Nationalsolo

Hi You mean something like this?...... Nat

Hi Sam Thanks for your reply Repeated backups of the same project on the same machine work OK even with overwrite. The .vpj file created will reload the last changes, although you can't go BACK to the previous version. That doesn't matter as it is a backup. The destination folder however can rapidly fill up with copies of the previous backup files which cannot be used as the vpj file no longer points to them. So in effect that part works OK Where problems start to occur is when you add similarly named files from a different folder to the project and then do a backup. They are not always renamed correctly and the .vpj file wont reload the project as backed up. Try this.... Take two clips called CLIP1 and CLIP2 place on desktop. Take two different clips called CLIP1 and CLIP2 and place them in a folder on the desktop. Open VP and load CLIP1 from the desktop and drag it to the timeline. Make a backup and and close VP. The backup folder now holds CLIP1 and Untitled.vpj file Double click the vpj file to recreate your backed up project. So far all is working normally Add CLIP2 from the desktop but don't add it to the timeline-leave it in the clip bin. Perform another backup and select overwrite. Close VP and look in the backup folder. You will have CLIP1-1 CLIP1 CLIP2 and Untitled.vpj Double click the vpj file to recreate your backed up project and again, all is working normally. Now load CLIP1 from the folder on the desktop. This added to the clip bin as CLIP1(1) Place this on the timeline and then do a backup with overwrite. Close VP The backup folder now holds CLIP1 CLIP1-1 CLIP1-2 CLIP1-3 CLIP2 CLIP2-1 and Untitled.vpj file Double click the vpj file to recreate the backed up project. What is now created is NOT what was backed up, the newly added CLIP1 from the desktop folder is no longer present either in the clip bin or the timeline as it was when the backup was made. This is what I referred to as a possible bug. How can the project, as it was backed up, be recreated? I have to say I normally use "Save project" or "Save project as" and for me these are OK I don't use a second PC so I assume that using Backup and selecting to create a new folder within the backup folder means that the project can be moved from machine to machine as all the clips and their associated vpj file are together in that folder. Am I correct in this? Nat

Hi NCH Just bringing this point up as a new topic. It came up in my reply to a problem in another another thread and may not get noticed.... In version 4.48 I find Backup seems to work OK at first sight. Clips are saved to the designated folder along with a .vpj file. However, if you have files already in the backup folder with the same name as the files that are being backed up (but which can have different content..i.e. you may have erased a clip/s and replaced it/them with another from a different folder but having the same name) and you choose to overwrite, VP does NOT overwrite them. The new files are added to the files in the folder but their names have ... -1 -2 -3 etc added. Nothing is lost as far as clip files are concerned. The main problem is the .vpj file;.......A new overwrittenone is not created and only the old one is present in the folder. THIS IS NOT OVERWRITTEN It remains in the folder unchanged and will only load the original project. This will not include the amended clip/s This is a bug However you may think that if you make a Backup having seen this, and choose to rename the file..., a second .vpj file is created having the designated name. The backup folder will now contain both .vpj files (old and new) and all the necessary video clips to recreate either of the projects........ Unfortunately the renamed .vpj file STILL POINTS TO THE ORIGINAL PROJECT IT may have been renamed but the data it holds has not. This is another bug Under these circumstances it is always best to save to a new folder when prompted. This works fine. The new folder is saved automatically to your specified backup folder. If this is done every time, all the projects can be individually named and will have their own folders within the backup folder. Nat

Hi Borate's instruction will make your image full frame. If however, you mean by Full Screen the PC screen you can click the top right hand corner of the preview pane (There is a little arrow there.) The preview image will "Undock" as a separate window. You can now drag the sides out or in to make it "Full screen" If you are in Clip Preview mode you can still use the controls at the bottom to play and edit the clip. If you are in Sequence Mode you can use the controls to play the sequence. Nat

Hi "However the output will then be a mix of tracks in mono." Just to check on what I said here re the output of split channels being in mono.........I was wrong! I have split the channels in a test stereo clip from Youtube and saved them as LEFT and RIGHT .wav files.(They still played right and left sides so I was becoming doubtful regarding my statement). I reloaded the clip, muted the original track and then loaded the Left and Right channels wavs to Audio track 2 and Audio track 3. You are correct Borate, the exported clip played OK in stereo. 🙂 Ametz now has his answer. He can split the channels (I actually used X-oom Music Clean to do this) reload them and edit them on separate tracks in VP. Nat

Hi As far as I am aware VP will not edit in stereo sound.The track you see is presumably a mix of both channels although the stereo sound will be played and heard as you have seen. VP will output the video with stereo sound though You could use an external channel divider and load both channels as individual sound tracks after deleting the original track. and then you could edit them. However the output will then be a mix of tracks in mono. Nat

Hi "what do you mean? i was trying to export a video to my computer" Well, Yes. I gathered that . I was wondering what settings you were using when it failed to export as in your next post you mention that MPEG4 apparently worked. Nat

Hi What were you trying to export it as? Nat

HI Yes, there does seem to be a short blank section at the end of your exported clip, but not sure why. It's there even if you don't edit out the sound. NCH may comment if they can download your clip and have a look at it. The blank section does not occur when played with VP however. The difference in file size you mention is due to the compression settings and quality settings you have used. My output Mpeg4 file from your clip (2.3Mb) was 183K and outputting with the sound made very little difference. However your clip was an H264 Mpeg4 clip and so exporting with these settings and using the highest encoder quality produced a file of 8.39 Mb! Quite a difference. It's Horses for Courses. The encoder quality can make a huge difference to the file size although the image may not seem to change a lot Checked with some of my short Mpeg4 clips shot on a Toshiba camera; there were no blank end on any of these even after a second export. ========================= Just exported your clip as image files just to see what frames there were at the end of it...There are 161 in all and No. 161 is a black frame. So I thought it would disappear if I recreated the clip excluding the black frame... I used 160 of the images to recreate the original clip. This seemed to play OK but when re- exported this 160 image clip as images I ffound I got 161 again with the last image black! (although I used 160!) As a check re this behavior I re-created the clip with 29 images and again, re-exported it as images......black frame added (clip back to 30 images) Weird! Seems VP adds a frame....Must be a reason for this but I don't think it is connected to your 1 second problem. Nat

Hi Sam Thanks. One of life's little mysteries. :-)) It's not a problem. I only need to stabilize bits my wife filmed. Nat

Hi It would seem that SHAKE has no effect if the clip has a duration of less than 1 second. Whether this is a bug or a necessary limitation of the way SHAKE works I have no idea. However, if you use the OLD FILM effect and un-click Flicker/Spots/Lines/Black and White you should find that the Shake option will work on clips/images of less than a second although there are no controls. Note: At 0.5 seconds clips take a short time to render the effect. Nat

Hi Convert the .wav file to an mp3 with NCH's Switch Sound Converter. This will produce a high quality mp3 file, unlike some of the free converter downloads available. http://www.nch.com.au/switch/ Nat

Hi "They occur however carefully I do the cutting." Just a little additional info. The shortest clip you can make (or get) on the timeline by using the split option is 0.025 seconds duration which is 1 frame on the timeline which may be difficult to see. In Storyboard mode this will expand to one thumbnail so it can be easily deleted. If you are editing to such fine limits and want to avoid these bits it might be better to edit the clip in the Clip preview window...... Click the clip to edit and switch to Clip preview . Move the preview screen red cursor line to the exact edit point (use frame by frame movement if necessary) and then click the IN marker START button. This will "cut" the clip exactly where you want it to start from.(The cut off section will go dark) Move the cursor along to the end edit point..using frame by frame adjustment if necessary and then click the OUT marker END button. This will isolate exactly the section you want to keep. To see it more clearly you can "undock" the preview window by clicking the top right hand corner (Suggestions have been made to NCH to put the the IN/OUT markers at the top edge of the thumbnail track so they are more easily visible and don't obscure the cursor line handle.) If the clip is already on the timeline it will be automatically trimmed and any gaps deleted. If not, and you are editing the clip from the media list bin then clicking the down arrow next to the Place button under the Clip preview screen will put the edited clip at a position of your choice. Using this approach should avoid you getting bits of clips left on the timeline. Nat

Hi Works OK for me in 4.48. What steps are you following? Are other effects working? Here are some general comments re: using the effects option...... Clips in the media list bin can only be treated individually with an effect when right clicked and Effects menu option selected. Clips on the timeline are treated individually by clicking the FX box. For a bunch of clips on the timeline..they must all be selected first by selecting the first and last with the SHIFT key pressed, They can also be grouped by right clicking the selection and selecting the Group Clips option from the menu. With a block of clips or grouped clips you must use the Video Effects button on the top toolbar and then select the type of effect from the menus. Only then will you get the option to treat ALL the clips in the selection. Just clicking the FX box on one of the clips in a selection or even a group will only treat that one clip. With the Shake effect make sure you have some figures in the boxes...0 will show no effect. (Usually there are some default values entered) Also VP creates the effect immediately as you enter values and all you have to do is close the effects window, there is no "Enter" button. Wait for VP to complete the rendering. You can try....Save the project file, clear the cache file from the Tools/Options/Disk page and then reload the project If all else fails :-( try re installing VP. Nat

Hi Replacing the clips as you have done is OK provided they have the same name and are in the same folder and the old ones are removed. Not sure how the resolution will affect the timeline I wouldn't have thought it would as I think VP converts them anyway, but the the replacements should have the same duration. With regards to "bits" and "gaps"...Instead of trying to zoom in on the timeline to find any gaps or tiny bits of clips which may be very narrow, switch to storyboard mode. Use the slider bar under the track to move the thumbnails left or right. Any gaps, no matter how narrow, or any clip fragments on the timeline will now be visible as full size frames or as blank thumbnails with a blue double headed arrow showing their duration. Simply select these to delete or if they are a gap right click on these and "Close the Gap" If you are careful when you split clips you shouldn't get small bits left over but Storyboard will easily allow to see them. Nat

Hi I'm only saying you may find these settings faster.. :-) With your clips edited on the timeline... Click on the Export tab (between Audio and Suite) Select Video File at the left end. In the Export Video window that comes up....... Save to... use the default that comes up or browse to a folder of your choice. Preset......Leave as Custom (or select Custom) File Format ....Leave as .avi or select .avi from the down arrow list. (Note this is just a container for your video file) Resolution.......Select the format and size you would like the output video to be.(Choose from the down arrow list) NOTE: The rendering speed is greatly affected by the output format chosen. A smaller format will render much faster. What to shoose depends how you wish to use the finished article. Test will a short clip and see what you think. Frame Rate......Depending on your TV system (PAL or NTSC) the default will be 25 or 29.7, otherwise if you are not outputting to a TV format select the same Frame rate as your original clip e.g. 30 fps/60fps Tick the Constant frame rate box Now click the Encoder Options button Video Compressor......select MPEG4 (Native) Click the Compression Settings button. Use the slider to set the encoding quality of the output video. This can also alter the speed of rendering. 1 will be high quality but will render slightly more slowly whilst 31 will render slightly faster but with lower quality. Personally I don't notice see such a vast difference between these sttings but I would set the slider to about 4-5. Export a short clip a few times with different slider settings and see what you think. Sound Compressor......MP3 (Native) Sound Format...............44100 Hz, 128 kbs Stereo Now click OK Click Create. See how these settings work. The output will be an .avi file Nat

Hi Under the VP Tools/ Option/Media settings you can set the default duration value for your still image clips and -Yes you have to set this before loading any images! Blast! What you can do though, if you have already loaded the timeline and don't want to redo it is to... Save your timeline contents as a Sequence. First take off you music track. Click the tab marked Sequence on the TOP toolbar and select "New Sequence" This will clear the timeline and put your images into the sequence bin as a complete new copy clip. (It will be a videoclip) Now open the Sequence bin which will now have 2 clips in it. (Sequence No2 is a dummy) Load the Sequence file No 1 which will be your sequence of images in video clip form onto the timeline. Re-add your music sound file. As your images will not have altered their duration the sound track will not match it which was your original problem. However If you now right click the timeline you can "Change Clip Speed" so its duration matches the sound track. You can calculate the % difference required...the higher the percentage the faster the clip will run. So you will have to experiment a bit possibly with both visuals and the sound, but you should be able to get them very close. Don't try dragging the end of the video clip back as this will simply cut off the end image. Nat

Hi Exporting is a slowish business. However try these settings.. Export and select video file if its just for your PC Leave Preset as Custom Select Format .avi Resolution as 1920 x 1080 You Tube 1080p (a lower resolution may be faster) Framerate 29.97 Under Encoder Options Select MPEG4 (Native) Compression settings......slide to about 5 (If you use 1 for higher quality it will take much longer.) Constant framerate Sound MP3 (Native) Export to your selected folder. I have slower specs to yourself and have just exported 15 clips of around 40 megs in about 5 mins. AS I mentioned in other posts, my PC used to be terribly slow rendering and exporting until I stopped background PC startup jobs running (like updaters etc....I used CCleaner) I also run the task manager processor usage indicator as a guide to what is running. (In Vista you can reduce the window to VERY small and show % usage) At rest it runs at 0-1% when previously it used to settle around 50%.- 60% ! The increase in rendering speed was surprising. Embedded audio should not have much effect. but if it is not wanted just unlink it from the video and delete it or mute it. Nat

Hi Even more strange....I tested this out using an .avi clip from a philips Vesta pro webcam loaded to the video clip bin. A stabilized copy was made to the download folder with the -stabilized name addition and it was also placed in the video bin along with the original unstabilized clip.There was no ovewrwriting or replacing in the bin and neither was the original clip on the timeline overwritten. There were however, two passes of the stabilising action for some reason and two copies placed in the download folder. (not a problem). I was quite happy with these actions as I could see at a glance which of the clips in the bin had been stabilized and which was on the sequence line. However, I then checked it out with an mpeg clip and this behaved quite differently...The stabilized clip was placed (once) in the download folder with the appended name but both bin file and timeline were overwritten without a name change. (i.e. after all the action the VP main screen looked identical to before except that you couldn't tell the clip had been stabilized. Sam has replied re this but I am wondering why the .avi behaved as it did (as with earlier versions of VP and as I wanted) whilst the mpeg clip got overwritten. I'll see what happens with the avi produced from the stabilization ....... Later... Hmm The renamed stabilized .avi overwrites the bin clip and the timeline without name change, just like the mpeg. But I also checked a different .avi from the webcam....It renames a new clip (twice), puts it in the bin along with the original and doesn't overwrite anything. So it probably has nothing to do with having loaded VP2.41 previously and is connected to the actual source of the avi. But why? Nat

Hi NCH Following a query in an earlier post regarding the way 4.48 overwrites the sequence clip and the bin clip with the stabilized clip but without doing a name change........ http://nch.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/23848-stabilization-copy-name/ ..... yesterday I opened VP 2.41 to check on a certain feature by simply double clicking on the setup.exe file which is what I normally do. After checking it out I reloaded 4.48 by again, double clicking its setup.exe file. VP 4.48 duly reloaded (Professional licensed version). I carried on editing some old Super 8 film copies and now have just noticed that the stabilization feature is (to my way of thinking) working the way I suggested in my earlier post. I can select a clip from the media bin which is already on the sequence line and stabilize it. A copy marked -stabilize is placed in the output folder (in fact I find I get 2 stabilized copies!) Another copy, properly marked "-stabilized" is placed in the media bin. The sequence line clip is not replaced and remains in the bin marked with the green tick and nothing is overwritten. Previous to reloading 2.41 the sequence clip and the bin clip were replaced with the stabilized clip without prompting and without being renamed (although the copy in the output folder was renamed) and this made it difficult see what clips had been stabilized. NOTE This is NOT a complaint :-)) as this aspect of VP is now working the way I want....I just wondered why this has happened. I didn't delete any NHC files before loading 2.41 or when I returned to 4.48......just clicked the setp.exe file each time........and why 2 copies marked xxxx-stabilized in the output folder? (Converting does run twice I noticed.) Nat

Hi "The second question is: Is there a .PDF manual for VideoPad?" If you click the "Help" tab on the top toolbar or press the PC function key F1, you will obtain the manual. This is web page based and not a pdf file. As each subject has its own page and each item is dealt with individually, often in only a short paragraph, it would be time consuming and wasteful to print it out. It works well all the same even though fine detail is lacking. Nat

Hi There is a long list........ :-) 2.41 3.04 3.6 3.61 3.7 3.72 3.74 3.79 3.81 3.85 3.89 4.00 4.05 4.08 4.10 4.11 4.14 4.21 4.30 4.31 4.33 4.40 4.44 4.45 and 4.48.......which is the current version for Windows. There may have been some short lived interim versions between 2.41 and 3.04. A few of the versions listed were Beta versions with improvements like multiple tracks, more effects etc. The current version is very comprehensive. I think you mentioned rendering speed in an earlier post. As I mentioned, make sure background jobs are not slowing your PC down. I thought 4.48 was at fault until I reviewed the task manager and deleted unwanted tasks that were running. Nat

Hi Borate's solution is the only way with current version of VP. I have tried this out.....and it's easy to get a bit lost if you make a lot of cuts in a clip. Perhaps NCH could develop a time mapping effect which uses keyframes. Other editors have a gradual change of speed feature. Nat

Hi You don't say what Windows version you have but VP version 2.41 runs fine on my Vista PC. I actually work with the current version 4.48 but I can easily swap between the versions. However I find rendering still time consuming with either version. If you have the original vppsetup.exe for 2.41 you should be able to just double click this and load that version, which is what I do from time to time. However 2.41 is incompatible with a project vpj file created with the current version and, I think 4.xx versions, as the data in both this file and in the cache is numbered and named differently. NCH, I believe have been working on a way to make earlier project files readable or vice versa but I don't think it extends back to 2.41. If, by rendering you mean during editing..the creating of thumbnails etc. when clips are edited or when effects are applied etc. I found a vast improvement in speed when I stopped some of the background jobs that ran at PC startup as these would make the processor usage always settle around 50% with apparently no applications running. Rendering is quite processor intensive so try this and see if there is a difference in speed. In fact I always now have the task manager processor performance window displayed as a miniature window in order to monitor when jobs in VP are completed. It is up at this moment whilst on this forum along with Firefox browser......currently registering between 0 and 3% usage. During rendering this rises to between 85 and 100% and then drops back to around 2% indicating VP has completed the edit fully. Nat

Hi The vpj file is NOT a video file and YouTube will not recognise it. It is your Videopad project file. It is simply a data file of the list of clips /cuts/effects etc that you used to create your video. When you Save your project or Save your project as, VP creates the vpj file. When you Reload your project, VP uses the vpj file to recreate your video from the clips you have on your PC or in VP cache file. In order to have a video suitable for upload to YouTube as a separate item, you will need to complete your editing and then EXPORT it to your PC. Click the Export Video tab Select a suitable Name/Output folder (e.g.Desktop) Leave Preset as Custom File format .mp4 Select suitable YouTube resolution e.g. (1280 x 720) YouTube 720p Select suitable framerate e.g. 30fps Select constant framerate. Under the Encoder Options tab... set the quality level (e.g. about 5.0) Click OK These should be about right for starters. Click Create and wait. Your video will end up as mpeg4 in your selected output folder. If it is not to your liking try other values for the Export Preset option. Normally the YouTube preset will output an .flv file. Nat