Insider Tips: Using Timeline Clip Notes for More Avid Efficiency

Every week, Frame.io Insider asks considered one of our professional contributors to share a tip, software, or approach that they use on a regular basis and couldn’t dwell with out. This week, Jack Brown takes a have a look at Avid’s helpful Timeline Clip Notes.

We most likely all find out about Avid’s Markers (or Locators for Avid veterans). They’re a useful approach to create a set of color-coded notes connected to a particular time-coded body. Or even a variety within the case of spanned markers. But Avid Markers have their limitations.

For instance, if we trim a clip barely on the head of tail, we run the danger of shedding the marker if we trim the body it’s on. We can’t have this data displayed as any type of burn-in. Also, until you wish to configure a whole lot of spanned markers which are simply damaged, you may’t have a marker denote a clip or vary within the timeline and present us the length. This is the place Timeline Clip Notes may also help.

How to make use of Avid Timeline Clip Notes

Timeline Clip Notes are, unsurprisingly, a observe that’s connected to a clip. Meaning you may trim, lengthen and/or retime the clip and the observe is not going to solely persist however will replace to mirror the brand new timing.

These notes can have many makes use of relying in your workflow. One widespread use is to indicate VFX IDs. One manner I take advantage of them on each single chopping venture is by creating rushes timelines of all of the footage for a scene after which as I overview the rushes I go away clip notes on every clip with my preliminary impressions of the takes. Slap a burn-in generator on there and I’ve an overlay of my preliminary ideas of all of the rushes that I can rapidly see as I spool by means of them.

To use Timeline Clip Notes all you need to do is:

• Select any clip(s) with the phase software.
• Go to the Timeline menu and choose Add Timeline Clip Note.
• Type in your observe.

Note that you could additionally map this operate to a key utilizing the “menu to button” operate within the command palette. 

Once the notes are utilized, you may view all of them within the Clip Notes window discovered below Tools/Timeline->Clip Notes. From there, you may browse all notes, export them as textual content and even select whether or not the length is denoted as timecode or frames (very helpful for VFX and animation). The observe will present the clip title, a reference body, video observe, begin and finish TC, length and your observe. Plus if you export these out it’s going to additionally export out a jpeg body reference for every observe together with the textual content file.

The capabilities and makes use of of this characteristic are too in depth to record right here however all very helpful and so I’d extremely suggest taking part in round with it in your Avid in the event you haven’t already!