RESIZING and KEYFRAMING in AVIDdvFREE

RESISZE

1. To resize an image in AvdiDVfree, select a clip in the timeline (highlight it).

pic 1.

2. Then go to your bin and select the effects tab (indicated by a purple icon, pic 2)

pic 2.

3. Select “Image” and double-click “Resize” (pic 2). Once you double-click “Resize” an icon will appear in the center of the selected clip in the timeline (see pic 1), or drag and drop the “Resize” icon onto a clip that you want to resize. Now press the “Effect Mode” tab on the top left of the timeline (pic 3).

pic 3.

This will bring up an “Effect Editor” window (pic 4) with the controllable parameters for resizing as well as “Background” (inserting a color solid for the background), “Position” (changing the position of the image within the frame) and “Crop” (creating a black border around the image that crops out unwanted elements along the image’s periphery).

pic 4.

4. To resize a clip, simply click and drag one of the parameters, either “Wid” (width) or “Hgt” (height). To resize the image proportionately, press the “Fixed Aspect” tab (this should turn purple when engaged); the “Fixed Aspect” tab will prevent distorting the image. Keep in mind that as you make an image larger it will lose some resolution and will become slightly less pronounced in its contrast. You can compensate a little bit by boosting the contrast of the image (follow above steps but choose “Image” “Color Effect” instead of “Image” “Resize”).

KEYFRAMING

Keyframing is essentially creating an effect or image adjustment OVER TIME. So if you want, for instance, your image to increase in size over the course of, say, 10 seconds, then you would use keyframes. If you haven’t used keyframes before then this might be a bit awkward at first; but you’ll quickly get the idea. Simply follow steps 1-3 above for resizing an image. After step 3 choose “Effects Editing” from “Toolset” in the menu

(pic 5).

pic 5.

This will bring up a new set of windows. The main window will have the clip you’re resizing with keyframes, and at the bottom of the window you’ll notice little triangles (pic 6). The top triangle is a keyframe that Avid has created for you; the bottom triangle is a button used to create new keyframes. Each time you press that tab (bottom triangle) a new key frame will appear at the play head (little blue vertical bar).

pic 6.

We’ll do something simple like making an image start at its normal size and then, over the course of the clip, from its in point to its end point, we’ll make the image grow to its largest size.

1. (Again, first follow steps 1-3 above.) Select the left keyframe (pic 6); it should turn purple (the keyframe on the right should turn gray after you have selected the left keyframe).

2. By selecting the keyframe you have ENGAGED it—it’s ready for you to assign a size value to it. So go to the effects editor (pic 4) and set its “Scaling” at 100 (H and W). This means you want the image to begin at its normal size, 100% of its size.

3. Now engage the far right keyframe (should turn purple when you press it). By selecting THIS keyframe you have ENGAGED it—it’s ready for you to assign a size value to it. So go to the effects editor (pic 4) and change its “Scaling” to 400 (for now press the “Fixed Aspect” tab).

So you have just assigned two different scale values to different parts of your clip, the beginning (100) and the end (400). Scrub (drag the play head) back and forth across the effects editor window and you’ll see that the image grows and shrinks over time.

ADDITIONAL KEYFRAME TIPS

1. You can grab and drag a keyframe to any point on the timeline.

2. You can delete a keyframe (the exception being the 2 keyframes Avid created for you) by selecting it and pressing “delete” on your keyboard.

3. You can add as many keyframes to a clip as your heart desires, and you can keyframe more than one function at a time. You can scale an image while at the same time repositioning it (“Position”).

4. You can make minute adjustments to a parameter by selecting the head of a function (the white rectangle next to “Hgt” in pic 4) and nudging one digit at a time with your keyboard arrow, left and right.

5. When working with keyframes you’ll be constantly resetting values trying to get the function to perform as you imagine it should perform, which means that you’ll be scrubbing through the clip to view its motion. Often times when you do this the “Effects Editor” window with your scaling parameters will go blank disallowing you to make adjustments. To bring back the values you were adjusting simply click on “Resize” in the effects tab (pic 2) and SAVE your project; magically the values in the “Effects Editor” will reappear.

-Steve Wetzel 03.2007