Hi Folks.  This post is here for you to add your tips and tricks that you've learned over the years, as well as make any comments/ask questions about the techniques I (or the other moderators) have posted in the Editing Tips/Techniques forums.  Please post, no matter how small it may seem, as I LOVE to learn new stuff and there isn't one of us who knows everything about Avid...it's just too indepth!  Please note that this isn't just here for me to learn from, it's a learning/sharing tool for all of us.

I look forward to learning from you all!

Thanks for the tips Jake.. very helpful...

Menno

Here's a simple one I use quite often when I'm using Avid's title tool to create tables of text.

Click on an object and hold.
Press ctrl and shift.
Drag the object right and left, or up and down.
The object will be constrained to the x axis or y axis.  This makes positioning rows or columns of text much easier, and is quicker than using the arrow keys.

Many thanks to Sep, who came up with a good workaround for matching back to pre-computes. In the timeline, mark clip on the pre-compute you wish to match to.  Then, press CTRL + ALT + c.  This will load the full pre-compute clip in the source monitor with the name of your existing sequence.  However, when you edit it into the timeline, the original pre-compute clip name will be there. The "find bin" command does not work, but I'm very happy just to be able to call back  the complete pre-compute clip to the source monitor.

Again, thanks, Sep!

Is there any way to turn off the "Snap to frame" function for placing clips off of the frame breakpoint or when moving and placing clips?

The reason I ask is since just completing a music video (and my first experience with any type of editing program) I can't place a clip exactly on beat when zooming in all the way.

I know in Sony Vegas, you can timestretch your clips by just click and dragging. You can also place it anywhere on the frame, not just the beginning or end. I'd like to figure out if it's possible with Xpress, and if it is,.. how's it done?

I'd love to have speed breakpoint envelopes in Xpress,... maybe I'm asking for too much tho. That would be really nice,.. that way you could speed up or slow down portions of a clip. Or maybe I just think it's too time consuming with the way it seems to be set up since I don't know the program well enough yet.

I'd rather not have to timestretch my clips in Vegas and then import into Avid. I'd rather do it in one suite. Or I'd like to hear some good tips on working the timestretching in Xpress.

Thanx for any help in advance!

Kitana_One:

If your main problem is syncing picture cuts to particular sound beats in the music track, you will find the digital audio scrubbing function perfect for this task.  In audio settings, make sure the numeral 1 is entered in all four boxes.  I'm doing a long digital cut right now, so I can't check further, but there is another user setting that has an option of "allow digital scrubbing" that will need to be selected.  Check the help files for digital scrubbing.  Caps lock turns the digital scrub function on and off. Step forwards or backwards one frame at a time and you will hear your soundtrack chirp as you go.  Holding down shift will turn digital scrubbing on temporarily. Step forward or backward one frame at a time with digital scrub and you will have no problem finding your exact sync points quickly and easily.

HTH

Well,.. I can zoom in and gert it realy close to the zero crossing of the waveform,.... but it's sometimes off abotu 1/10 of a frame,.. which isn't much,.. but if you're a musician and used to working with sequencers that are spot on,.. then it can become annoying when you're always trying to get everything perfect.

I'll try that out and see if it changes it. Thanks for the advice!

Edited by Moderator for duplicate posting

Heres a tip I came up with from just messing around. This makes your video kinda look like it was painted.. (atleast it did for the footage I was using.)

1. Drop the DFT fast blur effect on your video on layer 1 (Make the blur amount about 10 for both horizontal and vertical)

2. Copy the video onto layer 2 (without the blur applied.)

3. Add the transfer AVX plug-in to the video on layer 2.

4. Change the mode to "Darken"

Edited by Moderator for duplicate posting.

Please do not hijack threads!  Start another one!

Great stuff here, so far!  Nobody has anything else to add?

Create a Center Focus effect in Avid Xpress Pro.

1. Download the free DFT fast blur effect.
http://tinyurl.com/awfuk

2. Make a copy of the clip on layer one onto layer two.

3. Apply the DFT fast blur effect onto the clip on layer one.

4. Apply a Circle Wipe to the clip on layer 2.

5. Adjust the effect parameters to taste.