User manual PINNACLE STUDIO 9

Pinnacle Studio 9 Including Studio SE, Studio QuickStart, Studio Standard and Studio Plus Easy, MORE Powerful, MORE Creative Video Editing Special thanks to Mike Iampietro, William Chien, Richard Edgley, Ivan Maltz, Jon McGowan, Keith Thomson, Jörg Weselmann, and Chris Zamara. Documentation: Nick Sullivan Copyright © 1996-2004 Pinnacle Systems, Inc. and its licensors. 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 Plus, TitleDeko, RTFx and VST are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of Pinnacle Systems, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories. © 1992-2003 Dolby Laboratories. All rights reserved. Dolby is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories. mpegable DS 2.2 © 2004 Dicas Digital Image Coding GmbH. 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 © 19962002 by QDesign Corporation. QuickTime and the QuickTime logo are trademarks used under license. The QuickTime logo is registered in the U.S. and other countries. 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. SmartSound is a registered trademark of SmartSound Inc. Windows Media is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. 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 9 Table of contents BEFORE YOU START ..................................................XI Equipment requirements.........................................................................xi Abbreviations and conventions.............................................................xiv On-line help ........................................................................................... xv CHAPTER 1: USING STUDIO ....................................... 1 Undo, Redo, Help and Unlock................................................................. 2 Setting options ......................................................................................... 3 Edit mode .................................................................................................... 5 The Player................................................................................................ 6 Playback controls..................................................................................... 8 Further editing topics............................................................................. 11 Expanding Studio .................................................................................. 11 CHAPTER 2: CAPTURING VIDEO.............................. 15 The Capture mode interface.................................................................... 17 The Diskometer ..................................................................................... 19 The Camcorder Controller..................................................................... 20 The capture process.................................................................................. 21 Capture hardware................................................................................... 21 Capture step-by-step .............................................................................. 23 Scene detection...................................................................................... 25 Table of contents iii Digital capture .......................................................................................... 26 SmartCapture: Preview-quality capture................................................. 27 Full-quality capture................................................................................ 29 Audio and video levels ­ digital ............................................................ 31 Analog capture.......................................................................................... 32 Capture quality options.......................................................................... 32 Audio and video levels ­ analog............................................................ 33 CHAPTER 3: THE ALBUM .......................................... 35 The Video Scenes section ......................................................................... 38 Opening a captured video file................................................................ 40 Viewing captured video......................................................................... 43 Selecting scenes and files ...................................................................... 44 Displaying scene and file information ................................................... 45 Comment view....................................................................................... 46 Combining and subdividing scenes ....................................................... 47 Redetecting scenes................................................................................. 49 The Transitions section ............................................................................ 50 The Titles section...................................................................................... 52 The Still Images section ........................................................................... 53 The Sound Effects section........................................................................ 54 The Disc Menus section............................................................................ 56 CHAPTER 4: THE MOVIE WINDOW........................... 59 Movie Window views................................................................................ 62 Storyboard view..................................................................................... 62 Timeline view........................................................................................ 63 Text view ............................................................................................... 67 The toolboxes ............................................................................................ 67 The Video toolbox ................................................................................. 69 The Audio toolbox................................................................................. 71 iv Pinnacle Studio 9 CHAPTER 5: VIDEO CLIPS ........................................ 73 Video clip basics ....................................................................................... 74 Adding video clips to your movie ......................................................... 74 Working with multiple capture files ...................................................... 75 Interface features ................................................................................... 76 Trimming video clips................................................................................ 78 Trimming on the Timeline using handles .............................................. 78 Clip-trimming tips ................................................................................. 82 Trimming with the Clip properties tool................................................. 83 Resetting trimmed clips ......................................................................... 85 Splitting and combining clips .................................................................. 86 Advanced Timeline editing ...................................................................... 87 Insert editing.......................................................................................... 89 Split editing ........................................................................................... 91 Using video effects .................................................................................... 95 Working with the effects list.................................................................. 96 Changing effect parameters ................................................................... 98 Fading effects in and out ....................................................................... 99 Previewing and rendering.................................................................... 100 Video effects ­ the basic set.................................................................... 101 Cleaning effects....................................................................................... 103 Auto color correct................................................................................ 103 Noise reduction.................................................................................... 104 Stabilize ............................................................................................... 104 Time effects ............................................................................................. 105 Speed ................................................................................................... 105 Strobe................................................................................................... 106 Color effects ............................................................................................ 107 Black and white ................................................................................... 107 Color correction................................................................................... 108 Posterize .............................................................................................. 108 Sepia .................................................................................................... 109 Table of contents v Fun effects ............................................................................................... 109 Lens flare ............................................................................................. 110 Noise.................................................................................................... 110 Water drop ........................................................................................... 111 Style effects.............................................................................................. 112 Blur...................................................................................................... 112 Emboss ................................................................................................ 113 Mosaic ................................................................................................. 113 Old film ............................................................................................... 114 Stained glass ........................................................................................ 115 The SmartMovie music video tool......................................................... 115 CHAPTER 6: TWO-TRACK EDITING WITH STUDIO PLUS ... 119 Introducing the overlay track............................................................... 119 A/B editing .......................................................................................... 121 The Picture-in-picture tool................................................................... 123 The Chroma key tool ........................................................................... 128 Selecting colors ................................................................................... 135 CHAPTER 7: TRANSITIONS..................................... 137 Transition types and their uses ............................................................ 138 Previewing transitions in your movie .................................................. 141 Audio transitions ................................................................................. 142 The Ripple Transition command ......................................................... 143 Trimming transitions ............................................................................. 144 Trimming with the Clip properties tool............................................... 145 CHAPTER 8: STILL IMAGES .................................... 147 Editing still images ................................................................................. 150 Editing image clip properties............................................................... 150 The Frame Grabber ............................................................................... 158 The Frame grabber tool ....................................................................... 158 vi Pinnacle Studio 9 CHAPTER 9: DISC MENUS....................................... 161 Disc authoring in Studio ...................................................................... 163 Using menus from the Album.............................................................. 165 The DVD Player Control..................................................................... 167 Editing menus on the Timeline............................................................ 168 Editing with the Clip properties tool ................................................... 170 The Disc menu tool.............................................................................. 175 CHAPTER 10: THE TITLE EDITOR .......................... 177 Launching the Title Editor................................................................... 178 The Title Editor controls ....................................................................... 179 Title-type buttons................................................................................. 179 Object toolbox ..................................................................................... 180 Editing-mode selection buttons ........................................................... 183 Object layout buttons........................................................................... 185 Clipboard and delete buttons ............................................................... 187 Text-styling controls............................................................................ 187 The Title Editor Album ......................................................................... 189 The Looks Browser ............................................................................. 189 The Backgrounds section..................................................................... 191 The Pictures section............................................................................. 192 The Buttons section ............................................................................. 193 CHAPTER 11: SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC........ 197 The Timeline audio tracks ................................................................... 199 The CD audio tool ............................................................................... 201 The SmartSound tool ........................................................................... 203 The Voice-over tool ............................................................................. 205 Trimming audio clips ............................................................................. 208 Trimming with the Clip properties tool............................................... 208 Audio volume and mixing...................................................................... 210 Anatomy of an audio clip .................................................................... 211 Adjusting audio on the Timeline ......................................................... 213 The Volume and balance tool .............................................................. 215 Table of contents vii Audio effects............................................................................................ 220 Noise reduction.................................................................................... 221 Equalizer.............................................................................................. 223 Grungelizer .......................................................................................... 224 Karaoke ............................................................................................... 225 Leveler................................................................................................. 226 Reverb ................................................................................................. 226 CHAPTER 12: MAKING YOUR MOVIE..................... 229 Outputting to a camera or video recorder... ......................................... 231 Output your movie to videotape .......................................................... 232 Save your movie as an AVI file........................................................... 234 Save your movie as an MPEG file....................................................... 237 Save as RealVideo or Windows Media ............................................... 239 Share your movie via the Internet........................................................ 240 Output your movie to DVD, VCD or S-VCD...................................... 242 Copying an AVI file to tape................................................................. 245 APPENDIX A: SETUP OPTIONS .............................. 247 Capture source settings........................................................................ 248 Capture format settings........................................................................ 252 Edit settings ......................................................................................... 256 CD and voice-over settings.................................................................. 260 Make tape settings ............................................................................... 262 Make AVI file settings ........................................................................ 264 Make MPEG file settings .................................................................... 266 Make RealVideo file settings............................................................... 268 Make Windows Media file settings ..................................................... 271 Make disc settings ............................................................................... 272 APPENDIX B: TIPS AND TRICKS ............................ 277 Hardware ............................................................................................. 277 Software............................................................................................... 279 Increasing the frame rate ..................................................................... 281 Studio and computer animation ........................................................... 282 Smart Capture Tips (DV only) ............................................................ 282 viii Pinnacle Studio 9 APPENDIX C: TROUBLESHOOTING ....................... 285 Technical help on-line ............................................................................ 286 Studio crashes in Edit mode ................................................................ 289 Capture error occurs on starting capture.............................................. 294 Studio hangs when rendering............................................................... 297 CD or DVD burner is not detected ...................................................... 299 Studio hangs on launch or does not launch.......................................... 300 HollywoodFX transitions are still watermarked after upgrading......... 302 "Cannot initialize the DV capture device" error appears in Capture mode ............................................................................................................. 302 Installation problems ............................................................................. 306 Operation problems ............................................................................... 308 APPENDIX D: VIDEOGRAPHY TIPS ........................ 315 Creating a shooting plan ...................................................................... 316 Editing ................................................................................................. 317 Rules of thumb for video editing ......................................................... 320 Soundtrack production......................................................................... 322 Title ..................................................................................................... 323 APPENDIX E: GLOSSARY........................................ 325 APPENDIX F: LICENSE AGREEMENT .................... 341 APPENDIX G: KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS................ 345 INDEX ........................................................................ 349 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, here is what you need to make a Studio editing system. Computer · Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 800 MHz or higher (1.5 GHz or higher recommended) Before you start xi · Microsoft Windows 98 SE, Windows "Millennium", · · · · · · · · · · · · Windows 2000 or Windows XP (recommended). The MicroMV digital video format is supported only under Windows XP. Graphics card compatible with DirectX 9 (ATI Radeon or NVIDIA GeForce2 or higher recommended) Sound card compatible with DirectX 9 Audio system with Dolby Pro Logic compatibility if previewing surround-sound mixes is required 256 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended) CD-ROM drive DVD drive for installing the bonus DVD containing tutorial, electronic manual and bonus content. The same content is available free on CD-ROMs from the Pinnacle e-store (shipping cost not included). Speakers Mouse A microphone, if you want to record voice-overs 500 MB of free hard drive space to install software Optional CD burner for creating VideoCDs (VCDs) or Super-VideoCDs (S-VCDs) Optional DVD burner for creating DVDs 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 at full quality, 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. xii Pinnacle Studio 9 If disk space is a concern with your DV captures, use SmartCapture to capture your video at preview quality (see "SmartCapture: Preview-quality capture" on page 27). This feature uses much less disk space. An entire tape can fit in as little as 360 MB. 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. Please see "Capture hardware" on page 21. Video output hardware Studio can output video to: · Any DV or Digital8 camcorder or VCR. This requires an OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 (FireWire) 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 DC10plus, Studio AV, or another Pinnacle card 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). Before you start xiii 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. 1394: The term "1394" refers to OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394, FireWire, DV or i.LINK interfaces, ports and cables. 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 xiv Generate Background Music. Pinnacle Studio 9 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. On-line help Two kinds of immediate help are always available while you are working in Studio: · On-line help: Click the help button in the Studio main menu bar, or select the Help Help topics menu, or press F1 to open Studio's on-line 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. Before you start xv 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 (DV, Digital8), and live video from a video camera, camcorder or webcam. Capture mode is covered in Chapter 2: Capturing video. 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 5) for a fuller introduction. 3. Make movie: When your project is complete, generate a finished movie in your choice of format and storage medium: tape, VCD, S-VCD, DVD, AVI, MPEG, RealVideo or Windows Media. Make Movie mode is covered in Chapter 12: Making your movie. Chapter 1: Using Studio 1 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 and Unlock The Undo, Redo, Help and Unlock 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 on-line help system. · The Unlock 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. 2 Pinnacle Studio 9 Chapter 1: Using Studio 3 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 six tabs, one for each of the six 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. For simplicity, 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. 4 Pinnacle Studio 9 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. Chapter 1: Using Studio 5 See Chapter 3: The Album and Chapter 4: The Movie Window for detailed information on those topics. 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 6 Pinnacle Studio 9 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. Note: The illustrations in this documentation use 16:9 (widescreen) video. When 4:3 (standard) video is previewed, the Player is proportioned somewhat differently than shown here, but its general appearance is the same. Chapter 1: Using Studio 7 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 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 below the bottom right-hand corner of the preview window, switches to a full-screen preview. It is available in both playback modes. The full-screen display ends when your movie ends, or you doubleclick the screen or press the Esc key. 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. 8 Pinnacle Studio 9 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 work with. Click the buttons repeatedly to loop through the speed factors. Go to beginning: This button halts playback and skips back to the first frame of the material being previewed. 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. The ability of the preview to keep up with the scrubber depends on the speed of your computer. If you move the Player 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 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. Chapter 1: Using Studio 9 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 167. 10 Pinnacle Studio 9 Further editing topics Please see the following for details on specific editing topics: · Chapter 5: Video clips · Chapter 6: Two-track editing with Studio Plus · Chapter 8: 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, VCD and DVD menus, and sound effects. Studio comes with comprehensive collections in all these areas, 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. Some of the premium content available for Studio does not even require downloading. Studio's Bonus Content DVD includes numerous items, like the disc menu at left, that initially appear as "locked" content in Studio, Chapter 1: Using Studio 11 symbolized by a small padlock symbol in the top-left corner of the icon. Such items can be upgraded by purchasing an unlocking code called an activation key. Each key unlocks a small group or theme pack of related content. Additional items of locked 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. 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 unlock 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. · With the Album commands More transitions, More 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. · By clicking the unlock theme pack buttons found in some parts of Studio. These buttons can be found whenever premium content is on display within Studio. The one above, 12 Pinnacle Studio 9 when seen in the Audio effects tool and the Video effects tool, would let you unlock a pack of audio or video filters. Here, the "Bravo Studio Pack 2" page is open in the Video Effects tool. The Unlock 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 the "HFX Family Fun 1" theme pack of Hollywood FX transitions. Click anywhere in the unlock panel on the right-hand page to unlock this set of transitions. How unlocking works "Unlocking" premium content for Studio means to obtain a license allowing you unrestricted use of the content on the single machine where Studio is installed. Chapter 1: Using Studio 13 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. 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. 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 directed. 14 Pinnacle Studio 9 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, MicroMV) and analog video sources. See "Capture hardware" on page 21 for details on configuring Studio to capture from your equipment. Availability: Capturing video from MicroMV camcorders is supported only under Windows XP. 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 15 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 21) covers setting up for your hardware, gives step-by-step capturing instructions, and describes the automatic scene detection feature. · "Digital capture" (page 26) and "Analog capture" (page 32) cover topics specific to each type of source. 16 Pinnacle Studio 9 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. 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). Chapter 2: Capturing video 17 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 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 33.) 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. 18 Pinnacle Studio 9 The Diskometer The Diskometer displays, both numerically and graphically, the amount of space available on your capture drive. It also indicates the approximate duration 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 248) and "Capture format settings" (page 252) 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. Chapter 2: Capturing video 19 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. 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. 20 Pinnacle Studio 9 THE CAPTURE PROCESS Studio lets you capture video from a variety of analog and digital hardware types. Choose the device you wish 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 23). 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 25. Some capture options apply to digital captures only or to analog captures only. These are covered in their own sections, "Digital capture" (page 26) and "Analog capture" (page 32). Capture hardware Studio can capture digital and analog video from the following sources, depending on your hardware: · Digital: A DV, MicroMV or Digital8 camcorder connected to an IEEE-1394 (FireWire) port. · 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. Chapter 2: Capturing video 21 Availability: Capturing video from MicroMV camcorders is supported only under Windows XP. 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 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 248 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. 22 Pinnacle Studio 9 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. Further information relating to some of the steps can be found elsewhere in this chapter. Also see Appendix A: Setup Options (page 247) 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 (DV or MicroMV) 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 17). 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 252). For a DV capture, keep in mind that full-quality capture uses much more disk space than does preview quality. If you are planning to output your finished movie to disc (VCD, S-VCD or DVD), 1. Chapter 2: Capturing video 23 you may choose to make your full-quality 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 26) and "Analog capture" (page 32) for further explanation of these options. 4. 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 duration for the capture. If you are making multiple DV captures in preview quality from the same tape, use the file naming convention described on page 28. It will help streamline the Make Movie process later on. Note: Windows 98 and Millennium have file size limitations. For FAT16 disks the limit is 2 GB. For FAT32 disks the limit is 4GB. Studio estimates how much video of the desired quality the largest allowable file can accommodate, and displays this as the maximum duration for the capture. 5. 6. If you are capturing from an analog camcorder or VCR, start playback now. This step 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 7. 24 Pinnacle Studio 9 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. 8. Click the Stop capture button to end capture at a point you select. Studio automatically 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. 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 Chapter 2: Capturing video 25 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. 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 32. Preview quality and full quality When capturing in DV format from a DV device, Studio offers the choices of preview quality (Smart26 Pinnacle Studio 9 Capture) and full quality. At full quality, two types of encoding are available: DV and MPEG. The two DV capture quality choices are covered in detail in the following pages. This section concludes with a note on adjusting audio and video levels in digital captures (page 31). Note: If you are using a MicroMV camcorder connected to a 1394 port, the user interface in Capture mode is almost identical to that for DV equipment. However, most DV capture options and features are not available with MicroMV captures, including preview-quality capture and DV encoding. Captures from MicroMV are always encoded as MPEG-2. MicroMV is supported only under Windows XP. SmartCapture: Preview-quality capture SmartCapture is a unique feature of Studio. It allows you to capture from DV videotape to a file of reducedquality video using minimal hard drive space. With SmartCapture, you can capture an entire tape onto your hard drive rather than having to pick and choose which portions to capture. You can work with this "previewquality" material throughout the editing of your movie. When your movie is finished and ready for output, Studio will recapture any preview-quality clips at full Chapter 2: Capturing video 27 quality, automatically controlling your source deck to locate and capture the footage. The reduced quality of the preview video therefore has no impact on the quality of your finished movie. Scenes captured at preview quality are denoted in the Album by a dotted border. Continuous timecode For the greatest convenience in using SmartCapture, your digital tape must have continuous DV timecode. Studio cannot capture in preview quality through breaks in the timecode. If your camcorder has a timecode-striping feature, stripe your tape before shooting. If it does not, the simplest way to avoid timecode gaps is to overlap your shots if you start and stop the camcorder during shooting. Before beginning a new shot, rewind a few frames so that there will not be a blank spot. SmartCapture can still be used with tapes that do not have continuous timecode throughout, but a separate capture file must be created for each segment of the tape. SmartCapture will stop capturing when a break in timecode is detected. To continue capturing, cue the tape to the start of the next video segment and click Start Capture again. Naming convention If you capture multiple segments from the same tape, we strongly recommend the following naming convention: For each capture file that originates from the same tape, use a name that starts with the same word. For example, if you have a tape that contains three different activities from your vacation, you might call 28 Pinnacle Studio 9 the captures "vacation-picnic", "vacation-sailing" and "vacation-soccer". Because Studio processes the files in alphabetical order when recapturing, following this convention will greatly reduce the number of times you have to switch tapes during the Make Tape process. Analog tapes and Digital8 camcorders SmartCapture requires DV timecode. Analog tapes (Hi8 and 8mm) do not have DV timecode even when played in a Digital8 camcorder. As a result, it is not possible to use SmartCapture with analog tapes played in a Digital8 camcorder. To use your analog tapes with Studio, either capture them at full quality, or copy them to DV tape. Full-quality capture 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. Chapter 2: Capturing video 29 An MPEG movie requires much less disk space than the equivalent full-quality DV movie, although thanks to SmartCapture this is not generally a concern. 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. With full-quality capture, the video data is transferred directly from the camcorder tape to your PC hard drive with no changes or additional compression. Because the video quality is high, capturing at this setting does consume a lot of disk space, so you may want to pick and choose small segments to capture instead of the entire tape. 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 at full quality, 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 full-quality 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 30 Pinnacle Studio 9 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 252 for detailed information about MPEG quality options. Audio and video levels ­ digital With DV and MicroMV captures, you are using audio and video that have been encoded digitally during recording, right 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 95), and "Audio effects" (page 220). Chapter 2: Capturing video 31 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 DV or MicroMV camcorder connected to your computer via a 1394 port, please refer instead to "DV capture" on page 26. 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 252). 32 Pinnacle Studio 9 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 (L) and audio (R) panels for setting levels during analog capture. 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 worry about color correction later on. 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 five sliders allow you to control the Chapter 2: Capturing video 33 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. 34 Pinnacle Studio 9