@Not-Applicable

Hi,

Excellent questions.

but sad that it seems 2023 got rid of some good functionality from plat 14, unless I just haven't found it yet, so hoping you can help.

Magix Movie Studio is a completely different program, so they got rid of nothing, but added (actually already had) a lot more.

Further to what Ray mentioned, right-click on everything and look at the menus. There are always surprises.

A. If you mean that you want a single frame of a video clip to be an image of any duration on the timeline, then simply select the clip, right-click, "Insert still image at playback marker." There is also the same for a range. That still image is treated like a photo and you can increase/decrease its duration.

B. You lost me totally. You want to export individually jpg's to jpg's? Doesn't make sense; you already have them. If you mean that you want to export from frame x to frame y, then set a range and in the export options, select "Export selected range only." Perhaps you can explain better. Look at the options under File, Batch Conversion. You may see what you want. MS exports Movies in batch mode. Movies or multiple timelines will be new to you. Vegas doesn't have multiple timelines.

C. Magix has optimized the preset export options. I don't touch them. There have been many long threads in the forum about tweaking the settings - all a waste of time in my opinion, for little to no benefit. Better to spend time actually improving the video/story/audio, etc.

D. Bottom of the timeline, right hand side, popdown - many options. You can zoom to frame level. Frame by frame on the timeline - use the left and right arrows or the jog wheel just below the preview monitor (if you turned it on).

E. Ray told you what to do. For any already on the timeline, Ctrl+H will put V&A on separate tracks, grouped. The audio is grouped with the video for obvious reasons. You can ungroup them and do whatever you want. You can also keep the grouping and make L and J cuts to the audio by holding down Alt and dragging the end of the audio.

See my tutorials on Getting Started in MEP part 3, Basic Editing parts 1 and 2, and

Everything Audio Parts 1 and 2. Here is part 1:

John CB

Hi John & Cube,

Thanks. Okay, some of that helps. A few follow up questions, if you please:

1. For shortcuts - what are the equivalent in this package? (Might be in the pdf, haven't finished it yet, and seems difficult to easily find these equivalents).

Movie Studio Platinum 14 was this:

- Selecting clip, ctrl key + drag left or right expanded or shrunk clip (would repeat if expanded too far, otherwise would 'shorten'/'prune' the clip).
- Selecting clip, shift key + drag left or right - would dynamically speed up/slow down clip length
- "U" would ungroup the audio & video clip. "G" would group them back together, and/or any other clips you currently had selected. CTRL+H definitely helped, thanks. Keyboard shortcuts are good.
- Can't seem to find any "track motion object" - so how would I 'place' an object (say in the upper right hand corner, or place/resize it anywhere I wanted in the clip so I could have multiple clips in different locations?)
- "S" would slice the current clip whereever the mouse was.
- There would be an event/pan/crop icon on the clip I could click on - can't seem to find that. How do I open that window to do that?
- Not sure if this is a bug - but "Chaining" FX doesn't quite seem to work. Say I choose a motion blur (works 1st time), then mural (works). If I 'uncheck' mural - it seems to undo 'all' fx (even though motion blur still checked) - and if I uncheck/recheck motion blur - nothing happens to the clip (as if there is no effect). Is that a bug, or do I have to do something to get it to update/apply after checkmarking? It seems only the "last" effect added will work - all the others seem to stop working.
- Not quite sure how to apply curves to the fx (I'm guessing there is probably some section I may need to read up on that?) It used to be in the event/pan/crop section.

2. For JPG exports - I wanted to export "one" jpg image from each movie clip in batch.
a) Whether I do it as a BMP/JPG/PNG - all the 'exported' clips seem to be lossy & super blocky. Usually in graphics programs this would be a quality setting. Any idea how to get rid of the blocky chunks? (Plat 14 works fine, although you copy or save a clip).

b) Also - how do I chose the frame I want to batch export? (So say I choose 30 clips, how would I specify to export frame #32 as say a JPG from all 30 clips?)

Thanks! & vid, will take a look @ shortly. thanks.

@Not-Applicable

Hi.

I will help where I can but I don't personally use keyboard shortcuts.

May I first say though if you had done as John suggested you and right clicked everything in sight or used the drop-down menus along the programs top bar you probably would have found most of your answers quicker than typing out your questions here.

The program is quite versatile but I'm not sure about any suggestions for question 2 for either part.

I'm not noticing any blockiness to any still image export in any format. They look the same quality to me as the video output would. Could you post an example or upload one to google drive with a link for us to examine?

from a video on the timeline

From a jpeg on the timeline..The picture noise is simply the image was taken at ISO 64000 as flash use was forbidden.

You can find all the keyboard shortcuts by doing the following and even make your own so they are the same as the ones you used in your old program.

There are keyboard shortcuts for zoom features as well and again you could make your own.

As for part 2b I haven't a clue as to whether that could be done or not but again I have never had the need to know personally.

Ray.

@CubeAce

May I first say though if you had done as John suggested you and right clicked everything in sight or used the drop-down menus along the programs top bar you probably would have found most of your answers quicker than typing out your questions here.

Ray, a bit harsh. Magix documentation is appalling and randomly clicking on things is the worst way to find your way around what is a very complex program if you do not know what you are doing. And good on @Not-Applicable for asking, as it appears that he too has been sucked in by the "subtle" change from Vegas/Sony MS to Magix MS.

@AAProds

Possibly Al, in which case I apologise, but I don't use and have never used keyboard shortcuts and found those all those links, worked out what was possible, print screened them and posted the results here within a few minutes doing as @browj2 suggested. My guess would be typing this reply out is going to take me longer.

On the whole, starting from scratch with no knowledge of either Vegas or Magix editors I can honestly say my personal experience is that it is far quicker to find one's way around and use the Magix programs from scratch for most westerners over the Vegas alternatives whereas if one has come from Vegas or another video editor and landed in the Magix camp of products then it would be a different matter, as Vegas was the first really usable video editor of merit that most other developers copied and became 'industry standard' for want of a better term.

If you came late to video editing as I did from photography, even more didn't make sense to me in most editing packages but Magix made it easier to assimilate than trying different video editors. It was a more logical learning experience for me being used to audio production and photo editing programs where you start with your backing track at the top and work your way down or add your image to the top layer and add filters after etc. It follows how most western people read, unlike Chinese or Japanese. Thankfully photo editing packages in general did not follow the Japanese SilkyPix photo editing pattern which was one of the earliest developed for digital cameras as that is worse but demonstrates my point that initial workflow patterns come from the culture they develop from and how they read and write.

So sorry if I do seem to be harsh or rude but JohnEB gave good, solid advice to which I am happy remind @Not-Applicable

Ray.

@Not-Applicable

Hi,

Far too much. I suggest that you watch the tutorials on the list in this message except Getting Started Part 1 and read the Quick Start chapter in the manual. @AAProds I disagree with your comment and suggest that you review the Quick Start chapter. It's quite good.

For View/Animation - Size/Position/Rotation, start with this tutorial:

and then watch the other 2 parts. I'm presently working on Part 4, keyframing, but if you watch these next two tutorials, you'll see motion tracking, multiple movies and keyframing:

I have no problem exporting an image from a video clip - no blockiness. What I see on the screen in the program is what I get. By default, export settings use the Project Settings. If you are getting blockiness, then check your Project and Export settings. My project shown below is 1920x1080 as is the exported image. The unlying video is actually 4K. Do you see any blockiness at full screen on a FullHD monitor without zooming in? I don't. Of course, I don't know what Magix uses in this forum - whether or not it reduces the resolution upon uploading.

As for your point 2 - no, MMS does not export to jpg's in batch. No, you cannot have the program select the X'th frame of each video clip on the timeline and have it exported in batch. These are not something that a typical (99.99%) user would ever need. What would that be for?

For shortcuts, go to File, Settings, Keyboard Shortcut, and open the List, review.

For splitting an object, the shortcut is T for trim, Z to remove the head, U the tail. See my tutorial on Basic Editing part 2.

Selecting clip, ctrl key + drag left or right expanded or shrunk clip (would repeat if expanded too far, otherwise would 'shorten'/'prune' the clip).

There is also Split and Trim mode (not in my tutorials). See the image below.

No Ctrl key needed, just drag left or right end of a clip. See my tutorial - Basic Editing part 1.

Selecting clip, shift key + drag left or right - would dynamically speed up/slow down clip length

Switch to Stretch mode (shortcut 0) and drag the end of the object. This is linked to the Speed effect.

Effects are under the Effects tab.

The list of effects applied is in the keyframe Window below the Effects window.

Effects are under the Effects tab. Select an object, apply the effect.

Not sure if this is a bug - but "Chaining" FX doesn't quite seem to work. Say I choose a motion blur (works 1st time), then mural (works). If I 'uncheck' mural - it seems to undo 'all' fx (even though motion blur still checked) - and if I uncheck/recheck motion blur - nothing happens to the clip (as if there is no effect). Is that a bug, or do I have to do something to get it to update/apply after checkmarking? It seems only the "last" effect added will work - all the others seem to stop working.

Mural? I have no idea what you are talking about. Please show screen shots.

John CB

@CubeAce

May I first say though if you had done as John suggested you and right clicked everything in sight or used the drop-down menus along the programs top bar you probably would have found most of your answers quicker than typing out your questions here.

Ray, a bit harsh. Magix documentation is appalling and randomly clicking on things is the worst way to find your way around what is a very complex program if you do not know what you are doing. And good on @Not-Applicable for asking, as it appears that he too has been sucked in by the "subtle" change from Vegas/Sony MS to Magix MS.

Hi AAProds,

Thanks, appreciate the comments, and yes, that is it :)

(a) I normally ignore the popups that appear when starting the software (and they had a bug such that I didn't even see them for a while). But then saw the "50% special" - and one thing that caught my eye was the rendering. I did try out the rendering - and it actually seemed to work quite well - so that was a decision to purchase it - but I didn't "feel" I had time to test out everything else because the "special" (which appears to have been extended) "expired" that day.

I actually did think it was the same thing - except more features/bonuses (i.e., like proper rendering which I thought plat 14 should have had). I didn't expect pretty much "eveything" to appear to be totally different. Yes, some things look a bit easier, but a lot looks less user friendly.

(b) The documentation yes, just seems to do a brief overview - and doing google searches makes it really difficult to yield anything useful. (Many times it is for different products, many times people in the youtube vidoes talk about their entire life for 10-15 minutes before offering a 10 second solution that doesn't actually work, or 'kind' of works, or does something else, etc). I will look @ the videos - just reading is a lot faster so doing that first.

Addressing the other comments (from the other people, cubeace/john/etc)

1. I do right click things, its many times difficult to find what you are looking for. Took a while to find the frame zoom, but now can't seem to figure out how to switch it back which is a bit frustrating.
b) Do you know somewhere where the equivalent keyboard shortcuts are listed? The ctrl+h was very useful.
c) I figure if I described "what" I was trying to do - someone would have the keyboard shortcuts - so if someone does know, please let me know, thanks. Working through that keyboard list - started doing that - but the terminology describing some of the actions I would use is not necessarily the same - so not that helpful, although I may spend some more time on it later trying to figure it out.

2. Actually, yes - magix does export jpgs in batch. More specifically - exports a single frame per video. I used it. However, couldn't figure out how to choose what frame and/or the quality. You go "file->batch conversion->multiple movies", select the movies, then specify the format settings as either bmp/jpg/etc. However, it doesn't seem to have any quality settings, and/or frame settings which is what I am looking for.

3. For the frame exports - you zoom the image in, and you'll notice artifacts, and/or "blockiness". (But basically you take the image into another editor and you'll notice it. Here is an example of one such image. It should be "smooth" with the exported image, instead it is "blocky/chunky" which indicates excessive compression in the export.

4. Actually, yes, did use Sony Vegas, was quite good. I think they sold/were bought out by the magix company. Then at the time upgraded to platinum (lost some features of vegas, but had the 'track motion' which was something I needed at the time, so got that). So yes - have come from an extensive video (& photography) background - and the vegas/platinum was fairly easy to figure out. This... one seems like the difference between a mac and a PC, PC tend to be for powerusers, whereas macs are simple/easy to use out the box... so sometimes figure out the advanced functionality can be a bit frustrating if you don't know where to look.(And sometimes it just doesn't have it period, hence the reason I was asking).

5. For the FX - I guess it is just a 'bonus' FX I guess i received with the suite package. It doesn't have to be mural (might be newblue) - but any effect. If I stack effects - they don't work. Maybe I'll need to contact techsupport to see what is going on (they make it really difficult to find their support page, but will send them a message) if you arne't sure. But basically - let's say I stack 2 effects on the video. If I 'uncheck' ANY of them - all of the sudden can't get it back on (just shows the regular image with no effect).

Thanks.

@Not-Applicable

Hi,

Took a while to find the frame zoom, but now can't seem to figure out how to switch it back which is a bit frustrating.

and the - + at the bottom right.

b) Do you know somewhere where the equivalent keyboard shortcuts are listed? 

I showed you where and what. Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+U

Actually, yes - magix does export jpgs in batch. More specifically - exports a single frame per video.

Please tell me how you did this.

However, it doesn't seem to have any quality settings, and/or frame settings which is what I am looking for.

Obviously, if you zoom in on an image you're going to get pixelation/blockiness. In the image above, the Resolution is 1920x1080. If the video is also 1920x1080, you can't get a better resolution.

FX - We don't all have all FX so you have to tell us which ones. I don't have those. But, I have no problem turning off and on the effects that I show in the first image and seeing the effect. Show always full screen shots. Is the Blue lighting bolt at the bottom right of the Preview Monitor on?

John CB

@Not-Applicable

Hi.

Holding Ctrl while spinning the mouse wheel will zoom in or out of the cursor position.

Batch exporting does not apply to individual frames or still image file exports.

There are no quality setting options for still image exports. A busy scene in jpg at 4K exports at around 1.8MBs

As an bitmap the same image would be around 24 MBs and as a png file, around 34MBs. That is the only way to get a higher quality export.

Stacked effects should hold. I have stacked as many as five effects to one clip unless a bug has entered MS 2023 as I'm on the 2022 version. I know some things are not sticking in MS 2023 as it has been reported with other effects. Namely from ProDad Mercalli with Picture Enhanzer. Also in VP14 (same generation as MS 2023) other parts of the program are not being recorded that I have reported to Magix but have had no response from.

Some things in the manuals are incorrect and have not been updated or have been updated and appear not to work as published.

Magix has been bought out by a German company that acts similar to a hedge fund around three years back, put one of their managers in and ever since the programs have been streamlined so there is less overlap in the ability levels as you go along the upgrade path. Vegas Move Studio and Movie Edit Pro were so similar in ability about six years back at base level I'm surprised Magix hadn't merged the two sooner. Now there are perceptible differences between each program as some abilities have slowly but steadily been removed from the lower tiers.

Ray.