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Using the Reference Monitor

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  23. Monitoring Assets and Offline Media
    1. Monitoring assets
      1. Using the Source Monitor and Program Monitor
      2. Using the Reference Monitor
    2. Offline media
      1. Working with offline clips
      2. Creating clips for offline editing
      3. Relinking offline media

The Reference Monitor acts like a secondary Program Monitor. You can use a Reference Monitor to compare different frames of a sequence side by side or view the same frame using different viewing modes.

You can cue the frame of a sequence displayed in the Reference Monitor independently from the Program Monitor. This way, you can cue each view to a different frame for comparison—to use the color matching filter, for example.

Alternatively, you can gang the Reference Monitor and Program Monitor together to show the same sequence frame and move in tandem. This is especially useful for color-correcting tasks. By setting the viewing mode to a waveform monitor or vectorscope of Reference Monitor, you can adjust the color corrector or any other video filter more effectively.

Using a Reference Monitor to aid in setting video levels

You can specify the quality setting, magnification, and viewing mode of the Reference Monitor in the Program Monitor. Its time ruler and viewing area bar also work in the same way. But because it's for your reference and not for editing, the Reference Monitor contains controls for cueing to frames and not for playback or editing. You can use the Program Monitor's playback controls to group the Reference Monitor and Program Monitor. You can open only one Reference Monitor.

Open a Reference Monitor

In the Window menu, choose Reference Monitor. The Reference Monitor opens in a separate panel. You can drag the tab of the Reference Monitor into a drop zone next to the Source Monitor.

Gang Reference and Program Monitor

The Gang functionality is a handy feature since it lets you view how a source clip compares to your sequence, and it's ideal for tasks like matching the look of one piece of footage with another. The Gang to Program Monitor button can be powerful for workflows like color correction, Multi-cam editing, or when comparing edits. 

The Gang Source and Program button gangs the Source Monitor and the Program Monitor together. Select the button to toggle the gang functionality on and off. When enabled, the play heads are locked together and move in tandem. When it's off, the monitors function independently from one another.

You can gang the Reference Monitor and the Program Monitor so that both constantly monitor the same frame.

  • In the Reference Monitor, select the Gang To Program Monitor button.

  • In the Reference Monitor’s panel menu, choose Gang To Program Monitor.

  • In the Program Monitor’s panel menu, select Gang To Reference Monitor.

Moving the playhead in either the Reference Monitor, the Program Monitor, or the Timeline moves the playhead in the other two to the same frame.

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