MediaStudio VE 2.5
MediaStudio VE 2.5
MediaStudio VE 2.5
[VIDEO EDITION]
VERSION 2.5
User guide
Software license
The software described in this document is furnished under a License
Agreement which is included with the product. This Agreement specifies the
permitted and prohibited uses of the product.
Sample files
Files provided as samples on the program CD-ROM can be used for personal
demonstrations, productions and presentations. No rights are granted for
commercial reproduction or redistribution of any sample files.
Guided tour and tutorials created using MacroMedia Authorware.
Cover images from PhotoDisc™ClipPix™Images © 1994 PhotoDisc, Inc.
Contents
Welcome to MediaStudio VE 9 Background Information 27
What is MediaStudio VE? 10 Video 28
Who can use MediaStudio VE? 10 Video basics 28
Factors affecting the performance
Video 11 of digital video 29
Video Editor 11 Setting your PC up for video 29
Video Capture 12 Managing video on the PC 30
Imaging 13 Some file formats to look out for 31
Image Editor 13 Images 32
Learning about MediaStudio VE 14 How we see color 32
Reading the user manual 14 How your PC “sees” color 33
Using the on-line help 15 Understanding images and data types 33
Using the guided tour and tutorials 15 Image compression schemes 35
Some file formats to look out for 35
What is MediaStudio Pro? 16
Installation 19
Getting started 20
Installing the programs 21
Running the programs 22
Part A: Video
The first part of this user guide deals with Chapter 1: Video Editor 37
using a variety of video sources and files in
The basics 38
the two MediaStudio VE video programs, Working with video projects 39
Video Editor and Video Capture. The Video Relinking clips 39
Editor program is where you compile and Associating clips 40
edit different files to create a final video Working efficiently 40
production, while Video Capture is for Managing memory 40
viewing video from an external source (such Using the quick command palette 41
as a VCR or camcorder) as well as capturing Working with Proxy Files 42
video sequences to disk. Managing your proxy files 43
Using the clipboard 43
Inserting Clips 44
Inserting video, audio and image clips 44
Inserting title, silence, and color clips 46
Viewing clips in the timeline 47
Controlling the display of clips 47
Zooming in on clips 48
Viewing the contents of a clip 48
Creating files 49
Saving a video project 49
Creating a video file 49
Creating an image sequence 51
Creating a waveform file 52
Printing to video tape 52
Creating an edit decision list (EDL) file 53
Posting a timecode 54
5
Part B: Imaging
Part C: Appendices
This last part of this user guide provides Appendix A – special effects 173
additional information concerning working Appendix B – techniques 179
in MediaStudio VE. Appendix A includes a Glossary 187
sample of the special effects available in the
Index 199
Video Editor and Image Editor programs.
Appendix B provides you with some quick
ideas on how to achieve certain effects,
helping you get started in your work.
The glossary explains commonly used
multimedia terminology, while the index
guides you to the page number where you
can find these concepts explained, as well as
all of the MediaStudio VE program features.
9
• Welcome to MediaStudio VE
MediaStudio VE is an advanced and powerful set of
programs designed to give you total control over your video
and imaging projects. With three programs, Video Editor,
Video Capture, and Image Editor, professional video has
become easier and more accessible than ever before.
From the Help menu you can access commands that open Help at
either a specific topic or at the contents page. Use the Help menu when
you want to browse through Help or wish to go to a specific topic.
From dialog boxes you can, (when available), click on the Help button
to open Help at the topic describing the dialog box you are in. This is
particularly helpful when you want to clarify or understand specific
options available in a dialog box.
The F1 hot key is perhaps the most convenient way to access help, as it
is easy to remember and quick to use. Just rest your mouse on a feature
and press the F1 key. Help opens at the topic describing the command
or feature your mouse is resting on.
Note: Each program also provides tooltips and hint messages. Tooltips
appear beneath any tool your mouse is resting on, displaying the tool’s
name, while hint messages appear in the status bar whenever your mouse
rests on a menu command, explaining what the command is.
Both the guided tour and tutorials are interactive and allow you to
control the pace of your learning. If you are a “hands-on” type of
person, viewing the guided tour and tutorials will give you a solid idea
about the features and abilities of the MediaStudio VE programs, as well
as an insight into MediaStudio Pro.
16 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Management:
• Album – Organize your files visually using thumbnails to represent
the contentsofa file.N ow you can see your files rather than having to
rely on cryptic filenames. Once you have created thumbnails, you
can then append additional information such as keywords, subjects,
descriptions and marks, all of which are fully customizable and
searchable.
• Viewer – Open and view individual or multiple image files instantly
from Album. View images from 1/8× to 8× actual view, and then use
Viewer’s editing tools to take just the portion you need, or save the
entire image to disk.
• CD Browser – Scan PhotoCD’s for image files and save directly to
Album. Create thumbnails of Photo CD’s to speed up viewing.
• Multimedia Converter – Quickly perform batch conversions of files.
Multimedia Converter supports the most popular image, video,
animation, and audio file formats. This handy utility saves time and
effort by processing all your files at one go.
INTRODUCTION 17
Imaging:
• Image Editor – Carrying the weight of the imaging section, Image
Editor allows you to create and enhance images in almost any data
type and file format. Both MediaStudio Pro and MediaStudio VE
boast Image Editor’s full features.
• Screen Capture – Capture any screen component and then use it as
an image in reports, multimedia presentations, and any other
project. A variety of options allow you to change the resolution and
data type of the captured image as well as add a border and shadow.
• Morph Editor – Create special effects videos or animate the transi-
tion of one image into another with Morph Editor. Defining the area
to move is easy, and you can view the resulting image at any point in
the morphing process. A click of a button gives you the magic of
morphing in minutes!
• Installation
This section gets your copy of MediaStudio VE up and running;
this includes a look at your system requirements as well as how
to install and run the MediaStudio VE programs.
20 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Getting started
Before you begin installing MediaStudio VE, check that you have the
following:
Understanding menus
When you view menus, some commands appear in black while others
are grayed-out. (The actual colors depend on your current Windows
color scheme.) Commands in black are active and available for
selection while grayed-out commands are inactive and unavailable for
selection.
Note: A command may be inactive because your PC does not have the
necessary hardware to support that particular function, or because the
command is not currently applicable; for example, when there are no files
open, the Close command is inactive.
File Formats
The shared File Formats command allows you to specify which file
formats you want the MediaStudio VE programs to support. When using
MediaStudio VE for the first time, all available file formats are placed on
the active list. This allows you to open a wide range of files but uses up
valuable system resources and makes the List Files of Type combo box
very long. If you only work with a limited number of file formats,
use this command to remove unnecessary formats from the active list,
thereby freeing up system resources. Changes you make in this dialog
box are reflected in all the MediaStudio VE programs. (For example,
if you remove a file format from the File Formats dialog box, no other
MediaStudio VE program will have access to that format.)
Notes:
• If you have a file currently open in the workspace, the file’s format
appears with an asterisk, indicating that the format is in use. If you want
to remove the format from the active list, first close the file.
• The object pool in Image Editor stores images in the TIF file format.
If you want to use the object pool, ensure that the TIF format is active.
26 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Video Editor
The Video Editor Preferences dialog box allows you to set General,
Project, Association, and Cache preferences. Specify general
preferences to set your work environment every time you open Video
Editor, and Project preferences if you wish to work in a different
environment for the current project. The Association folder allows you
to open files in a specified program (see p.40), and the Cache folder
allows you to set memory options (see p.40). Video Editor’s other
preferences include Customize Video Filters and Customize Transition
Effects, which allow you to create custom folders containing the effects
filters and video transition effects you use most frequently.
Video Capture
Video Capture’s preference options allow you to customize both the
program interface and the behavior of video files. You can, for
example, return video files to the first frame after they play, and even
change the program's background color. This last option is great when
capturing, as you can specify any color you wish to place behind a video
as you capture, making for a better-looking presentation.
Image Editor
The Image Editor preferences, like the other MediaStudio VE
program-specific preferences, determine the appearance of the
program interface, however, you may wish to change this appearance
more often than in Video Editor or Capture – specifically the Preserve
Image Under Selection option (see p.109). Image Editor’s other
preferences include OLE and Clipboard (controlling drag and drop),
Display (regulating the display of images on your monitor), and
Memory (allowing you to dedicate memory to working with large
images).
27
• Background Information
This section describes some of the fundamentals behind
the media you can work with in MediaStudio VE. If you are
accustomed to working in a multimedia environment,
and know your frame rates from your sampling rates, you
may wish to skip this section. If you are new to multimedia,
or wish to brush up on your background knowledge, you will
find this section an invaluable source of information.
28 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Video basics
Most people’s experience of creating video is limited to using
camcorders and VCR’s. This is known as the world of analog video,
where a camera has been used to convert what it sees into an electronic
signal which is then stored on tape as a continuous stream of
information. (Television works by sending this signal directly to your
television screen.)
By decreasing the frame rate, you can of course reduce the file size.
(Many video files can produce good motion with a frame rate as low as
15 frames per second.) Another method of reducing file size consists
in reducing the size of the frame itself as well as the data type.
For example, most computers can handle Indexed-Color ¼ size
(160×120) and ½ size (320×240) video quite well.
Video compression
Compression is the key to making video viable on the PC. When you
compress video, various options are available that allow you to
improve the compression rate, such as key framing and interleaving.
The following takes a look at these and how they affect your video files.
Key framing works by saving the full data of specific frames and
compressing any intervening frames. This tends to provide better
quality playback over other schemes, as the video has an accurate
reference point to recreate image data. The key frame rate depends on
the type of video you have. As a guideline, for slow moving videos,
such as people talking, choose a key frame rate for every half second.
For example, if your video is playing at 20 fps, choose a key frame rate
of 10. For faster moving videos, such as people running, select a key
frame rate for every quarter of a second, (5 for a 20 fps video).
Note: Ultimately, the best way to choose a compression scheme for your
project is to try several different schemes on a test portion of your video.
AVI
This file format is the king of video on the PC. Designed to save audio
and video data together, the AVI format offers interleaving and lossless
compression to keep file sizes down to a minimum.
32 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
FLI/FLC/FLX
The FLI, FLC and FLX are Autodesk file formats widely supported by
different video programs and are used primarily for saving animation
files, complete with any accompanying audio track.
Black and white (1-bit) – this is the most economical of data types as it
only supports two colors: black and white. Because of this, it is only
really useful if you are creating line art images, or wish to create certain
effects.
Indexed 16 color (4-bit) – this data type is the smallest color data type
available and can produce a total of 16 colors. If you don’t require many
colors and want to save on file size, this is the data type of choice.
(Standard VGA monitors use 4-bit color.)
34 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Grayscale (8-bit) – this data type contains 256 shades of gray (including
both pure black and pure white). Grayscale is ideal if you are using a
monochrome monitor or preparing images for publication in a single
color.
Indexed 256 color (8-bit) – this data type allows you to use 256 colors,
instead of just shades of gray. This data type is often used by programs
to provide a variety of basic colors without taxing your system, and can
be dithered to adequately represent True Color. (Standard super VGA
monitors use 8-bit color.)
True Color (24-bit) – this is the most versatile data type, yielding over
16.7 million colors. This data type produces true-to-life color, but can
result in extremely large files. All effects in the MediaStudio VE
programs can be applied to True Color images.
Images: BMP EPS GIF JPG MAC MSP PCD PCT PCX
PSD TGA TIF
JPEG
This file format is a “lossy” format that compresses files as it saves
them. The main advantage of using JPEG is that it offers a compression
ratio up to 100:1. Moreover, in order to minimize the visual effect of
the loss of image data, information that is less visible to the eye is
discarded, while more important/visible information remains
untouched. The JPEG format supports Grayscale, True Color, and CMYK
True Color images.
Targa (TGA)
This file format supports Grayscale, Indexed 256-color, HiColor and
True Color images, and contains a lossless compression scheme.
In addition, it is the only file format in which you can save HiColor
images and still retain their data in a 16-bit format.
The basics
Creating your video productions in Video Editor is both easy and
convenient – if you can move a mouse, you can create video. The key to
this ease of use is Video Editor’s timeline-based editing. A timeline
works by displaying video and audio files (clips) along individual tracks.
These tracks run parallel to each other and appear like film strips laid
out side by side. Clips appearing in lower tracks are given precedence
over clips higher in the timeline. This hierarchical order allows you to
overlap clips and perform a variety of special effects, such as transitions
and color keying.
The first two video tracks in the timeline, the Va and Vb tracks, are
separated by a special Fx track. This Fx track is used to place transition
effects that control how a clip in either the Va or Vb track cuts to or
plays over the other. Below the Vb track are an additional 99 overlay
tracks. Overlay tracks are used primarily to perform special effects such
as color keying and moving paths. Further down the timeline are the
audio tracks, which are similar to video tracks except that they don’t
contain an Fx track. This is because overlapping audio clips are
automatically mixed whenever you create an audio file or video file
containing audio data.
An example of a
timeline featuring
both video and
audio tracks.
VIDEO 39
Whenever you create a new video project, (done by choosing the File:
New command), you can specify the properties that you want the video
project to adopt, such as the television standard, frame rate, and frame
size. These properties are “remembered” in the File: Preferences: Video
Editor dialog box and become the default properties used each time
you run Video Editor. (You can change these properties for the current
video project with the File: Properties command.)
Each time you open a video project, (with the File: Open command),
Video Editor verifies that your hard disk still contains the source files
whose clips are featured in the video project. When any of these files are
not present, a message box appears for each missing file asking if you
wish to relink the clips to the source files, or ignore the missing links.
If you choose not to relink, the video project file opens with unlinked
clips blacked-out. (Any editing you perform, however, is still retained
for when you later relink the file.) To relink clips in an already opened
video project, choose the Edit: Find Unlinked Clip command. When
unlinked files are found, a dialog box opens displaying the related
filenames as well as options to relink, delete the clip, or go to the clip in
the timeline.
Note: You can combine different video projects by choosing the Insert: File
Project command.
40 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Associating clips
There may be times when you insert a clip, but find that you still have
some editing to do on the source file. By associating the clip to an
editing program, you can open the file of the clip in the appropriate
program by selecting it and pressing the Enter key or choosing the Clip:
Run command, (disabled for image clips). To define the program
association, use the Association folder in the File: Preferences: Video
Editor dialog box.
Working efficiently
Working with video can place a heavy demand on your system
resources. In order to increase the speed and efficiency of your work,
Video Editor provides several methods for optimizing your video
editing environment. This section looks at those methods, including
memory management, proxy files, and the quick command palette.
Managing memory
Tip: Allocate One of the first commands you will want to look at when you run Video
memory cache to Editor is the File: Preferences: Video Editor command. This accesses a
improve
dialog box that gives you control over various aspects of Video Editor’s
performance.
behavior, as well as the attributes of your video projects and your PC’s
memory. For example, in the Cache folder, you can manage memory by
allocating RAM or hard disk space for caching.
If you wish to change the commands in the palette, choose the Modify
command in the quick command palette’s control menu. This allows
you to select commands from the menu bar and add or remove them
from the palette. If you find that resizing the palette covers part of a
command name, you can assign a new name, or “alias”, to the
command. For example, “File Preferences Video Editor” can be written
as “VE Pref”. This is also useful when you need to free up working space
hidden under the palette.
42 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Using your mouse, you can duplicate a clip by holding down the Ctrl
key and dragging the clip to another position or compatible track in the
timeline. (If you do not hold down the Ctrl key as you drag, the clip is
moved but not copied.) You can only drag clips to empty clip slots,
however. If the clip slot is shorter than the clip, the cursor changes to
the stop cursor, and the clip cannot be moved or duplicated.
Note: If you copy a clip containing an effect or filter to an incompatible
track, the effect or filter icons will be checked with an X, indicating they are
disabled. Moving the clip back into a compatible track enables the effect or
filter.
44 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
You can paste clips from the clipboard back into any compatible track
in the timeline. When you paste, Video Editor allows you to paste the
entire clip, with the Edit: Paste command, or just its attributes, with the
Edit: Paste Attributes command. If you choose the Paste Attributes
command the Paste Attributes dialog box opens, allowing you to paste
video and audio filters, overlay options and moving paths. (Exactly
which depends on the clipboard data.) If pasting filters, there are two
additional options Append and Replace. Append adds the new filters to
any existing filters and Replace overwrites any existing filters with those
from the clipboard. (If no filters exist, these options are disabled.)
Inserting Clips
Clips are the building blocks of every video project and are also your
starting point in Video Editor. There are six kinds of clips that you can
insert into a video project, namely audio, video, image, title, color and
silence clips. When you insert a clip, it is placed into the timeline – into
which track depends on the media type. For example, you can only
load video clips into a video track, or silence clips into an audio track.
Notes:
• Double-clicking on an empty clip slot in the appropriate track opens the
Insert Video or Audio dialog box.
• Whenever you insert an image clip, you can specify the duration of the
clip in the Load Image dialog box. The image is then repeated to “fill”
the specified duration.
When inserting clips, you can choose to insert the clip into an empty
clip slot, or over an existing clip. An empty clip slot starts from the end
of one clip and continues to the beginning of the next. If a clip is
inserted into a clip slot that is shorter in duration than the clip itself,
the clip appears red and is truncated when inserted. If the clip slot is
longer than the clip, the clip appears green and the entire clip can be
inserted. To insert a clip over another, place your pointer at the position
where you want the new clip to be inserted, and hold down the Shift
key as you drop the clip. The new clip is then inserted at the position of
your pointer. Depending on your choice of trim options, (see p.65), the
new clip may overwrite or push the existing clip along the timeline.
Notes:
• If you are loading clips from different video files, you will achieve better
results if the files share the same or similar attributes, such as frame size
and compression scheme. You can change these using the Video File
command from the File: Convert submenu.
• You can specify the default duration of image, color, silence, and title
clips in the File: Preferences: Video Editor dialog box.
• You cannot load Black and White images.
An example of
video, image and
audio clips.
46 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
An example of a
color, title and
silence clip.
VIDEO 47
A video clip in
filmstrip, thumb-
nail, and filename
modes, and an
audio clip in
waveform mode.
48 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Zooming in on clips
Above the timeline is the ruler, displaying the current unit of measure-
ment. Adjusting the ruler zooms in or out on the clips in the timeline.
To change the unit of measurement, you can:
• Choose “Ruler Unit” from the View menu. This reveals a submenu of
all the available units of measurement as well as an additional
command, Fit in Window. This command adjusts the timeline to
allow all the clips to show fully in the workspace.
• Drag the zoom slider bar. Dragging to the extreme left displays every
frame; dragging to the extreme right fits the project in the window.
• Click on the timeline with the zoom tool. Each mouse click zooms in
one ruler unit (towards displaying each frame). Holding down the
Shift key as you click zooms out one ruler unit (towards Fit in
Window).
Clips viewed at 1
second (at left) and
at 2 seconds (at
right).
Creating files
Working in Video Editor, you will inevitably create different kinds of
files, from audio files, edit decision lists (EDLs), proxy and DVP files, to
the final video file that represents the culmination of your work. This
section explains how to create the various files available in Video Editor,
as well as options for speeding up the creation process.
In the Advanced folder, Video Editor provides options for saving files for
playback from hard disk or CD-ROM. If the file is intended to be played
on your current machine, select the data transfer rate of your hard disk.
(If you are unsure what the data transfer rate of your hard disk is,
consult its manual or use a utility such as Norton Utilities or PC Tools to
find out.) If you are planning to distribute your file on CD-ROM, be sure
to check the Pad Frames for CD-ROM option. This packs data more
evenly for the CD-ROM, allowing for optimum playback speed.
If the data type of your video file is Indexed-Color, you can also define
the type of palette to create with the Use Common Palette combo box.
For a scene where colors change constantly, select the Optimum
option. When you create the file, Video Editor first analyses all the
frames in the video sequence and then generates a palette that best
represents the range of colors. (To speed up this creation process, check
the Use Temp File Creating 8-bit Optimum Palette option in the File:
Preferences: Video Editor dialog box.)
Note: You can also load an existing palette file by clicking on the Load
button.
Tip: Crop the edges The Cropping folder displays a resizeable box that allows you to trim
of your frames to the edges of your frames, and eliminate unwanted noise that may exist
remove “noise”.
around the borders of each frame. As the cropping box is movable, you
can place this on your frame to get the exact shot you wish to display
(such as a tight head shot).
To print to video:
1. Choose “Print to Video” from the File menu. The Print to Video
dialog box opens.
2. Using the Drives and Directories list boxes, locate the video file you
want to print.
3. In the File Name list box, click on the filename to select it.
4. Click on the Options button. The Print to Video Options dialog box
opens. At the top of this dialog box, specify your playback device
from the Played by combo box.
5. In the Frame Size folder, define the dimensions of the video frames.
6. If you want the file to pause before playing, select the Delay option
to enable the Start and End spin boxes in the Activation folder.
Enter a delay (in seconds) in the Start spin box to give yourself time
to press the record button on your video device before the file begins
playing. Likewise, if you want time to press the stop button on your
video device, enter a delay in the End spin box. This has the double
function of ensuring you do not accidentally record your Windows
desktop once the file has finished playing, as well as placing blank
VIDEO 53
Posting a timecode
If you are planning to create an EDL, you have to tell the post
production house which sources they need to use, for example,
your original video tapes. You also need to tell them at what time in the
video to start recording for each of the video clips in the project.
In Video Editor this is done with the Clip: Post Timecode command.
Choosing this command opens the Post Timecode dialog box. In the
Reel entry box, type in your source name, for example, “Hawaii
vacation”. In the Timecode spin box, specify the appropriate time to
start recording. (This time is displayed by the frame counter on your
source.) If your source is unable to display SMPTE timecode, or it does
not have a frame counter, you will be unable to define an accurate
starting point. Once you have posted a timecode, this code will appear
next to its respective clip whenever you create an EDL.
55
Selecting clips
Tip: To select all The clip selection tool allows you to select clips in any of the tracks in
the clips in the the timeline. You can select individual clips by clicking on them, or, to
timeline, click on
a track button select a range of clips, by dragging your mouse (with the Shift key held
with the time down) across the clips you wish to include in the selection. (You only
selection tool. have to include a portion of a clip for it to be included in the selection.)
To select all the clips in a particular track, click on the track button
located at the far left of each of the tracks.
Note: To adjust a selection, drag on the borders of the selection marquee.
(To move by frames, hold down the left mouse button and use the direction
keys.)
Selecting a clip.
Selecting a period
of time.
Moving selections
Whenever you move a selection, it will snap to the edge of adjacent
clips and project cues if you check the Edit: Snap command. This
ensures accurate and easy placement of clips in succession. Unchecking
the Snap command allows you to place clips freely.
58 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
You can view the name of a cue at any time by clicking on it with the
right mouse button. If you wish to move a cue once it has been placed,
simply drag it to the new location. To remove a cue from the project,
drag it off the video window.
Note: To manage cues in a video project, use the View: Cue Manager dialog
box. Here you can you can add, delete, go to, and rename any cue in the
timeline.
An example of cues
placed along the
cue area.
VIDEO 59
Locating clips
During your work in Video Editor, it is easy to accumulate a lot of
different clips. Navigating around these clips to find just one can be a
little daunting, particularly if you have clips in all two hundred and
three tracks! Fortunately, Video Editor provides several commands and
features for performing searches easily in one track, or across all tracks.
The Edit: Find Empty Time Slots command opens a dialog box which
lists all areas in the video project where empty time slots exist. You can
choose to go to the time slot by clicking the Go To button, or delete the
time slot by clicking the Delete button. (Deleting a time slot shortens
the duration of the video project accordingly.)
An example of
the trim window.
62 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
An example of a
cue placed in a
video scratch pad.
64 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Normal – this option allows you to trim or paste a clip only within the
available free clip slot. This option is best when there are few clips in
the timeline, or when you want to maintain the time positions and
content of any following clips.
Stitch – allows you to trim or paste a clip over another, trimming the
neighboring clip instead of overwriting it. This is useful if you want
merge two clips together, and need to see the frames of each clip in the
trim window. (If the two clips are not adjacent, you can only trim the
active clip to the duration of the clip slot.)
Push – allows you to move, trim or paste a clip into the position of a
neighboring clip, pushing the neighboring clip along the timeline.
Use this when you want to insert or adjust a clip without affecting the
duration of the neighboring clip.
Push Through – allows you to move, trim or paste a clip into the
position of a neighboring clip, pushing all clips along the timeline
accordingly. Use this when you want to insert a clip without affecting
spacing the duration of any clips in the timeline, such as when adding a
clip into the beginning of an almost completed video project.
66 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Performing a preview
Tip: A preview will Having defined the preview options, you are now ready to preview your
be created much video project. Do this by dragging your mouse over the preview bar to
quicker if you are
using proxy files. select the duration you want to preview. A blue line appears on the
preview bar indicating the selected area. (To deselect the preview area,
click on the preview bar with the right mouse button.) After selecting a
preview area, click on the preview button in the menu ribbon or choose
the View: Preview command. The video sequence appears in the
preview window displaying the saving progress. (If you are dissatisfied
with how the video looks, press the Esc button to discontinue.) Once
completed, the preview sequence automatically plays back. (If the
Create Preview Video File option in the View: Preview Options dialog
box is not checked, the video window closes immediately after
completing the preview.) Any preview files you create are stored in your
temp directory with a VE prefix followed by a creation number. (You can
specify the temp directory in the File: Preferences: Video Editor dialog
box.)
Notes:
• To create a specific preview area choose the Edit: Preview Area
command. This opens the Preview Area dialog box allowing you to enter
the in and out times of the preview area.
• If you wish to see a previously made preview file, or any other existing
video files, choose the View: Play Preview File command.
Creating a preview
area.
68 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Notes:
• If you do not drop a transition effect between two overlapping clips, the
transition effect adopts the default clip length specified in the File:
Preferences: Video Editor dialog box.
• If you drop a transition effect onto an existing transition effect, the new
effect replaces the old one.
3. In the Path group box, select the From A to B option. This merges the
clip in track A into the clip in track B. (When you want to move in the
opposite direction, select the From B to A option.) Depending on the
type of effect chosen, you can also choose to add a border as well as
smooth any edges by selecting an option in the Soft Edge combo box.
Certain effects also allow you to change the direction of the effect by
clicking on direction buttons or checking the Reverse checkbox.
4. In the Transition Range group box, specify the start and ending
positions of the effect. (By specifying equal values, apart from 0 and
100%, you can create a split screen effect, where one video plays
within the other.) To see how the effect looks on the actual video
clips, click on the actual image button. This replaces the sample
image with the images from the Va and Vb tracks, but does require
additional memory, and takes more time to display. (Move the slider
in the sample window to view the effect at different stages in the
sequence, or press the Animate button to play the entire sequence.)
5. Click OK. The settings are saved and the transition effect clip adjusts
accordingly.
Note: If you wish to prevent the Transition Effects Options dialog box from
opening when you drag a new transition effect into the timeline, uncheck
the Display Transition Effect Options Dialog Box checkbox in the File:
Preferences: Video Editor dialog box. You can edit the effect clip later by
choosing the Clip: Transition Effects command or by double-clicking on the
transition clip in the timeline.
Performing a peel
transition effect.
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Note: If you resize a clip, its contents are resampled accordingly. Depending
on the type of clip, this may produce degradation to image quality.
4. Click on the end control point, the clip box switches to the position
of the end control point, and drag the clip box to where you want the
clip to end its movement; the control line adjusts accordingly. To
view the path, click on the animate button in the control bar, click
again to stop. The control points and lines disappear, and the clip
box travels along the path from the start position to the end position.
If you want to view the sequence using the clip itself, click the actual
image button. (This does, however, take more time to generate and
will not move as smoothly as the sample clip.)
5. Click OK. The dialog box closes and a moving path icon appears on
the selected clip.
Notes:
• Clicking on the TV view button displays guidelines around the frame
box. Because of the different resolution of television screens, anything
appearing outside of these lines may not appear if the video is shown on
a television.
• To save a moving path for later use or editing, click on the Save button.
To load it back into the moving path dialog box, click on the Load
button.
Using a 2D basic
moving path to
scroll text over a
video.
VIDEO 75
In the 3D Sphere and Cylinder Moving Path dialog boxes, first drag the
start and end boxes to set the path – just like a 2D moving path (see
p.73). The Object Angles (in the Adjust combo box) control the rotation
of the clip on the surface of the sphere or cylinder, and can be entered
using the rotation dial, the plus/minus buttons, and the entry boxes.
The X and Y coordinates determine the placement of the sphere or
cylinder in reference to the center of the video window, whereas the
Angle and Y values (Angle 1, and Angle 2 in the 3D sphere dialog box)
rotates the sphere/cylinder vertically or horizontally into the third
dimension. You can also rotate or resize the sphere or cylinder with the
Rotate and Radius entry boxes.
Notes:
• It is important to remember that you are rotating the clip itself, not the
contents of the clip. You cannot, for example, rotate a frontal head shot
around to see the back of a person’s head.
• You can convert simple 3D moving paths to 2D simple and advanced
moving paths and vice-versa using the appropriate command from the
Clip: Convert Path to submenu. A 3D moving path converted to a 2D
moving path will lose the data regarding the third dimension. You
cannot convert 3D sphere or 3D cylinder moving paths.
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Using a 3D sphere
moving path to
move text over a
video.
4. Click OK. The dialog box closes and an overlay icon appears on the
selected clip.
Performing an
overlay effect to
play a video behind
an image.
Using mattes
Whenever you overlay a clip, you are basically covering, or revealing,
certain parts of the underlying clip. Because of this, the clip used as an
overlay is often referred to as a mask. When performing an overlay,
Video Editor also allows you to work on this mask by using image and
video mattes. These work much like masks, except that they are used to
cover or reveal certain parts of the overlay clip itself, instead of the
clip in the timeline, (masking the mask you could say). Mattes can
often be seen in music videos, where, for example, the silhouette of a
dancer appears over a background, and his/her body contains another
image or video.
VIDEO 79
4. Repeat the above step to add more filters. Filters are applied to the
clip in the order they appear in the Applied Filters list box.
(Therefore the effect of one filter may influence the result of filters
applied after it.) To change this order, select the filter and click on the
Up or Down buttons accordingly. To remove a filter, select it and click
on the Remove button. To remove all filters, click on the Remove All
button.
5. Click OK. The Filters dialog box closes and a filter icon is placed on
the selected clip.
Note: You can view all video filters by clicking on the display button in the
transition effects window. Dragging a filter onto a video or image clip
applies that filter, adding it to the end of any existing filters.
An example of
changing the
amplification of an
audio clip.
81
To tune Video Capture to a video source, click the video setup button in
the ribbon bar, or choose the Setup: Video Source command. The Video
Source dialog box opens. The options in this dialog box will differ
depending on your video capture board; there should be options,
however, that allow you to connect to a video channel and specify the
type of video source you have, as well as the television standard it
operates on. If you are unsure about these options, or how they work,
refer to the documentation accompanying your video capture board.
When you capture video in overlay mode, however, you will find the
result does not look as good or as smooth as you had originally seen it.
This is because the video is affected by the capabilities of your PC as it
passes through your PC’s system to be captured.
Capturing video
Having defined your video and audio source settings, you are now ready
to capture a video sequence. As video sequences tend to place a heavy
demand on your system resources, it is a good idea to check that any
other programs running in the background have been closed. It is also
best to regularly defragment your hard disk with a utility, such as
Speeddisk from Norton Utilities.
To specify the capture method, select the Auto or Manual options from
the Capture Method group box. Auto captures video automatically,
according to the specified time. If you want to control exactly which
frames are captured, select the Manual option. When you click OK, the
Manual Capture dialog box opens displaying two buttons, Next and
Cancel. Click Next to capture one frame; Cancel to end capturing.
Notes:
• Video sequences are captured with the current audio and video
characteristics. If you wish to change these, click on the Audio and Video
buttons (see p.84 and p.85 respectively).
• If you are in preview mode when you capture, the displayed video may
freeze. If this happens, select the Capture: Display When Capturing
command. This allows the video to continue displaying while capturing.
(This may, however, adversely affect the performance of your capture.)
Dropped frames
If your PC and video capture board have difficulty supporting a
specified frame rate, a dialog box appears after capturing detailing how
many frames were captured and of those, how many were “dropped”
frames. Dropped frames are frames that have been duplicated from the
previous frame because your system is not fast enough to capture the
correct frame at the specified frame rate. When frames are dropped,
try capturing again at a lower frame rate or reduce the size of frames
and the number of colors. Capturing audio tracks separately can also
improve the quality of your capture. (If the sequence only contains a
few frames, try using the Memory option as the destination in the
Capture: Video dialog box.)
If you want to capture several sequences from the same source, Video
Capture provides the Control: MCI Batch command. This opens the
MCI Setting dialog box which allows you to specify the filenames for
each capture as well as a task list indicating the respective starting and
end times of each capture. You can then save this task list for future use
or edit existing lists.
Note: If your video source is a video disc with a compatible MCI driver, you
can open and close the door by choosing the Control: Door Open/Close
command.
If you want to change the data transfer rate specified in the Target
Playback Drive combo box to more closely match the rate of the target
storage device, check the Data Transfer Rate and enter a new value.
To improve compression, check the Key Frame for Every checkbox and
enter a value. (This is disabled if you have not selected a compression
scheme.) For files whose image data remains fairly constant, select a
high key frame rate, (try half the frame rate). If the video sequence
contains a lot of motion and background changes then a low key frame
rate is better.
If you are saving to a CD, it is a good idea to check the Pad Frames for
CD-ROM checkbox as this makes your CD-ROM more efficient in
playback mode by standardizing the video data structure during the
saving process. Once you are satisfied with your settings, click OK to
return to the Save As dialog box.
When playing a video sequence, you can play the audio track, video
track or both. If playing the audio track, it is a good idea to set the
volume on your speakers to low as well as decrease the volume level of
the file with the Volume button in the status bar. (Pressing the up and
down direction keys increases or decreases the volume respectively.)
Notes:
• If a video file does not contain an audio track, the Audio and
Audio/Video options are disabled.
• You can also play an existing video file by choosing the File: Open
command. (If you are in Capture mode, you are immediately switched to
playback mode.)
93
The basics
All Windows programs provide some basic commands that have a lot in
common, and, if you are familiar with Windows, you will already know
how to use commands such as Open, New and Print. This section
describes the Image Editor Open, New, Print, Restore and Undo
commands highlighting, where necessary, any ways they differ from
other programs. To begin with, however, there is a section describing
how to calibrate your monitor – an important first step to displaying an
accurate view of the images you are working with.
IPGAMMA.TIF
6. Examine the IPGAMMA.TIF image and identify the gray square that
most closely matches the midtone gray of the background. Make a
note of the number to the left of this square.
Note: This number can be any value from 0.01 to 7.99. If none of the
squares exactly match, you should estimate the best match. In general,
your value should fall within the range 0.8 – 2.4, if not, try adjusting the
brightness and contrast controls on your monitor.
7. Choose “Display” from the File: Preferences submenu. The Display
dialog box opens.
8. Check the Monitor Gamma check box and enter the number from
step 5 into the Monitor Gamma entry box.
9. Click OK. The dialog box closes and you return to the workspace,
(depending on the value specified, your display may change).
Now, when you view the IPGAMMA.TIF file, the gray square
numbered 1.0 should most closely match the background.
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Duplicating images
Tip: Whenever you When working with images you often need to make a copy of the active
make a major image. This allows you to continue editing without any danger of losing
change to an image
that you want to a particular stage of your work. You can also retain copies to compare
retain, you should images at different stages of your editing, helping you see the effects of
save, or create a particular commands. When you create a duplicate image it opens in a
duplicate.
new untitled window that becomes the active window.
Instead of “Undo” at the top of the Edit menu, you may see:
• Redo... this appears after you have “undone” something, effectively
allowing you to undo the undo; in other words, redo the change.
• Can’t Undo is displayed when it is not possible to undo the last
action, e.g. after you have saved an image file.
• Undo Disabled means that the undo facility has been disabled in the
File: Preferences: Image Editor dialog box.
Restoring an image
When experimenting with a variety of effects on an image, you may
wish to undo each effect after you perform it. In such cases you can
restore the image to its original state by choosing the File: Restore
command. (This essentially closes the file and immediately reopens it.)
Before using this command, consider carefully because it cannot be
undone. If in doubt, create a duplicate image before restoring so that
you can compare the current stage of your work with the original.
IMAGING 99
Pasting as selection
Using the Edit: Paste: As Selection command places the clipboard
image at the top left corner of the current view. (You can freely move
the image by dragging on it with one of the selection tools.) If you want
to position the clipboard image at a specific point in the image prior to
pasting, use a selection tool to draw a selection area starting at the
point you want the data to be pasted. (The size of this selection area is
not important.) This time when you paste, the top left of the image
from the clipboard is pasted at the top left corner of the selection area.
Note: When you drag a selection between images, it is dropped pixel-on-
pixel. So, if your source and target images are at different zoom levels,
the selection may appear to be enlarged or reduced when it is dropped.
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Viewing images
Tip: The title bar of When you open an image in the Image Editor workspace, it appears,
an image window where possible, at actual size, (1×). If the image is too large, it is
displays the current
view. displayed at a lower magnification and scroll bars appear to either
the right and/or bottom of the image window. You can control the
magnification of an image by using either the zoom tool or the zoom
commands in the View menu. These allow you to zoom in up to 8× or
zoom out down to 1/8×.
Notes:
• To fit the entire image within its window, choose the View: Fit in
Window command. (The maximum zoom level available is determined by
the size of the image and the resolution of your current display mode.)
• To see only the image, choose the View: Full Screen command. This
displays the image at the current zoom level occupying the entire screen;
the program window, toolbar, status bar and color palette are all hidden.
The current editing tool and the Undo command (via the Ctrl + Z shortcut
key) remain available. To return to normal screen mode press the Esc key.
Image at actual
view (1×), enlarged
to 3× view and
reduced to 1/3×
view.
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Adding a view
After having zoomed in on an image, you might find it is often
difficult to appreciate how your editing affects the image as a whole.
The solution to this is to choose the View: Add a View command, this
creates a new “linked” window containing an additional view (at 1×)
of the image you are working on, therefore, any editing done in either of
the windows is reflected in the other.
Note: You can have up to eight views of an image displayed at any one
time.
Editing an image
(at 8× view) with a
view added
(at 1× view).
IMAGING 103
Using drag-and-drop
An advantage of working with a mouse is that you can easily move
images around the workspace as well as place them into other images
or programs. Performing such tasks is referred to as “drag-and-drop”.
Image Editor supports both standard and advanced drag-and-drop
operations, such as moving selection areas between images, or to the
open workspace or the object pool.
When you drag-and-drop a selection into another image, you have the
choice of moving the selection into the image, filling the image (holding
down the F key as you drop), or moving the selection marquee alone
(holding down the M key as you drop).
Note: When you drag a selection between images, it is dropped pixel-on-
pixel. So, if your source and target images are at different zoom levels, the
selection may appear to be enlarged or reduced when it is dropped.
Dragging a
selection from the
left (with the F key
held down) to “fill”
the selected area of
the image on the
right.
IMAGING 105
Dragging a
selection to the
object pool.
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Moving selections
When moving selections, an important consideration is the Preserve
Image Under Selection option in the File: Preferences: Image Editor
dialog box. If this option is checked, moving a selected area leaves the
original, underlying image unaffected. When it is unchecked, the space
left by the selection is filled with the background color. (This option
can be toggled by pressing the F5 key.)
Moving a selection
area with the
Preserve Image
Under Selection
option disabled
(image on the left)
and enabled
(image on the
right).
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In Fixed mode you can define the width and height (in pixels) of your
selection area. When you click on the image the selection area appears
at this size.
In Freehand mode, you drag the mouse over the area you want to
include in the selection. A further option, Draw From Center allows you
to determine if the selection area is defined from the center out or top
left corner.
Note: Depending on the tool selected, the tool’s dialog box also allows you
to define the selection area as a square or circle.
Using the
rectangular tool to
select a rectangular
area.
IMAGING 113
Dragging a
selection marquee
from the image on
the left (with the M
key held down) to
the image on the
right.
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Inverting a selection
When you wish to protect a particular area while working on the rest of
an image, select it and then choose the Edit: Select: Invert command.
This “flips” the selection area so that those areas originally selected are
now deselected and the unselected area is selected. This allows you to
work on the rest of the image with no danger of damaging the area you
want to protect.
Selecting the
woman (image on
the left) and then
inverting the
selection to select
the background.
Expanding a selection
As well as using the Shift key in conjunction with the selection tools to
select more of an image, you can expand selection areas with the Edit:
Select: Similar dialog box. This dialog box allows you to define a color
range and whether to expand the selection to include neighboring areas
of similar pixels or similar pixels from the entire image. This is most
useful when you have a complex image on a simple background and,
after selecting part of the background, you wish to expand it to include
the whole.
Expanding the
selection on the
left with the
Expand From
Current Selection
option enabled.
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Merging a floating
selection (25%
transparency) with
the underlying
image.
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To access the object pool, double-click on the object pool icon at the
bottom of the color palette. The object pool window opens. In this
window, stored selections are displayed as thumbnails and a ribbon,
at the top of the window, displays options buttons and the name of the
group of objects currently in view.
Note: The object pool is always on top of the Image Editor program
window and any image windows. To close the object pool double-click on
its title bar or choose the View: Options: Hide Object Pool command.
Notes:
• Selections are saved in the TIF file format in the directory specified at the
time the group was created. (The files are identified with an O prefix
followed by the letter I [image], K [image as mask], or M [mask], with a
creation number at the end.) You can choose to compress these files
when they are created by checking the Compress Objects option in the
Information dialog box, accessed by choosing the Information command
in the Disk menu.
• As the object pool uses the TIF file format, the TIF format must be one of
the available file formats (see p.25).
To create a group:
1. Double-click on the object pool icon. The object pool dialog box
opens.
2. Click on the disk button in the ribbon and choose “Create Group”.
The Create Group dialog box appears.
3. Type in a name for your group in the New Group Name entry box.
The name can be up to 10 characters long (do not type in an
extension). If you want to change the path and directory where the
group is saved, type in a new destination in the New Group Directory
entry box. (Group files are saved with the OPG file extension.)
4. Click OK. The dialog box closes and the newly created group appears
as the active group in the group combo box.
You can import object groups from a network by choosing the Import
Group command from the disk menu. (When you import a group, the
group file and objects remain in their original directories.) If you wish
to share your own object groups but want to make them read only,
click the lock button. Other users can still access your object groups but
cannot make any changes to your objects or groups. If a group from
another user is locked, the lock button in your object pool will be
depressed (you will not be able to unlock it).
Note: To delete groups or objects, choose the appropriate delete command
in the disk menu of the object pool dialog box. You can also delete objects
directly by selecting them and pressing the Del key.
IMAGING 121
Retrieving an object
Just as you create objects by dragging them into the object pool, you
can retrieve them by dragging them from the object pool into an image
window or the workspace. Dragging an object to the workspace creates
a new image window containing the object as a floating selection. You
can then edit the object just as you would any other image.
Editing masks
When you apply commands or tools to an image containing selection
areas, you will often get a hard edge along the border of the selection
area or produce too strong an effect. To avoid this, you can export the
selection area as a mask and edit the mask so that some areas are
partially selected, that is, commands only have a partial effect on these
areas, or you can create a soft edge.
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Transforming images
Whatever your reasons for editing images, it is essential to be able to
manipulate them to suit your intended purpose. Whether you are
preparing images for a publication and need to resize and crop them or
preparing images for display and need to convert them – Image Editor’s
manipulation commands will more than satisfy your needs.
This section deals with the commands that you use to crop, resize,
rotate and distort images.
Notes:
• If the Preserve Image Under Selection option is unchecked (in the File:
Preferences: Image Editor dialog box) sections of an image may be filled
with the background color after applying transformation commands.
(You can toggle this option by pressing the F5 key).
• If, in transforming a selection, you click on or drag anything other than a
handle, the handles will disappear. By choosing “Undo” you can undo
your last action, but this does not make the handles reappear.
Cropping an image
Tip: use Crop to Cropping is a way to trim the edges of an image and control the
remove those areas position and size of the subject in an image. This is particularly useful
of an image you
don’t want. when you have images that are too large to be displayed and contain
information around the edges that you wish to discard. It is important
to remember that when you crop an image the cropped portions
cannot be retrieved again, unless you immediately undo the Crop
command or restore the image.
To crop an image:
1. Select the area of the image you wish to retain.
2. Choose “Crop” from the Edit menu. The areas outside the selection
marquee are discarded.
Note: If you select a non-rectangular area, the image is cropped to the
smallest rectangle that can contain the selected area. Areas outside the
selected area are filled with the current background color.
IMAGING 125
Resizing images
You can resize images in three ways: by changing their resolution,
resampling them or resizing a selected portion of them. Changing the
resolution of images adjusts their size without changing the actual
image data and thereby retains original quality. Resampling an image
discards data when you reduce an image and creates new data when
you enlarge one. Resizing a selection area stretches or shrinks the
selection within the image.
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Resampling an image
When you open images, their size on screen is determined by your
screen resolution and the number of pixels they contain. The Resample
command allows you to adjust the number of these pixels in an image.
You will want to do this when:
• You are preparing images for display on your computer, e.g. in a slide
show, and wish to make them all display at the same size.
• You are preparing images for a publication and you wish to make
their file size smaller so that they take less time to import into, and
print from, your DTP or word processing program.
• You wish to stretch or squash an image.
IMAGING 127
To resample an image:
1. Select the image you want to resample.
2. Choose “Resample” from the Image menu. The Resample dialog box
appears containing information about the current width and height
of the image.
3. Check the Keep Aspect Ratio option to retain the proportions of the
image. Uncheck this option to independently change the width and
height of the image.
4. Enter the new width and height for the image. (If Keep Aspect Ratio
is checked, entering one value automatically adjusts the other value.)
5. Click OK. A new image window is created containing the image with
the new width and height specified.
Notes:
• Resampling up generates new data, thereby increasing the size of the
image file. Conversely, resampling down discards data and results in a
smaller file, but may reduce image quality.
• If you enter a new width and height of 100%, the image is duplicated.
Entering 200% doubles the (physical) size of the image and 50% halves
the size. This affects the output size of the image as well because the
resolution remains unchanged. Therefore, if you wish to reduce the size
of an image file and retain its physical size you must reduce its resolution
by a corresponding amount.
Flipping an image
The crop, resolution and resample commands all relate to the
manipulation of entire images. The Flip command is an example of a
command which can be applied to either an entire image or to a
selected part of an image. After “flipping” the image or selected area is
horizontally or vertically mirrored.
Rotating an image
The Effect: Rotate command allows you to rotate an entire image or
selected area in any direction and to any degree. Choosing the Rotate
command displays a submenu of commands, that when chosen, apply
an immediate effect, open a dialog box or place a line on the image:
• Left 90º (counterclockwise) – immediate effect.
• Right 90º (clockwise) – immediate effect.
• 180º – immediate effect.
• Freely allows you to define the rotation of a selected area by dragging
the corners of the area. (If there is no selection area this command is
disabled.) – immediate effect.
• Degree allows you to specify the angle and direction of the rotation
– opens a dialog box.
• by Horizontal line allows you to horizontally rotate an image to a
defined line. Use this if the image has a strong horizontal feature
– places a horizontal line with handles on the image.
• by Vertical line allows you to vertically rotate an image to a defined
line. Use this if the image has a strong vertical feature – places a
vertical line with handles on the image.
Note: If you rotate an image by anything other than 90º, 180º or 270º,
extra space is introduced around the image. This space is filled with the
background color.
Converting images
When working with images, it is often necessary or useful to change the
data type of an image, for example, from Grayscale to RGB True Color.
Your choice of data type directly relates to the image’s file size and
quality. By converting to a data type that supports more colors, you can
take advantage of the extra colors, but the image’s file size will increase.
Conversely, if you don’t require the number of colors supported by the
current data type, convert to one that makes your image file smaller.
For example, for black-and-white publications use Grayscale images,
not RGB True Color.
You convert an image by choosing a target data type from the Image:
Convert menu. (Some data types may not be available: these require
an intermediate conversion to Grayscale or RGB True Color.) After
choosing the target data type, the conversion is immediate or a dialog
box appears providing various dithering options, (see table below).
Note: Conversions do not change the original image but open a new,
untitled image window containing a copy of the image in the new data
type.
Conversion paths
Source format Can convert to: Options
between data
types. Black & White Grayscale
Grayscale Black & White
Indexed 16-Color
Indexed 256-Color
RGB True Color
Indexed 16-Color Grayscale
RGB True Color
Indexed 256-Color Grayscale
RGB True Color
RGB True Color Grayscale
Indexed 16-Color
Indexed 256-Color
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None – simply maps like colors to a single color. If converting from True
Color to Indexed Color, Image Editor uses the color in the table that is
closest to the color in question. If converting from Grayscale to Black
& White, lighter grays are converted to white, darker grays to black.
Palette allows you to select the colors to be included in the new image’s
color palette. Standard uses the system’s default 16-color palette,
containing the 16 colors available on a standard VGA display. This
option is most useful when you transfer images to other Windows
programs or prepare them for use in a help file. The Optimized option
creates a color palette that is the closest adaptation of the colors used in
the image. In most cases this option gives the best conversion.
3-3-2 (bits) uses the system’s default 256-color (8-bit) palette, based on
a combination of eight (3-bit) reds, eight (3-bit) greens, and four (2-bit)
blues. 6-7-6 (levels) uses a palette that offers six levels (shades) of red,
seven levels of green, and six levels of blue. This is the standard palette
used by ZSoft Paintbrush IV Plus. 6-6-6 (levels) gives the most balanced
use of palette color. This palette offers six levels (shades) of red, six
levels of green, and six levels of blue. This is the standard palette used
by the Apple Macintosh computer. Optimized creates a palette that
matches the range of colors used in the image as closely as possible and
as such normally produces the best results.
Notes:
• To preview an RGB True Color image on a 256-color display, select the
Optimized Palette and Diffusion Dither options. This provides the best
possible results. (Make sure the View Images With a Common Palette
option in the File: Preferences: Display dialog box is not checked.)
• To transfer an Indexed 256-Color image to another program, you should
use the palette option supported by that program.
137
Chapter 8: Painting
Image Editor’s painting tools enable you to easily
“touch-up” and enhance any kind of image. The painting
tools themselves present a variety of functions from the
advanced magic lamp and clone tool to more common tools
like the paintbrush, eraser and text tool. This chapter
introduces these painting tools, and begins by describing
how to select and work with colors in Image Editor.
138 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Choosing colors
The most important part of painting is choosing the right color. Image
Editor provides a number of ways to help you get this right and gives
you maximum freedom in your choice of how to display and select
colors. The most obvious means of doing this is with the color palette.
Of the available colors in an image, two are active at any given time.
These two colors, referred to as the foreground and background color,
are displayed in the color squares just below the color area in the color
palette. The foreground color is in the front, slightly lower and to the
right of the background color.
To change the color contained in a cell, click on the cell. The Select
Color dialog box appears. Once you have chosen the new color,
click OK. The new color is inserted into the color table. To return to the
image, click OK in the Select Color dialog box, the new color table is
stored and the image now reflects any changes made.
Note: Use this command to globally change a single color in an image, for
example, all occurrences of white to black.
Color table of an
Indexed 16-Color
image (on the left)
and an Indexed
256-Color image
(on the right).
Clipboard Data fills the area with image data from the clipboard. If the
area is larger than the contents of the clipboard, the data is tiled to fill
the area. If the area is smaller, the clipboard image is cropped. Checking
the Start From Selection option places the clipboard image’s top left
corner at the top left corner of the selected area (or top left corner of
the bounding box of a non-rectangular selection area). When
unchecked, or when there is no selection, the first copy of the clipboard
image is pasted in the top left corner of the active image; subsequent
copies are tiled to the right and below it, until the image or selected
area is filled. (If you are filling several areas in an image and you want
the clipboard images to align, do not check this option.)
Note: To put a large clipboard image into a small area and be able to
choose which part appears in the image, use the Edit: Paste Into Selection
command (see p.100).
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Sample gradient
fills, from left:
Linear, Rectangular,
Elliptical.
Most of the tools provide options that you can check or change by
double-clicking on their icons in the tool bar. Of the seven painting
tools three, the paintbrush, airbrush, and line tool, provide the same
options, while the magic lamp, clone, eraser and text tool provide their
own unique options. This section describes the characteristics of each.
Note: If you have created a selection area, the tools are only applied to the
area within the selection. Use selection areas in this way to restrict the parts
of the image to which enhancements are applied, protecting the rest of the
image from inadvertent changes.
Examples of magic
lamp effects.
Tip: To replace a The Factor combo box allows you to choose the color components that
color but keep its are applied to the active image.
texture, check the
Hue and Saturation • HSB replaces any parts of an image, to which you apply the painting
option. tool, with the applied color.
• Hue and Saturation replaces the hue and saturation of pixels with
those of the applied color but retains their brightness. For example,
if you convert a Grayscale image to RGB True Color, you can use this
option to colorize areas of the image.
• Hue only changes the hue of pixels to the hue of the foreground
color. Use this to change the color of areas in color images.
The Soft Edge option blends the edges of painted areas with the original
image by feathering them.
Note: This dialog box can only be accessed if the active image is Grayscale
or RGB True Color.
Cloning an image.
148 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Painting without a
soft edge (image
on the left) and
with a soft edge
(image on the
right).
To draw a line, click on the point at which you want the line to start and
drag to the point where you want it to end and release the button.
Pressing the Shift key while drawing a line constrains it to an angle of
0º, 45º, or 90º. Double-clicking on the line icon opens the Line dialog
box, with the same options as the Paintbrush dialog box, (see p.146).
IMAGING 149
Painting a straight
line.
Erasing colors
The eraser tool replaces areas of an image with the current background
color. You can choose to replace all the colors that the tool passes over
with the background color or just replace the foreground color only.
(Use the left mouse button to erase, if you use the right button there is
no effect.)
To add text:
1. Click on the text tool icon.
2. Click on the area in the image where you want your text to start.
The Text dialog box appears.
3. Enter the text to insert in the Text entry box at the top of the dialog
box. The amount of text entered is limited by the size of the entry
box. To start a new line press Ctrl + M (or Ctrl + Enter).
4. Select the size and style for the text. Set shadow and color effects
as desired.
5. Click OK. The dialog box closes and the text appears on the image as
a floating selection filled with the selected color. The mouse pointer
also changes to the rectangular selection tool to allow you to
reposition the text.
6. To combine the text with the image choose “None” from the Edit:
Select menu.
Note: Anti-aliasing is only available for True Color and Grayscale images.
Adding text to an
image.
151
When you view the graph, a default mapping curve (line) bisects the
graph on the diagonal. This indicates that for each “input” value the
“output” value is the same (i.e. y=x). By altering this curve you can
change the color values of pixels as follows:
IMAGING 153
Normal mapping
curve (y=x) and
image.
New mapping
curve (y=2x) and
image. All gray
values over 128
become white.
New mapping
curve (y=+x) and
image. All values
are mapped onto
the range from
black to mid-gray
(128).
Notes:
• Adjusting these options affects the color values of all pixels in an image
or selected area.
• You can change only the brightness and contrast of an image by
choosing the Image: Brightness & Contrast command. Alternatively, to
change only the hue and saturation of an image, choose the Image: Hue
& Saturation command.
The graph in the Tone Adjustment dialog box displays an added feature:
the histogram. This chart graphically represents the distribution of
color values within an image. The number of pixels with a particular
color is indicated by the vertical “y” axis. As all colors in the image are
shown within this graph, the distribution of some may be less apparent
than others, e.g., light pixels in a dark image or vice versa. In such cases
increase the Histogram Scale Factor to magnify those color values with
fewer pixels. (This only affects the display of the histogram.)
Sometimes when you access the Tone Adjustment dialog box, you will
see the Auto button enabled. This indicates the image has no black
(x=0, y=0) and/or white (x=255, y=255) pixels. In such cases clicking the
Auto button redraws the mapping curve to map the original values onto
the complete range of colors from black to white. This improves the
contrast in an image and is recommended (for most images) before you
start adjusting any color values.
Note: If you have selected an area of the image, only the area within the
selection is affected.
Sample histogram.
IMAGING 155
When you display the Tone Mapper dialog box you only see a graph and
mapping curve. You can adjust this curve directly by dragging your
mouse over the graph or by selecting a predefined enhancement using
the Enhance Button.
Note: Each time you select an enhancement option the enhancement is
applied to the default curve (i.e. x=0 y=0). To apply different enhancements
sequentially check the Accumulatively option. This applies each
enhancement to the existing curve.
After adjusting the mapping curve you may feel the curve is not
“smooth” enough – simply click on the Smooth button and it smooths
out automatically. You can also use the Smooth button to reduce the
effect of a new tone curve as it makes the curve tend towards the
default.
You may have noticed that the color value graph includes a 5+5 grid
pattern. Each square block within that grid represents a possible 51
consecutive color values (on a scale from 0 to 255). If you want to edit
only those values within a block or you wish to have more restrictions
on your adjustments click on the Show Control Points option. This
places handles at each point where the mapping curve intersects the
grid. After adjusting the control points you can apply other enhance-
ments or smooth the curve, but the control points will disappear.
Note: Points to remember: the left area represents darker pixels; the right
lighter. Raising the curve lightens color values; lowering the curve darkens
color values.
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Inverting colors
The Invert command reverses the colors in an image. If your image has
shades of black, they are inverted to reflect shades of white. For color
images each pixel changes to its complementary color, for example,
blue changes to yellow.
Blurring images
The Blur command allows you to reduce the contrast of pixel values in
an image to create a softer image. Images can be blurred in three ways:
Slightly, More, and Heavily. To blur an image more selectively, use the
magic lamp blur option. This has the same effect as the Blur commands
except that you perform the operation on a small area rather than the
entire image or selected area.
Sharpening images
The Sharpen command increases the contrast between light and dark
pixels in an image. This is essentially the opposite of blurring an image.
Images can be sharpened in three ways: Slightly, More, and Strongly.
To sharpen an image more selectively, use the magic lamp sharpen
option. This has the same effect as the Sharpen commands except that
you perform the operation on a small area rather than the entire image
or selected area.
Warping an image
Warping is a method of distorting a Grayscale or RGB True Color image
using a grid (or mesh) based pattern. This grid is visible on a sample
image that appears in the Warping dialog box, accessed by choosing the
Warping command. In this dialog box you can define the size of the grid
squares, quality of the warp and whether or not to show the control
points that appear at grid intersections.
Custom Filter
Many of the effects provided by Image Editor work by regenerating a
pixel value based on its original value and the value of its surrounding
pixels. The Custom Filter command allows you to create your own
effects in a similar way using a 5 by 5 pixel matrix.
Acquiring an image
To accesses the software driver for the device selected in the Select
Source dialog box, choose the File: Acquire command. This opens a
dialog box which varies according to the image input device you have
installed.
Note: If you select the Acquire command and you do not have a TWAIN
device installed, you will see an error message. If you do have a
TWAIN device, but it is incorrectly installed, a dialog box appears containing
installation options.
With both “Tile Two Images” and “Stitch” you choose an image and the
position to place it relative to the active image. The major difference
between the two commands is that “Tile Two Images” joins images with
a specific distance between them while “Stitch” provides multiple
options and controls for both manual and automatic joining.
IMAGING 167
Use “Tile Two Images” to create special effects or to join two images
when the joint is not critical. Special effects can include placing the
same image against itself or by joining a flipped version of an image to
the original to create a mirrored effect. “Stitch” is the command of
choice where pixel-level control and seamless joining is important.
Note: You can only join images that share the same data type and are
either Grayscale or RGB True Color. To join images of other data types, first
convert them to Grayscale or RGB True Color.
Stitching images
The Edit: Stitch command opens the Stitch dialog box. This dialog box
is similar to the Tile Two Images dialog box except that it does not have
the Distance and Transparency entry boxes; the OK button is also
replaced by a Place button.
Clicking on the Place button puts Image Editor into “Stitch” mode. In
this mode, the Image Editor workspace is cleared leaving only the two
images to be stitched. The normal Image Editor menus are replaced by
special Stitch menus. In Stitch mode you can use the following options:
• Set auto-stitching parameters and make Image Editor automatically
match and align the floating image on the active image.
• Drag the floating image until it matches with the active image.
• Define a reference point in each image, by holding shift down and
clicking first in one and then in the other, Image Editor then aligns
the images on these points.
• Select “Auto Fine Tune” in the Option menu to aid in manual
stitching.
• Set the transparency of the floating image to aid manual stitching
and to define how images are combined in the overlap area.
IMAGING 169
Action menu
Auto Stitch... choosing this command opens the Auto Stitch dialog box.
At the same time a horizontal or vertical line appears on the active
image. This line represents the approximate position to which the
floating image should overlap. This line is moved by dragging the
Overlap Range slider.
Note: If the overlap is too small (less than thirty pixels), the chance of a
successful match is greatly reduced.
Done stitches the two images together. The Image Editor window
reappears as it was before stitching with an additional window
containing the newly stitched image. (Double-clicking on the
non-active image has the same effect.)
Note: If you try to exit Stitch mode by selecting “Close” from the control
menu, a message, “Please complete the Image Editor operation first”,
appears. Click OK and, if you don’t want to continue stitching, select
“Quit” from the Action menu.
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View menu
Actual view returns the view of the images to the normal (1×) view
where each image pixel is shown by one screen pixel. If you are already
at actual view, this command has no effect.
Zoom In and Zoom Out change the view of the images one step at a
time. Use these commands if you want to view a magnified or reduced
portion of the images to enable you to stitch more accurately.
Option menu
Auto fine tune automatically fine-tunes the position of the floating
image immediately after you have moved it by dragging or by defining
matching points. To be successful the floating image must be placed
fairly close to its final destination (within thirty pixels either way).
This option usually achieves the best result with the least amount of
effort.
Note: When you choose the Auto Fine Tune command, a tick appears to the
left of the command, thus enabling it. Choosing the command again
deselects it.
IMAGING 171
Legend:
Video Editor VE
Image Editor IE
MediaStudio Pro PRO
Diffraction to Highlight
Puzzle to Tile
• Appendix B – techniques
This appendix presents some creative techniques commonly
used in video and imaging, and explains how you can
perform them using the MediaStudio VE programs.
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Creating a zoom
effect using a
moving path.
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Creating a motion
effect by morphing
the position of
clouds.
APPENDICES 183
Overlaying clips
This technique demonstrates how to overlay a clip so that a background
video or image clip shows through. You will learn how to select a key
color, and control the transparency of the overlay clip to create a
fade-in effect. Before you start, ensure that the clip you want to overlay
is positioned in one of the video overlay tracks and is overlapping a
video or image clip in a lower numbered video track.
1. In a video overlay track, click on the clip you want to overlay.
2. Click on the overlay button in the ribbon. The Overlay Options dialog
box opens displaying a sam ple ofthe clip in the Overlay Clip and
Overlay Preview group boxes.
3. Move to the Overlay Clip group box and click on the color you want
to make transparent (the key color). The background clip is now
displayed in the Overlay Preview group box wherever the key color
appears. If not enough of the background clip is displayed, move the
Start slider in the Similarity group box to increase the range of colors
used for the key.
4. Move to the Transparency group box and drag the control point on
the far right (the end) to 100%. Notice how the clip in the Overlay
Preview group box jumps to the last frame and the entire overlay
clip is now transparent. (This will fade the overlay clip out as the
sequence plays.)
5. Click on the animate button in the Overlay Preview group box. The
clip now plays. With about 1 second to go before it reaches the last
frame, click again on the animate button to stop it.
6. Click anywhere on the blue line in the Transparency group box. An
additional control point is created. Drag this control point down to
0%. Now when you play the sequence, the overlay clip will gradually
fade out with 1 second to go to reveal the entire background clip.
7. Click OK. The dialog box closes and the overlay is applied to the clip.
Performing an
overlay with a
transparency
option.
184 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
3. Select the text font, style, and size. If it is not already checked, check
the Anti-Aliasing option. This will yield smoother, higher-quality text
without the “jaggies”.
4. Click OK. The text now appears as a selection area on the image. You
can freely reposition the text anywhere on the image. (If you are not
pleased with the size or font, remove the text by pressing the F3
shortcut key and try again.)
5. Choose “Merge Control” from the right mouse button pop-up menu.
In the dialog box that opens, drag the Transparency slider to 40%.
This makes the background shadow 40% transparent. Click OK. The
dialog box closes and the text is merged with the background image.
6. Choose “Free Resize” from the Effect menu. Handles appear around
the selection area which you can move to stretch the text. To make
the text longer while retaining the original width, drag the handle in
the middle of the top line upwards.
7. Choose “Slant” from the Effect menu. Handles appear around the
selection area which allow you to slant the text. Drag either of the top
corner handles to the left or right. This makes the text appear to fall
to the side.
8. In the color palette, choose black as the foreground color, and white
as the background color. Next choose “Fill” from the Edit menu. In
the dialog box that opens, select the Foreground to Background
Color option, and, if it is not checked, the Linear option in the
Gradient Fill Style group box. Click OK. The dialog box closes.
Move to the top of the text selection and drag the pointer downwards
to create the fill. You can freely experiment with different gradients as
well as colors until you create one you are satisfied with.
9. Select the text tool again and click on the image. The Text dialog
box reopens. In the Color combo box, change the Text color to
Foreground and click OK. To finish, position the new text at the foot
of the shadow, then deselect the text.
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• Glossary
This glossary contains concepts and terms used throughout
this manual as well as those related to multimedia. Some
entries reflect more commonly used terms, and may already
be familiar to you, while others may be less common or new.
To help guide you, there is also an alphabetic listing at the
top of each page detailing the first and last entries.
188 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Alpha channel
An 8-bit data channel used by some imaging programs to identify
portions of images for use with filters and special effects.
Analog
Generally used as the opposite of “digital”. Any data storage method
that does not use computers, or cannot be read directly by computers.
(See also: Digital)
Anti-aliasing
A method of smoothing jagged edges in bitmapped images. This is
accomplished by blending the edges with pixels similar in color to the
background, thus making the transition less apparent.
(See also: Aliasing)
Aspect ratio
The relationship of width to height in an image or graphic. Keeping the
aspect ratio means that changing either value automatically changes the
other accordingly.
Bit
The smallest element of a computer’s memory. Bits are used to record
such information as the color of pixels in an image. The following table
shows the relationship between bits and allowable colors in an image:
1-bit: each pixel can be either black or white.
8-bits: each pixel can be any one of 256 colors or gray shades.
16-bits: each pixel can be any one of 65,536 colors.
24-bits: each pixel can be any one of 16.7 million colors.
GLOSSARY 189
Brightness
A description of how light an image appears; also referred to as
luminance. The two extremes of brightness are black and white: black
represents 0% brightness, while white represents 100% brightness.
(See also: Color model, HSB)
Channel
One of the components in that make up a color model. For example,
the HSB color model is comprised of hue, saturation, and brightness
channels. Stereo audio files also use channels to identify sound
destined for the left or right speaker. (See also: Color model)
Chrominance
Used in the HSB color model to represent the combined hue and
saturation values of a color. (See also: Color model, HSB, Hue, Saturation)
Clip
Any representation of a file, or other data, placed into a video timeline
for editing.
Clipboard
A temporary storage area shared by all Windows programs used to hold
data during cut, copy and paste operations. Any new data placed onto
the clipboard immediately replaces the existing data.
190 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Cloning to Cloning
Compression
Replicating part of an image within the same image, or between
different images.
CMYK
A color model used primarily in printing in which each color consists
of varying degrees of the colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
(See also: Color model)
Color model
A set of mathematical values used by computers to represent colors.
While several color models exist, the most common models used with
computers are the CMYK, HSB, and RGB color models.
(See also: CMYK, HSB, RGB)
Complementary color
The corresponding opposite color of any given color. For example,
cyan, magenta and yellow are complementary colors of red, green and
blue. Mixing a color with its complementary color produces white.
Composite image
An image made by combining two or more images in an image editing
program. In morphing, “composite image” refers to the combination of
a start and end image, showing the morphing process at a given stage.
(See also: Morphing)
Compression
Any method used to reduce file size. There are two general categories of
compression: “lossless” and “lossy”. Lossless compression reduces file
size without any loss of data. Lossy compression, on the other hand,
discards data during compression, and may result in noticeable file
degradation. Ulead programs support both types of compression,
depending on the file format. (See Also: JPEG, LZW, RLE)
GLOSSARY 191
Control line
A line connecting two control points when creating or editing the path
that an animated sequence will take (for example, a video moving
path). (See also: Control point)
Control point
Points used while editing effects or animations to specify start, interme-
diate, or end locations or values.
Data type
A digital representation used by computers to describe the amount of
color information (in bits) contained in an image. Ulead programs read
and write to the following types: Black & White, Grayscale, Indexed 16
and 256-Color, RGB True Color and CMYK True Color.
Dialog box
Any box provided by a software application to allow user input.
Dialog boxes generally include OK and Cancel buttons, along with
other variables.
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Dithering
Methods used to make images appear to contain more colors than
are supported by their data type, most notably used for simulating
near-continuous changes in tone (gray shades) in black and white
images. Dithering works by arranging pixels of different colors close
together, either randomly or in patterns.
File format
Mathematical values used by computers to describe a file’s type. Image,
audio, and text data, for example, are all saved in different file formats.
Filter
Special effects that change the color values of pixels in an image, but not
their location. For example, a Sharpen filter increases contrast between
adjacent pixels, while a Blur filter lowers contrast.
GLOSSARY 193
Frame rate
The number of frames captured or displayed per second in video and
animation sequences. (See also: Frame)
Frame size
The size of displayed images in video or animation sequences. If an
image intended for the sequence is larger or smaller than the current
frame size, it must be resized. (See also: Frame)
Graphics file
A file whose data is composed largely of vector graphics. Vector graphics
do not have a basic component, like a pixel, but are defined as lines
between points, and fills between lines. (See also: Vector)
Grayscale
An image data type containing a maximum of 256 allowable grays: 254
shades of gray plus black and white, or 256 “grays” in all.
(See also: Data type)
Halftoning
A common form of dithering that uses patterns of black and white pixels
to produce what appears to be shades of gray. (See also: Dithering)
HiColor
A 16-bit image data type that can contain up to 65,536 colors. The TGA
file format supports images of this type.
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HSB to HSB
Lossey compression
A color model that uses hue (the basic color), saturation (the purity of a
color), and brightness (the amount of light the color appears to emit) to
describe color. (See also Brightness, Color model, Hue, Saturation)
Hue
A description of color differentiating from red, green, blue, etc. The HSB
color model measures 360 degrees of hue starting from red.
Image
A digital picture shown as a collection of dots, or pixels, arranged on a
page or screen.
Indexed Color
A color model that includes a set, or index, of unique values assigned to
each color or shade in an image. This index information can be stored
in 4 bits (16 colors), or 8 bits (256 colors).
Jaggies
Characteristic jagged edges that appear around the edges of bitmapped
objects and text; also called “aliasing”. (See also: Anti-aliasing)
Key color
A color or range of colors in an image made transparent during an
overlay effect to allow another image to show through. (See also: Over-
lay)
Lossless compression
A type of compression scheme that reduces file size without loss of data.
(See also: Compression)
Lossy compression
A type of compression scheme that discards data during compression,
resulting in slight file degradation. (See also: Compression)
GLOSSARY 195
LZW compression
A popular lossless compression scheme often used for image data.
(See also: Compression)
Marquee
The animated border that appears around a selected area when a
selection is made or a mask is applied.
Mask
A selection area used to isolate a portion of an image while editing.
By using a mask, you can protect parts of an image from unwanted
changes.
Matte
An image or video file used as a stencil in overlay effects to isolate a
region in which other image files may appear through.
Overlay
The process of rendering part of one image transparent to allow a
second image to appear through this transparent area.
(See also: Key color)
Pixel
The smallest unit in an image, sometimes referred to as “dots”.
Computer images are made up of rows of pixels, each of which can be a
different color. You normally do not see individual pixels, but rather
collections of pixels combined into images.
Prime colors
The colors that are the basis of the RGB color model: red, green, and
blue. By varying how these colors are blended, it is possible to create
any other color.
Proxy file
A low-resolution copy of a video or image file that reduces system
demands while performing previews of your video project.
Raster
(see Bitmap)
GLOSSARY 197
Saturation
The degree of purity of a color. A color with high saturation appears
very intense and strong; a color with low saturation appears washed-
out. (See also: HSB color model)
Selection marquee
(See Marquee)
Time code
A time value that identifies the position of a clip in a video sequence
with respect to a starting point, usually the beginning of the video
project (in a digital format) or source tape (in an analog format). Its
standard form is Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames.
True Color
A graphics file format containing 24 bits of color information, yielding
16.7 million possible colors, or photographic quality. (See also: File
format)
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VISCA
A standard protocol used to control external video sources from a
computer.
Warping
A method of distorting an image by moving control points on a grid
from their original positions to a new position, thus causing distortion
in the im age. (See also: Control point)
199
• Index
The index is a vital part of this user guide, as it provides
a quick and easy reference to the commands, tools and
features of MediaStudio VE.
200 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
A
Acquiring images 165 Clipboard, using 43
Adding a view 102 Clips
Animation files, creating 49 associating 40
color 46
Apple QuickTime (QTM) format 32
displaying 47
Associating clips 40
inserting 44
Audio
relinking 39
files, creating 52
selecting 56
filters 79
silence 46
output 85
splitting 44
Auto capturing 86 title 72
AVI uniting 44
file format 31 zooming 48
files, creating 49 Cloning images 147
CMYK color model 28
B
Color
Background information 27
adjusting 152
Batch manager 106 background information 32
Blurring images 158 erasing 149
Brushes 144 filling an area 141
inverting 156
C optimizing 157
Calibrating your monitor 94 selecting with the eyedropper tool 138
Capture mode 82 Color clips 46
Capturing Color models 32
color palettes 91 Color palettes 138
single frames 90 background information 30
video sequences 86 capturing 91
Changing direction in a moving path 76 copying 92
Changing speed in a moving path 77 editing 140
Clipboard submenu 100 loading/saving 140
pasting 92
INDEX 201
D
Compression Data types
image 35 background information 33
video 31 Display, improving 84
Connecting to a video source 82 Displaying
Converting clips 47
Black & White to Grayscale 134 video 84
Grayscale to Black & White 135 Distorting selection areas 132
Grayscale to Indexed 16-Color 135
Dithering 134
images 133
Drag-and-drop
RGB True Color to Indexed
16-Color 135 between image windows 104
RGB True Color to Indexed between tracks 43
256-Color 136 to the object pool 105
Copying color palettes 92 to the workspace 105
Creating Dropped frames 87
audio files 52 Duplicating images 96
EDLs 53 Duration, adjusting
image sequences 51 using the clip selection tool 60
moving paths 75 using the scissors tool 61
new images 96 using the scratch pad 62
RAM drive 30 using the trim window 61
title clips 72
video files 49 E
Cropping images 124 EDL files, creating 53
Cues, using 58 Erasing colors 149
Cut and copy Expanding clips 44
Video Editor 43 Exporting files 164
Image Editor 99
Eyedropper tool 138
202 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
F
Files duplicating 96
animation 49 editing color palettes 140
AVI 49 filling with color 141
creating 49 flipping 128
exporting 164 optimizing color 157
importing 164 resampling 126
QuickTime movies 49 resizing 125
Filling an area with color 141 rotating 129
Filters, audio and video 79 rotating by horizontal/vertical line 130
scanning 163
FLI/FLC/FLX file formats 32
tone adjustments 155
Flipping images 128
Importing files 164
G Improving video display 84
Global viewer 103 Inserting
clips 44
H default clips 46
Help, accessing 15 project files 39
HSB color model 33 Installing MediaStudio 21
Interleaving 31
I Inverting colors 156
Image Editor program 93
Image sequences, creating 51 L
Images Locating
acquiring 165 clips 59
adding text 150 empty time slots 60
adjusting color 152 specific clips 59
adjusting tones 153 specific times 59
background information 32
changing resolution 126
cloning 147
converting 133
cropping 124
INDEX 203
M P
Magic lamp tool 145 Paintbrush tool 146
Manual capturing 86 Pasting
Mapping curves 152 as selection 99
Masks attributes 44
editing 121 color palettes 92
saving to object pool 122 into selection 100
MCI devices, using 87 Placing cues 58
Memory, managing 40 Playback mode 82
Monitor, calibrating 94 Playing video files 92
Moving paths Post processing after scanning 166
2D advanced 75 Posting timecodes 54
2D basic 73 Preferences commands 24
3D 75 Preview mode 83
3D cylinder 75 Previews
3D sphere 75 on the fly 68
changing direction/speed 76 options 66
changing reference of the performing 67
clip box 76
Printing 97
N to video tape 52
New images 96 Program window, resizing 84
Project files, inserting 39
O Proxy Files
Object pool 118 creating 42
groups 119 managing 43
retrieving objects 121
saving masks 122
saving selections 118
On the fly previews 68
Opening
image files 96
video projects 39
Overlay
effects 77
mode 83
204 MEDIASTUDIO VE USER GUIDE
Q
Quick command palette 41 Searching for unlinked clips 39
QuickTime movie files, creating 49 Selecting
brushes 144
R clips 56
RAM drive, creating 30 color 138
Recovering from mistakes 98 time periods 56
Relinking clips 39 Selection areas
Replacing default clips 46 adding/subtracting to 114
borders 116
Resampling images 126
creating 110
Resizing
distorting 132
images 125
expanding with Similar command 115
program window 84
inverting 114
selection areas 127
irregular shaped 111
Resolution, changing 126 merging 116
Restoring images 98 moving 109
RGB color model 33 resizing 127
Rotating saving to file 119
by horizontal/vertical line 130 saving to object pool 118
images 129 similar colors 110
Ruler Unit 48 slanting 131
square and circular 112
S Selection marquee 108
Saving moving 113
animation files 49 Sharpening images 159
audio files 52 Silence clips 46
image sequences 51 Slanting selection areas 131
masks to object pool 122
Special effects 158
quicktime files 49
Splitting clips 44
selection areas to file 119
selection areas to object pool 118 Stitch mode 169
video projects 49 Stitching images 168
video files 49 Switch menu 24
Scanning images 163
Scratch pad
creating selections in 64
placing cues in 63
playing clips in 62
running 62
using 62
INDEX 205
T W
Targa (TGA) file format 36 Wallpaper, changing 162
Text, adding to images 150
Z
Tiling images 167
Time periods, selecting 56 Zooming 48, 102
Title clips, creating 72
Tone mapper curves 155
Tones, adjusting 153
Transition effects 70
Trim options 65
TWAIN 165
U
Undoing mistakes 98
Uniting clips 44
V
Video Capture program 81
Video Editor program 37
Video files, playing 92
Video filters 79
Video projects, opening 39
Viewing
adding a window 102
clips 47
display mode 47
global viewer 103
images 101
overlay mode 83
preview mode 83
while stitching 170