Avid Free DV Tutorial

Setting-up your Media Folders <p1>

Transferring Files from your Digital Camera <p1>

Backing-Up your Recordings on CD/DVD discs <p3>

AvidFreeDV Media Storage Requirements <p9>

Backing-Up your Avid Edit Session on your Home Computer <p7>

Creating Custom Logging Bins <p3>

Importing QuickTime Movies, Photos & Audio <p5>

Playing Through your Photos Video & Audio and Creating Sub-Clips <p8>

Exporting QuickTime Movies in the Compatible H.263 Format <p14>

Setting-Up Your Media Folders

1. Media files are large and are best kept separate from your system drive. If you are working at home on your own Mac or PC computer, create a folder on your “D” drive or on your external FireWire drive and name it. “YourNameTrek02.” If you have no ”D” or external drive, place the folder in your Documents Folder on your system drive. Create two folders inside of this project folder to hold your field media and your exported files named, ”YourNameOriginalRecordings” and “ExportedMediaFromTrek02”

Campus Computer Lab Mac Users

Put your “YourNameOriginalRecordings” folder on your external FireWire or USB 2.0 hard drive. Log on with your UWM user name. You cannot work without your own, external hard drive. See syllabus for suggested drives.

2. Create two folders inside of the “YourNameOriginalRecordings” folder and name them, “StillsFromTrek02” and “VideoFromTrek02.”

Note: If you have not yet produced media files to conduct this tutorial with, you can download a zipped folder of test files here:

http://www.uwm.edu/~type/116/SoftwareTutorials/ADVF-RD-Tutorials/Media/YourNameOriginalRecordings.zip

or http://tinyurl.com/jeg2o or check your class syllabus for other links.

Transferring Files from Your Digital Camera

Note #1 Moving a flash card between your camera and another camera or device makes the card more susceptible to directory problems and data losses.

Note #2 When erasing/formatting a Flash card, make sure it is installed in the device that will use it.

3. With the Olympus cameras we are using, tests have suggested that using the USB cable for media transfers is less accident prone than removing the Picture Xd flash card and using a reader. If you have a reader on your Mac or PC, it would be smart to do a few transfer tests using your reader with unimportant files first if youe prefer that method. Don’t lose track of the Flash card if you do remove it. It’s expensive and we don’t have replacements.

4. Below are annotated USB transfer instructions for the Olympus D-545 and FE-100 cameras.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

Olympus D-545 & FE-100 USB Transfer Steps

Important notes:

Mac/OSX: Using my G4 Mac/OSX10.3.4, I found that had to place the power switch on the D-545 camera in the position with green ”play arrow” before the camera’s LCD monitor would turn on and I could perform step 4. . If you have a different experience, please post your finding on the Discussion Forum.

PC/XP: Connecting a cable between the camera and a USB port on the PC will turn ON the camera’s LCD monitor. . If you have a different experience, please post your finding on the Discussion Forum.

Power: The camera is powered by the internal batteries when making transfers in this mode. You must install a fresh set of batteries before you attempt a USB transfer with either Mac or PC.

class-specific additions:

6. After the camera icon mounts on the desktop, a default photo application like iPhoto can be automatically triggered. If so, wait for this app to complete launching and quit the application. (Extra credit for how to defeat this!)

7. Click on the camera’s mounted icon to open the volume that looks like this on Mac:

8. Open the “DCIM” folder. Open the “100OLYMP” or similarly named folder.

9. Sort this window by “Kind.” Click on the top-most file with a “.jpg” extension and scroll down to the last “.jpg” in the window. Hold on the SHIFT key and select that file. This should highlight and “group-select” all of the “.jpgs that you shot.

10. Drag-Copy these “.jpgs” to the “StillsFromTrek2” folder you created on an internal drive in your computer. Wait for them to finish copying.

11. Perform the same steps with the files that end with, “.mov” or “.avi” and copy them to your folder named, “VideoFromTrek2.”

12. Before unplugging your digital camera, eject it from the desktop. Copy the contents of the “YourNameOriginalRecordings” folder to CD-R or DVD-R with directions that follow before you re-format (erase) the Flash card used in the camera.

13. If your project has audio recordings made with a Hi-MD recorder, insert the data CD you made with the .wav audio files into the computer and drag-copy these .wav files to the folder named, “AudioFromTrek2.”

14. Click on the icon associated with your digital camera and eject it from your desktop (Apple Command + E). Disconnect the USB cable between the computer and the camera.

Backing-Up your Recordings on CD/DVD Discs

It’s very important on any computer to make a “safety” or “back-up” copy of all of your media on a quasi-permanent medium like a CD-R or DVD-R disc. Its especially crucial when you are working on a number platforms and relying on a USB flash drive to transport your editing project in process. If you are careful, there’s a very low chance that you could lose your hard work. If you ignore the risk, it quite likely you will because it takes good habits to prevent data loss. Please note that data loss is not an accepted excuse for late assignments in the Film Department.

Following are steps for CD/DVD-R Data Disc Burning for Mac and PC Platforms:

A. For Mac: Launch the application called Disk Utility. Under the “Image” menu select: “New” and then “Blank.” In the “Save-As” window enter, “YourNameTrek2Files.”

Click-on the “Where” pull-down menu and navigate to the Desktop or other location with spare disk space. Under “Size,” select “Custom” and enter the number of MB’s you need to save the files in your “YourNameOriginalRecordings,” folder. (To see the size of a folder: highlight it and press Command +I.) In this example the folder was only 16mb so I entered “25mb.” (You can go up to 4.3GB if you are burning to a DVD-R disc). Don’t choose encryption and leave the Format in the default, “read/write disk image.” Click on Create and an image will appear in the Disk Utility window:

The “Image” will also appear in finder windows as a white icon:

Click on the image icon to open it. Drag your folder, “YourNameOriginalRecordings,” into the empty window. They will be copied into the image.

Because our image only requires 25mb and there is 700mb on a CD-R, we’ll save the rest of the space on the CD-R and burn it as a “multi-session disc.” To do this, select the "Leave disc appendable" checkbox. (If you don't see this option, click the triangle in the top-right corner). To burn the image to a CD-R, select the “.dmg” image from the Disk Utility list,

and choose “Images” -> Burn. Insert a blank recordable disc in the optical drive, and click, Images ->“Burn”.

B. For PC If you are on PC at home, use your CD-R, DVD-R burning program to create a data disc. If your computer has CD-R burner, its likely it came with an application you can use to make data CD-R’s.

If you are in a UWM Computer lab, here’s a tutorial for doing this with Nero 6 at:

http://www.educ.utas.edu.au/helpdesk/nerodatadisc.html

It is crucial to select a DATA FORMAT for the disc to be burned. Data can show as a “UDF-DVD” option for DVD’s and a “ISO 9660” option for CD-R’s. The data format insures greater player compatibility and the file names and formats of the media are retained. Do not use the “DVD Video” or “Audio CD” formats to back-up your project.

Assigning Your AvidFreeDV Session Folder

1. After you have made back-up copies of all of your field recordings on data CD-R’s or DVD-R’s, launch AvidFreeDV [AFDV].

Mac Note: If AFDV “stalls” while performing the Audio Initialization Step, this may mean AFDV does not have an audio driver for the audio card or USB/FireWire interface. AFDV does have the correct drivers for Windows and Mac OS X’s “Native” audio drivers. Unfortunately, you may have to remove the cable to the interface of card for AFVD to launch. will launch when the 3^rd party card or interface is disconnected. If a card or interface has caused and launch “stall,” use Force Quit (Command+Option+ESC for Mac) to quit the AFDV launch. Then, shut down the computer, disconnect the audio card or the cable to the USB/FireWire interface and restart the computer. To monitoring the audio with the native drivers, plug headphones into the headphone jack on the computer.

PC Note: If you get a prompt that says, “ADM_DSOUND_MIXER_OPEN_ERROR,” there’s a conflict between the audio card in your PC and AvidFreeDv. There are work-arounds. See this discussion category on the class forum.]

2. Click on the folder icon in the top right hand corner of the Project Box that opens. Navigate to and select the folder you just created, “YourNameTrek02.”

This is the folder where all of your critical editing decisions and logging bins will be stored, make a mental not of where it is on your computer. It will also contain the “.avp” doc that you will use to launch AFDV when you want to edit.

3. Click on “New Project” Name your project in the cell under, “YourNameTrek2AvidEditDocs,” and make sure “30i NTSC” is selected. Click “OK.”

4. In the main Project Select window, check to make sure that the correct Drive and YourNameTrek02 show in the cell following” Folder.” You have just established where the main document preserving all of your import and edit information will be saved. Failure to set-up complex editing application session in an organized way that you understand is the number one cause of lost data and projects.

5. Select the project in the left column and Click on OK. After Saving, with, “File->Save All,”

take a look at the project folder that you have created:

The document named, YourNameAvidEditDocs.avp is the document you will use to launch Avid when you want to edit this project. Your Project Folder, “YourNameTrek02” contains everything pertaining to your project except for the large video and sound media files that Avid will create as your import them into your Avid Project. Those files will be created in another folder outside of this one with steps following below.

AvidFreeDV Media Storage Requirements

DV video, the format Avid FreeDV uses, requires 1GB per 5 minutes of video. When you import QuickTime movies into your session, the “expanded” DV video files are created in your OMFI MediaFiles folder. This means you can only import about 8 minutes of QuickTime Movies from your digital camera, so make the selections carefully.

5 Minutes of DV format video = 1 GB (1000mb)

When sound files are imported into AvidFreeDV, format converted copies are placed in the “OMFI MediaFiles” folder requiring only 12 mb of storage space per minute of sound.

1 minute of stereo audio = 12mb

Backing-Up your Avid Edit Session on your home computer

1. If your computer has more than one hard drive, it is faster and just as safe to make your “back-up” copy on the other hard drive.

For PC: Assuming you created the original session on your D Drive, make a new folder titled, “AvidFreeDVProjects_MIRROR_COPY” on the C drive. Copy the “OMFI MediaFiles” and “YourNameTrek02” folders to this new folder. Allow the copy process to continue until complete.

For Mac: Assuming you created the original session on an external drive or partition, make a new folder titled, “AvidFreeDVProjects_MIRROR_COPY” on the “Macintosh HD” drive. Copy the “OMFI MediaFiles” and “YourNameTrek02” folders to this new folder. Allow the copy process to continue until complete.

2. If you did not import or add _any_ media files since you last copied your session, copy just the, “YourNameTrek02” folder. When you drop it into the MIRROR COPY folder, a prompt will ask if you wish to replace the older folder named, “YourNameTrek02” with a newer folder with the name, select “OK.”

Mirror copying to another hard drive is the fastest and simplest method. If you do not have a second drive in your computer, you might want to consider buying one. A 60 GB drive can cost from $50 to $80.

3. The next best back-up medium is DVD discs. If your computer has a DVD “burner,” create a folder named, “YourNameAvidBU#1” and drag it into the Burn window for Data Format (UDF) DVD. (Drag your “YourNameTrek02” “OMFI MediaFiles” folders to a Data Format (UDF) on a blank DVD disc. A DVD discs can hold a little more than 4.3 GB. If your “OMFI MediaFiles” folder contains, more than 4.3GB, copy its contents into

4. If you did not import or add any audio, photo or movie files since you last copied your session, you can copy just the “YourNameTrek02AvidEditDocs” folder. This folder is usually small enough to copy to a CD-R disc. Remember, you cannot transport your entire project just by copying the, YourNameTrek02” folder. You need to copy this folder AND the OMFI MediaFiles folder where the media resides as well.

Creating Custom Logging Bins

1. Before importing your materials into the Avid session and starting to log them, we are going to create three bins with custom headings to do your logging within. Make sure Avid is launched. Under the Toolset menu heading at the top, select “Basic.”

2. In the Project Window with YourNameTrek2 at the top, select the “Bins” tab. “Bins” are basically folders within Avid for organizing media types in.

3. Click on “New Bin.” A Bin object will be created in the window below that is highlighted and ready to be named. Name it, “Trek 2 Stills”

4. Click on “New Bin.” A Bin object will be created in the window below that is highlighted and ready to be named. Name it, “Trek 2 Stills-ALL” Note the “.avf” extension. (Its not easy to rename a bin so do this thoughtfully).

5. Double click on the icon for the Bin you just created. An empty Bin window will open. Grab the lower right corner to make it larger. Note the four tabs across the top, the rectangular shaped “Fast Menu” button in the lower left and the word, “Untitled” at the bottom. We are going to be using all of these.

6. Select the “Text” tab. Click-hold on the Fast Menu button and select “Headings.” A window opens.

Click on the cell labeled, “Tape ID” to highlight and “Color” and click OK. This adds these headings to your bin. Click “OK” to close the Bin Column Selection Window.

7. You can arrange the columns in your bin by click-dragging the word headers the top of the Bin menu. Arrange the first four columns so they are in this order:

5. Now we are going to save this layout so we can call it up for other bins we’ll create. Option-click on the word, “Untitled.” From the submenu that opens, select, “Save-As.” In the Window that opens, enter “YourNameLoggingBinLayout.” The word, “Untitled” should be changed to this new name in the corner of the “Trek2 Stills-All Bin.”

9. Click on your Main Project Window again and create another new Bin named, “Trek 2 Video-ALL.” In the Bin window that opens, select the TEXT tab and click on “Untitled,” and select, “YourNameLoggingBinLayout.”

10. (Note: Trek 02 does not involve audio). Click on your Main Project Window again and create a third Bin named, “Trek 2 Audio-ALL.” In the Bin window that opens, select the TEXT tab and click on “Untitled,” and select, “YourNameLoggingBinLayout Now you have three bins, with logging ready headings waiting for media .

11. Under the “Settings” tab in your Project window, double-click on “Media Creation.”

12. In the new window that opens, click on the Import tab, click-hold on the pull-down window next to “Video Drive” and from the choices select a drive to create your video projects for the class. Select the same drive location (C drive, D drive etc.) where you placed your other “YourNameTrek02” and “YourNameOriginalRecordings” folders! In this case, I created them on my Media Files 1 partition in the above example.

13. In the same window, select Apply to All which directs all of the media files (audio, video, stills etc.) that are associated with this project to be saved on the same drive in a folder that Avid creates with the name,

[Note: When sharing a computer with another person who uses Avid DV Free, it is best for the other person to choose another drive both for their folders and for their Video Drive allocation to keep the files from being intermingled inside of one OMFI “MediaFiles” folder.]

14. Click on any window associated with AFDV, under “File” at the top of the screen, select, “Save All.”

Importing QuickTime Movies, Photos & Audio

If you are working in the Campus Computer Labs and using a 2 GB USB Flash Drive, you can only import about 8 minutes QuickTime movies and still be able to get the two required folders back onto the Flash Drive with the audio and other session documents. You will need to play through your QuickTime video shots and choose the best material before you start importing media into AvidFreeDV.

8 Minutes of Imported QuickTime movies = 1.7 GB Storage Space

If you are working at home on your own computer and you have ample storage space, you can import all of your movie files. At 1GB/5min, 60 minutes of video would require 12 GB of storage space.

1. Select the “Bins” tab in your Project window again. Click on your “Trek02 Stills- ALL” bin window to select it. The header will turn purple. Under File, select Import. In the window that opens, Navigate to your “YourNameOriginalRecordings” folder and then to the “Stills From Trek 2” folder and open it.

2. Click on the Options button at the lower left. In the window that opens, make sure these selections are made. Note the duration is changed from 10 seconds to 1 second which is recommended. Click “OK.”

3. Group select all of the photos you wish to import into Avid with the SHIFT key and highlight them:

4. Click on Open to start the importing process. Avid creates a 1 second video clip in full DV format from each of the stills you import. It can import .jpg and tiff formats. If your stills are in another format, you’ll have to convert them with a photo program like iPhoto before doing this step. Save your project with “File” > “Save” when the importing is complete.

5. To import Video, open and select/highlight your “Trek 2 Video- All” bin. Under File select, Import. Navigate to your “Video from Trek 2 “ folder and open it. The same Option settings for still photos apply. Select the .mov files you wish to import. Click on “Open” to start the importing process. Avid encodes and create a full DV format video (30fps) from each of the compatible QuickTime files you import in the folder named, “OMFI MediaFiles.” This requires about 1GB of storage space per 5 minutes of video—so it adds up quickly! For this class, you’ll probably need about 20 –40 Gigabits of storage space. In some cases, you may need to buy another drive for your computer. The encoding takes some time so plan ahead.

6. (Note: Trek 02 does not involve audio). To import audio, open and select/highlight your “Trek 2 Audio- All” bin. Under File select, Import. Navigate to your “Audio from Trek 2 “ folder and open it. Click on Options. In the window that opens, click on the Audio tab at the top, and make sure the below, two sample rate conversion options are selected:

7. Click OK. Select the .wav sound files you wish to import. Click on “Open” to start the importing process. Avid encodes and create a 48K/16 bit audio file from each of the files you import in the folder named, “OMFI MediaFiles.” These converted files require about 10mb/minute of storage space. The sample rate conversion process does take some time so plan accordingly.

8. Select “Save All Bins” from the File Menu when your imports are complete.

Playing through your photos video & audio and creating Sub-Clips

1. Under Toolset, select “Basic.” Click on your “Trek2 Video-All ” bin to open it:

2. Drag the your video shot into the “Timeline” window. A graphic object is created for the clip in the Timeline and a Untitled Sequence icon is created in your “Trek2 Video-All ” bin. Click on the title bar for the yet titled sequence and name it, “Trek 02 Video in Order.”

3. Click-hold-drag the “Scroll Bar” button at the bottom of the Timeline window a little to wards the right. This causes the Timeline view to Zoom-IN.

The blue, current position marker in the Timeline window should be at the right edge of the clip. (To see the audio waveform as above, select “Sample Plot” from the quick menu [rectangular button, lower left corner of Timeline])

4. Drag the next video shot into the Timeline, it should “drop in” to the right of the blue position marker:

5. Drag the Scroll Bar button a little to the left so you can see all of both clips in the Timeline. Drag your third shot in, just to the right of the 2nd shot. Repeat this process until all of your video shots are in one Timeline (Sequence) and under File, select “Save All Bins.”

Making Subclips in the Viewer Window

6. Return to the start of your sequence. Place the current position maker at the start by clicking in the area of the “TC1” just below the start of your first shot. You can further adjust the position by clicking and dragging along the TC1 number sequence. Press the SPACE bar on your computer to play the video in real-time. You can also press on the “L” key. To stop Play mode, either press the spacebar again, of the “K” key. To look at a section again, you can play it in reverse by pressing the “J” key or click in the TC1 numbers to re-place the current position marker at the right point and press the Spacebar. You can also “rock back and forth” over one spot by pressing the “L“ (forward), J (reverse) keys. To pause, Press “K.”

7. When you find a section of interest that you’d like to be able to find again, you can create what is called a “Subclip.” Subclips are defined shots or sections within Masterclips and when they are created they have a smaller icon that can be named and is placed in the same bin as the masterclip until you move it. Unfortunately, you can’t make a subclip in the time line directly,you must use markers in a Clip Viewer window.

8. In your “Trek2 Video – All” bin, double-click on the Masterclip (the original, .mov video) in which the section you wish to mark resides.

It will open up a “Viewer” window smaller than the Composer Window.

9. Use the play button on drag you cursor on the timeline at the bottom and pause the blue current position mark at the start of the desired section and click on the Mark IN button. This creates an IN mark in the timeline:

10. Use the play button on drag you cursor on the timeline at the bottom and pause the blue current position mark at the end of the desired section and click on the Mark OUT button (see icon below). This creates the OUT mark in the timeline:

11. Click on the Fast Menu to open the floating menu (button in lower left of the viewer window). Click on the Make Subclip button towards the Upper Right:

12. Which creates a new icon/object in the bin highlighted ready to be named something appropriate.

A subclip is made and re-named:

Note the smaller, “subclip” icon:

13. A subclip can be dragged into a timeline like any video. You can place it on top of the original video clip in the Timeline if you want to retain a sense of where the subclip was taken from in your sequence.

14. You can make an Audio-Only Subclip using the same method from an imported .wav or aiff sound file. The icon associated with an Audio subclip is shorter as well.

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Note about Audio-only Subclips for Video/Sound Masterclips : I have not found a way to create Audio-Only subclips from masterclips that have both sound and video. A work-arounf is to make the subclip, drag it in the timeline and delete the video.

For more editing processes in Avid DV Free, consult the excellent, free, video tutorials on the Avid website at http://www.avid.com/freedv/tutorials/index.asp .

Exporting QuickTime Movies in the Highly-Compatible H.263 Format

The QuickTime export settings provided below create a 320 pixel X 240 pixel format movie that will play within almost any browser and platform.

1. Open your sequence with your edited project and adjust view so you can see it all. Place Mark Out at the end and Mark In at the start of the section for which you wish to make your QuickTime movie. This causes the all of the relevant video and audio tracks to highlight:

2. Under File select, “Export.” In the navigation and file naming window that opens, give the QuickTime movie a name (no spaces, no odd characters).

3. Navigate to the “ExportsFromAvidDV” folder you created and select this as the detination for your QuickTime movie.

4. Click the “Options“ button (circled in red above). In the new window that opens, make sure these settings marked below in red or pink are correct:

5. Click the Format Options Button: In the window that opens: (Note: The steps that immediately follow apply to QuickTime 7. The steps for QuickTime follow these.)

A. The initial window will look something like this with QuickTime 7.1:

B. Click on the Settings Button. In the window that opens, select H.263 for Compression Type.

Select 15 fps for frame rate and leave the others settings as-is. Click OK.

C. In the Movie Settings window, click on Size. In the window that opens,

In the pull-down menu for, “Dimensions, select “QVGA 320 X240”

(skip to Step 9 below if you are using QuickTime 7)

If you are using QuickTime 6.5.2, the Export window looks like this:

6. Click on the VIDEO SETTINGS BUTTON (circled Red above). A window Compression Settings window like this opens:

7. In Click on the “Video” button and from the pull down menu, select“MPEG-4 Video.” Leave the Quality in the middle position. In the Frames Per Second cell enter 15. Leave the other two cells empty. Click OK.

8. Click on the SIZE button and make sure “Custom Size” is checked and 320 for width X 240 for height.

9. Check the “Sound” button if your video has sound and click “Settings.” In the window that opens, set Compressor to IMA 4:1; Rate to 48000 KHz ; Size to 16 bit and Use to Stereo.

10. Click the box next to Prepare for Internet Streaming and click the OK button to close the Compression Settings window:

11. Click on the SAVE button in the lower right corner of the Avid Export Window to start the export.

12. It will take a while to create the movie. After Avid has completed this task, locate your new movie and double click on it to open it in QuickTime to make sure it looks and sounds as you expected.

13. Note that by placing your exported QuickTime movies in a folder inside of your “YourNameTrek02” folder, they will always be copied with your session if you follow the steps in this tutorial for saving and restoring your Avid Sessions.

Tutorial in-progress

Rob D. 03.2007