@Eric-Elliott

Hi Eric,

I have separate media used such as photos or videos, but all audio (narration) is within the projects and not saved separately. I don't record audio separately at all, it is either recorded within the project in MS or embedded in video takes coming later.

I have told you more than once ...............

John CB

I get unconfused and then it starts all over again back at square one! I don't see a separate audio file anywhere after I create it in a project. .....................

To date I just have never seen this separate wav file. If I find it (them) I'm not moving them, that would be a disaster to me if I had to go back in and re-edit the project, but I could make a backup of course.
....................

@Eric-Elliott 

@browj2 Wrote in his previous msg

To see where your MVP files are, go to file, save as and Windows Explorer will show you. Alternatively, open the Program Settings (shortcut Y), Folder tab, and the first entry is for Project files.

Look at the other options on this screen. Recordings is where your narrations will go by default.

• Open MMS
• Click Y on the keyboard
• This window will pop up, I have mine set to somewhere else, You can find the folder where yours go or change the destination by clicking the white folder at the end,
• 

@Eric-Elliott BTW, Put down the manual, learn by trial & error, a lot of this really is simple. what you have been told & shown in all your posts & comments is maybe only 15-20 things. & 5-10 of those things is all you need to edit & export a video. Look through the manual at a later date when you're at least familiar with the basics of the program

-----------------------

I have programs that blow my mind, when I first started using them just the videos were confusing, reading the manuals were impossible, but now after playing with the software I can watch & read about them & understand a lot more than I did at the start.

 

• Open MMS
• Click Y on the keyboard
• This window will pop up, I have mine set to somewhere else, You can find the folder where yours go or change the destination by clicking the white folder at the end,
• 

I assume the "Recordings" are the "wav" files. That is all well and good for changing the destination, but first I want to see the "wav" files for my own education so I will use that to locate them in Win Explorer. Then if I want to move them and redirect MMS, I can come back to this screen. I would move them to the same place as all my other stuff.

@Eric-Elliott BTW, Put down the manual, learn by trial & error, a lot of this really is simple. what you have been told & shown in all your posts & comments is maybe only 15-20 things. & 5-10 of those things is all you need to edit & export a video. Look through the manual at a later date when you're at least familiar with the basics of the program

-----------------------

I have programs that blow my mind, when I first started using them just the videos were confusing, reading the manuals were impossible, but now after playing with the software I can watch & read about them & understand a lot more than I did at the start.

Yes, I am just about to throw out the manual entirely (but won't, I'll just hide it someplace). Yes, I am now at the point of "trial & error" or preferably just "trial" please, which should be achievable if I follow the instructions you and John and others have given. I have printed them out (easier yo follow that way and easier to filter out the fluff). I am also going to try to put the videos on bookmarks or something for easy reference for now. If that is not possible I will simply come back here and watch them again or what have you
Its these last few posts from you guys that have done the most to clear things up for me! Printed AND put in notebook!!!!!

• Open MMS
• Click Y on the keyboard
• This window will pop up, I have mine set to somewhere else, You can find the folder where yours go or change the destination by clicking the white folder at the end,
• 

I assume the "Recordings" are the "wav" files. That is all well and good for changing the destination, but first I want to see the "wav" files for my own education so I will use that to locate them in Win Explorer. Then if I want to move them and redirect MMS, I can come back to this screen. I would move them to the same place as all my other stuff.

@Eric-Elliott I don't record anything audio with MMS so I've copied @browj2s picture on your other post where he shows you where you can choose to save the audio.

Choose a destination you recognise & make one of anything you want, drag it on the timeline & play with it moving it up & down tracks, drag the ends to make it shorter, use the keyboard T to cut it where the timeline marker is, Z trims the start off the audio, U trims the end off the audio, (The same goes for video)

Basically drag stuff onto the timeline, play with it & don't worry about saving or merging or exporting.

This is his comment https://www.magix.info/us/forum/how-do-i-redo-an-audio-track-in-movie-studio-2024-platinum--1339496/#ca1940414

--------------------------

I assume the "Recordings" are the "wav" files.

If you want to know what some thing is -

Right click on it on the timeline - Properties,

This one is an Image, it is a png image. (png's are picture files/images)

This is an audio .wav file

Damn it!!!! I went to practice linking movies into one project following the video, which I have watched 3 or 4 times and now I am really stuck. Something went way wrong when I clicked the + button to add a movie. It just duplicated the one I already opened! I don't want that, so I said to myself, ok, I need to get rid of that, but it now tells me that if I delete it that it will wipe the entire project and I'll lose everything. So now I am stuck with a messed up project. I'm also done for the day working on this crap and I just started. Learning by video is impossible without two monitors.

When something like this happens it is the end to me because I can't fix it or go back. You all said that nothing gets damaged and I can always go back. That doesn't explain the message the program is giving me.

I'm surprised it doesn't say it will wipe my entire drive or something. I have not saved it and I won't. I'll try to close out, but that may cause me to lose the original as well because it may warn me to save it anyway.

I thinking about going back to Video Easy, it works better. I don't know, I got MS because I thought Video Easy was broken, maybe it isn't. I forgot the issue. I know it is no longer supported, Magix told me, so if I get stuck I'm done.
With all the trouble I have been having, I think I may also give up on this whole idea of having a YouTube channel. I don't think it is worth it, the expense, the time, the problems. I can't monetize it ever anyway and did not want to, so when factoring that in, it becomes less of a good idea. It may be better to just keep my knowledge and experience of music and custodianship and the like to myself. Sharing may be over-rated.
 

@Eric-Elliott 

Just delete that new Movie, your original won't get altered, you can see there's nothing on the timeline of the new movie & the name has - 01 at the end, the name can be changed with the downward arrow, & the msg is saying 'Delete Movie', you've been told the difference between Movie & the Project.

Did you try deleting that new movie & see what happens?

Hi Gid,
No I did not want to risk it with the warning of death, so I just closed out and everything was fine.

I just opened MS back up to have one more go at this. However, I do not have any Movie files (.MVD) anywhere on my hard drive - I did a search. All I have are Project files (.MVP). So I am confused about this procedure even more now. I'm not supposed to link Projects. I'm supposed to link Movies in a Project. I need to practice the Merge thing.

Are MVP files Movies? If so, then what are Project files?

I create a new project and want to add a movie to get it started, but all I have are MVP files. Do I start with one of those? I tried that and it does populate, but when I go to add another movie all I have are MVP files, no Movie files (MVD). See how confusing this is?
Of course the manual says nothing about this. The manual is useful for kindling, that's about it.
 

All I want to do is put the short CD videos I did in the same "Project" as the Artist video.

@Eric-Elliott If you are just practicing & are worried about getting it wrong, create two temporary projects that have anything you want on them, just a few pictures on each will do like I have in this video.

If you drag the MVP or the MVD from the Import window in your picture it will create a new Movie, you can then Merge them.

Or you can Open a new project & tell it to add a new movie which can then be merged,

@Eric-Elliott If you are just practicing & are worried about getting it wrong, create two temporary projects that have anything you want on them, just a few pictures on each will do like I have in this video.

If you drag the MVP or the MVD from the Import window in your picture it will create a new Movie, you can then Merge them.

Or you can Open a new project & tell it to add a new movie which can then be merged,

That made zero sense to me. I watched the video and can't tell you what happened in it. Where you opening projects or movies?

What happened from the time you opened up the Projects or Movies and then they became one? Was it when you hit "Merge"?

I can't do anything until I know if MVP files are Movies or Projects. I am supposed to only add Movies and then instead of merging each one, wait until I am done adding, then do Merge and rename if needed and save.

@Eric-Elliott You've been told all this in your posts, it's getting very repetitive. Did you try doing any of it just to see what happens & what options you're given ?

@Eric-Elliott

Hi Eric,

At the risk of re-re-repeating myself and others, including the manual, a Project has a minimum of 1 Movie. Each Movie can be considered as a separate timeline.

Look at the tab for the Movie - it probably has the name of your project on it - by default. That is a Movie. When you save a project, any Movies in the proejct are part of the project. You do not need to export it to an MVD file. You only need to do that if you want a single specific Movie from a Project for some reason. You have no reason to do so right now.

When you clicked on the +, you said that it duplicated the one that you opened. It did not! If you had something on the timeline of the first Movie, did it also show up on the second Movie? No, the second Movie was empty. Logic 101 - no duplicate was created. Look at the screen when you do things.

When you created a second Movie, it has to have a name. By default, the program takes the name of your project and appends -01. Add another one. It gets your project name -02 and so on. Again, logic 101. You can change the name of a Movie as I showed you by opening the dropdown beside the + and selecting Rename Movie. This is not rocket science. The program shows you this. Look at the screen. Read what is there. Look at the other options. Learn.

I told you specifically that when you are learning something new, to make a test project.

Do the above in a test project.

Click on the first Movie tab. Add 1 photo.

Click on the second Movie tab. It has no photos. Add some different photos.

Click on the third Movie tab. It has no photos. Add some different photos.

Save your project. Close MMS. Open MMS and the same project. Your 3 Movies are there, right? With the photos that you put in each Movie.

Close the project and start a new test project. Give it a name and save the project.

Go to File, Open and select the previous test project. A message appears with 3 choices. READ THEM!

Click on Add new project.

Your previous project will be added to the current project and you should have 4 Movies - the one with the current project plus the 3 from the other test project. These are now copied into your project - these are in your project and nothing that you do to them now in this project will affect the original project.

Save your project.

Now delete the fourth Movie from this project. Save the project.

Close MMS. Open MMS. Open the first project. It still has the 3 Movies as before, right?

Close MMS. Open MMS. Open the second project. It has 3 Movies as well - the original one plus two others that you imported from the other project.

John CB

@Eric-Elliott You've been told all this in your posts, it's getting very repetitive. Did you try doing any of it just to see what happens & what options you're given ?

What? I just told you and showed you what I was doing, which is what we have been talking about.

John,

I'm going to try what you just posted, but I can't until the main question is answered, which is what files do I work with? All I see are MVP files and everyone says those are project files, not movie files which are MVD.
Are the MVP files what I want? I feel like I am in some kind of religious sect with all this renaming things and such.
I'm so confused with this. If movies are created when one does projects, then why are they not someplace on my hard drive? Only MVP and WAV files (not to mention JPEG files) are on my drive. I though movie files were separate from project files.
If I can just clear that up, I will try once more, if it doesn't work, I am walking away, killing the idea and tossing everything. At that point (I say a month ago) it is clear that this is just not for me to handle.

I have to walk away towards end of August anyway as that is when my English lessons start, but I figured until then.... I think I may have figured wrong.

This YT thing is the worst idea I ever had. It was supposed to be a simple concept, put up a picture, talk about it, film a couple of one take demonstrations and film talking about records. No fancy intros, no crew, no mountains of gear, no green screens, no streaming, no thumbnails, no anything. It doesn't get more sparse or simple and yet it has turned out to be near impossible. Especially for non-native English speakers.
 

@Eric-Elliott

MVDs are only created if you actually export an individual movie using the File>Mange Project>Export movie file.

If you don't do that, all the movies in a project are not stored/saved separately. Their details are part of the project (MVP). When you open that MVP/project again, the timeline area will be populated with the movies you have created (if more than one), each one on it's own tab.

If you have multiple projects with only one movie in each project, no problem, just open one of the projects, then open the other project. Magix will ask you if you want to close the current project or add the new project. Choose add the new project. It will be inserted before the first project you opened.

Video:

@Eric-Elliott

MVDs are only created if you actually export an individual movie using the File>Mange Project>Export movie file.

If you don't do that, all the movies in a project are not stored/saved separately. Their details are part of the project (MVP). When you open that MVP/project again, the timeline area will be populated with the movies you have created (if more than one), each one on it's own tab.

If you have multiple projects with only one movie in each project, no problem, just open one of the projects, then open the other project. Magix will ask you if you want to close the current project or add the new project. Choose add the new project. It will be inserted before the first project you opened.

Video:

 

OH!! Thank you AAProds. This whole time, the way I was told and/or understood it, I thought that Movie Files (MVD) were auto created separately like WAV files, when one does a project! No wonder I could not find them.
So this whole time that was the thing holding me back!!! A whole month wasted that I can't get back.

I really need to improve my English, because I am struggling with it. I learned it in a different way when I was little than the way it is spoken now. I'm hoping the classes I signed up for will teach me the new English, provided I can learn it at my age with near zero short term memory.

I also just came up with an idea. It could be a big help, I wish I could have two monitors, but I can't because I have no space for that nor do I have the money. However, I have a laptop. It can play videos fine as well as games. It can also edit audio provided one has an external soundcard or audio interface and a pair of studio monito headphones or powered speakers and an external mouse. However, it is not capable of video editing due to it's config. What I can do is set it up next to me the other direction and then run the videos you guys provided and pause them and then turn to my screen back and forth. I wish I could have it in front of me, but no room on my desk for that. Still, I think my idea would be useful.

I'm so severely disappointed almost to anger now. I'm upset at the language, upset at my inability to understand the language, upset at my lacking English and upset at Movie Studio.

I still may walk away from it now instead of waiting until classes start. I don't know. I have lost 90% interest in trying to do this video stuff at this point. I'm re-evaluating my idea of having a YT channel. I'm the only one in the country without a smartphone or the only one who can't use one and now I could be the only one without a YT channel and I don't mind either one if people would stop yelling at me and calling me an idiot for not having those things. Of course, nobody here has done that, I'm talking about generally. I already get called out for not being on social media, which I never will be. I'd sooner play Russian roulette than have a Facebook account or whatever.

Ok, I have done a bit of practice and I think I am understanding basically how to do this, but who knows in my case.

I have a question in this regard. I can "Create a new Project and go to "File" and open a project, let's call it Project #1. Then go to "File" and "Open Project #2, the box pops up and I select "Add New Project".

So now I have a Project with TWO movies in it. So let's say I save the project. I go back into Movie Studio and open that project, there are my two movies and everything. Now I click on the second movie (click on the little down arrow actually) and a box of choices pops up. The one I see pertinent to what I am doing is the choice "Merge Movies".

The question is: When does "Merge Movies" come into play? When do I use that or does it do the same thing I just did above?
With what I am doing I want to be able to add transitions between the movies in the project if you will so there is not such abruptness between them switching. Does "Merge Movies" kind of take that out of the equation or does it do something else entirely?

@Eric-Elliott @AAProds @Gid @browj2

...With what I am doing I want to be able to add transitions between the movies in the project if you will so there is not such abruptness between them switching.... 

Sorry for being late to the party but isn't the solution "nested projects" which can only be accomplished with VPX; not MMS?

@Can-Dive

Hi

. . . . isn't the solution "nested projects" which can only be accomplished with VPX; not MMS? . . . .

This feature is not available in Movie Studio.

John EB

@Eric-Elliott

Hi,

All Merge does is move all contents of a second movie, including effects, to the end of the first (current movie). This is the same as going to the second movie, selecting All, going to the first movie - end - paste. The only difference is that in the first case the second movie will be deleted as it's probably no longer needed.

Make sure to be on the main movie - the one to which you want to append the contents of the second movie. Open the dropdown, Merge Movies. Read what it says. Merge an open movie. If you have more than one extra movie, then you can open the drop down and select the movie 2 or 3 or 4 or whatever you have. Ok. The material of that movie gets appended to the end of the first selected movie. This cannot be undone, at least not in VPX.

Try it in a test project.

@Can-Dive

No, nesting, available only with VPX would be putting the second movie as an object into the first movie. You select the second movie from the Project Temp Folder and drag it, like any other object, onto the timeline. There is no merge. The nested movie is still there as a separate movie and can be edited. The nested object gets automatically updated.

John CB

@johnebaker @browj2

I know nested projects are not available in Movie Studio (MMS). That is my point exactly. @Eric-Elliott has created a number of projects. He imports them as movies into a single project. He says he wants to join them with transitions so that there is no abrupt switching between them. The solution is nested projects which is not available in MMS. Therefore, to accomplish this seamless transition, @Eric-Elliott would need to upgrade to VPX.

Otherwise, using MMS, there is a solution. He exports each individual project into a final movie for distribution. Then create a new project; call it "Consolidate" for example. Import these final movies into the project along the same timeline and create transitions between each imported movie. Export Consolidate as a final movie for distribution. There may be some quality degradation because of the use of second generation movies to create the Consolidate movie (unlike the VPX nested projects solution) but with today's video captures it would not be visually noticeable; if at all.

@Can-Dive

He exports each individual project into a final movie for distribution. Then create a new project; call it "Consolidate" for example. Import these final movies into the project along the same timeline and create transitions between each imported movie.

There's no need for that. As JohnCB (and others) have explained, you just open successive projects and then you can copy and paste each movie onto the first timeline. Then add whatever transition is needed between each "movie".