@Paz

Hi,

Indeed, it does.

Firstly, in TM, the border that you have chosen, which I presume is the first rectangular one, a black border is created and you can see this when you play the animation; there is black space around the map. If you select no border, then the image is still rectangular, but full screen with no border. With the rectangular border, resulting wmv file shows no border when the file is played back, so this is the first problem - there should be a black border around the map.

I noticed that exiting TM and going back to PhotoStory, the video file is shown in the Media Pool but is not automatically inserted onto the Timeline. It should be and is inserted automatically when I use Video Pro X instead of PhotoStory.

Next, when the video clip is imported onto the timeline, the sides of the image are circular. Note the name of the object now has Cookie Cutter.vsx appended. Select the object on the timeline, go to the fx tab, and you'll see in the keyframe are that there is an effect. On my screen, it says "Stansformen" which I presume is German for "Cookie Cutter." Double click on this to get to the Cookie Cutter (Stansformen) effect. To remove the effect completely, click on the X at the top right. To get the rectangular border that you wanted, pop down the Shape box and select Rectangle. Now you have a rectangle that does not fill the screen. If you move the TM map down to track 2 and import another video onto track 1 with the start at the same location as the beginning of the TM map, you'll see that the map is a picture in picture overtop of the object on track 1.

If your intention was to not have a border around the map, then in TM, use No border.

It seems that when you select a border in TM, the video does not have a border and that, somehow, a command is sent to PhotoStory with the wmv file such that inserting the TM wmv file triggers the Cookie Cutter command, but instead of applying the shape selected in TM, it applies the default Circle shape.

If you preview the wmv file, you'll see that it is full-screen, rectangular.

I tested this with VPX and it does exactly the same thing except that the video is automatically inserted onto the timeline, and the Cookie-Cutter Circle is applied by default.

Selecting No Border in TM does not trigger the Cookie Cutter effect when the map animation is imported.

This all looks like bugs to me, both in TM and in PhotoStory.

So, if all you want is a rectangular video, which is what is exported anyways, select No border. If you want to apply the Cookie Cutter to the map in PhotoStory, then do it manually. If you want the map to just be smaller, use the zoom control under Size/Position in the effects tab. The only advantage to selecting a border is that the Cookie Cutter effect is automatically applied with a circular shape. You will still have to modify the Cookie Cutter parameters.

I suggest that you raise a ticket with Magix about this with these 3 or 4 points:

1. Selecting a border in Travel Maps does not create a video with the border or a border with transparency. This could be confusing;
2. Going back to PhotoStory, the Travel Maps animation video is not automatically imported onto the timeline. It shows up in the Media Pool;
3. When the Travel Maps animation video is imported onto the timeline, it is given a Cookie Cutter effect with the default shape - Circle - not always the shape selected in Travel Maps - rectangular does not work. Something is wrong between the Cookie Cutter effect and the command in the properties of the animation video created by Travel Maps;
4. The name of the Cookie Cutter effect shows in German as "Stansformen" and not in English as "Cookie Cutter."

Ignore point 4 if the effect shows in English as Cookie Cutter in your version of PhotoStory.

EDIT: I found out how the message is passed to the video editor as to whether or not there is supposed to be a border, and which type. Look at the properties of the video file created by TM, Details, under Comments there will be something like:

MxTravelMaps|Frame= - for no border

MxTravelMaps|Frame={941854F9-E8D2-44B1-A8E6-B45FB1CCF5A7} - for rectangular border

MxTravelMaps|Frame={DB3F280D-A0E7-4061-8E7D-3B9FD03C7D5C} - for rectangular feathered border

MxTravelMaps|Frame={DDAFD842-10B6-4F5D-B259-6CE5FA33B9B6} - for circular feathered border - this one actually works properly

MxTravelMaps|Frame={D7529F55-267F-4BA6-B4F0-DC37C7682B33} - for oval border

It seems that the video editors are not reading these correctly.

John CB