ERASING MEDIA THAT’S NOT BEING USED IN THE FINAL SEQUENCE TO CLEAR DRIVE SPACE WHEN A PROJECT IS DONE

Go to Tools - Media Tool. On the left it'll ask me what drive(s) I want to look at and I can select more than one by hold Shift and click. On the right I can choose which projects I want to look in. If I choose Master Clips and click OK it'll open up a giant bin full of all the media that's on those drives in all those projects.

I can look at a Sequence and decide what has been used in the sequence. To find out what has been used in the sequence and project, click on the sequence and highlight it in the Bin and with the Media Tool open, open the Fast Menu which is part of the Media Tool click on Set Media Display so it'll only show me stuff from the one project that I'm dealing with and click OK. Then with the sequence highlighted, open the Fast Menu and select Select Media Relatives. The Media Tool will display the clips that are used and they will be highlighted or the clips in any open Bin will be highlighted. These clips are the one's that I want to keep and I can get rid of the rest. The next step would be to reverse the selection. With the Bin with the clips highlighted open, go to the Fast Menu and choose Reverse Selection. This will then highlight all the clips that have not been used and if I'm at the end of my project, they can all be deleted. With all the clips highlighted press Delete and a window will appear letting me know what will be deleted.


ANOTHER WAY TO CLEAR DRIVE SPACE - clearing Precomputes

With the Media Tool open, go to it's Fast Menu and choose Show Media Display and choose Precomputes. For instance if I'm working at night on a Unity and there's no drive space and I'm all alone, I can open an older project and delete all the precomputes so I can continue to work and the next day they can deal with it.

Of if i'm working on a project and i have so many different versions of it and I want to delete all the precomputes from the project and only worry about my current sequence. In the Media Tool, I would select the Project(s) and show me the precomputes that are used. Then in my project I would go to the Bin with my current sequence and select it and in the Bin's Fast Menu choose Select Media Relatives and then go to the Media Tool to see which ones I'm using as they will be highlighted. If I'm not using any of them, I can go to the Medial Tool and select all the precomputes and delete them all. This would get rid of a huge amount of space.

If I'm working on a project with lots of effects I could do this everyday to clear space. Maybe first thing in the morning check on my drive space and if I need to free some space by going to my BIN full of Sequences that I'm working on and then show me all the Precomputes that I'm using and then Reverse the selection and delete them. Deleting un-needing Precomputes is a good habit to get into.


CONSOLIDATION

• Used for copying and moving media
• Located in the Clip Menu
• Can consolidate master clips, sequences and subclips


CONSOLIDATE/TRANSCODE/DECOMPOSING A SEQUENCE

• In the Clip Menu
• It moves media files from one drive to another (copies files)
• Anytime I Consolidate or Decompose a sequence, make sure I duplicate my sequence and put it into it’s own Bin
• Select the Sequence and go to Clip – Consolidate. Add a handle and check Create New Sequence
• My new Bin will now have a new sequence and new clips


CONSOLIDATING A MASTER CLIP

• MASTER CLIPS- The media for a master clip can be copied to a different drive or partition and the original media deleted. To do this, select Delete original media files when done in the Consolidate Window. When this is done, the original clip is automatically scattered over several partitions. Select a drive or drives
o You can also copy media files associated with a master clip and retain the original media. In this case, deselect Delete original media files when done and a new master clip will be made to go with the new media. (If the new clip is to be associated with the new media, the new clip has a .new extension to the name.


CONSOLIDATING A SEQUENCE

• Used for deleting media not used in a sequence by copying just the parts required and clearing the rest.
• It is IMPORTANT to DUPLICATE the sequence before consolidating. In case there is any possibility of going back and redigitizing the original clips, retain a copy of the unconsolidated sequence, which is linked to the master clips


TO CONDOLIDATE:

o Select the duplicated sequence in its bin and choose Clip – Consolidate
o Good idea to add handles to the new clips
o Choose a drive or drives (click and shift + click) from the list available
o You may have to split the sequence into 2 hard drives (depending on drive space). If you do this, then DO NOT select the Delete Original Media when done option, if any material appears in both parts of the program. Wait until everything is consolidated and then delete the original media.

CONSOLIDATING SUBCLIPS

• A great time saver if you’ve digitized long master clips with short sections of good material you use. Ie. if you digitize a whole tape and make the final selection on the computer. When finished, the system will have new master clips based on subclips that were consolidated.
o Load your source clip and make subclips of what you want to use (you don’t have to name them now if you don’t want to). Select all the subclips and choose Consolidate. Choose handles if you feel you need them.
o Choose a media volume for the new media files and choose OK
o The new media will be created by copying the old media so that you need a volume with enough space.
o The original media files can be deleted automatically at the end of the process or you can do this later..
• When the Consolidation is finished, each original subclip will now have:
o A new master clip the length of the subclip plus the handles
o A new subclip linked to the new master clip
The simplest thing to do now is to delete all the subclips and the original master clip and media, leaving a number of new master clips in the bin that reflect your choice of material. These clips can now be renamed if you didn’t name them when you made the subclips. It is best to do this before editing any clips concerned.


CONSOLIDATING - Used in 2 ways

Way #1 - When a project is done, and i want to get rid of all the media that I didn't use so I can free up drive space, I will copy it over to another folder either on the same drive or another one with just the stuff used in the final timeline/sequence with some handles.

In the Bin, I will click on the sequence and go to Bin - Consolidate/Transcode and make sure Consolidate is checked and then choose which drive I want to copy the media over to. Make sure Create New Sequence is checked with a Handle amount entered it and also check Skip media files already on the target drive and also check Relink selected clips to target drive before skipping. Then click on the Consolidate button. When it's done I can go back to the Media Tool and delete all the media that's not being used. Don't have automated functions delete my media for me.

When it's done the bin will show new clips made for me on the new drive I selected. My new master clips are now connected to my new sequence.

Way #2 - When I need to copy and move my clips to another drive for someone else to have or use or because I want to delete the clips from my first drive and be able to relink them to the new drive I'm coping them to.

In the Bin select the clips that I want to move and go to Bin - Consolidate (some of the choices are different than selecting on a sequence, such as no handles). Select the drive I want it to go to, check Create new sequences and Skip media files already on the target drive and click on Consolidate. A window will open asking me if I want to continue to work with these Master Clips or do I want the master clips to be linked to the media on the Target Drive. If I'm going to put this drive away or deleting the media than I'll want the clips to be linked to the media on the target drive.


LINKING - there's a master clip and there's the media which are 2 different things. The master clip is a bunch of data about the tape and start time and what not and the media is a much bigger file. The two are linked together and sometimes they break and I may want them to reconnect to other media.

If I'm going to delete my original media and I want to eventually be linked to the other drive I'm copying it to, in the pop up window chose Master clips are relinked to media on target drive and click ok.


TRANSCODING

This allows me to copy the media and change the resolution. If I'm working on a 24P project and my harddrive is getting filled up I can work with a more compressed resolution at 28:1 and then throw away the DV footage and work at the 28:1 and when I'm done I can recapture the DV footage at full quality and then go out to tape.

If I'm working on a 30 frame project I could use a 15:1 choice or if I have the Avid Mojo I could work at Uncompressed 1:1 footage which will take up a lot of space so I may want to copy everything at 1:1 and then Transcode to a compressed resolution such as DV25 and then take the DV25 on a laptop or take home and work that way and then bring the bins back and link it up and then work at 1:1 finishing up the project.


AUTO SAVE/AVID ATTIC

Go to the Settings Tab in the Project Window and go to Bin and put whatever time i want in the Auto Save Interval and change it to (7 or whatever I want). Set the Inactivity Period to 20 seconds. The Force Auto Save should be set at 10 minutes. Set the Maximum files in the project's attic to 30 and the Max Versions of a file in the attic to 5.

If my system crashes, to find the last saved version go to the Attic which is located on the hard drive in the Avid folder most likely on the computer's hardrive and not on a unity. Go to My Computer - Main Local Internal Harddrive - Program Files - Avid - Avid/xpressPro/MediaComposer - Avid Attic. In the Attic there will be a separate forlder for each project and in those folders there will be Bin folders. The most important Bin I won't want to lose is the one with my CUTS in it. In the Attic click on the Date Modified header to find the most recent one. If I need to use the file from the Attic, I would then copy it and paste it into my project by navigating in the Finder to the Avid Projects Folder and to the project I'm working on and paste it in there. I would then go back to the Avid interface. Make sure my Sequences Bin is closed because Avid won't allow two bins that it thinks are the same bin. So close my CUTS bin and then in the Project Window go to Bins - Fast Menu - Open Bin and navigate with the Finder to the project folder and under Files of Type, choose All Files and find it and select it and click Open. It will open up as the last saved version


RETRIEVING A BIN FROM THE ATTIC FOLDER

• On a Mac, the attic folder is at the top level of the Avid drive. Inside the Attic folder is a folder for each project on the computer. After projects are completed, trash the folders from old projects
• On NT systems, find out from the original installation.
• If you delete a sequence by mistake (or F up big time), you can copy a bin (file) from the Attic folder into your Project folder. Avid will only allow one version of the same bin to be open at any one time; even if your backup is renamed, so first close your problem bin and then follow these steps:
o Quit out of the Avid (your project will be saved)
o Double click the icon for the computer’s internal drive and open the Attic folder, and the project folder. You will see a list of backed up bins, with names such as Sequences.bak.12. They should be displayed in date/time order (if not change the window to a list view and sort to show the newest files to be at the top).
o Look at the list of files until you see an earlier version of your bin (usually not the most recent, as that will most likely be a copy of the problem bin)
o Open you project folder then, on a Mac, Option + Drag your earlier bin from the Attic folder into your project folder. This will make a copy of the bin (file). You cannot open the backup bin directly from the Attic. On an NT system, right-click on the .bak bin in the Attic folder and choose Copy. Then move to your project folder and right-click Paste or you can Ctrl + Drag the attic bin to your project folder.
o Relaunch Avid and you should see the backup bin in the project window. If not, choose Open Bin from the file menu and navigate to find it. Earlier versions of your clips will be in the bin. Make a new bin and drag any clips you need into this new bin and close and delete the backup bin.
• If you deleted a bin by mistake, you don’t need to quit Avid while you copy the bin, but if the bin or sequence is corrupted, it is best to do this.
• You should always back up your work to another drive or to a CD-rom at the end of the day. To copy your project, just copy your project folder to the other source.


MEDIA MANAGEMENT – DELETING MEDIA

IF I HAVE A CLIP IN THE BROWSER AND I WANT TO DELETE IT, highlight it and click Delete. There are then two choices:
1. Delete Master Clip- this will delete the clip, but leaves its media in the drive
2. Delete Number of Associated Media Files- this keeps the Master Clip and erases the media files (clip goes offline, but it’ll still be in my browser)

IF I WANT TO KEEP VIDEO FILES AND GET RID OF AUDIO FILES

1. Go to Tools – Media Tool
a. It’ll ask for which drives
b. Which project or projects
c. Choose Master Clip or Precomputes
2. It’ll show me my media
3. I can drag or drop a clip from the media tool and drop into a Bin (in case I deleted it from a Bin by mistake)


DELETING MEDIA

• If you project is done and are about to start another and you can get rid of all your media, then the OMFI media files folder on each drive can be deleted at the desktop level.
• To delete from a Bin, select the clips in the bin and press Delete. You can choose to delete the clips, the media or both. Unless the clips have been wrongfully logged, it is worth hanging on to them even if the media is deleted. That way they can be redigitized later.
• To delete all media from the current project, select the Media Tool and select Current Project and check all three categories of file: Master Clips, Precomputes, and Individual Media Files. Then press Delete and you’ll get one last chance to change your mind.


DELETING SELECTED MEDIA

• In case storage needs to be cleared during an edit to allow for more digitizing.
• You can list certain media that’s associated with specific sequences and this media can be kept or deleted.
• Assuming that the current sequence does not use all the clips that were originally digitized, but that anything not in the sequence is not required and that media can be deleted. Follow the following steps to remove this media:
o Open the Media Tool
o Select Current Project/Master Clips
o Choose the appropriate drive(s) and click OK
o Now, select the current sequence and in the Bin Menu choose “Select Media Relatives”. Now any other clip in any open bin (including the Media Tool) that is linked to or associated with the selected sequence, will be highlighted.
o In the Media Tool fast menu choose Reverse Selection. Now all those clips in your project not associated with the sequence (and thus not required) will be highlighted in the Media Tool.
o Check it all out and Delete the media.
• This technique can also be used to delete unwanted Precomputes. If there is more than one sequence to be checked, move them into the same bin and select both before selecing Media Relatives. The clearing of unwanted Precomputes is an important regular task.


TO DELETE UNUSED MEDIA

• This is when a job has be locked and done
• Highlight the Final Sequence
• In Fast Menu of the Bin, Select Media Drives
• What the Avid does, is it selects All the clips I DO NOT want to erase
• In the Media Tool, go to Fast Menu and choose Reverse Selection
• Then choose what I want to delete


RELINK

• Used to get rid of the Offline Media message or to force a clip to link to media on a particular drive. Below are some scenarios for relinking:
o Select the offline clips in your bin and choose Relink (from Clip or Bin Menu)
o To relink master clips, click in the right box and OK
o The system will only link if the media files have the same source (tape name) and identical start and end timecodes as the clips selected for relinking.
• If a sequence shows some frames as Media Offline, the entire sequence may be relinked.
o Select the sequence in the bin
o Deselect both check boxes in the Relink dialogue box and press OK
• A third scenario is to Relink to Selected. This lets us link sequences and subclips to media files associated with specific master clips. Say Version 3 of my sequence has be consolidated, but later I decide to return to Version 1 and version 1 shows Media Offline. Temporarily move version 1 into the same bin as the consolidated master clips and choose Relink to Selected. This will force your sequence to link to the selected master clips if possible. Duplicated your sequence first!


UNLINK

• When using Unlink, don’t carry out what’s described last if any of your clips have been edited into a sequence. Do it first.
• In the Clip or Bin menu & only revealed if Shift + Click are held down while accessing the menu
• If you log & digitize clips from a particular tape and later realize that the logged timecodes could be applied to clips from a different tape or an associated DAT, time can be saved by having to relog them.
o Simply select all the clips of interest and duplicate them and drag the clips into a bin or my choice and with Shift + Ctrl held down on the keyboard, choose Unlink. All links these clips had with any media are now broken and to all intents and purposes they have returned to the status of having just been logged but never digitized. (This means that the tape source and tracks can be modified and can be digitized as desired).
• Unlink is also good for removing unwanted tracks from a clip. For example, you captured video on just a narration. If you delete the video media is deleted, the video track will still exist in the clip and a Media Offline message will appear. Once a clip has been digitized, it is not possible to change the tracks (even if all media is offline), so to get rid of the video track and media do the following:
o Select the clip(s) in the bin and open the Media Tool
o Set the media display to show Master Clips from your project.
o Back in the bin with the selected clips, choose Select Media Relatives from the fast menu – your clip will be highlighted in the Media Tool.
o Click on the title bar of the Media Tool and press Delete
o Delete only the video media file(s). this leave you with clips that have an unwanted video track.
o Unlink these clips and modify the tracks (clip or bin menu) leaving just the audio tracks.
o Relink all the selected clips (use Relink Master Clips) and the audio media will come back online.


HOW TO FIND OFFLINE CLIPS IN THE TIMELINE

In the timeline open the Fast Menu and go to Clip Color and select Offline and it's show me whatever clips are offline in Red so I'll know which clips need to be re-digitized or I may have to mount another drive because the source material is missing.


FINDING CLIPS OR BINS IN ANOTHER DRIVE THAT MAY BE OFFLINE

• In the Timeline Fast Menu, choose Show Clips that are offline
• Make a New Bin (call it Offline Clips)
• In the Timeline, find the clips that are offline
• Drag Subclip into Bin
• Highlight the clips
• Set Bin Display
• Highlight all and OK


FINDING CLIPS THAT MAY BE HIDDEN

This may be because multiple editors are sharing media for multiple projects. I may want to open a Bin from someone else's project to find a clip. To do this, go to the Fast Menu in my Project Settings Window and make sure none of my Bins are selected and choose Open Bin and the Finder Window will open and I can navigate to another project folder and then I can double-click on a Bin and it'll open the Bin in my project and I can use the clips as long as they are the same frame rate. Just don't delete someone else's master clips for media. I need to make a copy of their clip(s) and bring it into my bin.


TO FIND WHERE A CLIP IS LIVING ON THE COMPUTER
Highlight a clip in the Bin and choose File – Reveal File and it’ll go outside the Avid and open the computer folder that it’s in.

MEDIA TOOL- this is an amazing way to find stuff and I can sort by different things
• I can search by drive. If I’m low on memory, I can erase Precomputes (render files) for stuff I’m not using

SELECT MEDIA RELATIVES

• If I click a clip in my Bin and choose Select Media Relatives, it’ll open all bins with that clip in it. Go to the Media Tool Bin and scroll till I see my clip. If I click on a clip in the media tool, I can delete exactly what I want from it.


LOCKING ITEMS

• Select a Clip in a Bin and choose Clip Lock. Now I can’t delete it by mistake