What's missing from the non-commerical home version?

chuser

Is there a page that shows what was gimped in the non-commercial home use only version? I thought it was only export file formats.

Fast_Ed

I thought I had the commerical version but I can't find the template tab anywhere.

chuser

I am unable to add text overlays. I had to use the "subtitle" menu, but I guess it's better than nothing.

borate

In the v8.12 non-licensed version here, the Template button on the toolbar is just under the HOME tab - when that tab is active.

As for adding text, click the ADD OBJECTS toolbar button and Add Simple Text.

There is no page that lists the relative features of the licensed/non-licensed versions, AFAIK. In the latter, some export formats and effects are disabled.

chuser

How do you get Video Track 2 to appear? Evidently that's how you overlay text. I can get a title screen but I want video and text on at the same time.

borate

Drag clips from the bin to the area just above the current track.

Or position the red-lined cursor at the spot where the clip is to be overlaid, right-click the clip in the bin and OVERLAY AT CURSOR.

Check out the tutorials.

[deleted]

Put the video on Video track 1. Create the text and place this above the video on Video Track 2. By default the text clip will automatically appear at the red cursor line position, but if it's not in the correct place you can drag it left/right to re-position it. Note that in order to see your text in the Sequence Preview screen the red cursor line must pass through both the text image and the video clip ...

Nat

chuser

OH. You can only do this in TIMELINE mode. I was in storyboard, as I'm working with a large number of small clips and it's impossible to work in Timeline with them. NOBODY SAID THAT 😭

borate

Working in timeline mode shouldn't be a problem. E-X-P-A-N-D the timeline with the slider at the bottom -right to see small clips more easily.

chuser

One or two of them are long, which screws up the whole thing.

I have something in one clip that's hard to see, and I want to put a circle around it to draw attention. How would I do that? I can write text, but not, say, a red circle on something in the frame.

[deleted]

There are several ways to do this..

1) Using a specially created image.

First you need a circle. If you have a graphics package you can simply create a jpg of a suitable red circle on a monocolour background... say..bright green... In this case it's 1024 x 576 (16:9)

Place this image onto Video Track 2 above the main video
Click the FX box for your image and select Green Screen effect.
Use the pipette colour picker to select the green background from the image and the red circle will now be visible on a transparent background.
Add Scale effect and a Position effect to move the red circle to indicate the object

This method does require a bit of preparation to get the circle the correct thickness etc, but once set up it can be saved and used in later projects.

2) Using normal Videopad Text
Create a text that is just a capital O or lower case o. (You alter the size later with the Scale effect.)
Set the text to red.
Automatically the text will be placed on Video Track 2 at the cursor position but you can drag it left/right to overlay your main video.
Click the FX and add a Scale and Position effects so the object of interest is surrounded. You can monitor this using the Sequence Preview display or set dual preview screens under Options
-
You need to experiment to decide on the font and size that gives a reasonable circle. Note that Scale will only go up to 3

3) Using Videopad's graphics Clipart library.
Click Menu/File/Add Files/Add Images from NCH Clipart Library........
There are a numerous image types available to download including arrows. However it is a bit short on simple geometric shapes.(something I have recommended in the past) But give these a try. Like any image you can apply the Scale and Position effects to put them where you want.

Nat

chuser

Wow, that was really helpful, thanks.

But now the non-commerical home use only version is refusing to export my project to a video file. It worked fine in the old version, it just wouldn't export highest quality, which was fine. Now it won't do it at all. What did I do wrong?

[deleted]

Assuming your project runs OK when you preview it what export settings are you using?

Nat

chuser

Export video -> Video file

Pops up a window saying, "Please buy VideoPad now to use this feature".

borate

Try the export as an AVI. That should succeed in the non-licensed version.

If it does not, install this version. Be sure to back up the project first.

[deleted]

I think the problem was that chuser couldn't get that far, the popup message came up when "video file" was selected so no choice of export types was available.

Try these possibilities...

Save your project.
Instead of clicking on the Export Video tab try clicking the Export option on the topmost toolbar and then clicking the Export Video icon on the new Export toolbar that appears. It may link from through from that (but I doubt it) but give it a try.
Try the Export option from the green Menu button.(May also still fail)
If you still have the vpsetup.exe file for the version you have then completely uninstall VP from the Control Panel. Re-install VP from the vpsetup.exe file you have.
If all these fail then uninstall anyway and use Borate's link to the latest version or download it from here......

https://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/versions.html

The latest Beta version (8.24) if you want to try that, is here...

https://www.nchsoftware.com/beta/

Best of luck

Nat

chuser

and 3. didn't work. The uninstall offers a downgrade option. I chose it, and it indeed returned me to my previous version. But as I had done work in the new version and saved it, it wouldn't open my project file. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software, and to my surprise, it worked. I was able to export my completed project to .mp4. Thank goodness.

I guess somewhere, some executive changed the "it's free for home non-commercial use" to "F you, pay me."

borate

It is free for non-commercial use, but some features won't work. The scope of those limitations may vary from version to version. To avoid this, consider a purchase.