Discreet's
edit 6
by Matt Payne
Discreet has added a wealth of features to edit 6.0, the newest
version of its professional editing application, including support
for multi-layered compositing and publishing directly from the
timeline to the Web. With features such as two real-time graphics
tracks, two real-time video tracks and 48 real-time audio tracks,
editors are given a lot of options. The application's responsiveness
and the large number of keystroke shortcuts make editing an excellent
experience. Existing edit owners will appreciate the refinements,
while newcomers should find it to be the fastest, most comprehensive
desktop editing system available today.
Edit 6.0 requires either Matrox's DigiSuite/DigiSuite LE or a
Pinnacle Targa 2000 DTX/RTX/SDX capture card. Matrox has the advantage
here, since Pinnacle's Targa 3000 doesn't yet work with edit.
The Targa 2000 is no longer listed on Pinnacle's Web site, but
the boards are available from edit resellers. I ran my tests on
a Targa 2000 RTX system, but I have also found DigiSuite to produce
outstanding image quality. Inscriber's TitleMotion ships with
edit 6, as does Boris Effects for edit. Edit 6.0 pricing starts
at $7,995; users of edit 5.0 must pay $1,300 for the upgrade.
The edit 6.0 interface has four main windows: the bin, where the
media for a project is stored; the timeline, where editing takes
place; a source viewer for viewing source material; and a timeline
viewer for viewing output from the timeline. Icons along the top
of the timeline control access to specific functions and dialogue
boxes, such as the special effects dialogue box for transitions
and DVE effects or the media export dialogue box. The bin allows
the editor to display files in a variety of ways, such as icons
or text descriptions or both. The information displayed can include
source information, video quality, reel name and cue points. It
also can be arranged to suit the editor's personal preferences.
Getting the Job Done
An editor has the option of creating a new job, which contains
all preference settings, bins and timelines that he or she specifies.
Jobs can be shared by other edit systems via jobnet, a discreet
networking product included in edit. Once the job is opened, the
editor can create new bins and timelines or open existing ones.
If imported video is not in the native editing codec required
by the video capture card, edit automatically renders a new file
and places it in the bin.
 Video
can be captured directly to the timeline or into a bin. Pressing
the "C" key launches the capture tool, which consists of a logging
window and a VTR control panel. Edit allows users to build a log
that spans multiple tapes. The log can be saved and called up
at a later time for capturing the assets. Capturing can be done
with or without device control, but an RS-422-controlled deck
is necessary for clip logging and EDL import.
Media export functions have been expanded to include MPEG-2 encoding
and publishing directly to the Web in streaming media formats.
Publishing media directly from the timeline to a Web site for
distribution or review and approval is managed using the greatly
enhanced media export dialogue box. Editors can complete a project
and export the media in a variety of formats using the batch-encoding
tab. Video can be cropped and resized for export and accurately
previewed prior to export. The destination for the output can
be a remote location, such as a Web site. In the same dialogue
box, users can adjust color, brightness, contrast, saturation,
gamma, hue and blur, as well as frame size, frame rates, cropping
and resizing, audio codecs and sample rates.
Using the Targa-based system with a 3D DVE card I was able to
add a significant number of real-time 3D DVE effects such as warps,
ripples, color correction, lighting effects, textures, cropping,
blur, scaling, motion, borders and a large number of wipes. Multi-layered
compositing is now available on the edit 6.0 timeline. Editors
can create complex effects using 2D and 3D DVE effects for each
video track. Picture-in-picture effects with multiple video sources
can easily be laid out. The editor can view two tracks in real
time, provided the hardware supports it. The entire timeline output
with all applied effects can be seen as a still image wherever
the cursor is placed.
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