User manual PINNACLE STUDIO 11

Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus Including Studio, Studio Plus and Studio Ultimate Easy, MORE Powerful, MORE Creative Video Editing Special thanks to Travis White, Richard Edgley, Kenn LeGault, Jan Piros, Jörg Weselmann, Mikel Zwissler and Sulekha Somasekhar. Documentation: Nick Sullivan Copyright © 1996-2007 Pinnacle Systems, Inc. and its licensors and/or affiliates. All rights reserved. You agree not to remove any product identification or notices of the property restrictions from Pinnacle Systems' products or manuals. Pinnacle Systems, Pinnacle Studio, Scorefitter and the Pinnacle Pinwheel logo are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of Pinnacle Systems, Inc. and its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories. © 1992-2003 Dolby Laboratories. All rights reserved. Dolby and the double-D symbols are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. mpegable DS 2.2 © 2004 Dicas Digital Image Coding GmbH. Intel, Pentium, Centrino, the Intel Centrino logo and the Intel Inside logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. QDesign MPEG-1 Layer 2 Fast Encoder/Decoder © 1996-2002 by QDesign Corporation. AVCHD is a trademark of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. And Sony Corporation. The RealProducer is included under license from RealNetworks,Inc. Real Producer version 8.0. copyright 1995-2002, RealNetworks Inc. "RealProducer," "RealVideo," "RealServer," and "Real" logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. All rights reserved. Windows Media and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. SoundSoapTM is a registered trademark of Berkley Integrated Audio Software, Incorporated (BIAS, Inc.). StageTools © 1999-2007 StageTools, LLC. All rights reserved. proDAD © 2007 proDAD GmbH. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. No part of this manual may be copied or distributed, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any human or computer language, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, manual, or otherwise, without the express written permission of Pinnacle Systems, Inc. Pinnacle Systems, Inc. 280 North Bernardo Avenue Mountain View, CA 94943 Printed in the USA. ii Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus Table of contents BEFORE YOU START ..................................................XI Equipment requirements......................................................................... xi Abbreviations and conventions............................................................. xiv On-line help .......................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1: USING STUDIO ....................................... 1 Undo, Redo, Help, Support and Premium ............................................... 2 Setting options ......................................................................................... 3 Edit mode .................................................................................................... 4 The Player................................................................................................ 5 Playback controls..................................................................................... 7 Further editing topics............................................................................. 11 Expanding Studio .................................................................................. 11 CHAPTER 2: CAPTURING VIDEO.............................. 17 The Capture mode interface.................................................................... 18 The Diskometer ..................................................................................... 20 The Camcorder Controller..................................................................... 22 The capture process.................................................................................. 22 Capture hardware................................................................................... 23 Capture step-by-step .............................................................................. 24 Scene detection...................................................................................... 26 Digital capture .......................................................................................... 28 Audio and video levels ­ digital ............................................................ 29 Table of contents iii Analog capture.......................................................................................... 30 Capture quality options.......................................................................... 31 Audio and video levels ­ analog............................................................ 31 Importing video from DVD ..................................................................... 32 Importing media from external devices.................................................. 34 CHAPTER 3: THE ALBUM .......................................... 37 The Video Scenes section ......................................................................... 40 Opening a captured video file................................................................ 44 Viewing captured video......................................................................... 47 Selecting scenes and files ...................................................................... 48 Displaying scene and file information ................................................... 50 Comment view....................................................................................... 50 Combining and subdividing scenes ....................................................... 52 Redetecting scenes................................................................................. 54 The Transitions section ............................................................................ 55 The Titles section...................................................................................... 57 The Still Images section ........................................................................... 58 The Disc Menus section............................................................................ 59 The Sound Effects section........................................................................ 61 The Music section ..................................................................................... 62 CHAPTER 4: THE MOVIE WINDOW........................... 65 Movie Window views................................................................................ 68 Storyboard view..................................................................................... 68 Timeline view........................................................................................ 69 Text view ............................................................................................... 73 The toolboxes ............................................................................................ 73 The Video toolbox ................................................................................. 75 The Audio toolbox................................................................................. 77 iv Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus CHAPTER 5: VIDEO CLIPS ........................................ 79 Video clip basics ....................................................................................... 80 Adding video clips to your movie ......................................................... 80 Working with multiple capture files ...................................................... 82 The project video format ....................................................................... 83 Interface features ................................................................................... 85 Trimming video clips................................................................................ 87 Trimming on the Timeline using handles .............................................. 87 Clip-trimming tips ................................................................................. 91 Trimming with the Clip properties tool................................................. 92 Resetting trimmed clips ......................................................................... 94 Splitting and combining clips .................................................................. 95 Advanced Timeline editing ...................................................................... 96 Insert editing.......................................................................................... 98 Split editing ......................................................................................... 100 Using video effects .................................................................................. 104 Working with the effects list................................................................ 105 Changing effect parameters ................................................................. 107 Keyframing.......................................................................................... 109 Using keyframing ................................................................................ 112 Previewing and rendering.................................................................... 115 Video effects library ............................................................................... 115 Standard effects ...................................................................................... 117 Auto color correction........................................................................... 118 Noise reduction.................................................................................... 118 Stabilize ............................................................................................... 119 Speed ................................................................................................... 120 Plus effects............................................................................................... 120 Blur...................................................................................................... 121 Emboss ................................................................................................ 121 Old film ............................................................................................... 122 Soften................................................................................................... 122 Stained glass ........................................................................................ 122 Luma key ............................................................................................. 123 2D Editor ............................................................................................. 123 Earthquake........................................................................................... 123 Lens flare ............................................................................................. 124 Table of contents v Magnify ............................................................................................... 124 Motion blur.......................................................................................... 124 Water drop ........................................................................................... 125 Water wave.......................................................................................... 125 Black and white ................................................................................... 125 Color correction................................................................................... 125 Color map ............................................................................................ 126 Invert ................................................................................................... 126 Lighting ............................................................................................... 127 Posterize .............................................................................................. 127 RGB color balance............................................................................... 128 Sepia .................................................................................................... 128 White balance ...................................................................................... 129 The SmartMovie music video tool......................................................... 129 CHAPTER 6: TWO-TRACK EDITING WITH STUDIO PLUS.... 133 Introducing the overlay track............................................................... 133 A/B editing .......................................................................................... 135 The Picture-in-picture tool................................................................... 136 The Chroma key tool ........................................................................... 141 Selecting colors ................................................................................... 148 CHAPTER 7: TRANSITIONS..................................... 151 Transition types and their uses ............................................................ 152 Previewing transitions in your movie .................................................. 156 Audio transitions ................................................................................. 156 The Ripple Transition command ......................................................... 157 Trimming transitions ............................................................................. 158 Trimming with the Clip properties tool............................................... 159 CHAPTER 8: STILL IMAGES .................................... 161 Editing still images ................................................................................. 164 Editing image clip properties............................................................... 164 The Frame Grabber ............................................................................... 171 The Frame grabber tool ....................................................................... 172 vi Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus CHAPTER 9: DISC MENUS....................................... 175 Disc authoring in Studio ...................................................................... 177 Using menus from the Album.............................................................. 178 The DVD Player Control..................................................................... 180 Editing menus on the Timeline............................................................ 182 Editing with the Clip properties tool ................................................... 184 The Disc menu tool.............................................................................. 189 CHAPTER 10: THE TITLE EDITOR .......................... 191 Launching the Title Editor................................................................... 192 The Title Editor controls ....................................................................... 193 Title-type buttons................................................................................. 193 Object toolbox ..................................................................................... 194 Editing-mode selection buttons ........................................................... 197 Object layout buttons........................................................................... 199 Clipboard and delete buttons ............................................................... 201 Text-styling controls............................................................................ 201 The Title Editor Album ......................................................................... 203 The Looks Browser ............................................................................. 203 The Backgrounds section..................................................................... 205 The Pictures section............................................................................. 207 The Buttons section ............................................................................. 208 CHAPTER 11: SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC........ 211 The Timeline audio tracks ................................................................... 213 The CD audio tool ............................................................................... 215 The Background music tool................................................................. 216 The Voice-over tool ............................................................................. 218 Trimming audio clips ............................................................................. 221 Trimming with the Clip properties tool............................................... 221 Audio volume and mixing...................................................................... 223 Anatomy of an audio clip .................................................................... 224 Adjusting audio on the Timeline ......................................................... 226 The Volume and balance tool .............................................................. 228 Audio effects............................................................................................ 234 Noise reduction.................................................................................... 235 Table of contents vii Plus effects............................................................................................... 237 ChannelTool ........................................................................................ 237 Chorus ................................................................................................. 237 DeEsser................................................................................................ 238 Equalizer.............................................................................................. 238 Grungelizer .......................................................................................... 239 Leveler................................................................................................. 239 Reverb ................................................................................................. 240 Stereo Echo.......................................................................................... 240 Stereo Spread....................................................................................... 240 CHAPTER 12: MAKING YOUR MOVIE..................... 241 Output to disc media .............................................................................. 243 Output to file........................................................................................... 247 Output to tape......................................................................................... 253 Configuring the camera or video recorder... ........................................ 253 Output your movie to videotape .......................................................... 254 Output to the web ................................................................................... 255 APPENDIX A: SETUP OPTIONS .............................. 259 Capture source settings........................................................................ 260 Capture format settings........................................................................ 263 Project preferences .............................................................................. 267 Video and audio preferences ............................................................... 270 Make Disc settings .............................................................................. 275 Make File settings................................................................................ 279 Make Real Media file settings ............................................................. 283 Make Windows Media file settings ..................................................... 286 Make tape settings ............................................................................... 288 APPENDIX B: TIPS AND TRICKS ............................ 291 Hardware ............................................................................................. 291 Software............................................................................................... 293 Increasing the frame rate ..................................................................... 294 Studio and computer animation ........................................................... 295 viii Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus APPENDIX C: TROUBLESHOOTING ....................... 297 Technical help on-line ............................................................................ 298 Studio crashes in Edit mode ................................................................ 301 Capture error occurs on starting capture.............................................. 306 Studio hangs when rendering............................................................... 308 CD or DVD burner is not detected ...................................................... 312 Studio hangs on launch or does not launch.......................................... 313 "Cannot initialize the DV capture device" error appears in Capture mode ............................................................................................................. 314 Installation problems ............................................................................. 317 Operation problems ............................................................................... 318 APPENDIX D: VIDEOGRAPHY TIPS ........................ 325 Creating a shooting plan ...................................................................... 326 Editing ................................................................................................. 327 Rules of thumb for video editing ......................................................... 330 Soundtrack production......................................................................... 332 Title ..................................................................................................... 334 APPENDIX E: GLOSSARY........................................ 335 APPENDIX F: LICENSE AGREEMENT .................... 353 APPENDIX G: KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS................ 357 INDEX ........................................................................ 361 Table of contents ix Before you start Thank you for purchasing Pinnacle Studio. We hope you enjoy using the software. This manual covers all versions of Studio, including Studio Plus. Differences between versions will be noted as applicable. Most of the time, the word "Studio" will be used generically to refer to all versions. If you have not used Studio before, we recommend that you keep the manual handy for reference even if you don't actually read it all the way through. In order to ensure that your Studio experience gets off on the right foot, please review the three topics below before continuing to Chapter 1: Using Studio. Equipment requirements In addition to your Studio software, an efficient Studio editing system requires certain levels of hardware performance as noted in this section. Remember too that while specifications are important, they do not tell Before you start xi the whole story: the proper functioning of hardware devices can also depend on manufacturer-supplied driver software. Checking the maker's web-site for driver updates and support information can often be helpful in solving problems with graphics cards, sounds cards and other devices. Note: Some features mentioned here require free or paid "activation" via the Internet, depending on your version of Studio. Computer · Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz or higher · · · · · · xii (2.4 GHz or higher recommended). Intel Pentium HT or AMD Athlon 2.4 GHz or 1.6 GHz Dual core required for Windows Vista. 512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended). 1 GB required for HD and/or Vista (2 GB recommended). 1.5 GB required for AVCHD (2 GB required on Vista). Windows XP with SP2, or Vista. DirectX 9 or higher compatible graphics card with 64 MB (128 MB recommended); 128 MB required for use with Vitascene filters; 128 MB required for Vista (256 MB ATI Radeon 9600+ or NVIDIA GeForce 6 recommended); 256 MB required for HD and AVCHD editing (ATI Radeon 9600+ or NVIDIA GeForce 6 recommended). DirectX 9 or higher or compatible sound card. 1 GB of disk space to install software and 3+ GB to install bonus content. DVD-ROM drive to install software. Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus The following items are optional: · CD-R(W) burner for creating VideoCDs (VCDs) or · · · · Super VideoCDs (SVCDs). DVD-/+R(W) burner for creating DVD, HD DVD and AVCHD discs. Blu-ray burner for creating Blu-ray discs (BDs). Sound card with surround-sound output for preview of surround-sound mixes. A microphone, if you want to record voice-overs The hard drive Your hard drive must be capable of sustained reading and writing at 4 MB/sec. Most drives are capable of this. The first time you capture, Studio will test your drive to make sure it is fast enough. Video in the DV format occupies 3.6 MB of hard drive space per second, so just four and a half minutes of DV video will consume a full gigabyte on the drive. Tip: We recommend using a separate hard drive dedicated to video capture. This avoids competition between Studio and other software, including Windows, for use of the drive during capture. Video capture hardware Studio can capture video from a variety of digital and analog sources. See "Capture hardware" on page 23. Video output hardware Studio can output video to: · Any HDV, DV or Digital8 camcorder or VCR. This requires an OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 (FireWire) Before you start xiii port (as provided by Pinnacle Studio DV). The camcorder must be set up to record from DV Input. · Any analog (8mm, Hi8, VHS, SVHS, VHS-C or SVHS-C) camcorder or VCR. This requires Pinnacle Studio USB-700, PCI-500, PCI-700, or another Pinnacle device with analog outputs. Output to analog camcorders or VCRs is also possible using a Pinnacle Studio DV or other OHCI-compliant 1394 port if your DV or Digital8 camcorder or VCR can pass a DV signal through to its analog outputs (see your camcorder manual and Chapter 12: Making your movie, for more information). Abbreviations and conventions This guide uses the following conventions to help organize the material. Terminology Studio: "Studio" and "Studio Plus" refer to the editing software. DV: The term "DV" refers to DV and Digital8 camcorders, VCRs and tapes. HDV: A "high-definition video" format that allows video in frame sizes of 1280x720 or 1440x1080 to be recorded in MPEG-2 format on DV media. 1394: The term "1394" refers to OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394, FireWire, DV or i.LINK interfaces, ports and cables. xiv Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus Analog: The term "analog" refers to 8mm, Hi8, VHS, SVHS, VHS-C or SVHS-C camcorders, VCRs and tapes, and to Composite/RCA and S-Video cables and connectors. Buttons, menus, dialog boxes and windows Names of buttons, menus and related items are written in italics to distinguish them from the surrounding text, whereas window and dialog names are written with initial capital letters. For example: Click the Edit menu button to open your menu in the Title Editor. Choosing menu commands The right arrowhead symbol ( ) denotes the path for hierarchical menu items. For example: Select Toolbox Generate Background Music. Keyboard conventions Key names are spelled with an initial capital and are underlined. A plus sign denotes a key combination. For example: Press Ctrl+A to select all the clips on the Timeline. Mouse clicks When a mouse click is required, the default is always a left-click unless otherwise specified: Right-click and select Go to Title/Menu Editor. Before you start xv On-line help Two kinds of immediate help are always available while you are working in Studio: · Help file: Click the help button in the Studio main menu bar, or select the Help Help topics menu, or press F1 to open Studio's help file. · Tool tips: To find out what a button or other Studio control does, pause your mouse pointer over it. A "tool tip" appears explaining its function. xvi Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus CHAPTER 1: Using Studio Creating movies with Studio is a three-step process: 1. Capture: Import source video material ­ your "raw footage" ­ to your PC hard drive. Possible sources include analog videotape (8mm, VHS etc.), digital videotape (HDV, DV, Digital8), and live video from a video camera, camcorder or webcam. Capture mode is covered in Chapter 2: Capturing video. Availability: HDV capture is supported in Studio Plus only. 2. Edit: Arrange your video material as desired by reordering scenes and discarding unwanted footage. Add visuals, such as transitions, titles and graphics, and supplementary audio, such as sound effects and background music. For DVD and VCD authoring, create interactive menus that give your audience a customized viewing experience. Edit mode is the arena for most of your work in Studio. See "Edit mode" later in this chapter (page 4) for a fuller introduction. 3. Make movie: When your project is complete, generate a finished movie in your choice of format and Chapter 1: Using Studio 1 storage medium: tape, VCD, S-VCD, DVD, AVI, MPEG, RealVideo or Windows Media. Make Movie mode is covered in Chapter 12: Making your movie. Setting the mode Select which step of the movie-making process you want to work on by clicking one of the three mode buttons at the top left of the Studio window: When you switch modes, the Studio screen changes to display the controls needed for the new mode. Undo, Redo, Help, Support and Premium The Undo, Redo, Help, Support and Premium buttons are always to be found in the top right corner of the Studio window, no matter which of the three modes you are currently working in. · Undo allows you to back out of any changes you have made to your project during the current session, one step at a time. · Redo reinstates the changes one by one if you undo too far. · The Help button launches Studio's built-in help system. · The Support button opens Studio's technical support site in your web browser. 2 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus · The Premium button lets you expand Studio by purchasing and installing premium content. (See page 11 for details.) All other controls on the Studio screen are dedicated to tasks within the current mode. Setting options Most options in Studio are set using two tabbed dialog boxes. The first lets you control options related to Capture mode and Edit mode. It has four tabs: The other dialog box is concerned with options relating to Make Movie mode. It has three tabs, one for each of the three movie output types: Each panel of both dialog boxes can be opened individually with a corresponding command on the Setup menu (e.g. Setup Capture Source). Once either dialog box is open, however, all of its panels are available through the tabs. We generally refer to the different options panels independently, as in "the Capture source options panel". Detailed explanations of the options in both dialog boxes are contained in Appendix A: Setup Options. Chapter 1: Using Studio 3 EDIT MODE Studio opens in Edit mode each time it is launched, because that is the mode you use most often. The Edit mode display includes three main areas. The Album stores resources you will use in your movies, including your captured video scenes. The Movie Window is where you create your edited movie by arranging video and sound clips, and by applying transitions and effects. The Player provides playback and previewing for whichever item is currently selected in Studio. That may be an Album resource ­ such as a video scene, title or sound effect ­ or your edited movie, complete with transitions, titles, effects and several audio tracks. The Player is covered below. See Chapter 3: The Album and Chapter 4: The Movie Window for detailed information on those topics. 4 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus The Player The Player displays a preview of your edited movie, or of the item currently selected in the Album. It consists of two main areas: a preview window and playback controls. The preview window displays video images. The playback controls allow you to play the video, or go to an exact position within it. These controls come in two formats: standard and DVD. Standard mode The standard playback controls are similar to those on a camcorder or VCR. They are used for viewing ordinary video. DVD mode The DVD playback controls emulate the navigation controls on a DVD player or remote control. Use them Chapter 1: Using Studio 5 for previewing your DVD, VCD or S-VCD disc productions, including menu interaction. The preview window This is a point of focus in Studio because you use it so often, especially for previewing your movie. It can also be used to display: · Any type of Album content. · Still images or titles from your movie. · Changes to video effects in real time while you adjust the parameter controls for the effects. · Still frames from your video. While viewing a still frame, you can step by as little as a single frame in either direction with the "jog" controls. Resizing the video preview If your screen dimensions permit, Studio lets you enlarge the Player ­ and therefore the video preview ­ by means of the Player size slider. This control appears 6 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus above the Player to the left of the Undo button when reorganizing the display is possible. Drag the control knob right to increase the Player size, or left to decrease it. The leftmost position corresponds to the smallest size, which is also the default. Resizing the Player optimizes your use of screen "real estate" to obtain a larger video preview. The DVD toggle button Switch between the two playback modes with the DVD toggle button at the bottom right-hand corner of the Player. This button is only available when your edited movie contains at least one menu. Playback controls The Player presents either of two sets of playback controls depending on the playback mode you choose. When you play your movie back as ordinary video, you will be using the standard playback controls. If your movie uses disc menu navigation, you can play it back Chapter 1: Using Studio 7 as an optical disc with interactive on-screen menus by using the DVD playback controls. Both groups of controls are covered below. The full-screen preview button: This button, just above the top right-hand corner of the preview window, switches to a full-screen preview. It is available in both playback modes. On a single-monitor system, the fullscreen display ends when your movie ends, or you double-click the screen or press the Esc key. See the Video preview options in the Video and Audio Preferences panel (page 270) for settings that apply to multiple-monitor systems. The Video preview options on the Video and audio preferences options panel let you direct the full-screen preview to the secondary monitor on your system if there is one. In Studio Plus, you can simultaneously send your preview to an external device, if desired. Standard playback controls These buttons control playback in the Player. Play / Pause: The Play button previews the movie from the current position. Once preview begins, Play becomes Pause. When playback is paused, the Album scene or Movie Window clip at which previewing stopped remains selected. The [Space] key can also be used to start and stop playback. Go to beginning: This halts playback and skips back to the start of the material being previewed. Fast reverse, Fast forward: These buttons let you preview your movie at two, four or ten times the normal speed, in either direction. Use them to scan for a particular piece of video you want to 8 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus work with. Click the buttons repeatedly to loop through the speed factors. Loop: This button causes the currently-selected clips in the Movie Window to play back repeatedly. This feature is especially convenient whilst selecting and editing add-on effects and transitions. Click any playback button to halt looping. The loop button lights up while looping is active. Looping is maintained even if you switch playback speeds. Jog buttons: This pair of controls normally steps your movie forward and backward by one frame at a time. To step by seconds, minutes or hours instead of frames, select the corresponding field in the counter (see below), then use the jog buttons to modify it. The Player scrubber Use the Player scrubber to quickly traverse your captured video or edited movie in either direction. The scrubber position corresponds to the position of the current frame in the captured video file (not just the current scene) or in the edited movie (not just the current clip). Thus the scrubber bar always represents the entire length of the content being viewed. As you move the scrubber, the preview window shows the current frame. If you have activated the audio scrubbing button in the Movie Window, you will also hear snatches of your movie's audio as you scrub. See page 66 for details. The ability of the preview to keep up with the scrubber depends on the speed of your computer. If you move the scrubber slowly, the preview display responds smoothly. As you increase the rate at which you move the scrubber, the preview will jump frames. The point Chapter 1: Using Studio 9 at which it does so depends on your hardware. The smoothness of the preview also diminishes as the overall length of the material being scrubbed increases. The counter The counter displays the current playback position in hours, minutes, seconds and frames. You can directly modify the counter fields to select an exact frame to view or at which to start playback. Simply click on the number you wish to change and type a new value. To move to a different field, click again or use the Left and Right arrow keys. You can also modify the value in a selected field by using the jog buttons beside the counter or the Up and Down arrow keys. The master volume slider This control sets the overall audio volume during preview playback. It is equivalent to turning up the master volume on your sound card using the system volume tool. It does not affect the volume of the final movie Studio creates in Make Movie mode. The small loudspeaker icon at the right of the control serves as a master mute button during playback. DVD playback controls These controls include the four standard transport buttons detailed above (Play/Pause, Fast reverse, Fast forward, Go to beginning) plus the DVD Player Control, which is described under "The DVD Player Control" on page 180. 10 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus Further editing topics See the following for details on specific editing topics: · Chapter 5: Video clips · Chapter 6: Two-track editing with Studio Plus · Chapter 7: Transitions · Chapter 8: Still images · Chapter 9: Disc menus · Chapter 10: The Title Editor · Chapter 11: Sound effects and music Expanding Studio One way to add pizzazz to your productions is to use a variety of video and audio filters, animated transitions, titles, VCD and DVD menus, and sound effects. Studio includes an extensive selection of hundreds of content items and special effects, but it's also designed to grow along with your needs. When you want a particular filter, transition, menu or effect that isn't part of the basic set, an easy-to-use upgrade mechanism lets you find, purchase and install the materials you need without even leaving the program. Most of the premium content available for Studio does not even require downloading. Studio's Bonus Content DVD includes numerous items, like the Hollywood FX transition at left, that appear as "bonus" content in Studio, Chapter 1: Using Studio 11 symbolized by a treasure chest symbol in the icon'topleft corner of the icon. Such items can be upgraded by purchasing a code called an activation key. Each key activates a small group or theme pack of related content. Additional items of premium content will be provided for download as they become available. These items can sampled and purchased within Studio using the same activation method as for the premium content included with the program installation. You can easily try out bonus content before purchase to make sure that it meets your needs. Until you actually purchase your activation code for the item, it will produce "watermarked" output when you preview or when you make your finished movie. New tools, new media, new frontiers You can purchase additional media and filters in any of three ways from within Studio: · With the Help Purchase activation keys menu command (or the premium shortcut button at the top right of the Studio screen). This opens a special browser window in which you can access a catalog page for any type of premium content that interests you. sound effects and More menus. These commands are found on the dropdown lists in the corresponding sections of the Album. They will enable you to download, try out and purchase additional premium content that was not included with the program installation. · With the Album commands More transitions, More 12 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus · By clicking the activate buttons found in some parts of Studio. These buttons appear whenever premium content is on display within Studio. The one above, when seen in the Audio effects and Video effects tools, would let you activate a pack of audio or video filters. Here, the "RTFX Volume 2" page is open in the Video Effects tool. The Activate Effect Pack button could now be used to unlock the effects in this set. Similar buttons in the Album let you purchase all the media on a particular Album page as a theme pack. The Transitions section of the Album, open to one of the many theme packs of Hollywood FX transitions. Click anywhere in the activation panel on the righthand page to activate this set of transitions. Chapter 1: Using Studio 13 How activation works "Activating" premium content for Studio means to obtain a license allowing you unrestricted use of the content on the single machine where Studio is installed. The licensing mechanism employs two distinct but mutually related codes: · An activation key for each premium content item you purchase; · Your Passport, which is a number generated the first time you install Studio on your computer. You can view your Passport by selecting the Help My Passport menu command. Because the Passport is specific to one computer, you will need to obtain new activation keys if you install Studio on a different machine. These will be provided at no charge, but your user licenses for both Studio and any premium content you have obtained then apply to the new machine only. If you don't have an Internet connection... You can purchase and apply premium content activation keys even if you don't have an Internet connection on the computer where Studio is installed. When you click one of the unlock links within Studio, a dialog will be displayed showing information needed for ordering the specific content you want, including: · An Internet URL where you can activate the content · Numeric identifiers for the Studio program and the item you want to activate · Your Passport and your Serial Number Navigate to the given URL from another computer, enter the information, and complete the purchase as 14 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus directed. You will then be given an activation key with which you can activate the content on the original computer by using the Help Enter Activation Keys menu command. Note: Although your Passport is specific to an individual computer, it is not affected by ordinary hardware modifications such as adding or removing expansion cards, drives or memory. Hiding and showing premium content If you would prefer not to view the premium content and features available in Studio, open the Project preferences options panel and uncheck either or both of Show premium content and Show premium features. (See page 267.) Chapter 1: Using Studio 15 CHAPTER 2: Capturing video Capture is the process of importing video from a video source such as a camcorder to a file on your PC's hard drive. Clips from this "capture file" can then be used in Studio as ingredients of your edited movies. You can open capture files into the Album in Studio's Edit mode (see Chapter 3: The Album). Capture is the first step in using your video footage. Studio is able to capture from both digital (DV, Digital8, HDV) and analog video sources. See "Capture hardware" on page 23 for details on configuring Studio to capture from your equipment. Availability: Capturing video from HDV camcorders is supported in Studio Plus only. Switching to Capture mode The very first step in capturing is to switch into Studio's Capture mode by clicking the Capture button at the top of the screen. Chapter 2: Capturing video 17 This opens the Capture mode interface, enabling you to set up and carry out video capture. The details of the interface are somewhat different for analog than for digital video sources. Topics in this chapter · "The Capture mode interface" (below) introduces the controls and displays for both analog and digital captures. · "The Capture Process" (page 22) covers setting up your hardware, gives step-by-step capturing instructions, and describes the automatic scene detection feature. · "Digital capture" (page 28) and "Analog capture" (page 30) cover topics specific to each type of source. · Besides video capture, Studio supports two other methods of bringing in video material. These are accessed with commands on the File menu. Import DVD Titles (see page 32) lets you import files from a DVD disc or image. Import Media From Device (page 34) imports files from auxiliary devices with onboard storage, including many camcorders and digital still cameras. THE CAPTURE MODE INTERFACE The tools and controls you see in Capture mode are different depending on whether your capture hardware is digital or analog. 18 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus Digital capture If your video source is digital, your Capture mode screen will look like this: The Album, at the top left of the screen, displays icons representing the video scenes as they are captured. The Player, at top right, lets you view the incoming video while cueing for capture, and monitor the capture itself. Readouts on the Player tell you the exact length of the captured video, and the number of frames dropped during the capture (normally zero). The Camcorder Controller, at bottom left, provides a tape counter display and a set of transport controls for operating the playback device. Finally, the Diskometer, at bottom right, displays the capture space remaining on the drive. It also provides the Start Capture button and buttons for setting capture options. The Diskometer and the Camcorder Controller are described in detail beginning on page 20. Chapter 2: Capturing video 19 Analog capture Both the Album and the Player are used in analog as well as digital captures, so when you capture from an analog source the top half of the screen is the same as shown and described above for digital sources. Not the bottom half of the screen, however. It now features a second version of the Diskometer, with two fly-out panels for adjusting audio and video levels during capture. (The panels are described under "Audio and video levels ­ analog" on page 31.) Digital vs. analog To summarize, the digital and analog setups reflect two major differences in capability: · The digital setup lets you control the tape transport of the camcorder or VCR using the Camcorder Controller. · The analog setup lets you modify audio and video levels dynamically during capture. The Diskometer The Diskometer displays, both numerically and graphically, the amount of space available on your capture drive. It also indicates the approximate duration 20 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus of video that can be accommodated, which depends on both the available space and the configured capture quality. Capture quality settings are selected using the preset buttons that are displayed on the Diskometer for some capture devices, or by entering custom settings. See "Capture source settings" (page 260) and "Capture format settings" (page 263) for information on capture settings. The Diskometer when capturing from a digital source (L) and an analog source (R). Click the side tabs on the analog version to open fly-out panels for adjusting video and audio levels during capture. The Start capture button on the Diskometer begins and ends the capture process. The caption changes to Stop capture while the operation is in progress. The default save location for captured video is your system's Shared video directory. Setting the capture directory: To save captured video to a different location, click the file folder button . This displays the Select Folder And Default Name For Captured Video dialog. The folder you assign will be used to store captured video during this and future sessions. The file name you enter will be offered as the default file name on your next capture. Chapter 2: Capturing video 21 The Camcorder Controller This panel of transport controls is shown in Capture mode if you are capturing from a digital video source. (Analog devices must be cued and operated manually.) The Camcorder Controller and a close-up view of the transport controls. The counter window above the control buttons displays the current position of the source tape, along with the current transport mode of the camcorder. From left to right, the transport control buttons are: Stop, Rewind / Review, Play, Fast forward / Cue and Pause. The Frame reverse and Frame forward buttons (second row) let you locate the exact frame you want. These two buttons are available only when the device is in pause mode. THE CAPTURE PROCESS Studio lets you capture video from a variety of analog and digital hardware types. Choose the device you wish 22 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus to use on the Capture source options panel. See "Capture hardware" (below) for more information. Performing the actual capture is a straightforward stepby-step procedure (see page 24). As the capture proceeds, Studio automatically detects the natural breaks in the incoming video and divides the material into "scenes". Upon detection, each scene is added to the Album, where it is represented by an icon of its first frame. Automatic scene detection is described starting on page 26. Some capture options apply to digital captures only or to analog captures only. These are covered in their own sections, "Digital capture" (page 28) and "Analog capture" (page 30). Capture hardware Studio can capture digital and analog video from the following sources, depending on your hardware: · Digital: A DV or Digital8 camcorder connected to an IEEE-1394 (FireWire) port. Capturing from HDV sources is additionally supported in Studio Plus. · Analog: A camcorder or VCR with analog outputs connected to a DirectShow-compatible capture board or external device. · Analog: A USB video camera or webcam. Pinnacle Systems offers a complete line of DV, analog, and combination capture boards and devices. For more information see your dealer or visit our web-site: www.pinnaclesys.com Chapter 2: Capturing video 23 To select a capture device: Click the Setup Capture Source menu command. The Capture source options panel appears. 2. Select the devices you want to use from the Video and Audio dropdown lists in the Capture devices area, and click OK. 1. See "Capture source settings" on page 260 for detailed information about the Capture source options panel. Standard vs. widescreen capture Studio can capture in both the standard (4:3) and the widescreen (16:9) frame-aspect ratios. With digital hardware, the frame format is detected automatically. With analog hardware, you use the Aspect ratio dropdown on the Capture source options panel to select the format that matches the source material. You can't use this setting to change one format to another: it simply lets Studio know how to display the video at the correct aspect ratio. Capture step-by-step Here is a step-by-step outline of the capture process. The instructions apply to both digital and analog captures, with differences noted as required. 24 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus Further information relating to some of the steps can be found elsewhere in this chapter. Also see Appendix A: Setup Options (page 259) for detailed descriptions of the Capture source and Capture format options panels. To capture video: Verify that your equipment is properly connected. For a digital capture, your camcorder or VCR must be connected to your PC's 1394 port. For an analog capture, connect the source video to the Composite or S-Video input of your capture hardware. Connect your source audio to the audio input of the capture hardware, if there is one; otherwise, connect the audio to the audio input of your PC's sound card. 2. Click the Capture button at the top of the screen if you are not already in Capture mode. The Capture mode interface is displayed (see page 18). 3. Click the desired capture setting on the Diskometer. If you need to make detailed adjustments, click the Diskometer's Settings button, which opens the Capture format options panel (page 263). Keep in mind that DV capture uses much more disk space than does MPEG. If you are planning to output your finished movie to disc (VCD, S-VCD or DVD), you may choose to capture in MPEG rather than DV format. For an analog capture, keep in mind that the higher the quality setting, the larger will be your captured video file. See "Digital capture" (page 28) and "Analog capture" (page 30) for further explanation of these options. 1. Chapter 2: Capturing video 25 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Click the Start capture button on the Diskometer. The Capture Video dialog box is displayed. Type in a name for the video capture file you are about to create, or accept the default name. You can optionally also enter a limiting catpure duration. If you are capturing from an analog camcorder or VCR, start playback now. This is unnecessary with a digital-source capture, as Studio will control the playback equipment automatically when needed. Click the Start capture button in the Capture Video dialog box. The button caption changes to Stop capture. Capture begins. The Player displays the incoming digitized video that is being saved to your hard drive (unless you have unchecked Capture preview on the Capture source options panel). During capture, Studio performs automatic scene detection based on the current setting in the Capture source options panel. Click the Stop capture button to end capture at a point you select. Studio stops capturing if your hard drive fills up or the maximum duration you entered is reached. Scene detection Automatic scene detection is a key feature of Studio. As video capture proceeds, Studio detects natural breaks in the video and divides it up into scenes. A new icon is created in the Video Scenes section of the Album for each scene detected. 26 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus Depending on which capture device you are using, automatic scene detection is carried out either in real time during capture, or as a separate step immediately after capture is completed. You can configure scene detection using the options under Scene detection during video capture on the Capture source options panel (Setup Capture Source). Not all scene detection options are available with every type of video source. Options that do not apply to your setup are disabled in the dialog. The four possible options are: · Automatic based on shooting time and date: This option is available only when you are capturing from a DV source. Studio monitors the time stamp data on the tape during capture, and starts a new scene whenever a discontinuity is found. · Automatic based on video content: Studio detects changes in the video content, and creates a new scene wherever there is a large change in the images. This feature might not work well if the lighting is not stable. To take an extreme example, a video shot in a nightclub with a strobe light would produce a scene each time the strobe flashed. · Create new scene every X seconds: Studio creates new scenes at an interval you choose. This can be useful for breaking up footage that contains long continuous shots. · No automatic scene detection: Select this option if you want to monitor the entire capture process and decide for yourself where scene breaks should occur. Press the [Space] key each time you want to insert a scene break during capture. Chapter 2: Capturing video 27 DIGITAL CAPTURE This section covers aspects of capturing from a DV source deck (camcorder or VCR) and a 1394 port. To read about capturing from analog hardware, please see "Analog capture" on page 30. You have two choices for the way the video data is encoded and compressed in full-quality captures. For most purposes, DV format is the logical choice, but if you are planning to output your finished movie to disc (VCD, S-VCD or DVD), you may prefer the MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 format instead. Because of the intensive computation required for MPEG-2 encoding, older computers may not be fast enough to achieve a satisfactory MPEG-2 capture. The type of capture hardware you have and the capture quality you choose also help determine the minimum CPU speed needed. In cases where Studio is able to estimate that your computer is not fast enough to carry out a particular capture, it will advise you of the problem and give you a chance to cancel the operation. DV DV is a high-resolution format with correspondingly high storage requirements. Your camcorder compresses and stores video on the tape at 3.6 MB/s, at a quality equivalent to broadcast video. During capture, the video data is transferred directly from the camcorder tape to your PC hard drive with no changes or additional compression. Capturing DV video does consume a lot of drive space, so you 28 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus may want to pick and choose small segments to capture instead of the entire tape if space is an issue on your system. You can calculate the amount of disk space you will need by multiplying the length of your video in seconds by 3.6, which gives the number of megabytes required. For example: 1 hour of video = 3600 seconds (60 x 60) 3600 seconds x 3.6 MB/s = 12,960 MB (12.7 GB) Hence 1 hour of video uses 12.7 GB of storage. To capture DV video, your hard drive must be capable of sustained reading and writing at 4 MB per second. All SCSI and most UDMA drives are capable of this. The first time you initiate a capture, Studio will test your drive to make sure it is fast enough. MPEG DVD and S-VCD discs both use files in MPEG-2 format, an extension of the MPEG-1 format used for VCDs. MPEGs intended for use on the Internet will be at lower resolutions and in MPEG-1 format. The Capture format options panel (Setup Capture Format) includes a variety of options to control the quality of MPEG captures. Refer to "Capture format settings" on page 263 for detailed information about MPEG quality options. Audio and video levels ­ digital With digital captures, you are using audio and video that have been encoded digitally during recording, right Chapter 2: Capturing video 29 in the camera. When you transfer the footage through a 1394 port to your computer, the data remains in the compressed digital format throughout, so you cannot adjust the audio or video levels during the capture. This is in contrast to analog captures, where the audio and video can be adjusted as capturing takes place. With digital captures, you defer any needed adjustment of audio and video levels until Edit mode, where Studio provides plug-in video effects for adjusting the visual balance of a clip, and audio effects to enhance the sound. These effects allow you to adjust individual clips rather than having to make global adjustments affecting all the video in a capture file. For more information see "Analog capture" (below), "Using video effects" (page 104), and "Audio effects" (page 234). ANALOG CAPTURE The topics in this section relate to capture with analog equipment, such as: · A camcorder or VCR with analog outputs connected to a DirectShow-compatible capture board or external device. · A USB video camera or webcam. If you are using a digital camcorder connected to your computer via a 1394 port, please refer instead to "DV capture" on page 28. 30 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus Capture quality options With most analog capture hardware, Studio offers three preset quality choices ­ Good, Better and Best ­ plus a Custom option. Your hardware's capabilities determine how the presets translate into particular settings for picture size, frame rate, compression characteristics and quality. Keep in mind that the higher the quality, the more disk space is required. Choose the Custom preset to configure your own video capture settings. For more information on video capture settings, see Appendix A: Setup Options (page 263). Audio and video levels ­ analog Studio provides fly-out panels for controlling video and audio levels during capture. This feature is especially useful when you need to compensate for differences in video captured from multiple sources. Video and audio panels for analog capture levels. Although you can also adjust these levels with the appropriate Video effects in Edit mode, setting them correctly for capture can save you from having to Chapter 2: Capturing video 31 worry about color correction later on, while setting your audio options correctly as you capture will help in achieving consistent volume levels and quality. Particular capture devices may offer fewer options than are shown and discussed here. For instance, with hardware that doesn't support audio captures in stereo, a balance control will not appear on the audio panel. Video Choose the type of video you are going to digitize by clicking the appropriate Source button (Composite or S-Video). The sliders control the brightness (video gain), contrast (black level), sharpness, hue and color saturation of the incoming video. Note: The Hue slider does not appear when capturing from PAL equipment. Audio Use the Audio capture buttons to control whether Studio should capture the audio along with the video. Select the Off button if your source is video only. The sliders on the tray let you control the input level and stereo balance of the incoming audio. IMPORTING VIDEO FROM DVD Although it isn't capture in the strict sense, you can also bring video into Studio by importing it from a nonprotected DVD disc or a DVD disc image on your hard 32 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus drive. The File Import DVD Titles menu command opens a dialog that lets you locate and preview the DVD material of interest, then import it as an MPEG-2 file to the folder of your choice. Note: If the audio on the DVD is in AC3 format, it may be necessary to purchase an activation code for the AC3 codec software. To import DVD video: 1. Select the DVD disc or image using the folder explorer controls under Choose a disc or image. Studio lists the "titles" (video files) available at the location under Check the titles to import. 2. 3. Use the folder browser button to select a destination folder for the imported files. Enter a name for the DVD. This will be used as part of the imported file names. For example, if you name the DVD or image "My DVD", and import Title 12, the resulting file name will be: My DVD_Title_12.mpg Chapter 2: Capturing video 33 Select the title or titles you wish to import by checking the boxes next to the names. You can use the player controls on the right side of the dialog to preview the content of the currently-selected title. 5. Click the Import button. Studio displays a progress bar to let you monitor the progress of the import operation. When it is complete, you can access the contents of the file for editing from the Album as with an ordinary capture file (see next chapter). 4. IMPORTING MEDIA FROM EXTERNAL DEVICES The Import Media dialog (File Import Media From Device) makes it easy to locate still images and movies stored on auxiliary devices plugged into your system, and copy selected items onto a local hard drive for access through the Album. Selecting files to import Begin by choosing a device from those on the Source dropdown list. To appear on the list, a device must offer the widely-supported Mass Storage Devices interface. Those requiring TWAIN or other protocols must be accessed with appropriate third-party software. Devices that often contain importable media include: · External optical disc drives, hard drives and flash memory drives · Camcorder or digital camera on-board drives of any of these types 34 Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus