Before I do anything, I need this questions answered:

Should I have saved the "projects" as "movies" instead of projects? Would that have made this easier? If so, when saved as "movies" do "movies" have everything in them like "projects"?

I was thinking steps #1 and #2 then #4 and #5. I don't have any "movies" though, they are "projects" or at least that is how the program saved them. Again, I do not know what a "movie" is. I used to know, but that was back in the 60s and before MS. Is there a "merge" function or button I should know about?
I don't know any methods for doing what I want to do outside of what is presented here and it is sketchy, there are pieces missing it seems. I have a feeling that what I want to do may require that I hire someone to do it for me, which I can't afford.
The 500 page manual is useless, it only talks about stuff for big movie directors and studios, nothing for the home user. The table of contents is even wrong, I can't find anything using that.

I'm thinking it may be easier to do this phase in storyboard mode instead of timeline. I was able to do this in Video Easy no problem. MS seems to struggle with everything, making me struggle.

I just want to take the first "project" or whatever it is and then add the next one to it and the next and so on. Then just put in some basic transition effect for each little segment and call it done. Basically, it is a 2 minute segment on the artist then a few of their albums, one at a time that I give brief info on and my own rating. Trying to do them in one take proved extremely difficult, so I did them individually. Each is less than a minute. So at the end it may be say a 5 minute uh, whatever it is. I don't know how to call it, movie?, project? video? ready to upload.

Should I have saved the "projects" as "movies" instead of projects? Would that have made this easier? If so, when saved as "movies" do "movies" have everything in them like "projects"?

@Eric-Elliott  Are you taking the piss? All this was explained just a few comments ago, I put it all in very simple words & even included pretty pictures & a video. This can't be explained any more simpler than how it already has been.

@Eric-Elliott

Further to what Gid indicated:

A project is what you are doing in Movie Studio - you give it a name, right? The project file is what you are saving when you save - with your project name. A project can have 1 or more Movies. You have only been using 1 movie in your project.

See below where I have a project called Seasons, and 4 Movies - Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. There is no movie called Seasons, but Seasons is my project.

Again, this is basic - it is one of the first things in the manual.

You can export to MP4 (and other types) from each movie or create a multi-movie DVD/BR.

Or you can Merge the movies into 1 as has been indicated.

I have vacation projects with movies like Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc. That way, I can easily copy objects and text from one Movie to another. I may make 1 intro and then copy it over to the other days and just change the title.

John CB

@Gid

Gid, a suggestion: your movies are great but they're quite difficult to view because of your high-res screen; the text is very small. Could you please do them with the Magix window reduced in size, then when we run them at full screen the text will be bigger.

 

@Eric-Elliott  Are you taking the piss? All this was explained just a few comments ago, I put it all in very simple words & even included pretty pictures & a video. This can't be explained any more simpler than how it already has been.

I looked at your post explaining it, but the "movie: thing is not clear to me. The picture you showed is the toolbar with red marks pointing to a couple of tools I don't know about. Were you saying the movies show in the preview window?

@Eric-Elliott

Further to what Gid indicated:

A project is what you are doing in Movie Studio - you give it a name, right? The project file is what you are saving when you save - with your project name. A project can have 1 or more Movies. You have only been using 1 movie in your project.

See below where I have a project called Seasons, and 4 Movies - Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. There is no movie called Seasons, but Seasons is my project.

Again, this is basic - it is one of the first things in the manual.

You can export to MP4 (and other types) from each movie or create a multi-movie DVD/BR.

Or you can Merge the movies into 1 as has been indicated.

I have vacation projects with movies like Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc. That way, I can easily copy objects and text from one Movie to another. I may make 1 intro and then copy it over to the other days and just change the title.

John CB

Yes, I gave each project a name, but I think it was wrong to do them as projects now. I think I should have done them as movies instead to be able to put them in one project I could then save.

Do movies contain everything a Project does in terms of audio and titles? Could I re-do the projects with narration and save them as movies and they would have sound and titles and all? Or could I go back and load the projects and then save them as movies so I do not have to completely re-do them?

Based on your explanation above and the one you sent showing this earlier, it seems it would be easier to use movies instead of projects.

I keep reading the manual, but it reads like it assumes one is making a career out it. It just gets into the weeds right away and doesn't explain how to do it, it just shows all the options known to humankind. I just need one correct option that is physically possible.

@AAProds Ok, that's understandable 👍 It's ok at my end, I can see most of the controls in the fxs & I like to be able to see the half dozen tracks but I'll see what I can do in future.

Is this any better? I had to zoom in when editing it because my screen capture records full screen. In future obviously you wouldn't see the zoom.

I never reduce the size because it's ok for me but this is the kind of mess the UI can end up like sometimes if I do reduce the UI,

When I capture the screen MMS auto goes into full screen, even if the UI is already full screen & I've got a custom layout recording puts the UI at default Standard layout , or -

In this vid I reduce & maximize the UI to show it is set to that size but the moment I click record there's a green pop-up top right, the UI goes full screen & it looses the reduced size, also when I stop recording it goes full size.

I recorded this with my 'stupidphone',

If I click on the other monitor before clicking record this doesn't happen because focus is taken away from MMS but I always forget to do that, like I say I'll see what I can do,

Movies are what you see at the top of the timeline, like i say most of the time you'll only see one,(For what were are discussing above it adds another like in my video above)

@Eric-Elliott  Are you taking the piss? All this was explained just a few comments ago, I put it all in very simple words & even included pretty pictures & a video. This can't be explained any more simpler than how it already has been.

I looked at your post explaining it, but the "movie: thing is not clear to me. The picture you showed is the toolbar with red marks pointing to a couple of tools I don't know about. Were you saying the movies show in the preview window?

To be fair that picture I posted wasn't the best, I just scribbled on the screen with the mouse, I thought the writing above it would clarify that..

This is a better picture

@Gid

That zoomed-in portion on the first vid is much better. Yes, you're constrained by the screen capture; I use Bandicam which lets me choose an area, so I can just lasso a smaller Magix window.

@Eric-Elliott

Hi Eric,

You cannot do a movie without doing a project. A project always contains at least 1 Movie or you have no project.

By default, the Movie is the same name as the Project. You can change the name of the Movie. Look at my image. Look at the manual. To the right of the last movie is a dropdown with options. Or click on the + just to the left of the dropdown arrow to add a movie. Then dropdown, Rename Movie. Do so.

I told you to do test projects just to play around with this. Do so.

There is no need to redo anything. Just follow what everyone has been telling you about opening 1 project, then opening a second inside it - adds a movie, then a third, then a forth. Save. The imported projects all stay as they were, but the current project now has a copy of those inside of it.

Here is a quick and dirty video. You can export each Movie to an MP4 file.

Under the Movies dropdown, you can see Merge Movie. Try it.

John CB

Movies are what you see at the top of the timeline, like i say most of the time you'll only see one,(For what were are discussing above it adds another like in my video above)

 

To be fair that picture I posted wasn't the best, I just scribbled on the screen with the mouse, I thought the writing above it would clarify that..

This is a better picture

Ah, way better picture, thank you! The items you point to in this picture were not even visible in the first picture, no wonder I did not understand.

@Eric-Elliott

Hi Eric,

You cannot do a movie without doing a project. A project always contains at least 1 Movie or you have no project.

By default, the Movie is the same name as the Project. You can change the name of the Movie. Look at my image. Look at the manual. To the right of the last movie is a dropdown with options. Or click on the + just to the left of the dropdown arrow to add a movie. Then dropdown, Rename Movie. Do so.

I told you to do test projects just to play around with this. Do so.

There is no need to redo anything. Just follow what everyone has been telling you about opening 1 project, then opening a second inside it - adds a movie, then a third, then a forth. Save. The imported projects all stay as they were, but the current project now has a copy of those inside of it.

Here is a quick and dirty video. You can export each Movie to an MP4 file.

Under the Movies dropdown, you can see Merge Movie. Try it.

John CB

Great video John!! Thank you!! (Not concerned about copying titles and such due to the way I am creating my projects, they are all separate subjects. This and the picture Gid re-did really helped.

Really important question: Ok, am I correct in this? When I create a "project" it automatically creates a movie as well? If that is correct then this is starting to become more clear......I think.
If that is the case then all I need to do first is figure out where in the world MS is saving movies and projects to and then make a new place for them so I know where stuff is. I left everything default when I installed the program, "if it's not broken, don't fix it".

Now that I have finally successfully created some "projects" I will now create some "test" ones try work with. Part of the problem was even getting a project created in the first place.

Yes, I am going to re-watch your video here at least three more times (more if needed)!!

Movies are what you see at the top of the timeline, like i say most of the time you'll only see one,(For what were are discussing above it adds another like in my video above)

 

Movies are individual 'projects' within the main project, these show at the top of the timeline, most of the time you'll just see one.

@Eric-Elliott Well they are visible if you compare the two, the second one is a better picture but with all the writing in the comments, you've watched some of @Browj2's videos, you've read at least the start of the manual & I assume you've played around with the program to get some idea of what you've read in the manual I thought you would understand -

In the Manual - pages 1-18 are the Index, PC requirements, specs of the program & introductions to Movie Studio.

Then on page 19 the 'Getting Started Movie Studio' section starts. 'Projects, Movies and Objects' is mentioned on page 20 & 1, 2 & 3 are shown in the picture, these relate to the picture on page 21.

This is page 20

This is Page 21. It goes into more detail in the following pages but Movie, Project & Objects are all mentioned right from the start.

@Eric-Elliott

Hi Eric,

Good!

When I create a "project" it automatically creates a movie as well?

Yes, a project has at least one movie, created when you start a project. The Movie name will change when you save the project the first time with a proper name.

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. The default is probably the root of the Movie Studio 2025.... To change this, click on the folder. I created a subfolder called Projects and that is where I save my project MVP files. The program will save here first by default. I actually have sub sub folders by topic, like Tests, Vacations, Christmases, etc. and I have to specify where to save the project file to.

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

To start a project, when you open Movie Studio, the New Project screen is there. Change the default name to what you want and click on Create Project. First, not the Movie settings in case you want something different.

Once in the project, click on the disk icon in the top menu to save the project for the first time. Windows Explorer will open with the default path set in the Program Settings. You can change this path now and the project name if you want. Once you have saved for the first time, when you click on the disk icon the next time, the project will be saved (overwritten/updated) and Windows Explorer does not open. Save often.

John CB

 

@Eric-Elliott Well they are visible if you compare the two, the second one is a better picture but with all the writing in the comments, you've watched some of @Browj2's videos, you've read at least the start of the manual & I assume you've played around with the program to get some idea of what you've read in the manual I thought you would understand -

In the Manual - pages 1-18 are the Index, PC requirements, specs of the program & introductions to Movie Studio.

Then on page 19 the 'Getting Started Movie Studio' section starts. 'Projects, Movies and Objects' is mentioned on page 20 & 1, 2 & 3 are shown in the picture, these relate to the picture on page 21.

This is page 20

This is Page 21. It goes into more detail in the following pages but Movie, Project & Objects are all mentioned right from the start.

I was not connecting the writing in the comments and videos together with the pictures because I thought I was supposed to treat everything as separate and different. Every time I would say what I understood, it was incorrect and everybody would repeat themselves emphasizing to see everything separate.
I think all the writing in the comments are to explain the manual as well because the manual also makes everything separate and goes way too far into the weeds, even in the quick start section. There is no overview at the start or at least it is not explained well. (Then there is the language barrier through all this, my English is not super good and I have lost a great deal of my native language = Russian, due to very limited to non-use over time and a mini-stroke some years ago put the nail in that coffin. I tried to get it back, but got nowhere pretty much).

Yes, that picture on page 20 was like trying to understand the stock market reports, it may as well have been in Chinese or something. Page 21 indeed offers detail, but the manual is misleading. (It would have been better to include the information on the same page as the picture or at least stated the explanation before the picture and phrasing something like "as seen in the picture on next page" or something).
The manual repeats details in several places and is not clear on where to look within it. They should have done an overview and explained how it all fits together the way you and John just did. Then they could have labeled the sections separately such as 1) Movies, 2) Projects 3) Objects and had sub-sections such as 1) To move an Object, 2) To link Movies, 3) To link Projects and clearly titled sections for functions within each.

Instead they just put over-encompassing labels in the table of contents and lump every function together so one has to read through pages of unrelated stuff looking for anything relative to what one wants to do. Usually, if one does a table of contents like that, there is also an index, like in a car manual, but there is no index in this case. That would have helped.

I printed out all 500 pages (I prefer actual books with pages over computer screens) and went through the manual and highlighted things, but did not tag them, so the highlighting did not help much. I may go back through and tag those places for easier reference, but it won't make things much easier because the information is all split up throughout the manual (if I want to do something with a project, movie whatever, I have to look in 4 or 5 different places and try to piece the steps together). I have the mind to throw the manual out, I'm so pissed off at it.

On a more positive note: I am finally getting it for basic editing!!! This is thanks in large part to you and John and all the other help here. Your explanation and second picture and especially John's last video was all eye opening!! Perhaps more accurately, the step back I needed to see the forest because thanks to the manual and stuff before I was only looking at the trees with my nose pressed up against them so I could not see anything else.

It is kind of funny in a way because I was thinking this whole time: "I was not taught how to cook this way, one doesn't cook each ingredient separately". (Yes, I'm a trained cook and got talked out of making it a career by none other than Jamie Oliver, not because I could not do it, but because of the warnings about the extreme stress and the like that would quickly destroy me. He did not want to see that happen. Yes, I knew Jamie and his best mate for a couple of years, about 24 years ago. The first connection point was music, believe it or not).

@Eric-Elliott

Hi Eric,

Good!

When I create a "project" it automatically creates a movie as well?

Yes, a project has at least one movie, created when you start a project. The Movie name will change when you save the project the first time with a proper name.

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. The default is probably the root of the Movie Studio 2025.... To change this, click on the folder. I created a subfolder called Projects and that is where I save my project MVP files. The program will save here first by default. I actually have sub sub folders by topic, like Tests, Vacations, Christmases, etc. and I have to specify where to save the project file to.

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

To start a project, when you open Movie Studio, the New Project screen is there. Change the default name to what you want and click on Create Project. First, not the Movie settings in case you want something different.

Once in the project, click on the disk icon in the top menu to save the project for the first time. Windows Explorer will open with the default path set in the Program Settings. You can change this path now and the project name if you want. Once you have saved for the first time, when you click on the disk icon the next time, the project will be saved (overwritten/updated) and Windows Explorer does not open. Save often.

John CB

Eureka!! Finally, it all starts to make sense, this was eye opening!

I'm sure a look through Windows explorer (which I am far more familiar with) will show me where stuff is and then I can make separate folders or whatever and point to them. Since I left everything alone to default, you are likely correct as to where the MPV (movie files?) are and such. I need to look up what the extensions are for movies vs projects, which I can do myself, no help needed.

Yes, when I start MS, I do rename the Project first otherwise it is just a date and time stamp. As you showed, later I can go in and rename the "Movies" if I want.

Yes, I am going to do some test projects and such as I stated to really see the flow. Then I will get back to the real projects and I save after each part is how I want it, picture, titles, audio and then a final save.

I have even finally figured out or gotten to work the part about getting things to go to the track I want and all that. Now when I do my narration it goes to track #2 right below the movie/picture track (Track #1) by default. Everything else can be wherever it wants. Yes, I am leaving it at 32 tracks now because I have learned this, so it no longer bothers me to have them even though they will never be used.

I am struggling a little still with titles, but I am going to see if I can educate myself on it. I can create the title easy enough, the tab is right there, but animating the title is where I have to look around a while a try to remember how to get there. It should really be with the Title Tab (the section one creates in), but for some reason they do not have it there, they hide it. I think I right click on the track where the Title is? That brings up a menu, but I think I select "movie animation" or "animation" or something like that. I know it is not labeled "title animation" or "hey idiot, animate your title here", which in my case, should be labeled exactly like that! I'll brain it out and make notes so I know to go right to it. I only have one project where I need to do that. The rest are fine just letting the title appear for a few seconds.
In fact, I am going to redo my first project for the 20th and final time.

Question: When I save something as an MP4 to post later, does MS still keep it also as a "Project" in case I want to change something later or does it change into an MP4 permanently?

@Eric-Elliott

Hi Eric

Pleased to hear things are coming together now.

. . . . When I save something as an MP4 to post later, does MS still keep it also as a "Project" in case I want to change something later or does it change into an MP4 permanently? . . .

The project does stay intact for editing at another time if necessary, the media used, and your narration audio files etc should be in the same locations as when you created the project. You may find it worthwhile creating a backup of the project - File, Backup copy, Copy project and media into folder this will as its names suggest let create a folder and places copies of the project and all media used into the folder.

HTH

John EB

@Eric-Elliott

Question: When I save something as an MP4 to post later, does MS still keep it also as a "Project" in case I want to change something later or does it change into an MP4 permanently?

Eric,

You save a project but you export a movie as mp4.

In other words, your MMS project file is always an MMS project file and never anything else so yes, you can return to it later and revise, re-edit, re-export it to your heart's content! BUT that "project file" contains NO video, audio or image files, merely the database which stores where, on your computer, those individual components are currently saved, So, if you move any of them for any reason and then try to reopen the project it file will complain it can't find them and ask you to tell it where they now are!

I hope it goes without saying, therefore, that if you choose to delete them the project cannot be opened again!

The Export process never alters your project file in any way though you may find that, once the export is complete, MMS "invites" you to resave the project so as to ensure that the saved version really is the latest one you were working on.

HTH

Jeff

@Eric-Elliott

Hi Eric

Pleased to hear things are coming together now.

. . . . When I save something as an MP4 to post later, does MS still keep it also as a "Project" in case I want to change something later or does it change into an MP4 permanently? . . .

The project does stay intact for editing at another time if necessary, the media used, and your narration audio files etc should be in the same locations as when you created the project. You may find it worthwhile creating a backup of the project - File, Backup copy, Copy project and media into folder this will as its names suggest let create a folder and places copies of the project and all media used into the folder.

HTH

John EB

Yay! Good idea on creating a backup of my projects....actually, very good idea! I will need to get an external HDD or two though, because I feel I will run out of space on both my internal drives real fast. So I need to start saving up to get a couple of external drives. I have a couple/few mechanical HDDs (80GB to 350 or 500GB) that are already external or can be made into externals via enclosure or HDD port I have, which should do the job.
New 1 and 2 TB SSDs are not too expensive either, less than $100.

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 think what I will do is create two separate main folders with sub-folders for each project. One main folder will be Backup. Then I will put everything for each project in the appropriately named folder along with the project itself.

I think I will also have a dedicated drive for the MP4 files.
I'll need to map all this out of course.

@Eric-Elliott

Question: When I save something as an MP4 to post later, does MS still keep it also as a "Project" in case I want to change something later or does it change into an MP4 permanently?

Eric,

You save a project but you export a movie as mp4.

In other words, your MMS project file is always an MMS project file and never anything else so yes, you can return to it later and revise, re-edit, re-export it to your heart's content! BUT that "project file" contains NO video, audio or image files, merely the database which stores where, on your computer, those individual components are currently saved, So, if you move any of them for any reason and then try to reopen the project it file will complain it can't find them and ask you to tell it where they now are!

I hope it goes without saying, therefore, that if you choose to delete them the project cannot be opened again!

The Export process never alters your project file in any way though you may find that, once the export is complete, MMS "invites" you to resave the project so as to ensure that the saved version really is the latest one you were working on.

HTH

Jeff

Yes, understood..to a point at least and thanks for the heads up.
I did see in the "File" menu the options for "save" and "export".
I also learned early on about deleting and not deleting. There is a time for both as long as one knows what it means. If it is something one might want to come back to later, do NOT delete. It is also maybe a good idea not to move it either just to save a headache, but with moving at least one can point MS to find it.
I will also be doing as John suggest: Store everything used in a project and the project file together in one folder or what have you. Should you want to move it, then move EVERYTHING in said folder and point MS to it.

I'm getting a bit lost with the acronyms and I may be using different ones such as MS (Movie Studio). I don't know what MMS or MVP is, so I just ignore and guess at it. It is an obvious foregone conclusion that I am not a smartphone user and am not at all familiar with "texting" language, which is all acronyms. Its enough just trying to understand modern English at times.

@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 that this is NOT the case. When you record your narration, it is saved to a wave file on your hard drive. I showed you this and how to set the path to where your narration will be saved. The program also puts it (just a pointer to the actual file) on the timeline, just like a photo or video. If you delete the corresponding wave file from your hard drive, your narration in the project will be gone. You have to backup your narration files as well. Again, your narration is not something that is somehow saved in the project - it is an external file, just like a photo or video file.

John CB

@Eric-Elliott

You may find it worthwhile creating a backup of the project - File, Backup copy, Copy project and media into folder this will as its names suggest let create a folder and places copies of the project and all media used into the folder.

HTH

John EB

Yay! Good idea on creating a backup of my projects....actually, very good idea!

I think what I will do is create two separate main folders with sub-folders for each project. One main folder will be Backup. Then I will put everything for each project in the appropriately named folder along with the project itself.

@Eric-Elliott Don't make another folder & copy your media into a separate folder, you're going to start getting into difficulties doing that.

Do as @johnebaker suggests use Magix Movie Studio (that's what MMS stands for). you will be given the option to create a new folder, in this video I put the backup in the same folder as the orig media but you put it wherever you want.