

Today I write in regards to the initial expression of Avid’s “New Thinking,” Media Composer 3.0. Avid fought to locate their means as the amount of editing tools fell, as well as the business that created and controlled modern digital editing found themselves having toplay catch up.
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Apple’s lower costs and integration with newer versions of the Mac OS came as an excellent step forward in the democratization of media and Apple ran a full court press on Avid’s dominance of the electronic editing tools marketplace. We sat and viewed as Avid got the wind knocked out of it by Apple’s launch of Final Cut Pro. Customized MC 2021 UI With Secondary Host Panel DisabledĪfter saving the workspace (either as a custom workspace or as the default Edit workspace), I will then hide the Workspace Bar and have an environment very similar to the old classic Media Composer.A lot of us who happen to be cutting on the Mac version of Avid’s Media Composer have felt a bit neglected in the previous couple of years, and to some particular degree, rightfully so. This also works if you are using a single screen bay (or producer station).
#Avid media composer mac windows
I will then float all other windows using the Windows menu, and resize the Host Panel so that it only fits the Project Window and nothing else. However, users cannot disable the Host Panel for the primary display, only resize it.įor my personal workflow, I have taken to floating a Project Window from the Tools menu, and docking it to the main Host Panel. When on a multi-display bay, you can disable the Host Panels on the secondary display using the same Windows -> Host Panels menu mentioned above. Default MC 2021 UI With Both Host Panels In Place Personally, I have always preferred to be able to see the desktop and other applications applications as I am often swapping between a browser or Finder folders. However, with the addition of the Host Panels, these items are hidden from view. In the classic versions of Media Composer, users had the ability to see the MacOS Desktop and other applications or windows behind Media Composer. If using 3 or more displays, you have the ability to add host panels using the Windows -> Host Panels menu.

For bays with two or more monitors, Media Composer displays a host panel on Display 1 and Display 2. With the release of Media Composer 2019.6, Avid added host panels to support “paneling”, the docking of windows and bins. If you prefer to have a Project window that floats with all your bins and folders, you can access Project from the Tools menu. Project WindowĪs I mentioned above, the modern versions of Avid hide the Project window by default in favor of Bin Containers with the Bin Sidebar. If you prefer to leave tabbing the default behavior, you can also use the CMD key modifier to float a bin on demand.

Selecting “Floats the bin” will restore the classic bin floating window. The Settings panel can also be accessed by pressing CMD + Control + Equals on the Keyboard. They are no longer tabs across the top of the Project window (Avid now hides the Project window by default) but rather located under the File menu at File -> Settings. New Settings Locationįirst, it’s important to note that the Settings and Format tabs have moved in the modern versions of Avid to their own window. Thankfully, Avid has listened to some of the feed back provided since 2019, and has added a little bit of customization to the modern versions of Media Composer that can allow users who are more comfortable with classic 2018 Media Composer to feel a bit more at home. Post facilities replacing the old Westmere Mac Pros with newer Macs find themselves required to work with the modern Avid versions as only 2020.4+ are compatible with Catalina and Big Sur. Over the last three years, while many have come to adapt to the “new” Avid user interface (first introduced in Avid Media Composer 2019), there are still a large number of editors and producers who are encountering the new interface for the first time. We Avid editors can often be set in our ways, and resistant to change.
