The Videos section
This is where the editing process really begins – in the Videos section of the Album with your captured raw footage and other video source materials. In a typical production, your first step will probably be to drag some scenes from the Album down into the Movie Window.
In the Album, scenes are displayed in the order in which they occur in the video. This order cannot be changed, since it is determined by the underlying file, but scenes can be added to your movie in any order you choose. Similarly, while you can’t trim (edit) Album scenes themselves, you can use any desired portion of a scene when it appears as a clip in your movie.
Files mode and Scenes mode
Choosing a particular video scene to use in a movie is a two-step process. First, you must select the video file containing the required scene by browsing for it on a storage device – usually a hard drive – attached to your system. Second, you choose the scene you want from amongst those the selected file contains.
To browse for a video file in the Videos section of the Album, select the Files radio button.
Browse folders and video files on your computer by selecting Files mode in the Videos section of the Album. Double-click a video file or select the Scenes radio button to switch into Scenes mode.
Both the Files and Scenes modes support multiple view options that let you tailor the display to your needs by showing more or less information about each Album item.
Studio provides several methods of accessing these view options:
· Through commands on the View menu.
· Through the Album’s right-button context menu.
· Through the pop-up menu button that appears when you click the View button.
In Files mode, the Videos section supports three views at varying levels of detail: Œ Icon view, Details view and Ž Thumbnail view.
The two view options available in Scenes mode are: ΠThumbnail view and Comment view.
The Videos section offers several special interface features:
· Scenes that have been added to the Movie Window are distinguished in the Album by a checkmark in the top right corner of the scene icon. The checkmark remains as long as any clip in the Movie Window originates with that scene. A colored background square in the same corner of the icon indicates that it has been explicitly added to the Project Bin. Both indicators can occur together (see below).
· To see how a particular Album scene is used in your current project, use the Album Ø Find Scene in Project menu command. Studio highlights any clips in the Movie Window that originate in the selected scene (or scenes). To go the other way, use the Find Scene in Album command, which is on the right-click menu for Movie Window clips.
The symbol in the top-right corner of an icon in the Album or the Project Bin reveals its status: Œ unused (no symbol); used in project; Ž added to Bin; both used in project and added to Bin.
Nearly all menu commands that apply to scenes are available both on the main Album menu, and on the pop-up menu that appears when you right-click a selected scene. When this documentation calls for a menu command like Album Ø Combine Scenes, remember that an equivalent command is usually available on the pop-up “context” menu as well. Many commands are also available in the Project Bin.
Because of its central role, the Videos section of the Album provides an extensive set of operations. These are covered in the following t
opics:
ð Displaying scene and file information