Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Avid FX Tutorials: Understanding The Tutorial Exercises
Avid FX Tutorials: Understanding The Tutorial Exercises
Each exercise builds on the steps and techniques introduced in the exercise
that precedes it. For this reason, new users should begin with the first exercise
and perform the tutorials in order. More advanced users should look over the
tutorial topics and choose tutorials that are applicable to their skill level.
These tutorial exercises are designed to be used with Avid FX. You can
perform the steps in these exercises within a host application such as
Avid Xpress Pro or within Avid FX as a standalone application, but host-
specific aspects of Avid FX (such as rendering) are not covered in these
tutorials.
The tutorials use and refer to media files, which are found in the
PracticeMedia\AvidFX folder on the Online Library.
These exercises assume you are using the default settings and preferences. You
can reset all preferences to the default settings by deleting your Avid FX
preferences file. For more information, see “Resetting Preferences” on
page 239.
Getting Started
To complete the tutorial exercises, you need Avid FX. If you have not already
installed Avid FX, you can do so by following the instructions in the
Installation Guide that is included with your software.
2
Getting Started
3
Avid FX Tutorials
5. Follow the same steps to import the still image file “Waves.pct” into the
Video 2 track.
6. Click the Visibility icon on Columns.pct to hide that track. The “Waves”
image is visible in the Composite window.
Visibility icon
7. Click the Visibility icon again to restore Columns.pct’s visibility.
4
Exercise 1: Animating an Image Using Keyframes
Naming Tracks
By default, tracks are named by their media type. For example, when you
launch Avid FX, the tracks are named Video 1 and Video 2. If you change a
track’s media to Still Image File, the track is automatically assigned the file
name. However, once you explicitly name a track, the track retains that name,
even if you change the track’s media type.
To name tracks:
1. Select the Columns.pct track and choose Track > Rename Track.
2. Type “Columns” and press Return (Macintosh) or Enter (Windows). The
track is renamed “Columns.”
3. Rename the Waves.pct track, using the following shortcut. Select the track
and press Return (Macintosh) or Enter (Windows). Type “Waves” and
press Return or Enter. The track is renamed.
5
Avid FX Tutorials
6
Exercise 1: Animating an Image Using Keyframes
4. Change the Scale X value to 60 by dragging the slider to the left. (The
Scale X and Scale Y values are locked by default so the Scale Y setting
also updates.) You could also scrub the numerical field or click the
numerical field, type 60, and press Return (Macintosh) or Enter
(Windows).
5. Click to select the new keyframe at frame 10. Selected keyframes are red.
6. Press the Interpolation field in the Scale X controls. Choose Hold from
the menu.(The Scale X and Scale Y values are locked by default, so the
Scale Y setting also updates.)
Interpolation Field
7. Return the CTI to the beginning of the effect, either by dragging the CTI
to the beginning or by pressing the Home key.
8. Play the sequence by clicking the Play button in the Composite window
or by pressing the Space bar.
The Columns track starts full size, shrinks to 60% size by frame 10, then
holds at that size for the remainder of the effect. Playback loops until you
press the Space bar or Play button again.
7
Avid FX Tutorials
9. To view the effect in real time, choose Preview > Preview to RAM or
press Command-zero (Macintosh) or Control-zero (Windows). The effect
plays through once slowly as it renders each frame to RAM, then plays
through in real time.
To add animation to move the Columns track off-screen and reveal the
Waves track.
1. Select the Columns track.
2. You should see red, green and blue OpenGL interactors in your
Composite window. If you don’t, press the G key or choose Preview >
OpenGL Interactors > Show Interactors. The interactors should display
arrows at their ends to indicate that you are in Translation mode. If they
don’t, press the W key or choose Preview > OpenGL Interactors >
Translation Interactor.
Disclosure
triangle
8
Exercise 1: Animating an Image Using Keyframes
5. Select the Rotate Z track. This time use the keyboard shortcut, Command-
N (Macintosh) or Control-N (Windows), to create a new keyframe in the
Rotate Z track (at Time 00:00:00:10). Because the keyframes use Ease
In/Out interpolation, they appear as an “X” in the timeline. Your timeline
should now appear like the following illustration.
6. Click the CTI on the last frame in the Columns track (Time 00:00:01:00).
The keyframe turns red to show that it is selected. You may need to scroll
up.
7. Click the green interactor in the Composite window. The green interactor
moves the image on the Y-axis. Make sure you click the interactor and not
the Columns image. The shaft of the interactor turns yellow to indicate
that it is selected.
8. Drag the interactor until the Columns image is near the top of the screen.
In the Controls window, the value for Position Y updates. Stop dragging at
a Position Y value of approximately 0.
9. Click the red interactor and drag to the right until the Columns image is
offscreen. Make sure you click the interactor and not the Columns image.
The shaft of the interactor turns yellow to indicate that it is selected. In the
Controls window, the value for Position X updates. Stop dragging at a
Position X value of approximately 940.
9
Avid FX Tutorials
10. If you prefer, you can adjust the parameters in the Controls window by
setting Position X to 940 and Position Y to 0 with the default Ease In/Out
interpolation.
Rotations
Degrees
11. In the Controls window, set Rotate Z to 0 rotations, 180° by typing 180
and pressing Return (Macintosh) or Enter (Windows).
12. Return the CTI to the beginning of the effect, and play the effect or
Preview to RAM by choosing Preview > Preview to RAM. The Columns
track now shrinks to 60% size by frame 10, and undergoes one half
rotation and moves off screen by frame 30.
13. Complete the steps in the next section to finetune your animation.
The Ease In/Out interpolation (the default interpolation type) allows you to
work with Bézier curves to finetune the motion of the effect. Keyframes that
use the Ease In/Out interpolation are displayed as an “X” in the timeline. This
section describes two ways of using the bézier controls to smooth transitions at
keyframe points.
10
Exercise 1: Animating an Image Using Keyframes
Red bézier curve handles appear at each keyframe point on the Value
curve in the timeline.
n If you do not see bézier handles in the value curve, press the interpolation
fields in the Position X and Position Y controls and choose Ease In/Out from
the menu.
Interpolation field
11
Avid FX Tutorials
Bézier
Saving Settings
If you are using the Avid FX, you can use the Render Queue to render your
effect. You can also save the settings file and open it later in a host application
to render it. In this case, you save the effect you created to the Project window
and also in the Avid FX Library Browser so that you can reuse it later.
The Project window is useful if you want to experiment with multiple versions
of an effect. You can save the composition to the Project window and then
continue adjusting parameters. Later, if you decide that you like the earlier
version, you can open that version in the timeline.
12
Exercise 1: Animating an Image Using Keyframes
13
Avid FX Tutorials
14
Exercise 2: Creating a Multi Input Page Turn Transition
7. In the Controls window, click the Page Turn tab and set Offset to 0 with
Ease In/Out interpolation.
8. Select the last keyframe in the Page Turn track (Time 00:00:01:00) and set
Offset to 100 with Ease In/Out interpolation.
9. Move the CTI to the first keyframe and play the sequence to see the Offset
animate from 0 to 100, which creates the page turn.
Each Shape has a Multi Input mode and Single Input mode. In Single Input
mode, the assigned media is used for all faces of the shape. In Multi Input
mode, multiple face tracks appear in the timeline, each of which can be
assigned different media. You assign different media to the front and back
faces of the page turn.
15
Avid FX Tutorials
Separate Face tracks appear for the Front and Flap faces of the page turn.
Media icons
2. Press the Media icon for the Front Face track and choose Still Image File
from the menu. In the dialog box that appears, choose “Tall trees.pct”
from the PracticeMedia\AvidFX folder on the Online Library and click
Open.
3. Press the Media icon for the Flap Face track, and choose Color from the
menu. Select the Flap Face track. In the Color Media tab in the Controls
window, pick a color using the system color picker or the eyedropper.
4. Press the Media icon for the Background track and choose Still Image
File from the menu. Then choose “Clover.pct” from the
PracticeMedia\AvidFX folder on the Online Library and click Open.
16
Exercise 2: Creating a Multi Input Page Turn Transition
5. The page turn now has “Tall trees.pct” on the front face, solid color on the
back face, and reveals “Clover.pct” at the end of the transition.
There are two ways to apply a filter to a shape effect, referred to as upstream
and downstream. These terms refer to the order in which the filter is
processed in relation to the shape itself.
• An upstream filter is applied to the shape and processed before the shape
transformations occur. An upstream filter only affects one portion of the
shape, that is, one of the shape’s faces.
• A downstream filter is applied to the shape and processed after the shape
transformations occur. A downstream filter affects the entire shape and all
of its faces.
17
Avid FX Tutorials
The Ripple affects only the front face, and does not distort the shape itself.
This is an example of an upstream filter.
18
Exercise 3: Animating Masked Tracks in a 3D Container
The Ripple is now in the downstream position, and is applied after the
Page Turn transformation is applied. Therefore the Ripple distorts the
entire shape.
19
Avid FX Tutorials
About Masks
• A downstream mask is applied to the shape and processed after the shape
transformations occur. In the following example, the face is curved into a
cylinder, then the mask reveals the cylinder.
20
Exercise 3: Animating Masked Tracks in a 3D Container
This exercise uses only an upstream masks—that is, masks that are applied to
the shape’s face before the shape undergoes transformations. You create masks
using two methods. First, you import a PICT file. Second, you use Spline
Primitive media to create a mask within Avid FX.
You create multiple tracks for this effect. You use several different media
types, including Spline Primitive, Still Image File, Color, Gradient and Natural
Media.
Arrow
tab
3. In the Shape tab in the Controls window, click the Arrow tab to assign the
Spline Primitive an arrow shape. Choose Right from the Arrow Type
menu. The track is automatically renamed Arrow. Click the disclosure
triangles to close the Arrow track.
4. Press the Media icon on the Video 2 track and choose Still Image File
from the menu that appears. In the dialog box, choose “Bullseye.pct,”
located in the PracticeMedia\AvidFX folder on the Online Library and
click Open.
5. Click the bottom of the Timeline window to deselect the Bullseye.pct
track.
6. Click the Add Color Media button in the timeline to create a 3D Plane
track with Color media. The Face track is selected by default. The Color
Media tab appears in the Controls window.
7. Assign the track a black color. Rename the track “Black.” Click the
disclosure triangle to close the Black track.
21
Avid FX Tutorials
8. Drag the Black track to the bottom of the timeline. As you drag a black
line appears around each track. When the black line is below the
Bullseye.pct track, release the mouse button.
9. Click the bottom of the Timeline window to deselect the Black track.
10. Click the Add Gradient Media button in the timeline to create a 3D Plane
track with Gradient media.
This creates a Gradient track. The Face track is selected by default and the
Gradient tabs appear in the Controls window. Instead of adjusting the
gradient yourself, you apply a preset style from the Style Palette.
11. Choose Window > Show Style Palette or press Command-7 (Macintosh)
or Control-7 (Windows) to display the Style Palette. Click the Gradient
tab in the Style Palette.
22
Exercise 3: Animating Masked Tracks in a 3D Container
This creates a Natural Media track. The Face track is selected by default
and the Natural Media tabs appear in the Controls window. Instead of
adjusting the Natural Media yourself, you apply a preset style from the
Style Palette.
17. Click the Natural tab in the Style Palette. Choose Marble.ntr from the
Category menu.
18. Double-click the Natural thumbnail to apply it to the Natural Media
track. (This category may include several thumbnails called Natural. Just
double-click one that you like.) If your Marble category does not include
the Natural setting, you can simply double-click any setting that you like.
19. Close the Style Palette.
Your timeline should now look like the following illustration.
2. Drag the Arrow track into the Face track’s Mask track. You may have to
scroll down.
23
Avid FX Tutorials
3. Click the disclosure triangles to close the Veined Marble track. Rename
the track “Arrow.”
4. The Composite window displays the veined marble masked by the Arrow
spline primitive. Click the disclosure triangles to close the Arrow track.
5. Click the disclosure triangles to expand the Gradient track. Expand the
Face track nested inside to reveal its Mask track.
6. Drag the Bullseye.pct track into the Face track’s Mask track. You may
have to scroll down.
7. Rename the Gradient track “Bullseye.” Click the disclosure triangles to
close the Bullseye track.
8. The Composite window displays the Gradient track masked by the
bullseye shape.
24
Exercise 3: Animating Masked Tracks in a 3D Container
In this section, you animate the arrow so that it moves in from the right, passes
through the center of the bullseye, and moves off-screen in the opposite
direction.
25
Avid FX Tutorials
The Animate button in the lower-right corner of the Controls window lets you
quickly toggle between Constant and the default interpolation. This is useful
when you are compositing rather than animating an effect. When you want to
switch back to the default interpolation, click this button again.
The Animate button also appears in the timeline. When you click either
button, the corresponding button toggles to the same setting.
26
Exercise 3: Animating Masked Tracks in a 3D Container
the red interactor tumbles the track on the Y axis; dragging the blue
interactor rotates the track around the Z axis. If the OpenGL interactors do
not appear in the Composite window, press the letter G.
2. Drag the green OpenGL interactor to the left to spin the Arrow track.
Make sure you click the interactor and not the image. The shaft of the
interactor turns yellow to indicate that it is selected. The corresponding
Spin Y value updates in the Controls window as you drag. When the Spin
Y value is approximately –50, stop dragging. The arrow now appears to
point into the screen and away from the viewer.
3. Drag the blue OpenGL interactor up to rotate the Arrow track. The
corresponding Rotate Z value updates in the Controls window as you drag
the interactor. When Rotate Z is approximately 18, stop dragging. The
arrow now appears to point downward and to the right.
27
Avid FX Tutorials
The Renderer determines how objects within the container interact. Choosing
Z Space Composite displays the objects based on their relative depth
positioning. In other words, if the arrow moves behind the bullseye in Z space,
it is overlapped by the bullseye regardless of the position of their tracks in the
timeline. Z Space Composite allows objects to intersect, interact, and cast
shadows on one another when placed in the same container.
The tip of the arrow now appears at its actual Z position behind the
bullseye.
In OpenGL mode, you do not see non-accelerated objects when you work
in Draft Quality mode. Non-accelerated objects include filters, masks,
bump maps, reflection maps, cast shadows, apply modes, cropping and
opacity.
28
Exercise 3: Animating Masked Tracks in a 3D Container
3. If your Composite window appears this way, press the Quality button in
the Composite window and choose High. See “Preview Controls” on
Quality button page 170 for more information.
In the next few sections you animate the objects in the container using the
Linear interpolation type, which interpolates at a constant rate between
parameter values.
Rather than setting the interpolation type every time you adjust a parameter,
you can save time by changing the default interpolation to the type you use
most often. Complete the following steps to set the default interpolation type
to Linear.
29
Avid FX Tutorials
2. In the General tab, in the General Options section, set the Default
Interpolation menu to Linear.
3. Click OK to apply the changes and exit the Preferences window.
Now you animate the X, Y, and Z Position of the arrow to make it appear to
pass through the bullseye.
30
Exercise 3: Animating Masked Tracks in a 3D Container
However, you can include tracks that use the 3D Sphere, 3D Plane, Cylinder,
Cube, and Page Turn shapes in a 3D Container that uses the 3D Model
Renderer. When you include one of these shape tracks in a 3D Model
Renderer Container, the track is called a 3D Primitive. This means that you
can now apply 3D parameters such as Materials, Textures, Reflection Maps
and Bump Maps to two dimensional shapes. In this section you convert the
effect that you created to a 3D Primitive and apply a bump map to the arrow.
Checkbox
31
Avid FX Tutorials
5. The examples in this section show the Bump Map parameters set at the
default. If you want, you can adjust some of the parameters. See “Working
with the Bump Map Tab” on page 346 for details.
6. Move the CTI to the beginning of the timeline and choose Preview >
Preview to RAM. The arrow flies in from the left, passes through the
bullseye, then moves off the screen to the right. A Rock bump map texture
has been combined with the Natural media.
Unlike the shadows created by the Shadow tab, the 3D Model Container’s
Shadow tab controls the shadows created by the application of the three light
sources in the Lights tab. This creates true cast shadows. Use the Shadows tab
to turn the shadow for each light source on and off, and adjust the softness of
the shadow.
32
Exercise 3: Animating Masked Tracks in a 3D Container
3. Move the CTI to the beginning of the timeline and choose Preview >
Preview to RAM.
In this section, you animate the container that contains the objects that you
already animated. Animating a container animates all the objects inside it
while preserving their spatial relationship to each other.
33
Avid FX Tutorials
The PixelChooser also provides region controls that apply the filter to a
specified region in the image. This allows you to apply a filter to any
rectangular or oval-shaped region, and animate the region size to create wipes
between the filtered and unfiltered image.
34
Exercise 4: Filtering Selectively with the PixelChooser
In this exercise, you apply a blur filter to selected channels using the
PixelChooser’s Channel controls. The second part of the exercise shows you
how to create a wipe using the PixelChooser’s Region controls.
In this section you use the PixelChooser to blur the source image’s luma
channel to create a glow effect.
n For more information on filters, see Chapter 8 of the Avid FX User’s Guide.
35
Avid FX Tutorials
Region tab
Channel tab
6. Set the Make Mask From menu to Luminance. The PixelChooser now
creates a mask based on the source image’s luminance values, using one
of three Mask Types.
7. Select the View Pixels Chosen checkbox to view the mask in black and
white. The white areas of the mask show where the source image’s pixels
will be filtered, and the black areas of the mask show where the pixels will
remain unfiltered.
36
Exercise 4: Filtering Selectively with the PixelChooser
8. Select the Invert Mask checkbox to invert the luma values of the mask.
This creates the glow effect by blurring all pixels except the lightest.
9. Set the Mask Type menu to Levels, and use the Input Black and Input
White controls to adjust the mask and eliminate most of the gray
background regions. Increasing Input Black pushes dark gray pixels to
black; decreasing Input White pushes light gray pixels to white. Set the
interpolation for Input Black and Input White to Constant.
10. Deselect the View Pixels Chosen checkbox to view the composite. If you
want, click the Basic tab and adjust the amount of blur or the direction of
the blur to finetune the glow effect.
37
Avid FX Tutorials
38
Exercise 4: Filtering Selectively with the PixelChooser
You can also use a separate image’s color, luma, or alpha channels to
determine how the PixelChooser filters the source image.
2. Press the Media icon to assign the still image “Burst.pct” to the
PixelChooser Track.
3. Reselect the Directional Blur track.
4. In the PixelChooser tab in the Controls window, click the Channel tab. Set
the Make Mask From menu to Alpha.
5. Select the Use PixelChooser Track checkbox, and make sure that the
Invert Mask checkbox is not selected.
The blurred portion of the image now corresponds to the alpha channel of
the PixelChooser Track image.
39
Avid FX Tutorials
You can create title pages by setting a track’s media type to Text. This opens
the Text window where you can type, edit or import text and set the font, size,
justification, color, opacity, spacing, shadows, and borders. The parameters in
the Text window are applied on a character basis, meaning that you can apply
separate styles to different characters in a track. However, the Text window
parameters do not create tracks in the timeline. Therefore they cannot be
animated.
The Style Palette allows you to save favorite styles and apply them to other
text effects. These styles can be copied and shared with other users or used on
other computers. In this exercise you create a title page then save the styles
from the page and apply them to other pages. Then you create a multi-page
rolling title using a Title Container.
40
Exercise 5: Creating a Rolling Title Effect
4. In the Style tab in the Text window, use the menus to set the font and size
of the text and center justify the text.
Style tab Font menu Font size menu Center Justification button
41
Avid FX Tutorials
10. Click Update to display the changes you made in the Composite window,
but do not close the Text window. Your Composite window should appear
similar to the following example.
42
Exercise 5: Creating a Rolling Title Effect
Add
Category
Add Style
Rename
Style
3. To add the current style to the selected category, select the Name 1 text in
the Text window and click the Add Style icon.
4. Click the thumbnail for the new style, click the Rename Style icon, type
“Name Style” in the dialog box and click OK. The thumbnail and name of
the style appear in the right column.
5. In the Text window, select the Title 1 text and click the Add Style icon.
Enter the name “Title Style” in the dialog box and click OK. The
thumbnail and name of the style appear in the right column.
To create a new text track, and apply the saved styles to it:
1. Activate the timeline and choose Track > New Text Page to create a new
text track. Rename the new track “Credit 2.”
2. Double-click the “Name Style” thumbnail in the Style Palette to apply that
style to the Text window. Then type “Name 2” in the Text window.
3. On the next line, Type “Title 2,” select the text and double-click the Title
Style thumbnail in the Style Palette to apply that style to the Text window.
4. Click Update in the Text window.
43
Avid FX Tutorials
n Because the title pages are centered, they overlap in the Composite window.
Do not reposition them now—later you will place them in a Title Container,
which automatically positions text pages.
5. Repeat steps 6 through 9 to create another text track named “Credit 3,”
containing the text “Name 3” and “Title 3.” Apply the Name Style and
Title Style to the text. Click Update and close the Text window.
3. Click to select the Title Container track and in the Animation tab in the
Controls window, set the Animation Style menu to Roll.
4. Click to select the Credit 1 track. In the Page tab in the Controls window,
set the Page Header to 100 to add some space between the text pages.
Repeat this step for the Credit 2 and Credit 3 tracks.
5. Play the sequence. The three title pages are automatically positioned and
animated.
44
Exercise 5: Creating a Rolling Title Effect
Now you mask the edges of the text frame so that the credit roll appears to
fade in and out at the Title Safe Area.
The examples show Mask Top and Mask Bottom values of 55, but you can
set these parameters to whatever you like.
4. In the Animation tab, adjust Blend Top and Blend Bottom to soften the
edges of the mask.
The examples show Blend Top and Blend Bottom values of 20, but you
can set these parameters to whatever you like.
45
Avid FX Tutorials
5. Turn off the title safe grid by choosing Preview > Mark > None.
6. Play your credit roll or choose Preview > Preview to RAM.
n When you work in OpenGL mode, you do not see non-accelerated objects
when you use the on-screen interactors. Non-accelerated objects include
masks. If your masks don’t appear, make sure that you are working in High
Quality. For more information on OpenGL mode, see “Working with the
OpenGL Interactors” on page 171 in the Avid FX User’s Guide.
7. To save your credit roll in the Project window, choose Composition >
Save Composition.
8. In the Project window, click the Composition and rename it by pressing
Return (Macintosh) or Enter (Windows), typing the name and pressing
Return or Enter again.
46
Exercise 6: Creating Animated Text Effects
47
Avid FX Tutorials
13. Set the duration of the effect to three seconds by typing 00:00:03:00 into
the Duration field in the Timeline window and pressing Return
(Macintosh) or Enter (Windows).
14. Choose Preview > Preview to RAM to preview the animation. The text
appears to type on screen one character at a time.
15. To save your effect in the Project window, choose Composition > Save
Composition.
16. In the Project window, click the Composition and rename it by pressing
Return (Macintosh) or Enter (Windows), typing a name and pressing
Return or Enter again.
48
Exercise 6: Creating Animated Text Effects
17. Return the CTI to the start of the effect, then choose Preview > Preview
to RAM.
Now you put the Type On text that you created on a motion path using the
media from the previous exercise.
2. In the Path tab in the Controls window, click to select the Make Path
Track checkbox. The Text Path track is a Spline Object media track which
appears just below the text’s Face track in the timeline.
49
Avid FX Tutorials
3. Select the Text Path track in the timeline. The Tool window opens. The
Tool window contains tools which create and edit spline objects in the
Composite window.
If the Tool window does not appear, you can open the Tool window by
choosing Window > Show Tool Window or pressing Command–6
(Macintosh) or Control–6 (Windows).
4. With the Text Path track selected, select the Oval tool from the Tool
window and draw an oval in the composite window.
If you want, press the Shift key to constrain this tool to draw a circle
instead of an oval. The Shift key also constrains the Rectangle tool to
draw squares.
The Composite window updates, showing the text wrapped around the
spline object in the Text Path track.
50
Exercise 6: Creating Animated Text Effects
11. To save your effect in the Project window, choose Composition > Save
Composition.
12. In the Project window, click the Composition and rename it by pressing
Return (Macintosh) or Enter (Windows), typing a name and pressing
Return or Enter again.
Set to -
125
degrees
5. Press the Media icon in the Video 1 track and choose Text for the source
media.
51
Avid FX Tutorials
6. The Text window appears. Click in the window and type “Reveal.” Select
the text and make any adjustments. When the text appears the way that
you want, click Update then close the Text window. The examples in this
exercise use the font Coronet at 132 points, but you can use any font that
you like. Cursive fonts work best for this exercise.
7. Create a new Spline track by clicking the Add Paint Layer button. The
track is automatically renamed “Spline Track.”
8. The Tool window opens with the Brush tool automatically selected. If the
Tool window does not appear, select the Spline track’s Face track in the
timeline and choose Window > Show Tool Window or press Command–6
(Macintosh) or Control–6 (Windows).
9. In the Composite window, using one continuous stroke, trace over the
word “Reveal” just as if you were writing. Don’t worry if you miss any of
the letters.
n If the brush stroke doesn’t appear in the Composite window, click to select the
Brush Tab in the Controls window and select the Brush On checkbox.
12. To manipulate each bézier handle independently, press the Option key
(Macintosh) or the Alt key (Windows) as you drag the handle.You can
Option-click to create additional Control points.
52
Exercise 6: Creating Animated Text Effects
13. Use the controls in the Brush tab to make the brush stroke wider. Select
the Face track, click the Brush Tab in the Controls window and set Size to
8 with Hold interpolation.
14. Drag the Spline track into the Mask track nested inside the Reveal track.
When you finish, your timeline should look like the following example.
15. Click to select the first keyframe in the Face track of the Spline Track. In
the Controls window, in the Brush tab, set the Stroke End to 0 with
Linear interpolation.
16. Preview the effect. The spline that you created acts as a mask, revealing
the underlying text so that it appears to write on to the screen.
17. To save your effect in the Project window, choose Composition > Save
Composition.
18. In the Project window, click the Composition and rename it by pressing
Return (Macintosh) or Enter (Windows), typing a name and pressing
Return or Enter again.
53
Avid FX Tutorials
In this section, you import foreground and background media, apply the
Chroma Key filter, and create the garbage matte.
5. Press the Controls button in the Composite window and make sure that
Controls button Checkerboard is selected. This sets the background of the Composite
window so that a checkerboard pattern represent transparent areas.
54
Exercise 7: Creating a Chroma Key Effect
6. Select the Dog track. Choose Filters > Keys and Mattes > Chroma Key to
apply a Chroma Key filter to the track.
n For more information on filters, see Chapter 8 of the Avid FX User’s Guide.
7. Select the Chroma Key track that is nested inside the Face track inside the
Dog track.
8. In the Controls window, click the Garbage Matte tab.
9. Click the Lock icon to unlock the parameter values in order to adjust the
settings independently. Adjust the Left and Top settings to eliminate as
much of the green background as possible without cutting off any of the
foreground subject. The Left value should be set to about 53, and the Top
value set to about 34.
55
Avid FX Tutorials
When you finish, your Composite window should look like the following
example.
In this section, you create and adjust a matte using the Chroma Key and Clean
Up Alpha filters.
Eyedropper
The area whose color matches the Key Color becomes transparent.
56
Exercise 7: Creating a Chroma Key Effect
3. To view the matte you created, press the Channel button in the Composite
window, and choose Alpha from the menu.
Channel button
The Composite window displays the alpha channel of the keyed image in
black and white. White areas are opaque in the output, black areas are
transparent, and gray areas are semi-transparent. The matte is somewhat
crisp and mildly aliased around the edges.
4. Select the Dog track. Choose Filters > Keys and Mattes > Matte Choker.
This helps soften the edges of the matte.
Another very helpful filter often used in conjunction with the Chroma Key
is the Clean Up Alpha filter. For more information on filters, see the Avid
FX User’s Guide.
57
Avid FX Tutorials
5. To view the keyed foreground against the background, press the Channel
button and choose RGB from the menu. Then click the Background
track’s Visibility icon to restore the background.
Because the foreground and background media were shot in different lighting
environments, you need to adjust the color and contrast of the foreground to
match the background.
In this case, the foreground appears washed out when composited against the
high-contrast background and has noise in the dark areas. In this part of the
exercise, you use a Levels/Gamma filter to adjust the foreground image.
1. Select the Dog track, and choose Filters > Color and Blurs >
Levels/Gamma.
2. Select the Levels/Gamma track that is nested inside the Dog track’s Face
track.
58
Exercise 7: Creating a Chroma Key Effect
3. In the Basic tab in the Controls window, increase the Input Black setting
to increase the range of gray values that are output to black. Set Input
Black to about 10 to eliminate the noise from the dark areas.
4. Decrease Input White slightly to a value of about 225 to brighten the light
areas in the foreground and increase the contrast.
59
Avid FX Tutorials
You can use the Gradient media type to create, edit, and save still gradients to
use as media. The gradient editor can create gradients of any color or
transparency, and provides control over the midpoint, steepness, and shape of
the gradient.
In this section you import a movie file to use as the source media, adjust the
project size, and trim the head of the clip.
To import a movie:
1. Choose Composition >New Composition to create a new effect.
2. Set the timeline duration to three seconds by typing 00:00:03:00 in the
Duration field in the Timeline window and pressing Return (Macintosh)
or Enter (Windows).
3. Press the Media icon in the Video 1 track, and choose Movie File from the
menu. A dialog box lets you navigate to the file’s location. Open
“Water.mov,” found in the PracticeMedia\AvidFX folder on the Online
Library. Rename the Video 1 track “Water.”
4. Press the Media icon in the Video 2 track, and choose Color from the
menu.
5. Click the Track Selector button at the bottom of the Controls window or
press F to toggle to the Face track. Use the controls in the ColorMedia tab
to assign the track a black color.
6. Rename the Video 2 track “Background.”
60
Exercise 8: Creating a Custom Scatter Wipe Effect
7. Expand the Water track to reveal its nested tracks. Select the Face track.
In this section you apply the 3D Image Shatter to a track and apply Gradient
media to the filter’s Wipe Gradient track. Then you use the gradient editor to
create a custom gradient wipe.
61
Avid FX Tutorials
4. Drag color stop 1 on the gradient editor all the way to the left, to a value
of 0.
62
Exercise 8: Creating a Custom Scatter Wipe Effect
5. Click to the right of color stop 1 to create another black color stop. Drag
this color stop 3 all the way to the right, to a Position of 1.00.
Your gradient preview should now look like the following illustration.
The 3D Image Shatter uses the gradient you created to determine the order in
which shards break from the image. Particles break off first where the gradient
is darkest, and last where the gradient is lightest. This gradient is darkest at the
left and right edges and lightest in the center, so particles break off at the edges
first and then wipe to the center of the image.
63
Avid FX Tutorials
64
Exercise 8: Creating a Custom Scatter Wipe Effect
6. Play the effect or preview it to RAM. Particles break off first at the left
and right edges, and break off last in the center of the image.
In this section of the exercise, you work with a number of 3D Image Shatter
controls to create an effect in which long, thin particles break off from the
image, beginning at the left and right edges, and fall to the bottom of the
screen.
2. Move the CTI to Time 00:00:01:00 by typing 1:00 in the Time field in the
timeline and pressing Return (Macintosh) or Enter (Windows). This
allows you to see the particles as you adjust their parameter values at the
first keyframe.
65
Avid FX Tutorials
3. Click the Particles tab in the Controls window. Set XY Ratio to 10,000 to
create long, thin particles.
4. Click the Rotation tab in the Controls window. You may have to scroll
over to see the Rotation tab. Set Rotate X to 5, Rotate Y to 0, and Rotate Z
to 0 to rotate the particles slowly around the X axis.
6. Set Velocity to 275 to make the particles move more slowly, thereby
making them appear more dense.
7. Set the Velocity Type menu to Centrifugal to pull the particles away from
the center as they move.
66
Exercise 9: Creating a 3D Text Effect
8. Click the Gravity tab in the Controls window. Set Gravity Amount to
about 250 to increase the gravitational force on the particles as they move.
9. At the bottom of the Controls window, click to return the Animate button
to Default interpolation.
10. Return the CTI to the beginning of the effect and play the sequence or
preview it to RAM.
67
Avid FX Tutorials
In this section, you use the controls in the Text window to input and format
text.
7. Double-click to select the word “Text” and change the size of the
characters to 122 points.
8. The Size buttons scale the size of all fonts. This is useful if your text
contains multiple font sizes and you want to scale all sizes up or down
Click to scale
equally. Click the left Size button to decrease the scale by an integer of 10.
68
Exercise 9: Creating a 3D Text Effect
11. Select the words “Avid FX.” Increase kerning to 4 to move characters
farther apart.
12. Click Update and close the Text window.
13. Choose Preview > Preview to Ram to preview the effect in the Composite
window.
By default, Avid FX assigns the default plastic material from the Materials
tab to all four sides. In the next section you adjust the materials and map
media to the text.
In this exercise, you map a PICT file to the front and back faces of 3D text and
then use an aluminum material on the extrusions and bevels. The Textures tab
assigns media to the faces of a 3D Extrusion. When you select texture tracks in
the Textures tab, the texture tracks are used instead of the material specified in
the Materials tab. You use both texture tracks and materials on the same 3D
Extrusion.
69
Avid FX Tutorials
Face Count
Menu
Extrusions Tab
Type menu
70
Exercise 9: Creating a 3D Text Effect
Selects the
Front Face
7. Select the checkbox for the Front Face. Do not select any other
checkboxes. This allows you to map a media file to the Front and Back
Faces. The parameters in the Materials tab are used on the other faces.
8. Leave the Map Method menu set to Clip. This maps an image directly to
the center of the face. If the image is smaller than the face, the underlying
material is visible. You can use the Position X and Position Y parameters
to reposition the image. The Scale X and Y parameters allow you to resize
the image so that it covers all of the text. You specify the image using the
Texture tracks in the timeline.
9. Expand the Avid 3D Text track to reveal the Front Texture track.
Press the Media icon on the Front Texture track and choose Still Image
File from the menu. Navigate to “Waves.pct” in the Tutorial Files folder
on your Avid FX CD and click Open. The Waves image displays on the
front face of the text.
71
Avid FX Tutorials
In this section, you use the 3D Extrusion shape controls to animate the
tracking of the text in the effect. Unlike the parameters in the Text window, the
parameters in the Controls window each have a track on the timeline and can
be animated. Parameters in the Text window act as static properties of the
effect and cannot be animated.
72
Exercise 9: Creating a 3D Text Effect
5. Preview the effect. The characters begin far apart, so that only the center
of the text appears on screen. As the effect progresses, the characters
move closer together. Halfway through the effect, the characters all appear
on screen, and remain static until the end of the effect.
In this section, you work with the 3D Extrusion lighting controls to create a
more dramatic effect. 3D Extrusion provides three independent light sources
that you can adjust individually to create complex lighting effects. In this
exercise, you only work with Light 1. At the default settings, the Light 2 and
Light 3 Intensity values are turned off, so they do not affect the text.
Light 1 checkbox
73
Avid FX Tutorials
3. Select the first keyframe in the 3D Avid Text track. Set Intensity to 0 with
Ease In/Out interpolation. Set Ambient to 50 with Ease In/Out
interpolation. At the first keyframe in the effect, the effect is lit entirely by
diffuse Ambient light.
4. Move the CTI to Time 00:00:01:00. With the Avid 3D Text track still
selected, create a new keyframe and set Ambient to 0 with Hold
interpolation. Then set Intensity to 200 with Hold interpolation.
74
Exercise 9: Creating a 3D Text Effect
At the second keyframe in the effect, the text is lit entirely by Light 1.
5. With the keyframe at 00:00:01:00 still selected, set Light X to 0 with Ease
In/Out interpolation. This moves the Light 1 source to the left edge of the
screen.
6. Select the last keyframe in the effect and set Light X to 640 with Hold
interpolation. This moves the Light 1 source to the right edge of the
screen.
75
Avid FX Tutorials
7. Preview the effect to RAM. The animated tracking moves the characters
together until they all appear on screen. At the same time, the diffuse
ambient light is replaced by Light 1, which points at the left side of the
screen. During the second half of the effect, the text remains still while the
light sweeps across.
Now you replace the image mapped to the front face with a bump map. A
bump map to create three dimensional detail based on the luminance
information. The luminance value of each pixel of the image creates height,
with brighter pixels creating more height. You can create the bump map from a
procedural texture or you can use a media file. You use a procedural texture in
this exercise.
76
Exercise 10: Creating a Displacement Map Effect
9. Save your project to the Avid FX Library Browser. See “Saving Settings”
on page 12 for details.
77
Avid FX Tutorials
5. Select the “Avid logo.psd” track by clicking the logo in the Composite
window.
6. Choose Filters > Distortion and Perspective > Displacement Map. A
Displacement Map filter is nested inside the Avid Logo track’s Face track.
By default, the Displacement Map uses Video 1 as the map track, so the
distortion is based on the soccer ball proxy image and produces the
distortion shown in the following illustration.
n The map track uses the Video 1 source from your host application for the
displacement.
78
Exercise 10: Creating a Displacement Map Effect
You replace the existing Map Track with the Fire media, so that the fire
appears to distort the logo.
4. Drag the copy of the Fire track into the Map Track.
5. Preview the effect to RAM. The logo is distorted by the fire, and the
distortion pattern updates with each new frame of the movie.
79
Avid FX Tutorials
You animate the logo’s opacity and the distortion to make the logo appear to
emerge from the flames and finish undistorted.
To animate an effect:
1. Select the first keyframe in the Displacement Map track. In the
Displacement tab in the Controls window, set Max. Horizontal and Max.
Vertical to 30.
2. Without moving the CTI, select the first keyframe in the “Avid logo” track
in the timeline. Set Opacity to 0.
3. Select the last keyframe in the effect. Select the Displacement Map track
and set Max. Horizontal and Max. Vertical to 0.
4. Return the CTI to the start of the effect, then preview the effect to RAM.
The distortion is somewhat difficult to see because the logo is still fairly
transparent when the logo is most distorted. To correct this problem, use the
Value Curves in the timeline to adjust how the distortion animates over time.
80
Exercise 10: Creating a Displacement Map Effect
2. Adjust the wheel control on the left to view a smaller range of values and
a more detailed curve.
3. Drag the bézier handle at the last keyframe to adjust the curve so that the
Max. Horizontal value remains closer to 30 for a longer portion of the
effect.
4. Repeat these steps to adjust the curve of the Max. Vertical control.
5. Save your project to the Avid FX Library Browser. See “Saving Settings”
on page 12 for details.
81
Avid FX Tutorials
82