Corel VideoStudio Pro - X4 Instruction Manual

USER GUIDE

Contents

Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Introducing Corel VideoStudio Pro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

What’s new in Corel VideoStudio Pro X4? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

System requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Minimum system requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Recommended system specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Supported input/output devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Hardware acceleration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

To change hardware acceleration settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Installing and uninstalling the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Starting and quitting the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Accessing the Corel Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

To access the Corel Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Learning how to use the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Preparing for video capture and editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Registering Corel products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Updating the application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Corel Support Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

About Corel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Corel VideoStudio Pro Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Step Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Contents i

Preview Window and Navigation Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Toolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Project Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Storyboard View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Timeline View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Options Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Saving Titles to the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Thumbnail Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Starting a new movie project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Using Instant Project templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Setting your preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Setting project properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Adding clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Copying and pasting clip attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Previewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Setting a preview range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Undoing and redoing actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Showing and hiding grid lines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Saving projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Saving projects by using Smart Package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

The Capture Step Options Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Capturing Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Split by scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Digital Video (DV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Controlling the DV camcorder with the Navigation Panel . . . . 41

High Definition Video (HDV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

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Digital TV or DVB-T video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Analog video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

TV footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

DV Quick Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Importing from digital media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Importing from mobile devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Creating stop motion animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Working with clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Adding video clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Adding photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Speed and Time-lapse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Reversing video playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Replacing media clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Trimming a clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Split by Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Multi-trimming your video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Saving trimmed clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

The Edit Step Options Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Assets and Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Transitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Adding transitions to My Favorites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Saving your titles to My Favorites in the Library . . . . . . . . . . . 74

The Title Safe Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Editing titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Contents iii

Modifying text attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Applying animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Applying title effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Adding Color Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Adding Objects or Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Adding Flash animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Customizing objects, frames and animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Key frame settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Taking snapshots in the Edit Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Ripple Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Editing with Smart Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Converting multiple files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Enhancing clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Adjusting color and brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Adjusting white balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Adjusting tones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Applying pan and zoom effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Resizing and distorting clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Adding cues and chapters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Working with Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Adding clips to the Overlay Track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Adding Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Working with Overlay clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Trimming Overlay clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Repositioning the current Overlay clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Resizing an Overlay clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

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Distorting an Overlay clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Applying motion to an Overlay clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Enhancing Overlay clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Chroma keying an Overlay clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Adding a mask frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Painting images and animations using Painting Creator . . . . . . . 107

Painting Creator interface basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Painting Creator control buttons and sliders. . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Painting Creator modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Working with Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Adding audio files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Adding voice-over narration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Adding background music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Importing music from an audio CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Auto Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Using the Clip Volume Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Trimming and cutting audio clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Stretching audio duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Fade-in/out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Audio view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Using the Surround Sound Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Adjusting stereo channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Mixing Surround Sound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Duplicating an audio channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Applying audio filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

The Share Step Options Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Create video file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Create sound file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Contents v

Create disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Assembling files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Adding and Editing chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

To create or edit chapters linked to a video clip . . . . . . . . . . 134

Creating selection menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Previewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Burning your project onto a disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Export to mobile device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Exporting your movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Project Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Record to a DV camcorder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Record to an HDV camcorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Upload to Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Creating movie templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Appendix A: Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Menu command shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Step Panel shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Navigation Panel shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Timeline shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Multi-trim Video shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Layout settings shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Appendix B: DV-to-DVD Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Scan for scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Apply a template and burn to DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

vi Corel VideoStudio Pro User Guide

Welcome

Thank you for purchasing Corel® VideoStudio® Pro, the video-editing software that lets you produce professional-looking videos, regardless of your skill level. Corel VideoStudio Pro provides a complete set of tools for capturing, importing, and editing video and other media, and for sharing your final production on a DVD or Blu-ray Disc™, mobile devices, or the Web.

The availability of features depends on the version of the software you have.

This section contains the following topics:

• Introducing Corel VideoStudio Pro

• What’s new in Corel VideoStudio Pro X4?

•System requirements

• Installing and uninstalling the application

• Starting and quitting the application

• Accessing the Corel® Guide

•Learning how to use the application

• Preparing for video capture and editing

• Registering Corel products

• Updating the application

•Corel

•About Corel

Support Services™

Welcome 1

Introducing Corel VideoStudio Pro

Corel VideoStudio Pro guides you step-by-step through the process of capturing, editing, and sharing videos. The application also offers more than a hundred transitions, professional titling capabilities, and simple tools for creating soundtracks.

To produce a video, you must capture or import footage from a camcorder or other video source. You can then trim the captured videos, arrange their order, apply transitions, and add overlays, animated titles, voice-over narration, and background music. These elements are organized on separate tracks in Timeline View and appear as chronologically arranged thumbnails in Storyboard View.

Components of a project as displayed in Timeline View

Video projects are saved as Corel VideoStudio Pro project files (*.vsp), which contain information on the location of the clips, on the Library, and on how the movie has been put together. After you finish your movie production, you can burn it to a DVD or Blu-ray Disc, or export the movie back to your camcorder. You can also output your movie as a video file for playback on a computer, or export your movie to mobile devices or the Web.

2 Corel VideoStudio Pro User Guide

What’s new in Corel VideoStudio Pro X4?

Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 provides you with advanced features that support the latest in video editing technologies, making it possible to create home movies with ease.

• Customizable interface — The fully-customizable workspace lets you change the size and position of each panel to your desired working environment, giving you more convenience and flexibility while editing your videos. This feature optimizes your editing workflow, especially on today’s large displays or dual-monitor setups.

For more information, see “Workspace” on page 14.

• Stop motion animation — You can now create stop motion animations by using photos from DSLRs and digital still cameras, or captured frames from videos.

For more information, see “Creating stop motion animations” on page 48.

• Enhanced Library Panel — Organize your media clips by using the new Navigation Panel, custom folders and new media filters.

For more information, see “Library” on page 25.

• WinZip® Smart Package integration — You can now save your video projects using Smart Package as zipped files with WinZip’s technology. This is a great way to backup your videofiles or prepare them for uploading to an online storage site.

For more information, see “Saving projects” on page 35.

• Project template sharing — Export your projects as Instant Project templates and use them to create a consistent style across your video projects.

For more information, see “Using Instant Project templates” on page 30.

Welcome 3

• Time-lapse and Strobe Effects — Achieve Time-lapse and Strobe effects on your videos and photos with just a few tweaks on frame settings.

For more information, see “Speed and Time-lapse” on page 53.

System requirements

For optimal performance of Corel VideoStudio Pro, make sure that your system meets the recommended specifications.

Minimum system requirements

•Intel® Core™ Duo 1.83-GHz processor, or AMD® Dual Core 2.0-GHz or faster processor

• Microsoft Windows

7 (32-bit or 64-bit edition), Windows Vista SP2 (32-bit or 64-bit editions), or Windows® XP SP3 operating system software

• 1 GB of RAM

• Minimum display resolution: 1024 × 768

•Windows

-compatible sound card

• Windows-compatible DVD-ROM (for program installation)

• Windows-compatible DVD Burner (for DVD output)

Recommended system specifications

•Intel® Core™2 Duo 2.4-GHz processor, or AMD® Dual Core 2.4-GHz or faster processor

• Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit edition), Windows Vista SP2 (32-bit or 64-bit editions), or Windows XP SP3 operating system software

• 2 GB RAM (4 GB or higher recommended)

• 512 MB or more of VRAM

4 Corel VideoStudio Pro User Guide

• Minimum display resolution: 1024 × 768

• Windows-compatible sound card

• Windows-compatible Blu-ray Disc™ Burner (for Blu-ray Disc and DVD output)

• Hard drive: SATA 7200 RPM for PCs, SATA 5400 RPM for Laptops

Supported input/output devices

• 1394 FireWire® cards for use with DV, D8, or HDV™ camcorders

• USB Video Class (UVC) DV

• Support for OHCI Compliant IEEE-1394

• Analog capture cards for analog camcorders (VFW and WDM support for Windows XP and Broadcast Driver Architecture support for Windows Vista and Windows 7)

• Analog and digital TV capture device (Broadcast Driver Architecture support)

• Camcorders that record to internal memory, memory card, DVD disc or hard drive

• USB capture devices, PC cameras, webcams

• Windows-compatible Blu-ray Disc, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVDRAM and CD-R/RW drive

• iPhone Pocket PC, Smartphone, and Nokia

, iPad®, iPod Classic® with video, iPod touch®, Sony® PSP®,

mobile phones

Welcome 5

Hardware acceleration

Depending on your hardware specifications, Corel VideoStudio Pro lets you optimize the performance of your system through hardware acceleration.

Hardware decoder and encoder acceleration is supported only by Windows Vista and later versions of Windows operating system software and requires at least 512 MB of VRAM.

To change hardware acceleration settings

1 Select Settings > Preferences [F6] to open the Preferences dialog

box.

2 Click the Performance tab and select the following options under

Editing Process and File Creation:

• Use Hardware Decoder acceleration — Enhances editing performance, and improves clip and project playback, by using video graphics acceleration technologies with your available hardware.

Note: For optimum performance, VGA cards must support DXVA2 VLD mode with Vertex and Pixel Shader 2.0 or later.

• Use Hardware Encoder acceleration — Improves the rendering time required for producing your movies.

The program automatically detects the hardware acceleration capabilities of your system. If the feature is not supported, this option will be grayed out.

Installing and uninstalling the application

The Corel VideoStudio Pro DVD has an autorun feature that is designed to start installing the application automatically.

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To install Corel VideoStudio Pro

1 Insert the Corel VideoStudio Pro DVD into your DVD-ROM drive.

2 When the Setup screen appears, follow the instructions to install

Corel VideoStudio Pro on your computer. Note: If the Setup screen does not appear after you load the DVD,

you can manually launch it by double-clicking the My Computer icon on your desktop and then double-clicking the icon for the DVD-ROM drive where the installation disc is inserted. When the DVD-ROM window appears, double-click the Setup icon.

3 In addition to Corel VideoStudio Pro, the following programs and

drivers are automatically installed:

• DirectX

• Microsoft

2007

Visual C++® 2005 Redistributable Package

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package

• SmartSound

• Adobe® Flash® Player

• QuickTime

To uninstall Corel VideoStudio Pro

1 On the Windows taskbar, click Start > Control Panel.

2 Click the Add or Remove Programs icon.

The Add or Remove Programs dialog box appears.

3 From the Currently installed programs list, choose Corel VideoStudio

Pro X4, and click Remove.

4 Follow the instructions to remove Corel VideoStudio Pro from your

computer.

Welcome 7

Starting and quitting the application

You can start Corel VideoStudio Pro from the Windows desktop or Start menu, and quit the program from the application window.

To start the application

• Double-click the Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 icon on the Windows desktop. Note: You can also start Corel VideoStudio Pro from the list of programs on the Windows Start menu.

To quit the application

• Click the Close button in the upper-right corner of the application window.

Accessing the Corel Guide

The Corel Guide provides the most up-to-date information and content for your application. You can find tips and tricks, download new styles and content for your projects, explore new ways to share your photos and videos, and access the latest updates for your application.

To access the Corel Guide

• On the upper right corner of the application window, click the Help and product information button . The Corel Guide window

appears.

The Help and product information button flashes orange when there are new messages or content available.

8 Corel VideoStudio Pro User Guide

Learning how to use the application

You can learn how to use Corel VideoStudio Pro in various ways: by searching the Help, by accessing the tips and tricks in the Corel Guide, or by exploring the Corel Web site (www.corel.com).

To use the Help

1 On the application window, click the Help and product information

button .

2 On the Learn tab of the Corel Guide, click Launch Help.

3 In the Help window, click one of the following tabs:

• Contents — lets you browse through topics in the Help

• Index — lets you use the keywords from the index to find a topic.

• Search — lets you search the full text of the Help for a particular word or phrase. If you are looking for information about a specific tool or command, you can type keywords to display a list of relevant topics.

You can also press F1 to launch the Help.

Welcome 9

Preparing for video capture and editing

Video capture and editing are tasks that require a lot of computer resources. Your computer must be properly set up to ensure successful capturing and smooth video editing. Below are some tips on how to prepare and optimize your computer for capturing and editing.

• It is recommended that you close all other applications when working with Corel VideoStudio Pro. To avoid interruptions while capturing, it is best to turn off any automatically launched software, such as a screen saver.

• If you have two hard drives in your system, it is recommended that you install Corel VideoStudio Pro to your system drive (usually C:) and store captured videos on your other drive (usually D:).

• It is recommended that you store video files on a dedicated hard drive.

• Increase the Paging File (Swap File) size to twice your amount of RAM.

Registering Corel products

Registering Corel products is important to ensure that you receive timely access to the latest product updates, as well as valuable information about product releases. Registration also gives you access to free downloads, articles, tips and tricks, and special offers.

The Corel Guide provides you with information about registering your Corel products. You can also check the Knowledgebase articles on how to register your Corel products.

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To access registration information in the Corel Guide

1 Click the Help and product information button .

2 In the Corel Guide, click the Product information and preferences

button , and choose Register now from the menu.

Updating the application

You can check for and install product updates. Updates provide important new information about your application.

To update the application

1 Click the Help and product information button .

2 In the Corel Guide, click the Product information and preferences

, and choose Check for Updates.

button

You can turn automatic program updates on or off by choosing Message preferences from the Product information and preferences menu and marking options in the dialog box.

You can find the application version information and serial number by choosing About Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 from the Product information and preferences menu.

Welcome 11

Corel Support Services

Corel Support Services can provide you with prompt and accurate information about product features, specifications, pricing, availability, services, and technical support options. For the most current information on available support and professional services for your Corel product, please visit the Corel Software Support page of your region.

About Corel

Corel is one of the world’s top software companies, with more than 100 million active users in over 75 countries. We develop software that helps people express their ideas and share their stories in more exciting, creative, and persuasive ways. Through the years, we’ve built a reputation for delivering innovative, trusted products that are easy to learn and use, helping people achieve new levels of productivity. The industry has responded with hundreds of awards for software innovation, design, and value.

Our award-winning product portfolio includes some of the world's most widely recognized and popular software brands, including CorelDRAW

Graphics Suite, Corel

Corel

PaintShop Photo® Pro, Corel® VideoStudio®, Corel® WinDVD®,

WordPerfect® Office, WinZip®, and the recently released Corel®

Corel

Painter™, Corel DESIGNER® Technical Suite,

Digital Studio™ 2010. Our global headquarters are in Ottawa, Canada, and our major offices are in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Japan.

12 Corel VideoStudio Pro User Guide

Corel VideoStudio Pro Editor

Corel VideoStudio Pro provides a hands-on workflow to produce professional-looking videos, giving you the liberty to customize all the elements in your video project.

This section introduces you to the Corel VideoStudio Pro interface and briefly explains the steps involved in creating a movie.

This section contains the following topics:

•Workspace

•Step Panel

•Menu Bar

• Preview Window and Navigation Panel

•Toolbar

• Project Timeline

•Options Panel

•Library

Corel VideoStudio Pro Editor 13

Workspace

The new workspace is designed for a better editing experience. You can now change the size and position of the elements on your screen.

Each panel acts like an independent window that can be modified according to your editing preferences, which is very useful when you are editing using large displays or dual monitors.

• 1 — Step Panel

Contains the Capture, Edit, and Share buttons, which correspond to the different steps in the video editing process.

• 2 — Menu Bar

Contains the File, Edit, Too ls , and Settings menus, which provide different sets of commands.

• 3 — Player Panel

Contains the Preview Window and Navigation Panel.

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• 4 — Library Panel

Contains the Media Library, Media Filters and Options Panel.

• 5 — Timeline Panel

Contains the Toolbar and Project Timeline.

To move a p a n e l

• Double-click the top-left corner of the Player Panel, Timeline Panel or Library Panel.

When the panel is active, you can minimize, maximize, resize each panel.

Note: You can also drag the panel outside the main window into the second display area for dual-monitor setups.

Corel VideoStudio Pro Editor 15

To dock a panel

1 Click and hold an active panel.

The docking guide appears.

2 Drag your mouse over the docking guide and choose a docking

position to snap the panel in place.

To save a custom workspace layout

• Click Settings > Layout Settings > Save to and click a Custom option.

To load a custom workspace layout

• Click Settings > Layout Settings > Switch to and choose Default or one of the custom settings you have saved.

To know more about hotkey combinations assigned for each preset, see “Layout settings shortcuts” on page 153.

You can also change the layout settings from the UI Layout tab in Settings > Preferences.

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Step Panel

Corel VideoStudio Pro simplifies the process of creating movies into three simple steps. Click the buttons in the Step Panel to switch between steps.

Media clips can be recorded or imported directly to your computer's hard drive in the Capture Step. This step allows you to capture and import video, photo, and audio clips.

The Edit Step and the Timeline are the heart of Corel VideoStudio Pro, where you can arrange, edit, trim and add effects to your video clips.

The Share Step lets you export your finished movie to tape, a DVD, or the Web.

Menu Bar

The Menu Bar provides various commands for customizing Corel VideoStudio Pro, opening and saving movie projects, working with individual clips, and more.

Corel VideoStudio Pro Editor 17

Preview Window and Navigation Panel

The Navigation Panel provides buttons for playback and for precision trimming of clips. Use the Navigation Controls to move around a selected clip or your project. Use the Tr i m M a r k e r s and Scrubber to edit your clips.

In the Capture Step, this panel also acts as the device control for the DV or HDV camcorder.

• 1 — Preview Window

Shows the current project or clip being played.

•2 — Scrubber

Lets you scrub through the project or clip.

• 3 — Trim Markers

Lets you drag to set a preview range in the project or to trim a clip.

• 4 — Project/Clip Mode

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Specifies a preview of the entire project or of a selected clip only.

•5 — Play

Plays, pauses, or resumes the current project or a selected clip.

•6 — Home

Returns to the starting segment or cue.

•7 — Previous

Moves to the previous frame.

•8 — Next

Moves to the next frame.

• 9 — End

Moves to the end segment or cue.

•10 — Repeat

Loops playback.

•11 — System Volume

Lets you adjust the volume of your computer's speakers by dragging a slider.

•12 — Timecode

Lets you jump directly to a part of your project or selected clip by specifying the exact timecode.

• 13 — Enlarge Preview Window

Increases the size of the Preview Window.

• 14 — Split Clip

Splits the selected clip. Position the Scrubber to where you want the clip to be split, and then click this button.

• 15 — Mark-in/Mark-out

Sets a preview range in the project, or sets the start and end points for trimming a clip.

Corel VideoStudio Pro Editor 19

Tool ba r

The toolbar allows you to easily access buttons for editing. You can also change your project view, zoom in and out on the Project Timeline, and launch different tools that can help you edit efficiently.

• 1 — Storyboard View

Displays your media thumbnails in chronological order.

• 2 — Timeline View

Lets you perform frame-accurate editing of your clips on separate tracks, adding and positioning other elements such as titles, overlays, voice-over and music.

• 3 — Undo

Undoes the last action.

•4 — Redo

Redoes the last action that was undone.

• 5 — Record/Capture Option

Shows the Record/Capture Option panel, where you can capture video, import files, record voice-overs and take snapshots.

• 6 — Instant Project

Lets you choose project templates with opening and closing sequences containing graphics, titles, and music, as well as placeholder media clips that you can easily replace with your own clips.

• 7 — Sound Mixer

Launches the Surround Sound Mixer and the multitrack Audio Timeline, which lets you customize your audio settings.

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• 8 — Auto Music

Launches the Auto Music Options Panel for adding Smartsound background music to your project in a variety of styles and moods and you can set the music to match the duration of your project.

• 9 — Zoom Controls

Lets you adjust your view of the Project Timeline by using the zoom slider and buttons.

• 10 — Fit Project in Timeline Window

Adjusts your project view to fit the entire span of your Timeline.

• 11 — Project Duration

Shows the duration of the project.

Project Timeline

The Project Timeline is where you assemble the media clips to use in your video project.

Two types of views are displayed in the Project Timeline: Storyboard View and Timeline View. To switch between the different views, click the buttons at the left side of the Toolbar.

Corel VideoStudio Pro Editor 21

Storyboard View

11 12

The fastest and simplest way to organize photos and video clips in a project is to use the Storyboard View. Each thumbnail in the storyboard represents a photo, video clip, or a transition. Thumbnails are shown in the order in which they appear in your project, and you can drag thumbnails to rearrange them. The duration of each clip is shown at the bottom of each thumbnail. In addition, you can insert transitions between video clips, and you can trim a selected video clip in the Preview Window.

Timeline View

Timeline View gives you the most comprehensive display of the elements in your movie project. It divides a project into separate tracks for video, overlay, title, voice, and music.

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