Video Editing Systems Wish List for 2013

My video editing systems wish list for the coming year.

In the spirit of the holidays, today's blog is a 'wish list' of things I'd like to see in the coming year. Although a recovered economy and world peace would be great, this is the DV Fanatics blog, so we'll keep the list limited to video editing.

Although a lot of these are for Avid Media Composer and Symphony editing systems, some of them apply to Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro as well.

In no particular order, here are the features I would like to see added in the coming year:

• Sub-Sequence - A sub-sequence would allow you to use a sequence within a sequence. When you make changes to the sub-sequence, all sequences that use the sub-sequence will reflect that change. This is how sequences work in Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro and can be very useful if every show has the same open.


• Global Titles - Again, if you edit the title in a bin, all sequences that use that title will reflect the changes. If you're using a lower third to identify a person every time they appear in a sequence, and you find out there is a typo in their name, having a global title would save a lot of time and headaches.


• In Points on Imported Graphics - Import graphics with default in point a few seconds from start of clip. This allows for handles so that transition effects can be added if all the graphics are dragged from the bin into the timeline to create a sequence. (Thanks to Shady from The Avid Editors of Facebook)


• Audio Waveforms - Build only once audio waveforms, to all zoom levels, done in the background as soon as the sequence is loaded in the timeline. (Thanks to Niels from The Avid Editors of Facebook)


• Sub-Frame Audio Editing - Audio changes happen outside of the frame boundaries, we should be able to make audio edits at the sample level, like in Apple Soundtrack Pro or Adobe Audition. (Thanks to Nick from The Avid Editors of Facebook).



• 

  The Avid Motion Effect Editor.

  Motion Effects on Both Audio and Video - We should be able to apply a motion effect to both audio and video, more like the way Adobe After Effects does motion effects. I also wish the Avid Motion Effect Editor worked more like motion effects editing in Adobe After Effects, but's that's a discussion for another time.


• Soft Drop Shadow in 3D Warp - We can adjust the positioning and opacity of the drop shadow, we should be able to adjust the softness of the edge. (Thanks to Shady from The Avid Editors of Facebook)



• 

  Final Cut Pro Audio Editor.

  Enhanced Audio Rubber-Banding - Let's keep the functionality that we have, such as clicking and dragging a point up and down, option-clicking and dragging a point horizontally and finally the ability to add an in and an out point to change the level of a group of points. It would be great if you could click on the line between two audio keyframes and raise or lower that section without having to add in and out points - more like rubber-banding in Final Cut Pro. While we're at it, how about giving us the ability to rubber-band the audio pan levels as well.


• Vector Graphics Import - I would love to be able to import vector graphics and maintain the vector information in the timeline. This would make the scaling of imported graphics much cleaner - no more blowing up the pixels and softening the image.

Please chime in with anything I may have overlooked. Here's hoping that all of you have a great holiday season and a happy new year.