Using Media Tool The purpose of this document is to provide customers with a better understanding of how the Avid

Media Tool works and ways to utilize the Media Tool to their advantage. The following procedures are best used with non-workgroup configurations and local storage. They will work on any Avid NL ! regardless of software version or platform. Deleting Unused Precomputes: Any time you create an effect and render it! a pre-compute file is made and is written to a media drive. "re-compute files are media files for effects. #f you make changes to a rendered effect in your se$uence! the previously rendered pre-compute no represents what you wanted your effect to look like. The original pre-compute media is no longer referenced by the se$uence and becomes an %orphaned& pre-compute. Numerous pre-compute %orphans& can be created over the course of an average editing day. 'ecause Avid Media (omposer keeps track of all of the media on the system! it must also keep track of the orphaned pre-computes. This can slow down system performance and make it difficult to edit. "eople have often asked! %)hy can*t the Avid +ust delete the original pre-compute if # make a change to my effect,& Technically! the code could be changed to do +ust that. -owever! if the Avid did delete the original pre-compute when you made a change! you couldn*t use the %.ndo& feature to get it back online if you decided the first effect actually looked best/ Media Management is a necessary component of every Avid editor*s workflow. The following e0plains how to use Media Tool to effectively clean out unused pre-computes from your Avid system1 23 Tools Menu 1 (hoose Media Tool 43 )hen the 5isplay Media 6elector window opens you can choose your display parameters1 a3 choose all available drives b3 choose to look at media for the current pro+ect c3 choose to look at "re-compute media 7 8deselect masterclips and media files.3 93 6elect your current version8s3 of the se$uence8s3 in any single open bin. :3 ;rom the ;ast 8-amburger3 menu in the lower left corner of the bin choose 6elect Media <elatives. =3 <epeat this procedure for any other se$uences in any other additional bins that you need to keep online. ach time you select Media <elatives you will add to the list of precompute media selected in the media tool. >3 After selecting media relatives for ALL se$uences you want to keep pre-compute media for! go to the hamburger menu ?; T- M 5#A T??L #T6 L; and choose reverse selection. The Media Tool will reverse the selection so that all previously unselected items are now selected. @3 "ress delete on the keyboard and click yes to the prompts. All pre-compute effect media that are not used by the current version8s3 of your se$uence are deleted.

This process can be done at the end of every edit session. #t only takes a few minutes. #n general # recommend that people follow the procedure every few days or at least at the end of each week. Deleting Unused Mediafiles: The process for deleting unused media files is e0actly the same as deleting unused precomputes. The only difference is that instead of displaying pre-computes in the Media Tool selector! you display Master (lips. 5eleting master clips in the media tool will not delete or affect any master clips in any bins. The only media files that are deleted are the video and 8or3 audio media that the master clip was referencing on the media drives. There is N A < any need to display media files in the media tool. #n fact displaying media files usually only confuses the issue. #f there is media on the system! displaying master clips will allow you to access it and remove it. Deleting Projects: The following is the process # would use to delete media from a pro+ect when it is done1 23 ?pen Media Tool and show current pro+ect! all drives! and masterclips and precompute media 43 6elect all of the displayed clips and pre-computes 93 5elete the selected items All of the media captured! imported! and rendered is now gone from the system for that specific pro+ect. :3 Locate the pro+ect*s folder on the internal -5. =3 #f necessary copy the entire pro+ect onto a zipBfloppy disc or burn it to an archival (5 or backup device. The pro+ect files themselves are typically very small and should not take up a lot of space. >3 After backup is complete! drag the pro+ect folder to the trash and empty the trash 8or delete and empty the recycle bin on )indows.3 The pro+ect is now entirely removed from the Avid system. "ro+ect information and Mediafiles have been removed. @3 Locate the Attic folder on the internal -5 C3 Locate the pro+ect folder within the attic for the pro+ect you +ust deleted and place that in the trash or recycle bin and empty the trashBrecycle bin. At this point A <DT-#NE pertaining to that pro+ect is now gone. This should be done for every completed pro+ect on the system 8especially long format shows.3 The only e0ceptions are below1 Using Projects as Templates: The Media Tool can also act as a filter when you are deleting mediafiles. very media file written maintains a pro+ect association tag. Media created in one pro+ect and used in a second pro+ect also retains the identity of the original pro+ect it was first created in.

Therefore! if you borrow a clip from one pro+ect and open the media tool! you can filter out the media referenced by the clip by re$uesting to display media only for the current pro+ect. 'ecause the media for that clip is not displayed in the Media Tool! you can delete everything in the Media Tool without worrying about destroying media from the other pro+ect. ?ne e0ample of this practice is if you chose to create a pro+ect called %'ars! 6lates! and Tone&! This pro+ect can contain se$uence templates for the tone media! calibration patterns! and title slates that you place at the head of every finished show. Dou can use ;ileF?pen 'in to navigate back to the %'ars! 6lates! and Tone& pro+ect to open a bin containing that finished leader for use in his or her own pro+ect. )hen you are finished with the pro+ect and need to erase the pro+ect media from the system! all you need to do is follow the same steps outlined earlier in this document and you can remove all the pro+ect media without harming the slates and tone that all pro+ects share.