Avid Technology Limited

Thomas P Nadas

Shailendra Mathur

Michael Chilton Sheasby

Michel Eid

Daniel Desbois

Jeremy E Mercer

James C Zamiska

Gilles Khouzam

Andreas Soupliotis

Andrew Skowronski

The present invention provides for a property editor in a graphics image system in order to specify parameter values for effects in an effect tree. A separate instance of the property editor is not invoked for each effect within the effect tree, but rather the property editor permits the modification of multiple effects from the same instance of the editor. Advantageously, the user is not required to navigate between a view of the effect tree and the property editor in order to edit effects.

Editor for effect tree parameters

Performance of rendering of effects on media data may be improved by analyzing properties defined for an effect to identify static and dynamic time segments within the effect. A static time segment in an effect is a time segment for which only one image is rendered. A dynamic time segment in an effect is a time segment for which each sample of media data in the time segment is rendered. An effect can contain any number of static and dynamic time segments. By identifying these time segments in an effect, processing and caching of the rendered effect are more finely grained. In particular, rendered time segments in an effect may be cached, such that a change in the effect in one time segment does not require re-rendering of other time segments. Thus, unnecessary rendering may be avoided, and invalidation of cached rendered media data and subsequent rerendering also may be reduced. In an animated effect, only one sample of media data may be rendered for a time segment in an effect if property animation and input material are both static in the time segment. If a key frame is inserted into a function curve of a property for an effect in such a way that the curve does not change, then any cached media data previously rendered for the effect need not be invalidated for the effect or for a time segment in the effect that contains this key frame. For a time segment in an effect in which properties do not change input media data in any fashion, no rendering is needed. Such a time segment may be either a static or dynamic time segment, depending on the input to the effect.

Analysis of properties of effects for rendering and caching of media data

A method and system for color correction in composite image. Spill in a foreground image can be keyed directly to produce a spill matte that can be displayed to a user. The user can apply suitable image processing to the spill matte to modify the eventual color correction to the composite image. The resulting spill matte is used as a template for the application of color correction in the composite image.

Method and system for spill correction

A novel NLE system and method of constructing edit sequences includes reference clips which can be employed in the sequences. The reference clips include a reference to metadata defining a child sequence. The reference clip is loaded into a parent sequence in the NLE system, rather than the netadata for the child sequence and, as the reference clip and its reference typically have a much smaller memory footprint than the metadata for the child sequence, the memory requirements for the NLE system to load the parent sequence are reduced, as is the time required to accomplish the load. In addition, the metadata defining the child sequences can be persisted separately from the parent sequences, and used in a any parent sequence by employing a reference clip to the persisted child sequence. This also allows multiple instances of reference clips to a child sequence to be employed, in a single parent sequence or in multiple parent sequences and by multiple users. New versions of a child sequence can be automatically employed in any subsequent playback of a parent sequence which contains a reference clip referring to the child sequence. Further, access control, security, and version control can employed with the persisted child sequences.

Non-linear editing system and method employing reference clips in edit sequences

A system, apparatus and method for managing the storage and use of digital information. The digital information can comprise both time-based information, such as digital video and digital audio, and static information such as 3D geometric models and/or still images. The invention employs data source records, information consumers, digital source information files, quality factor objects and other constructs with an information manager to manage storage and use of the information. All storage and/or use of the information is effected by making an appropriate request to the information manager which returns an appropriate result.

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Montreal, Canada

Thomas P Nadas