Media Composer 5.5

High-quality effects, compositing, and visuals

Create stunning effects, transitions, and graphics easily with a host of powerful built-in tools:

• 2D and 3D effects—Create stunning visuals and add more depth to imagery with a number of 2D and 3D effects at your fingertips
• Layered, Nested, and Key effects—Create multilayer effects, such as picture-in-picture or superimposing objects in front of different backgrounds, with a host of tools and effects
• Motion effects—Control speed, freeze action, and get the look of film with interlaced video using a variety of motion and timewarp tools
• Motion Tracking and Stabilization—Control an effect based on an object’s motion, or minimize jittery movements while retaining motion you do want, such as a camera pan
• Segment effects—Apply a look to an entire clip, such as a color tint or mask, or create a multilayer effect, with a variety of effects
• Title effects—Create titles, graphics, and credits for your projects with the Avid Title tool or Marquee Title tool
• Transition effects—Smooth transitions between clips or add visual interest with an assortment of fades, dissolves, wipes, and more

Studio-quality sound

Get professional-quality sound to complement your video using a comprehensive set of audio tools. Refine and balance dialog, production audio, ADR, sound effects, music, and more, and build up to 24 tracks of audio per video sequence. Plus, with support for RTAS plug-ins and included AIR effects, you can bring in a wide variety of the industry’s best compressors, reverbs, EQs, and other sound processing plug-ins to sweeten dialog, enliven effects, and make your overall mix more cohesive. See the audio tools in action.

Advanced color grading and correction

Save time and maintain the highest quality production with the fully integrated and flexible 10-bit color correction toolset. Quickly and accurately match colors from shot to shot using NaturalMatch. Gain better color precision with support for full-quality 4:4:4 HD-RGB color space processing. Get fine control over shots with animatable color correction. And dive into the large palette of easy-to-use tools to refine settings or get creative with the color.

Full-quality HD-RGB processing

With support for full-quality 4:4:4 HD-RGB color space processing, you can keep your finishing jobs in house and deliver the highest quality color and effects work. Perform color correction, keying, and effects work with greater precision and ease. And if you have a Nitris DX-based system, you can digitize, process, monitor, and output projects in HD-RGB, using the two HD SDI connections to handle the high-bandwidth resolutions (RGB I/O is included in all Nitris DX products).

Expand your creative palette

Get even more options to get the look, effect, or sound you want through a huge collection of Avid and third-party video (AVX and AVX2) and audio (RTAS) plug-ins, which you can install and use right from your editing interface.

Work natively with SD and HD codecs

Start editing footage right away, with AMA which offers native support for a wide range of SD and HD codecs, including RED, QuickTime (including ProRes and H.264), HDCAM SR Lite, DV, HDV, XDCAM HD/EX, DVCPRO HD, AVC-Intra, GFCAM, DNxHD, and more. No need to transcode, even when mixing codecs in the same timeline.

Work with Avid and third-party hardware

Expand your video editing workflow with an array of Avid and third-party options that enable you to connect cameras and tape decks, monitor video, capture audio, and take hands-on control. From the powerful acceleration you get with Media Composer Nitris DX, Nitris DX AVC-Intra, and Mojo DX systems to the more cost-effective and portable AJA Io Express and Matrox MXO2 Mini (monitoring only), you’ll find interfaces that meet your needs and budget. And with support for Artist Series control surfaces, you can edit even faster and easier with full tactile control. Learn more.

Take your offline online

Streamline your offline to online workflow and get a seamless path to finish and master projects with complete integration between Media Composer and Symphony and Avid DS systems. With Total Conform, you can directly share offline projects and media for finishing—with media clips, edits, and effects directly available—so you can start the online without delay. And with FIlmScribe, conform processes get easy, as it maximizes your metadata output—no matter what your workflow.

Take your settings with you

Forget about tweaking settings or re-orienting your workspace if you move from one Avid video system to another. Take all of your settings with you to any project through your own user profile—even when moving from an offline workstation to a Symphony finishing system. All shortcuts, keyboard, and screen customization are accessible, so you’ll be up and running in no time.

Work with stereo 3D and other single-frame files

With MetaFuze*, you can quickly merge DPX, TIFF, or even stereoscopic 3D files from film scanning or CGI systems into a single native Avid DNxHD or uncompressed media clip for editing. You can even display and edit 3D material offline—without conforming—using industry-first stereoscopic editing tools and workflows.

Sync with Pro Tools editors

Make the audio post workflow easier by making projects directly accessible to Pro Tools editors through Video Satellite. No need to render effects, transcode video, or copy files for the audio team, as they can simply tap into any Media Composer system to open and play Avid HD and SD sequences (including DNxHD) in high quality, in full resolution, and in sync with their sessions. Or bring in a Pro Tools session as an MXF file and sweeten the mix using any of the 20 included AIR effects, such as reverbs, delays, filters, and other effects—the same ones included with Pro Tools. You can even record, monitor, and output audio using Media Composer with any Pro Tools|HD Native, Pro Tools|HD, or third-generation Mbox system.

Film focused

For filmmakers, you have the industry's most powerful and accurate film workflow in your hands with the award-winning Avid Film Composer toolset. Save time with automatic audio and video syncing and seamless tracking of timecode, Keykode, and other metadata. Plus, with support for 4:4:4 HD-RGB color, you can preserve the full-quality color process from beginning to end.

Timecode and subtitling ease

Speed up any online or audio post workflow with the Timecode Generator, which enables you to create onscreen timecode displays in real time. And with the SubCap Generator, you can easily create open captions and subtitles, plus import and export in Avid DS and standard EBU N19 subtitle formats.

Smoother BWF workflows

Ease the post audio workflow when exporting timeline audio tracks as BWF (Broadcast WAV) files. Just insert the sequence timecode based on your project type as you’re exporting the tracks to create a fast and easy sync reference for downstream processes that don’t support OMF or AAF, such as slave playback devices.

* MetaFuze works with Windows-based computers, including Windows XP and Vista, and Macs running Windows through Boot Camp or other emulation.

Avid DVD by Sonic

Avid FX

Create dazzling 2D and 3D composites, titles, animation, and effects with Avid FX 5.8.3, a powerful collection of creative tools designed by Boris FX. Get started fast with 1,500 customizable templates, or design your own titles and graphics using text, drawing, styles, and animation tools. And create stunning effects with over 115 filters, including Wire Removal, Grain Match, Light Zoom, and more. For more details, visit the Boris FX website.

Boris Continuum Complete

Get the looks you really want with the new Boris Continuum Complete 7 AVX, which includes new lens blur effects, noise reduction tool, OpenGL particle engine, and more. With over 200 plug-in filters, including 3D objects, image restoration tools, time-based effects, distortion and perspective effects, light and glow effects, transitions, keys and mattes, colors and blurs, and cartoon effects, you can create high-quality visuals right within your editing system. For more details, visit the Boris Continuum Complete website.

SmartSound Sonicfire Pro

Create fully customized scores from royalty-free music effortlessly with SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5.5.2. Choose from a variety of loops and pre-recorded soundtracks and then customize the music to fit your scene. You can match beats to video, insert a stinger, alter the tempo and pitch, fine-tune searches with Sensory Searching, search for music by simply tapping a tempo, and get new spotting tools. For more details, visit the SmartSound Sonicfire Pro website.

Sorenson Squeeze

Optimize and deliver content in a create-once-publish-anywhere world. With Sorenson Squeeze 6.0.4, you can optimize content in a variety of formats (including HD, DVD, MPEG-2, MPEG-4/H.264, Flash, and 3GPP) for web or DVD delivery, author DVDs and Blu-ray Discs on Windows, and burn discs on a PC or Mac. Plus, you can publish content directly to Sorenson 360, YouTube, Twitter, Akamai, Limelight, and other servers. For more details, visit the Sorenson Squeeze website or watch the video tutorial.

Share media, projects, and ideas

Experience the most collaborative workflow and get things done on time and on budget. With Avid Unity media networks, you and your team can access and play the same files and capture media to the same volume simultaneously, in real time. Since media bins aren’t linked to specific projects or users, you can open bins and access files from other projects—even when in use by others—without having to copy media. And because Unity supports Final Cut systems, you can easily collaborate across mixed editing systems and share media using AMA.

Share projects with the audio team

Collaborating with Pro Tools audio editors, remixers, and sound designers is easy. You can export audio from your video projects to Pro Tools for audio production, with all media and metadata intact. Or for the fastest workflow, add Video Satellite or Video Satellite LE to your workflow and have Pro Tools editors sync directly with Avid video sequences, eliminating the need to render, transcode, or copy files.

Raise the bar with Interplay

When the stakes are high, bring collaboration to the highest level with Avid Interplay asset management systems. Instantly access media and secure files from unauthorized use. Always have the current production elements in play and synced through automated tracking. And with sophisticated multi-contributor asset management, multi-resolution workflows, and rules-based transcoding, you can put the flow in workflow for total facility-wide collaboration.

The industry leader

Avid understands professional content creation. We’ve been in this industry for over 20 years, designing the tools used by more film and television professionals than any other product. In fact, Symphony Nitris DX is certified by ACE (American Cinema Editors) and received both an Oscar and Emmy Award. And though we are the industry leader, we continuously strive to innovate and make our products the best they can be, so you can keep doing what you do more easily and more efficiently.

Avid editors in demand

For projects large and small, studios and production companies around the world constantly seek the skills and advice of Avid editors, as they’re widely considered to be the best in the industry. Whether you want to do freelance or join a team, or you’re looking for talented Avid editors to help you with a project, you’ll find opportunities and Avid editors worldwide.

Get expert support

When you need help, expert assistance is just a web click or phone call away. Choose from a wide range of Avid Support resources that fit your needs and budget, including free web-based support (the Avid Knowledge Base), pay-per-case phone support, Avid Support plans (which include free software upgrades/updates), and complete installation services.

Get training

Get the most out of your investment through Avid Training. Whether you simply want to learn how to use your Avid software and/or system to the fullest or want to up your game through certification training, you can choose from several self-paced books, online courses and classroom training, and customized training programs.

You can also get free online training with these videos:

• Learn Media Composer 5 with the Getting Started tutorial videos
• Sample three courses from the Class on Demand: Media Composer for Final Cut Pro Users DVD here

Connect with others

Whether you need help, want to offer help, have tips or tutorials to share, or want to connect with thousands of fellow Avid editors, you’ll find a wealth of information and resources on the Avid Community site. Seek advice from the Avid staff and other users in the Avid forums. Check the Avid Community blogs for the latest tools and techniques. Get helpful tips and tutorials from the community. Meet others by joining an Avid User Group. And much more!