Blackmagic Ultimatte12 User Manual Using the Media Pool

The media pool lets you store images and assign them as sources for your composite. You can also add transitions between two still images when they are assigned as a background and background matte or layer and layer matte.

This section shows how to load stills and assign them as sources.

To load a still into the media pool:

1. Open the ‘settings’ tab in Ultimatte Software Control and click on the media button.

2. Choose ‘media setup’ from the groups area to open the media pool dialogue box.

3. Click the ‘add media’ button in the media pool tab and choose the image you want to import.

4. Your imported image will now appear in the device storage list. Imported images will appear in the device storage list To delete an imported image, simply select it from the list and click on the ‘remove media’ button.

To assign a still image to a source:

1. Select the assignment tab in the media window.

2. Use the destination menu to assign a still image to a background, layer or matte.

   

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   TIP A small red dot to the right of the assignment menu indicates that an image is the current selected source for a background or layer. This helps to make sure that you don’t accidentally change a still which is currently on air and makes it easy to identify which still will be used for the next transition.

3. If you are using still images for both the background or layer destinations, then you can choose to add a dissolve transition between the two images. To set the duration of the transition use the transition slider. Dissolve transitions can be between 0 and 10 seconds long in 0.25 second increments.

   

4. Once you have assigned your still images, click on the ‘close’ button to close the media window.

   To perform a cut or transition between backgrounds or layers you can use the ‘background switch’ or ‘layer switch’ button in the function bar of Ultimate Software Control.

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   TIP When you save a preset your Ultimatte will save any assignments that you have made in the media pool. Keep reading this manual for more information on saving and loading presets.

Supported File Formats for Stills

The Ultimatte media pool can use many different file formats including TGA, PNG, BMP, JPEG and TIFF. Embedded alpha channels are supported in TGA, TIFF and BMP file formats.

Stills Background and Layer Options

Once you have assigned a still image to a background or layer, you have the following options:

• Use the RGB content of the still as a background and use the alpha channel of the still as a background matte. If the still doesn’t contain an alpha channel, Ultimatte will assign a solid white matte.

• Use the RGB content of the still as a background and do not use the alpha channel as a background matte. You can do this by disabling the Background Matte In option in Ultimatte Software Control.

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TIP Still images used for holdout and garbage mattes need to be grayscale, single channel images.