Nationalsolo

Hi

".....Does anybody else have a significant program delay, when exiting while the timeline is still playing? ...."

Not particularly    Click the Close X ;  Project continues to play but Message comes up noting Project has changed with options to Save / Discard or Cancel. Program closes immediately when Discard is selected. There is no significant delay with short projects. (Running VP 8.06 on Old Vista machine)

With a longer project when the green caching bar is till running there is a minuscule delay while threads are closed otherwise there is virtually no difference. Sound doesn't play on.

Also no difference if I exit the program when caching has finished and the project is previewing.

Nat

Hi

H264 mp4 files export OK here with VP 8.06.with Lossless export.  Have you tried setting the Quality/Lossless Export box to  Auto Detect instead?

Nat

Hi

Any other NCH program or suite launcher can be removed safely  if you feel they won't be of use to you. Just leave the VideoPad files.

However....

Are you referring to the toolbar tab Suite..(at the right here) ..?

...which opens  the on demand NCH programs toolbar (and downloads them if not on your PC) ...

(There is an addition page with download links obtainable at the extreme right hand end of this toolbar).....If so the answer is NO, the options are built in. However if you are referring to the NCH Toolbox short cut icon that you may have on your desktop then that can be removed . (Can be useful though)

Not sure why your audio opens Wavepad but check the Options/Editing  screen. Not sure if you have  Wavepad installed or not but audio might use this as default player if you have the option filled and in bold. Don't really know but just a thought. If it is active for Wavepad then clear the box or uninstall Wavepad.

Nat

Hi

1. Place the avi file on Track 1. It's audio will appear on Audio Track 1
2. Mute Audio Track 1 by clicking the speaker icon at the far left of the track. The track should go dark
3. Drag and drop the new wav audio onto Audio track 2. under the still visible but muted audio
4. Line them up. If they are the same you could zoom in and line up any obvious peaks. 

Adding the WAV should not delete the avi.

Nat

Hi All

The Graph is OK and No, it's not too short...Clip is 1min 30 secs  according to the time scale....

...so the fade-in is about 5 seconds so it should be visible.  I note that it is a MOV file....Wonder if there is a connection here?

Bit Later..    Nope!

Checked a MOV file with VP 8.06 and a Transparency fade-in.  Previews OK.

Exported as mp4......That faded in OK as well.   Stumped as to why yours doesn't work.  Best to use the F box. Not absolutely sure what you mean by the "arc" of the fade-in as it should still be a linear effect.

Also tried multiple clips with fade-in on first MOV.....Still OK

I think the best way to to proceed would be to save your project usiing the File option Save Portable Project As. This results in a dated/numbered folder containing copies of all your project files plus a vpj file. If you upload that folder to dropbox or equivalent hosting site with a link to it on the forum. Someone  will   take a look and at least try it on the latest version of VP..

Nat

Hi Wilder

It's an odd fault.  Try Borates suggestion as it's  one as it doesn't use the transparency effect. What happens with the f box?

I have tested this scenario (Transparency)  with VP versions from 6.00 to 6.30 and all work as expected.

".....Here's what it looks like on my end. (I can't see screenshot input button on the forum?) ...."

Unfortunately only selected forum users can add screenshots/images due to misuse of the feature by other users. You can, of course upload a screenshot to a hosting site like

https://pictr.com/

Upload your image and post the link.

Nat

Hi

What version of VP are you using?

Have you set keyframes correctly?

1. Click the FX on the clip in question and select Transparency effect
2. Slide the red cursor line on the graph pane to the left (Start of the clip)
3. Set the Opacity to 0%
4. Click the keyframe tab (At left end at top of graph pane..Green + with red line)
5. Move red cursor line to the riught to pont where Fade-in is complete.
6. Slide Opacity to 100%
7. Click keyframe tab again.    Graph will look like similar to this.... (Cursor moved a little to the right to show the keyframe markers on the blue line)

This should fade in the clip in question whether or not it is the first one.

A simple alternative is to click the f button at the top left end of the clip......

...and enter the Fade-in duration required.

If you can't see this button, zoom in the timeline.

Both of these methods work fine here (Version 8.04 and version 8.06 Beta) If  are not working try the latest version of VP.

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

Nat

Hi

Both files (compressed) downloaded OK. Result same as Borate. The vpj file did not load correctly and showed a missing file which was resolved manually. Loading to VP was very slow but I could see see what effects you had used on the video file. (Noise reduction and Sharpen) Closed VP and cleared the cache.

I then loaded the file manually into VP which finished in a matter of around 10 seconds.

I added the two effects

1. Sharpen 3

This took 1 min 40 to complete. (Time Green caching bar to finish.) The timeline played with no problems following this. When finished CPU usage was 7 - 10%

         2. Noise reduction 0.5 and 0.5 (Default values)

The addition of this effect to the previous effect virtually stopped VP running as  CPU usage jumped immediately to 100%.  The Green caching bar almost stationary.  Cancelling the effect dropped the CPU usage straight back down to 5%

There does seem to be a problem here with using the noise reduction effect as even using it on its own with your file provoked the same problem . NCH have been asked to take a look.

Nat

Hi

Is this in the preview or in the exported project?

Check the slider at the left end of the audio track..Has it been moved to the left? (0% volume)

Check the volume of the audio clip (Click the loudspeaker icon under the clip) ....Is it set to100% (or above zero)? If it was set at  0% it would not effect the slider position which could still be set to the right.

Check the speaker icon is not red crossed (muted) if so re-click it to un-mute it.

Check that an upper audio track has not been set to Solo.....(it would show a single "pawn" instead of a group of "pawns"  This would mute all other tracks.

Nat

Hi

Obviously the time for exporting a project is very much dependent on the complexity and the processing speed of the PC.

Here, a single clip cut down to 2 minutes  exported (using a slow Vista PC)  as a 1280 x 720 mp4 in 10.2 seconds  This is a pretty straightforward example. No transitions or other effects.

The same project, split, shortened and  with other clips/images added to make it back up to 2 mins with effects and x fades between them exported as a 1280 x 720 mp4 in  12 minutes

It would be expected that if it was a larger project (or if export parameters were different) it would take a proportionately longer time

During the export the processor usage was 60 - 69%

What was the processor usage during your export...100%?  You may have other background processes running that are slowing things down.

Nat

Hi Takis

"...a) The small popup window that comes up when repositioning the red line. As written before, the window is not annoying itself, the brackets are! Because if accidentally pressed, they set the beginning/end of project discarding the rest without warning. ..."

The problem you had with accidentally clicking the Start/End brackets that accompany the scissors when you split the sequence using the cursor line pop-up, should be easier to avoid now as in the latest version. (Beta 8.06) The pop-up box is horizontal.

Nat

Hi

Unfortunately it is not possible to load a project (a vpj file) and then load a second project(another vpj file)  to the first.  It may be possible to load the first project and add a placeholder to it that will hold your second project and then save this as a template, which is in effect a vpj file but which can be loaded to an existing project. The idea being that you would load your second project and then add the template. However, currently this is not working correctly as applying the template crashes VP and I believe the developers are looking at it.

You may have to  export one of the projects which would produce clip and then load that back to the second project. I Can't think of an alternative.

Nat

Hi Avencia

This a really odd  one.....

The timeline showed no pan or zoom.....

e.g. Frame from near start.....

Frame from near end...

All the HUD data is present. Further...The time line is a series of separate clips extracted from one big one and is not a reloaded sequence BUT when exported it shows a Zoom........Which is wrong!

What seems to be happening......and it is probably a bug (as I don't think it should do this)  is that somehow you have clicked the clip in the clip bin  or indeed,  Sequence 1 in the sequence bin and applied a Zoom effect to it. This does not show in the timeline or the sequence preview but seems to be active in the export which is very odd.

Another oddity is that  neither the clip or the sequence in the freshly loaded project show that a zoom might have been applied. (If you actually apply a zoom to them and re-click it will show up as an effect window.) The loaded project doesn't show this.

If, on the other hand, you DO apply a zoom to the clip in the clip bin and then  check the Clip preview you will see it zooming. .  Conversely the timeline does not show that  zoom (Although if VP is meant to work in this way it should.)

In this project however the clip bin clip does not show a zoom in it's preview....so where has it come from?

The export  should always reflect what the timeline is showing. IMHO you should not be able to apply effects to clip bin clips unless the software can also place those effects onto the same clip if it is already on the timeline (chopped up or otherwise) and certainly not export them if the timeline does not show them.   WYSIWYG should always be the rule. and the final say before export should be the sequence preview.

Seems there is a bug here...

Nat.

Hi

"....I don't really see a situation where I'm going to need more than two audio tracks and I'm not sure if the plugins are primarily for audio..."

Initially VP (all versions) show a single audio track. (Audio track 1) and a single Video Track (Video Track 1)

Audio Track 1 contains (usually) the audio associated with Video Track 1. 

However, many Audio tracks and Video Tracks are available but they will only appear if you drag (or place) audio or Video specifically to them.

This means you can use use just two audio tracks if that is all you want. More tracks won't appear unless you specifically want to use them.

Plugins are third party components/effects that you can download and incorporate into VP. They can be designed to work specifically with either the selected video clip or the selected audio clip. There is no compunction to use or download them as VP has a pretty comprehensive selection of effects already programmed in. In fact one plugin from VirtualDub comes already installed .... Stabilize.  One might contemplate using them where the provided effects are not sufficient or the effect looked for is unusual..like spot/scratch removal for copied cine film.

There is no guarantee though,  that third party plugins will always work correctly or even at all.

Nat

Hi

"...I can't save it as a portable project because there is no file where I can put it...?..."

For version 7.30 ......

1. Load your project to VP
2. Click the green Menu button at the top left of the toolbar (If present) ....If it is not present....
3. Click File
4. From the menu that appears select Save Portable project As
5. Navigate to and select a folder to Store your files to. You could for example simple use the desktop.
6. Select the chosen destination
7. VP will automatically create a named and dated folder in/at that destination (e.g. on your desktop) and save all the project files plus a vpj file to that selected destination. The folder will have a name such as....2020-02-09 13-28-33 Which is a creation date and a reference number

It is the contents of this folder (or even the whole folder) that you need to upload to Dropbox/One drive/ or any similar hosting site.  Make it public, and post the link to it on this forum. Posting just the exported project is not a lot of use as one needs to recreate your project from its constituent parts. That way we may be able to see what you did incorrectly.

Nat

Hi

Did you see the same problem when you previewed your project before it was exported? What effects have you actually used? It's difficult to assess what the problem might be without seeing it.

Nat

Hi

There is no option to directly enter an offset value related to the soundtrack  but if you do know the required offset then you can enter this directly into the box under the Sequence Preview window. The timeline cursor will then directly go to that point. and provided the audio track is unlinked you can then drag it so it starts at the cursor line (the offset point). It will snap into place when dropped very close.

Nat

Hi

Try it when you are connected to the internet...i.e. while you are running on he forum. VP should then immediately come up with the sound library list and Download your selection without having to connect. (Vista VP 8.04)

Nat

Hi

Checked out OK here too. Downloaded and previewed in VP8.04 OK Title and image, played OK. (Three images not used but present in the bin.) Exported as mp4 1920 x 1080p  HD variable 45 fps.  This played perfectly in VLC on a Vista PC.

Nat

Hi

A 10 minute sequence that plays for an hour when exported and doesn't play very well seems a gross understatement!    How does the export play? What format export did you use and using what settings? Post it up to dropbox  for someone to take a look a look.

Nat

Hi phonafriend

Try converting the problematic mp4 to another format with Prism and see whether it will then load OK.

Nat

Hi Takis

I have suggested to NCH that the Red/Blue brackets in the pop-up be removed and placed beneath the Sequence Preview window instead  in the same way as under the Clip Preview window; one set acting on the clip and the other acting on the sequence.  I understand that the developers prefer not to do this but will look into making the popup horizontal, which should alleviate your clicking the brackets in error. We will have to wait and see.

Nat

Hi

Here's an alternative way...

1. Re-record the whole sentence.
2. Listen to the sequence and stop the red cursor at the start of the incorrect word.
3. Under the Sequence preview window you will see a Split button with scissors. Click the down arrow to the right of this.
4. Select Audio Tracks from the list and split the track that contains the faulty word.(Or the whole sentence)
5. Move the red cursor to end of the word/sentence and Split the audio track again. This isolates your faulty word/sentence.
6. Right click the faulty word section and then select Mute. from the list A small red crossed speaker will show the section muted
7. Drag the newly recorded sentence to the track below the silent bit.
8. Play the sequence and adjust the position of the lower recorded clip until the word or sentence  in question is correctly positioned under the silent section.
9. Now move the cursor to the splits you made (use the jump to next/previous clip edge button under the sequence preview screen) and split the lower track at the start and end positions of you inserted word/sentence.
10. Delete the start and end sections from your  recorded sentence. This leaves your new word under the muted bad word.

You don't lose any of the original track in this method.

Nat

Hi

The Devs are looking to incorporate basic positioning controls to the counter/Stopwatch Edit window.

Nat

Hi

There is no Fire effect with VP but you could experiment a bit by downloading some green screen flame effect clips from the internet and trying these out. Another approach might be to download some transparent png images of flame series that could be used as overlays in front of and behind whatever you object you want to "burn" There are also animated gif images that come in series that together will make an animation of moving flames but as individual images, even if they have transparent backgrounds, you would probably have to convert them to jpg images and then green screen them. This is because single gif images are seen as single frame clips in VP and can't be usefully used.

Here is a VP screen shot of a VERY crude example using a set of animated cartoon flames from a   jpg flame set, green screened over a teddy bear. (Sorry if you love your teddy Bear )  You should be able to do much better with REAL flame video clips....

You will have to experiment I think.

Nat