Recent Posts

Topic: Adding Music to Your Video / Music rights and royalties?

The answer to your question is yes you can get in trouble for using an artist’s music in a video scrapbook without official permission from them. If you plan to post your videos on YouTube or on your blog then you must have permission to use the music.

There is a great discussion on the legality of using copyrighted music in your video scrapbooks here

YouTube will actually remove your audio from your video if their software detects a song that they know is being used without permission. So the question is what CAN you do?

One answer is to find some music online that will give you permission to use it as long as you give them credit. I see that is what you did with your first video scrapbook

Another answer is to use Cinescore which is a program that comes with the purchase of Sony Vegas Movie Studio. This program creates custom audio tracks that are royalty free from the start. We will have more information about Cinescore and how to use it in the future in the video tutorials.

Topic: Adding Music to Your Video / Music rights and royalties?

I have a question about music… For our own personal use, I am assuming that we can use any music we want for our scrapbook. But what if we want to post it on YouTube, or our blogs? Will we be charged royalties or get in trouble for using an artist’s music in our scrapbook without official permission from them?

Topic: Installing Sony Vegas Movie Studio / Download Themes-Again

I could try it in Firefox. I would have to try the download again to give you the transfer rate. I do know it was at least 1.5 hours into downloading. I tried it twice and I think I tried clicking on “open” and then the next time “save”. Maybe I just need to update ie. I will try those things and see if it works.

Topic: Installing Sony Vegas Movie Studio / Download Themes-Again

I’m sure it’s very frustrating. We haven’t encountered this issue, so let me ask a few more questions.

Is it possible to try the download in Firefox? We’ve tested the download in all the browsers, including Internet Explorer, but it’s entirely possible that it has something to do with your particular version of IE.

When you click the Download Kit button and you get prompted to download the file, are you clicking ‘Open’ or ‘Save’?

How long is it taking to get to the 85% stage, before it give an error? As it’s downloading, does it tell you the transfer rate in the progress dialog box? (eg. Transfer rate: 250 KB/Sec)

Is there anything else unusual that you have noticed? Have you ever encountered this on other websites while downloading large files?

Topic: Installing Sony Vegas Movie Studio / Download Themes-Again

Internet explorer. I have tried Miracle of like and Spring Fling

Topic: Installing Sony Vegas Movie Studio / Download Themes-Again

Which theme kit are you downloading? Also, what browser are you using to download the file?

Topic: Installing Sony Vegas Movie Studio / Download Themes-Again

When I try to download, it gets about 85% done, then quits saying it can not longer proceed or it is corrupt or something to that affect. Any ideas on how to fix that? I know I have plenty of room on my hard drive.

Topic: Editing with a Theme Kit / Download themes

It can take that long. The main reason why is that these kits are very large, a few are just over a half a gigabyte of information. They are large because high quality motion video graphics make for large files. We give you high quality files because they are intended to look as good as possible when you make DVDs and show them on giant screen televisions.

Topic: Editing with a Theme Kit / Download themes

Is it normal to take over 3 hours to download a theme kit? My computer isn’t that slow with downloading other things.

Topic: Adding Photos to Your Video / Transitions

In Vegas movie studio you can add a transition to more than one clip at a time. What you will want to do is select all the video clips you want to add transitions to, this can be done by shift clicking the first and last clip in a track. Then drag the transition you want from the transition tab and drop it on one of the points between two of the selected clips. The transition will be added to all the transition points where you have clips selected.

This will be the same transition on all selected clips. As for a “shuffle” feature, Vegas Movie Studio doesn’t have one, and I think I know why. This program was designed to give you maximum flexibility in editing your videos. You won’t find “edit it for me” type buttons or abilities because they assume going in that the reason you are using this program is because you want to have control and make it look exactly how you want it to look.

As an editor I personally would suggest that you be very judicious with your use of animated wipes and transitions. They are fun to use the first time but after watching a video a few times they can start to get old fast. To me editing is about telling stories, your photos and your video are like the words and the embellishment kits and the transitions are the punctuation. No one wants to read a book that ends every sentence with an exclamation mark! So be sure to use transitions and effects carefully to augment the story you are telling with your video.

Topic: Adding Photos to Your Video / Transitions

Is there a way to ad different transitions to a whole bunch of clips or pictures at once? I would like a variety of them and was wondering if there is a fast way of doing a lot at once, instead of one picture at a time. Does it have a “shuffle” feature or something like it?

Topic: Authoring a DVD / can you give a "Play All" option?

DVD Architect Studio has a very slick way of add a “play all” button to your menu. What you do is add a “Play List,” which displays just like all of your other buttons on the menu page. For exact instructions on how to add a Play List click on the “Show Me How” button just above the video display inside DVD Architect Studio. From the show me how menu click on “How to create a play list.” From this point just follow the instructions on the screen.

After you crate the button just change the name from Play List to Play All and you are good to go. You can double click the new button in the display window to edit the play list. All of the videos will be listed in a box just under the display window. If you want to change the order you can just drag and drop the titles until they are set in the order you want them to display.

Topic: Authoring a DVD / can you give a "Play All" option?

Here I am again. I have created several fun movies and want to put them all on the same DVD. I know how to create many buttons to play them individually from the menu but is there a quick way to give the viewer of the DVD the opportunity to watch all of the movies in sequence like a “play all” option? Thanks

Topic: Adding Photos to Your Video / transitions between pictures

In the video “Adding Photos to Your Video,” the first thing I show is how to change the preferences. This is where you will want to go to apply a transition between all the pictures you add to the time line. Select Options from the file menu then select Preferences and choose the Editing tab, just like I show. Then in this window you will want to put a check mark in the box labeled “Automatically overlap multiple selected media when added.” After you check that box look at the next line below, you will have a choice to choose how long you want that transition to be, the default is one second, which is a pretty good length. Once you do those things, click Apply and then OK. When you are back in your project select all of the photos in the project media bin that you want to add and drag them into the timeline in a group. They will each come in at the default length of 5 seconds unless you change it and now they will all have a 1 second transition between them and the next clip.

Click on the third thumbnail down under the Quick Glance tab on this page: http://flixify.com/videos/dv_fast_track/adding-…
for a screen shot and brief explanation for automatically adding dissolves.

Now if you want to remove one picture and move the rest back to cover the space, you will need to go to the Options menu and select “Auto Ripple,” you also have the option of hitting control “L.” When you choose either option a button in the middle of the top button bar will highlight, I suggest you do control “L” a few times until you can become familiar with which button it is as it turns it self on and off. Once you know where the button is you don’t need to go to the Options menu or use control “L” you can just click the button when you need it. I am telling you all this because this is a powerful little button so be careful and use it wisely.

Once you have that button highlighted, either by selecting the option, or control “L”, or simply clicking the button, then you are ready to remove the photo that you don’t want any more. If you select the photo by clicking on it in the time line and hit the delete key on your keyboard, the unwanted photo will go away and the other photos will automatically move back to take it’s place. After you finish be sure to click the Auto Ripple button again to turn it off. If you go back to editing and forget to turn it off then things will act very screwy in your timeline. When you grab something and move it other things will move without explanation. This is the power of the Auto Ripple button. It is great when you want everything to move one direction or the other but it can also really confuse things if not used carefully.

Topic: Outputting a Movie / length of a movie

First, the standard home burned DVD holds 4.7 Gigabytes. There are duel layer DVDs that do double that and Blue-ray discs that hold 50GB but these are very new and not as popular for home users as the standard DVD-R or DVD+R media. So to your second question I would say, yes it depends on the media sort of. All standard DVDs, which are the ones you are probably using, hold the same amount of stuff.

Now to your first question, A good rule of thumb is not to exceed 2 hours of video on a single DVD. You can probably get up to 4 hours on a DVD but it would have to be very compressed and might show a reduction in the quality of the video, especially in scenes with lots of action and movement.

Topic: Adding Photos to Your Video / transitions between pictures

If I select a group of pictures and want to put them in the movie is there an easy way to add a transition effect between all the pictures without doing it for each individual one? Along the same lines can I move all the pictures over if I delete one and there is a blank space?

Topic: Authoring a DVD / what kind of dvd?

This is a great question, and one that causes a lot of confusion. Think of DVD+R and DVD-R (pronounced DVD “plus” R and DVD “minus” R) as competing technologies, like VHS vs. Betamax, but not nearly as dramatic.

DVD-R was developed in 1997, whereas DVD+R was developed in 2002. In a nutshell, that means there are more DVD players that are compatible with DVD-R, but DVD+R has some features that DVD-R missed out on.

In general, you should be just fine with either kind of DVD. Given that it’s 2009, most people have DVD players that can play both types of DVDs just fine. If you have a REALLY old DVD player, you’ll be safest with DVD-R.

For no reason at all, I tend to by DVD+R exclusively. Maybe it’s my need to have the latest and greatest (although 7+ year old technology is hardly the latest and greatest!!)

Topic: Authoring a DVD / what kind of dvd?

I have both DVD +r and DVD -r types of discs. How do I know which one to use? Do I just have to test it out in my DVD player?

Topic: Outputting a Movie / length of a movie

What is the ideal length of a DVD? Does it depend on the media I will use to burn it? I don’t want to spend hours editing if it is going to be too long. Thanks. This stuff is great!

Topic: Adding Effects to Your Video / Playing video in reverse

You can select your clip in the timeline, and right click on it. From the drop down menu that appears you will see a choice to Reverse the clip. Choose that and then watch your clip, it will play backward.

Topic: Adding Titles to Your Video / The tile looks more fuzzy for some reason

Red is a tough color for television to reproduce well. When you choose a really rich color of red it tends to bleed and look fuzzy. To fix it just change the color to a little bit lighter or less saturated color of red.

Topic: Adding Titles to Your Video / Can I use fonts from my computer?

Yes, if the fonts are installed on your computer then they will be available to use in the title tool.

Topic: Adding Titles to Your Video / What if I want my titles to crawl across the bottom or scroll like movie credits?

There are a number of option for titles. Inside the Media Generator tab you will find a list on the left side with the words Credit Roll. Choose the type of roll you would like. You can add them to the timeline and then type your credits or crawling information. Then you can use the effect controls to adjust the moving titles.

Topic: Adding Photos to Your Video / Is there a limit to the number of photos I use?

If you choose to have no background then you can resize and place 4 photos on the screen at one time. This is limited because Sony Vegas Movie Studio has 4 layers to work with in the time line. If you use a different program like Photoshop to composite your photos then you can put as many as you like on the screen at a time. At some point they get pretty small but as long as they are all on one layer you will still have your other three layers to add a background, an embellishment or edger and a title.

Topic: Adding Photos to Your Video / Popping off a flash between pictures

This is a fine place for your question. What you will want to do is click on the transitions tab and you will find in the list on the left side the word “flash.” This brings up 3 types of flashes. Choose one and drag it down between two clips that are overlapping by only 3 or 4 frames. When you play it back the whole screen fills with white quickly and then goes away creating the effect of a flash bulb flashing. You can also sync up a camera clicking sound effect to make it really look and feel like a photo is being taken. Here is a link to a website that has a free camera click sound effect. http://www.pachd.com/sounds.html Right click on the “Camera Click” link and choose Save Target As from the drop down menu. Choose a place to put it, I prefer to put it with the video files from the video I am editing. Then import the sound just like you do video or photos and place it in the timeline just below the flash effect in one of the empty audio tracks.

Topic: Adding Photos to Your Video / Zooming in on images without impacting quality

If you watch the video “Editing with a Theme Kit,” at the seven minute mark I demonstrate how to click on the Event Pan/Crop symbol, by doing that you bring up a window where you can grab the corner of the sizing box and drag to make your photo smaller or bigger. So if you are working with a large photo, you can grab that corner and make the box smaller which will essentially make that photo get bigger. Then you can move that box around in the window which will move the photo around on the screen, allowing you to choose just exactly the area you want people to see. You can also turn it on an angle and move it about just like I demonstrate in that segment using a piece of video. As for quality, don’t zoom in too far or it will get pixilated, meaning it will look like a cell phone photo. You can usually zoom in about 20% without the image starting to look too bad.

Topic: Adding Photos to Your Video / Adjusting the length of photos

Yes, what you need to do is go to the top bar and click on Options and choose Preferences from the drop down menu. Then choose the Editing tab and choose the default length for a still frame. Once you do that, when you go to your bin and drag a photo into the timeline, it will come in as the new length you have chosen. The default length is 5 seconds. You can always change the length of the photo in the timeline by grabing the edge with the cursor and then dragging it out to be longer.

Topic: Editing Your Video / What is a jump cut?

You don’t want to do a jump cut, you want to avoid doing jump cuts. A jump cut is when you change from one clip of video to another clip of video but the change in the two clips is not so significant that there is a big difference on the screen. For instance you can be cutting up some dialogue and you cut out a few umms or ahhs but then the shot seems to pop to the next shot and the head seems to jerk unnaturally. The best way to avoid jump cuts is to either dissolve or use a cutaway. A cutaway is a shot that you put over the top of the underlying video in the time line that covers over any jump cuts. Usually this shot is of something that the person in the video is talking about, or even a screen with text on it.

Topic: Editing Your Video / How do I make smoother cuts?

It makes perfect sense and you have some options, a dissolve is generally preferred but it isn’t always the best way. You can try using wipes or other transitions from the Transitions tab. Be careful not to use too many of these in any one single video, it can get corny looking pretty quickly. You can also use the transition pieces from your Theme Kits to cover over the video transitions.

Topic: Editing Your Video / Wipe between clips on timeline

You have to have the two clips overlapping just a bit in order to have any sort of transition or wipe. Take one clip and move it so that it is overlapping the other by at least a few frames, and then apply the wipe. The more the overlap the slower the wipe or transition will be.