Effects in the media editors
Like other resources for your project, effects are stored in the Library. You’ll find them in the Asset Tree under Effects in the Creative Elements branch. As with other types of Library resource, you can use all the usual features – Collections, ratings, tags, and so on – to help you organize the many effects available.
You can apply an effect from the Library directly to a clip on the project timeline with drag-and-drop. Clips to which an effect has been added are indicated by a brightly-colored upper border.
When you double-click a timeline clip, its media editor opens automatically with the Effects tab preselected. Six groups of effects are available. Click the name of the group to see the effects it contains.
The Camera group of Effects is open in the Photo Editor. The mouse pointer is positioned over the thumbnail for the Invert effect (left side), causing it to be automatically demonstrated on the preview.
The thumbnail icons for the effects in the currently-selected group are shown in a full-width tray at the top of the work area. With visual effects, as your mouse pointer hovers over the effect icons, the preview shows how the clip you are editing would appear if each effect were applied. When you have made your choice, click the effect’s thumbnail to apply it.
Customizing an effect
Once you have applied an effect to a clip, by either of the methods mentioned above, you can return to the media editor at any time to manipulate the effect’s settings. Double-click the clip on the timeline, or select Open effects editor if you wish to customize the effect.
To save your modifications and return to the timeline, click OK. To cancel modifications and return to the timeline press Cancel.
Switching to a new clip
Even without leaving a media editor you can switch from one timeline clip to another by means of the Navigator, a schematic representation of your project that is optionally shown in the space just above the footer bar of the editor window.
To toggle the visibility of the Navigator, click the compass rose icon at the bottom right of the window.
Each clip in your project is represented in the Navigator by a colored bar. The layout of the bars on a horizontal time axis with vertically-arranged tracks exactly matches the timeline. The bar representing the clip now being edited is highlighted in orange.
The mouse is poised over the compass-rose button to turn off the Navigator, the area just above the button row, where project clips are represented by horizontal bars.
If you click on one of the other bars, any changes you’ve made to the current clip will be automatically saved; the clip corresponding to the bar you clicked on will then be loaded. If the new clip is of a different media type, the appropriate editor will switch in automatically.
Solo mode
Sometimes while editing an effect, it is useful to see the other timeline layers – those above and below the current layer containing the clip you are working on. On other occasions, you can simplify a complex editing situation by turning off the other track.
Solo mode is started or stopped with the Solo button and its accompanying drop-down menu in the lower right area of the Media Editor. Three configurations are possible:
· Off: When soloing is on, clicking once on the button will turn it off. All layers from the timeline are then used in the preview. Sometimes the current layer may be obscured by a layer above it on the timeline.
· Show media and the tracks below: Under this option, the current layer and all layers below it are previewed, but the clips on layers above the current layer are hidden.
· Show media only: This option allows only the layer you are currently working on to appear in the preview.
Previewing effects
In the Creative Elements section of the Library you can preview a sample of each effect either directly on the icons in thumbnail view, or in the separate Player window. These samples will give you some idea about the look of the effect, but can often do no more than hint at the possibilities that will be available once customization, keyframing, and combination with other effects are considered.
As mentioned earlier, you can see the effect previewed on your own media – without actually applying it – by hovering over the effect icon in a timeline clip’s media editor. Then to apply the effect, simply click on the thumbnail.