Pro Tools Reference Guide812
Spotting Regions to SMPTE
Frame Locations
(Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with
DV Toolkit 2 Only)
Spotting is the process of assigning music and
sound cues to specific SMPTE frame locations in
a film or video. This function can be used to
spot:
◆ Entire regions, selected with the Time Grabber
tool. Multiple regions can also be selected, and
Pro Tools will reference the first region in your
selection.
◆ A specific location within a region, by clicking
with the Selector tool at that location, and
choosing Region > Identify Sync Point.
◆ Sessions or tracks, dragged from a browser to
the session Timeline or Region List.
Spot Mode
In Spot mode, a region in a track can be quickly
spotted by simply clicking it with the Time
Grabber tool.
You can also drag a region from a DigiBase
browser, or from the Region List, to a track while
in Spot mode.
The Spot Dialog
The Spot Dialog appears when you drag a region
to a track or click a region with the Time Grab-
ber tool in Spot mode. The numeric fields func-
tion as both data displays and editing controls
for the currently selected regions.
Information in these fields is displayed in
SMPTE Time Code, Minutes:Seconds,
Feet.Frames, Samples, or Bars & Beats, depend-
ing on which Time Scale format is selected.
A highlighted numeric field indicates the cur-
rent active field for numeric entry editing. En-
tering a value in a field allows you to move a se-
lected element to the time location that you
enter. The Start, Sync Point, and End fields are
accessible when the Time Grabber tool is active.
Only the Start or End (depending on where you
click the mouse) and Duration fields are active
when one of the Trim tools is active (see “Using
the Trim Tools in Spot Mode” on page 814).
Use Subframes Option
A subframe is 1/100th of a frame. The Use Sub-
frames option enables you to use these smaller
units for greater accuracy. This command adds
an additional time field in the SMPTE
Spot dialog
To increase or decrease SMPTE values in
the Spot dialog by a specific number of
frames, press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the
numeric keypad, enter a number, and press
the Enter key.