+++ /dev/null
----
-layout: default
-title: Workflow & Operations
----
-
-<h2>Overview of Operations</h2>
-
-<dl class="wide-table">
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Session > Open Video</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Add/replace a video to/on the timeline</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Window > View Monitor</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Open/close external video monitor window</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">View > Video Monitor > …</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Various settings of the video monitor</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Session > Export > Video</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Export session and multiplex with video-file</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-drag the video in the timeline</dt>
- <dd>Re-align video and move 'locked' audio-regions along</dd>
- <dt>Context-menu on the video-timeline: <kbd class="menu"> 'lock'</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Prevent accidental drags</dd>
- <dt>Audio region context menu: <kbd class="menu">Position > Lock to video</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Mark audio region(s) to be moved along with the video.</dd>
-</dl>
-
-
-<h2>Adding Video</h2>
-<p>
- Adding video is a two-step process: select a video file, and choose
- import mode and optionally select an audio track to extract.
-</p>
-<p>
- The first step is rather straight-forward. The panel on the right side
- allows to seek through the video and displays basic file information.
- It is also useful to check if the video format/codec is supported:
-</p>
-<img src="/images/a3_video_open.png" alt="video-open-dialog" width="300" />
-<p>
- The second step analyzes the video file in more detail and offers import options:
-</p>
-<dl>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Import/Transcode to Session</kbd></dt>
- <dd>This is the default. The video will be imported in a suitable
- video format/codec for the timeline and video monitor and saved inside the
- session folder. A location other than the session folder can also be
- chosen (external disk, or network storage of the video server on a different
- machine).</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Reference from Current Location</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Only useful for opening files that were previously encoded (are already
- in a good format/codec). Use with care.</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Do not Import Video</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Useful for extracting audio only.</dd>
-</dl>
-
-<img src="/images/a3_video_import.png" alt="Video Import Dialog" width="300" />
-
-<p>
- By default the video is imported using the original width/height.
- If it is a large video (e.g. full-HD) it makes sense to scale it down
- to decrease the CPU load and disk I/O required to decode and play the
- file.<br />
- A small, low-quality representation of the image is usually sufficient
- for editing soundtracks. The default bitrate in kbit/sec is set to use
- 0.7 bits per pixel. (Compare: the average DVD medium uses 5000 kbit/s;
- at PAL resolution this is about 0.5 bits per pixel. But the DVD is
- using the <dfn>mpeg2</dfn> — a denser compression algorithm than the
- <dfn>mjpeg</dfn> codec used by Ardour.)
-</p>
-
-<h2>Working with A/V</h2>
-<p>
- Well now,..
-</p>
-<img src="/images/a3_videotimeline.png" alt="Video Timeline" width="600" />
-
-<h2 id="export">Exporting Video</h2>
-<p>
- The video export will take audio from the current Ardour session and
- multiplex it with a video file. The soundtrack of the video is taken from
- an audio export of Ardour's master bus.
-</p>
-<p>
- An arbitrary video file can be chosen. For high quality exports, the
- original file (before it was imported into the timeline) should be used.
- This is the default behaviour if that file can be found. If not, Ardour
- will fall back to the imported proxy-video which is currently in use
- on the timeline. Any existing audio tracks on this video file are stripped.
-</p>
-<p>
- The range selection allows to cut or extend the video. If the session is
- longer than the video duration, black frames are prefixed or appended to
- the video. (Note: this process may fail with non-standard pixel aspect
- ratios). If Ardour's session range is shorter, the video will be cut accordingly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Audio samplerate and normalization are options for Ardour's audio exporter.
- The remaining settings are options that are directly passed on to ffmpeg.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- The file format is determined by the extension that you choose for it
- (.avi, .mov, .flv, .ogv, .webm,...)
- Note: not all combinations of format, codec, and settings produce files
- which are according to specifications. For example, flv files require
- sample rates of 22.1 kHz or 44.1 kHz, mpeg containers can not
- be used with ac3 audio-codec, etc. If in doubt, use one of the built-in
- presets.
-</p>
-
-<img src="/images/a3_video_export.png" alt="Video Export Dialog" width="300" />
-
-<p>
- Ardour video export is not recommended for mastering! While ffmpeg
- (which is used by Ardour) can produce high-quality files, this export
- lacks the possibility to tweak many settings. We recommend to use winff,
- devede or dvdauthor to mux & master. Nevertheless this video-export c
- omes in handy to do quick snapshots, intermediates, dailies or online videos.
-</p>
projects / ardour-manual-diverged / blobdiff