Is there any documentation for this program?

dsteiny

Hi,

I have been googling and I purchased the program but I cannot figure out for the life of me how to use it. I have been writing and using software for 30 years and this is one of the most mysterious things I have seen. The documentation talks of "in" and "out" points but they seem to have no purpose. I set them on the clips and according the documentation I can find that should allow me to press the green arrow and use that as a clip, however the green arrow does nothing. If I go into sequence mode and make cuts around the area I want to clip out I can't figure out how to remove it from the video that I have. All I want to do is to take a video I have, clip pieces out of it rearrange them and add some other clips to it. It seems like it would be the simplest possible thing to do but I have been watching the tutorials and trying to find some instructions on how to do this and simply can't find any. The sequence window and the clip preview window have no relationship that I can see and there is no place I can find where this is defined. Video documentation does not work for many people because it is difficult to locate the answer to a specific question.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get going on this? I assume if I was familiar with other video editors this would not be an issue but this is the first one I have used. I started to use Lightbox and it seemed a lot simpler but it cost a lot more. Adobe products are always have bad help (they tell you to go to a menu item that takes 20 minutes to locate because they don't tell you which menu it is a sub-sub menu item of). This one looked hopefully simple but I can't do any editing with it :-).

HELP!

Thanks

Donal

borate

dsteiny wrote:

The documentation talks of "in" and "out" points but they seem to have no purpose. I set them on the clips and according the documentation I can find that should allow me to press the green arrow and use that as a clip, however the green arrow does nothing.

Assuming that you are using version 3.x, check this out, if you haven't already done so...

Also, in the program, click the ? in the upper right corner.

The CLIP preview window - at the left - displays the clip that is selected in the media area (top left). Note that there are tabs (bins) for SEQUENCES|VIDEO|AUDIO|IMAGES.

The SEQUENCE window - at the right - displays all the clips in the sequence. Move the scrubber (the blue arrow that points to the red line) to the right to scroll them manually. Or press the PLAY (right-facing) arrow, or the keyboard spacebar.

Begin by clicking the ADD FILE button. Browse for a clip, and double-click on it. It will show up in the media window, under the appropriate tab (video, audio, etc.)

Move the scrubber to the right, where you want your IN point. Click the RED flag, located just under the row of thumbnails.

Move the scrubber to the right some more, to the OUT point. Click the BLUE flag, Note that video not selected dims - leaving only the portion that you marked.

NOW click the green arrow, and that video will appear on the timeline.

You can also drag a clip onto the sequence. Only the portion of the scene that you selected will appear, if you marked an IN and OUT. If you did not, the entire clip will be dropped onto the sequence.

If I go into sequence mode and make cuts around the area I want to clip out I can't figure out how to remove it from the video that I have.

Always try a right-click first, to see what options are available. Right-click on a clip in the sequence and DELETE SELECTED CLIP. Then, if necessary, right-click|CLOSE GAP.

Read the (admittedly sparse) documentation and experiment. If you get stumped, ask specifics here.

[deleted]

Hi dsteiny

It's probably best to ask how to do things one point at a time more than loads of things at once. But no matter how simple the question is, someone will reply as Borate has done. The general principles of using VP are relatively straightforward and pretty logical but as there can be several ways of doing things and there are lots of options in the program, it can seem confusing. The main Help pages are obtained by clicking the "?" top right. Also have a good look at the various posts on the forum as there are many replies on how to do things.

Borate's reply covered what you asked about but if you want more info just ask.

Nat

rcomfort

If I had a do-over, I would thoroughly explore all functions before starting a project, especially double-clicks and right-button clips. That sounds obvious but some of us are a wee bit impatient when starting a new program . The video tutorials drive me nuts. They are so slow. But I have two issues I cannot solve: when I try to change the duration of some slides, it simply will not change no matter how much I click; and when I bring in a narration file from WavePad, only a small portion of the file shows up on the timeline, and I have to drag it all the way to the end to get the entire file added. There may well be settings etc. I have yet to discover.

[deleted]

"But I have two issues I cannot solve: when I try to change the duration of some slides, it simply will not change no matter how much I click."

Assuming for a start that you would like ALL your SLIDES...(here I am refering to IMAGES not video clips) to all have the same duration. Then before you add anything to the Media list, click the "Options" tab and under "General - Clips" set the "Default Still Image Duration" to the value you want. All images added to the media list and dropped into the time line will have this duration in seconds as a default. If you change the value after you have loaded anything to the media list it won't have any effect.

If you want to change the duration of of separate images then you can do this in two ways.

1) Once you have added the image to the timeline, select it and then drag the right hand end of the frame to the right along the track. This will pull out the frame and lengthen the duration. Use the time values above the track to set the duration you require. Note:You cannot extend video clips to greater than their original length with this method, although you can restore any bits you may have trimmed off.

2) With the images on the timeline, switch into Storyboard mode. Each image/clip will be represented by a thumbnail frame with the duration printed below it. Video clips will show the soundtrack, the images won't. You can select any of the frames and click the duration value shown on it. This will open up a small window into which you can type the duration you want in seconds followed by SET.

Images treated in this way will play for the duration that you enter in the box.

Note: Video Clips can only be shortened and will then play for the duration selected.(It's equivalent to dragging the OUT marker to the left in the clip preview pane)

"...when I bring in a narration file from WavePad, only a small portion of the file shows up on the timeline, and I have to drag it all the way to the end to get the entire file added. There may well be settings etc. I have yet to discover."

Load your audio file to the media list in the normal way, then, to add it to the timeline, Right click it on the list and select "Place on Sequence" from the menu that appears. You can now select to add it to various places.(Start.. Cursor...Overlay track....End etc.) If you have positioned the cursor where you want the audio file to start it will load from that point. Depending on your selection it may split the videotrack and insert so it may be best to load it to the cursor position on an overlay track. If the inserted sound track is much longer than the current sequence then it may fill the screen from side to side and reduce the previous sequence in visual length. You will need then to zoom in after you add it. If you are already zoomed in then adding a long soundclip to a point currently on the screen will make it extend off the screen and you will need to zoom out to see it all. (Which is probably what you are seeing.) :mellow:

The best way is to set your cursor where you want the sound to start and add the clip to the cursor position but onto an overlay track which is one the choices. You can drag and drop it but depending on several factors it may simply extend off the screen.

Nat

rcomfort

Thanks, Nat. Great response.

rcomfort

It occurs to me that a detailed response to your response might be useful to other users. I am creating a slide show composed of images with music and narration about 30 minutes long. I selected all the pix first and assembled them in the sequence. Now, I am working to match the narration to the images.

Adding Narration.I never noticed the "Add to Sequence" option and was using the method of dragging the narration clips to the timeline. I thought Photostage would just drop in the entire file and didn't realize you have to make a selection first, so I ended up having to do a very tedious job of expanding the selection on the time line. So that issue is solved.

Adjusting image length. I now notice that the image I couldn't alter the length of is between two images I have already lengthened manually, so there may be an automatic control operating. To be clear, the image on the timeline still displays the old time, but when I click on the little button at the bottom of the image it displays the actual time I have set for it.