Nationalsolo

Hi If you have linked your overlay text with the clip/image on the sequence line, it will move with its' associated clip if other clips/images/blanks are inserted into the sequence. If, however you have dragged the "linked" overlay to reajust its position it will become "unlinked" and will then get left behind if its companion clip is displaced or moved. Nat

Hi In version 2.41 you alter your text size with a slider. There is no option to numerically set a font size value. Nat

Hi What format video are you editing? Nat

Hi OK. You have added a clip to the sequence line by dragging it from the media list. When you say "text" I am assuming you have an overlay associated with the clip in question. If you dont want the clip on the sequence line just right click it (it will highlight in blue)and from the menu that appears select "Remove selected clip". This will remove it from the sequence.(But not the media list) If you want to remove it from the media list as well (ie get rid of it entirely)then right click it on the media list and select the last option from the menu "Remove item(s)" This removes it from the media list, (but not your PC.) If it is a clip against which you have added text as an overlay i.e. credits, and it is the text that you want to remove then do this...... The Overlay sequence line will contain a grey box with some of your text showing in it. The overlay is independant of your video clip by the way..unless you have linked it) To remove the overlay and so the text, right click the box and then select "Delete selected Overlay(s) Delete" from the small menu that appears. Your overlay text will be removed.The clip against which the text formerly appeared will remain. If it is a matter of just correcting your text then right click the overlay box and correct your text in the area below the left hand preview window.You can type directly into this. Any problems - come back here and I'll try to be clearer. Nat

Hi As far as I am aware VP will normally only display the main soundtrack that was recorded with your video clip. So a separate narrated sound track that was recorded with that clip will not be seen. (But I am prepared to shot down on this ) Normally to add a narration to your video you load your video clip(s) to the media list then drag it to the sequence line. (You can also add it by right clicking the media list item, and then selecting the appropriate option from the menu) VP will display your video with the main soundtrack associated with it on the line below. but there are separate audio tracks below this. If you now click on the tab marked "Narrate" in the tool bar a preview pane will open up with a red "start recording" button. There is a red cursor line below the preview on the thumbnail line that you use to set the start position for your narration. Set the mike input that you are using and the file/folder where you are going to send your recording, name etc. on the right of the preview pane. Recording levels can be adjusted beforehand using your particular mike input application. e.g. windows sound recorder or the soundcard input....... Once recording levels are OK, click the red button and then read your text (or ad lib) to the video which plays in the preview pane. Audio levels will be shown as you record. When finished, the narration sound file will be added to the media list automatically and also placed on a lower sound track. As it was recored against your video it will start at the correct position. A copy will also be found in your designated folder.("Narrations" by default) Editing of the main sound track around your narration inputs may need to be done to ensure that your narration can be heard ovewr the main track. Alternatively you can make individual sound files for each piece of narration(eg. narr1.wav narr2.wav etc and then after adding them to the media list dragging them to the place required on the second soundtrack. You may also be able to separate the original narration from your video as a separate file and then incorporate it onto the second VP soundtrack, but it may depend on how it has been recorded. Nat

Hi OK. What you should see when VP 2.41 is running is on the left hand side of the screen, under the media list pane containing your list of clips, a grey bar labelled "Video track" along with contols for Transition/Split/Effect and sequence style. This section lines up the sequence track on the right. Below this control section is another grey bar labelled "Overlay Track". On the RH end of this bar is a green cross. This where you add your overlay effects. As with the above section it lines up with the overlay sequence track. Below this bar are the control sections for the various sound tracks. Overlays can be text,image or video. To add an overlay effect to your main film sequence click the green cross. In the "New Overlay" screen that comes up click either the "Text" or "Image or Video" radio button depending on the type of overlay you want to add. If you select "Text", enter your text into the window and click OK. The overlay will appear on its own sequence track at the cursor position within a grey box. It will show some of your text and have a dark grey "loading bar" along its top. At the same time the left hand preview pane will show your overlay text against a black screen with various control options below it. There is a scroll bar below this so you can move the window to the right if it doesn't all display. Controls include font/scroll text in various ways/set text position by using an arrow box/colour and style and text fade in/out option plus opacity and size. The display time of the text overlay can be adjusted by dragging the ends of the grey box on the sequence line right or left and the positioning of the overlay can be done by dragging the box itself right or left. (wait for the "Load bar" to fill before viewing the effect. To remove your text overlay right click it and select to delete. If you choose to add an image or a video click the lower radio button and then browse to your image/video and click OK to load it. The steps are then similar to the above but the control choices are different. With a video overlay the preview window behaves like the clip preview window, but again the control options are slightly different and in/out points are available. Nat

Hi Unfortunatly, unless I have missed something, VP won't let you save to one DVD after another (like WDVDM), and it would seem you would have to go through the whole process again for each disc. I have looked in various temp folders but like yourself, can't locate anything in the way of an interim file from which the DVD might have been burnt. Probably the best way around this is to put the DVD you first make back into the drive and then copy the Audio_TS and the Video_TS folders to your desktop. (This is if you have only one DVD drive) Now insert another formated DVD into the drive and then drag these folders to the disc drive icon to burn another DVD. That second DVD (and subsequent DVDs) should open and run in the same way as the original. (Note-The are no menus on the VP discs.) This procedure works with repeated copies made on an RW disc that I formated between each test.I Can't say offhand how long it might take with your particular video though as I just tested with a small set of clips which only took a few moments. If you save your project as a file (eg..an avi) to your PC it will also probably take some time to convert. The quality of the avi when played on your PC should be OK but will be worse if re-saved back onto disc as it has had to now go through two levels of compression. Nat

Hi What version are you using? It will say on the opening splash screen or in the bottom left of the main screen. Nat

Hi GOSH.....I've just gone deaf! Yes it certainly is possible. You will need your four clips in a folder on your PC somewhere and all of the same length if possible. Open VP and add a blank clip to the sequence line. (Black is OK.) It is onto this that you will place your 4 clips that will make up your "screens". In storyboard mode change the duration of the blank to the value that you want the effect to last for. (Click the yellow bar below the blank thumbnail and enter the duration required.) You could also drag it out after you have finished. Now click the overlay green plus button and then in the window that pops up click the "Image or Video" radio button. Browse to the first clip that you want to add (Your first "screen") and load it. (Click "Open".) Once it has loaded click "OK" The clip will now load to the overlay track and appear in the RH preview window as a small thumbnail,usually centre bottom. It will also display full size in the left pane with a control panel underneath the screen. Using the positioning square with the little arrows which is on the right of this panel, click the corner that you want this clip to move to. The little thumbnail will move to the corner you select. Now use the "Size" slider to enlarge the thumbnail until it occupies 1/4 of the screen. (You will have to gauge this). So far so good. Your first "screen" is in place. Now add the second "screen". Click the overlay green Plus button again and load the second clip. This may appear on the overlay track to the right of the first overlay if you have moved the cursor, but wherever it shows up, simply grab it and drag it to the left so it covers the first overlay. This will ensure that they both display at the same instant. Again this clip will appear full size in the LH preview pane as well as in the RH preview pane as a small thumbnail, (and of course, your first "screen" will also be in place.) Once more click the arrow in the positioning square corresponding to the corner that you would like THIS clip to appear and, as before, adjust the size to about 1/4 of the screen. You now have both clips in their respective corners. Repeat the procedure for the remaining two clips and you will now have your result of 4 "screens" playing in each of the the four corners. Note that by adusting their overlap positions and lengths you can control when each corner appears or disappears. If necessary, you can trim the background blank to trim all the clips to the same duration. Nat

Hi By "Pages" I assume you are meaning clips? If this is so then it would seem you have.. A blank clip followed by two video clips against which you have overlayed your title sequence. OK.....The obvious and simplest answer (if this is the case) is to add a further video clip to the sequence to make up the time required and then stretch the titles to match. Another solution would be to increase the duration of the blank clip by a few seconds and then also slow down the two video clips slightly so as to extend the total sequence to the time required. Switch to storyboard mode and then click the yellow bar under each clip. This will allow you to enter a new value for the duration of the clip in question. In this way you can adjust the total length of time your sequence lasts for. Note that any linked sound for these clips will also slow down. You can then, if required, click on and drag the ends of the text/title on the overlay track so these appear for longer or scroll more slowly. Nat

Hi The preview panes show your video in what seems to be a compressed format and they will always look blocky. If you are saving to your PC (and playing back on your PC) my suggestion is to save it as an avi file. Click the "Save movie" tab and then "Computer/Data" option. In the Preset option box, click the down arrow and select HD 1080. The defaults will show the resulting output file as .avi. The avi files will play OK on your PC. (With a compatible player.) If you save to DVD then VP will select the optimal format. Don't forget to save your work as a project file....and don't delete your original clips/images. I find it a good idea to test out any settings by saving any test videos to DVD RW disc. VP will automatically wipe these when you make another test. In this way you can eventually settle on what works best for you. Nat

Hi Load your video clip to the media list and then drag it down to the sequence line. The audio associated with the clip will be seen on the Audio track underneath. Now Right click the audio track that you want to "Unlink". A menu will appear. Select (left click) the option "Unlink sound clips". The audio will drop down to a lower soundtrack. Left click and drag the audio a little to the right or left as this will "detach" it from the video and also select it. Now Right click it. Select "Delete selected audio" from the menu. The audio will be deleted. (If you make a mistake you can restore it by Right clicking the video clip again and selecting "Restore sound clip" ** If you dont move it a bit, you may delete the video track as well. It seems to require "detaching". You can now drag your replacement audio onto the soundtrack line. Note: If you don't want to actually delete the audio, you have the option to mute it. Right click the sound track and select "Adjust clip volume". Click the "Mute clip" box. Then OK. The soundtrack will mute but will remain visible. You can now drag your replacement audio onto the lower soundtrack line. Nat

Hi "Thank you for your very detailed response. From what you are telling me, it seems VP is not the correct tool to edit MPEG-4 video...." Not at all,VP will work OK with MPEG4 clips I am sure. All I am saying is that mine don't. When the subject of image lag has been brought up elsewhere, replies seem to infer that it's a PC performance related problem rather than a deficiency in the software. There are plenty of references regarding image/sound synch problems with MPEG4 clips and some seem to be the reverse of what I get. Certainly HD MPEG4, particularly in the bigger format requires a PC with a bit of punch in order to edit it. All I know is that the RAW mpeg4 files from my camera,even 1280 x 720 HD, when played on my PC show considerable image lag over seconds of time whether I play them in VP, realplayer etc. and that if I convert them all to MPEG2 format I can edit them without any problems. In fact the image seems clearer and the sound crisper. Nat

Hi With your full clip on the sequence line, move the cursor to the place where you want to split it. Now split the clip. Left click RH section to highlight it in blue, and you will see it display in the left hand preview pane. Now click the tab under the preview pane that looks like a bit of film. ("Save as a new clip" ...it's to the left of the green down arrow). This will save a copy of the RH segment to the media list but it will also remain in the sequence. So right click it on the sequence and select to "Remove selected clip". The preview panes will go blank. This will leave the LH end of your film on the sequence that you can now save as your first wmv file. Depending whether you want to keep the clip or not you could select it and again "Save as a new clip" followed by a delete or simply delete it withjout saving it...as you wish you still have the original clip. Either way the sequence line will now be empty, so drag the clip bit you split off and saved initially back down to the sequence line and make a second wmv of that. You will now have two wmv files made from the one clip. Nat

Hi OK thanks, I found the video,(It was under the help tab!)And you are correct, the demonstration does show in/out points being used for overlay text/titles but the version being used is v2.20, so is earlier than yours. It does appear that this particular function has been changed in the later versions, whether for better or worse is largely a matter of personal taste. It may simply be a programming constraint but I wouldn't really know. Certainly for just titles/text, most cases wouldn't require such precise adjustment and not so often in the course of a film, but overlay video clips might if a particular effect is needed. Whatever ones thoughts, VP is still a pretty good piece of software. Nat

Hi There are several ways of doing this. Here is one that works relatively easily. It would be a good idea to copy this so you can follow it. Get your main clip and cut-away clips onto the Media list. First step is now to drag and drop your main clip onto the sequence line. Set the sequence to display in timeline mode. Now right click the soundtrack and select to "Unlink the sound clip/s".The sound track will now move down to the next free soundtrack but will remain in synch. Play your clip in the RH preview pane to the point where you want to insert your cut-away and then stop. You can adjust the cursor bar more precisely if required by dragging the heart shape at the top or using the <> buttons on either side of the Play triangle. Now left click the "Split" button to cut the main track. The next step is to get the cutaway clip (the insert) onto the sequence line. Right click your cut-away on the media list and select to "Add the item to the Sequence" and then select "Slider's position". At this point the sequence may look a little odd as it may resize and soundtracks might seem totally wrong but all is well. As you don't want the cut-away soundtrack to play you will need to remove it. I prefer to delete it rather than simply mute it. (I feel it gets in the way) So... Right click the cut-away clip and select to "Unlink the sound clip". The track will again drop down to a free space. Remove it by first a left click (which will select and nudge it to the right a bit ** ) and then right click it in order to select "Remove selected audio". This will clear the audio from the cut-away clip. ** Even though you have unlinked the sound from the clip, if it is not physically moved along the track then deleting it will also delete the clip. Now replay the sequence and again stop where you want the main clip to re-enter. Adjust the cursor line to the exact point and once again "Split" the sequence line which will now split the cut-away clip. Remove the unwanted right hand bit of the cut-away by a right click and "Remove selected clip" You can refine the length of the cut-away section by dragging the ends if needed. Now you need to remove some of your main clip. Although you can use the preview counters to determine how much to cut off, I prefer to use Storyboard mode. So switch into Storyboard mode. You will now see the precise length of your insert in seconds displayed beneath the thumbnail. You need to remove this amount from the left hand end of your remaining main clip. Now. Right click the thumbnail of the remaining main clip to the right of the insert. The cursor will jump to the start of the clip which will display in RH preview pane. Beneath this it will show the cursor position. You need to move the cursor along the clip exactly the same amount of time as shown under the cut-away thumbnail. So add the cut-away time duration to the time position of the cursor shown under the preview. This will be the position where the next split should be made. As an example.. your insert clip shows 2.7 seconds and the cursor position (at the end of the insert) shows 0:1:05.5 seconds. Add these together to give 0:1:08.2 Now grab the cursor and drag it along the sequence noting the counter below the preview window. Stop when the figures match you addition. Note you can move frame by frame using the <> buttons on either side of the Play button. When the figures match, "Split" the sequence line one more. This should cut off a bit of the main clip exactly matching the length of the insert (The duration values shown beneath the thumbnails will be the same).You can undo the split if they aren't identical and try again. To finish of the procedure right click the unwanted left hand bit of main clip and select "Remove selected clip" The full sequence should now play and be in synch after the insert has played. It sounds a bit long winded but once you have given it a try with a couple of practice clips you will see it's quite straight forward. Just takes a bit to describe. Nat

Hi Obviously the logo/watermark was put there for a reason but ignoring this, it can be done, but not easily. A lot depends on how big it is and whereabouts in the frame it is. Most methods use the following ideas. Using a program to blurr the watermark. The logo is simply blurred and made less conspicuous. The program uses parameters set by the user. It may be possible to actually remove the watermark. With this method the pixels of the object are overwritten by copies of the adjacent pixels and the resulting area smoothed. Both methods can apparently work. I have done a few in still images using the second method where it takes time and patience and the results are excellent, on a film it may not be as successful as it would have to be automated. You could try Virtualdub, there are lots of filters available, some of which can be incorporated into VP. http://www.infognition.com/VirtualDubFilters/ There is also Watermark Master. a program for adding watermarks, which, I think can also be used to remove them from film. Nat

Hi I think I see where you may be going wrong. I was talking about the overlaying of text/titles onto a clip. With text there is no in/out option. You adjust the position etc. as we mentioned. However when the overlay is a video clip the in/out drag pointers are available in the left hand preview pane, just as they are for a main sequence line clip. Just click the overlay for them to come up. Although I haven't seen the help film you mention...my help files only outline the method we discussed and there are no links, I am thinking that the demonstration shown was probably done with a film clip as the overlay and not text. (BTW dragging the text overlay ends to lengthen/shorten the text does register on the sequence position counter to the right under the RH preview window.) Nat

Hi "I know that I can zoom in on the timeline / overlay track, and drag the start and end points, but keying them in would be more convenient for me." In/out points don't work for the overlay track. The option you mention above should be accurate enough for most users. The position of the ends of the overlay when you drag can be easily monitored using the sequence counter under the preview window. Nat

Hi In short..OOPS The "Project file" that VP creates is more or less a data file that enables VP to recreate your edited film, but it is not your film. VP creates a cache file of the clips that you import from your HD and which appear in the media list window.These are the copies that will eventually make up your film. The raw clips are not alterered on your HD. As you create your movie from this list of clips in the cache VP creates further files that record how you edit the clips, eg. Such things as where you cut the clips, the type and extent of transitions associated with them and overlays as well as what you do with the sound. By default, the cache is emptied at the end of each session..presumably to save space although you can alter this in the "options" settings. Because of this the project file presumably also holds the basic cache data regarding your clips but not the clips. By opening the project file VP will reload the raw clip copies to the cache from the HD (Updating the cache)and then recreates your film. If you havn't deleted the cache then VP presumably simply checks what is there and the process is quicker than reloading them. Also as you develop your movie VP creates an updated copy of your project file in case the system should crash. In this way you don't lose what you have done up to the crash point. Now..if you have deleted your raw files VP can't recreate the film from the project file as in order to update the cache it needs to know where to find your original clips. It's the same if you have moved them or renamed the folder. You will get a pop-up message to this effect and clips not found will be printed in red in the media list. (The project file still contains the names of your clips and where they were.) If you have deleted them all, the message will say VP can't find any clips. You will need to reload your original clips to the same place on your PC in the same named folder. VP should then be able to recreate your edited film from the project file. If you have several projects on the go and want to combine them at a later date, Don't delete the raw files. If you need the space then I would suggest you save your edited project as an avi (or other convenient format)which you can reload in VP without the need to keep the original files. Nat

Hi Can't say but this works for me... Position the slider Press the + on the overlay tab. This opens the "New Overlay" pane. Check the "Text" radio button. Click the pane then type your text and click OK. Your text should now appear in the overlay track on the sequence line as well as have an entry in the clip list. Left click the overlay on the sequence to open the control panel for your text. Change font/position/size/fade etc. as required You can also reposition your overlay by dragging it along the track. Nat

Hi When you have set the new speed with the slider, does the green bar at the top of the clip progress to the right? It should. Depending on the length of the clip and the amount of speed change you are making it can take quite some time as if you are reducing the speed, VP creates the intermediate frames to render a smooth movie. (You can set this the "Options" Tab) If you are trying to slow down a whole film it may take a very long time.You will just have to be patient. Speeding up a clip is obviously quicker as VP only needs to remove frames. Nat

Hi I have just started to look at V2.41 after stating elswhere that I though titles as an overlay couldn't be faded as they could in v2.12. In fact the fade button was partly hidden as I hadn't scrolled the preview pane across. OOPS! Put me foot in it there! Anyway, you can add the video effects to the overlay provided the overlay is an image and they do work OK (at least for me.) I think if the overlay is text then you only have the basic options of ..Font/scroll/size/opacity/colour/ position etc...(+fade ) If you have a text overlay and try to add a video effect, the effect will list on the left and the grey effects bar will pass along the top of the overlay but the text will remain unchanged. Just tried them all. Might be an oversight... Nat

Hi again I have just been trying out V2.41 which intitially I thought couldn't fade the text when added as an overlay. In fact I am wrong! It will. You just have to scroll the panel along to the right to see the option FADE which was initially partly hidden from view. OOPS! Clicking this when you have set up your overlay title will make it fade in and out when it is played. Nat

Hi Yes, it will need a bit of digesting! Nat