[Michael Hancock]

The time window doesn’t show up at all? Or the Fluidmotion option doesn’t?

If the FluidMotion effect isn’t there, have you hit the “Promote” button in the time window.

Otherwise, try moving your source/record monitors around. I’ve seen it pop up behind them before–looks like it doesn’t open, but it’s just hidden.

Michael

[Michael Hancock]

I would highly recommend a dual boot system–one drive for FCP, one for Symphony. FCP typically requires a different (newer) version of the OS and Quicktime than Avid, so if you install both on the same OS boot you’ll end up with an old version of Quicktime (or OS) for FCP (causing potential problems), or a broken Symphony (because of OS/Quicktime incompatibilities).

Michael.

[Michael Hancock]

[Dionne Knapp] “The gain shows as straight lines. How do I expand the audio track so I get the squiggly black waves?”

What you need are the sample plots. Go to the fast menu in your timeline, Audio Data, and make sure Sample Plots are checked. If they are, but you still don’t see them, select your audio tracks and hit Shift+Ctrl+L and it will make the sample plots larger. Again, hitting Ctrl+L expands the track, too, so it’s easier to see.

[Dionne Knapp] “You’re very patient…you must be a father with young kids!”

No kids, but my wife and I treat our puppy like a child, if that counts.

Michael.

[Michael Hancock]

In the timeline fast menu, go to Audio Data and turn on Auto Gain and Sample Plots. You’ll see the sample plots on the audio now, and hit the Pink Triangle (Add Keyframe) button on either your tool palette or keyboard (N on the keyboard in Xpress Pro, ‘ in Media Composer if using the defaults.) You’ll see a black marker show up–it’s your keyframe.

Now move the keyframe up or down as you want. You might want to resize your audio tracks though. Use Ctrl+L and Ctrl+K to make a selected track larger or smaller, respectively.

If you select a keyframe with In and Out points marked all keyframes between the In and Out points will move up and down relative to each other. If you need to move a keyframe Left or Right–hold Alt. To delete a keyframe, click it then hit Delete (this can be finicky). To do an easy fade at the end of an audio track, just add a dissolve.

Michael.

[Michael Hancock]

Very nice! In 5 years I’ve never seen or heard of this.

Thanks,

Mike.

[Michael Hancock]

[Dionne Knapp] “when I wanted to move a clip around on the timeline or to a different track, I couldn’t just grab it and drag it…nooo I have to set in and out points, copy it, make sure de-select the other tracks-otherwise I copy everything above and below it- then paste it , then go back and delete the original. That’s a lot of steps just to move a clip.”

Look up Segment Mode. If you want to move a clip, you go into Segment mode, select it, and drag it where you want. It functions just like Premiere’s does, but it’s not always active.

Also, if you have a lot of clips you want to move to different tracks or later in your piece you can hit Alt+Z to lift them out of your sequence and into your source monitor. Move your playhead where you want to insert them and cut them in (insert or overwrite edit). That way you aren’t copying, cutting, reselecting, deleting, etc…

While these are basic things in Avid, if you’re coming from Premiere it can get frustrating. As hard as it is, you can’t compare how Premiere works to how Avid works–you need to learn the Avid way of doing things. And don’t hesitate to post here if you run into more questions or something seems far too difficult compared to Premiere. We might know a way that’s easier.

Michael

[Michael Hancock]

Never used a Newscutter, but try selecting the clip in Red arrow segment mode, then entering Trim. Should go into slip. Yellow arrow then trim mode goes into Slide.

Also, check your command palette. In Media Composer you can map Slip Left and Slip Right to your keyboard. It only goes 1 frame at a time, but it’s very, very useful. It will slip all clips on the selected tracks that your position indicator is on. I have mine set to Shift Q and Shift W.

Michael.

[Michael Hancock]

Excellent shortcut. To add to this, if you hit + or – on the keypad before you type in numbers you’ll advance or go back that many frames. So if you want to go forward 2 seconds you hit +200 on the keypad. If you want to go forward 200 frames hit +200f.

Plus, Avid remembers however frames you chose to advance to go back (like going to timecode), so if you need to add an edit point every 3 seconds hit +300 Enter then Add Edit. Then just hit Enter again and it will go forward another 3 seconds.

Michael.

[Michael Hancock]

Do these images have an alpha? If so, promote them to 3D. First keyframe–place them where you want them to start, 100% scale, no rotation. Pick the last keyframe, scale to 0, move the image to the middle of the frame with a rotation on Z axis set at maybe 360 or 540. 2 Keyframe–done.

If these don’t have an alpha, drop a Blend effect or PIP effect, promote that to 3D (bottom right of effect editor), then follow the steps above.

After you finish this project (or while you’re working on it, if you have time), I suggest getting out the effects manual or opening the Help file and reading about all the different effects. This is really basic stuff.

Michael.

[Michael Hancock]

Is it aliasing on an external monitor, or your computer monitor?

Also, what type of project are you in and what are your settings in After Effects?

Michael.