Nationalsolo

Hi

There is something really odd here.   Not sure what the (86) is referring to (perhaps someone will let me know) but here the target is just  C:\Program Files\NCH Software\VideoPad\videopad.exe

Nevertheless if you have deleted ALL references to VP from your PC (registry included) then a fresh download of the vpsetup.exe file from the NCH site should reinstall the program.

If all else fails why not do a Windows Restore back to a date prior to your difficulties?

Nat

HI

Why not load all the various VHS files (one at a time if needs be) into Prism (by NCH) which will convert them all into the same file type.. Conversion options are extensive.

Nat

Hi

Before you record your commentary you can lock the tracks. This ensures that they will not move. Now you can add your recorded commentary clips to the next free audio track and move them around to match the clips above without disturbing the other tracks.

Nat

HI

Did you save the vpsetup.exe file to a particular folder on your pc.? This is the file you download from NCH and save when you re-install or install VP. It's not the exe file that runs VP. It normally comes into my download folder from where I generally move it to a specific folder that contains other versions of VP. 

On my system after running vpsetup.exe the VP programe resides here.... C:\Program Files\NCH Software\VideoPad\videopad.exe which is where you are trying to load from.

A couple of possibilities.

1. Either you haven't run the setup.exe to re-install VP
2. You are trying to possibly run it from a shortcuut that is pointing somewhere else. So delete the shortcut (or don't use it) and do a Windows search for the setup file.

or download it again from NCH) and re-run it. It might be that you installed directly from NCH and didn't download the vpsetup file

Latest version...  https://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/versions.html

Older versions are here:    http://oldversiondownload.com/oldversions/

Nat

Hi

Fade through white transition from an image to video clip works OK in the latest version of VP (8.45)  Give that a try and see if the problem persists.

https://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/versions.html

I don't have VP 8.11 but I checked 8.10  and the transition also OK worked there.  It seems odd that you say nothing happens when you try to add the transition. Does it work between two images?  Have you tried a different image in a stand-alone test? .What type of images are you using?   If you find a stand-alone test  (image/video clip also fails,  upload just those files and it can be checked out.

Nat

Hi Fion

At 1920 x 1080 your clips are already 16:9  and don't need cropping. Without any cropping they will fill the screen. If, on the other hand you need to pick out a region within the clip, like perhaps a face or some other detail then just use the Zoom effect on its own.Don't Crop. 

In the Zoom effect window set the Aspect Ratio to 16:9 and then adjust the rectangle that appears on the Clip Preview screen (see below, LHS) to outline the area of interest. There are "handles" on each side and the corners with which to do this. The rectangle will change size and/or position but will remain 16:9 as you move it. 

The area you finally choose to enclose will always be full screen.....as shown here....RHS

I think that may be the answer to your problem.

If your clips are 16:9 but  with a vertical image in the centre  -portrait orientation), Zoom will still  produce a full frame image but because the image area is vertical and 16:9 is horizontal, you will lose some of the top and bottom...

A lot depends on what you want. As far as possible try to make all the clips/images 16:9 at the outset .

Nat

Hi

You can post your project as follows;

http://nch.invisionzone.com/topic/23659-tips-for-getting-help-on-this-forum/

In short:  Load your project into VP and then  Click Menu/File/Save Portable Project  As

This will save all the relevant files to dated folder.

Post the folder to an image hosting site like Google Drive or Dropbox. Make it public and post the link here. Someone will then take a look and advise.

In the meantime- What version of VP are you using and what is the resolution of the clips you are using?  Try to keep all the relevant clips to 16:9

If you are cropping the clip even if it is 16:9 AR  it will generate black borders but zooming should pull it back. If you don't want black borders then use only the Zoom but keep the AR at 16:9 and it will fill the screen.

Nat

Hi

  OK,  see what you mean.    As Borate says, VP produces a start to finish video, the content of which plays once. If you have a series of clips/images on the timeline, you CAN click the + that follows Sequence 1 X  at the left end of the tracks. This places a copy of the timeline in the Sequence bin. You can then keep adding this copy to the end of the project. so all the clips repeat but  of course it' just makes the project longer. There is no control in VP that makes the project replay over and over again.

That is a feature usually found on whatever player you use.

VLC for example....

Nat

Hi

• Place the image on the timeline (or specific overlay track)
• Click the FX  on the clip and select the Rotate effect.
• For a fixed rotation just enter a value or set the slider in the Rotation box or drag the red spot around the circle in the clip preview....
• 
• For an animated rotation slide the red graph line cursor to the left (start of the clip) and set a starting rotation value.
• Click the small green + with the red line to set a keyframe.
• Slide the cursor line (or play the clip) to a new position and rotate the clip again using the preview screen red spot or move the rotation slider and then create a new keyframe.
• The clip will now rotate between the values you set when it is played.

Setting several keyframes and varying the degree of rotation each time the clip can be made to rotate forwards or backwards as required.

If you want to use the same rotation effect on subsequent clips then save it first time as an Effect Chain Template by clicking the blue cassette tab. Give it a name and it will now appear in the Templates section of the effects list when you click the FX for other clips.

Nat

Hi Lusch

Here's another approach I find useful..

• Temporarily mute the audio track or reduce the volume to zero with the slider at the left end of the track.
• Record your narration  as Borate describes and place it on the next audio track.
• Play the sequence and gradually bring up the audio track volume that you muted (or reduced to 0) until the balance betweenthe background music and your narration  is OK. Generally I find about 30% volume for the background music gives a reasonable balance.

Ducking can be somewhat distracting  depending on the gaps left between episodes of speech. The background music can go UP/DOWN ..... UP/DOWN  quite rapidly. A steady balanced volume can often sound better. Try the ducker by all means but also listen to professional commentary in documentaries on the TV and see if the background goes up/down when the commentator speaks.

Note that the volume set with the left end track volume slider is exported.

Nat

Hi B

Not quite.  You can toggle the sound crossfade box with clips on the timeline but they must have no transition. If there is a transition already there and you want to change the action you have to click the blue transition X  and select "No transition" to remove it. Then you can change the sound crossfade box to reverse the action and re-add the transition. Don't have to remove timeline clips.  Still a bit of a rigmarole.

Nat

Hi Borate

"........When you refer to 'still frame transitions' do you mean those that have unlinked audio at the same junction? ....."

No. I meant the transition between two video clips with audio but transitioning with the "Freeze frames".  OR  Overlapping.  (Sorry wasn't being clear    Freeze frame not Still image)

i.e.

With the box un-ticked the sound track in either case cuts from one clip to the other with no audio crossfade.

With the box ticked the sound tracks crossfade when either transition type is selected.

Nat

Hi

Your solution is correct but it is not a bug.

By default all of your clips, being images will have the same duration (set in Options) and therefore the  overlay image (the hole) will automatically end at the join as one would expect - mid way through any transition you may have added between the main track clips.

At this point the overlay image (the hole) will suddenly disappear  leaving the transition to complete. As you correctly surmise you have to extend the overlay to the end of the transition. This is easy to do by simply dragging the right hand end out so it finishes where the blue transition bar stops. (It will automatically lightly grab that point when you do this) The complete transition will now take place within the circle and as you have found out this will then suddenly disappear  so will need to be faded out.  This is easily done without resorting to trial and error or calculating durations.

Select the overlay clip and then in Clip Preview slide the previrew red cursor bar along until  the timeline cursor is at the join between the clips. (They move together) Add a transparency effect and set it at 100% Opacity without moving the red line cursor. Create a keyframe and then drag the end of the Opacity line vertically down to 0% Opacity. Your overlay track will now fade out with the transition. (This is quicker than trying to guess it or work figures out.)

Nat

Hi

Can't see a bug with latest version. Un-ticking the box works OK for the latest version of VP 8.45 both for overlapping clips and still frame transitions.

Nat

Hi Peter

The latest version of VP behaves like this...... (But see below the ######## line.......YOUR VERSION DOESN'T.)

• Place the videos above one another, each on a higher track.
• 
• Click the FX for each track in turn and add a Split Screen effect using a 2 x 2 layout.
• Assign each track to a particular corner of the 2 x 2 matrix, setting the Resizing Mode (See Borate's post above) for each clip to Fit to Region. Note that with a 2 x 2 layout each box retains the 16:9 AR.
• If your clips are all 16:9 AR then the images will completely fill the boxes they are assigned to as in the image below.
• 
• If they are not 16:9 then vary the other options ..Scale, Vertical and Horizontal bias to adjust each image as required, Monitor the result of each change in the Sequence Preview window.

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

HOWEVER...... You are using VP 7.5 and the Split screen options are not quite the same in this older version. The clips are NOT scaled to fit the Split Screen Boxes  automatically as with the latest version and if you use Scale to reduce them in size the split screen box is filled with the WHOLE SCREEN IMAGE  and not the Scaled image. That is why you only see a 1/4 of the clip. ...  So don't use Split Screen and proceed as follows... (with 4 clips it's fairly easy.)

• As before place the clips one above the other on higher tracks
• For each clip Click the FX and add a Scale  effect
• Set the Horizontal and Vertical  ratios to 0.5 This will reduce the clip to 1/4 size retaining the 16:9 AR
• Add a Position effect and move the clip   to its respective corner. You can monitor the result if you switch to dual preview displays in Option/Display and refer to the Sequence Preview window........
• 
• Repeat the same procedure for the other clips, using the  Position effect to place them accurately in their chosen corners
• . The final result should now look like the image above the line of ######.

There may be a way around having to do this with VP 7.5 but it's long time since I used it. I will have to check but the above will work.  The latest version is much improved in this area. For example, the layout previously used is retained for the next chosen clip ..it doesn't revert back to Horizontal 2.  Scaling is automatic, whilst positioning is included in the Split screen options. Layout has also been increased to a 5 x 5 matrix.

Give it a try and see. (Retain you old exe file for 7.5 and registration code so you can return to 7.5 later)

Nat

Hi

Of course you can!

• With all your images on the timeline Click one of the transition X s between the clips and then set the box at the bottom of the transition window (See Borate's post above ) to  Apply to All Clips (Click the little down arrow to see the choices.)
• Now click the transition you want. All the  clips will have this transition placed between them. Note that there is Random transition choice. Selecting this will place random  transitions between the clips.

Nat

Hi annag

This is an interesting problem and I have been looking for a workaround...Here it is......

Your 10 minute clip at 30fps will contain 600 x 30 = 18000 frames You require that this is converted into 1 frame every 5 seconds. That makes an output clip of 120 frames. At 30 fps this represents a clip of 120/30  = 4 seconds duration. (To put it simply your 10 minute clip  will need to squashed to 4 seconds which represents your 120 frames every 5 seconds.)

Now...

• Place your 10 minute clip of 18000 frames on the timeline and change the speed  to 5000. This should produce a 12 second clip of 360 frames (at 30 fps) .
• Now save the timeline as  a sequence  and then load it back (Should remain 12 seconds duration)
• Change this new clip speed to 300. This produces a timeline clip of 4 seconds. (On paper 120 frames)
• To check, step along this clip  frame by frame and it should reach the end in 120 frames. You have now got your 120 individual frames (1 every 5 seconds) out of the original clip.

According to C-major exporting this as an image sequence should give a frame-frame -frame images.  i.e. VP ought to export 120 frames which is what you want..

However... This doesn't seem to happen..   you get hundreds of images probably because VP still looks at it as an original sequence and not a completely new clip.

                                 The solution is to export your new 4 second clip (sequence) as an mpg at contant 30fps first

Now load your exported 4 second clip  back into VP and re-export it as an image sequence.You should now have 120 images in your destination folder which is what you were after..

Nat

Hi DCS

"...You mention in VP that edits can be made when previewing.     Not sure what you mean,  sorry. ...."

As a simple example you may want to move a scaled  overlay clip or a masked area on a clip to a different position  relative the underlying clip giving a Picture in Picture result (it doesn't have to be these particular effects BTW) The Clip Preview window only shows the clip that you are applying the effect to and the effect limits...like a dotted rectangle for example or the scaled image. Unless you are going to guess exactly where to position it you need to see the actual sequence. .....i.e you move the clip but need to see where you are moving it to. This requires you to monitor the movement in the Sequence Preview.window at the same time as you move it..... Here,  both displays have been set up and the position of scaled clip (left)   can be monitored in real time on the sequence preview which displays on the right.....

If more precision in positioning is required the Sequence Preview can be undocked by clicking the little arrow at the top right and enlarged..up to full screen if required. Even with a lowish resolution that we mentioned in the thread above  it's adequate to do what is required. Also the display need not play whilst you do this positioning.  Hence "Edits can be viewed in preview as you do them."

Nat

Hi

"......When enlarging the preview to full screen the picture quality is just awful......"

The preview image is what it says it is - a preview. It has a medium resolution. Old versions  of VP did allow the user to set the resolution of the preview screen but playback speed often suffered as in many instances users set the values too high and VP couldn't keep pace with the rendering of multi track, multi effect projects.  To overcome this developers fixed the preview screens at a reasonable resolution so playback was less impacted and the overall result looked OK even when enlarged. Enlarging the preview to full screen  will not compare to the raw clip or an exported clip which will usually be of a higher resolution.(Set by the user at export) Neither can it reasonably be  compared with another product which may not use a low resolution preview. (In fact the full screen preview in MM is full resolution) but the small preview image is about the same as the preview image in VP.)

Examples.... Here is the full area of the frame of a clip in Sequence preview ..

Close up of the above in a full screen preview frame....  Slightly blurred yes, but quite usable for preview purposes...

Here is the same area of a full resolution  exported mpg4 frame..

The difference in quality is obvious.

For comparison below is the same frame (about) from the full screen MM preview...

Yes! It does look clearer than the VP full screen preview image because  in MM the full screen  preview is full resolution. However whilst in full screen the MM sequence can only be played; it can't be used to monitor effects etc.  as it can in VP. It can't be stepped forwards and backwards etc  As I mentioned above the standard small preview screens used in both programs are pretty well identical.

At the end of the day why do you want a full resolution full screen preview? In some of the projects we see on the forum  it would barely play.

Nat

Hi

Glad it was helpful.   (Sometimes it isn't! ) and age has nothing to do with it ..I'm still copying and editing old Super8 film! Any problems or you require any pointers come back, generally someone will respond.

Nat

Hi

Well, you seem to have done everything correctly. The DVD should contain the following as Borate mentions..

The AUDIO_TS folder is always empty . The VIDEO_TS folder should contain something like this when a simple DVD is made in VP with a menu...

This should auto run in your player....It does on the PC with  VLC player. If you double click  the VOB file it should play OK directly in VLC. The DVD prepared as described above plays OK on the player attached to my TV. So not sure where things are going wrong.

Nat

Hi DCS

".....BUT  (I now realise) remember to  set the opacity to zero. ...."

Note that the text  clips you create when you add simple text/animated text/clocks or any of the title effects ARE transparent pngs. The text itself is what shows up over the underlying clip. They don't need a transparency effect (Opacity)  fade-in and fade out are handled by the f box at the start of the text clip and the a fade transition at the end using the   X  at the end of the clip.  With regards to losing the synch you can also of course group the text clip and the main track clip together  by by clicking both clips with the Ctrl key pressed and  then selecting the grouping option from a right click menu. Now if you move a clip the associated text will go with it.

Nat.

Hi

if you have a free overlay track then it may be simpler to add a simple text overlay for each subtitle.

Here is a sample of an actual subtitle...

Here is the same subtitle using Add text which produces a simple text image that is placed at the cursor position  on the overlay track....

The font type and size is the same in each. The simple text here is set at the "bottom" position. Being an image however it can be adjusted higher or lower by using the Position effect and its duration can be altered simply by pulling out the ends ......

Here the same text has been positioned slightly lower....

Using Add text, the subtitle texts can easily be slid along the timeline to their correct place relative to the video below it and if used on the same track as other text subtitles you can't overlap them . They can be easily deleted and if required can  be animated to slide in from any side and also faded in and out.

On the downside you cannot save them as an independent file like real subtitles.

Nat

Hi

NCH provide a library of clipart that can be accessed easily from VP.

• Click    Menu/File/Add Files/Add Images from NCH Clipart Library.........

• Select Images and then Arrows
• Not a huge range here but choose arrow style.e.g. Big Bold Arrow....#

• Click Download.

This loads the image into VP for you to use.

Alternatives are to use a Draw program to create your arrow/Download an image from the web or use an enlarged keyboard character like   v "vee"  using Add Text  (An advantage here is that it comes with a transparent background  you can have it in a variety of colours and fonts with/without a border/shadow etc.  Fonts types such as Wingdings contain numerous examples of arrow characters

As VP text is an image it can be position, rotated and animated like any other image with the usual effects and keyframes..    Here is a rather outlandish example using a colored/outlined  "V" with a shadow  as mentioned above..... (Don't expect you to use this though )

Nat

Hi todd

Burning a DVD with VP

• Open your generated mp4 in VP and edit it.
• Click the Export Video tab on the toolbar and select DVD Movie Disc.
• Enter a Name and select the Burner. as Borate indicates above. The default might show Image File. but click the down arrow and select your DVD writer.
• Choose Format and AR
• Click Create. This open another setup window.
• Check the Verify Burn box.
• If you have added bookmarks to your video during editing you can choose to use these as chapters in the finished article by checking the appropriate box.
• If you want a menu on your DVD then click the Add Menu button
• Set up a menu (if required) by choosing the template ; titles, background images etc. 
• Click Save Menu. This returns to the main setup screen....(The Burn option may be greyed out if there is not a disc in the drive.)
• Open the DVD writer and insert a DVD. (I prefer to use an RW disc as you can check things are working OK beforehand) This now activates the Burn tab
• Click Burn
• VP asks if it is OK to overwrite existing data on the RW disc.  Click Overwrite
• Disc is checked, erased and your video is then burned and the drive opened.
• Close drive for Verifying the burn
• Burn copy discs if required.

The completed disc should  play OK in your DVD player. (Always does here... )

If you export your project first as (let's say an mp4 or avi etc) you can use the more dedicated  NCH Express Burn to create your DVD instead of using the burning options  built into VP (which in general, are perfectly adequate) .

Nat