to perform a native DV 25 digital cut, see "Outputting Directly to a DV Device," in the Help.

Working with Settings (for experienced users)

Experienced users are accustomed to going out to the desktop and moving settings and project files around by hand, but there is now an easier and more reliable way of doing it. The User Profile menu, in the Settings tab of the Project window, now has two new items: Create User Profile, and Import User or User Profile. If you have another user's settings on your system or on a diskette that you would like to make use of, select User Profile Menu > Import User. This option allows you to navigate to the user folder, select it, and establish it as another user profile, accessible from the same menu. It brings all the requisite files and puts them in the right place. For more information about using and creating User Profiles, see "Using User Profiles" in the Help.

If you choose, instead, to copy the folder yourself, make sure you copy the entire folder, not just the individual settings files. Place the copied folder in your user folder.

Previous versions of the Avid editing application used a file structure with multiple users as follows:

Avid Users (folder)

Jane folder (OS login name)

Jane Settings.avs

Jane.ave

MC State

John folder (OS login name)

John Settings.avs

Jone.ave

MC State

This Avid editing application version imports user profiles, turning them into subfolders of your user login as follows:

Avid Users folder

Jane folder (OS login name)

Jane Settings.avs

Jane.ave

MC State

UserProfile1 folder

UserProfile1 Settings.avs

UserProfile1.ave

MC State

UserProfile2 folder

UserProfile2 Settings.avs

UserProfile2.ave

MC State

John folder (OS login name)

John Settings.avs

John.ave

MC State

UserProfile1 folder

UserProfile1 Settings.avs

UserProfile1.ave

MC State

Dave folder (Another user setting folder copied in)

Dave Settings.avs

Dave.ave

MC State

To see your old projects, select Shared in the Select Project dialog box and use the Browse button to navigate to the folder where your projects are. New projects you create with Shared selected also appear in the folder you specify.

When you select Private for the first time, a new folder appears in the Avid Projects folder called "OS login name." New projects appear in that folder. The External button is for accessing or creating projects on a network.

For more information about selecting projects, see "Opening a Project" in the Help.

Memory Usage Monitor

System memory usage increases depending on how many bins you have open, the number of sequences in a bin, the number of tools that are opened, and the size of a sequence.

The memory usage monitor appears in the Bins tab of the Project window. As you open multiple bins, the memory usage indicator increases and updates.

Avid recommends that you keep memory usage below 80-85%. If you exceed the recommended usage, a dialog box opens informing you that your memory usage is high and you should close some bins and save your project.

Exporting a User Profile

You can create a user profile on one system and export it to a server. Then from another system you can import the same user profile to the new system.

When exporting a user profile, you can choose to export the user profile as a Personal profile or as a Group profile.

When you select Personal, the user profile performs an autoload and an auto-save every time you open a project. Every time the user profile is updated, it saves the new profile information. For example, you can create the user profile Jennie on one system, export it to another location (a server), and then import it to a different system. Every time you make any changes to the Jennie user profile, it updates to the server and when you open the Jennie user profile on either system, it uses the most updated Jennie user profile.

When you select Group, the user profile autoloads; it does not perform an auto-save. Changes made to the user profile affect only the system the changes were made on; they do not update to the server.

1. Click the Settings tab in the Project window.

2. Click the User Profile Selection pop-up menu, and select Export User or User Profile.

3. Select Personal or Group.

4. Navigate to the location where you want to place the user or user profile.

5. Click OK.

Shared Bins on the Avid Unity MediaNetwork

Avid Unity MediaNetwork allows you to share bins and projects across the network. When you place your bins and projects on Avid Unity MediaNetwork workspaces (drive volumes), several users can work on the same project at the same time.

For more information, see the Help for your Avid editing application.

The following information is provided to improve performance when working with shared bins in an Avid Unity environment.

• Do not use the same name for your editing system machine name and your user name. In fact, you should not use the same name for security objects such as machine names, user names, group names, and domain names. If any two security objects have the same name, Windows might become confused and sharing might not work properly.
• Do not use the same prefix for machine names in a shared environment. No full name can be a prefix of another name. If one of the systems has a machine name that is the full prefix, and others in the environment have the prefix as part of their machine name, problems can occur. For example, if an editing system has a machine name ABC and additional editing systems in the shared environment have machine names ABCnn, ABCxx, the following problems could occur:

Workaround: Do not use a common prefix for machine names. If you must use a common prefix, make sure all the names are the same length (ABC01, ABC02, ABC03, etc.)

• Avoid using Windows Explorer to examine, copy, or manipulate shared bin files or shared project folders or their contents when editors are using those files or folders. If you do, editors attempting to access those shared bins or projects may experience delays accompanied by a progress dialog that says, "Filesystem busy, retrying (MESSAGE)," where MESSAGE is replaced by a specific message identifying the action that is being retried.

If the busy condition persists, and the retries are exhausted, a failure message appears. When that happens, ensure that Windows Explorer is not being used on the shared bins you are trying to access and try the operation again.

• When you have an environment where more than five users are sharing bins on Avid Unity, Avid recommends using a MediaManager server in the workgroup environment.
• When an Avid Unity MediaManager system is available in the workgroup environment, Avid does not recommend sharing bins or projects. Use the Avid Unity MediaManager to share media. All editing systems, in a workgroup environment that includes a Avid Unity MediaManager, must have the Avid Unity MediaManager client software installed. The Media Tool might become unreliable if an editor in the Avid Unity MediaManager workgroup environment does not have the Avid Unity MediaManager client software installed.

Shared Bin and Project Limitations

If an editor other than the creator deletes a media file, other editors will not see that media file go offline immediately. If an editor tries to play that file, "media file not found" messages may appear in a monitor window, and access violation errors might occur.

Each editing application maintains a PMR file, in its machine name folder inside the OMFI MediaFiles folder. The PMR file lists all the online media files. Every editing application consults all the PMR files in all the machine name folders to find out which media files are online. Whenever a media file is created, its name is immediately added to the creating editor application's PMR file, and whenever a media file is deleted by its creator, its name is immediately removed from the PMR file.

However, if an editing application other than the creator deletes a media file, the PMR file that contains the deleted file is NOT updated immediately. Once the creating editor encounters an event that causes its PMR to be updated, then all editing systems will know that the deleted media file has gone offline.

There are several ways to force an editing application to update its PMR. The simplest is to switch to the desktop and back.

Occasionally when two editors attempt to open a shared bin at the same time, both editors will get the green lock icon. However, only one editor really has the lock, and that editor's machine name will appear beside the bin name in both Project windows.

Both editors will be able to modify their copies of the bin, but only the editor that holds the lock, as indicated in the Project window, will be able to save that bin. The other editor will be warned that the bin is locked but will be allowed to save a copy of the changed bin.

Performing a Delete on MediaManager

When a large number of media files are deleted from MediaManager, the editing systems within the workgroup may receive an "Indexing" progress bar and then remain unavailable for an extended period of time. The issue is due to the following:

Deleting media in MediaManager changes the timestamp of the media directory containing the deleted media. The editing systems in the workgroup read the Persistent Media Record (PMR) file that resides in the media directory. Since there are so many media files to delete, the timestamp of the directory continues to change. Each change causes the editing systems to read the PMR file.

Until the PMR files are deleted, and automatically recreated by the editing application, the PMR files are out of date and an Indexing progress bar will appear frequently (for example, when changing between MediaManager browser and the editing application.)

Avid recommends the following when performing a large delete:

• Perform deletion when activity on the editing systems is not at a peak. For example, do not perform a large delete just prior to air time.
• Place items to be deleted into catalogs in MediaManager, and delete those catalogs at a non peak time.
• When you delete a large number of media files, delete the PMR files in the media files directories in the editing systems whose media files have been deleted and restart the editing systems. This will create new PMR files.

Flat View

The Flat View feature was not documented.

1. In the Project window, click the Bins tab.

2. Click the Fast Menu button, and select Flat View.

Preserving Clipboard Contents

The preserving clipboard feature was not documented. The Clipboard stores only one clip at a time. Each time you copy, lift, or extract additional material, you delete and replace the previous contents.

The contents appear as a clip in the Source monitor, and the name "Clipboard Contents. n " appears above the monitor and in the Clip Name menu. The n is an incremental numbering of clips placed in the Clipboard during the session.

Repeat these procedures each time you want to preserve copied, lifted, or extracted material during a session. All the clips remain available in the Clip Name menu until you select Clear Menu or close the project.

Material placed in the Clipboard does not appear as a clip in the bin and is deleted when you close the project. To save a portion of a sequence for future use, mark the section and create a subclip.

Creating a New Project

After you have created a project, the New Project dialog box uses the video format previously selected as your default project format. To change the format, click New Project while holding down the Alt key, and then select a new format from the Format pop-up menu.

Downloading Avid QuickTime Codecs

Avid no longer offers the ability to download the Avid QuickTime Codec from the Knowledge Center, or to obtain it from the Goodies folder. The user's guide incorrectly states that you can.

Project Resolutions

You must capture media to begin a project. Connect your media device to the Avid Adrenaline™ Digital Nonlinear Accelerator (DNA) or the Avid Mojo™ DNA. If you have a software only application, you can connect a DV camera or deck directly to your Avid editing system. For information on connecting your equipment, see the documentation for your system.

Alternatively, you can use a Media Station XL system or an Avid Xdeck™ recorder in an Avid Unity™ MediaNetwork environment to capture media. For more information about these products, contact your Avid representative, or visit the Avid Web site.

Project formats are described as follows:

• Avid video projects capture and store 30i-fps NTSC or 25i-fps PAL media as digital video that conforms to the ITU-R 601 standard (SDTV or standard-definition TV).
• Avid film projects capture and store 23.976p-fps NTSC or 25p-fps PAL media. You do your offline editing in an Avid editing application and finishing on a Symphony™ or Avid DS system.

• Digital video (DV) is an international standard created by a consortium of 10 companies to serve as a consumer digital video format. Avid editing applications support two DV resolutions: DV 25 and DV 50.

DV, originally known as DVC (Digital Video Cassette), uses a 1/4-inch tape to record very-high-quality digital video. The video is sampled at the same rate as D1, D5, or Digital Betacam ® video (720 pixels per scan line). The color information in DV 25 is sampled at the D1 rate 4:1:1 in 525-line (NTSC) and 4:2:0 in 625-line (PAL) formats. DV 50 is defined as 720 x 480, 50-megabit-per-second (Mb/s) 4:2:2 DV.

• MPEG 30, MPEG 40, and MPEG 50 are resolutions specifically intended to support the SMPTE Type D-10 bit stream produced and recorded by devices such as Sony ® MPEG IMX™ VTRs.

Avid editing applications allow you to capture, edit, and play back in the resolution listed in Supported Resolutions and Field Dimensions.

These resolutions appear, along with other Avid resolutions, wherever a list of resolutions appears (for example, in the Video Resolution pop-up menu of the Media Creation dialog box). The exact list depends on the project format (NTSC or a PAL) and on the operating system (Windows or Macintosh).

Avid editing applications use the following digital formats:

• DV 25 4:1:1 (NTSC and PAL)
• DV 25 4:2:0 (PAL)
• DV 50 4:2:2 (NTSC and PAL)
• MPEG 30 (NTSC and PAL)
• MPEG 40 (NTSC and PAL)
• MPEG 50 (NTSC and PAL)

The Media Creation dialog box allows you to set the video resolution and to select drives for capturing, creating titles, importing, performing audio and video mixdowns, and creating motion effects. Because media files are very large, you can remove from the list of available drives the drive where your operating system is located and the drive where the Avid editing system is located. This allows you to choose to store media only on drives with sufficient space.

1. Do one of the following:

The Media Creation dialog box opens.

2. Click the Drive Filtering tab.

3. Select a drive to filter out:

The drive or drives you filter out do not appear in the other Media Creation tabs as possible locations where you can store media. They also do not appear in other drive selection menus in the application except for the Import, Export, and Relink dialog boxes.

4. Click the tab for the area in which you want to work.

5. Click the Video Resolution pop-up menu, and select a video resolution.

The Video Resolution pop-up menu contains a list of the available resolutions.

6. Select either OMF or MXF file format.

7. Select a video drive and an audio drive. To select the same drive for both video and audio, click the Single/Dual Drives Mode button until only a single drive pop-up menu opens.

8. (Option) If you are working with the Capture tab, you can select a drive group. Click the Target Drive pop-up menu, and select Change Group. For more information on selecting a drive group, see "Capturing to Multiple Media Files" in the Help.

9. To apply your drive selection to all the Media Creation tabs and the rest of the application, click Apply to All.

This sets your selected video and audio drives for all the Media Creation tabs. It also sets them for any place in the application where you select drives.

10. Click OK to save your settings.

Export Settings Changes

The Pixel Aspect Ratio option in the Export Settings and Sent To dialog box has changed.

The Pixel Aspect Ratio option in the Export Settings dialog box for QuickTime Reference export has changed to a Width x Height pop-up menu. This allows you to select the image width and height you want to export for three sizes:

• Native media for NTSC and PAL:

• 4 x 3
• 6 x 9

The menu selections change in the following ways:

The Pixel Aspect Ratio option in the Export Settings dialog box for QuickTime Movie export has changed to Display Aspect Ratio.

When you select Same as Source, the selections in the Display Aspect Ratio area are based on the resolution of the media you are exporting and the project type (NTSC or PAL). This allows you to choose the image dimensions you want to export for three sizes:

• Native media for NTSC and PAL:

• 4 x 3
• 6 x 9

When you select Custom, your Avid system calculates the Display Aspect Ratio selections on the values you enter for Width x Height in the Video Format tab.

The Pixel Aspect Ratio option in the Send To dialog box has changed to a Width x Height pop-up menu. This allows you to select the image width and height you want to export for three sizes:

• Native media for NTSC and PAL:

• 4 x 3
• 6 x 9

The selections in the pop-up menu depend on the resolution of the media you select.

Creating Files for a DVD

You can use the Send To feature to send a QuickTime reference movie to an MPEG encoding application or a DVD authoring application.

1. Select a sequence in a bin. You can select multiple sequences.

2. Select File > Send To.

The Send To dialog box opens.

3. Check Sorenson Squeeze settings:

1. Click the Send To pop-up menu, and select Settings.

The Send To Settings for Squeeze.exe dialog box opens.

1. Select Try to Autoload QT Ref File and Reveal Files on Auto Launch, and then click OK.

4. Select Auto Launch Application.

5. Click the Browse button to navigate to a destination for the exported files.

6. Select other options as described in DVD Options.

DVD Options

Option	Description
Pixel Aspect Ratio	Select this option to apply a scaling to the video: 4:3 or 16:9. The pixel aspect ratio allows you to control the display format without modifying the source file. The default is 4:3.
Use Enabled Tracks	Select this option if you want the system to use tracks that are enabled in the Timeline (default). To export the entire clip or sequence, deselect this option.
Use Marks	Select this option if you want the system to use current IN and OUT points in the selected clip or sequence to determine starting and ending frames for the export (default). To export the entire clip or sequence, deselect this option.

7. Click OK.

A QuickTime reference movie is produced in the destination you specified. The destination folder opens and the Sorenson Squeeze application starts.

8. Select DVD to create the files you need to use with your DVD authoring application.

9. Create the DVD following the procedures provided with your DVD authoring application.

NRCS Tool Options

Two check boxes have been added to the NRCS Settings ENPS tab:

• Show running order start date/time — Running order names will be listed, including the Editorial Start date and time.
• Show story page number — Story names will be listed, including the page number.

Story Fields information has been added to the NRCS Settings iNEWS tab.

When a sequence is created from a story (using the Build Sequence button), the new sequence uses the specified Name, Duration, and TapeID from the iNEWS story fields setting. (Name and TapeID have been added.)

A Post To Web template can now include more than one encoding format for video clips.

The Post tab of the Post to Web window now has an Export Settings section. The Export Settings displays two columns: the left column shows the video format names called for by the Post to Web template, and the right column shows the Export settings you have implemented for those formats.

If a format name matches a setting name, it is selected by default.

Avid has made template changes to support multiple formats by adding a new tag to the Post to Web template:

<!--VIDEOFORMAT # = "format name" [# = "format name"] -- >

where "#" is 1-9, and "format name" is a name shown to the user.

The VIDEOFORMAT tag applies to the whole template. Within the CLIP and the HYPERCLIP tags, the new symbol, "$URL n $ (where n is any integer between 1 and 9), refers to the matching number in the VIDEOFORMAT tag.

For example:

<!--VIDEOFORMAT 1 = "Low Bandwidth" 2="High Bandwidth" -->
<!--VIDEOFORMAT 3 ="WindowsAVI" -->
...
<!--CLIP "videoclip"

<A HREF="$URL1$"> For dial-up connections </A>
<A HREF="$URL2$"> For DSL/cable connections </A> -->

Configuring the ENPS Server for Avid Clients

Connecting Avid NewsCutter Adrenaline FX to an ENPS server has changed since the documentation was printed. Avid clients must now connect to the ENPS server through a Repeater.

Three required elements must be set up on the ENPS server before the Avid editing system can connect as a client to the ENPS server:

• MOS ID
• Program
• IP address

The following procedures describe the minimum steps for configuring the ENPS server.

1. Start the ENPS client application and log in as an ENPS administrator.

2. Click the fourth Rover (dot) from the left, and select System Maintenance > MOS Repeater Target.

3. Click New.

4. Type the new MOS ID in the text box, and click OK.

5. Fill in the following columns in the MOS Configuration window.

1. Click the news group folder.

The group folder will list the running orders.

2. Double-click the running order you want the Avid editing system to access.

3. Click the title bar on the Running Order window.

4. Set the MOS Control field to active.

5. Click Go to save and close the MOS Configuration window.

A MOS icon appears in the lower left corner of the Running Order window.

Capture Terminology

For existing Avid customers: for consistency among the Avid products, we have changed the terms "digitize" and "record" to "capture" in the Avid NewsCutter Adrenaline FX interface.

Capture Settings

A check box was added to the Capture Settings dialog box that allows the system to stop capturing if a corrupt frame is detected. This setting is enabled by default. If you deselect this setting, corrupt frames are captured during the capture process.

1. In the Project window, click the Settings tab.

2. Click Capture.

The Capture Settings dialog box opens.

3. Click "Stop capture if a bad frame is detected."

The setting check box is no longer selected. When you capture, it will not detect corrupt frames and will continue capturing.

Transcode

The transcode feature allows you to create a playable sequence from clips that have different source resolutions. Even though you are changing the resolution to a possibly higher quality resolution, your footage will not look better than the resolution you selected for capture. For example: if you capture your video at 20:1 to save space and then transcode the sequence to 1:1, the sequence will not look uncompressed.

Decompose Feature

The Decompose feature is not described in the NewsCutter documentation. Decompose allows you to create new, shorter master clips based only on the material you have edited and included in your sequence, which saves system disk space. You can specify the handle length of the new master clips. Decompose breaks any links to the original source clips, and only the sequence and its new master clips are linked to the newly captured media files.

Decompose creates new master clips in the bin for each clip in the sequence prior to recapturing. Using Decompose gives you greater control during the recapturing process. You can use this procedure to sort clips in the bin, modify the clips, and then recapture selected clips in the sequence.

For film projects, clips created with Decompose retain all the information from the original master clips, including Pullin column information, key numbers, ink numbers, or any other information formerly entered in the bin.

1. Activate the bin that stores the sequence and select the sequence.

2. Select Bin > Decompose.

The Decompose dialog box opens.

3. To preserve clips that already have existing media files, select the "Offline media only" option. Do not select this option if you plan to decompose and recapture the entire sequence.

4. Select other options for the types of clips to decompose: captured, imported, or all clips in a group edit.

5. Click the Handle Length text box and type the number of additional frames you want to capture at the heads and tails of the new master clips. This provides enough overlap for trimming and adding transition effects.

6. (Option) Select the "Extend handles beyond master clip edges" option to allow the handles to extend before the beginning and after the end of the original master clip. When you batch capture, deselecting this option prevents capturing across a discontinuous timecode error.

For example, if the starting timecode for a master clip is 1:00:10:00 and the resulting master clip after a decompose with handles causes the new master clip to begin at 1:00:09:00, batch capturing will fail if there are any timecode discontinuities between 1:00:09:00 and 1:00:10:00.

7. Click OK.

The new master clips appear in the bin. You can now sort and select these clips like all other objects in the bin.

8. Proceed with the recapturing procedures, see "Batch Capturing Clips" in the Help.

Avid After Effects External Monitor Preview Plug-In

The Avid After Effects EMP (External Monitor Preview) plug-in allows you to use your Avid DNA hardware to view an Adobe After Effects® composition on an external NTSC or PAL monitor. This allows you to preview how the composition will look in the Avid editing application while you are working on the composition in After Effects.

Install the plug-in on the system on which you run After Effects. In order to use the plug-in, Avid DNA hardware must be connected to the system. For information on connecting and configuring the hardware, see the installation poster and instructions that shipped with the hardware.

You install the Avid After Effects EMP plug-in from the Avid application CD-ROM as you would install one of the auxiliary applications such as FilmScribe or MediaLog.

1. On the system that runs After Effects, quit all Windows XP applications.

2. Insert the Avid editing application CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.

If the installer does not automatically start after you insert the application CD-ROM, do the following:

1. Double-click the My Computer icon.
2. Double click the CD-ROM icon.
3. Double-click Launch.exe to start the Installer.

3. In the main installer window, click Install Products.

4. Click Install Avid After Effects EMP.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen.

The installer automatically searches for After Effects on your system. If you have multiple versions of After Effects or if you store After Effects in an unusual location, use the Browse button to select the correct version.

1. Start the After Effects application.

2. Select Edit > Preferences > Avid External Monitor Settings.

3. Select one of the following options:

You use the Avid After Effects EMP plug-in mainly to preview colors, objects, and anti-aliased text on an NTSC or PAL monitor without having to export the composition to the Avid editing application.

The Avid After Effect EMP plug-in accurately converts colors produced in After Effects to color values that can be displayed on an NTSC or PAL monitor. It converts RGB 4:4:4 values to the YUV 4:2:2 values used for video output.

Playback motion won't be as smooth on the external monitor because After Effects displays full progressive frames rather than interlaced fields. In order to view the interlaced video, you must render the composition with the Field Render option active and then import the composition into the Avid editing application.

In order to view the identical image that you will see on the Avid editing application, select one of the following resolutions for your After Effects composition:

• NTSC D1
• NTSC DV
• PAL D1/DV

If you use another resolution, After Effects resizes the image when it displays it on the external monitor. This might cause some softening of the image. Color representation will still be correct, but the display quality will differ from the image you will see in the Avid editing application.

Check box Available for Pan & Zoom Plug-in

A Render Mode check box is available in the Effect Editor for use with the Pan & Zoom plug-in. If you are working in a progressive project (23.976p, 24p, 25p), click the "Render Mode" check box in the Effect Editor to enable this feature. Selecting this option creates a smoother animation when using progressive frames.

PlasmaWipe Effects

Avid NewsCutter Adrenaline FX includes several PlasmaWipe effect categories in the Effect Palette.

PlasmaWipe effects are real-time plug-in effects that use gradient image bitmaps to create wipes. You can also create your own PlasmaWipe effects by creating new gradient images.

The installation program installs a file named PlasmaWipes.pdf at the same level as the Avid editing application. This file describes how to use and create PlasmaWipe effects.

Trim to Fill Effect

The Trim to Fill effect allows you to create a motion effect that plays at a constant speed. You can adjust the speed by entering Trim mode and trimming the effect.

Trim to Fill is in the Timewarp category of the Effect palette. You cannot modify the parameters for the effect but you can change the speed by trimming the effect.

1. Apply the effect to a clip in the Timeline. The system displays the current speed in the Timeline along with the clip name. The default speed is 100%.

2. To change the speed, enter Trim mode and trim the effect shorter (faster) or longer (slower).

When you perform the trim operation you are trimming the effect, not the clip. The beginning and ending frames (and the number of source frames) remain the same.

You can achieve a similar result using the Fit to Fill checkbox for Traditional Motion effects or the Fit to Fill button on the Command palette. However, the Trim to Fill effect allows you to access the higher quality Blend rendering options available for Timewarp effects.

You can change the way that the system renders the effect by selecting options in the Render Settings dialog box, available in the Settings scroll list of the Project window. The Blended Interpolated and Blended VTR rendering options create a smoother effect than the traditional motion effects.

Additional 3D Effects Described in the Documentation

The effects guide and the Help list more 3D effects than are present on your system.

Workaround: Load the clip in the Source monitor first, and then choose Center Pan or Default Pan from the Clip menu.

Workaround: When capturing audio only, select a video resolution other than DV 25 in the Capture tool.

Workaround: To smooth out the transition, you might want to add a short audio fade at the edit point of a loud audio clip.

Workaround: Empty the Trash, and repeat the delete operation.

Workaround: Do not attempt to view 1:1 media in the Avid player. If you're intending to play a sequence in the Avid player, you should make sure the Media Creation setting for rendered effects is set to a media type supported by the Avid player.

Workaround: Follow these steps.

Workaround: Ignore the error message. The system needs to sync to blackburst.

Workaround: Ignore the error message. The system needs to sync to blackburst.

Workaround: Open the Capture tool, and wait for the video to display on the Client monitor, and then reconnect the black burst generator.

Workaround: Select the video and audio tracks in the Capture tool and re-capture the clip.

Workaround: If you do not select the Entire Sequence, you can also Expert Render the portion of the sequence you are going to digital cut. Select the "Prepare effects for Digital Cut" button prior to doing a digital cut.

Workaround: To create a subsequence, drag and drop the sequence icon to a bin (not the Clipboard monitor). To utilize the clipboard monitor, mark the desired portion of the sequence and select the Copy to Clipboard option from the Fast menu.

Workaround: Render the motion effects and timewarps first to prevent the problems with real-time playback.

Workaround: Do not use very large images with Pan & Zoom.

Workaround: Recreate the title.

Workaround: Open the title in Marquee, change the Title Preference Height, and then Save to Bin.