A few 'how to' questions on using the editor

nick_vid wrote on 1/6/2016, 7:08 AM

Hi everyone, now I can make DVDs, Ive now started my first proper project that is a DVD of car racing. But having trouble finding how to do a few things on the editor. Im using Movie Edit Pro 2016 Premium.

Firstly, how do you adjust the length of a preset title? I have found a preset title that I want to use as race results but it only lasts for 7 seconds, and I need to increase the length to double that. But I cant seem to stretch it like I can in Pinnacle Studio. How do I do it in this one? And if I save it as a new template, will it hold the length?

Secondly, how do you turn off the video part of a track but keep the audio? I have a commentary track that is from a camera, I use the video to visually sync the camera to the race as a car goes past, but then need to mute the video part and keep the audio. This was easy in Pinnacle Studio, but cant seem to figure out how to do it in this one?

Thirdly, at a couple of venues, I record the commentary directly onto my main camera, so channel 1 is the ambient noise of the cars, and channel 2 is the commentary. But I need to be able to mix the two better on the editor. How do you swap channels on the editor so it only plays 1 channel? In Pinnacle Studio, I would import the same footage on different tracks, mute the video on one, then change the audio to 'ch1 to duel mono' for one and 'ch2 to duel mono' on the other and tweak the volumes of both tracks to get the right mix. But Im stuggling to do that on this one.

Any 'how to' guides to do these things would be great.

Nick.

Comments

browj2 wrote on 1/6/2016, 10:14 AM

Hi Nick,

1. Title length - normally you drag the left or right side of the title object. Which preset title are you referring to? Saving It as a new template should hold the length.

2. Here is some draft text from a tutorial that I am putting together that should answer your other two questions:

A video file usually comes with and audio track with 2 channels, left and right. Most video cameras have two microphones close together on the camera, one for the left and one for the right channel.

When you import a video object into MEP using the default settings, you don’t see the audio part separately, but it’s there. If you expand the size of the track vertically using the vertical maximize button for the track, you can probably see the wave form slightly at the bottom of the object. In some versions, the waveform is off by default and we’ll see later how to turn it on. Note that there is a slider handle in the middle of the object with up and down arrows. This lower one is for the audio and you can raise and lower the volume or gain of the audio with this. You can turn the sound off on the object by moving the handle to the bottom.

To get the audio on to a separate track, right click on the object with the mouse and look at the Audio functions. We see a long list of options.

Mute audio object – this does the same as dragging the handle to the bottom. A word of caution, there is a button at the left of the track, M for mute. Turning this on mutes both audio and video, which is probably not what you want. Magix Video Pro has separate buttons for audio and video.

Remove audio object – this makes the audio part disappear. See what happens to the object on the timeline? The bottom part is gone. But it’s still in the source file and available. Right click again on the video object, Audio functions and we now see Restore original sound. Select it and the audio comes back. Right click again and we see that the two audio functions have returned.

Next we see Video/audio on one track with a check mark beside it because that is the mode that we are in, and Video/Audio on separate tracks. Select this and we now see that the audio appears on track 2. Note that selecting either the audio or video selects both, because they are grouped. You can ungroup them using the button or Shift G. This will allow you to move the audio separately from the video, and also get rid of the video and use only the audio. Simply delete the video object.

I like to have video and audio on separate tracks by default. To do this, open the Program settings, File, Program settings or press on the letter Y. Go to the Video/Audio tab, and under Timeline we see 2 audio functions, Half wave-form display and Video/Audio on one track.

Half wave-form display will show the audio waveform at the bottom of the object, whereas if you uncheck this, you will see the waveform in the middle of the object, which is the normal method that I llike to use.

Video/Audio on one track – uncheck this and video and audio will show up on separate tracks for any new objects. Switching it does not affect any objects already on the timeline.

With audio on a separate track, right click on the audio part and we see the first item is for Normalize, maximum level, shortcut Alt N. This will raise the gain or volume of the audio portion to the maximum possible level without clipping. This searches for the largest signal peak in the audio material and raises the level of the object so that this position matches exactly 0 dB, also known as maximum overdrive.

To split out the channels to separate tracks, with video and audio already on separate tracks, ungroup them. Now copy the audio object and place it on the track below – that is a higher numbered track. To do this, the easy way is to hold down the Control key, and drag the object downwards. This creates a copy. Select the object on track 2, right click, open Audio cleaning or shortcut Alt A. Open the Stereo FX tab, click on Presets, and select Left channel only from near the bottom. This automatically places a checkmark beside StereoFX. Accept this with OK. Now do the same with the second object, but this time select Right channel only. Ok.

Now we have the left channel on track 2 and the right channel on track 3. It may be a good idea to add in a comment to the properties of the object so that you know which is left and which is right. You can also regroup these two audio objects with the video by selecting all 3 and then pressing the chain button to Group them or the shortcut G. Note that the name of each audio object on the timeline shows that there are effects, in this case, STEREOFX STEREOFX02.

Magix Video Pro X has commands that automatically split the channels into 2 tracks.

Please let me know if something is wrong here or doesn't work.

nick_vid wrote on 1/6/2016, 10:57 AM

Thanks for the tips on the audio, would make sence to split them onto 2 different tracks, but Ive got round it for now by using the commentary camera footage at the very top of the project tracks and the main footage underneath. But I will experiment with your ideas.

The title is under the 'captions' preset and its called 'excitement left'. Basically a white box that fades in to the left of the screen and I have changed the text to read the race results. (each race car has a number). But I can only increase the length of the text part and not the animated box, so this results in the box fading out while the text is still there. The title goes over normal video footage so I need the box behind it to make the text stand out. I can drag the clip in the timeline to make it shorter but its limited to 7 seconds, I cant drag it any longer. Even making the text 14 seconds, I cant then drag the animated box track to match as it seems they are linked.

I would design one from scratch but cant seem to find an option of importing a white box into a brand new text title. Only seem to be able to change the font / colour of the actual text.

Any ideas?

browj2 wrote on 1/6/2016, 1:16 PM

Hi Nick,

First, there are many things that you can do with audio in MEP. Take a look. There is also a Mixer (M).

The Captions usually come with video files and in your case there are 2 video files that contain masks. Select the 4 track object and ungroup it (Shift + G). Now you have 4 separate objects. I'll refer to them as 1 to 4 starting with the upper one, meaning track 2 in this case if you have an object on track 1.

Remember that MEP is different from most other NLE's in that track 1 is at the bottom of the pile and not the top. When looking down on a building, you see the top floor first, say floor 4. Remove 4 and you see 3. MEP works like this. Pinnacle goes the other way; looking down from the top you see track 1. This is why the title comes on the highest track number as it has to be overtop of the others.

Objects 1 and 3 are identical alpha masks. The colour is a slight grey to make them transparent. Both of these are mp4 video files with a set length of 7s for the effect, as you found. These allow the text and the white box to show up at the right time. Object 2 is a simple white object, full screen. It is there in order to have the white box. Object 4 is text. Both objects 2 and 4 can be lengthened by dragging the left or right side. With the objects grouped, you can't make them longer than the video objects, only shorter, so ungroup them.

Now you can drag the ends of objects 2 and 4 to the right. For the videos, only the middle part is static, and you want to copy this. Select only objects 1 and 3 and somewhere just after the incoming effect has completed, split the clips - shortcut is the letter T or the scissors button. Grab the new right parts of both 1 and 3 (not the end) and drag them to the right so that the end lines up with where you want the effect to end. Now grab the right side of 1 and 3 (the ends) and drag them out to the right over to the right hand objects. Now play the effect. If you dragged the right ends too far and the ending effect starts, drag them back a bit. Now make another cut mark somewhere to the left on these objects. Drag the right parts over to the right and extend the left parts to the right. Alternatively, you can cut out a section of the static middle part and just duplicate it as many times as needed.

You can group all of these objects and create a new title template but save as Special Effect, not Title Template. It should show up under Title, Own. It will come in with all of the pieces grouped together.

HTH.