Avid Media Composer 2021.6 – New Workflow Improvements

Software Update

by Dave KratzAugust 9^th, 2021

Avid Media Composer 2021.6 adds important interface upgrades that speed up renders and improve the daily workflow of professional editors. Here are some of the most welcomed features of this upgrade.

First introduced in 1992, Avid is the grandfather of nonlinear video editing. And like most Grandpas, dramatic changes don’t come very easily in Avid Media Composer. You will rarely ever see eye-catching headlines about new features in Media Composer like we see from Adobe Premiere or BlackMagic’s DaVinci Resolve.

But being set-in-your-ways is a good thing when time is money, and you’re working on the largest film projects in the world.  Media Composer editors can command higher average annual salaries and hourly rates than those working in Premiere or FCPx – just don’t expect automatic A.I. transcriptions anytime soon.

Avid Media Composer 2021.6

Here’s an overview video with all new and improved features:

These are some of the most comprehensive upgrades to the user interface of Avid Media Composer we’ve seen in a long time, and its great to see that the company is dedicated to making the editing experience better with every upgrade.

Drag clips to a closed Bin

Avid handles projects differently than other NLEs. Bins are separate files that aren’t contained within a single project file. This way, multiple editors who are working in different projects on the same server can access media more efficiently.

Previously, Bins had to be opened, saved, and closed to drop new items inside. Media Composer 2021.6 lets you drag items into a closed bin – automating a task performed hundreds of times a day.

Display duration in Bin status bar

The sum of the duration of your selected clips is now displayed in the Bin Status Bar along with the type and number of bin items highlighted. This can be very useful to get the total length of a program that has been divided up in to separate act break sequences quickly.

Timeline scrolling & workspace

User preferences are one of the key aspect of Avid MC. Editors can chose the best way to work for their needs.

Although timeline scrolling options aren’t new, MC 2021.6 adds the ability to access those settings in the Command Palette. This allows you to assign them to a button on the Timeline window or a shortcut key.

Editors can now select to either load the last known state of a workspace, or load the last saved state of a workspace. This is very helpful if you switch back and forth between workspaces layouts frequently.

Avid Titler+ improvements

Titling in Avid has always been somewhat of a wash. The original titling tool was slow and limited, and when Avid introduced Titler+ in MC 2020 it was met with backlash from the editing community at large.

Thankfully Avid has continued to refine Titler+ and their new all-in-one text box makes adding and moving modes more apparent, allows editors to display text content on the timeline, and that text is included when exporting an EDL.

Furthermore, editors can now elect to jump to the next keyframe in the timeline in the Composer Settings window.

Distributed processing upgrades

The processing power of unused Media Composer systems with Distributed Processing can now be leveraged to speed up the entire editing workflow. Processor intensive tasks like transcoding, rendering, and even exporting can be farmed out to idle stations on the same network without tying up your primary editor or system.

Avid editors and assistant editors who work non-stop in Media Composer every one of these enhancements could be a godsend. Be sure to check out the previous upgrade to Media Composer 2021.3 as well.

Link: AVID

Featured image credit: Photo by Designecologist from Pexels / edited by CineD (with a screenshot by AVID)

Are you cutting in Avid and feel like these upgrades would help your day-to-day user experience? What are your thoughts on Avid Media Composer? Let us know in the comments below.