Nationalsolo

Hi colinp

I just revisited your project regarding the WYSIWYG problem.  If you want to cover up an area the simplest solution is to use a cropped blank and not a snapshot and mask.

Here is what to do..... It will take just a few moments (apart from the export )

• Replace your two png images on the timeline with a white  blank clip  
• To do this, place the new clips on the track above the existing png and adjust them to the same length and then delete the old png.
• Add a Crop effect to the new clip and adjust to cover the area required while monitoring the Sequence Preview screen. (I normally use dual displays set up in Options)
• Export the project as a 1920 x 1080 .mp4 . The result should now be OK. (It was here)  I used a yellow blank so you can see the result better.
• Here is the preview image... Yellow blank in the clip bin and cropped in the preview screens....
• 

Here is a frame from the exported .mp4 project viewed in VLC.....

As this is cropped and not a mask there shouldn't be an edge anomaly.

Regards

Nat

Hi

Well done!  Ingenious! 

Your project downloaded OK but previewing it  in VP (at least here on my old PC) was quite "bitty"  I think that there was a lot for the program to handle with the number of tracks; clips and effects,  nevertheless it seemed to export OK at your stated resolution. (1080 x 1920  9:16)  Just played it through and apart from 2 small clips which were stills and one possibly misplaced clip that left a blank area  it came out OK.

I think that some of the sluggishness noted in preview is due to the fact VP has to read the scaling,  position and motion settings that each clip has on each of the tracks and still play it back at 30 fps. Here my PC was working full blast. 

It might be possible to do something like this in sections i.e. each using 3-4 clips at a time using the Split screen effect and then compiling the exported clips for a final result.  It would also mean you could bring in clips to the vacant boxes at the required instant and use more of the screen. Scaling/image position in the boxes etc are set in a single effect.

e.g. using a 3 x 4 layout. You have 4 empty cells to either side here...

This might probably preview more smoothly.

All the same..a lot of work   .Well done!

Nat

Hi Borate

Yup! A double click works as well!  BUT..... I've just realized.....I use dual previews since I started with this version as I have been doing some multi screen stuff and  (of course ) there isn't sufficient room to show the edit text box under the preview screen unless I pull the clip preview out to the right more!  It's always something simple!!)

@DCS

If you can see the text edit box under the clip preview screen just click it to open it and add more lines to the text like I explained

Nat

Hi

OK...two lines of text is straightforward.....

• Place you clip which is to have the text on Video Track 1
• Click the Add text tab on the toolbar.
• Select Simple text Overlay. This open the editor with a basic  "Title Text"
• Click the parameter boxes to place the text Top/Middle/Bottom and review position in the sequence preview screen. e.g. bottom... (Chosen here so it can be seen more easily)
• 
•  
• At this point the edit window remains open so..backswipe the default "Title Text" which will turn blue and type in your new text..e.g. "This is line 1"
• 
• The display will update.
• If you want a second line of text at this point then press carriage return (Enter) and then type in your next line of text  e.g. "This is line 2" ......
• 

As before you will note that the display updates with each entry and the text image is placed onto the overlay track at the red cursor line position. You can carry on editing or adding text, untill you close the Text Editor by pressing the X at the top right.

Re-Editing your text....

In the previous version(s) of VP you could right click the text image on the timeline OR the text image in the clip bin to re-open the editor. It seem these options are not now working in the latest version of VP. (8.45)

To re-open the editor ..

• Left click the text image either on the timeline or in the clip bin  to select it. It now appears in the Clip Preview window.
• Right click the Clip Preview window and select Edit Text from the menu that appears...
• 

This re-opens the Edit Text window.

Re-edit the text or add new line or click between words in the existing text and then Enter to place sections on a second or subsequent line. (The justification rules as set in the parameters will apply to any new line created.

Nat

Hi

With the Crop effect set to No Restraint, the crop area sides are independent and you can adjust the rectangle any way you want to cover the area desired.

Setting the AR to one in the  list does just that..any adjustment of the rectangle always keeps the AR you have set (From the smallest to the largest.) Setting 9:16 may have worked also

In Borate's solution it would seem that setting the Transform effect to 9:16 reduces the png image to an AR that fits OK over the underlying image without the need to Crop. Just different ways of achieving the same result.

Nat

Hi

Alternatively...

For each of the white png images that you are using to cover up areas of the image beneath..

• Remove all the effects you have on them (Transparency and Polygon mask) and simply crop the blank image with no AR restraint.

You can adjust top bottom and sides to show the area you require. Monitor the result in Sequence Preview.

Nat

Hi TheKo

Thank you for the version number. I have checked this out and you are right; there is no Subtitle Overlay option...

I also tried a short clip with several S/T added to it . This played OK in the preview .......

.......but non of the S/T appeared in the exported clip.

This suggests that there is a problem in this regard with that version. I think there are two options open to you if this is the case..

• Save your S/T as an SRT file. Download (or update) the latest version load your project then load the SRT file. This should enable you at least to complete the project with the original S/T. (Keep your original version exe and license etc somewhere safe and save your project beforehand.)
• Re-write the subtitles as simple text images. These can then be added to the overlay track and adjusted in position.

Nat

Hi TheKo

The export screen should look like a bit like this in the latest PC version (8.42) ...

The Subtitle box (shown blue) should be set to Overlay  Are you saying that your Export setting window does not show this box?

Nat

Hi

• What version of VP are you using?
• Did the subtitles appear when the project was previewed?
• When you click the subtitle box do your S/T show up in this way...
• 
• i.e. Are they listed with their Show/Hide  times in a similar way to the above?
• When you select them does the preview on the right  jump to the correct point in the sequence and show the selected S/T?

Nat

Hi

It's logical that not everybody will find a more recent version of a favorite  program to their liking. (I much prefer playing Age of Kings to the later versions with the bigger better graphics )  but often this is due to a natural reluctance to "unlearn" something you have got used to. The "light" version of VP is an example. Iv'e got used to the "Dark" Videopad but users still ask about changing back

Many things have been altered for the better (some things perhaps not)  and things that didn't work then now work, but not always intuitively I agree.  However you specifically quote..

"...Operations like fades were really intuitive. ..."    In the current version to Fade -in....Click the f in the box at the start of the clip and set a fade time. That's pretty simple.  To fade-out would logically suggest a similar box at the end of the clip - (and I have suggested this)  but clicking the transition  X brings up the Fade Transition, either through Black/White/or Colour, take your pick; It's  there. I think that is pretty simple. (and intuitive)  But having said that you can still create fades if you feel you need to use the old method.

Another point is that the older versions might find it difficult to handle some of video requirements of today. Bigger formats, bigger files and very long videos. Even VP 32 bit is getting exhausted.  For example recent events have created a need  to produce multiscreen videos...choirs; groups and orchestras etc.. Early versions of VP didn't have a multi split screen effect and it required some ingenuity to create these. Once split screen was introduced..great!  A 5 x 5 matrix which is currently the max might seem to be enough but a recent project referred to the forum required a  6 x 3 matrix which VP doesn't have. This problem was solved by adapting what there was, but the old "simple" method of using several positioned,scaled and cropped clips  rather failed with so many complicated tracks stacked at once.(VP struggled)  I also looked at a project for an orchestra that wanted a matrix of 10 x 10 so all  of the players could be present together. In the end we had 80! The 81st was the conductor who hogged the remaining boxes!

So you see,  VP is continually developing and even though you prefer the earlier version which is fine..do keep trying the later ones Make suggestions  too. (I am going to suggest a bigger matrix) Often they get implemented.

Nat

Hi

Glad it was helpful and I enjoyed the singing very much. All you need now are titles and credits

Nat

Hi

"....Also is there a transition that fades in and out to to black in a circle shape (like old movies), and can be positioned anywhere in the frame?...."

There isn't a transition that will do this. The only transition that is circular will go from small to large in black and will always be central. However you can make one that will do what you want that you can save but will need some preparatory work to set it up.It requires you to set up a mask. (See below)

Here is the basic idea using a rectangular mask for simplicity.

• Place a clip (any clip will do) on Video track 1
• Place a black Blank image on the overlay track -Video Track 2 directly above this.
• Click the FX on Video Track 2 and then Add an effect mask (second tab at the top with the small green + and black spot) This will place a red/white rectangle with handles in the centre of the Clip Preview screen. This is the mask. Note this shape can be changed and saved but for the moment leave it as a rectangle.
• Check that the Mask Inside box is ticked.
• Click the Green + and add a Transparency effect.
• Set the Opacity slider to zero  (to the right.) In the Sequence Preview you will now see the background clip in the area of the mask since the inside of the mask is now transparent.
• The masked area can be made to go larger or smaller by adding a Scale effect and animating it using keyframes.
• So at the start of the sequence the mask is set with  the Scale at 3.00 (Max), you will see all the Track 1 clip (Keyframe 1)
• At the end of the sequence with the Scale set at 0 (Min) all of the track 1 clip will be hidden. (Keyframe 2)
• Playing the sequence the  (masked visible area) of the clip on Track 1 will gradually get smaller to disappear at the end .
• ch
• At this point the mask is central but by adding a Position effect. You can have it start and finish at different points, again by using keyframes. Here it finishes (and disappears) to the right of the centre...
• 

Click to choose files Making a circular mask

This simple example above uses the basic rectangular mask outline but any shape could be set up by moving the mask handles or by adding more by clicking the mask outline and dragging them to new positions but for a circular mask it better to use a prepared circular outline to make the mask like this...

• Add a Black Blank clip to Video Track 2
• Add a Blank Green image (any colour in practice other than black ) to Video Track1  Note the order of tracks
• Add a Circle Transition to the end of the black clip and set the red cursor line just past the centre of the transition bar. Adjust the position of the cursor so that the green circle is just inside the frame.....
• 
• Delete Video track 1 by right clicking at the left end and deleting the Track This will leave the sequence preview screen apparently all black.
• Right click the Sequence preview screen and Take a  Snapshot .
• Clear the timeline and add the Snapshot to Video Track 1. It will now have a central area that is transparent.
• Click the FX and Add the polygon Mask effect....
• 
• Now drag the points of the mask as many times as needed to produce a  good smooth circle...
• 
• Check you have the Mask inside box ticked.
• Now click the blue cassette icon at the top of the effects window to save your circular mask as an effect chain template.

You can now use the circular mask you have made like any other effect as it will appear in the Template section of the effects library.

Use it as described above instead of using the mask tab.

Hope this helps

Nat

Hi B

Re-did the Alma Mater project completely from scratch here with the above scheme and  using the original mp4 clips...worked fine and problem free.

1st Row... The Clip in track 1...

2nd Row added.. i.e. Overlay clip of second row on Track 2 but positioned to right..

And so on......

The edges are neat and there is a minimum of work.Just adjusting the image in the multiscreen boxes for each new clip which is mostly done automatically, and then positioning each generated clip to overlap at the end.  Didn't see any hangups on my old system. Worked out quite smoothly.

However I think we do need a slightly larger range of boxes above 5 X 5, perhaps up to 7X7?  More and more people are using multiscreen and if the choir/ group/ orchestra  is large the program ought to be able to cope with them.

Nat

Hi

Further playing with this...

A  6 across 3 down grid can be made using a split screen 5 x 3 layout and using just the first column for three clips at a time. This means 6 exports need to be made for the 18 clips in this example. This is both faster and easier to set up and  to get a first class fit between images as each can be set to Fill Region.

Although each export will have only 3 clips in the left hand column,  If the subject in each box is pulled a little to the left using the Horizontal Bias  control, the final assembly of all 6 exports can be adjusted to over lap slightly to produce a grid of  6 x 3..

This is much better than trying to assemble 18 clips in a grid with Position/Crop/Scale controls on each and as can be seen the borders are clean.

Nat

Hi

You can also step backwards or forwards  through your editing steps using the blue redo arrows at the top left of the toolbar just above the Home tab...

Nat

Hi

Revisited your project..

I think if you are having difficulty with speed issues and slow caching whenever you make an edit as the timeline has numerous tracks each with several effects try working like this... You will be creating a vid of three clips at a time.

• Add all the clips but don't add any effects (18 tracks)
• Adjust them so the audio is in synch
• Create a sequence and save a copy of the sequence audio. This will be your mixed audio.
• Clear VP
• Reopen VP and add the first 3 vids (for the first column )
• Unlink and remove the audio tracks from them all
• Add the sequence audio that you created
• Scale/Crop and Position each of the 3  vids and match each to the audio. (VP should be faster than trying to do all 18 tracks at once.) You will need to guess to some extent the width of each clip.
• When the sound matches export the project as "Column1.mp4"
  • Repeat this for each  column  of clips. Don't try to horizontally position the clips-leave them all at the start of the timeline. All the vids created this way will have their column of clips on the left.
• When all 6 videos have been created clear the cache and load them to VP in the normal way along with the sequence audio (the mix).
• Column1.mp4 will be on track 1.....Column2.mp4 will be on track 2  etc. (6 tracks instead of 18)
• Add a Position effect to each clip and drag each along to the right so they are correctly positioned and not covering the column of images on the track beneath. The result should be that all the columns will now be visible.
• Delete or mute all the tracks apart from the recorded Sequence audio which should be in synch.
• Check it out and Export.

Working with 3 clips at a time should be both faster and less prone to glitches and at the end you only have 6 clips to layer. Seemed to work here with your clips. As I said it's a pity that the split screen layout stops at 5X5. a larger matrix might have been useful.  Another hint --although in my experience never happens..is to have all the component clips from participants in either portrait mode or landscape mode and if possible at the same resolution. Might be a tall order.

Nat

Hi

What you record is what you get in general however you can alter the volume level within a clip....

• Right click the audio track in question. It will display in the Clip Preview window it will have a blue line across the centre.
• 
• Click the blue line  just before the point where the louder section starts. This will place a marker on the line.
• Now click and drag the line down at the point where the louder section starts. This pulls the line down.
• Now drag the point to the right a short way so the line is at an angle
• Release the line
• Towards then of the loud section do the reverse of these steps. The blue line will look now something like this...
• 
• When played the section within the audio clip will decrease in volume and then rise back to normal. Note that the blue line is also shown on the timeline display
• You can adjust the points (or add more) by dragging them to new positions.

Note that this process affects ALL the sound on the clip, it is not selective with respect to background and foreground sounds.

Nat

Hi

Same result here. 18 tracks and all vids requiring different position and crop settings means a lot is going on,  but while checking each file independently I also noted that Katie.MP4 acted odd in VLC ...very blocky continually failing and then stopping so I used a third party program to re-save the file as another mp4. Oddly this displayed in that program upside down! There was no sign of an inversion effect in your project so I assumeed the vid was corrupted in some way. The copy played perfectly however. The combined audio was quite nice.

I am going to re-run this again converting all the files first to mpg2 which should be smaller.(I know you have a copy from Borate so I hope that works OK for you) but I am interested.

If you want to try something  yourself that may help with your existing files. Load the project, wait until it all fully loads, which took a while on my old Vista machine and then create a sequence. Click the sequence and save a separate  audio file of it. Unlink and delete the audio from your vid files and delete each track. Now replace the multiple tracks with the single one you saved.

It's a pity that the split screen effect only goes up to a 5 x 5 grid..........6 x 3 and 6 x 4  etc could have been simpler for you.

Nat

Hi

The amount of possible movement, even with Alt pressed is also limited.  i.e. a small movement on the timeline will still snap back. You can move a smaller increment with Alt pressed if you zoom into the timeline first.

Nat

Hi

The answer is yes.

It has to be there.   Why do you find it odd that you can see the "unused" area of the tracks to the right of your last clip? 

Remember,  VP doesn't know you have  no more clips to add but must always cater for fresh additions by having an empty track. It will preview what you have up to the end of the final clip and then stop. It will export up to the end of the final clip and then stop.

Even when you open VP for the first time or when you open it for a new project there will be a track and it will be empty for a start. There is no fixed length for this empty work space and the maximum you can see  (at my screen resolution) is around 5min 30 secs when it is empty. In a way consider it as a buffer.....filling up with your project but always extending to take on more.

Nat

Hi

If he gets the link Borate will no doubt be taking a look.

However....If your image is all you have and no further clips are present to the right then there are no gaps to close and your project is complete. i.e. the cursor line is at the end of the project. (Check it with >I)   It looks longer in fact as Audio Track 1 is hatched its full length. Unlock it and the hatching disappears.This doesn't change the situation...the project is complete. The empty tracks are always visible to the right of the very last clip up to the limit of the scroll bar..

I don't see anything wrong here in fact.

Nat

Hi

A complex project using numerous tracks and effects, particularly if it is lengthy (hrs)  can take an appreciable time to export. (60Gb in the cache suggests you don't clear it out much or your project is pretty big.) 

What are your export settings?

Nat

Hi

That is no problem.

Just place 2hrs worth of video clips on the timeline. 

Basic copies of VHS tapes can be over 3 hrs before editing.

Nat

Hi

Your Audio track  1 is locked so all content and tracks following the cursor line will be shown  It also prevents any splits to All tracks.

.  If you have no video or other audio clips on any of the tracks in the area following the red cursor line then..

• Unlock the Audio Track
• Split all the tracks at the cursor line position. All the tracks following the cursor line should then disappear. If you DO have clips beyond the area shown in your image you will now be able to close any gaps.

Nat

Hi Russ

I don't use WireFire when transferring Video tape  to Digital so have referred this thread to NCH for their comment.

Nat