Nationalsolo

Hi DIYMan

Well......perhaps 30 mins!

Worked OK here.  All the rough masks....Hope you an make them out. Note you don't have to follow the outline slavishly with this particular project as the background is the same as the object image but make it pretty close where the bench is.

Nat

Hi Phil

"....I found it is very easy to accidentally add points without meaning to, when trying to click and drag an existing point for example. ..."

I have to agree but you may notice that the marker changes from open square to orange square if you have grabbed it so that's clue that you aimed correctly. It's sometimes a bit difficult if they are very close together. In the unexpanded preview window they can actually overlap! IMHO I don't think they ever need to be that close as  Feathering should make the outline smoother.

I don't see splitting a clip as being particularly beneficial. If the outline is fairly complex it might be better to start with a number of redundant points that can be used to fill in areas where more accuracy becomes apparent.  Originally I said that a mask can be enlarged. I was wrong, zoom won't work without some phaffy saving of clips first and it's not worth the hassle. Redrawing the mask every 1/2 a second or so (or every few frames) is the probably the best way to proceed. It  is well to remember that the mask can be dragged to the new position and may only require slight alterations. If the enlargement  of the object is regular only two keyframes need be made (Start and End and dragging it to the new position) Also VP transitions smoothly between the two outlines. I think that was what NCH meant when they mentioned mask enlargement was possible.

Nat

Hi DIYMan

OK. I can see some frame markers. These seem to keep pace with the image up to the position of the cursor line........

Beyond that point they stay put.......

You didn't continue along the whole clip or indeed, to the point where the figure disappears. You actually don't need quite so many mask points as you have and at the end they should all end up on the left edge.

##############################################################

OK.. This is what you need to do....Sound dramatic but it took about 15 mins... (keep your original .vpj file so you can restart if you get lost)

• Click the FX for your Video Track 1
• Delete the Polygon mask and the Transparency effect.
• At the Start of the clip open a new mask effect
• Set the effect red line cursor to the left (start of the clip)
• In the full frame Clip Preview screen  add about 50 equidistant points around the part of the figure required to be shown.
• Something like this.....
• 
• Create a keyframe.
• Move the red cursor line along about 1/2 graph square to the right.
• Grab the mask and drag it left to re-position it to a good fit
• Move the existing points to re-outline the figure. In this case it doesn't need to be close to the figure apart from the outline near the bench which needs to be a bit more precise. Don't delete any points or add any new ones.
• Create another keyframe
• Move the cursor line along to the first vertical line
• Grab the mask and drag it left again
• Reset the points.....Dont add any new ones and don't delete any.
• Continue in the way for the whole clip . You will then have made about 10 keyframes and all the points will now be lined up at the extreme left of the clip preview window. You need no more keyframes. The track image will be totally transparent and everything underneath will be visible.
• De tick the mask Inside box
• Add a Transparency effect with 0% Opacity
• Play the sequence. The figure will land. The bench will rock as the figure moves off to the left.

You can play with the feathering controls etc. but ensure that the mask is fairly accurate on the bench side of the figure so the falling/wobbling bench is not obscured. The mask can be pretty rough elsewhere as the image underneath doesn't move.

If you feel you need more keyframes you can add them in. In my test it didn't seem too bad with 10.

Nat

Hi

Got your project D/L and had a quick look. (Got to go out but will get back to it later) Playing it through there is something in the "leg" area that misses and quickly stepping through the masks on "Track 1" (others renamed)  it seems that after a few frames it no longer moves to outline the object.Maybe my PC (old vista machine) is slow to update it but  I'll check it out again a bit later when I get back. .

Doesn't look as if you used keyframes for the mask, but, as I said I'll check it out later today.  That might be an answer. Looks fun.

Nat

Hi DIYMan

NCH confirm that the mask must have a constant number of points  throughout all the keyframes. Polygons with different number of points can not be interpolated.

Nat

Hi

Glad it worked for you. The end result is the same, . I used two tracks as it seemed an easier approach.

Nat

Hi

If your 2560 x 720 is a single complete image try this..

• Place the clip both on Video Track 1  and also on Video Track 2
• Crop Video Track 1 to show the left hand half of the clip
• Crop Video Track 2 to show the right hand half of the clip . I have left a small gap here but you can adjust the crop edges so the image is seamless.
• 
• You can now split either of the tracks so one or the other half play for the required time.Leaving one half in the window......
• 
• Either1/2 can easily be centred using Position.... (I've used the LHS in this example)
• 
• On the other hand if you want a 16:9 full frame centered image of the 1/2 in question don't use the Position effect, simply use a  16:9 AR Zoom... (The LHS is now full frame)
• 
• You can select the output resolution in the Custom box in the export window.but this will export at 16:9 anyway.
• This example exported in 4K with no problem

Nat

Hi SuzC

You can mix the split screen layouts on the different tracks.  Is this the sort of result you are looking for...Two side by side at the top and one along the width beneath?

Video Track 1 contains the lower, wider image/clip and is placed in the lower box of a Vertical 2 Split screen

Video Track 2 contains video clip2 which is placed in the top left box of a 4x4 Split screen

Video Track 3 contains video clip 3 which is place in the top right hand  box of a 4 x 4 Split screen

The tracks now look like this...

You can use the inbuilt split screen Scale and Bias controls to set the images inside each frame.

That should solve your problem

Nat

Hi

A mask can be re-shaped/resized (provided you don't delete any points) but it can't be zoomed  per se as the mask  is associated with the moving clip and it's the clip that is zoomed. However,  If the object in the clip does not change its shape but just gets larger or smaller, then you can load that clip and mask out the object and then save a snapshot. The transparency will be retained by the png. Loaded back to VP the png can overlaid on the video clip and zoomed and positioned to cover the object in the clip below.

Phaff!

Nat

Hi

In my star test I simply grab the mask in the centre and drag it to match the moving object (the star) and create keyframes (if required) as it moves. It keeps the same size and outlines the star OK.  The problems arise if the mask has to be reshaped by deleting or adding points. Also in this test as I was adding movement to the star and not following an object in a lower clip it was important to add the effects in the right order. Position keyframes ----Mask keyframes to follow object----Transparency.  If I masked the star first and then started to move it things went wrong. I shall test some of these on an underlying clip rather than an object. (ie make an mp4 of the moving star. I am not sure yet if zoom will work on a mask.

Nat

Hi DIYMan

Posted a note to the devs to see what they think.  Some work and enhancements were made to the mask feature since the Using Mask sticky was created.This included being able to move (drag) and resize the mask without having to redraw it again.

Nat

Hi DIYMan

Following my post above. After a few tests I am fairly sure the mask shape problem it is linked to to the removal of redundant points during the keyframe making process.

Using a simple shape like a star moving across the screen. The object is easily masked with a 10 point outline.....

Single key frames will follow the outline as it the object moves across the screen. (The mask can be dragged  as a single unit.) This works perfectly. It also works if the object is positioned to change direction. The mask follows it correctly.

If, however after a few keyframes have been generated a NEW point is added to the mask  (here on one of the star arms) ....

......and an existing point is deleted .... The mask changes shape obviously......

.....but the new point can be re-positioned where the deleted one was.  and so apparently restoring the original mask shape....

As before, the clip can be progressed and the mask position dragged to follow the object the remainder of the distance and keyframes can be set to maintain the positioning. All SEEMS to be well until you play the sequence.

Returning to the start and looking at the star ..it seems OK until you un-tick the Mask Inside box and add a 0% Opacity. to make the background transparent. You will now see that what was a complete star (i.e. the first keyframe) has now lost a point. This IMHO is a bug. It should have remained a full star.

This seem to infer that  ALL references to the deleted point were lost when that point was deleted.  The thumbnails above show that the replacement point restored the full star but all previous keyframes had lost the original point. 

This finding means that if complicated outlines are masked then points must not be deleted (by re-clicking and deleting) even if they get so close together due to the object getting smaller or changing its shape when they get squashed up together. Otherwise you risk the mask completely changing outline. This can get awkward ....

Nat

Hi

I have noticed that mask points sometimes "get lost" resulting in a mask that incorrectly changes shape when it is was set up originally to outline a moving object. There are a couple of ideas being looked at that might have a bearing on this behavior. It might be linked to  the frame by frame approach, or perhaps to redundant points in later frames being deleted. The thought being that the data points are presumably stored as lists and deleting a point from a later mask might actually delete the whole list for that point meaning that the mask reverts back to a previous shape. Just a thought and we'll come back in if anything is found.Obviously we will also report anything found to NCH.

Nat

Hi Peter

Have you inadvertently muted the track at the left end? 

If you have, it will show a red cross on the loudspeaker icon.

If this IS the case then the track will play in the Clip preview window but not in the Sequence preview window.

If there is no red cross on the icon, check the volume setting slider below the loudspeaker. Is this set to the left? If so the sequence will not play the audio but the clip preview will. Slide it to the right to turn up the sound on that audio track.

Nat

Hi

The Zoom effect does not work on a text image. (VP 8.45) This may be a programming constraint-deliberate omission or an oversight. (Even a bug  ) but once the rectangle is altered the text disappears.

Use Pan & Zoom instead but don't move the placement of the rectangle, just alter its size between start frame and end frame. Note that this effect (unlike Zoom) works on the whole image clip duration and  keyframes cannot be used to stop the zoom before the end of the clip.

Nat

Hi

Are you trying to load a .vpj file?  Note this is NOT a playable video file. It is a text file that enables VP to reassemble your work. But it IS a valid project file. It may, however be corrupted in some way. Re obtaining your work might be problematic in this case.

Did you use Save Project As  whilst you were working on it, giving a different name each time?  Do this at least once during editing as it produces a specifically named .vpj file. If you save using this option on each occasion you save your work using an incremental name then you produce several .vpj files, each of which should load back the project when it was at a different stage. If you regularly Saved Project   (no As) then the old save is overwrtten each time and you then only have one file to reproduce your work. If that is corrupted (rare) then it won't load.

If you closed VP normally following the save, and the .vpj produced is faulty (rare) you may have lost your work.  VP does save an up to date copy .vpj automatically as you work but this is deleted when VP closes normally. If VP crashed that copy remains in memory and can be reloaded, either manually or usually by being prompted for when VP is restarted.

Check in (user name)/AppData/Roaming/NCH Software/VideoPad/autosave.vpj

Nat

Hi

The censor is a separate effect not associated with Blur. It should be in the Filter section of the effects list window... to the right of  Blur...

If you don't see it and are using VP 8.45  you may have inherited a "version" of 8.45 that isn't showing this effect.(There are various flavours of the installation some with and some without various features.)  If this is the case then re-run the vpsetup.exe file (No need to uninstall) and then check the version to see if that effect is now present. If it isn't try again. I'm not saying this will work but it might.

Once you get it (cross fingers) use it like the zoom effect...outline the area to blur (as Borate shows)

Nat

Hi Aline

Do you mean 2 (or more) videos to play on the same screen? Like this......which is 4 videos playing together.......

If this is what you want then do this.....

• Load your videos to the clip bin.
• Place Clip 1 on Video Track 1........Clip 2 on Video Track 2........Clip 3 on Video Track 3  .......Clip 4 on Video Track 4  etc. ...so they are lined up, one above the other.
• The tracks will now look something like this .....but you will only see the top track in the sequence preview....
•  
• 
•  
• Click the FX for Video Track 4 and select the Split Screen effect
• As in this example there are 4 videos, choose the 2 x 2 Layout. (You could use Horizontal 4 but they would be the wrong shape or you would have to make the images smaller)
• In the Split Screen effects window click the box (A,B,C or D) where you want the Track 4 clip to appear.
• Repeat this procedure for Video Track 3,     Video Track 2   and    Video Track 1  ( Note: You don't have to do them in this order but it allows you to see the result each time in the sequence preview window.)
• Adjust the Position /Size of each clip using the Scale;Horizontal and Vertical Bias controls
• The tracks will reflect the clip positions in the layout......
•  
• 

Your clips will now play together on the same screen. You can add other clips to the end of the existing tracks and apply the same split screen effect and it will change the existing clip in the respective box. Individual tracks can be split using the scissor icon under the sequence preview screen. (The icon associated with the red cursor line splits ALL tracks which you may not want to do)

Note also that all the sound tracks will play together but you can mute unwanted tracks. If you are making a choir video (or a musical group) then you will have to move the video clips left or right to synchronize all the audio tracks

If it is something different you are after then please come back and ask.

Nat

Hi

• Record your narration first. Just speak at a normal pace.
• Add the recorded audio to the audio track so it is under the slide.
• Extend the slide as Borate explains until it covers the audio duration.
• Play over the area to check how it sounds
• Move to next clip/slide

Nat

Hi

"..... I created slideshow of 30 images with transitions.

I played the slideshow, recorded it with Debut, and saved it as an mp4.

I put the mp4 into Videopad where it seems to show as a single clip......"

Saving your slideshow as an mp4 has converted it into a single clip and you no longer have individual slides. For the KB effect you require separate slides.

Currently you have to do this manually per slide which, with a big slideshow is a bit tedious. All the different Pan & Zoom  variations are present from the effects window but have to be used individually or the same effect chain applied applied to all selected clips option used, which is still a bit of a chore.

I have therefore suggested to NCH that they might implement a randomize option for this particular effect as seen in the transition feature. Meaning every slide  (selected slides) got a random pan&zoom (including no pan & zoom.)  This may get implemented shortly

Now...I've been looking at a workaround for you to get an effect to act over a number of clips.

As you can't create a sequence of separate tracks or grouped clips in the timeline -

Do this...

• Put all your slides on the timeline.
• Where you want an effect to go over a number of clips.....
• Select and group those clips
• Drag the group up to Video Track 2 and then back to the start of the track (or close the gap)
• Click the "eye" at the left end of Video Track 1 to prevent it exporting.
• Export the project. It will export just your selected clips.
• Load the exported clip back into VP
• Delete your grouped clips on Track 2
• Move the cursor line to the start of the gap in Track 1 where your grouped clips were removed from
• Place the new clip at the cursor. It will fill the gap.

In effect you will now have a "multiple slide" in the form of a short clip.

Add your effect to this clip.

Nat

Hi

The suggested steps work fine here using VP 8.45

".....Not if you are in Sequence Preview, which is the default opening of VP.  Only by pushing one button or the other until the UNLINK command became available did this work....."

Unlinking the audio from a clip is done by right clicking a timeline track. It doesn't matter which display you have up. (For most editing I set dual display from Options. )  I have noticed that this occasionally just invokes the data popup for the track. Clicking a second time or in a different area usually brings up the correct menu

"......Nope.  If you swipe it, it does nothing.  If you merely click on it it turns blue.  Yes, this moves the red longtailed cursor ten seconds into the clip....."

Sorry if that was misleading.. You are correct. It's just a click but if you are changing just the seconds value by swiping the displayed value area, it will highlight.. But as you say it sets the timeline cursor to the desired position

".........Which makes the entire audio track disappear.  ......"

This should not happen. In fact, even if you have not unlinked the audio,  using the split scissor icon under the sequence preview window and selecting audio track 1 will automatically unlink and split the audio track.

Nat
 

Hi

"....To me, the pop-up window is still vertical ......"

Re-run  the vpsetup.exe file. No need to uninstall. If nothing changes do it again. There are several "versions" possible doing this, each with a slightly different configuration, one will probably show the horizontal scissor box. Might have to do the re-run a few times but it should eventually appear.

"....As far as I know, there is no other way to split, resize or select at a point, without bringing the red-line there! ..."

Correct!  The cursor marks the site of the split action

"....Working for years with VPad, I am very fast at it. ....."

Fast perhaps but not that accurate apparently.     I hate to say it ..Just slow down a shade!

Try to get the horizontal box version..It might ease things a little. If you are dragging the cursor line to a split position, grab the block at the top to move it and then right click without releasing the block. The Split option menu, as you rightly say appears. No need to even move the cursor anywhere near the scissor box. This always an All Tracks split.

Nat

Hi

To do precisely what you want.........

• With 3 min clip with attached audio on the timeline, right click either track and Unlink them
• Place red cursor line at the start of the timeline and note the position reading under the Sequence preview window..It should read 0:00:00.000
• Swipe this value (It will highlight blue) and enter 10. It will now read 0:00:10.000 and the cursor will move to 10 seconds along from the start of the timeline.
• Left click the small chevron to the right of the scissors tab under the Sequence preview window
• From the drop down menus select  Split Audio Track 1
•  
• 
•  
• Right click the audio track on the right side of the split that this generates and select Delete from the menu.
• Click your new audio file from the Audio file bin
• Check that the Red cursor is still at the split point and then Place  on Sequence at the Cursor
• Use the >II tab under the Sequence preview screen to step the cursor to the end ov the Video clip
• Now click the head of the cursor line followed by scissors icon that appears
• Right click the XS audio and select Delete from the menu. Both tracks will be the same length.....The video will be inchanged but there will be 10 seconds of the original audio at the start, followed by your new audio which will finish with the Video

Nat

Hi

".........There are no II<  or  >II  buttons to do this. Which I thinks is an oversight......"

I have put this in as a suggestion. Response from NCH was positive, so it may get implemented. It would be very useful when adding S/T to multi image slideshows as you could then simply step along to the start of every slide.

Nat

Hi

The first point is use Save Project As and you lose nothing if you make an unnoticed faux pas. As you know Save Project overwrites the old .vpj file.

".......The bloody window comes up, whenever you reposition the red cursor-line and has 3 buttons, a scissor and 2 brackets. ...."

It does but  it is now horizontal and well above the thumbnail line.

When it was vertical you had a point but now, IMHO it shouldn't be too difficult to click the Split scissors.

If you want to split and feel you may hit one of the brackets why not use the scissors button under the Sequence Preview window and ignore the cursor line option altogether? There are options there to split ANY track.

With Crossfades between different clips neither clip is changed in size (duration) unless you invoke the Overlap option or have it automatically set as the default in Options/Editing.  If you set this to Ask Me you can pick the type of transition you want at any join. Freeze frame will not shorten any clip.

Nat