Avid Media Composer Help

Questions & Suggestions
1

Hi! I'm a film editor and I've used Avid Media Composer for over 20 years. I've recently discovered KBM and can see how this can really streamline my process but I just don't understand how to make the macros do what I want them to do i.e add x4 keyframes on audio clips for editing, opening certain plug-ins and selecting specific actions from drop down menus within that plug-in. I find KBM a really daunting interface and any advice is really welcome! Thanks, Lea

2

Hi Lea, welcome to the forum,

I'm a media composer user for around 30 years (yeah...from before the AVR resolutions, don't know if anyone around remember these...). and I used macro softwares from the very beginning.

I don't know what is your experience so far with keyboard maestro. It can be a bit daunting but if you do things step by step you can do wonders. Having a look at the help menu in the KM app is always usefuL

Unfortunately, avid has not supported any kind of scripting for media comp, meaning you can't send any commands to the software using any kind of script. I had some hopes with hidden console commands or eucon protocol but I haven't found anything usable. If anyone reading this knows something I don't...please write here or contact me.

But you can still do many things :

You have to rely on 3 different type of actions to interact with the software.

1/ Assigned Keyboard commands

All your keyboard settings from your user settings will work, so you just have to use the "type a keystroke action" and voila.

2/ menu selection

  • if it is in a menu you can use the "Select or Show a Menu Item" action and, for example, add a keyboard shortcut. Hope you know how to do that. if not feel free to ask.

  • if it's in a local menu, things get a little bit tougher, the simplest way to do it is to assign this local menu command to a key in your keyboard user settings and then do as above.

3/ mouse clics

  • mouse clics are more difficult. because the windows can be on very different positions depending on your workspace, edit mode etc...the challenge is to define where to clic. Explore the "relative to" parameter in the move and click action and feel free to ask if anything is not clear.

Now to your specific questions :

  • for adding 4 keyframes you should go this way :

Assign commands to keys in your user settings then try to define a sequence of keys you could do in media comp to get the result you look for. So for example

  • add keyframe / move 10f forwards / add keyframe/ go to next cut / move 10 frame backward / add keyframe / move 10f backward/ add keyframe.

With all these assigned to keys in your settings you can do a macro with "type a keystroke" actions. You may have to splice the actions with some "pause" if you find that media comp is skipping some actions.

This should get you started, the plugin question is for another day...

1 Like
3

Hi Joseki!

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this (I just discovered your email in my junk folder) I managed to crack the 4 keyframe command and have discovered the record button which is helping me figure things out enormously.

Thanks again!

Lea