smaller clips from a big file

valuenyc

I've extracted five small clips from a very big video file and deleted the stuff I don't need. I have nothing in my video clip bin. I would like to handle these separately, and I'd dearly love to give them names as I move them around and make changes.

Did I do something wrong in setting this up? Can I make these look more like they were originally five separate clips/files?

borate

AFAIK, there's no "export or render range" option in VP, so an individual clip would have to be exported, then reimported as a clip, whose name could be changed under the right-click|PROPERTIES menu.

If one attempts to cut or delete a master clip, from which edited clips have been placed on the timeline, VP will also delete the clips on the timeline.

[deleted]

In a sense you can do what you want....

Load your big clip to VP media list.

Method 1....In the clip preview window (left pane) use the IN/OUT markers to isolate the first section you want.

Click the green down arrow to add your selection to the timeline

Method 2...Drag your clip to the timeline and edit it the normal way, leaving the section you want to retain.

Now click the + to the right of "Sequence 1 x"

This clears the timeline and the preview pane and puts your selection into the Sequence bin of the media list.

Click the main clip again on the media list to renew it in the preview pane (even if it still seems to be there)

Repeat the procedure each time for your second and subsequent main clip selections.

If you review your sequence bin in the media list you will see that you have your clips (now called sequence 1; sequence 2 etc.

You can treat these as separate and individual clips..i.e. add them to the timeline; cut and edit them etc.

As you seem to have got all your clips on the sequence line by cutting the main one on the sequence line several times, you may have to start again using the method I have outlined above.

Nat

valuenyc

Nationalsolo wrote:

Method 1....In the clip preview window (left pane) use the IN/OUT markers to isolate the first section you want.

Click the green down arrow to add your selection to the timeline

That was interesting, but I still didn't have a video clip bin or a separate video clip I could give a new name to.

Nationalsolo wrote:

Method 2...Drag your clip to the timeline and edit it the normal way, leaving the section you want to retain.

Now click the + to the right of "Sequence 1 x" ... You can treat these as separate and individual clips..i.e. add them to the timeline; cut and edit them etc.

Oh, this looks promising

Nationalsolo wrote:

As you seem to have got all your clips on the sequence line by cutting the main one on the sequence line several times, you may have to start again using the method I have outlined above.

Well, actually, that was the second time through :-( so I had notes about exact in and out points. :-)

It didn't take long. And I thank you profusely, Nat. This looks like it will be much easier to work with.

But (a small "but"): I did do other kinds of work that I'd be very interested in transferring between files. For ex., I had a series of "title slides" (text inserts with credits) with music fading in under them. Can I transfer from one VideoPad file to another without losing quality? Or do I "export video"? Anything special to know about maximizing quality in that case?

Many thanks,

Jeanne

[deleted]

I generally create my titles specifically for individual projects, mainly because I incorporate backgrounds from the project in question.

However, if you want to have a specific "universal" title to use with different projects it's a simple matter to create it as a separate item and then export it to your PC as a video clip in a suitable format. You can then add it back to VP and insert it into any current project like any other video clip. As with any saved clip the soundtrack if present, will also be saved. Quality should be the same as well but that may depend on the export parameters chosen.

The downside to this is that if you want to have, say, JUST a standard text for all your films which has a transparent background (like the VP text "image" has,) and which you may want to use over any main track video clip, then when you export it and save it as a clip, it will only save with an opaque black background. Loading it back to the overlay track (as in the above scenario,) and hoping it will behave like an original transparent "text image", it won't, it will cover up the underlying main track.

To get around this and as an alternative, you could create a .gif image of your text in a third party graphics package ensuring that it has a tranparent background. This .gif image (of your text) can added to the media list of VP in the normal manner and will remain transparent. It can be zoomed and scrolled like any image using the VP effects library. Your sound however would need to be either inserted as a sepaarate sound clip or be a part of the main clip soundtrack.

Nat

[deleted]

Hi again..

Relating to Method 1 above.

"That was interesting, but I still didn't have a video clip bin or a separate video clip I could give a new name to."

Although you have the VPSequence bin, you can, if you wish create your own. You can right click on the media list and create a New File. In effect this is a new bin which you can name.

If have then created your sequences as outlined in Method 1 (the last sequence one is always a blank) you can drag and drop them onto the "New bin 1" tab and rename them there in the bin.

You have to remember that although they appear to be separate new clips, even with new names, they are still all derived from a single original clip which remains a single entity. VP is simply saving the data points you created when you separated out your various clip sequences. The only way to obtain separate unique clips is to export the sequences individually to your PC.and use them as simple video clips.

Nat

valuenyc

Nat, your Method 2 worked beautifully and I understand it, so I'm not spending time right now on alternatives. Just alerting you that the Method 1 instructions (as far as they went) were good but didn't do what Method 2 instructions did: give me something I could name.

Also, I'm not re-using "title slides" in multiple projects; all my work is specific to one project. I'd just like to combine the work I did yesterday with what I'd done a couple of days earlier on the same project. I only have two files because I didn't know what I was doing..... ;-) Ugh.

Any general guidance about formats and quality on export? I know there are pre-sets and I'll certainly choose high quality when it's obvious which settings work that way. Since I know little, I worry. Perhaps there's no more to say.... But if there's always some loss with exporting, then I'll go back to the original file and re-create my five new sequences yet again rather than bringing my older work into this new file.

Thanks very very much, whether or not there's more to say,

Jeanne