It s All About Speed! Customizing DS and Learning How to Edit Faster Saturday, April 17 th, 10:15 11:30am

It s All About Speed! Customizing DS and Learning How to Edit Faster Saturday, April 17 th, 10:15 11:30am

INTRO Avid DS is a powerful and flexible tool for post production. Its open architecture enables users to access the products powerful functionality in a variety of ways. For this reason, there are multiple methods of accomplishing even the simplest of tasks. As you begin working with Avid DS, you will probably be content to simply use the factory defaults (defaults layouts, command shortcuts etc.). However at some point, you might want to take a closer look at your workflow and consider making some modifications. It usually helps to analyze what slows you down, or what frustrates you. Then you can examine what DS offers to operate more efficiently. Please note that this seminar has been written based on Avid DS version 7: although many things covered here are still applicable to earlier versions. This presentation is based on one users personal approach. It won t necessarily meet the needs and/or style of everybody. However, the underlying strategy should point you in the right direction, and enable you to develop your own personal style. The best tip I could give you is: Don t wait until you re in a hurry to learn how to edit faster If at all possible, use your downtime to practice on the system. Spend time reviewing some of the items covered in this presentation, such as experimenting with new workflows. It will definitely payoff during those high-pressure situations. Storyboarding & Drag and drop There are a variety of ways of placing clips on the timeline. One method is to use the double viewer and mark in/out points, then insert, overwrite ( ) clips to the timeline. This is a very efficient workflow when you need to place multiple sections of a master clip(s) on the timeline. We will review this workflow in the next section, when we edit a dialog scene. However, let s start by placing a few video clips in the timeline. Since only a few of these clips need to be split, we will storyboard them in a bin, then perform a multiple drag and drop. Previewing clips, marking in/out points In order to preview a clip, you must load it to the source viewer. Simply double-click on the clip located in the bin. Once the clip is loaded in the source viewer, you can preview it and mark in/out points. Note that the master clip will automatically retain its new in and out points. Later, when we drag this clip to the timeline, only the selected in to out material will be dropped to the timeline. If you don t like this behavior, deselect the option Always update clips in source viewer which is located under User Preferences > Editing.

Creating sub-clips When several actions are part of the same shot (or when several shots are part of the same clip), it seems logical to split that clip in order to storyboard efficiently. To prepare our clips for storyboard editing, let s examine the Avid DS shortcuts which will help us improve our efficiency. Play Enter Vari-speed Forward Playback * Up Arrow Increase the speed Right Arrow Decrease the speed Left Arrow Vari-speed Backward Playback * Up Arrow twice Increase the speed Left Arrow Decrease the speed Right Arrow Frame Forward Right Arrow Frame Backward Left Arrow 10 Frames Forward Ctrl + Right Arrow 10 Frames Backward Ctrl + Left Arrow Go To Click and type the TC in the viewer Go to Start Home Go to End End Go to In Shift + I Go to Out Shift + O Clear In Ctrl + Shift + I Clear Out Ctrl + Shift + O Clear In and Out Ctrl + Shift + B Create Subclip Undefined * There are two ways to access DS s vari-speed functionality. Here are listed a combination of shortcuts that are very handy when used together. The JKL commands will be covered later on. You ll notice that by default, the Create Subclip command is not mapped to any shortcut key. Let s fix it! Creating your own shortcut(s) Go to File = Command Mapping. Ensure that your Command Mapping is not set to a default template (Avid DS, Avid DS MC or Avid Media Composer). These default templates cannot be modified, so you must create your own. To create a new template, simply click on the New button and enter a name. When you create a new template, DS will create a copy of the current template, so that you don t need to start from scratch. In this case, your newly created template will inherit all the properties of the Avid DS shortcuts. To assign a shortcut to a command, you first must locate the group in which the command exists. This is not always immediately obvious.

So, here is a tip: From the Command Mapping window, click on View in Explorer. The shortcut template is now displayed as an.html document. You can then do a search from there. Click on Ctrl + F (shortcut for Find (on this page) ). Type Subclip in the Find what text box. Click on Find Next You have determined that Create Subclip falls under the Viewer group. Note 1: This technique is also useful when searching for a specific shortcut, especially in earlier versions of Avid DS. Avid DS version 7 now has the ability to display tooltips for most features. Tooltips will also display the shortcut keys required to access a particular feature. All popup menus will now also display command shortcut details. Note 2: The Shortcut list is also available under the Help menu in Avid DS v7. However, it does not display your customized template, or the undefined shortcuts. Let us assume that we want Shift + S to be associated with Create Subclip. In the Group list, select Viewer. Hold down the Shift key and, from the Command list, drag and drop Create Subclip to the S on the keyboard (as illustrated below).

Let s examine our new workflow with this new shortcut Double click on any clip to load it in the source viewer. To prepare the clip for drag and drop, use the transport control shortcuts, and mark new in/out points. If you need to split the clip, create a subclip (using Shift + S ). Storyboarding Notes: - Subclips always appear at the root of the current project. - The position of the position indicator determines what frame is displayed in the subclip thumbnail. - When you create a subclip, keep in mind that the in/out points become boundaries for the subclip. Ensure that you retain the required amount of head and tail material (to create a transition for instance). If you don t, then the Match Frame & Replace features will be really useful. You can either: In the Avid Explorer, Ctrl + select the clips in the order in which you want them to appear. Drag and drop them to the timeline. The order in which you selected them is respected, as well as the in/out points you set. You can also: Make sure the bin is set to Thumbnail view. Ensure that the bin is not set to Auto Arrange (right-click on the bin > Arrange Icons > Auto Arrange). You can now drag the clips in the order you want them to appear on the timeline. Click and drag to lasso the clips which will select them sequentially. Drop them to the timeline. Note: Ripple mode can always be overridden by using the following hotkeys. While dragging and dropping, hold down the B key to overwrite or the V key to insert.

This workflow will allow you to quickly assemble clips in the timeline. However, you ll probably need to trim them. Trimming in the timeline: There are a variety of ways to trim clips in Avid DS. Here is a list of the most common (note that all these methods are not necessarily exclusive and might be used in combinations): Using the Trim View Using the Slip/Slide View Interactive trimming - Automatically displayed when selecting an edit point (if the Autoswitch mode is selected). - Otherwise, select an edit point and click on the trim icon or the Y key. * To select an edit point, you can directly click on it (if you re in selection mode). Otherwise, shift + lasso (from left to right). - Automatically displayed when selecting a clip (if the Autoswitch mode is selected). - Otherwise, select a clip and click on the trim icon, or the Y key. * To select a clip, you can directly click on it (if you re in selection mode). Otherwise, shift + lasso (from right to left). - Select an edit point and drag either the outgoing, incoming handle or the edit point (which trims both sides simultaneously). Snap in / Snap out - Select a clip. - From the Editing pull-down menu, select the Snap in or Snap out command (or use the PgDn / PgUp shortcuts) to trim the incoming frame (Snap in) or outgoing frame (Snap out) to the position indicator position. More shortcuts, ; F9 F10 F11 [ ] Ctrl+[ Ctrl +] ~ JKL editing - Select an edit point or navigate between edit points using the, and ; shortcuts. - Use the F9/F11 shortcuts to select the outgoing or incoming frame or F10 to select the edit point. - Trim forward or backward, frame-by-frame or 10 frames by 10 frames using the [or] or Ctrl+[or Ctrl +] shortcuts *. - Preview the new edit point by clicking on the ~ shortcut. * This can also be used to trim other objects (like an entire clip or an effect). - Select an edit point, an outgoing or an incoming handle (using the shortcuts described above if desired). - Hit J to trim backward and K when you reach the desire frame *. - Hit K to trim forward and K when you reach the desire frame *. * JKL can also be used to trim other objects (like an entire clip or an effect). What about ripple? Which ever method you decide to use, keep in mind that the Ripple state matters when you trim only one side of an edit point (outgoing or incoming frame). However, when you trim an edit point or slip/slide a clip, Ripple doesn t matter. Tristan s personal choices When trimming large amounts of material, I use interactive trimming or Snap in/snap out. To nudge the edits, I navigate through edit points and trim using the shortcut commands (described above) in conjunction with the Trim view.

More information about trimming When ripple is off, trimming the incoming frame of a clip equals a slip. However, when trimming the outgoing frame of a clip, DS doesn t behave exactly the same (when ripple is off). To perform a backtime trim (slip the content of a clip based on its outgoing frame), you have to hold down the E key. To stretch a clip (preserving its length but keeping its incoming/outgoing frame), first timewarp the clip (T key), then trim its incoming/outgoing frame while holding down the G key. Dealing with AV clips and multiple insertions As mentioned earlier, when you have to place multiple sections of a master clip(s) into the timeline, and/or when you don t want to group all of the clips in the same bin, editing with the double viewer become very handy. The double viewer also offers additional options (like fit to fill, track patching etc.) to edit more precisely when placing clips in the timeline. - Load a clip to the source viewer. - Mark in/out points - Track patch as necessary - Select/deselect the track you want (or don t want) to be placed on the timeline. - Select the Sync Point Editing - Insert, Overwrite or insert or Fit to fill mode if needed Sync Point Fit to Fill Insert (V) Overwrite (B) Replace Using the Source side timeline To display the source side timeline, click on the Toggle Source/Record timeline icon. To toggle automatically between the Source and Record timeline as you select the Source/Record Viewer, right-click on the Toggle Source/Record timeline icon and select Auto.

When working in Auto mode, you can use the following shortcuts (+ the ones used earlier), This covers the most commoly used dual viewer functions. Switch Viewer Insert Overwrite Tab V B Trim AV synced clips ACTION RESULT Shift Trim: Hold down the Shift key while selecting an outgoing frame, incoming frame, or edit points. This automatically selects the aligned edit point. Trim. Split Edit: Select one of the edit points (audio or video), between two synced audio/video clips. Trim. Trim Peer Sync Selection: Select the outgoing/incoming frame or the edit point. Use the Editing > Select Sync Peers command on the toolbar or Q shortcut. Trim.

Resync: You may accidentally unsync audio/video clips. To restore sync lock: Select the slave clip that has become unsynced (when a clip is unsynced, the name is displayed in a different color, and an offset indicator is displayed.) Use the Editing > Resync command on the toolbar. Note: Magnetism is very useful feature. However, there are situations where you might prefer to turn it off. For instance, if you are trimming an outgoing/incoming frame which is very close to the edit point. Holding down the shift key will temporarily disable magnetism. Multi-camera editing Place multi-cam clips onto separate Background tracks. Make sure the Show unused material option is selected (you can activate it by right-clicking on the timeline ribbon and select Display > Display Unused material). To synchronize clips that originate from a live action shoot, where multiple cameras are running synced timecode, do the following: Select the any multi-cam clip. Make sure the status bar is set to clip mode Position indicator timecode

Set a locator on the first clip (hit the M shortcut). Select another multi-cam video clip and move the position indicator to the same source timecode. Add a locator to the clip. Repeat the last two steps to all other multi-cam video clips (if you have more than two). Move the clips so that the locators are aligned (dragging the clips with the locators to align them is a good option) Note: With Avid DS version 7, you can sync the multi-cam clips as you place them on the timeline by overwriting (with the new Sync Point dual-viewer function). You can decide to sync all multi-cam clips together by multi-selecting all the multi-cam clips, and selecting Sync Lock from the Editing menu (or simply hit the S shortcut). You can now cut between the multi-cam clips. Here is a list of useful commands: Activate Deactivate Cut to Select Clip Forward Ctrl+Tab * Select Clip Backward Ctrl+Shift+Tab * - Select a clip (or a region above a clip) that is not active. - Select Activate (from the Editing menu) or hit the shortcut A. - Select a clip (or a region above a clip) that is active. - Select Deactivate (from the Editing menu) or hit the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+A. - Select a clip that is not active at the position indicator. - Select Cut to (from the Editing menu) or hit the shortcut C. * These shortcuts are very handy when used in conjunction with Cut to (C) and all the transport shortcuts (covered earlier). Note: In order to view all multi-cam clips while you are performing your cut to, editing session, you can select each multi-cam video clips by right clicking and selecting Open viewer. Each multi-cam clip will have its own viewer. Note: Cutting between background tracks allows you to apply a transition at the edit points

Processing Optimizations Processing without an RP system can create bottlenecks. However, if you are clever in how you process, in some cases, you can reduce processing time considerably - and with no deterioration in image quality. Here are two examples: Example 1 Here you have a timewarped clip and a DVE (that needs to be animated) on top. Because the timewarp is not real-time effect, you will need to re-process the effect every time you make a modification to the DVE. To obtain a better interactivity when animating the DVE, do the following: Select the Timewarp Container clip. Invoke the processing dialog box. Process Selected Object (and not Duration of Selection ), DO NOT select Sw or Hw as Include Real-Time Effects. You can now fine tune the animated DVE, with real-time interactivity. Example 2 Here is an effect tree where a matte effect is used to create a mask for a Color Correction.

If the matte generates a static shape with a lot of blur, you can definitely improve the processing time. Actually, processing the output of this tree requires you to process the Matte for each frame (even though it s static and only used as a mask). By adding a Black (Source Generator) and connecting to the matte effect + adding a cache node at the output of the matte effect will make DS to process the mask once only. The result is much faster processing (up to 1000%).