Nationalsolo

Hi Hmmmm...Version 7.30 mp4 export of an Mp4 clip 17.4 MB gave these results...Estimated 12.01MB Settings H264 Lossless Resolution Auto detect HQ..... 16.8 MB DQ......16.8 MB MQ.....16.8MB VLQ....16.8 MB........ Similar results with another clip......... Changing that quality setting made no difference, (and estimate size remained the same as well (and too low.) Here are the export windows for HQ and Very Low Quality.....in both the estimated size is 12.01 MB Changing the resolution alters the estimated size though (logically). Nat

Hi With mp4 export the indicated estimated final video size doesn't change with the Quality setting (so it seems) but does so if the resolution in the export settings is altered. I exported a short mp4 clip at each of the quality settings and the size of the exported clip remained the same. As Borate says I would ignore the estimated value as it using Lossless export setting will reduce it but going back to Auto detect setting does not return it to the former value so it is unreliable. Nevertheless all my exported mp4 files ended up the same size and quality despite the setting. Exporting as an avi the quality settings work as expected. (See Borate's post) Nat

Hi What version are you using? (Latest is 7.3x If you have always used the same version then something at your end might be the reason. From around 6.xxx the option to set the preview display to a specific size was removed. (I note you have yours set at 512 x 288 which suggests it is an older version.) So what has changed?. Altering the preview to a smaller display under the Options/Display tab often speeded up things but yours is set to the minimum..Are you using bigger resolution video files.... Have you emptied the cache of all unwanted/unused files? (You are an experienced user so I am sure you will have done this.) As a last resort you could try proxy files...editing with smaller resolution clips; saving you project then reloading it with the your normal clips. Nat

Hi Note that using "Stretch to Aspect Ratio" will remove the bars at the expense of distorting the image. With small bars this may not be noticed. You can also achieve the same result with the Scale effect if you un-tick the Maintain AR option (you may not have done this) and then adjust either the Horizontal or Vertical sliders or the corner handles of the adjustment rectangle in the Clip preview screen. (Top right for Width or bottom left for Height......Bottom right maintains the current AR whilst the dot positions the rectangle. Nat

Hi Note that with earlier versions of VP, gif images are seen as CLIPS in VP and as your gif image is a SINGLE image VP sees it as a SINGLE frame of a CLIP and posts it to the timeline as an image of very short duration. (1/60 or 30th of a second etc.) I haven't checked this out yet with 7.30 but you may have to convert your gifs to jpg images. (Animated gifs should load OK but may not play correctly if individual frames of the animation have different durations. ) Nat

Hi First check the default still image duration in File/Options/Media There should be a default value entered say, around 4 or 5 seconds. Load your images/clips Go into Storyboard mode. All the clips/images should now be seen irrespective of their duration as "slides" . Under each "slide" is the duration (which should be the Options default value mentioned above.) If you now click on these values a box will come up into which you can enter the required duration. This should then be visible under the selected "slide" The timeline updated accordingly. Clip duration however, cannot be extended this way but it is possible to enter a lower value which in effect will speed up the clip. Does this help? Nat

Hi MCJ97 Here I am presuming you want to retain or obtain a 16:9 AR. Here is an example with bars to each side as the clip is 640 x 480.... You can make this 16:9 using the Zoom effect....This will eliminate the black bars at the expense cropping the height of the clip.... Set the restraint to 16:9 and set no keyframes. Just adjust the size and position of the zoom rectangle to outline the area of interest.... The result is a 16:9 filled frame with no bars....... You can also choose Crop to Aspect Ratio effect from the Aspect ratio Transforms section. This option however will only (automatically) centre the cropped area. .......With the Zoom effect you can position the rectangle at any point. Is this the result you are after? If you want to retain the full image then in the Preview screen under Aspect ratio, select Match Content. This will remove the black bars.... Use the same setting when exporting. Nat

Hi You may be using a version of VP where this feature was not implemented but it's an excellent new feature! It needs a Clip duration value added to the Selection Start and Selection End indicators. From the point of ease of use; Detach the Sequence preview window to make it easier to see. Determine the start or end position for the selection by dragging the top block of the red cursor line and checking the preview at the same time. When you have the position release the mouse and move the cursor down onto the thinner part of the line when you will see a double left/right arrow. Now grab the line and move it left or right to highlight your selection.Releasing the mouse will bring up the tab highlightd by Jimmy. (Does in at least the 7.30 Beta version which I am running.) Nat

Hi ".... is there no possibility to export clips without going through sequences? directly select the clip in the timeline and export it. ..." You can export directly from the timeline but it will be the whole timeline not just a selected section......That's the normal way one exports. But as it stands, creating Sequences from your main clip and exporting them en masse is the only way to go but it's slow. Now....Although currently you can chop out sections of your video and then drag/drop them into the Video Clip bin, which can be done quite quickly, you can't export en masse the contents of the Video Clip bin as separate new files (like sequences) when you are finished. It could be useful though. Why not suggest it? Nat

Hi XYHC If you have what you say is the latest version of VP, there should be no difficulty in positioning your text Generate and add your text. Don't worry about its position in the editor. Once on the sequence track right click drag it to where you want it along the timeline. Move the mouse cursor onto the text image in the Clip Preview screen. It will turn into a 4 headed arrow. Press down and hold the left hand mouse button. The text will now have a yellow rectangle around it with a "hand" icon. Drag the rectangle to position the text where you want in the preview pane.(The "hand" will change to the 4 headed cross whilst the text is in motion.) It will automatically update the timeline (but not the clip bin image) ..... Here, the text has been moved to the bottom left of the screen and the yellow rectangle is just visible in the preview window.(Ought to be more visible...ie green or red) This is using the 7.30 Beta version of VP but the feature works OK in the latest 7.25 release. Note that animated text/titles won't work with this method and you will have to add the Position effect. Nat

Hi Although it may be some time ago when you downloaded your old version of VP, do you still have your vpsetup.exe file? Nat

Hi Georgeas139 A text image (clip) can be placed like this........On the overlay track (Video track 2) and positioned above the sequence. It will then play over the Clip on Video Track 1 Or it can be placed on the overlay track (Video track 2) at the end of the sequence on Video Track 1 like this........When it will play on a black background. Or it can be placed to directly follow the sequence on Video Track 1...........When again, it will play on a black background. In all of these scenarios VP should play the timelime to the end including the text clip. Nat

Hi Techie You can also drag the short white bars up and down to enlarge/reduce the tracks or the preview windows. Nat

Hi I can see the "jerks" in your UT clip. But have they originated from VP? I have tested a 1920 x 1080 jpg image here with VP 7.25 both as a 10 seconds clip and then a 20 second clip. Previewing the result of both tests, Pan and Zoom from one area to another in preview showed no jerkiness and exporting each as an mp4 H264 1920 x 1080 clip (45 fps) at HQ showed a perfectly smooth pan and zoom (played in VLC) I then repeated these tests with just a big zoom into the image centre. (As big as it would go.) using the same export settings. Played in VLC there was a perfectly smooth zoom into the image centre for 10 (and 20) seconds with no sign of any jerks or stoppages. Was this defect seen in preview or only in the exported clip. I'm just running the same test with an 15 second 1280 x 720 mp4 clip with sound zoomed in at 16:9 to the centre (maximum zoom)........ My slow Vista PC did not manage to develop the green bar although I left it for some time and preview was interrupted repeatedly by "Generating Preview" messages, nevertheless I exported the timeline as above.. Again this was a perfectly smooth zoom with no trace of jerkiness. Perhaps it originates within the export to Utube (if it's not seen in VP or an export to your PC) Nat

Hi Borate has described a slightly more advanced method of video creation where separate sections of the project are worked on and then temporarily stored as sequences. These are then later retrieved joined up before being exported . As an aside, I personally think the term Sequence ought to refer to these stored sections of your work whilst the clips etc. you have on the various tracks ought to be referred to as the Timeline. There would then be a Clip Preview window and a Timeline Preview window. This would avoid the confusion that sometimes crops up with the terminology. However, I feel you may be a more basic user (but please excuse me if you are not) and so I assume you have a series of clips or images from your camera that you have loaded to VP and you have placed them on one, or more of the Video tracks and now, after suitable editing..(trimming/adding effects/titles and transitions, you wish to export them as a finished video. This video could be a playable file on your PC or a video burnt onto a suitable DVD disc. For a video on your PC.... Left click the tab on the toolbar Export Video and then select Video File In the following Export Video screen Enter a name for your video...Note or change the destination folder, otherwise leave the entries as shown here... There are many choices and variables here but these should ensure that you will have a reasonable result..... Click create. The Export Queue window will now show a progress bar as your Video file is created... When complete, your video will be found in the designated folder and if double clicked should play on you PC if you have a suitable player like VLC. If you want to save your Video to a standard disc...DVD-R or DVD-RW then....... Left click the tab on the toolbar Export Video and then select DVD Movie Disc Insert a suitable DVD disc into your Disc Drive. Enter name for your disc or leave it untitled and for Burner select the name of your Disc drive in the list Choose PAL or NTSC depending on your location (there is help prompt). Select aspect ratio (16:9) Click Create Select Verify but skip making a menu and Click Burn If all is OK your PC will burn a playable Video to the disc. Note: It's a good idea to Save your project before any export and for discs it's advisable to use a re-writable disc. DVD-RW. That way you can always come back, load up the vpj fileand try again if things go wrong. Nat

Hi Stretch out the preview panel to see all the Aspect Ratio controls under the Sequence Preview panel as these may be hidden . Left click the down chevron to see a list of choices. Selecting Match Monitor will show the appearance of the export (at the selected resolution) on your current monitor. This image is 2560 x 1920 (1.333) My monitor is set at 1024 x 768 (1.333) so looks OK in the preview. Note though that the thumbnails are 16:9 (1.777) and image therefore fits top/bottom but has black bars to either side. If the selection 16:9 is made the preview screen will have black bars to either side as it is now 16:9 . Nat

Hi Several ways to do this. The most logical is:- Load your video to VP Drag and drop it onto a track (Normally Video Track 1) Move the red cursor line to the point where you want your project to actually start. (You can also play the project to this point) Split the video Right click the on the unwanted section Select Delete from the menu Right click again and select Close the Gap. The Simpler way.. Place the clip on the track Move red cursor line to start of the clip Grab the cursor line in the dark grey band above the track. (Not the block at the top) and drag it to the proposed start of the project.. The area moved over will turn blue...... Right click the blue area and then the Delete prompt that appears. The timeline will readjust as the selected area is deleted..If you are not happy with it click the blue Undo arrows on the top toolbar. Nat

HI Further to this this problem. VP 7.25 does not appear to generate a working menu for a DVD Movie Disc. I created (several times on a DVD-RW) a project with a one button menu and a single mp4 clip with sound. In WMP the menu screen appears but the button is not active. Opening any of the VLC compatible Video files in VIDEO_TS showed a series of flashing screens before the video proper appeared. Playing the VTS_01_1_1.VOB (main video) produced the rapid clicks at the start. Repeating with just the clip and no menu, the DVD disc played with no problem. Went back to VP 7.10 and repeated this test.....the DVD crashed WMCentre and left a black screen. NO menu and no video! Ctrl+Alt+delete did not work and had to remove the disc and close it manually Checking (exploring) the the DVD content... The vob files displayed differently to those generated with VP 7.25, but again, the main clip VOB (file 3436-2788-6.vob) played in VLC flashing at the start several times and then the audio clicked rapidly like the DVD clips generated with VP 7.25. So a bigger fault with this older version it seems...At least with 7.25 I got to see the menu window .... even if the button didn't work! Nat

Hi Borate "However, when an Mp4 whose audio had been removed was burned with menu to a Movie ISO, six distinct blips were heard at the head." I think this must be the same thing. (or something similar.) Might it be what Alp is hearing? Nat

Hi I just checked this out with a DVD export containing just an image and a menu and Yes.... The disc playback had a faint series of clicks at the start. (Although the menu refused to play the disc) I extracted the VTS_01_1.VOB file and played this alone in VLC. There were obvious audible rapid "chugs" at the start of what should have been a silent clip. The result was the same if I exported an iso image of the project and extracted the VOB file in which case the noise was louder.. I checked this was actually on the clip by loading the VTS_01_1.VOB file back into VP........ Half a dozen quite loud audible "chugs" are present at the start of the "silent" audio track. I have no idea why this is. Worth confirming this as a ?bug before notifying NCH Later... after more testing... Repeated this test with a single image and no menu and the DVD-RW played OK and the VOB file played OK without "clicks" showing in VP. In the next test I created a simple menu with one button. The final burn to DVD-RW did not respond to the button which appeared on the menu screen and play the disc so, I again played the VIDEO_TS / VTS _1_1.VOB file from the DVD in VLC. The "chugs" were back. They would seem therefore to be associated with the menu. I think there may be a bug somewhere here. Wants checking. Nat

HI Vista PC . VP 7.25 Your files exported OK here too. (Track 1 and Track 2 with identical clip and FX) Export was 320 x 468 Crop and Zoom avi. VP closed normally. If you still have your setup file (and registration code) I would suggest uninstalling VP completely (inc data) and reinstalling. See if that has any effect on the outcome. Nat

Hi There is some info regarding this at the head of the forum. http://nch.invisionzone.com/topic/23659-tips-for-getting-help-on-this-forum/ Use the option File/Save Portable project as This copies all your clips etc with a vpj file to your designated folder. (Note this is not simply Save Project....It is Portable Project) Zip the files if necessary and post to dropbox (or similar file sharing site) Make the file public. You will be supplied with a link that you can post here. Someone here can then download and take a look at the problem. Nat

HI This happens! Exporting just a sound track with no video causes the export to stop at 99% but keep counting. The export does not close. IMO this is a bug. Any short video clip on the timeline, even if it is a lot shorter than the audio gives a normal export. Nat

Hi Kellylc Although the audio from a video Mp4 can be extracted using VP, it's a roundabout way and you end up with (after some time) a wav audio file. If you are just interested in the audio from it as an mp3 file then you could use YTD. (Google it) You can simply open the converter option and drag and drop your Mp4 file (video) directly into the title box. The output is an mp3. Nat

Hi From Borate.... " It is unclear why the audio files are Mp4, which is a video container. That appears to be causing the hang. " These files are video files..... Theydownloaded OK from server but the vpj file just stops trying to load 15ab voice track only.Mp4. so presume others are the same. Perhaps the vpj file is faulty. These all play as videos in VLC but load OK into VP by drag and drop. There are no audio files in the download. Obviously with a ? duff vpj file I have no idea how they are arranged and edited on the timeline. Unless I am mistaken ALL the clips taken together total 5 hours+ which makes for a VERY long export. It might be why the vpj file is stopped (or terribly slow)? Nat