Nationalsolo

Hi .dat files are also associated with VP 6.10 in Vista. You can edit the registry ... Or you can simply right click on any DAT file and open the Properties dialogue window You should see it is set to open with VP. ...Click the Modify button and either choose one of the defaults like Word or Notepad instead of VP or browse to another text program. .dat files should then open in the program you choose. Nat

Hi Sam Yes I think some might find it useful.......also (a small thing I know....) When the project is saved the Export Queue window that comes up with the completed export list is not easy to read ...Black against dark grey......" Any chance of making the text perhaps white.... "Complete" in yellow and possibly "Play" green (as in Green for Go) (At least increase the contrast.) e.g. Any thoughts? Nat

Hi B I think it depends on the converter.(Possibly) Here, I re-numbered the clips using Irfanview . The original MPEG4s from the camera were HD 1280 x 720 . (The camera does higher res but 3-400 clips over the 24 hours of filming would have filled it up before the event finished) Using AVC I converted these to mpeg2 1280 x 720 as these edited with VP more smoothly than the original MPEG4. (AVC keeps the originals so nothing is lost) For a typical MPEG4 clip doing this reduced the size from 10Mb to around 3.5 Mb. Then I noticed AVC had another conversion setting to reduce the quality but keeping the same resolution.This made the same mpeg2 clip around 1.6 Mb. but still 1280 x 720. (a bit blocky when previewed in VP at the higher setting.) That's why VP shows both clip types with the same resolution in my image above. These lo-res clips edit with no hangups at all. The only complication is that AVC adds ...-mpg.mpg to the name and this needs to be split off. A batch rename in Irfanview takes about 5 seconds The final result is two files, one with original MPEG4 clips and the other lo-res Mpeg2 clips both sets having the same name (or numbers) So far the only down side is that reloading the final .vpj using the MPEG4 clips leaves the odd gap in the timeline so it needed a bit of touching up. Just exported Part 3 of this project (105 clips) and it looks fine. Not sure why there were gaps but I suspect might the slight difference in duration between the clip sets. Nat

Hi B I convert to the lo-res using the same dimensions as the original so Properties show them as the same. Properties on the left is for the Hi-res clip and Lo-res on the right. (Names are actually dentical but VP adds(1) in this demo as I loaded them both at the same time) The only visible difference is that the LR is very slightly shorter in duration. The disc sizes were..... HR = MPEG4 15 Mb LR = Converted to Lo res MPEG2 = 1.6 Mb So VERY reduced. Virtually no difference is visible in the timeline thumbnails and the Preview is 512 x 288 . Degredation is only really visible when the window is undocked and blown up a bit. On my PC editing goes without any stops/delays or glitches and it seems pretty fast. When editing finished I just swap the files over...They have the same names and the VPj file seems to load them with no problem to give a Hi res timeline. Nat

Hi NCH Two suggestions which users might find useful... Currently it's difficult to find a particular clip on the Track in Storyboard mode when the focus has been lost when toggling between Timeline/Storyboard as cursor is usually sent to start of the track. Hovering over the "slides" does not reveal the name of the clip as it does in Timeline mode and I feel it should. This is useful when one needs to find a particular clip amongst dozens of similar clips. The only way at present to find the clip name in this mode is to select or right click a "slide" and examine the properties of each one which is annoying and not necessary when hovering is the simple remedy as is done in the timeline mode.*** My second suggestion comes up as I am using many lo-res clips to do the initial editing for the sake of rendering and editing speed, and then replacing them at the end with same- name hi-res clips. As the names are the same I have had a couple of instances where the clips have been inadvertently interchanged. One can't tell from the name whether a clip is low-res or hi-res as they look identical (obviously) and only clip size will easily distinguish between the two. There is nowhere within VP that indicates the size of a selected clip (AFAIK.) The Properties window (at least) ought to show the size in Kb of the particular clip selected. Other places where the info could be included would be in the "Hover" box for the timeline clips (and hopefully the same for the Storyboard mode clips as suggested in (1)) and lastly the clip size ought appear in the List view of the clips in the bin. *** "Why not stay in Timeline mode then?" is the obvious question....I went into Storyboard mode in order to find and delete some TINY clip remnants that appeared after exchanging the lo-res clips for hi-res clips. (I did find some problems with this method of working but that's another matter.) The remnants were so small that they only became visible at maximum zoom and even then were still too narrow to grab and delete in the normal way as the square brackets got in the way. Switching into Storyboard mode however, put the cursor and the track back to the start. I knew the number of the clips either side of each remnant (I use numbered clips) but it still meant scrolling through around 80 to 100 "Slides" and testing each one with properties to see where I had got to. Nat

Hi Moving flames effects: http://www.animatedimages.org/cat-fire-90.htm Lightning effects : http://www.animatedimages.org/cat-lightning-and-thunderbolts-41.htm Earthquake: You could use the Shake effect coupled with crop to eliminate border then Zoom to bring it back to full screen. vary the speed and intensity of the shakes etc. over the length of the clip and it should make a reasonable earthquake (or at least a cameraman with a bad case of the jitters!) Falling buildings etc are really beyond the capabilities VP Nat

Hi "Bug" explained...Thanks......and Oh, YES Sorry (Meant...X ? (Just edited my post above) and Yes again, you're right with regards no difference between the clips in a Split and some transitions not appearing to work . That explains it nicely so not a bug. Hadn't thought of that! Still, the Ask Me prompt doesn't appear when the Option is set so that wouldn't appear to be working ...........(or am I making another faux pas.. ).. Nat

Hi B Didn't try it without grouping the clips beforehand as that seemed an obvious step. All I can say is that whether or not the effect got applied to ALL the clips seemed to depend on which menu prompt I selected. I found it didn't work if I just selected Video Effects from the top toolbar but it DID work if I first opened the Effects toolbar then the Video Effects tab on THAT toolbar. Keeping the clips grouped with he SHIFT down solicited the multiple clip prompt and the effect was added to ALL the clips. As you say, It is inconsistant as to my mind the multiple clip prompt (which appears presumably because you have several clips selected or grouped) should work from any of the effect buttons not just the one on the specific toolbar. (i.e. All roads should lead to Rome.....at the moment some seem to be cul-de-sacs ?) Nat

Hi Borate I just tested this again....... Opened VP. Confirmed Option transition prompt was Ask Me. Loaded a 37 seconds clip to timeline by drag and drop. Moved cursor to the centre of the clip and used the scissors icon to split it. Moved cursor away from the X Clicked the X and set duration to 4 seconds Clicked crossfade There was NO PROMPT (i.e. No Ask me box for transition choice) Timeline showed what seemed to be a transition of 4 seconds across the split but timeline showed the same overall length. There was no transition evident when the clip was played. *** EDITED Originally I thought the transition did not work when a clip was SPLIT. The test seems to show that some transitions do not APPEAR to work but in fact they do. (The explanation is in Borate's post below) Both sides of a split clip will be pretty identical so a crossfade for example will in effect show nothing (or almost nothing) as you are dissolving from one clip to an almost identical one. Nat

Hi all Perhaps there is a bug here......Check this out please... Set transition Options to Ask me Put a single clip on the timeline Split clip with cursor scissors prompt Add a xfade transition (or any other for that matter) There was NO prompt and no transition appeared although timeline showed one there. Clip was 40 seconds and transition set to 2 seconds so there was adequate duration etc.. This works as it should with separate clips and the feature toggles between the three options set in Tools. So..Is Robkblue having a similar issue with SPLIT clips caused some odd combination of settings that always overlaps clips without any prompt even though the Option is set to Ask me? Whereas I see no transition when I do this. Nat .

Hi Yes, It's bug. Having selected a range of clips and using the toolbar option Video effects (or Effects) followed by accepting the prompt to apply the effect to all the chosen clips, VP only applied the effect e.g. Crop to the first clip. Hopefully NCH will correct this. The workaround for me (VP6.1) didn't work as quoted above and only added the template effect to the selected clip. However..Selecting all the clips, grouping them and then clicking on one of them and keeping SHIFT down I can open the Effects Toolbar and use the Video effects button down arrow THERE to pick the template. The multiple clip prompt appears and now the effect is applied to all the selected clips. The difference is, it seems, is that you have to select your effects list from the Effects toolbar and not Effects from the top toolbar. All roads should lead to Rome ? Nat

Hi VP adds files to the bin in numerical/alphabetical order. If you choose a block of unsorted files from your PC storage folder they are re-sorted by VP when they arrive in the clip bin. You can reverse the order in the bin if you go into LIST view and click the small up arrow in the box marked Name . Apart from that I don't think you can vary the order of the clips in the bin. Even if you re-order the clips in the Add Files box they still load to the clip bin in alpha/numeric order. Even loaded individually in the desired order VP still resorts them on arrival. Can't think of away around that. Obviously you can add them to the timeline in any order but not en bloc unless the bin order is what you want. Outside of VP you can use a free program like Irfanview which will let you set up a list of clips from your holding folder, and let you re-sort them into any order you wish. You can then re-number the list so they will load to VP in the numbered order, and they will then, of course load to the clip bin and so to the timeline in the order you wanted. Nat

Hi I assume you are referring to the preview quality in VP and not the quality on export. If you feel the resolution of the preview screen is too low then click Tools/Options and select a higher resolution with the correct AR. e.g. The highest value is 1920 x 1080 (16:9) You should also see a marked difference over lower resolution settings if you undock the preview pane and enlarge it. Note however, that in doing this the speed of caching and rendering the project can suffer when making editing changes particularly with less powerful PCs. If you are referring to the export quality then using auto detect and Lossless export (if possible) should ensure export is close to the original file resolution. Nat

Hi Some things to check... Is the text clip is on the same track as the video clip and immediately preceding it? Is the X between the clips light blue? (Not grey) Is there any sign of a transition bar between the clips shown as a dark blue band across the upper part of the join? Check the default value for transitions under Tools/Options/Editing. Suggest a value of 4 seconds (2 seconds/clip) Check the default value for text images (and images) under Tools/Options/Media (Suggest value of 8 seconds for a 4 second transition plus overlap) Check the clips are long enough to support the transition duration. If the answer to (3.) is Yes then zoom in and grab the end (either end) of the blue bar. You should see a small square bracket appear. Drag the bracket along the top of the track, This action should lengthen (or shorten) the duration of the transition. Make it larger in order to see the transition properly. An alternative to this is to left click the X and then Transition Properties at the bottom of the transition selection window. This will bring up a window in which you can alter the transition duration. (Use Overlapping transitions if the prompt window appears.) Nat

Hi " The still files here both display a thumbnail image, so it's unclear why that is not the case there. " Same here...... I only exported it in low res (smaller frame size) to speed up the process. (Gota rather Slooooooo PC) ? For your export... Click the Export Video tab and then select Video File from the list. (To save it to your PC) Enter a suitable name Browse to and select a destination folder Click Detect to automatically get VP to set up parameters based on your project clips OR click the down button and select the option that you want. e.g. HD 720p (Your project will probably give the same settings) For File Format select mp4 (or .avi or...etc.) For Advanced encoder options select H264 or MPEG4 Click Create These are sort of general parameters that should work with most projects. Nat

Hi Yes Everything Loaded Ok Although the timeline looked a little overly complex it played OK.as well. Exported as mpeg4 (low res for speed) and it played fine. Nat

Hi Inserting an image into a forum post. Do a screensave or have a suitable image available to demonstrate your point. (e.g. a jpeg) Goto https://pictr.com/ and click Start Uploading This will open a File upload window. In the File Upload window navigate to your image Select the image and click Open. Click the green Upload button. Your image will be uploaded to Pictr.com When upload is complete scroll down and click Embed codes Copy the Image URL. (It also has a Copy option if you hover over the text so click the word Copy that appears ) Return to the forum and in your post place the cursor where you wish your image to insert. Now click Insert other media at the bottom of the post. Select Insert image from URL. This opens up a window above your post. Paste your Image URL that you copied from Pictr.com followed by Insert into post... The image will appear in your post at the position of the cursor. Left clicking on the image will allow it to be suitably sized in the body of your post Nat

Hi Initially there seemed to be a fault with your file on Google drive and perhaps I didn't get it all on download. However your link just seems to contain a .vpj file which is a text file enabling VP to re-assemble your project ...provided the component files are also present.They didn't seem to be in this case. There were 9 missing. You will need to upload all the clips as well and not just the project file. Use Save Portable Project As This option will copy everything into a single folder. Zip this and upload. See Borate's post above. Nat

Hi You are correct. When you Save Project File or Save Project File As you are creating a .vpj file......a text file that enables VP to rebuild your project from the clips etc on your PC. You need to Export instead. Click the Export tab on the top toolbar and you will see the You Tube option. Select this and complete the details including your Google account data and you project should upload. Alternatively export your project to your PC using the Video File option and export the video you create to You Tube direct Nat

Wow! And another....??. Select clip on timeline In Clip preview move END marker to first split position Add the clip again from the bin at the end of the timeline. In Clip preview move START marker to second split position No deleting or splitting or gaps to close. Great this program! Nat

Hi Having cut your timeline in two places and removed (deleted) a short section you will be left with a gap. Right click on the gap (If it looks too narrow or you get square brackets appearing or the cursor gets in the way...zoom in a bit to make it wider.) Now select Close Gap in Track. from the top of the menu that appears. This will remove the space and join the clips together. Splitting and deleting the track is an intuitive way to go but if you select the clip/s on the timeline you can go into clip preview and use the red and blue START/END markers to do the trimming and the timeline is adjusted automatically....no need to delete or close a gap. An alternative is to grab the end of the clip at the join when its on the timeline when you will see those square brackets. Grab the one you want (their shape will indicate which end you have) and simply drag it to shorten the end/start of the clip. Again the join up and changeon the timeline is automatic. Easy for the altering the clips around the join. In the body of the clip .... Split/Split/delete/Close gap is the most logical way to do it. (There are others) Nat

Hi There are a couple of ways you might correct this.. Use the Exposure effect. This can reduce the "glare" somewhat. Use the Colour Adjustments effect. This will enable you to correct the contrast/brightness/gamma of the clip. This is your original... This is using the Exposure effect... This is using the Color Adjustments effect... Come back in if you are still not sure... Hope this helps Nat

Hi JR What I meant was that in the context of my current project for which I am doing a lot of trimming direct from the timeline in clip preview (as I have added all the clips in one go and are simply topping and tailing so to speak and adjusting transitions as I go along the track,) I noticed that the bin clips remained "whole" whilst newly added clips to the bin that I trimmed before inserting them remained trimmed in the bin. That seemed a bit inconsistent. It's academic in any case as it's easy to change the IN/OUT settings. With regards to the disappearing trim buttons... "...As we just saw, this behavior can even confuse an experienced VideoPad user...." I have to laugh at myself here as one gets into a particular way of working and not see an obvious simple error as this. I've even queried a feature when I had forgotten how to access it.......Doh! ? Could the clip preview minimum width (set using the white bar) be fixed so as to display a maximum of three clip thumbnails horizontally as then the IN/OUT tabs are visible all the time or is this dependent on the computer screen resolution? Nat

Hi JR Thanks! Nat

Hi NCH Currently the speed of a clip is set as a single value that acts over the full length of a clip. Is there any possibility that clip speed might be developed into an additional effect that could use keyframes to produce a variable acceleration or deceleration during the clip execution? Nat