MacroSystem Columbus 2 - Manual (Page 8)

 Columbus 2
Starting and finishing points
If you have not done any editing yet, the starting
and finishing points that are connected by a line
are generally displayed in a position outside the
menu bar area. The starting and finishing points
are clearly marked as such and can be repositi-
oned and edited like any other point. However,
you cannot delete them.
Setting points
To set a new point, move the trackball pointer
to the required position on the line and click on
the left trackball button. A new waypoint (green)
appears.
Activating points
You can activate an inactive point (red) by
clicking on it. It changes color (green) but its
position remains unchanged.
Repositioning points
You can reposition any of the points on the
map display. You can „pick up“ an active point
(green) by clicking on it using the trackball – it
will then turn blue. Whilst you are repositioning
the point by rolling the trackball, the curves
automatically change shape to suit the new
position. Clicking again causes the point to be
„dropped“ at the new position. Clicking on the
right button cancels the repositioning operation.
Deleting points
You can delete an active point (green) by clicking
the right trackball button. To do so, the trackball
pointer must be positioned directly over the
point.
2.2 Transition effects
In the transition effects menu, you have the
option of inserting various fade effects for the
transitions from the map display to the video
scene (and back again).
To create these transitions, you must set the
pause time in the program at the defined key
points to a value greater than 0 and then change
the Split key points effect option in the Special
window to Yes before the calculations are per-
formed. This causes the sections that are gene-
rated during the calculation process to be saved
separately in the scene bin so that you can join
them to the video scenes using the effects.
These effects therefore allow you to crossfade
back and forth between the map display and the
normal film footage at various key points along
your journey. You can of course also do this
without using these effects or by using any other
type of transition effect – the Columbus 2 effects,
however, have the advantage of enabling you to
generate fade effects with pinpoint accuracy.
The available effects are Rotate, Circle fade, Rec-
tangle fade and Zoom.
All the effects of course provide additional
options with which you can create your own
custom fades:
First of all, select the Direction of the fade. Col.
-> Video crossfades from the map scene (on the
left in the storyboard) to the video scene (on the
right in the storyboard). The Video -> Col. opti-
on, on the other hand, crossfades from the video
(left) back to the map (right).
You can use the Select key point button to select
the point at which you want the video scene
fade-in to start. Depending on the setting of the
Direction button, the map image will always be
displayed whilst you are selecting the point.
With Position, you can position the small marker
over the center of the symbol representing the
key point that you want to use. If you do not see
the map display here, please check the setting of
the Direction button. You cannot activate the Size