Virtual Choir/enhancement

DCEDIT

Borate, you are a genius. Thanks so much for this!

One more question, however. Is there any way to allow for space around each of the boxes in the matrix? Our choir director wants a background image with the boxes superimposed on top, and from what I've been able to tell, the grid fills up the entire screen so the image doesn't show. Thoughts? And thanks!

borate

That would be tough as this choir already has been built with composited columns.

But if an ADD BLANK clip is scaled to create two lines - horizontal and vertical - they can be overlaid repeatedly between the boxes. Makes a nice effect.

DCEDIT

Thanks, Borate. That doesn't quite do the trick for us, since we are trying to have the faces superimposed on an image, as in this example:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RqedNkt_363HeZW-8P32k_VDrZ_Hn3xr/view?usp=sharing

That was the start of the piece, with more boxes added as the different voice parts entered. To build it, I had to calculate the placement of each image. I sure would love to use a shortcut!

borate

For that result start with the background image on the first track. In this demo, the 5X5 grid was used to build a top row, but the boxes can be assigned in any order.

Note that the SCALE slider in the SPLIT-SCREEN effect has been arbitrarily set .85, which allows the blue background to be seen around each box.

Once the initial box is configured, click the folder on the toolbar. You will be prompted for a name. This will become just another effect icon, at the bottom of the effects window. Apply it to each track, then chose the letter in the matrix WHERE you want the box to appear. How the tracks are staggered determines WHEN they appear.

Ideally, all box videos should be a similar aspect ratio, size and resolution. Individual shots that miss the mark can be pre-produced to conform, prior to split-screen insertion.

Choir_build_demo.mp4

DCEDIT

Perfect! Thanks so much. You have no idea how long it took me to do this "manually," creating a grid on paper and assigning locations. I may not tell our choir director how much easier this is now, lest he expect it every week 🙂

borate

Your secret is safe here.😁

Of course. Save Project File AS routinely, giving it a unique # or name, so as not to overwrite prior saves. Using Save Project Files (no AS) will overwrite. Then you can restore a project to the state it was in when saved. Just double-click the VPJ file (which isn't playable). If export problems arise, you have the earlier building blocks.

DCEDIT

Updated question: Is 5 x 5 the biggest available split screen grid? Hard to believe, but I now have to do a 6 x 6.

Could I use 5 x 5 and offset everything to the left, somehow, leaving one column that I would have to scale and position manually?

Hoping there is a shortcut. Thanks for your help.

borate

Not that difficult. Read Nat's suggestions in the "Virtual Choir" sticky, above. Setting this up correctly saves time and possible export failure.

DCEDIT

Thanks for that. If I'm reading the right entry, the suggestion is to start with a 5 x 5 and then scale and move each clip using the horizontal bias control. It's certainly easier than doing math, but it's going to take a while, I can tell. By the way, I've been having to export for every two horizontal rows in 5 x 5 as it is to make sure everything plays correctly. I blame my hardware for that issue. Think there is any chance VP will ever expand the grid options?

DCEDIT

Sorry to say, I'm not managing to get the clips to move far enough over to fit six across. Even with horizontal bias set at 0 for each clip. There doesn't seem to be a way to go below 0. It doesn't work any better trying to create a row of 6 using vertical bias. The suggestion here https://nch.invisionzone.com/topic/31417-no-video-in-exported-file-choir/was for a 6 x 3 grid, so the editor was able to build by exporting the 3 verticals at a time. Sadly, I need 6 in both directions.

I see Nat's math here: https://nch.invisionzone.com/topic/31823-100-clip-multi-screen-method/ for a 10 x 10. Looks like I will need to come up with position values for 6 x 6. Does that seem right?

borate

You might experiment as follows...

1. Add image/sync video to a 5x5 split, fit region

2. Click the + at the right of the Sequence 1 tab to create a new blank sequence

3. Click the Sequences tab in the bin and drag sequence 1 onto the timeline

This is now a composite - audio won't be seen, but it's there

4. Use SCALE effect to position and scale the composite similar to what is shown below (juggle the figures for best display/aspect)

5. Overlay the 6th image/video, split it as position U in a 5x5, fit region, sync it

This should result in something akin to the final image below

From there export Seq 2 and proceed as Nat instructed in his 6x3 tutorial

He will likely come up with a better approach

It's doubtful that grid options will be expanded, but file a suggestion by clicking the chevron at the top-right of the VP window.

[deleted]

By creating 6 exported clips you can fairly easily get a 6 x 6 grid along the lines I suggested in the sticky.. with slightly altered values

Set Dual Displays in Options
Place the first 6 videos on Track 1 one following the other
Add a Scale effect of 0.16 (1/6 of the screen) to each clip (Placing all the clips on the same track means you can select them all and add the Scale effect to them all in one step using the Append effect chain to all selected clips. tab. They will now all be scaled down so 6 will fit into the height of the screen
Add a Position effect to each clip in the same way setting the Horizontal value so they move to the screen left (Horizontal = -42)
Now drag each individual clip to a separate higher track. (Vid 1 on Track 1 Vid 2 on Track 2 Vid 3 on Track 3 etc.
Alter the Vertical Position values of each clip so they lie one under the other. (They should already be on the left.)
You can do this by dragging them and monitoring the position with the Sequence preview. You will now have column of clips fitting vertically under one another and each playing when previewed
With all 6 clips playing one above the other at the left , export the sequence with a suitable name like Column 1
Repeat the same procedure for the next 6 clips and then the next 6 clips and so on. You will now have exported 6 new vids (Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 etc.
Re-open VP and load your 6 exported clips
Place each on a separate track and use the Position effect so each track is positioned slightly more to the right than the one below so revealing the column of clips on the track below . You should now have a 6 x 6 matrix.

Nat

DCEDIT

Thanks Nat. That's what I started doing based on your 10 x 10 advice, although I didn't have much luck dragging the clips. Too much lag in my system. Typing in values for vertical seems to work, though. Hadn't thought of aligning them all left each time and then positioning. That should save some time! Thanks again.

borate

A fine approach.

Consider using the MOTION effect, which has both scale and positioning items. Once built, write down the vertical numbers - for subsequent image placement.

DCEDIT

In case it's helpful to others, here are the vertical and horizontal positions I'm using (with clips scaled to .16). There is space between each clip in this configuration so parts of a background image can be seen.

-41

-24.5

-8.4

8.4

24.5

[deleted]

That's about it. Scaling down a little more of course will enable a gap between each vertical image to be enlarged. The first column sort of establishes how you want to see them. Once you have the figures the other columns of 6 can be set up identically. The Vertical gaps are arrived at at the last stage when the 6 final clips are adjusted horizontally on the different tracks.

Nat.