Easiest way mix videos

[cmelega]

Hello,

I am looking for the easiest way to mix videos. I have 55 videos all lined up in the proper Sequence area. All I want to do is have the next video in sequence, start 5 seconds from the end of the previous video. I've tried dragging the next video up into the previous video and sometimes it works but it is very very clumsy to manually do this. I've played with Crossfade option but I don't beleive I am working with that correctly. Ideally, it would be nice to simply highlight the video I want, and manually configure an option that will havge it start 5 seconds from end of previous video.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

If you want each clip to automatically fade through black into the next clip 5 seconds before it finishes, try this..

 

Get all the clips in order onto the Media list.

Click the "Options" tab on the toolbar and then under the "Transitions" section set the default transition duration to 10 (seconds) and the default transition type to "Fade"

Now click the "Add transitions automatically" box.

Return to the main screen and select ALL your clips in the Media list. (Left click the top one and with the shift key pressed, left click the last clip. They will all highlight. Now right click the highlighted list and choose "Add items to the sequence"

Switch into Storyboard mode and you should see each clip with a Fade icon beween them. This should start 5 seconds before each clip finishes and will continue for 5 seconds into the next clip. i.e the duration you choose will be divided between the clips. However this is not exactly what you are wanting but is the nearest automatic way.

 

If you want a sudden blackout between your clips (ie no fading of the clip) then you will have to manually add a 5 second blank Black frame between each clip.

 

Note: This can also be added with an automatic fade in/out...see below. The process is a little phaffier....

 

Add your clips to the media list. Set the Options "Default clip image" duration to 5 seconds. Unclick the Automatic transition box. Under the "Other" tab check that the "Add new clip" is changed to "End of the timeline"

Back in the main screen click the little down arrow to the right of the "Insert blank" tab in the tool bar, and select "Black" (If it adds a blank clip to the sequence just delete it) You should be in Storyboard mode so you can see what is happening.

 

Now right click each clip on the media list in turn, and add it to the timeline using the second option in the menu that pops up. Now left click the "Add blank" button on the toobar.

 

Repeat like this until all your clips have been added.

 

Each clip should play with a sudden 5 second blank between them.

 

If you find this too sudden then simply set the automatic transition box as described above but with a 1 second duration time for "Fade". This will fade in and out quickly to and from each of your black frames. You can make it longer if you like.

 

Unfortunately there isn't a way of automatically adding all your clips as well as the blank frames unless you go to the bother of creating a blank black image and add copies in between each of your clips on the media list.

 

 

Nat

[Oldmartian]

Nat,

 

I think he wanted to overlap the videos. I'm new to VideoPad but not new to video editing. Overlapping a video is a nice effect. Fading one into the other may look like overlap, but it isn't.

 

If I have a video of my daughter on a swing at five years old and at 25 years old, a beautiful effect would be that as the first starts to fade the second one appears slowly and for a period of maybe a few seconds you see them both on the swing before the 5-year old starts to fase. I know the backgroud and lighting and position and video quality would probably deminish the effect a bit, but it would be a nice experiment.

 

OldMartinan

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

 

From the original post it did seem that the second video was required to start 5 seconds after the end of the first one and this implied something to fill the gap. A fade into a blackout for 5 seconds with a fade into the next video is one suggestion I made. (It could equally be a fade out(or crossfade...equally effective) into a 5 second white frame and a subsequent fade in.) I also suggested a manual method for a sudden transition into the dividing frame.

 

However, (and equally effective to my mind), is what you suggest..i.e. a normal crossfade, this is actually a dissolve from one clip to the next,and not actually a fade in the true sense of the whole image gradually turning dark, but in the particular case cited, the second clip would not then have started 5 seconds after the first clip had ended which was what he poster apparently wanted to happen.

 

With your particular transition on and off the swing, you could easily use a crossfade between the clips. Once in place over the sequence line you can drag the ends of the effect (the yellow bar) left or right to alter the extent each clip is affected as well as the duration of the effect. Initially it's placed equally over each clip with the default duraton. To get the delay effect if you don't see it immediately, you could either split a few frames from the end of the second clip and use the speed effect to slow them down or possibly generate a still frame (the camera under the RH preview pane) and insert that. You would need to experiment a little - but that's the fun in editing.

 

Nat

[Oldmartian]

Nat,

 

The crossfade dissolves the first video but the second shows the first frame but the motion doesn't start until the crossfade is finished.

Conversely, when the second clip starts the first clip's last frame fades away. So there's never motion of both videos at the same time.

 

A fine point, maybe, but not a true video to video fade.

 

I know playing around is all the fun, and I love to play. My problem is that I have 28,000 pictures and mayne a few thousand video clips. I play too much and produce so little. I'll be dead of old age before I produce anything useful. General rule of thumb is that after you burn the DVD you get this idea of how to make it better, neater, faster. (Or correct that damn spellingg error you saw a hundred times but still didn't notice it untiil the final is made and copies distributed to friends and family.)

 

Thanks,

OM

[Nationalsolo]

Hi OM

 

"(Or correct that damn spellingg error you saw a hundred times but still didn't notice it untiil the final is made and copies distributed to friends and family.)"

 

BEEN THERE, SEEN IT, DONE IT!

 

 

Know exactly what you mean about the cross fade. I think I shall have a closer look at what is happening frame by frame.

 

Nat