MEDIA EDITING APPLICATION WITH CAPABILITY TO FOCUS ON GRAPHICAL COMPOSITE ELEMENTS IN A MEDIA COMPOSITING AREA

• US 20100281378A1
• Filed: 05/01/2009
• Published: 11/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Yerbury, Eleanor, Marr, Jason, Pendergast, Colleen, Meaney, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 8,856,655 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/723
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a media editing application that allows a user to focus on a subset of media clips that the application combines to create a composite presentation. The media editing application of some embodiments includes a display area for displaying the composite presentation that the application creates by compositing several media clips (e.g., audio clip, video clip). The multimedia editing application of some embodiments also includes a composite display area (e.g., an area with multiple tracks that span a timeline) for displaying graphical clips representations of media clips that are part of the composite presentation. To focus on a subset of clip representations in the composite display area, the application of some embodiments also includes a tool for causing a first emphasized subset of clip representations (also referred to as “in-focus clips”) to appear larger in the composite display area than a second de-emphasized subset of clip representations (also referred to as “out-of-focus clips”) that are being concurrently represented in the composite display area.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium storing a media editing application for creating media presentations, said application comprising a graphical user interface (GUI), said GUI comprising:

a display area for displaying a composite presentation that the application creates by compositing a plurality of multimedia clips;

a composite display area for displaying a set of graphical representations representing a set of multimedia clips that are part of the composite presentation; and

to focus on a first subset of graphical representations in the composite display area, a tool for (1) enlarging size of the first subset of graphical representations and (2) collapsing a second subset of graphical representations that are being concurrently represented in the composite display area.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first subset of graphical representation comprises a set of selected graphical representation and a first set of unselected graphical representations, wherein the second subset of graphical representations comprises a second set of unselected graphical representations.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the first set of unselected graphical representations comprises part of an unselected graphical representation.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the first set of unselected graphical representation comprises any unselected graphical representation that is within a buffer threshold distance of any selected graphical representation.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the second set of unselected graphical representation comprises any unselected graphical representation that is outside a buffer threshold distance of any selected graphical representation.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first subset of graphical representations includes two non-adjacent graphical representations, wherein at least one graphical representation from the second subset of graphical representations is located between the two non-adjacent representations.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second subset of graphical representations are collapsed into a line.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the line is a selectable object on the composite display area, wherein when the line is selected, the second subset of graphical representation is unpacked in the composite display area.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein when a cursor is moved over the line, a preview of the second subset of graphical representations is provided in the composite display area without unpacking the second subset of graphical representations.

10. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for creating media presentations, said computer program executable by at least one processor, said computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

displaying a composite presentation in a display area, said composite presentation created by compositing a plurality of multimedia clips;

displaying in a composite display area, a set of graphical representations representing a set of multimedia clips that are part of the composite presentation; and

emphasizing a first subset of graphical representations in the composite display area by (1) enlarging size of the first subset of graphical representations on a first track of the composite display area, and (2) reducing size of a second subset of graphical representations on a second track of the composite display area, said second track different than the first track.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first subset of graphical representations comprises at least one selected graphical representation, wherein the second subset of graphical representations comprises at least one unselected graphical representation.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein reducing the size of the second subset of graphical representations comprises reducing height of the second subset of graphical representations.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein enlarging the size of the first subset of graphical representations comprises increasing height of the first subset of graphical representations.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the set of instructions for emphasizing the first subset of graphical representations further comprises a set of instructions for reducing size of a third subset of graphical representations on a third track of the composite display area, said third track different than the first and second tracks.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the set of instructions for emphasizing the first subset of graphical representations further comprises a set of instructions for collapsing a third subset of graphical representations on the second track of the composite display area.

16. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for editing media clips, the computer program executable by at least one processor, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

displaying a composite presentation in a display area, said composite presentation created by compositing a plurality of multimedia clips;

displaying in a composite display area, a set of clip representations representing a set of multimedia clips that are part of the composite presentation;

to focus on a subset of clip representations in the composite display area, causing a first emphasized subset of clip representations to appear larger in the composite display area than a second de-emphasized subset of clip representations that are being concurrently represented in the composite display area; and

performing an editing operation on at least one particular multimedia clip that is represented by a particular clip representation that has been emphasized in the composite display area.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the set of instructions for performing the editing operation comprises a set of instructions for performing a color correction operation.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the set of instructions for performing the editing operation comprises a set of instructions for performing a special effects operation.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for moving a first clip representation that has been emphasized in the composite display area.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the set of instructions for moving the first clip representation comprises a set of instructions for moving the first clip representation across a collapsed area of the composite display area.

21. A method for providing media presentations, the method comprising:

providing a display area for displaying a composite presentation that the application creates by compositing a plurality of multimedia clips;

providing a composite display area for displaying a set of graphical representations representing a set of multimedia clips that are part of the composite presentation; and

to focus on a first subset of graphical representations in the composite display area, providing a tool for collapsing a second subset of graphical representations into a line in the composite display area.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the tool is further for enlarging size of the first subset of graphical representations that comprises (1) a selected graphical representation and (2) a first portion of an unselected graphical representation.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the first portion of the unselected graphical representation is located within a threshold temporal distance of the selected graphical representation along a timeline of the composite display area.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the second subset of graphical representations comprises a second portion of the unselected graphical representation, said second portion located outside a threshold temporal distance of the selected graphical representation along a timeline of the composite display area.

25. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for presenting computer-generated characters, the computer program executable by at least one processor, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

displaying a composite presentation in a display area, said composite presentation created by compositing a plurality of multimedia clips;

displaying in a composite display area, a set of clip representations representing a set of multimedia clips that are part of the composite presentation;

receiving a selection of a track in the composite display area;

identifying a first subset of clip representations based on the received selection of the track; and

to focus on the first subset of clip representations in the composite display area, causing the first subset of clip representations to appear larger in the composite display area than a second subset of clip representations that are being concurrently represented in the composite display area.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the track is a first track, wherein the first subset of clip representations is on the first track, wherein the second subset of clip representation is on a second track that is different than the first track.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the set of instructions for causing the first subset of clip representations to appear larger in the composite display area than the second subset of clip representations comprises a set of instructions for (1) enlarging size of the first subset of clip representations and (2) reducing size of the second subset of clip representations.