On this ongoing sequence, we’re going to try many frequent points, questions and confusion that revolve round some (which could be thought-about to be) frequent workflows that editors encounter every day within Media Composer, what it is best to take into account and methods to navigate by way of them.
One factor that’s exceptionally vital to bear in mind, with regards to tasks within Media Composer, when you’ve made your choice on the body price you wish to go along with, that’s it. You’re locked into that body price with out the flexibility to vary it within the undertaking. Many individuals suppose it is a hindrance of Media Composer, however I truly suppose it’s a fairly intelligent workflow. In Media Composer, you by no means set your undertaking for the footage you shot. You set your undertaking for the timeline(s) that you simply wish to export whenever you’re achieved together with your edit. If you would like a 23.976 grasp, when you’ve set your undertaking to 23.976, come hell or excessive water, that’s the one sort of sequence you’ll be capable to export from Media Composer. Now, remember that you possibly can change your raster dimension all you need (body dimension), however the body price is locked in. It’s a special approach to work than in most NLE’s. Premiere and Resolve allow you to create a undertaking with as many various sequences with completely different body charges as you want. In Media Composer, every time you create a brand new timeline in your undertaking, that timeline’s body price matches the body price of the initially created undertaking. So, with the above stated, listed below are another vital issues to bear in mind when creating a brand new Media Composer undertaking.
Native vs System vs Exterior Tasks
I’m all the time nonetheless very stunned that that is nonetheless an possibility in Media Composer, as most editors that I do know don’t use it. You actually have three choices the place you wish to maintain your Media Composer tasks. Person, Shared and Exterior. First – the native person, that means that the one one who would have entry to the undertaking once they log into the system is the editor at present logged on. Not a giant deal if you’re the one editor working in your content material. Second – the Shared customers. That means that anybody that logs onto the system would have entry to the Avid Tasks folder. That is higher, however not perfect should you ever have a system downside, as you’d lose your undertaking and the Avid Archive backup. Final, however actually not least is the Exterior possibility, which is de facto perfect. For me, the perfect workflow method is all the time exterior.
Have your Media and your Tasks on an exterior drive, with the media additionally backed up (digicam originals/and so forth), backed as much as both an LTO or different safe drive/location. Your tasks can keep on the exterior drive, and if there may be ever a drive failure, you’ll all the time have your Avid Attic in your important system and media safely backed as much as one other location, so your downtime in getting again up and operating shall be at an absolute minimal.
Too Many Undertaking Choices
That is one query I get requested on a regular basis. Which “New Undertaking” settings ought to I select, as there are alternatives like “Coloration House” and “Stereoscopic”.
To be trustworthy, aside from the “Format” and “Title” choices, every little thing could be left on their default parameters (assuming that you simply don’t want a selected coloration house or stereoscopic choices), aside from one, that’s tucked away down on the backside.
Raster Dimension (Social Media) Presets
One factor I see individuals submit about on a regular basis is about social media side ratios (9×16 and 1×1), and the way you’ll set these up in Media Composer. Properly, the Presets within the New Undertaking window is the place you’ll try this. Take into account, although, that when you set them up the primary time, you don’t have to do it for future tasks. Create them as soon as, and so they’ll seem within the undertaking so that you can change forwards and backwards to (assuming you have to try this). Take into account, nonetheless, that, very like together with your important undertaking, you’ll solely have entry to the presets that match the body price of your present undertaking. Right here’s methods to create a preset fast and easy. First, hit the “Handle Preset” button to name up the preset Supervisor. Now, merely press the “Add button” so as to add a brand new preset. Now merely fill in all the main points, and press OK.
Take into account that it’s also possible to change your Format to “Customized” should you’re working in a side that’s distinctive, enter all of the related info (Raster/Body Charge/and so forth), and after getting it the way in which you need, merely hit “Save Preset” on the backside of the window, and also you’ll now have entry to that preset in your undertaking as effectively. This workflow is right for video boards the place they’ll have very “distinctive” side ratios, and it is a easy approach to set issues up.
One factor that’s vital to bear in mind is that should you’re a solo Media Composer editor, that means that you simply’re not utilizing MediaCentral to work in a collabrative atmosphere, you possibly can twirl that possibility up on the botton, because it’s usually twirled down by default, and I discover numerous new editors really feel they should enter info in right here, which you don’t, so twirl it up and ignore it.
Now, all that is high quality and, for probably the most half, would appear like frequent sense and customary data to most editors, however there’s one thing that essential that editors want to contemplate about this course of that’s distinctive from different functions.
Metadata
There’s a phrase everyone knows. Metadata. There’s metadata that we are able to enter, and there’s metadata that Media Composer will tag to media that may not be readily obvious. Media Composer’s energy is within the MXF media information and media file folders that set up its transcoded and consolidated media. That’s why so many editors select it however, as Uncle Ben would say, “with nice energy comes nice accountability”, and extra so a terrific understanding of how Media Composer associates media in its tasks. When you begin taking footage and consolidating or transcoding it into precise “Avid Media”, that media is tagged with being related to that particular undertaking. That’s the place issues can change into exceptionally problematic, with regards to media administration and extra particularly deleting media. Most individuals will use both the Media Software or MDVx, a improbable media administration instrument that I exploit on a regular basis. Nonetheless, that is the place issues can get a bit dicey. The Media Software and MDVx, depend on that undertaking metadata that’s tagged to every piece of media, so it’s displayed correctly, when doing a media search. If you happen to, or one other editor, have been pulling media from completely different tasks, that media shall be tagged with that undertaking’s metadata, and received’t show correctly in both software. That is why, it’s exceptionally vital, particularly in Media Composer, that should you’re going to make use of the identical piece of media throughout a number of tasks, it would simply be finest to consolidate/transcode it for every undertaking, in order that the metadata tagging is appropriate, versus operating into issues in a while, with regards to managing/deleting media.
OK, I feel that’s sufficient about undertaking arrange in Media Composer. Within the subsequent “in-depth”, I’m going to try the Avid Attic, the place it’s, methods to set it up, and the way to return to older tasks, should you ever have the necessity to.
