Seeking advice for putting together side-by-side video shots

STEVE-in-CALI

Hi folks,

I'm seeking some advice from more experienced folks please. I have a Zoom meeting recording of an interview with two talking heads, side-by-side. I have re-recorded the host only. I want to take the guest only from the Zoom recording, place their clip on the left side of my screen. Then take my re-recording of the host and put it on the right side of my screen. What is the most efficient set of effects to use to do all this?

TIA,
Steve

borate

Not quite certain of what you're working with, but if you can isolate guest and host clips, then the Split Screen function may serve.

This will allow you to crop the clip to take up a predefined portion of the image. To achieve a split screen effect, overlay two clips and assign each to different halves...

STEVE-in-CALI

Sounds like a good answer. I will give it a shot. thank you! I am glad to hear that split screen will also allow me to crop. That is just the kind of thing I was hoping for, one effect that does everything I need to get the output I want.

borate

There are limits to cropping with the Split Screen effect, so you may have to add another. Experiment.🤔

STEVE-in-CALI

Thank you. Maybe I'm stupid but I couldn't figure out the UI on the split screen effect. All I could see was checkerboard and some dotted lines. I tried playing around with them, to no avail. I've asked NCH if they have a video tutorial for split screen; waiting for reply. The videos I saw (not by NCH) on YT are just junk. Meantime, I was able to combine two effects, CROP, and POSITION (and using overlay as you suggested) to accomplish the result. Thank you so much!

borate

Good to hear! If you share the videos - host and guest - we can check out alternatives.

Upload the file/s to a free server, such as Google Drive or MS OneDrive, right-click the link and Share. Copy the result and paste it here or to me in a Private Message via the mail envelope in the top-right corner of this forum. When using Google Drive, if necessary change "restricted" to "anyone with link can view.**

Or upload the project by following these four easy steps...

Back up --- With your project on the timeline, click on MENU at the top-left. Click FILE|BACK UP PROJECT FILES TO FOLDER. Choose a folder and SELECT FOLDER.
Upload --- Use a free server - Google Drive, MS OneDrive, etc.* - to upload the saved, numbered FOLDER. Do NOT upload the individual VPJ or export file.
Get link --- Get a public link. Right-click the file and click SHARE. When using Google Drive, if necessary change "restricted" to "anyone with the link can view"
Share --- Click COPY LINK | DONE. Paste that link here, or click the folder at the top-right of this forum to message it privately to me. It won't be shared.

* Before uploading, right-click the folder, click PROPERTIES. Look at the File Size to confirm that it's not too big for the free space on the server.

STEVE-in-CALI

Thank you Borate. I have now received a reply from NCH tech-support. they have provided some instructions and between what you told me and they told me I now understand what is supposed to happen. I also now understand why I was confused. Something seems to be not working as designed when I select the A Window of a Horitzontal 2. No matter what I do, or position the window, all I see is checkerboard. When I select the B Window, it frames and displays as I would expect it. I sent the information to support and am waiting for a response. I will report back here when there is progress.

borate

Submit your content here (or in private to me via Personal Messenger) and we'll take a look. Just follow the above instructions.

The split-screen process is generally straightforward.

In this example, Split Screen is applied to each clip, and assigned to A and B respectively, using the Fit to Region preset...

Scroll down in the effects box to see the scale and positioning sliders.

STEVE-in-CALI

I sent my project to NCH support. They said it worked fine with them.
This told me that either my computer had a malfunction or 11.97 had a bug.
I upgraded to 16.09. Problem solved.
Apparently that was a bug in 11.97 and the support staff was not aware of it.

Thank you Borate!