Nationalsolo

Hi Having loaded it and tried it out in v2.41. I found, as you did that the configuration window didn't come up although I was prompted with it but also that selecting Video DeNoise, the green progress bar along the top of the sequence line played as though something was happening to the clip, but couldn't see what. Nat

Hi Version 3.04 does not support automatic transition insertion. This was a useful feature in version 2.41 if you wanted to make a quick slideshow......Pity it was not kept in. (like the zoom feature.) You can set default values for image duration and transition duration though, just as before. Nat

Hi Seashell You can also use the overlapping overlays to position up to 9 images on the screen by setting each image in position using each of the 9 arrows in the matrix and adjusting their size so they fit together. (They obviously have to be the same aspect ratio to cover the screen properly) With a bit of ingenuity you can even have more images and set some to scroll up/down/right or left to pass over each other and by displacing the overlays and varying the overlaps and altering their lengths you can acheive a pretty interesting visual display. If you try this you will need to remember the order you placed them on the screen as the the first one stays on top but is on the bottom of the sequence line. As you may also have noticed, setting text in the window and using the arrows to position it can be undone by introducing a scroll....annoying, but probably not what the designer had in mind. Nat

Hi Ive just done a 4mB swf screen copy of the moves but can't get it to upload to my old Orange webspace. However I'll keep trying Dougie... "Then I activated clip 1and dragged the timeline (not mouse) cursor (you called it the red sequence line marker-same thing, right?). to the start of the yellow (mine is definately 0range) transition line." Yes, The red sequence line marker is the timeline cursor and the transition bar is ........OK..........orange In my version (VP2.41) the line between the two clips is CYAN. When you place the mouse cursor over this it turns into two narrow vertical lines each with a small central horizontal arrow pointing away from each line. I haven't got V3 loaded so I am wondering if the cursor type and the line colour here is different......Are you using 2.41 or 3.0x? "Now grab the join line (which is now the end of CLIP 1) and drag it to the left so the cursor icon is just past the red line" "Okay, although that has always been the end of clip one. Did that, and as I dragged the end of the clip back to the red line, the transition line went with it." The CYAN line will mark the end of CLIP 1 as this is the activated clip. If you had activated CLIP 2, it would have marked the start ofCLIP 2 The orange transition line will move left as you drag the end of CLIP 1 left. In effect the transition is moving back so it always has 2 seconds of working time before the join. (Assuming a 4 seconds crossfade) "So now I have the transition line at the end of clip one, and a 2 second empty gap before the second clip. Is that correct? I can't get it do anything else at all!" With version 2.41 there should NOT BE A GAP. As CLIP 2 moves to the left CLIP 1 is dragged left and stays in contact. As VP 3.0x will allow one to drag a clip along and leave a gap, I am wondering if you are using this version. I now have a vague feeling that in 3.04 dragging CLIP 2 left to close the gap will also drag the orange bar with it so destroying the transition. (This must be a bug!) If so, i am mistaken in thinking you can use this method in 3.0x....SORRY From your last paragraph this seems to be what is happening. Can't load BOTH versions at the same time to compare, and currently have a project under way with 2.41. Oh Dear......SORRY sorry sorry sorry ................. Works OK in 2.41 though! Nat In my version

Hi Dougie "ah, so lets say the transition is a 2 second crossfade. So I add 1 second extra to the in and out points of the clips?" You make the OUT point (Blue) in CLIP 1 a little earlier You make the IN point for CLIP 2 (Red) a little later. In effect you are cutting off a little more from the ends of each clip to provide enough "movie" from each to create the transition. I just posted with a detailed step by step as to what I do in 2.41. and 3.0x http://nch.invisionz...rved-up-on-426/ (Go to the bottom) Nat

It's OK But if you use the shareware version you get a logo placed in the centre of your output video Nat :-)

Hi Well...That has generated some posts! But that's what the forum is for... OK Dougie and Jonsri and anyone else stumped with my explanation.....! (Borate excepted ) These are the steps (in detail) that I use in version 4.21 instead of the IN/OUT method and should (will!) produce a neat crossfade. It works in both 2.41 and 3.04. (but in 3.0x you add the transition in a slightly different way, apart from that the steps are identical. OK, Its a bit pedantic and I am probably telling auntie how to suck eggs but bear with me.... Place a clip on the timeline that has plenty of movement in it. (CLIP 1) Place a second clip after this, again showing plenty of movement. (CLIP2) The two clips will automatically join up with a blue line between them. The movement is so you can see better what is happening when you review the finished transition. We are going to add a crossfade between them of 4 seconds. (But any duration will work here) So.... Click the blue square with the lines across it at the end of CLIP 1 and add a crossfade effect of 4 seconds. This will produce a yellow bar across the join between the two clips with 2 seconds overlapping the end of CLIP 1 and 2 seconds overlapping the start of CLIP 2 (Adding the transition is slightly different in 3.0x but put a 4 second crossfade between the clips) Now...If you play the sequence at this point slowly by dragging the red cursor line over it, you will see at the beginning of the transition a still image from the start of CLIP2 faintly appear. This will appear to fade in as CLIP 1 plays and fades out, At the half way point (the join), the still image from start of clip 2 will be replaced by a still image of the last frame of CLIP 1 and this will appear to fade out whilst CLIP 2 plays and fades in. It is these still images from the ends of the two clips that people have complained about. You are actually playing both clips fully but using stills from each to make the respective fade out and fade in. Total length of the two clips remains the same. So, to make the perfect crossfade without conciously using the IN/OUT markers.............. Activate CLIP 1 by clicking it. Drag the red sequence line marker along so it lines up exactly with the start of the yellow transition bar.You are going to use it simply as a reference line. Place the cursor on the blue join line between the clips and it will turn into two vertical lines with small arrows to each side. Now grab the join line (which is now the end of CLIP 1) and drag it to the left so the cursor icon is just past the red line.(Use the little arrow on the right of cursor icon as your guide. Leave it touching the line.) (This is what I meant by dragging the end of the clip) Activate CLIP 2 by clicking it Now move the red cursor line to the right so it lines up with the finish of the yellow transition bar. Grab the join line again (which is now the start of CLIP 2) and drag it to the right so the cursor is just past the red line.(Use the little arrow on the left of cursor icon as your guide as above.) (This is what I meant by dragging the end of the clip) When you play the sequence now, both clips will play during the complete transition and there will be no still images. In effect you are using IN/OUT markers to set the clips, (you will see the IN/OUT markers move as you pull the clips back in the left hand preview window) but by using the red cursor line lined up with the transition bar you are ensuring there is sufficient "cut off" from each clip to play during the transition. If you don't pull back the clips beyond the ends of the yellow bar you will get still images. Obviously if you don't have enough video in each clip to trim off in this way but still need a transition then you will have to put up with still images. Nat.

Hi It may be a bug..but I can't see why text characters should be missing. Send in a report. If you want to be certain everything is OK then..... Create an avi first....check it and then upload the avi file. Nat

Hi NCH "Video transitions in v3.04 should work the same as they did in v2.41. That is, if the left clip of your transition has its 'out point' set and the right clip has its 'in point' set then the video shouldn't freeze during the transition period. This will depend on what 'in' and 'out' values you choose. If the clips don't have 'in' or 'out' points set and you transition between them then the frames will freeze at the middle of the transition." I have posted a "cure" several times regarding this mentioning that instead of using IN/OUT you can simply pull back the ends of your clips to a little more than the depth of the transition bar (equivalent to the in/out settings, but less phaffy to reverse) in which case the transition works fine. Nat

Hello Cnr-NCH Thank you very much for your reply and for noting the fault with the "Crop" effect. Did you have a any comment about why the "linked" soundtrack was left behind when an image was placed earlier in the sequence? Finally ( probably wont be ), my point regarding the zoom feature was that in 2.41 it was easy to use and worked OK so why did you feel the need to change it? I think it should be left in. In 3.04 there are no visuals if you open the zoom feature (found in transitions/more transitions...although "zoom" is not a transition) It also refers to two clips each with a pair of sliders. Not easy to use and doesn't give a zoom in the correct sense although a nice effect. "Please remember that version 3.04 was a beta version, so the idea is that we get feedback from customers before releasing it officially - you shouldn't expect it to work 100%." I understand that . Re Crossfade..and despite what Dougie has found, Using the in/out points (OUT for Clip 1.....IN for clip 2) the transition is perfect. The secret is to make the points at a distance equal to more than half the duration of the crossfade from the end of the clips. I have done this with shots of moving traffic and each clip plays throughout the transition. Nat

Hi If you have kept the original vpsetup.exe file from the version you want to go back to and didn't simply run it from a website then if you double clicki this it will reload the previous version (vp2.41) You can, if you wish, delete all the NCH folders you have for your current version first, although I haven't found this necessary. I think it is always a good idea to save the .exe files (say on a USB chip) so you can go back to the earlier version if things don't run correctly. I quite often change between the versions just to checkout workarounds but at the moment I prefer version 2.41 to edit all the stuff I do. If you HAD the earlier version on your PC,(this might be correct if you didn't) then when you uninstall version 3.02 via the control panel you will get a message window asking if you want to revert to the earlier version with a Y/N choice. Nat

Hi. Anybody know why, if you place a video clip with sound onto the sequence..remember the sound is linked to the video.... and then place an image or blank frame in front of it, the video is pushed along the sequence track as one would expect but the "attached" sound is left behind??? Surely the sound track should move with the video!.......It's not been unlinked. However just to confuse matters...It subsequently behaves as though it IS linked, but in the position it got left behind in since if one now drags the video clip along the sequence the sound will move with it........albeit in the wrong place! Is there an editing reason for this? If so I can't think what it can be. Although V3.04 seems to have adressed the "Building Preview" problem...clip loading and thumbnail generation seem faster as well.., oddities like this, introduced since 2.41 have suddenly appeared. Also. what was wrong with the Zoom feature in 2.41? It worked great and was pretty intuative.. In V 3.02 this effect was removed and had to be acheived with a blend of Crop and Motion..not so visually simple and requiring some experimentation. But now, in V3.04 presumably put out in response to criticisms related to speed, the Crop effect now only shows 1/4 of the frame and 1/4 of the reference rectangle. How come? Obviously a programming error introduced since 3.02. This does seem to show a degree of carelessness or lack of testing. It's doesn't seem a lot of use to correct a version and then reissue it with new problems. Anyway, I have sent in a couple of bug reports.............. Nat

HI That's it ! Assuming that you don't like the short text fades available in VP 2.41. Create a small project of your text. Save it as an .avi to your computer. Load your full project and then load your short text avi clip back and insert it where you want with a fade in and a fade out to suit. You have to bear in mind that a fade plus a "scrolling" text may not show much as the fade will occur before the text appears. Also this method won't work if you want a moving background film. If you want your text to work (have a slow fade in/out) over a movie you can try this .....but it's a bit more long winded...... Open VP. Add a blank black frame to the empty sequence and drag it out to match the duration of your text. Create an overlay of your static text You can use coloured text if desired. Pull the text overlay box out so it starts and finishes with the blank black clip. Save this as an avi. Clear VP and reload your title avi to the media list Add a 5 second blank black frame to the empty sequence and then add your title clip to follow it. Create a cross fade of 2 seconds between the blank frame and your title Create a 2 second fade at the end of your title. Adjust the transition times so the effect is what you want. Save this as a new title avi. Clear VP once more. Now load your main project to the sequence line. Click the Overlay track green cross and choose "Image or Video" Browse to your new title avi and add it as an overlay. Centre it and make it full size. Now the clever bit...... As your overlay is black it will cover up your background video. so... Slide the red cursor bar along the sequence so you can see your text in the right hand preview window. Left Click the overlay so the controls appear in the left hand preview window and then click the Chroma key select button.(Its the little green button with a black head on it) Select black for the colour to mask (Click the square and select black) Drag the red chroma key cursor line to the right until your text shows in the left hand preview. Slide background slider to 0 Slide foreground slider to 100 Click OK Your titles will now fade in and out over your project video. Nat

Hi Recipe for a single image placed over a music file. (VP3.02) Open VP. Click the "Add Media" button, open the folder with your image. Select it and click "Open" Click the "Add Media" button, open the folder with your music file. Select it and click "Open" Click the "Audio" tab and drag and drop your music file onto Audio track1 Click the "Images" tab and drag and drop your image file onto Video track 1 Grab the right hand side of the image thumbnail on the video track and drag it out to the far right and release it at the end of the Audio track. Click "Export video" and choose from the options provided. Job's done! Nat

Hi Sorry Dougie., I can't entirely agree, although I shall need to test it a lot more with some serious editing. So far I just loaded a load of (mpeg2) clips (about 5 mins worth) and found that they seemed to load much faster into the media list (I do like the thumbnails ) Pulled to the sequence track, I thought the thumbnail generation was still somewhat slow but it was at least possible to preview any selected clip in the RH pane, and play the track even though there were no thumbnails showing. A thing which, in 3.02 stopped proceedings. I tried a few splits and added a couple of transitions. I didn't manage to generate the "Building Preview" window even though the green process bar was still going. I also noticed that I could preview a clip that was on the sequence in front of the green bar and THAT clip was thumbnailed before the others. Rendering to the PC was also quicker it seemed to me. But, as I said, I shall have to edit something larger and more complex to see if is better. At the moment I do think it is. As you say though, the crossfade is still implemented the old way,(Still fames appearing) but Borate and myself have already posted an easy workaround to that using the overlay track. Later....and yes....The "Crop" reference image shows only a quarter of the frame and a quarter of the orange rectangle, but if you "Play" the effect then although there is no image (VP can't display while playing) there is a complete orange square shown. THAT needs putting right! Sent a bug report Nat

Hi Seashell You are correct and the transition behaves as you say. It's academic since normally you wouldn't use a transition completely pulled back to the join but interesting to see how it behaves. What you see depends on the transition selected I suspect . For example, make a PROPER crossfade as follows... i.e. Clip 1 fillowed by Clip 2 with a crossfade (say 2 seconds) between them. Put red cursor line level with the right end of the yellow bar and then pull back the end of Clip2 from the join to just past the cursor. Put red cursor line level with left end of yellow bar and then pull right end of clip 1 back to the cursor line. This procedure gives a correct crossfade with both clips remaining in motion. If you now pull the right hand half of the transition bar to the join and play the sequence you will find you have in fact, removed the fading in of clip 2. Doing it the other way around though it behaves differently-- I get "Building Preview" Different things happen with other transitions Try it with Fade... (You don't have to reload the transition....just "Undo" Still, as I said, its academic but intersting. Nat

Hi "I would still like to know how to position a transition so it is left-justified or right-justified and position above a clip and NOT between two separate clips" " In version 2.41 you can add a transition (as you know) by clicking the the little barred square at the right hand end of the clip and then selecting the type of transition required as well as setting its' duration. This transition is then automatically placed equally divided over the join between the two clips and is represented by the yellow bar that appears over the join. This can't be moved but it CAN be adjusted. (But not in version 3.02) Just left click the yellow bar and then when it's highlighted grab one or either of the ends. (The cursor will change into two vertical lines when it's over the end of the bar.) Now you can drag the end of the bar to a new position. In this way you can alter the starting point and end point for the transition relative to the join. Note: You can only drag the ends back to the join though. If you do drag an end this far you have in effect "removed " it from the side concerned and you can't drag it back. In which case you can simply remove the effect, reload it and try again. I used to use this method to reduce the "still" effect in some crossfades until I found that you could eliminate the "stills" by dragging in the ends of the two clips to be joined by a distance equal to half the crossfade. Nat

Hi There should be no problem with this, although in version 2.41 you can't "join" the audio clips together. You describe the steps which I use to duplicate and add on sound sections. Why you get a "scrambled mess" when you use zoom I don't know. One thing worth noting when it comes to adjusting sound clips... If you have trimmed a clip and adjusted the ends by dragging to isolate accurately the sound section you want. then drag the clip left so it overlaps the previous sound (assuming you want to get them to play with no gap, and ,of course they are on the same track.) The selected clip, (clip 2) when released, will automatically jump right and adjust itself to follow the previous one, leaving a thin blue line at the join. If your trims are OK then this should play perfectly with no break from clip 1 to clip 2. However if you now inadvertantly right click your joined up clip 2 , say, to highlight it, and then for some reason left click it. Your clip will fractionally move to the right leaving a gap. Something to watch out for if they are on the same track, but it can be used to accurately position a clip placed on a lower track. I can't see why using the zoom should cause a problem though, as I have often used zoom to get close to a cut point and after zooming out making the join by dragging the clip 2 back over clip 1 and releasing it as mentioned above . Join is perfect. There has been an odd occasion where zooming out has shown the "join" line thicker than it should be. But by simply repeating the overlapping action (no need to remake the "cut") the join jumps back correctly and stays there. If you feel there is going to be this problem then every time you make a join that plays correctly, just "Save Project File" and then carry on with the next join.That way you will always have a project file to fall onto. Can't think of anything else. ....If under Options/Other you have sound files set to push to the right...that might cause things to out of synch if you are adding something to a gap that is too small. (Don't think you would be doing that though) too obvious! Nat

Hi "I also assume you want me to delete the text overlay box once the photo has been inserted into the selected position on the timeline. Otherwise the text will appear as "doubled-up". Correct? " Might be a reasonable idea. Glad it worked. Nat

Hi Must have pressed just before me! Nat

Hi What version are you using? In V3.02 you can use the Opacity slider to render the overlay transparent (0%) and then adjust the height of the blue graph lines in the box to the right to set the opacity to 100% at any point after the overlay starts and then do the same for the end of the overlay, bringing the 100% level back down to 0% This creates a fade in and fade out that is under your complete control. In V 2.41 all you can do when you have placed your text line in the overlay is to click the box marked Fade. You can only have the fade duration that is set. However, if your text is to be placed over a blank frame or static image and does not scroll (ie. it is a static text line) then you can have a controllable fade. Create you overlay text screen and in timeline mode place it beneath your background image/blank frame. Set the cursor line over the centre of the overlay box. Click the camera icon below the right hand preview screen. Split your sequence at the point where you want the text to appear. Now drag the "photo" from the media list and drop it onto the main sequence line where you just split it. Now use the crossfade transition to dissolve the text in and then out at the other end. OK, It's static but that's about the best you can obtain if the default fade in the overlay is too short for you. If you are desparate to have something moving then another option is to create your scrolling/static text over your moving background clip and then save this as a separate avi. Now load that clip back to the media list. Insert it into the sequence and add the crossfades. Nat

Hi Seashell Coming back to your comments re jerky titles. You are correct. No matter how slow you set the scroll, the lines move upwards in short regular jerks. I generally use static titles on separate screens but I just had a look at some older films (on DVD) where I had originally noted the jerky pans and traffic movement and looked particularly at my scrolling credits. They behaved in the same way as you described. This is decidely a problem (fault?) created by VP, particularly as the raw MPEG4 or MPEG2 files show no such jerkyness, and I think NCH should look into it. Or, explain why this happens. Nat

Hi What do mean by original sequence? In version 3.02 you can easily use the higher tracks to create inserts in the main track which will obviate having to split it. Video clips on the upper track act as overlays and if their opacity is set to 100% then they will play over the main track clip. Moving them should not create a gap in the main sequence (unless you have previously split it and moved the sections apart) but obviously the section of the main sequence that was covered will now play. You can close any gaps as Borate describes.

Hi I can't comment re the pixellation as I use DVDStyler and haven't had any major problems. Your earlier post said you rendered your avi with 1024 x 576 pixels and this is quite correctly 16:9. However if the original video had a smaller resolution and AR, (you don't say what the original was) then this will have been expanded to fit the best way possible into this larger frame, this may possible be the reason why the image shows some pixellation. Also if the original format was not 16:9 then there would a border put around the image to take up that empty area. In effect the frame would be 16:9 at 1024 x 576 but the image in that frame might be 720 x 480. VP won't deform the image to fit the frame. With regards your screen display... You say the image format is 720 x 480 pixels. This ia an aspect ratio of 1:1.5 which is OK for the old standard TV screen but not for the more modern widescreen which has an AR of 1:1.7 (16:9) If you are using a wide screen TV then your format will not be wide enough to fill the screen from side to side and there will be bars to each side. However you say you saved it from VP using 16:9. That's OK for the modern screen but, as mentioned above, if your image is 1:1.5 then you will see the borders as they will be present within the 16:9 frame you haev rendered. Nat

Hi Dougie It must be a fault somewhere. I am not aware of a "Snap to" feature or setting in V2.41 As I mentioned all my audio clips behave as separate moveable items when added to the same track. They will push up later clips if they are present (if set to do this) or otherwise truncate themselves if the space is too small. The only way I can see a snap to happening is if the sound is still linked to a video clip as this will "snap back" as video clips automatically line up end to end. Interesting to know..Can you pull the offending sound bite down to a lower track, and if so can you then move it about? Nat