What’s New in Avid Media Composer 2021
By Adam Noyes
Kate Ketcham (Director of Product Management for Avid Media Composer) recently wrote up an article all about the great new features for Avid Media Composer 2021.3!
Let’s face it: It’s time for something new. For many of us, it’s been more than a year of working from our home offices / living rooms / basements / palapas. We need a break, a change from this “new normal” to liven things up. Luckily, Media Composer is constantly finding new ways to update and improve itself, and the March software release is no different. Let’s see how we’ve shaken things up a bit with Avid Media Composer 2021.3:
IMF PACKAGE CREATION
The definition of “New and Improved,” Media Composer’s IMF Packaging workflow takes all the support we added in 2019, throws it out the window, and replaces it with a more robust, extensible, and powerful toolset. Although Media Composer was already able to export an IMF package, 2021.3 introduces the ability to create IMF supplementals through the new IMF window. You can link to or create IMF originals and then generate a supplemental package either inside or outside of the original without the need to re-encode existing media. You can even burn multiple CPLs under one IMP. (That’s a lot of acronyms, but suffice to say, if you’re in the business of delivering this industry standard to popular studios and OTT services, then you’ll definitely want to check this out.)
BIN STATUS BAR
Before you can deliver amazing content, you’ve got to know what you’re working with. The new Bin Status Bar—located at the bottom of a Bin—provides you with information regarding the total number of items in a bin. You can either perform a multi-select in the bin, or simply view information about the entire bin. There’s even an interface setting to show or hide the Bin Status Bar per bin. Just another way Media Composer is taking the manual work out of managing your content.
UI CUSTOMIZATIONS
Nothing signifies change like a new wardrobe. Based on user feedback, we’ve added a host of new ways you can customize and “dress up” your Media Composer to suit your needs. With two new highlight colors (that adjust with the interface brightness settings, just like the existing highlights), and a new mid-gray skin (slightly darker than the current lightest option), you now have more choices when creating your ideal experience. With all the screen time these days, these options are designed to reduce eye fatigue. Take it easier on the eyes.
TITLER+ UPDATES
Titler+ isn’t exactly new to Media Composer, but with all of the changes we’ve made to it in the last 18 months, it almost feels new. We’ve focused on enabling more functions and features directly within the Composer window and mini tool bar, giving you more control of your titles without having to open up the Effect Editor. You now can rotate text and shapes using handles within the Composer window. Additionally, text will now automatically wrap within a defined text box, and opacity can be applied to gradients within the color picker.
FIND BIN FROM TIMELINE
This feature has been on many people’s wish lists for a while. The Find Bin command can now be accessed directly in the Timeline when pointing to a segment. No selection is required; simply right-click over the desired segment and select Find Bin to highlight the clip in a bin. The bin will open if closed, come forward, and the respective clip will be selected. Goodbye extra mouse clicks!
MOVING CLIPS WITHOUT OVERWRITING
The improvements continue with more intelligent timeline editing. Now when you move segments vertically or horizontally in the timeline, you won’t overwrite existing segments in the process. Nothing’s overwritten until you commit to the change.
It’s our commitment to change that’s clear in Avid Media Composer 2021.3. Not change for its own sake or because we just wanted something new, but change that improves your edit, helps you work faster and smarter, and lets you enjoy your work.