REAL TIME
Unlike some systems that offer real time editing and effects under limited circumstances, ToasterEdit lets you get busy and get finished by giving you just what you need:

• Real time multi-format editing
• Real time playback of compressed and uncompressed video files in the same project including RTVs, AVIs, DV, MPEG and more.
• Real time playback of compressed and uncompressed audio files in the same project including RTVs, Wav,
• Real time transitions.
• MP3, and more.
• Real time updates between the dual Storyboard/Timeline views.
• Real time 3D digital video effects (DVE's) without the need for optional hardware.
• Set in and out points without opening any control panels.
• Real time chroma and luma keys.
• Real time, positionable and colorable shadows on layers and overlays.
• Real time zooming of all croutons and clips within both the Storyboard and TimeLine.
• Real time slow motion (based on speed or clip length).
• Real time Picture-in-Picture generation (keyframable) including zooming, panning, cropping, motion, etc., in very high quality
• Real time color correction (keyframable) and color tinting
• Real time scaling of any Windows graphic to D1 aspect for instant playback
• Real time audio mixing of unlimited layers with animated volume, balance,

With multi-format editing all your focus is on the story you are telling, not on the format of the materials supplied. No longer do you have to worry about converting the video clips and images your client provides. ToasterEdit, like Video Toaster [2], allows you to encode using whatever video codecs you have installed on your system, and those same codecs are called upon for playback. Uncompressed or compressed, it is your choice. Many situations call for the best quality imagery you can use. If you are chroma keying or working on some high-contrast, high motion text, you would certainly want to start with uncompressed clips. ToasterEdit allows you to use those clips alongside DV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MJPEG and compressed AVI's without waiting for something to render just to see what you've got. Keep on working, ToasterEdit keeps up with you.

The unique Dual View mode within ToasterEdit allows you to work simultaneously in both Storyboard AND Timeline views. Storyboarding is a great method for quickly roughing out your project and then just as quickly setting in and out points. Timeline excels at layering and setting relationships between audio and video segments. Now, you can do both at once. While you speed through one window, ToasterEdit will update the other view in real time. This capability becomes even more powerful as each window can be used to independently view Storyboard, Timeline or File Bins, giving you the flexibility to see a long project in two separate Timeline windows, one zoomed out to show the whole project, and the other to zoom in on selected clips.

Additionally, ToasterEdit boasts the most powerful integrated DVE engine in the industry. Transitions, whether simple wipes and pushes, or 3D digital video effects with warps and deformation of your video are in real time. This means transitions and effects created in LightWave 3D can be used in real time right within your project. Drop the transition into the Storyboard or Timeline and you're ready to preview it and move on. The most common transition is the dissolve, and ToasterEdit will instantly create a dissolve by overlapping clips on the Timeline. What's more, if you wish, you can easily insert any of the 300 supplied transitions to replace any other effect while automatically inheriting all settings from the existing effect.

In and out points are adjusted constantly in the life of a project. ToasterEdit's Storyboard view lets you set in and out points without opening any additional windows or panels. Click. Drag. Done. Right in the crouton view, you SEE the in and out frames you chose, as well as the full-screen view on your Program monitor. Even time code is displayed in the crouton as any adjustments are made. If you wish to see all the information on a clip, there is an Edit panel available. Jumping from one clip to the next automatically refreshes the Edit panel, so your view is left clean and uncluttered for rapid progress to that wonderful goal: a smiling client handing you the check for a job well done

Chroma keys are another real time pleasure. Whether you need to chroma key from a live camera source or a video clip, you are greeted with real time feedback of your key. Wish to key several sources at once? Maybe five or six? No problem. ToasterEdit will happily layer on and on. Imagine the power and finesse you have with unlimited layers. At some point, unlimited layering is going to become more than any earth-based computer can play back, but that is where ToasterEdit's speedy background render engine comes into play [to be discussed in the next article in this series].

In ToasterEdit you'll find our slow motion function is silky smooth, perfectly fielded and real time. Just because your clips play slowly doesn't mean that project creation should be slow. ToasterEdit lets you instantly set a speed based on a percentage or length of clip. Sometimes you only have 7 seconds to fill an 8 second hole in your project. Just set the clip length to 8 seconds and let ToasterEdit do the math for you. Just as interactive, is the power to stretch a clip on the Timeline to make it run as long, and as slow, as you wish. Even reverse slow motion is properly fielded. PiP, or Picture-in-Picture is also a necessary component of video production that ToasterEdit handles in real time. The simple interface, which is kept within the Edit panel to minimize clutter onscreen, lets you interactively scale, position and crop any project layer. You can add shadows, set their color and position. You can set background colors, color tinting, overlay color correction and more, all in real time!