Liquid Edition Switch Guide

November 2003

Different by design - better by far!

@ strong minds with a video soul

Video editing - you know it inside out. Dozens of tools and applications came across and none could
ever change your mind!? You have still this convincing feeling that riding the same horse for many
years can't be wrong. Fair enough!
We won't change your mind but here are a few features that we think are important enough to let you
know about. If one bewitches your heart ... we are really sorry.

More Space - Storyboarding - Insurance

1. Video Desktop

Adobe Premiere

The first thing you will realize when you start Pinnacle Liquid Edition is that it opens its own desktop.
Basically it behaves like an operating system dedicated to video. But how does this influence your
work?
Well isn't it so that you clean up the table before you start a big new project? The first thing Liquid
Edition gives you is more space, like a second desktop next to the one with all the usual stuff.
And it's you who decides which desk you work on. A simple mouse click or a keyboard short cut
switches instantly between both desktops.
The video desktop behaves, looks and feels like the Windows desktop you are used to already. You
have an explorer, drag & drop operation, cut and paste, a trash, and the tools you need for video like
a timeline, viewers, ...
You can create your storyboard
directly on the desktop, preview it,
trim it and send it in the arranged
order to the timeline. Of course you
can put folders on this desktop to
organize your materials. You even
have a complete file system with
subfolders
to manage complex
projects.
Once you exit this video desktop it
will remember everything you did.
This means if you open it again,
your project is still there exactly as
you left it. But even better you can
still undo all your steps. Imagine
you want to come back to an idea
you dropped recently, just undo. Or
redo if it doesn't turn out as
expected.

Video and office work sit always

side by side on one desktop. If
you want to start something on
an empty 'table' you have to
remove the other stuff first.
And don't count on that they
allow undo and redo after
you've exited. Redo from
beginning please.

Instant Save: since Liquid Edition saves every mouse click you can undo and redo steps even after
a system break down. Instant Save gets you exactly where you left. You never need to save!

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

Storyboard? Well sort of, it's

more
a
playlist.
Decent
storyboarding needs more

There is nothing like Instant

Save. If the system crashes you
can loose substantial parts of
your work.
Instant Save will save you time,
nerves and money.

2. Configurable User Interface

Whos the Boss?

Customizable UI and
Keyboard Shortcuts

When you start editing you need several tools always at reach. Everybody has its own preferred
places to put things he needs most.
You want to have the razor always in the middle of the timeline, there you go, the 2D editor button
shall be in the upper left corner, here you are, you expect the cross dissolve tool always at very
beginning of the timeline, as you like it.
Liquid Editions user interface is fully configurable and you can put tools within easy reach.
Those tools you need very seldom, why bother? Just remove them from the toolbars. You can still
select them from the short cut
menus.

Keyboard shortcuts
In parallel to the toolbars you
can
also
use
keyboard
shortcuts.
Liquid Edition provides a decent
configuration tool to apply any
shortcuts you like.

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

Adobe Premiere
You can move windows and
palettes all over the place but
single
buttons
can't
be
changed. Tools that you don't
need are still around whereas
those that you would like to see
might hide somewhere.
However the chance that a
wanted tool is really available at
a specified place is rather
seldom. Most often it's hidden
by something else.
Usually you reorder the desktop
several times during a session
because it got too messy.

3. Timeline

Timeline Fluent, Accurate, and

Up-To-Date with Auto Scroll

Adobe Premiere

The timeline is the most often and therefore most important part of a video editor. Smooth handling,
fluent scrubbing and the overall performance determine its characteristics. Most often you just need a
few clicks and you know if it works for you or not.
Audio waveform display is one of the criteria that can make a timeline fly. In Liquid Edition you won't
recognize a difference if waveform display
is enabled, even during heavy scrubbing.
And you don't wait for the waveform to
appear, it's just there - no matter how long
the files are.
Slices
The timeline of Liquid Edition introduces a very handy feature: slices. Each object is represented by a
slice. Example: 1 clip = 1 slice, 2 clips = 2 slices, 2 clips connected by a dissolve = 3 slices
They help you to edit precisely. e.g. you align other objects at the beginning or end of such slices,
you use them to define marker positions (right click on a slice and select In/Out marker and they are
set for the object of this slice). Their color indicates the status of an object. Therefore you always
know if something has been rendered or if real time effects have been applied and so on.

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

When you enable the waveform

for long clips you push the
brakes as well. The timeline get
ponderous.

If something is playable in realtime or if you need rendering is

hart to tell. Usually you find out
during
playback,
or
you
remember exactly what effects
you've applied.

Auto Scroll

Adobe Premiere

Once an arrangement is completed you play it for initial checking, right?

Wouldn't it be cool to watch the current timeline position always together with the playing video?
Liquid Editions timeline is always up to date and shows where the action is. Even if you zoomed in
your timeline follows the play line in real-time. The play line is always visible and you see already
what comes next.

If your program is longer than

the current timeline view can
display the play line disappears
at the right border. All you can
look at is a static user interface.

During playback you will see the complete timeline - scrolling from beginning to end

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

4. Tracks

Freedom for Audio,

Video and Transitions

Each timeline can have an unlimited amount of tracks. You can name them, define their height
independently and you can configure them to play back video, audio or both. Probably a bit unusual
to you but Liquid Edition is not too particular about the content you drop to a track. You can even
drop video plus the attached audio into one single track - like it is stored in AVI files. When you move
it or trim it you trim always both the video and the audio. Of course you can disband both and put
them in different tracks if dedicated fine tuning on one of them is required.
Even in complex timelines its very easy to visually sync video or pictures to the audio. Just move the
audio beneath the images and display the waveform. In many cases a simple visual sync is good
enough. Try that if your audio is 15 levels down in the 'audio cellar'.

Transitions in any
tracks
You
are
in
a
superimpose track and
for some reason a
transition would be
more
than
advantageous to solve
a certain problem.
Lucky
you,
Liquid
Edition accepts even
transitions in any track.
You can use every
track for everything.
Just
apply
your
transition and there
you go.

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

Adobe Premiere
You have tracks for video and
tracks for audio. That's the way
it has been done for years. But
this doesn't mean that this is the
only and best way. As
mentioned the flexibility of
having audio directly beneath
the video is one advantage. But
there is no reason why audio
shouldn't be placed above the
video if it makes sense and
helps you to edit efficiently.
With Liquid Edition you have
the choice.

Premiere Pro gave up on A/B

roll and superimposition tracks.
Guess why.

5. Background Processing

Kill Two Birds with One

Stone Background Processing

There are various reasons why you want to render certain parts of a program. Maybe you use special
effects that are not available in real-time or you use so many streams simultaneously that your hard
disks simply cant fulfill anymore - just to name two.
Liquid Edition benefits from a unique background processing engine that will render non-real-time
effects or timeline segments in the background while you continue making editing decisions.
With Liquid Edition, you can continue to drive your creativity while you are rendering high quality DV
output in the background. This speeds up the output process dramatically.
Background really means that it won't disturb you or interfere with other processes. You can even
play the timeline while Liquid Edition renders. On a dual processor system (also hyper threading) the
background process intelligently shares the workload between the different processors. If more than
one slice requires rendering they get allocated to different processes and render simultaneously.

Adobe Premiere
Whenever something requires
rendering you sit and wait. This
limitation might be a good
excuse for those who like some
rest here and there but if you
really want to get a job done it
can drive you crazy.
Even worse: due to the limited
real-time
capabilities
of
Premiere you might want to
render more often than you do
in Liquid Edition.

Liquid Edition allows to play partially rendered slices already until it reaches the image that is
currently rendered.
On very fast systems rendering might get so quick that it's
finished before the playback finishes, means they behave
like a real-time system since you don't wait for effects to
finish.

Real-time DV out
You can force Liquid Edition to render even effects that
play in real-time. Because rendering is being processed
in the background, your timeline is ready for DV output
once you are finished with editing - independently if its
complex composites or just a simple title you've used.

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

Before you master to DV you

definitely render - and wait.

6. Real-time Performance

Full Throttle!
CPU + GPU + AGP

One thing is really amazing when you edit with Liquid Edition: whatever you do you always get results
in real-time.
A simple title or a cross dissolve, okay you believe that. But now you apply a 3D motion path to the
title and it still plays. Drop one of this swirling Hollywood FX effects on it and you still see the full
beauty at full resolution and frame rate.
Even if you go wild and add more video streams, apply chroma
keying, color correction it will just play.
How is this possible?
It's the technology that matters. Liquid Edition takes full advantage
of two engines that are already available in you computer: the
processor (CPU) and the graphics processor (GPU) on the
graphics card. Both work hand in hand utilizing the highspeed
AGP bus, which offers up to 16 times more bandwidth than you
will get on competitive PCI-based solutions. And if you upgrade
one of them or move to a faster machine Liquid Edition will directly
benefit.
Real Time Savings - The Power of Two
Up to 10+ streams of real-time DV and graphics
previewing in real-time gives you the freedom to explore
dozens of creative options while meeting tight deadlines
Real-time analog out to tape with Liquid Edition Pro.
GPU-based effects processing gives you 16X the effects
processing throughput power of PCI-based solutions.
Liquid Edition harness the full potential of you computer by
driving real-time effects from both your CPU and GPU.
Protect your future with a completely scalable architecture. The real-time power of Liquid
Edition expands with faster CPUs and beefier graphics cards.
A complete real-time effects arsenal: 2D DVEs, true 3D DVEs, Dissolves, Wipes, Luma Keys,
Chroma Keys, Spotlights, Lens Flares, Blurs, Particles and Hollywood FX effects and
transitions.
Over 1000 real-time effects

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

Adobe Premiere
No support of the graphics
processor (GPU) and the AGP
bus. This means 2/3 of the
Liquid Edition technology is
simply not available.
Even worse, the processor has
other things to do than
computing video effects. It can
be quite busy moving data over
the slow PCI bus. In the end the
video editing process gets what
is left over. Nothing that will
make editors happy.
You can buy an accelerator
card to improve the real-time
performance of Premiere. But
instead of using Premiere you
have to learn and use the
effects that come with this card.

Better looking images

7. Color Correction
7.1 Primary Color Correction
Perfect looking video requires professional image correction.
Savvy editors know without a good color correction most videos
have amateur level. Therefore Liquid Edition provides you with all
the tools world famous editors use, usually known as primary color
correction with RGB control for highlights, gamma and black levels.
But Liquid Edition goes one step further: instead of letting you
correct by doing trial and error it supports you with intelligent tools
that do the work.
To match the hue between two clips you just need to click and
drag between a reference and the target clip. If you want to match
the highlights, midtones, and black levels of one clip to another you simply define 3 reference and 3
target points and Liquid Edition does the rest. If you need to correct a white balance problem you just
pick the appropriate tool and it's done.
Needless to say that you still have detailed control on all parameters. Whatever you do different
scopes reveal every little modification.

Adobe Premiere

You get several color correction

filters but most lack a build in
intelligence or have clumsy
control. Example: the 3-point
color match filter allows to take
sample colors, but if you like a
slight modification of the results,
you won't remember where
exactly you took the sample.
But this is mandatory to
understand how you should
change it.
All the detailed control and
intelligence build into Liquid
Edition is simply not available
within Premiere Pro. Means,
you sit and adjust, and adjust,
and adjust, until you do a
compromise or give up. Liquid
Edition is not the tool to
compromise oneself.

3-point color balance - reference

and target sample points

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

Satisfies your
Demanding Clients Selective Color Correction

7.2 Selective color correction:

the top notch tool for breath taking pictures

Adobe Premiere

While primary color correction provides excellent results in most cases, there is no reason why you
shouldn't get tools that allow you to do magic. Imagine you are working on a commercial about a
waistcoat for skiers and your client wants its orange color in a highly expensive shot of a extreme
jump to appear more red because somebody told him that red will sell. Shoot it again? No way! Use
primary correction? Your snow will be everything but white.
The solution is the selective color correction of Liquid Edition. A color picker let you choose the
unwanted orange and Liquid Edition will isolate all orange areas within a defined spectrum. Now the
complete palette of primary correction tools can be used to manipulate the isolated area. Probably
the hue slider together with some red gamma correction will do the job already. This is a very quick
method and every time you use it it saves you a lot more than you've invested in Liquid Edition.
Just to mention skin
tones in a home
video or the not so
blue sky in a
holiday video are
other
typical
examples
where
selective
color
correction
really
makes
the
difference.

No, nothing like this. Magic is

out of it.
They have a color replacement
filter and they market it in a way
that one could think it does
selective color correction. But if
its about one of the described
tasks you better stay away from
it.

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

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8. Dynamic TimeWarp

Dramaturgy with
more Dynamics

Liquid Edition can handle both the linear timewarp and the dynamic timewarp. With the linear
timewarp the applied speed change is constant form beginning to end. For example you can run the
total clip at half of its original speed.
There are various reasons why you want to apply dynamic speed changes. Most of them have to do
with dramaturgy. You can speed up or slow down things towards the end or from the beginning. You
can also vary the speed over time and play a scene backward and forward smoothly.
Even materials that bore your audience to death can be turned into something interesting and you
might get most of the applause for exactly those scenes.
Dynamic timewarp is also the solution when you need to fill holes in your production but the material
left is simply too
short. Now you can
stretch it without
looking
artificially
slow.
You get lots of
opportunities
to
make your video
look different, better
and spiced with
unexpected ideas.
It also simplifies
editing since you
can do want you
want and what is
required instead of
wasting your time
developing
workarounds.

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

Adobe Premiere
Linear speed yes, dynamic
speed no.
Even accelerator cards will not
provide more dynamics when it
comes to speed.

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9. DVD Authoring

Tow in One:
Integrated Timeline
Based DVD Authoring

Liquid Edition is unique - it is the first professional editing application to actually incorporate DVD
authoring into its workflow. Now making DVDs need not be just a 'retrofit' of pre-edited material into
lifeless menus.
By incorporating DVD creation in this way, Edition offers the user an entirely new set of creative
options - for example the ability to resize, reposition and apply a range of effects to moving menus
and buttons in a manner which was simply not possible before
And you don't need to enter a new software with different workflows, tools and features. Everything
you know already will still work for DVD authoring as well. For example you can use the container
concept to bring several timelines together to combine them on one interactive DVD.

Adobe Premiere
You can export the timeline as
one single video to DVD.
No menus with chapters, no
authoring.
If you are really serious about
DVD creation you will need
another tool in addition. Another
investment too. Or you switch to
a different tool - look at the
overall investment required.

Moreover it provides
you with eye candy:
motion menus like
you have never
seen before. You
can have video in
the buttons, in the
background
or
combine both. Once
created they play in
real-time - already
on your TV set if
Edition
Pro
is
installed. You can't
imagine a better
preview of a DVD
than this. Only your
TVs remote control
wont work with it.

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

12

Liquid Edition DVD Features

Adobe Premiere

DVD wizard assistance for easy menu creation

40 professional quality DVD templates included
Dedicated DVD Link Browser
Menu Editor with drag-and-drop linking to timeline
Dedicated DVD Menu Track
DVD preview functionality from DV sources
Full-screen menu editor for changing, fonts, styles, backgrounds, buttons, etc.
Timeline chapter marks with linked offset
In-context text entry for button labels
Automatic chapter generation from edit points; markers across multiple tracks.
Motion backgrounds
Motion buttons
'Screenshot' feature to apply FX to DVD menus
Menu import from Photoshop layered files (PSD format); support for alpha masks
MPEG-2 export from the timeline with Burn-to-DVD based on Pinnacle Technology with both
CBR and VBR support
Real-time preview of motion menus and video
Real-time output of motion menus and video on TV with Liquid Edition Pro

None of these.
Even if you use Adobe Encore
you will miss the real-time
preview capabilities provided by
the powerful effect engines of
Liquid Edition.

DVD preview on TV with

Liquid Edition Pro

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

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10. Networking

Get Off the Island Networked Drives

Liquid Edition allows you to map your networked drives so that multiple users can view and access
the same media. Liquid is based on open networking standards and works with 100-baseT, Gigabit
Ethernet and Fibre Channel storage solutions. Double the performance of your network by adding a
Pinnacle Palladium network storage solution.
Network usage
A Liquid Edition editing station can be used in a
network environment. Instead of hosting footage
and projects locally they can be kept on a server
or shared folders. Edition can map to any drive if
it's a local drive or a volume mounted via
network.

Adobe Premiere
Premiere has no network
support at all.
They even dropped EDL
support that would be somehow
close the ALE export and
import. Means, you better use
Premiere Pro on standalone
workstations.

Basic network capabilities:

Mount to network drives (Media AV and
Render folder)
Capture via network
Host and share media data (video, audio,
images) on a server
Host and share meta data (project files)
on a server
Multi client access: server users can work
on the same project
ALE export/import: exchange log lists that
include paths to the media data
ALE Export / Import
The quickest and safest way to exchange project is the
ALE export / import feature. If your local Media AV
folder is shared for access via network other users can
work on a project including the original media that has
been
exported
using
the
ALE
format.

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

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The Liquid Edition Difference

Summarizing Liquid Editions features leads to a threefold benefit:

Very complete: Editing, DVD Authoring, Networking, Storyboarding, Scene Detection,

Dynamic TimeWarp, Secondary Color Correction, ... you name it

Very powerful: 10+ Streams in Real-time, multiple 2D and 3D Effects in Real-time, Keying
and Color Correction in Real-time, Background Processing, ... you name it

Very handy: Video Desktop, Configurable UI, Instant Save, Autoscroll Timeline, Flexible
Tracks, Smart Color Correction Tools, ... you name it

There is certainly more to say about Liquid Edition. But we won't impress your mind, it's about your
heart! Therefore give it a try, and we know it does the same to you than to so many others.

Pinnacle Systems - Liquid Edition Switch Guide

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