Beginner Tutorials

Vaare · Feb 17, 2007

Hi, I just got Avid Xpress Pro HD and am searching for tutorials for beginners in video editing. I'm a 100% newbie to this. Anybody know where I might find some tutorials or manuals?

Also, I've been looking for video to "practice" with, although I won't exactly know where to start. Could I just use video from a movie (although not for commercial use obviously) and get a feel for the program? Is there some place to download clips to practice with? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

~Vaare the Virus
Contamino mos perussi vos...

Filmosity · Feb 17, 2007

First step, I'd go to Avid's website and look at their tutorials. That should get you up and running. As for learning the basics of video editing in general...well people go to schools and pay lots of money for that. But that's not to say you can't learn on your own. Do a google search for Avid tutorials. I saw a bunch of places offering free ones.

Maybe someday SF can get a tutorials section on the site...Kim?

As for video to practice with...I'm pretty sure Avid only takes Quicktime .mov files, so if you can find those, you'll be able to practice. Bear in mind, though, that full frame, DV video measures at 720x480 pixels at 29.97fps. You're not likely to find that online.

While I don't officially condone it, you could rip a DVD which you own and use that to get a feel for cutting and adding transitions and effects. Do you have a video camera? Why not shoot some of your own footage and make a practice movie? (a tip: when capturing video footage to a hard drive, it's good practice to capture to an external hard drive that spins at a minimum of 7200rpm. And make sure the external HDD is not running the computer's operating system or the editing software)

Good luck.

MarkG · Feb 17, 2007

If you go to the Avid site and download the latest version of Xpress Pro there's some sample footage included, though I haven't looked to see what's in there. It's a few hundred megabytes though.

Vaare · Feb 18, 2007

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't have my own camera, sadly... but I'm working on it. I didn't know Avid only took Quicktime files, I'm sure I have some laying around here somewhere. I'll check out the Avid website like you said.

Thanks again!

~Vaare the Virus
Contamino mos perussi vos...

MarkG · Feb 18, 2007

Avid will import .avi files, though I'm not sure whether you're limited to 2GB files as you are with export. It will also import .m2t files from HDV cameras, but there's currently a bug where it can't handle .m2t files more than about 25 minutes long... the 5.2 version worked with files of any length.

Vaare · Feb 19, 2007

Ah, thanks for clarifying. I have a question though, not sure it belongs here, but I don't want to make another thread.

I'm not completely certain that my computer can handle video editing. Not that I'm doing anything intense right now, I plan to in the future. My computer is custom built:

AMD 2.0 Ghz single-core
2GB RAM DDR400
GeForce 6600 (Not GT or GTX) 256 mb

Mostly worried about video card, it's like a year old. Not to mention I have two monitors, puts some strain on it.

Oh how I wish I had a camera.... and money.

MarkG · Feb 19, 2007

The video card doesn't matter that much for video editing, other than that Avid don't like non-nvidia cards: even a 6600 should be plenty powerful enough.