Media Window

The Media window lists all media items that have been added to the presentation. It provides a thumbnail preview of each item, along with a description of its name, type, location, size and other information, as appropriate.

Double-click Name to edit the media specification.
Double-click a Composition’s name to open its timeline.
Double-click a thumbnail to open media file in its associated application.
Click the triangle next to a folder’s name to reveal its content.

Adding Media

Add new media by dragging files from your hard disk into the Media window, or by choosing “Add Media File…” on the Media menu. Files dragged directly into the Timeline or Stage windows are automatically added to the Media window as well. Each media file used in your presentation will only appear once in the Media window, regardless of how many times it is used.

Removing Media

Remove individual media items by selecting them and choosing “Clear” on the Edit menu. Remove all unused media items from the Media window by first choosing “Select Unused” on the Media menu. It is not possible to remove media that’s currently in use in the presentation. Removing media list items in this way does not affect the files stored on your computer.

HINT: Use the Find command in the Timeline window to track down media references by the name of the media item or any other part of its file path.

Location

Indicates the location of a media file. If the file is located in or under the folder in which the presentation itself is saved, the path to the file will be relative to this folder. Otherwise, it will be an absolute path, beginning with a ‘/’-character.

IMPORTANT: If possible, store media files in a sub-folder of the folder containing the presentation file, since this allows the use of relative path names. Doing so allows you to move the entire presentation to another folder, disk or computer intact. Using absolute path names may cause problems if the specified location is not available after moving the presentation.

HINT: If you change your mind concerning file locations, you may move the files to a more appropriate location (for example, to a subfolder of the folder containing the show file), and then use the Find/Replace command to update the locations in the Media window accordingly.

Changing the File Association

You can change the file associated with a particular media list item by double-clicking its name and choosing another file. This will affect all cues associated with this media list item. You can only replace a media file with another of the same type.

Editing the Media File

To open a media file in its associated application, double-click its thumbnail. This provides convenient access to a media file in order to view or edit it.

NOTE: Your computer must have been set up properly in order to associate each file type with the appropriate application.

HINT: You can open the media file associated with a cue by Alt-double-clicking the cue on its timeline.

Refreshing Media Information

After editing media files, update the Media list in WATCHOUT by choosing Refresh on the Media menu.

Grouping Media Items into Folders

Media items can be arranged into groups. Chose “New Folder” on the Media menu to create a folder then drag the desired media items onto the folder. Double-click the folder’s name to change it. Click the triangle to show or hide the content of the folder.

NOTE: Folders in the Media window have no relation to folders on your computer’s hard disk. They are merely a way to organize items in the Media window. Creating or removing folders from the Media window will not create or remove any folders on your hard disk.

Adding a Media Proxy

In some cases, media files can not simply be dragged into the Media list. Instead, you can add a proxy item to the Media window using the “Add Proxy” command on the Media menu. Examples where this is the case include:

A very large video that has been pre-split into multiple files (see “Pre-splitting a Large Video”).
You want to incorporate stereoscopic video into your presentation, using separate left-eye/right-eye video files.
The media may not yet be available, or may for other reasons need to be provided or replaced manually on the display computer at a later time.

Popup Menu

The contents of the right-click menu in the Media window are basically the same as the Media menu. However, when you right-click on a composition you can also edit the properties of the composition, by selecting “Composition Settings...”, and duplicate it by selecting “Duplicate Composition”.