liquidstudiotut_7_0_en_2

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Avid Liquid

ID:41005895

Liquid for

Pinnacle Studio Users


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© 2005 Pinnacle Systems GmbH. All rights reserved.November 2005 / Pinnacle Systems Documentation, Munich, Germany

[email protected]

Copyright and Protective Rights

This manual or the software described herein, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced, translated or reduced to

any machine readable form without prior written approval from Pinnacle Systems GmbH.

Pinnacle Systems GmbH AG PROVIDES NO WARRANTY WITH REGARD TO THIS MANUAL, THE SOFT-

WARE OR OTHER INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY

IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH

REGARD TO THIS MANUAL, THE SOFTWARE OR SUCH OTHER INFORMATION. IN NO EVENT SHALL

PINNACLE SYSTEMS GMBH BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES,

WHETHER BASED ON TORT, CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION

WITH THIS MANUAL, THE SOFTWARE OR OTHER INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN OR THE USE

THEREOF.

Pinnacle Systems GmbH reserves the right to make any modification to this manual or the information contained

herein at any time without notice.

The software described herein may also be governed by the terms of a separate user license agreement.

YOU MAY USE THIS SOFTWARE TO ASSIST YOU IN COPYING MATERIAL IN WHICH YOU OWN THE

COPYRIGHT OR HAVE OBTAINED PERMISSION TO COPY FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. IF YOU DO

NOT OWN THE COPYRIGHT OR YOU HAVE NOT OBTAINED PERMISSION TO COPY FROM THE COPY-

RIGHT OWNER, YOU MAY BE VIOLATING COPYRIGHT LAW AND YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO CLAIMS

FOR DAMAGES AND/OR CRIMINAL PENALTIES.


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Trademarks

© Avid Liquid, Avid Liquid Chrome HD , Avid Liquid Blue , Avid

Liquid, Avid Liquid PRO are logos and trademarks of Pinnacle Systems GmbH and PinnacleSystems, Inc.

Pinnacle Systems and the Pinnacle Systems logo are registered trademarks of Pinnacle Systems, Inc.

Sony, ClipLink, DV, DVCAM, Digital Betacam, Betacam SP, Betacam SX, Hi8, Video8, HDCAM, D2, Digital8, D8,

i.LINK and the i.LINK logo are trademarks of Sony Corporation; D3, D5, Panasonic and DVCPRO are trademarks

of Matsushita Electric Industrial Company; D9, Digital-S and D-VHS are trademarks of JVC; Dolby A, B, C, SR

and Dolby Surround are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories; Manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories.

© 1992-2003 Dolby Laboratories. All rights reserved. Dolby is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories; OMF®, Avid®,

MediaLog™ are trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc.; Media Cleaner is trademark of Terran Interactive - a subsid-

iary of Media 100, Inc.; FaderMaster Pro is trademark of JL Cooper - a department of Sound Technology; Java is

trademark of Sun Microsystems; Photo CD is trademark of Eastman Kodak Company; Acrobat Reader and Adobe

AfterEffects are trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc.; Microsoft®

, Windows XP™, Windows®, Windows 2000®,MS-DOS

®and Intellimouse are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; VGA

® is trademark of International Busi-

ness Machines Corporation; Intel®

and Pentium®

are trademarks of Intel Corporation; Matrox DigiSuite is trade-

mark of Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd.

Parts of this product have been produced using LEADTOOLS ©1991-2000, LEAD Technologies Inc. ALLRIGHTS RESERVED. Parts of this product are based on the work of the independent JPEG-Group.

All other nationally and internationally recognized trademarks and trade names are hereby acknowledged and are

the property of their respective owners.


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CONTENT

Part1

Upgrading to Avid Liquid.................................... 71 Avid Liquid: Brief Overview........................... 8

2 Initial Contact with Avid Liquid....................10

3 EZ Capture................................................. 12

4 Album and Project ......................................14

5 Collecting, Sorting, Viewing and FindingClips............................................................ 16

6 Importing Clips, Titles, Graphics and Stills. 187 DVD Menus, Titles and Effects................... 20

8 Film Window and Timeline: Basics.............22

9 Inserting Clips on the Timeline...................24

10 Inserting/Deleting Clips on the Timeline..... 26

11 Trimming Clips on the Timeline .................. 28

12 Moving Clips Horizontally and Vertically..... 30

13 Effects: Basics............................................32

14 Effects: Transitions .....................................34

15 Effects: Clip FX (Video Effects) .................. 36

16 Effects: Render or Realtime? .....................38

17 Timeline Settings ........................................ 40

18 Audio: Basics..............................................42

19 Fast Audio Fade-ins and Fade-outs ............ 44

20 Making a Movie: Options............................46

21 Recording to DV Tape................................. 48

22 Burning Disks / Exporting Files .................. 50

23 The Most Important Settings ......................52

Part2

1 Recording from DV/HDV Video Tapes(Capture) .................................................... 56

2 Comparison of Recording Instruments....... 58

3 Recording Clips with Mark-Ins andMark-Outs................................................... 60

4 Recording or Logging Clips “on the Fly”..... 62

5 Automatic Scene Detection ........................ 64

6 Recording Audio: Stereo/Mono and Level.. 66

7 Naming and Numbering Clips whileRecording................................................... 68

8 Recording/Digitizing Tips ........................... 70

9 Scene Detection in the Clip Viewer ............ 72

10 Protecting and Muting Tracks..................... 74

11 Trimming with the Trim Editor ..................... 76

12 Trimming Video and Audio: Split Editing .... 78

13 Moving Clips Horizontally and Vertically..... 80

14 Good to Know............................................. 82

15 Effects: Working with Key Frames.............. 84

16 Audio Scrubbing ......................................... 86

17 The Audio Editor......................................... 88

18 Audio Mixer and Volume Lines ................... 90

19 Output Mapping.......................................... 92

20 Audio: Settings Tab .................................... 9421 Recording Voice Over................................. 96

22 Live Mixing of Audio Tracks ........................ 98

23 Sound Effects ........................................... 100

24 Surround Sound ....................................... 102

ManualPart 1


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Upgrading to Avid Liquid

This document was written for Pinnacle Studio users who want to upgrade to Avid Liquid and achievedemonstrable results as quickly as possible. We’d like to help you find the functions you already know

from Studio in Avid Liquid. In many cases there is no one-to-one correspondence - after all, they are

two different programs. But Avid Liquid can do a lot more than Studio, which we assume is why you

purchased it.

Wherever practical and possible, we’ve arranged procedures from Studio side-by-side with similar pro-

cedures in Avid Liquid and explained the various technical terms. For example, what Studio calls a

“scene”, Avid Liquid calls a “clip”. Expressions used in the Avid Liquid user interface are written in ital-ics: Sequence (“Film”). Keys on the keyboard are represented as follows: F7 or SPACEBAR.

This manual has two parts: The first part contains the most important things you need to know for

quick startup. The second part describes more advanced functions.

To a large extent, each user can configure his or her own Avid Liquid user interface. For the purposes of

this document, however, we assume that the software is still in its “original state” as it was when first

installed; for example, the tool buttons are in their original locations and the function keys execute theoriginal commands.

If you click a wrong tool button when working with Avid Liquid, simply use the Undo/Redo buttons,

which look like this: , .

When you want to know more about a subject in Avid Liquid, press F1. This opens Online Help, which

contains the text of the printed Reference Manual. You can also use the Help index (key icon) to quickly

find an explanation of unknown functions or tools.

Have fun learning about Avid Liquid!


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1 Avid Liquid: Brief Overview

First of all, we’d like to introduce the most important modules in Avid Liquid. To the right you see theuser interface after a standard installation (single computer monitor).

Timeline

The Timeline is where the Sequence (in Studio: Film) is assembled from the clips (scenes). Any type of

clip (video, audio, graphic, title) can be positioned on the Tracks.

The Timeline appearance, clip display and Audio/Video Playback are all managed in the Track Header

area to the left of the Timeline.

Project Browser

The Project Browser contains the elements of your film, i.e. the video and audio clips and the effects. It’s

functioning is similar to that of the Windows Explorer, with its folders and subfolders.

Source Viewer (Player) or Project Window

The Source Viewer is where you view your source material, meaning the clips (scenes). In terms of an

analog tape-based editing suite, this would be your player and monitor. You can drag clips from the

Project Browser to the Source Viewer with the mouse.

You can also select a screen layout in which the Project window is displayed in this spot (Single Monitor

View; see page 14).

Master Viewer (Recorder)

The Master Viewer displays the current image from the Timeline, i.e. it is the master video output for the

recorder or for output to DVD, etc. The red Playline identifies the current position.

Toolbars

The Toolbars contain the most important tools (buttons) and commands. You can customize these tool-

bars individually (right-click > Customize).

Menu bar

The most important commands are arranged here in typical Windows style.

Taskbar

The taskbar contains valuable information and functions you need to have on hand while editing,

including an audio level, the Render Viewer, the Key Caps icon, etc.

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Source Viewer

(Player)

Master Viewer

(Recorder)

Toolbars

Timeline

Menu Bar

Project

Browser

Taskbar

Track Header Area


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STUDIO LIQUID

Starting up

Studio is “empty” when you start it up. You can

then open an existing project or create a new one.

Saving and backup

Performed manually by selecting: File > SaveProject (As).

1-2-3 user interface

Studio distributes the basic video editing opera-

tions over three tabs: 1 Capture / 2 Edit / 3 Make

Movie.

Starting up

Unless you enter a different user name or are

starting the program for the very first time (in

which case, a sample or standard Project appears), Avid Liquid opens with the last Project

that was worked on.

Select File > New > Project to create a new,

“empty” Project .

Saving and backup

Avid Liquid automatically saves each individualoperation (Instant Save). Should your computer

ever crash, you can retrieve your work (Sequence,

“Movie”) from the Sequences Rack.

Modular user interface

In single-monitor mode, Avid Liquid appears

either as shown on the right (initial startup) or as

it did when you last exited the program.

You can access functional areas such as “1 Cap-

ture (= EZ Capture/Logging )” or “3 Make Movie

(= Export > Record to Tape)” as needed by means

of menus, the keyboard or tool buttons.

All the toolbars are freely configurable and the

layout of the user interface can be customizedusing the Eye icon located at the bottom right

on the taskbar.

2 Initial Contact with Avid Liquid

After installing the program, you’ll find the Avid Liquid icon on your computer’s desktop. Connect your

DV or HDV camera to an IEEE-1394 interface (Firewire, DV In) on the computer, switch on the deviceand insert a tape.


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Project only

Single Monitor View

Timeline only


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STUDIO LIQUID

Recording a movie

Camcorder control via DV and the recording

options are described in the record mode field.

With Avid Liquid, you can also record in “pre-

view quality” (MJPEG) (File > EZ Capture > Set-

tings > Codec Settings.

Recording using EZ Capture

First check whether the camcorder is properly

connected and switched on.

1 Select File > EZ Capture.

2 In the lower left, enter a name for the clip.Above it next to the capacity indicator,

select a location for storing the data.

3 Start the tape by pressing the Play button , or directly by clicking the Capture button.

4 The camcorder starts recording.To stop recording, click the Capture but-

ton once again.

To select a different video input or a par-

ticular recording format, open the Set-

tings dialog box.

In the Extended Dialog Box, you canadjust the audio and influence the video

(analog input).

You will find your recorded clips in a Project Rack

(automatically created or previously selected).

3 EZ Capture

EZ Capture is a file-based capture tool for recording clips from digital sources (DV, HDV) and analog

inputs (if you have a breakout box). You can record to various formats.


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Enter clip name Player control buttons Start/stop recording

Extend dialog boxSelect directoryRecording format

Settings forEZ Capture


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STUDIO LIQUID

Album

Here you can page through your existing mate-

rial. The tabs on the side separate the areas into

video scenes, effects, etc.

Project and Tabs

Click the Eye icon ( , bottom right on the task-

bar) and select the view with the large Project

Window: .The Project includes all the elements of your work

and, more importantly, the actual work you’ve

already done: the edited Sequences (=Films). You

can create and output any number of Sequences

from a Project’s clips.

The Project Window has five tabs for organizing

the objects, several tools for copying, pasting,

etc., and a simple search window for ferreting out

clips. Like any other window, it can be resized

and moved.

When you delete objects from a Project , they are

placed in the Trash on the Liquid desktop (and

can be retrieved from there).

Project Browser

Click the button to the left of the Timeline

header to show/hide the Project Browser . This is a

miniature version of the larger window.

Single Monitor View

In place of the Source Viewer , you can also display

the Project window. Click the button to select

this Single Monitor View .

4 Album and Project

The Album and Project serve the same purpose: To manage all the elements necessary for making a film

and keep them within easy reach. Avid Liquid does this in the Project window.


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Click here to show/hide the ProjectBrowser.Drag the separating lines to resize thefields.

Trash

Tabs

Project Window

Desktop

Single Monitor View(Project window in place

of the Source Viewer)


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STUDIO LIQUID

Windows folders

The Studio Album displays the contents of Win-

dows folders, i.e. it directly accesses your com-

puter’s directories.

Scene or Comment View

A miniature image is displayed with or without

the scene name and scene length.

Player

The player provides a quick preview of image and

sound.

Selecting a scene by name

Searches the current directory in the Album.

Racks and folders

The Racks in Avid Liquid serve as “containers” for

clips. You can combine Racks in Rack Folders and

move or copy clips from Rack to Rack.When you click a Rack in the Rack/Folder Area,

its contents are displayed on the right.

Picon View or Detail View

Detail View displays a detailed, editable list.

Picon View displays miniature images with

their names.

Sorting

If Detail View is activated, you can sort and

display the clips in the Rack in alphanumeric

order. Click (repeatedly) the header of the col-

umn you want to sort by.

Viewing clips in the Clip Viewer

To open the Clip Viewer , double-click a graphics/

video/audio clip.

Quick clip finder

Enter the name of the clip you’re looking for and

click . This searches all the Racks.

5 Collecting, Sorting, Viewing and Finding Clips

Even very large Projects with thousands of objects (clips, etc.) can be effectively managed in Avid Liquid.

The following are the most important tools:


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The left-handarea contains the

Racks and Rackfolders.

The right-handarea shows the

contents of thecurrent Rack(here in Detail

View)

To sort the listalphanumerically,

click the headerof the

relevant column.

Below is a Rack in Picon View.Double-click a clip to view it in the ClipViewer.

Quick Finder


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STUDIO LIQUID

Select tab, open directory

In Studio, you first select the relevant tab and

then display the Open dialog box from Windows.

With Avid Liquid, you can fill any Rack with any

clips. You alone determine the structure.

Displaying audio files

Studio has a separate Album tab for audio files.

Avid Liquid has no such tab but you can, ofcourse, create Racks specifically for audio files as

described on the right.

Creating Racks

Clips or All tab:

Right-click in the left-hand area of the Project

Window to display the shortcut menu and selectNew Rack.

Naturally, you can also use an existing Rack (see

“Importing objects” below).

Naming Racks

You can immediately name the newly created

Rack, or right-click an existing Rack and selectRename.

Importing objects

Menu bar > File > Import > Media.

The possible formats are listed in the File Type list

box.

Now select the files you want to import. The clips

then appear in the currently selected (flashing)

Rack.

Linking, copying and moving

These are three types of import. Copy creates a

copy of the media file in Avid Liquid’s media

directory (recommended).

6 Importing Clips, Titles, Graphics and Stills

Avid Liquid lets you import clips in a variety of formats. You can use Racks to organize your Project :

Title Rack, Audio Rack, Sound Track Rack, Video Rack, etc.


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Right-click here:

You can open sev-eral Racks simulta-neously: Drag themfrom the Rack areato the desktop and

double-click.

Importing objects: Right-click to open the Rack’s shortcut menu.Select an import type: Link, Move or Copy.

Or use the menu bar File > Import > Media command.


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STUDIO LIQUID

DVD menus

The DVD menus are located in the Album. You

can either use standard menus and edit them or

load additional menus.

Creating titles

Select a template from the Album and transfer it

to the film window. Then open the Title Editor. In

Avid Liquid, the order is reversed.

Effects

In Avid Liquid, video effects are called Clip FX .

DVD menus

In the Project Window or Browser , select the

Library tab. The menus are located in the DVD

Menus Rack.When you drag a DVD menu from the Rack to

the Timeline, a special DVD Track is automati-

cally configured.

Double-click a DVD menu on the Timeline to

open the DVD Editor . This is where the DVD’s

menu structure is created, including chapters,

jump markers, animated buttons, etc.The DVD menus themselves can be edited using

the same tool as in Studio.

Creating titles

Activate a Rack (which is where the finished title

is stored) and select Tools > CG Editor (or press

F2).

The Title Editor is very similar to the one in Stu-

dio.

When you’re finished, select CG Editor File > Save

as new in Liquid. The title clip is now located in

the previously selected Rack.

Effects

All the effects supplied with the product arestored on the Library tab of the Project Window/

Browser.

7 DVD Menus, Titles and Effects

Video clips aren’t the only design elements of a film. The following is an overview of the options avail-

able from Avid Liquid; for more detailed information, see the next section.


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DVD menus are locatedon the Lib(rary) tab in

the DVD Menus Rack.Drag a menu to theTimeline. The “DVD”

Track is automatically

configured at the verytop.

The new titles arestored in the current

Rack. The frame onwhich the playline iscurrently positioned(Timeline) serves as

the background in theTitle Editor.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Film window

In Studio, the film window can appear in three

forms: Storyboard, Timeline and List. Specific

tracks are reserved for certain types of scene.

Edit line and edit modeYou can move this line only by means of the slider

above the film window. With Avid Liquid in

Scrub Mode (the button is not highlighted),

you can use the mouse pointer to move the Play-

line across the Timeline; the mouse pointer then

looks like this: . In Edit Mode ( high-

lighted), you can click on clips.

Timeline

The Timeline is the “foundation” for Sequences

(Avid Liquid’s term for films).

The Timeline comprises any number of horizon-tal Tracks on which the clips are positioned. The

Tracks are all the same; there are no specific

“audio Tracks” or “title Tracks”.

To the left of the Timeline is the header area.

Right-click this area to perform a number of cus-

tomizations and disable video and/or mute the

audio.From top to bottom

In Avid Liquid, higher Tracks have priority over

lower Tracks, i.e. a video clip on a Track overrides

a video clip on the Track below it. The same does

not apply to audio clips.

PlaylineThe vertical red line indicates the current edit

position in the Sequence and the current frame in

the Master Viewer .

The Position Bar is located below the Timeline;

the current Timecode is specified to the left and

below the Track Header area.

8 Film Window and Timeline: Basics

This section provides the most important information on the Avid Liquid Timeline and on creating a

film.


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Track Header

Video and

audioplayback

PlaylineZoom (Timeline scale) Timecode bar

Edit Modeis enabled

Example of a complex Timeline

Track

Track

Track

Track

Track


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STUDIO LIQUID

Assembling scenes

As soon as a scene is dragged to the Timeline, the

clip dimensions are indicated by green start and

end markers.

Inserting a clip between two other clips

Simply position the scene with its beginning

between two other clips. The subsequent clips

and their synchronous audio will be shifted.

Assembling clips

Click to select a screen layout in which you

can view the Project (Browser), Timeline and

Source/Master Viewer .1 As in Studio, drag a video clip to the

Timeline and drop it on the Track labelled

V .

2 Drag another clip close to the end of thefirst clip. It is “magnetically” attracted.

Repeat this several times.

Inserting a clip between two other clips

First check the Edit Style. An icon between the

Source and Master Viewers indicates the current

status: Avid Liquid recognizes Overwrite Style

( ) and Film (Insert) Style ( ). To insert a clip,

Film Style must be activated.

1 Drag a video clip to the point betweentwo clips on the Timeline.

2 The clip is inserted and all subsequentclips are shifted to the right.

9 Inserting Clips on the Timeline

Basically, this function works the same in Avid Liquid and Studio: Drag a clip from the Album/Project to

the Timeline.


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The clip’s audio isautomatically posi-

tioned on a Trackbelow the video clip.

Make sure Film Style isactivated

(yellow icon).Click the icon to

change the style.

The clips following theinserted clip are

shifted to the right.

These are the “slices”- each edit is assigneda consecutive number.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Razor (insert edit with audio)

To insert one scene into another, you must first

create an edit with the razor tool.

The scene is then inserted and subsequent scenesare shifted to the right.

Deleting a clip

Select the clip and press DEL (or use the trash

icon). All subsequent clips are shifted to the left.

Inserting

You don’t need the Razor , but the Edit Style does

matter:

Film (Insert) Style ( ) -Drag a clip to the Timeline clip. The exist-

ing clip is cut at the insert point (Play-

line), the new clip is inserted and the rest

of the clip is shifted to the right along with

all subsequent clips.

Overwrite Style ( ) -

The existing clip is cut at the insert pointbut everything else on the Track is over-

written for the length of the inserted clips.

Razor (Add Edit)

This tool is also available in Avid Liquid: . It’s

generally used to cut an area out of a clip or

divide a clip so that a gap can be created.

Deleting a clip

Select the clip and press DEL. In Overwrite Style, a

gap is opened up; in Film Style, the clips shift to

close the gap.

10 Inserting/Deleting Clips on the Timeline

In contrast to Studio, Avid Liquid has two methods for inserting clips on the Timeline: One method

overwrites clips and gaps and the other shifts whatever follows it.


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Insertion in Overwrite Style: The overall length remains the same; the inserted clip overwrites the center portionof the existing clip.

Insertion in Film Style: The inserted clip cuts the existing clip and shifts the remainder of this clip to the right.

The razor tool cuts the clips at the playline position.A deleted clip (in Overwrite Style) leaves a gap.

Gap


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STUDIO LIQUID

Trimming on the Timeline

First click the clip you want to trim. When the

mouse pointer nears the edit, it turns into an

arrow. You can now change the length of the clip.Any gaps produced are immediately closed.

Activating Edit Mode

Make sure that the Edit Mode icon ( ) is yellow

and that the mouse pointer looks like this: (on

a clip) or this: (on an empty area of the Time-line).

Trimming on the Timeline

1 Example: Position the mouse pointer onthe mark-in for a clip. Its shape changes

to: .

2 Left-click. The clip now has a red edge(handle) if the Overwrite Style is activated or a yellow edge if the Film Style

is activated.

3 Drag the handle to the left or right. Thefollowing happens:

In Overwrite Style , this simply length-

ens or shortens the clip. Either a gapopens up or other clips are overwritten.

In Film Style , subsequent clips are

shifted. When you drag the mark-in, it

remains at its Timeline position.

Careful: the synchronicity of video and

audio clips can easily be lost. Make sure

that a video clip and its original audio

clip(s) all have yellow handles before you

trim.

11 Trimming Clips on the Timeline

The most important work of the editor is to trim the edits between clips: Each frame counts.


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Trimming in Edit Style = Overwrite:Red “handle”

Trimming in Edit Style = Film:Yellow “handle”

Trimming in Edit Style = Overwrite:The clip is shortened. Its mark-in shifts to the right.

Trimming in Edit Style = Film:The clip is shortened but its mark-in remains at the master position and the mark-out shifts to the left.

Edit Style


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STUDIO LIQUID

Swapping positions

When you move clips, the gaps created are closed

automatically.

Avid Liquid: Active tracks?

Click a Track’s Name field. If it’s highlighted, the

Track is “active”, i.e. certain actions are applied to

this Track, such as the selection command


This is especially important when working with

the Insert Arrow (three-point editing; see the Ref-erence Manual).

Selecting a clip or clips

This is the first step in moving one or more clips.

Activate Edit mode ( must glow yellow) and, if

necessary, (de)activate linked mode ( ) so that you can select the video and audio clips together

or separately. The Overwrite Style must also

be activated.

Click a clip to select it (hold down the CTRL or

SHIFT key to select multiple clips).

You can also drag a lasso around the relevant

clips.Another practical method it is to use the Select

after playline ( ) command. All clips on active

Tracks (- see also page 74) at and to the right of

the Playline are selected. This is an easy way to

create a gap in the Sequence.

Moving a clip or clips

Once you’ve selected a clip or clips, drag them

while holding down the left mouse button.

To move clips vertically, we recommend the fol-

lowing procedure: Select the clips and press CTRL

and the UP/DOWN ARROW key. The clip then

retains its exact same TC position on the Time-

line.

12 Moving Clips Horizontally and Vertically

Even when clips are already positioned on the Timeline, they can be moved to new positions.


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Select using the lasso: Beginning in an empty area on the Timeline, drag the lasso until it either surrounds therelevant clips or its outline touches them.

Custom selection: Hold down the CTRL key and click the relevant clips. You can now, for example, move theselected clips as a group. Or open the Clip Properties dialog box (right-click > Properties) in order, for example,

to rename multiple clips.

Selection as of the playline: In this case, the Track status is important; the command is applied only to clips onactive tracks. To activate or deactivate tracks, click on the Track names. Deactivated tracks are dark and active

tracks are light-blue.

Edit mode pointer

Selected

Selected

Not selected because tracks are deactivated

Deactivated

tracks


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STUDIO LIQUID

Album and Video Toolbox

The effects are located on the Album’s Transitions

tab or in the Video Toolbox (“Video Effects”).

Effects are positioned on either a video Track orthe overlay Track. Because Avid Liquid allows you

to layer any number of clips on any number of

Tracks, you can construct highly complex effects:

True compositing.

Library tab

All effects are located on the Library tab in the

Project Window (or on the Lib tab in the Project

Browser ) in various Racks and folders.“Video Effects” are called Clip FX.

What are Effect Editors?

As in Studio, each effect in Avid Liquid can be

edited by means of its parameters, which vary in

number depending on the effect.

Realtime effects (RT, Realtime)

These effects are processed by the graphics card

(GPU) or the computer’s processor (CPU) and

do not have to be computed for the preview.

Classic effects

Classic effects include, for example, the powerful

Color Correction Editor and the Timewarp Editor

for dynamic changes in clip speed.

PlugIn effects

Here you can access and manage PlugIns, i.e.

third-party effects (if installed).

13 Effects: Basics

Avid Liquid provides a huge number of effects that you can combine and edit as desired. Using these

effects is as easy as it is in Studio.


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View of the “Library” tab with thedifferent effect types.

Example of an Effect Editor (Magnify GPU).Parameters such as Size and Position are configured on the left; parameter curves (for dynamic changes) are in

the middle; the inlay on the right contains the clip image (here it’s the default preview image because no clip isloaded yet).

Effect Editors


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Transition (Wipe) positioned on an edit. Sufficient leeway (overlap) is available on both clips - therefore, thetransition is gray.

Not enough leeway available - Liquid automatically trims the transition to the usable length.

Transition is partially red: In this case, the clip on the right doesn’t have enough leeway. In Film Style, trim in thedirection of the arrow until the red disappears from the transition. Figure below: With A/B editing, the transition

would look like this:


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Simply drag clip FX to the video clip: The purple line and the effect icon indicate that at least one effect isapplied to the clip.

Right-click the line or effect icon and select the effect to be edited. The Effect Editor now appears.

This effect is applied to the entire “Video” Track, i.e. to all the clips on this Track.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Render options/preview

If your system has sufficient capacity, Studio

shows you a preview of realtime effects.

You can set various render options in the Setuparea. With Avid Liquid, you can activate or deac-

tivate background rendering. We recommend

that you leave it activated. Then all your effects

will probably already be rendered by the time

you’re ready to output your film.

Yellow and red slices

The color of the Slices above the Timeline indi-

cates the status of clips and effects:

Yellow means that these segments can beplayed back in real time. If the effects are

beyond your computer’s performance

capabilities, Avid Liquid reduces the

frame rate for playback and indicates that

it is doing so below on the taskbar.

Red indicates that Classic Effects are being

applied. These are rendered automati-cally.

Green identifies segments that have

already been rendered.

“Render yellow slices”

In other words, activate background rendering

for realtime effects. Select this option from theRender menu in the taskbar ( ) or from the

menu bar > Timeline > Render yellow slices.

For output via IEEE 1394, yellow Slices must be

rendered.

16 Effects: Render or Realtime?

With Avid Liquid’s intelligent background rendering, this in not really an either/or question.


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Colored slices mean:

Yellow = playback in realtime; Green = already rendered; Red = needs rendering (Classic Effect);Dark red = media data not available.

Render menu in the taskbar: Click the sigma character toopen the Render Viewer (right). This allows you to mon-itor the rendering process.Select “Render yellow slices” to activate background ren-dering (or deactivate if checkbox is empty).

To manually re-render, select “Delete Render Files”(Timeline shortcut menu).


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STUDIO LIQUID

Timeline settings as of Version 10

As of Studio Version 10, you can select advanced

settings (for example, for HDV).

Selecting a Timeline format

When you start a new movie (in Avid Liquid:

Sequence), select a Timeline Format , such as.

NTSC or HDV 1080/50i, either because you

recorded everything to HDV 1080i or because

you want to output everything in this format.

Select File > New > Sequence > Preset and

then the appropriate format (usually the

format in which your clips were

recorded).

When mixing material that has different framerates (fps), aspect ratios (4:3/16:9) and image

sequence (progressive/interlaced), you will have

to compromise. For example, scaling between 4:3

and 16:9 means stretching or squeezing the

image, black bars on the screen or parts of the

image being cut off.

The great advantage of Avid Liquid is that you

can combine material from all sources into one

Sequence and output it in any format and to any

medium.

Avid Liquid automatically adapts the frame rate

and resolution.

17 Timeline Settings

Avid Liquid can handle clips in all formats on the Timeline. Consider the output (tape, DVD, stream)

and select a specific video format for the Timeline.


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Select Timeline format here

Advanced settings - usu-ally, you will not change

them.

Clip properties(right-click Clip > Properties)

All the facts about the clipat a glance.

Select an option here to scaleone or more clips to a different

format (aspect ratio).

New Sequence dialog box(File > New > Sequence)

18 Audio: Basics


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STUDIO LIQUID

Special audio tracks

Certain tracks are reserved for certain types of

audio.

Activating/muting the audio stream

Click the icon to the right of the particular audio

Track to mute playback.

Sorting audio clips by type

Although audio clips can be positioned on any

Track, we recommend that you set up a particular

structure: Separate Tracks for original audio,

interview audio, noises, background music, nar-

ration, etc.

Naming/inserting tracks

Right-click a Track’ s Name field to open a short-

cut menu that allows you to name the Track and,

if necessary, generate additional Tracks.

Activating audio playback

If you also want to hear the audio, you must acti-

vate the Track for Audio Playback (see figure on

the right): The Loudspeaker icon must be visible.

Displaying the audio waveform

This function makes the audio “visible”. Right-

click the Loudspeaker icon to activate/deactivatethe waveform.

18 Audio: Basics

When inserting, trimming, deleting, moving, etc. on the Timeline, Avid Liquid handles audio clips

exactly like video clips.


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Example of a useful Timeline structure:“SOT 1” (Sound on Tape) and “2” for interview audio, original audio on tape;“Music” for background music;“Ambient 1/2” for ambient noise;“Sound FX” for special sound effects.

Make sure audio playback is activated: The loudspeaker icons must be visible.

Waveform display in the

clip:To activate, right-clickthe audio column in theTrack header and selectWave Form from theshortcut menu

Originally synchronousaudio/video becameasynchronous:Red line and amount ofshift specified in frames(+/-).(Sync Break function)

Precision work with the waveform in theClip Viewer:

Double-click an audio clip on the Timeline.Here you can also adjust the volume of the

entire clip.

19 Fast Audio Fade-ins and Fade-outs


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STUDIO LIQUID

Fading out/in

In the Audio Tool (fader), you can fade sound in

and out for each audio Track.

Fade-in and fade-out

In Avid Liquid, as in Studio, the empty Timeline

(no clips on the Track) is “silent”. Consequently,

fade-ins start with an empty Timeline and fade-

outs end on an empty Track.

Create a Cross Fade at the mark-in and

mark-out of a Timeline clip (Library tab >

Realtime Transition FX > Audio > etc.)

Audio crossfade

As with a video dissolve, the audio signals of two

adjacent clips are mixed; one is gradually faded

out while the other is simultaneously faded in to a

corresponding degree.

Automatic fades/dissolves

For clips (video/audio) on active Tracks

(see page 30), you can automatically insert fade-

ins/fade-outs/crossfades/dissolves:Position the Playline near an Edit and click the

following icon: . You can also insert multiple

fades/dissolves within a selected Timeline range.

19 Fast Audio Fade ins and Fade outs

This frequently needed application takes just a few clicks in Avid Liquid.


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Fade-in and fade-out with crossfade

Audio crossfade: Audio from the two clips is mixed.

Automatic audio crossfade: Applied to all edits within the selected range (active Track(s)).

Louder Constant Softer

Mix

20 Making a Movie: Options


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STUDIO LIQUID

Make Movie

This area contains all the output options.

Tape

For output to a DV camcorder.

AVI

For output to an AVI file.

MPEG

For output as an MPEG file (MPEG 1, 2

or 4, S-VCD-compatible, DVD-compati-

ble, etc.).

Web

Output in Windows Media or Real Video

format.

Upload

For publishing on the Pinnacle Studio

Community website. Not a feature of

Avid Liquid.

Disc

For burning to CD (VCD, SVCD) or

DVD.

Menu bar > File > Record to Tape

Displays the dialog box for output to a connected

recorder that is controllable via i.Link (Firewire).

File > Burn to Disc

DVD, VCD, SVCD, Image, VOB, with/

without burning

File > Export to File

Displays various dialog boxes for outputting a

Sequence as one or more files:

Images and graphics (single frames)

Fuse (downmix to a file)

MPEG1,2,4 (elementary/program

stream, DVD-compatible, etc.)

Windows Media (audio and video)

AVI, QuickTime, DivX, RealMedia

You can define output formats and save them for

later use (Edit presets).

For more information on output formats, see

below.

g p

Both programs permit numerous output formats for a finished film, from recording to tape to DVD

authoring. Overview:


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Select anexporter preset

Create a custom preset

Export format

Information on thepreset selected

Select export source


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Record to Tape:If the recording device is controlled via IEEE 1394, the dialog box appears asshown.

In the case of an RS-422-controlled recorder, you can also choose to edit inInsert or Assemble mode.

Stripe Tape:This function writes a continuous timecode and, if desired, a frame Sequenceto the tape. The tape is automatically rewound before recording.

Recordingoptions

Currentrecording device

Timecode from the tape

22 Burning Disks / Exporting Files


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STUDIO LIQUID

Make Movie

This area contains all Studio’s output options.

Avid Liquid displays them in three different dia-

log boxes.

Burning / Exporting

1 Select one or more Sequences or clips that you want to export/burn from the Rack.

If you don’t select any, the Sequence cur-

rently on the Timeline will be burned/

exported.

2 Select File > Export.../Burn ... to open theappropriate dialog box.

3 Select a burn or export format, such asDVD or MPEG1.

4 Select a Preset (this is a subcategory of theexport/burn format selected).

5 Select the Source for exporting/burning.

6 When burning: Make sure the burnercontains a suitable medium and with a

large enough capacity.

7 Click Ok.

8 Various dialog boxes appear (Location,Select Codec, progress bar).

9 The system informs you when the processis completed.

Use the Export to File and Burn to Disc functions to generate files for sharing on the Internet and DVDs.


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23 The Most Important Settings


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STUDIO LIQUID

Specifying a default directory for recordingUse the folder icon in the Diskometer.

Player Select Setup > Capture source > Capture devices.

Effect preview/monitor

You can connect a video monitor/TV to the

player (recorder) (signal looped through) but you

will not be able to preview the effects. The Time-line must be rendered before output (“Make

Movie”).

Specifying a storage location for video/

audio media files

You already defined this location during installa-

tion. To change it, select: Edit > Settings > Site >

Media Management > Media Volumes: Add or

Edit .

The default recording drive is identified by an

“X”. Right-click the narrow column next to Alias

in front of the desired drive/directory and define

it as “Primary”.

Specifying a player The player/recorder and signal inputs are man-

aged under Edit > Settings > Site > Player Set-

tings.

MPEG or DV player/recorder: Click i.Link DV

and select the Connections tab. All the fields must

contain IEEE 1394.

Other connection combinations are possible with

an analog breakout box and Live input (see the

Product Manual).

Effect preview/monitor

With an analog breakout box: Click the monitor

icon to the right on the taskbar and select the

port to which the video monitor/TV is con-nected.

The presets are enough to get you going the first time you start up the program and when you work with

DV/HDV devices. If you need to change them, here’s a brief overview:


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Define or verify thestorage location of the

media files

Select player andverify connection

Select analogmonitor output


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Part 2

Learning More aboutAvid Liquid

1 Recording from DV/HDV Video Tapes (Capture)

In Avid Liquid, transferring images from tape to the hard disk of the editing computer is called “cap-


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STUDIO LIQUID

Recording mode

In Studio, you work with the Record tab.

In Avid Liquid, the “Album” is called a Rack.

“Scenes” are called “Clips” in Avid Liquid.

In Studio, the tape name has no significance.

Logging Tool (Capture)

You can use the Logging Tool to view tapes and

digitize audio/video.

1 Select File > Logging Tool .2 Enter a name for the tape (=Reel ) cur-

rently loaded in the camera.

IMPORTANT: Never use the same Reel

name more than once in a Project .

3 Click the filmstrip button to open a dia-log box and create a new Rack (see illus-

tration on the right).A Rack is a “container” for the clips.

4 You can now start generating clips. In thesimplest case (preset), click the Play but-

ton to start the tape. Then click the

Digitize button to begin the transfer.

5Click the

Digitize button once again to

stop. The clip is stored in the Rack.

In Avid Liquid, transferring images from tape to the hard disk of the editing computer is called cap

ture” or “digitizing”. This process generates media files and clips, which are the most important ele-

ments of your film.


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2 Comparison of Recording Instruments

This set of pages describes the most important areas of the Logging Tool as compared to the capture area


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STUDIO LIQUID

Scenes and Album

Each time a new scene is created, it’s stored in the

Album.

In Avid Liquid, a scene is called a “clip”.

Player and Camcorder Controller

The current video is displayed in the player.

The Diskometer

You can capture either in full DV quality or in

preview quality.

In Avid Liquid, this is possible only in EZ Capture

(MJPEG).

Clips, Racks and Project Browser

Each new clip is placed in the currently active

Rack. The current Rack is highlighted in yellow

on the bottom left in the Project Browser .

Video inlay and control functions

The video image played appears in the “Inlay”

(Viewer). The camcorder or player is controlled

by means of the usual buttons. The timecode field

is located above the viewer.

In Avid Liquid, the functions of the Studio Disko-

meter are distributed over three menus:

Player/Source

i.Link DV should appear here. If it doesn’t, click

the small Player icon and continue as described

on page 52.

Select media format

Native Transfer (AVI ) should appear here (Excep-tion: You’re playing an analog signal).

Display capacity/location

The hard disk used for recording is specified here

(position mouse pointer on top or click a num-

ber) along with its available capacity.

p g p gg g p p

in Studio.


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Player status displayTimecode display Current player/source Current Reel and Rack

Media format/captureformat

Capacity available on thecurrent drive

Player control buttons

Active Rackin the Project

Browser

Video Inlay

3 Recording Clips with Mark-Ins and Mark-Outs

You can also use the Logging Tool to view tapes and separate the successful scenes from the failures.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Starting capture

Using the Camcorder controls, rewind the tape to

the beginning and click Start Capture. Then enter

a file name and click Start Capture once again.

Stopping capture

Capture stops when you click Stop Capture. A

clip is stored in the Album.

Setting a mark-in

The mark-in identifies the beginning of a clip

(scene, setting, etc.). Always position mark-ins

several seconds before the actual action begins.

Using the control buttons, shuttle the player to a

particular position and click this button: .

Setting a mark-out

The mark-out identifies the end of a clip. Click

this button: .

The clip is now defined and you can either log or

digitize it.Logging

You can’t play a clip on the Timeline if it has only

been logged, because it doesn’t (yet) have any

media data. Clips are logged (usually in large

quantities) so that a Batch Capture can be per-

formed later on.

Click the Log button to transfer the clip to the

current Rack.

Digitizing (= capturing, recording)

Click the Digitize button to record the clip.

The system cues up to the mark-in and records

up to the mark-out. The clip is stored in the Rack

and is immediately available for editing.

Then you won’t have to transfer the entire tape to the hard disk.


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Mark-Out:End of clip

Mark-In:Beginning of clip

Clip length

Log:Clip is placed in theRack but not saved

to the hard disk

Digitize:Clip is placed in theRack AND saved to

the hard disk

Active Rackin the Project

Browser

4 Recording or Logging Clips “on the Fly”

With this method, mark-ins and mark-outs are set while the tape is running or recording (Capture) is in


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STUDIO LIQUID

No comparable function. Logging “on the fly”

1 Start tape playback. Click the Log buttononce to set a mark-in.

2 At the end of the scene click the Log but-ton once again to set the mark-out and

transfer the clip to the Rack.

... and so on ...

Digitizing (recording) “on the fly”

1 Start tape playback. Click the Digitizebutton to set a mark-in.

The system transfers the clip to the harddisk.

2 At the end of the scene click the Digitizebutton once again to set the mark-out

and transfer the clip to the Rack.

... and so on ...

Do not click the “X” to finish the capture or log-

ging process: this discards the current clip, mark-

in and mark-out are cleared.

progress.

Status: Digitizing in progress


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Direct Insert function:If activated, all the clips are sent directly to the Timeline(and to the Rack) and are available for immediate editing(but not in the case of clips that have only been logged).

1

2

Status: Digitizing in progress

5 Automatic Scene Detection

Scene detection saves you from having to define all the clips manually. Avid Liquid recognizes two

types: Scene detection based on DV timestamps and scene detection based on video content (although


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STUDIO LIQUID

Selecting the scene detection type

You can select various types of scene detection

under Setup > Capture Source.

Scene detection based on video content

In Avid Liquid, scene detection based on video

content can be found in the Clip Viewer.

With DV input only

Note the following for both Studio and Avid Liq-

uid: Scene detection based on timestamps works

only with DV material played via the DV (IEEE

1394) interface. It does not work with analog sig-

nal inputs.

Scene detection based on timestamps

In DV format, it is possible to mark the beginning

and end of recording on the tape (depending on

the type of camera). Avid Liquid uses these

markings to identify the individual clips.

Activating scene detection

With the Logging Tool open: Click the

button on the top right and select Proper-

ties > General > Automation > Scene

detection. Select Masterclips to activate

scene detection. Or from the menu bar: Select Edit > Set-

tings > User > Logging / Batch > and con-

tinue as described above.

Scene detection activated

After activating scene detection, start playing

back a tape in the Logging Tool and click the Digi-

tize button to begin transferring material to

the hard disk. The system continuously monitors

scene changes. When you click again to stop

capturing, it stores the detected scenes in the

Rack. With many clips detected, this may take a

while. Do not forget to stop the player.

types: Scene detection based on DV timestamps and scene detection based on video content (although

the latter is not available in the Logging Tool ).


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Following scene detection, thedetected clips are numbered and

stored in the Rack.

6 Recording Audio: Stereo/Mono and Level

While recording, you can’t adjust DV audio but you can adjust analog audio signals.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Audio faders in the Diskometer

During analog recording, the Diskometer sprouts

two “ears” with the appropriate faders.

Balance slider

This slider lets you adjust the level of the recordedsignal (for analog input only).

Audio tab in the Logging Tool

This tab is always visible but, as in Studio, you

can’t adjust the audio during DV recording.

Audio can be adjusted for playback by means of

the Audio Playback fader. It allows you to deter-

mine the volume at which the recorded clips are

played back on the Timeline. You can also turn

down loud ambient noises in advance (instead of

having to do it later for each individual clip).

Stereo or mono

In Avid Liquid, “Stereo” and “Mono” are clipproperties. A stereo clip has two sound channels,

one to the left speaker and one to the right. A

mono clip has one sound channel that plays at the

same volume on both speakers.

For DV recording, you should generally select

stereo: Click the or button to toggle

between the two states.Audio recording only

If you only want to record an audio clip, click the

button to deactivate the video source. Deacti-

vating the audio channels results in “mute” clips.


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7 Naming and Numbering Clips while Recording

Avid Liquid has several options for naming and adding comments to clips while recording.


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STUDIO LIQUID

File name is the clip name

After selecting the Start Capture command, enter

a file name that also serves as the name of the clip

and is stored in the Album. You can find the clipunder this name in the Windows Explorer.

Clip name is independent of the media file

name

Avid Liquid’s Media Management automatically

name files and manages file names. However, you

can also name each clip individually (for exam-ple, “Amusement Park 01”) in the Logging Tool as

well as afterwards.

Clip tab

Fill in the text fields to describe the particular

clip. Use the Scene and Take/Shot fields if you’re

working with a screenplay.

The Clip Name is formed from the active fields

(checkmark visible).

Click the plus sign to manually increment the

number by +1; if the double plus sign is acti-

vated, numbering is automatically incremented

for each new clip.

Textual clip presetsYou can fill the text fields with textual presets that

will reappear for each new clip and can be

expanded and edited.

With the Logging Tool open, click to open the

Properties menu and select General > Textual Clip

Presets. Exit the Logging Tool and reopen it. The

text presets now appear in the appropriate fields.


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8 Recording/Digitizing Tips

With these tips, you’ll have no problem importing clips to the system.


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70

STUDIO LIQUID

Timecode and reel name

Avid Liquid’s Media Management, i.e. the man-

agement of clips and their media files, is based on

timecode data and Reel names. This is why it’s

important that

all tapes have a continuous timecode

without breaks,

the same Reel (=tape) name never be

used more than once in a Project . The Reel

description together with TC data is part

of the media file name. Recurrent Reel

names and identical TC data cause exist-

ing files to be overwritten.

Tapes with a lot of TC problems should be copied

to another tape before digitizing. However, the

Logging Tool Properties also contain several

options for working with TC breaks.

EZ Capture Clips

EZ Capture clips are file- and directory-based,

thus following the logic of Studio. For more com-

plex Projects, generate the clips using the Logging

Tool , especially if you want to perform a Batch

Capture later on.

HDV

Always use the highest quality tapes available for

HDV recording.


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9 Scene Detection in the Clip Viewer

This section describes how to split your recordings into scenes/clips in Avid Liquid, either manually or

using automatic scene detection.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Detect Scenes by Video Content

Select this command under Album > Scene

Detection.

Split/Combine scenes

Studio’s Combine command corresponds most

closely to the Fuse or Container function in Liq-

uid (see the Reference Manual).

Scene detection in the Clip Viewer

A clip with lots of different takes can be divided

into scenes (clips) automatically in the Clip

Viewer .

1 The clip must be digitized. Double-clickthe clip in the Project , click the triangle

button to open the extended dialog

box in the Clip Viewer , and then select the

Scenes tab.

2 Select the method ( Metadata = based onDV timestamp; or Video Content ).

3 Start the procedure.Check the results, especially when analyz-

ing video content; if necessary, repeat

detection at a different Sensitivity.

4 Then click Create clips. The (sub)clips arestored in the Rack.

Creating subclips

Load a clip in the Clip Viewer and select a range

by setting a mark-in (A key) and a mark-out (S

key). Press the U key to generate a subclip.


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A subclip is part of a larger clip. Be careful when deleting the mediafile for a subclip: This will cause all the other subclips and the mas-

ter clip to lose their media data.

“Create Subclip” button

Green marker for each new scene

Detected scene clips

10 Protecting and Muting Tracks

In Avid Liquid, you can make Tracks immune against almost all operations. You can also deactivate

audio and/or video playback.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Inserting a video-only scene

The original audio Track is disabled.

Muting audio tracks

Click the loudspeaker icons to the right of the

corresponding Timeline tracks.

Inserting a video-only clip

If you’re working with a video-only clip without

original audio: Simply drag the clip to the Time-

line video clip. The video clip’s original audio is

unaffected.

Inserting an audio/video clip

Protect the Track with the original audio clip:

Right-click the Track name to display the shortcut

menu and select Protected . Continue as described

above and then disable protection.

Protected tracksClips on protected Tracks can’t be moved,

deleted, overwritten, etc., nor can additional clips

be inserted.

Deactivating/activating video and/or audio

playback

Each Track has two columns in its header area:

one for Video Playback (monitor icon) and one

for Audio Playback (loudspeaker icon). Left-click

in the relevant area to activate/deactivate audio/

video playback for each individual Track.

The monitor icon represents video playback.The loudspeaker icon represents audio playback.


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Simply position a video-only clip on the existing video clip.

Because the “Name 4” Track is protected, the audio of the existing clip is unaffected. Only the video portion ofClip 3 [Sub (1)] is inserted. Protected tracks are behind a “gray shroud”.

The following icons identify the clip and its status (in theRack in Detail View):

Graphics (title, image)

Audio effects

Animation

Graphics (roll title)

Graphics (crawl title)

Realtime video effects

DVD menu

Digitized video

Undigitized video/audio

Digitized video/audio

Undigitized audio

Digitized audio

Video effects

Undigitized video

Subclip

Sequence

11 Trimming with the Trim Editor

The Trim Editor is the ideal tool for precision trimming, especially of transitions (edits), because you

always have both frames in view. This section provides a brief introduction.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Clip Properties Tool

This tool is opened from the Video Toolbox and

allows you to trim the mark-in and mark-out of

the scene currently selected. In Avid Liquid, on

the other hand, both clips are always trimmed atthe selected edit.

In Avid Liquid, click the and buttons to

jump from edit to edit.

Opening the Trim Editor

Position the Playline at the edit between two adja-

cent clips. Click the button or press F5 to

open the Trim Editor .

Yellow handles appear at the video Edit and at theedits of any associated audio clips: The Trim Edi-

tor always operates in Film Style.

You can now precision-trim using the , ,

and buttons:

Trimming both clips

(Preset) Click the area between the two inlays.

The mark-out of the left-hand clip and the mark-

in of the right-hand clip are shifted by the same

amount. The total Sequence length remains the

same.

Trimming the outgoing (left-hand) clip

Click the left inlay. The mark-out of the left-hand

clip shifts and the overall length changes.

Trimming the incoming (right-hand) clip

Click the right inlay. The mark-in of the right-

hand clip shifts and the overall length changes.

This is the last frame of the left-hand This is the first frame of the right-hand


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This is the last frame of the left-hand(=outgoing) clip.

This is the first frame of the right hand(=incoming) clip.

Edit with outgoing and incoming clipsTrim tools and frame counters (above)


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Edit mode is activated, clips are unlinked


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First the right-hand audio clip is shifted on the bottom Track. The two audio clips are then extended in oppositedirections so that the audio overlaps.

This is a combined L- and J-cut including overlap.

LJ

In this case, the audio from the left-hand clip was simply dragged to the right, over the audio of the right-handclip (just like an L-cut in Studio). However, this does mean the audio of the right-hand clip is simply deleted.

L

Disband stereo audio clip(s): Right-click a stereo audio clip (recognizable by the two waveforms and the S1 desig-nation in front of the Track) and select Disband Clip(s). The two audio tracks are divided into separate clips as

shown in the screenshot.

13 Moving Clips Horizontally and Vertically

Even when clips are already positioned on the Timeline, they can be moved to new positions.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Swapping positions

Simply drag a clip to another position. The over-

all length of the film remains the same and no

gaps are created.

Avid Liquid: Active Tracks?

Click a Track’s Name field. If it’s highlighted, the

Track is “active”, i.e. certain actions are applied to

this Track, such as the selection command


This is especially important when working with

the Insert Arrow (three-point editing; see the Ref-

erence Manual).

Selecting a clip or clips

This is the first step in moving one or more clips.

Activate Edit mode ( must glow yellow) and, if

necessary, (de)activate linked mode ( ) so that

you can select the video and audio clips togetheror separately. The Overwrite Style must also

be activated.

Click a clip to select it (hold down the CTRL or

SHIFT key to select multiple clips).

You can also drag a lasso around the relevant

clips.

Another practical method it is to use the Selectafter playline ( ) command. All clips on active

Tracks (!) at and to the right of the Playline are

selected. This is an easy way to create a gap in the

Sequence.

Moving a clip or clips

Once you’ve selected a clip or clips, drag them

while holding down the left mouse button.

To move clips vertically, we recommend the fol-

lowing procedure: Select the clips and press CTRL

and the UP/DOWN ARROW key. The clip then

retains its exact same TC position on the Time-

line.


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Select using the lasso: Beginning in an empty area on the Timeline, drag the lasso until it either surrounds therelevant clips or its outline touches them.

Custom selection: Hold down the CTRL key and click the relevant clips. You can now, for example, move theselected clips as a group. Or open the Clip Properties dialog box (right-click > Properties) in order, for example,

to rename multiple clips.

Selection as of the playline: In this case, the Track status is important; the command is applied only to clips onactive tracks. To activate or deactivate tracks, click on the Track names. Deactivated tracks are dark and active

tracks are light-blue.

Edit mode pointer

Selected

Selected

Not selected because tracks are deactivated

Deactivated

tracks

STUDIO LIQUID

14 Good to Know...

Here are three more functions frequently used in Studio that have corresponding functions in Avid Liq-

uid.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Find Scene in Album

This command from the shortcut menu for a

Timeline scene lets you find the scene in the

Album.

Mark scenes used

Album scenes that are used one or more times onthe Timeline/Storyboard are marked with a green

checkmark.

Grab a frame of video (Film)

This command from the Video Toolbox gener-

ates a bitmap either from the current film or from

a connected player.

Match Frame

This command loads a Timeline clip into the

Source Viewer .

1 Position the Playline on a Timeline clip

and right-click this same clip.

2 Select the Match Frame command.The Source Viewer now contains the exact

same image as in the Master Viewer , i.e.

the “match frame”.

Mark clips used in current Sequence

The same function as in Studio except that thecheckmark is gray (Edit > Settings > User >

Project > Mark clips used in current Sequence).

Snapshot (Timeline)

This command ( on the Timeline toolbar) cre-

ates a still at the current Playline position and

stores the image as a “Snapshot” in the currently

active Rack (if you don’t see this button, right-

click the toolbar and select Customize > Special

tab).


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Match Frame loads a Timeline clip intothe Source Viewer and displays the exact

same image as the Master Viewer.

Clips used in the current Sequence areidentified by a checkmark in picon view.

The clip TC on the Timeline

and in the Source Viewerare identical

Snapshot from theplayline position

STUDIO LIQUID

15 Effects: Working with Key Frames

Key Frames can be used to dynamically shape the course of an effect, such as initiating an abrupt change

but ending it more slowly.


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STUDIO LIQUID

Key frames in Studio 10

This option has become available as of Studio

version 10. With key frames, the course of the

effect is defined for the duration of a clip or tran-

sition.Static effect, no key frames

If you want to work in Avid Liquid without key

frames, i.e. want to create a static effect, open the

Effect Editor and Select Options tab > Key

Frames: Deactivate Key Frames. Any change will

be applied for the entire length of the clip.

Inserting key frames

First you need a clip with a clip effect as described

on page 36 .

1 Open the Effect Editor. The position bar

below the video inlay contains one KeyFrame at the beginning of the clip and

one at the end by default.

2 A Key Frame stores effect parameter val-ues. The values change from one Key

Frame to the next, either at a continuous

rate or an accelerating rate.

3 Position the Playline in the middle of theclip. Click the button to insert a new

Key Frame.

4 Change any of the effect’s parameters(e.g. Size) and view the results in the pre-

view ( ).

5 Play around with the Parameter Curves.They affect the temporal sequence

between Key Frames.


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Clip effect with key frames: The image becomes smaller and then larger.Each of the four key frames was defined at a specific size - the curve pre-

cisely defines the course of the change between the key frames.You can also insert key frames directly in the curve (by clicking it) and

move existing key frames.Each key frame in a curve has a shortcut menu (right-click to open). Youcan use this menu, for example, to define the interpolation between the

key frames: Linear, Bezier, Constant.

Deactivate key frames:Options tab in the Effect Editor

Curve for the change in size

Key frames

STUDIO LIQUID

16 Audio Scrubbing

One of the key features in Avid Liquid is precision audio editing. This section introduces an extremely

useful tool.


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Q

Scrubbing as of Version 10

Audio scrubbing is available in Studio Version 10

and later.

Audio scrubbing

To listen to audio frame by frame (e.g. to cut an

“ummm” from an interview), use the Audio Scrub

function in Avid Liquid.

1 Press the SCROLL LOCK key (this key alsodeactivates Audio Scrub).

2 Activate Audio Playback for the Track containing the clip. Then hold down the

SHIFT key and click the Loudspeaker icon

to display it as a contour.

Audio Scrub is now activated for this

Track.

3 Move the Playline (using the mouse, key-board, tool buttons or jog/shuttle).

4 Right-click the button on the task-bar to toggle between Analog Scrub and

Digital Scrub.

5 Analog Scrub sounds like a deceleratedtape; Digital Scrub plays only a few frames

in a loop.

Any number of Tracks can be selected at one time

for audio scrubbing.


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The SOT 1 and SOT 2 tracks are activated for audio scrubbing (as indicated the transparent loudspeaker icons).Press SCROLL LOCK and select one of the two scrub modes: Digital or Analog. You can toggle between the two inthe Audio Tool menu at the bottom right on the taskbar (first right-click, then left-click).

A small auxiliary level on the taskbar helpsyou keep an eye on the audio level.

Click it to open the Audio Tool. You can thenadjust the master audio output.

Digital audio scrub can be precisely cus-

tomized (Edit > Settings > User > Audio).


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Audio Editor with Mixer: A fader unit is displayed for every Track for which audio playback is activated. “Stereo” is

the output bus. All audio signals are finally mixed together on this dual-channel bus (in this example).

Volume line (clips)

STUDIO LIQUID

18 Audio Mixer and Volume Lines

As in Studio, Avid Liquid lets you to edit the Volume Lines while the Audio Editor is open (F4, )

using the mouse. This is called “rubberbanding”.


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Volume lines

These lines represent the rise and fall of the vol-

ume in a clip. As a balance indicator for a stereo

audio clip, the lines identify the left/right domi-

nance in the signal.Avid Liquid also has Pan lines (for mono clips)

and Balance lines.

You can adjust the volume for the entire Track

(activate Output Level/Input Level segments of the

Mixer ). You can also set the Pan and Balance for

the entire Track. To set Pan/Balance for a single

clip, activate Classic Routing (see Settings tab).

Virtual mixing console

Each of the audio tracks represented has a fader

and several other buttons.

Rubberbanding

Normally, the clip Volume Lines are immediately

visible as light-blue lines when the Audio Editor is

opened. (If not: Right-click the Audio Playback

column in the Track Header Area to activate theline).

To edit the line:

Click the line to set an Audio Key Frame.

Drag this Key Frame to the desired posi-

tion.

Note: The Undo Key Frame command is always

applied to the clip currently selected (clicked).

Audio Mixer

When you set Audio Key Frames on the Volume

Line, the slider in the Fader belonging to the

Track moves.

When you click the slider, an Audio Key Frame is

set at the Playline position and on the audio clip.

Additional functions are described with the

screenshot on the right.

Mute/Solo: Mutes Track/plays audio for this Track

Track balance: Distributesaudio between the left and

Stereo output bus: Sum ofthe audio signals from

Key frame buttons in theAudio Editor.


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p yonly. right output channels. active Tracks.

The Audio Mixer is the most important audio editing tool in Avid Liquid.

Key frame and faderare linked

Drag Key framewith the mouse

Green line:Track balance

STUDIO LIQUID

19 Output Mapping

You can have any number of “audio Tracks” on the Timeline but at some point, all the audio signals must

(for example) end up on the left/right channels of the DV output.


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Stereo output

Studio has no advanced configuration options.

The signal is output in two-channel stereo,

regardless of whether it’s to DV tape, to DVD or

exported to a file.

From clip to fader

The clip’s audio signal is routed to the Fader

belonging to the Track on which the clip is posi-

tioned.

From fader to bus

Each Fader in the Audio Mixer outputs its sig-

nal(s) to an Output Bus, usually the Stereo Output

Bus.

From bus to output

In this case (Output Mapping tab), the signals on

the bus or busses are distributed to your system’s“real” outputs: e.g. sound card, breakout box or

DV (IEEE 1394) output. The dots in the boxes

represent active assignments. Click the fields to

set or delete dots.

System settings

The Output Mapping settings are applied system-wide, meaning they are accessed for each new

Sequence.


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Timeline audio clipTrack

Fader Output bus

Output bus DV and analog* output

Audio Tool (master output)

* Optional

The audio signal’s path through the Mixer, output bus and Output Mapping.

STUDIO LIQUID

20 Audio: Settings Tab

This tab is important mainly because it lets you determine the appearance of the Mixer . In other words,

it lets you enable and disable certain segments of the Faders.


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Fixed user interface

You can’t alter the appearance of the mixer tool.

Additional audio tips forworking with Avid Liquid

Internally, Avid Liquid works with 32-bitfloating-point audio files. This special

audio format is extremely resistant to

overload and clipping, but you should

still keep an eye on connected recording

devices to make sure you don’t go too far

into the red zone.

Arrangement on the Tracks -Audio editing is much easier if you

reserve specific Tracks for specific types of

audio, such as positioning all the music

on a Track called “Music”.

Activate the Audio Tool (F3) so you can

view the audio master output at all times.

Knob or slider? Right-click below the “+”

sign next to the fader (in the Audio

Mixer ).

Activating Mixer segments

Click the checkbox to display the desired seg-

ments in the Faders, such as Input Level (Track).

The fewer the segments, the more straightfor-

ward the display.

Tooltips

The tooltips for specific areas of the Audio Mixer

can be very detailed. If you find the text fields to

be too large, disable the function here.

Mix Automation/Voice Over These options are for the live mixing of audio

Tracks and for recording Voice Over (see next set

of facing pages).

Display fader for Track volume

Affects all the clips on the Track. Activate the

Input Level (Track) (or the output level).

Settings: On this tab, you can change the functionsand appearance of the Audio Editor.

For greater clarity, activate only as many segments asyou need for your purposes.

You can hide the detailed tooltips as soon as you’refamiliar with the functions.


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All the vertical sliders can also be displayed as knobs,but then you lose the level indicators.

To change, right-click the +/- area.

STUDIO LIQUID

The Voice over Tool Checking audio settings

21 Recording Voice Over

This tool, which records a voice over in sync with the image, is also available in Avid Liquid. To record

sound, you need a microphone and a sound card.


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The Voice-over Tool

Make yourself comfortable behind the micro-

phone of your virtual sound recording studio ...

Voice Over tips

Be careful not to overwrite any clips on

the selected Track (voice over is always in

Overwrite Style). It’s best to configure a

separate Track for Voice Over clips. Divide the voice over recording into man-

ageable segments.

Checking audio settings

Click the menu bar > Edit > Settings > User >

Audio Settings. Look under Preferred device to see

whether it contains the soundcard to which the

microphone is connected. Then select Preferred

quality. In the extended area, test whether the sys-

tem is picking up the audio.

Recording a voice over

1 Open the Audio Editor (F4, ).2 Set a Timeline mark-in at the point where

you want to start recording (if desired,

you can also set a mark-out at the end).3 Selec

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