Quick Start

Just the Basics

This is all you need to know to get started with a basic Media List. The following steps explain how to setup a list of videos and play them. See the rest of this help document for instructions on using advanced features.

A Media List is made up of multiple Media Items which are displayed in the program List panel (left side of main window, see Figure 2.). A Media Item can be a video, audio or image file. Using the Media Item Descriptors and Modifiers panel (right side), you apply attribute values to a selected Media Item. Attributes include things like the associated Media File name and play modifiers. Media Lists retain all the attribute information so at the time of the performance, you need only click the play button. You should understand that Video Mill never modifies a video File directly. Effects are applied when you play the video and can be changed as many times as desired without affecting the video file itself.

Building and Editing a Media List

• Add videos by drag and drop - For productive editing you can drag and drop video files into the List panel from Windows Explorer (or most any file manager). A new Media Item is added to the list for each dropped file. Media Items are inserted at the position of the current selected item. You can also drop a folder of video files.
• Add a New Media Item - Click New Media Item button on the Edit toolbar and a new Media Item is added with a blank filename. Click the Browse button in the Descriptors section to set the item's Media Filename.
• Moving Media Items in the list - Select a Media Item in the list, then click Move Up (or Down) button on the Edit toolbar to move the Media Item to a different position in the list.
• Copy/Cut - Select a Media Item in the list, then click Copy (or Cut) button on the Edit toolbar to copy the selected item into the Media Item clipboard. All attributes of the item are copied including effects settings. Note: Cut does NOT remove the physical Media File from your computer.
• Paste - Click Paste button on the Edit toolbar . The Media Item in the clipboard is pasted into the list at the position of the current selected Media Item.


Edit toolbar

Using Play Controls

• Load a video - Select a Media Item in the list, then click the Load button. This creates a Media Screen for the video. Position the Screen on your display. Use your mouse to resize it by dragging the lower, left corner of the Screen. For performances, you will likely position the Screen on a second monitor. The Loaded indicator will have a green bubble when a video's Screen is loaded. (See Figure 2.)
• Play a video - Select a Media Item in the list, then click the Play button on the Play Controls panel . The video plays from the beginning. Multiple videos can be played simultaneously.
• Stop a video - Select a Media Item in the list, then click the Stop button. This also has the affect of resetting the video to the beginning (aka rewind).
• Pause a video -Select a Media Item in the list, then click the Pause button. Play is now paused.
• Resume a video - If a video has been previously paused, click the Resume button and play resumes from the position where it was paused.
• Volume - Drag the Volume slider to lower or raise the volume of the video.


Play toolbar

Note: At edit/design/test time, you do not need to have the secondary monitor connected. Media Screens can be displayed on the computer's screen.

Setting Descriptors

• Name - Each Media Item has a Name field located on the Descriptors panel. You can set the Name as desired to identify the Media Item in the context of your production. It is best to keep it short (a few words max) but the is no character limit. Name is used to identify each item in the Media List.
• Description - This allows you to add comments or instructions for the video engineer who is operating the video console. This can be multiple lines of text.
• Media File - Each Media Item has an associated Media File. You can change the Media File at any time using the Browse button. The time duration of the video is displayed next to the filename (filled in when you Load the video).

Saving and Re-opening the Media List

• Save - Click File -- Save to save the Media List for future use. The default Media List file extension is '.MLT'.
• Open - Click File -- Open to open a previously saved Media List.

Main Program Window

Figure 2. below shows the Video Mill main program window. The control sections (on the right) can be opened and closed by clicking on the section header. The Media List panel is on the left side of the window. Each numbered item in the list represents a Media Item. When you select a Media Item, its attributes (or properties) can be edited in the edit sections on the right-hand side.