Getting Assets into Your Media Composer Project

How it works...
The settings are separated by tabs, described as follows:

Drive filtering and indexing

ff Filter Network Drives Based on Resolution: Selecting this will not allow media files
to be placed on any network drives that Media Composer feels will not be able to
reliably capture or playback files of a particular resolution. For example, you open
your Capture Tool and set the resolution to 1:1. Then when you go to select a drive
to store your media files on, you may see that one is grayed out and not selectable.
If you then change your resolution to 3:1, you may find that it is now selectable as a
storage drive.
ff Filter Out System Drive: Selecting this will not allow the media files to be stored
on the same drive that your operating system is installed on.
ff Filter Out Launch Drive: Selecting this will not allow the media files to be stored
on the same drive that your Media Composer software is installed on.

Video resolution
Under each tab you can select a default resolution. You are not locked into this resolution.
Tools and dialog windows will still allow you to override this default whenever you want.

Apply to All: If you'd like to set a specific resolution and have it applied to all the different
media type tabs, rather than having to do it one by one, simply click on the Apply to
All button.

The benefit of breaking the media types into categories, such as Capture, Render, and
Import, is that you can then set different defaults for each. For example, on a project with
many hours of taped footage, you might elect to capture all of your footage at a low resolution
in order to increase how much media will fit onto your drive(s). This will mean that when the
project is creatively finished, you will go through a second process to recapture just the video
portions that are being used at a much higher resolution, a process frequently called the Up-
Res, so that the image quality will be higher. You may prefer to not have to go through a similar
process for all of the titles, still images, and motion graphics, so you could elect to set the
default for these media types at the level where you need them to be for the final master (for
example, 1:1).

Video drive/Audio drive

Under each tab, you can select a default location for the media types to be stored. You are not
locked into this. Various tools and dialog windows will still allow you to override this default
when desired.

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This selection is helpful for ensuring files go where required, and it allows you to send render
files (known in Avid terminology as Precompute files) to a specific drive if required
by your facility.

Apply to All: If you want the storage drive to be the same for all the different media type tabs,
rather than having to do it one by one, simply click on the Apply to All button.

Media type
Changing this is only possible for SD video, as HD will always be in the MXF format. Media
Creation settings will default to the file format called Material Exchange Format (MXF). You
should not change this unless you are in the unique situation where you are generating media
on one workstation that will have to be used on a much older workstation that can only play
the Open Media Framework (OMF) file format.

Mixing frame rates

Yes, it's possible to mix footage with different frame rates. However, at the time of writing, the
Media Composer only allows each Project to be at one frame rate. So, here's one method to
make the mixing of frames rates possible.

Getting ready
You will create two separate projects, each at the required frame rate. Be sure to label
them accordingly to avoid confusion. For example, one project would be named [Project
Title]29-97 (project names cannot contain a period) and the other would be named
[Project Title] 24p.

How to do it...
The following are the steps to mix footage with different frame rates:

1. Capture and/or import your video into the corresponding projects based on the
frame rates.
2. Decide which project will be the main/primary project that you will actually work
within to edit and craft your movie. Most likely, this will be the project that contains
the majority of your footage or matches the final delivery format that is required.
3. In your main project, ensure that no bins are currently selected in the Project Window.
4. Go to the File menu and select Open Bin…. (Alternatively, you will find the Open Bin...
selection under the Project Window's Fast Menu as well as in the menu that will
appear when you right-click in the Project Window.)

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Getting Assets into Your Media Composer Project

5. In the dialog window, navigate to the project that's at the other frame rate and
contains the bin file that you want to open.
6. Select the bin and either double-click on it or click on the Open button in the
dialog window.
7. The bin will open in your Project and you can access the contents.
8. Once the bin is open, it will be inside a folder created by Media Composer labeled
Other Bins. This is short for other projects' bins. It means that the bin file does
not reside inside the same folder as your Project's bin files.

At this point you can elect to begin editing right from those bins, or you may elect to copy the
clips into a bin that does reside in your Project folder. See the next There's more... section for
two methods of copying clips, called Duplicating and Cloning.

There's more...
There are two methods you can use to copy the clips (making a Duplicate or a Clone), each
with a unique behavior. Whether you Duplicate or Clone a clip, you will never create any new
media files, but will simply create an additional clip that refers (or you could say points) to the
media file(s). Media Composer calls this reference a link and would say that the clip is linked
to the media file(s).

ff Duplicating a clip: Each clip acts independently of the other. For example, one clip
could be named Horse and contain several Markers while the Duplicated clip could
be named White Horse Runs and have no Markers. Making changes to the name,
adding/removing I/O marks, and adding/removing Markers to one Duplicated clip
does not have any affect on the other. Further, the creation date of a Duplicated clip
will reflect the new date and time it was created.
ff Cloning a clip: Cloned clips are able to communicate to their cloned brethren. For
example, if you change the name of one Cloned clip, the other's name will also
change. The same is true for adding and removing Markers as well as In and Out
points. The creation date for all Cloned clips will be the same (the original date).

Duplicating clips
The following are the steps for duplicating clips:

1. Select the clips you want to Duplicate.

2. Go to the Edit menu.
3. Select Duplicate. Alternatively, you could right-click on one of the selected clips
and choose Duplicate from the Contextual menu, or use the keyboard shortcut
cmd + D (Mac) or Ctrl + D (PC).
4. New clips will be created and will have .copy added to the end of their names.

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