How to blur a face with Avid Xpress

At certain times it may be necessary to blur a specific part of your video, such as a face or number plate of a car.

Adding such an effect is a little tricky as there are a few steps to follow.

Once completed the sequence will look like the image below. Notice that there are 3 video tracks used. Follow the step below to create a blur on a face.

1. Splice in the video clip on to the V1 track.
2. Using the Effects palette add a blur effect such as Motion Blur (found in the Illusion FX folder)
3. Create a new video track. This will be labelled V2.
4. Add the same video clip on to the V2 track, making sure it is perfectly in sync.
5. Create a new video track. This will be labelled V3.
6. Place the blue playhead at the position needing the blur effect.
7. Open the Title Tool and draw a shape to cover the area needing the blur.
8. Save the title.
9. Edit the title on to to V3 track.
10. With only V3 track active go to the Fast Menu and select Remove Effect. The video will disappear leaving the white shape your created in step 7.
11. Using the Effects palette add a Matte Key effect (found in the Key folder) on to the title on V3.

Your blur should now be complete.

It may be necessary for the blur to move as the face or car moves across the frame. In this case a movement effect will be needed.

Adding different numbering types into a Word document

Probably one of the last things you will do when your dissertation is near completion is to add page numbers. You will quickly realise that for your dissertation, adding the page numbers is a bit more difficult than it is for a straight forward essay. That's because 1. You don't want a page number on the very first page, 2. The contents area should be numbered as numerals, and 3. The main text should be shown as numbers.

Its very simple to do this.

Step 1
First add two section breaks to your document. Section breaks similar to page breaks and are added in a similar way.

Place the cursor at the end of the first page (the Title page). Add a section break by selecting the Insert menu and choosing Break. Then choose the Section Break type - Continuous and click OK.

Now place the cursor at the end of the introductory section (contents page and acknowledgments etc). Add the second section break as you did previously.

You should now have two section breaks in your document. One section break between the title page and the contents (so between page 1 and 2) and the other section break between the end of the contents page and before the main text.

The section breaks are invisible elements of the page so you wont actually see anything change as you add them. However you can view the section break but clicking the Show/Hide button on the Standard toolbar.

Step 2
Next start adding the page numbers. Place your cursor anywhere between the first and the second section breaks you created in step 1. Then go to Page Numbers in the Insert menu. Set up the page numbers as required i.e. bottom and middle of the page.

Then press the Format button. Click on the Format Number pop down menu and select the number type (numerals). Click OK to add the page numbers.

Step 3
Now place your cursor anywhere in the main text section of your dissertation. Add page numbers as you did in step 2 this time choosing the standard number type. Click OK.

You should now have two different numbering types in your document. Scroll through the pages to see. There should be no number on the very first page. Roman numerals in the intro section and numbers in the main text.

Setting margins in Word

To set the margins correctly first open your document (your dissertation).
Go to the File menu and select Page Setup.
In the Page Setup window the Margins tab should be viewable, if not click the Margins tab.
You should now see the Margins options.
Either type the correct measurement in each box or use the arrows to increase or decrease the size.
Then click OK.
The margin changes will be applied to your document.

Once the margins change you may notice that the layout of your pages changes ie page numbers. You should now check through the document to check that everything looks ok. If you have manually created the table of contents some page numbers may have changed.

Capture HDV footage as DV

Convert using Sony Z1.

Info to come.

Media Offline! Avid Express/Newscutter

Media Offline! Avid Express/Newscutter

There are a number of different causes for media to be "Offline". The most common is when the Avid database files become corrupt. These database files then do not report correctly what media exists in the system.

To fix this problem first close the Avid application.
Then browse to the OMFI Files folder which contains a set of folders which in turn contains all the media files.
If the user last used a particular Avid computer, then open the folder named with that computer name.
Depending on how much media is in the system you could now be faced with a very long list of files.
Sort the files by Type.
Then scroll down the list of files until you find two avid database files.
Delete these two files.
Now open the Avid application again.
Once the problematic project is opened again Avid with automatically scan all the media files, which then recreates the database files you deleted in the previous step. You can check by looking in the folder which you may still have open.
Once scanning is complete, the media should now be available again.

Another reason for media to be offline, might be that the actual media has been deleted. Its always possible that this could happen but much less common. The delete function can be confusing to the less experienced user as it gives options as to which type of file, the clip or media, should be deleted.