Expanding Studio
One way to add pizzazz to your productions is to use a variety of video and audio filters, animated transitions, titles, VCD and DVD menus, themes and sound effects.
Studio includes an extensive selection of hundreds of content items and special effects, but it’s also designed to grow along with your needs. When you want a particular filter, transition, menu or effect that isn’t part of the basic set, an easy-to-use upgrade mechanism lets you find, purchase and install the materials you need without even leaving the program.
New tools, new media, new frontiers
You can purchase additional media and filters in any of three ways from within Studio:
· With the Help Ø Purchase activation keys menu command (or the premium shortcut button at the top right of the Studio screen).
This opens a special browser window in which you can access a catalog page for any type of premium content that interests you.
· With the Album commands More transitions, More themes, More sound effects and More menus.
These commands are found on the dropdown lists in the corresponding sections of the Album. They will enable you to download, try out and purchase additional premium content that was not included with the program installation.
· By clicking the activate buttons found in some parts of Studio.
These buttons can be found whenever premium content is on display within Studio. The one above, when seen in the Audio effects tool and the Video effects tool, would let you activate a pack of audio or video filters. You may encounter similar buttons in the Album that let you purchase all the media on a particular Album page as a theme pack.
“Activating” premium content for Studio means to obtain a license allowing you unrestricted use of the content on the single machine where Studio is installed. The licensing mechanism employs two distinct but mutually related codes:
· An activation key for each premium content item you purchase;
· Your Passport, which is a number generated the first time you install Studio on your computer. You can view your Passport by selecting the Help Ø My Passport menu command.
Because the Passport is specific to one computer, you will need to obtain new activation keys if you install Studio on a different machine. These will be provided at no charge, but your user licenses for both Studio and any premium content you have obtained then apply to the new machine only.
Note: Although your Passport is specific to an individual computer, it is not affected by ordinary hardware modifications such as adding or removing expansion cards, drives or memory.
If you don’t have an Internet connection…
You can purchase and apply premium content activation keys even if you don’t have an Internet connection on the computer where Studio is installed. When you click one of the unlock links within Studio, a dialog will be displayed showing information needed for ordering the specific content you want, including:
· An Internet URL where you can activate the content
· Numeric identifiers for the Studio program and the item you want to activate
· Your Passport and your Serial Number
Navigate to the given URL from another computer, enter the information, and complete the purchase as directed. You will then be given an activation key with which you can activate the content on the original computer by using the Help Ø Enter Activation Keys menu command.
Hiding and showing premium content
If you would prefer not to view the premium content and features available in Studio, open the Project preferences options panel and uncheck either or both of Show premium content and Show premium features.
Importing content from past Studio versions
If you are an owner of a past version of Studio, the chances are that you already own content items, whether on a “Bonus Content” or “Premium Pack” disc, or on a hard drive attached to your system. The Studio “Transfer Content” wizard walks you through the process of locating all such materials that are available to you, and importing them for use in the current version of the software. Among the item types handled by the wizard are:
· Titles
· Disc menus
· Sound effects
· Hollywood FX 3D transitions
· RTFx video effects
To launch the wizard, look in the Studio group on your Start Ø All Programs menu, and select Tools Ø Transfer Content.