Ulead PYRO1394DV, VIDEO STUDIO 4.0, VIDEOSTUDIO 4.0 - 10-1999, VIDEOSTUDIO 4 User Manual

User Guide Ulead Systems, Inc. October 1999

Version 4.0

Seocnd English edition for Ulead VideoStudio version 4.0, October 1999.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or storing in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form without the express written permission of Ulead Systems, Inc.

Software license

The software described in this document is furnished under a License Agreement which is included with the product. This Agreement specifies the permitted and prohibited uses of the product.

Licenses and trademarks

PhotoDisc images copyright 1999, PhotoDisc. PhotoDisc is a trademark of PhotoDisc, Inc. All other product names and any registered and unregistered trademarks mentioned in this manual are used for identification purposes only and remain the exclusive property of their respective owners.

Sample files

Files provided as samples on the program CD can be used for personal demonstrations, productions and presentations. No rights are granted for commercial reproduction or redistribution of any sample files.

Ulead Systems, Inc.

United States: International:

970 West 190th Street, Suite 520 10F, 45 Tung Hsing Rd. Torrance, CA 90502 Taipei, Taiwan 110 Tel: 1-(310) 523-9393 Tel: +886 (2) 2764-8599 Fax: 1-(310) 523-9399 Fax: +886 (2) 2764-9599

URL: www.ulead.com URL: www.ulead.com E-mail: info@ulead.com E-mail: info@ulead.com.tw

Europe: Japan:

Wolfenbütteler Str. 33 No. 202, TE Building 38102 Braunschweig 4-5-16 Yohga, Setagaya-ku Germany Tokyo 158-0097

Japan Tel: +49-531-220-7920 Tel: +81-3-5491-5661 Fax: +49-531-220-7999 Fax: +81-3-5491-5663

URL: www.ulead.de URL: www.ulead.co.jp E-mail: info@ulead.de E-mail: info@ulead.co.jp

Contents

Step by step

Effects

Adding that professional touch between scenes with transition effects.

Title

Beginning and ending titles, credits, and captions.

Step by step

Map of Ulead VideoStudio

A map of the program and how to get around.

The Video Wizard

An introduction to the Video Wizard and how it can make your life easier.

Installation

Getting the software onto your computer.

The big picture

An overview of the world of digital video and Ulead VideoStudio. Check out What’s New? on p. 7.

Important stuff

Licenses, trademarks, and title page.

Voice & Music

Sound, background music, and voiceovers.

Finish

Finishing your movie and outputting a final cut. Special sections on DV and MPEG movies.

Storyboard

Basic cutting, pasting, and arranging your movie.

Start & Capture

Getting video onto your PC. Special info on DV and MPEG!

Index

Glossary

Words you can use to sound like an expert at cocktail parties.

How it works

The software follows a step-by-step paradigm. By working on one step at a time, editing tasks remain uncomplicated throughout the entire process, from start to finish. The two distinct program modules, Video Wizard and the main program, Ulead VideoStudio, both utilize this concept.

An introduction to digital video

Tens of millions of camcorders have been sold around the world and computers have become standard fare in the home. It hasn’t taken long for video capture cards to make the connection between the two. So what’s the big deal with digital video?

Besides being really fun, digital video on a PC is also quite revolutionary. Editing your video on your computer offers you the ease of mouse clicks, drag and drop opera-

tions, and cut and paste editing. What’s more, with VideoStudio, you have access to nearly a hundred transition effects, professional titling capabilities and simple soundtrack creation tools. Learn in seconds, create in minutes.

Ulead VideoStudio

Video Wizard is a complete digital video editing program. It is primarily a quick start application that simplifies the creation of movies. Ulead VideoStudio itself is also amazingly easy to use and offers advanced editing controls and a fantastic array of tools and effects.

The Video Wizard

The big picture

Just a few years ago, digital video was something that was out of reach for the average consumer. Powerful computers were too expensive and difficult to use. Recently, PC prices have plummeted while processing speeds have skyrocketed. Now, just about any new computer can do a decent job with home movies. And with software programs like Ulead VideoStudio 4.0, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure it all out.

Putting a transition effect in between clips is as easy as select and apply. Adding titles and credits is just like using a word processor. Type in your text and choose a style. And with a few more clicks, you can animate your titles to scroll or fade.

A short section of video captured to your computer is known as a video clip. You can scroll through your movie as easily as you do a Web page in a browser. With little effort, you can edit frame by frame, as well as change the order of scenes using the drag and drop method.

Getting video off of your camera and onto your PC’s hard drive is the first step in creating digital video. This process is known as captur- ing video. You will also need a capture card so your computer can receive and interpret the video data from your camera. To make sure that everything works properly, follow your capture card’s installation instructions.

All of the tracks in your movie are organized into a video project file. This project contains all of the information about how your movie is put together, but it is not your actual movie. All of the edits you make in your project do not affect the original clips themselves. This means that you can trim and edit without fear of making permanent changes to your original clips. When it is all ready to go, your computer collects all of the information together to create your final video file. This process is called rendering.

Ulead VideoStudio breaks your movie up into separate tracks, which gives you broad creative freedom. While your video probably already has a sound track, adding a voiceover narration brings clarity to your personal videos. Better still, add background music off of your favorite music CDs to set the mood in your movie. These tracks are independent, so changes to one track don’t affect the other.

So follow along in Ulead VideoStudio’s step-by-step path and you’ll find that your friends are amazed at the professional quality of your home movies. The only question you’ll hear more often than “How’d you do that?” is “When’s the sequel?”

What’s New?

New! Improved!

Ulead VideoStudio 4.0 is a revolution in video. Smashing the 2GB file limit, automatic music recording from your CDs, support for MP3 audio files, a flexible titling engine, and automatic configuration are only a few of the many improvements.

Computer video technology has changed faster than anyone could have predicted. Digital Video (DV) has taken the world by storm, becoming the format of choice for enthusiasts. It is easy to config-

ure your computer to capture DV data from your camcorder, and the quality is superior to S-VHS. Most DV camcorders allow you to transfer footage from your computer back to tape, using the IEEE-1394 interface, with no loss of quality. Ulead VideoStudio has always supported DV editing, but the 4.0 version

fully supports all aspects of DV. Setting up (see page 9) your computer to work with DV is extremely easy. You

can even control your camcorder (see page 9) with Ulead VideoStudio and your mouse! And the best part is, Ulead VideoStudio also lets you record your final video back to your camcorder (see page 58) so that you can play the movie on big screen television.

MPEG

The other Big Story in recent developments is MPEG. Ulead VideoStudio gives you the power to edit MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 movies with amazing frame-accurate technology. The wide avail-

ability of CD writing hardware, or CD-R, allows anyone to create their own Video CD (VCD). Ulead VideoStudio 4.0 lets you create WhiteBook standard MPEG-1 movies (see page 56) that are ready to be written to a VCD.

Ulead VideoStudio 4.0 also allows you to create amazing DVD quality movies using the MPEG-2 format, which is also used in direct digital satellite television. Start by capturing MPEG video straight from your camcorder, if your hardware supports it (see page 25), then trim and edit your movie with frame accuracy. Finally, take advantage of DVD quality (see page 57) to create your final MPEG-2 movie.

This flexible technology allows you to create MPEG-2 movies from any source for a truly professional solution. Possibly the best method is to capture and edit using the lossless quality of DV and then output a highly compressed MPEG-2 movie.

Installation

To install Ulead VideoStudio:

1. Place the Ulead V ideoStudio CD into your CD-ROM drive.

2. When the Setup screen appears, follow the instructions to install Ulead V ideoStudio onto your computer.

Note:

If the Setup screen doesn’t appear after loading the CD, then you can manually start it by double-clicking the My Computer icon on your desktop, then double-clicking the icon for the CD-

ROM drive. When the CD-ROM window opens,

double-click the Setup icon.

The following applications are important in making digital video work well on your computer . The installation program will walk you through installing:

• QuickTime 3

• NetShow Tools

To run Ulead VideoStudio:

• Double-click the Ulead V ideoStudio (or V ideo

Wizard) icon on your Windows desktop.

• Or select the Ulead V ideoStudio (or V ideo

Wizard) icon from the Ulead VideoStudio program group on the Windows Start menu.

Ulead VideoStudio installation screen.

Ulead VideoStudio Web site.

Running Ulead VideoStudio from Windows Start menu.

Setting up Ulead VideoStudio for DV

1. Connect your camcorder to your IEEE-1394 capture card.

2. Turn on your camcorder and set it to Play mode (or VTR

mode). See your camcorder’s manual for specific instructions.

3. Run Ulead VideoStudio.

4. Click the Global Options button and select Change Capture Plug-in.

5. Select the appropriate DV Capture Plug-in (this will vary depending on your hardware): Ulead DirectShow Capture Plug-in or Adaptec Capture Plug-in. If you have changed to a new plug-in, please restart VideoStudio.

6. Go to the Capture step and test the new settings.

Setting up DV device control

1. Click the Global Options button and click Select Device Control.

2. In the Device Control dialog box, click the Current device list.

3. Select your device. This will vary depending on your hardware: MS 1394 Device Control, TI 1394 Device Control, or Adaptec 1394 Device Control.

Setting up DV support

With the advent of Digital Video (DV), it has never been easier to capture, edit, and record video on your PC. Follow the installation instructions of your IEEE-1394 (AKA: FireWire, iLink) capture card, and consult your camcorder’s manual for the proper hardware installation procedures.

You also need to set up how Ulead V ideoStudio will control your camcorder. The appropriate settings depend on your particular capture card. You may have to try a few settings to discover the one that works.

The V ideo W izard

The Video Wizard is the fastest and easiest way to get video onto your PC, arrange the various scenes, and create a finished movie. It is a great tool for setting up projects for editing in Ulead VideoStudio.

In the Start step, you’ll be able to quickly check your computer ’s setup and get your first project going. Begin by creating a Project. Just like a professional production, a movie is composed of many separate elements. In Ulead V ideoStudio, these elements are conveniently organized into a single project file, or *.VSP.

Note:

Depending on the video source device (digital camera, camcorder, VCR, etc.) that is currently connected to your computer, the output is displayed in the Preview Window . To check your video source device’s settings, click the Video Source button.

Getting started

1. Enter a Project name.

2. Click the Browse button to specifically select a location

for your project file (optional).

3. Click the Get Video button to go to the next step and

start capturing new scenes for your project.

Starting Ulead Video Wizard.

In the Get Video step, you will be able to capture, or record, all the scenes that you want to use in your movie. When capturing, watch the capture information below the Preview window.

Note:

Don’t worry about recording too much video. You can always go back to the clips later to trim them. For more on trimming clips, see page 11. Y ou can remove any unwanted clips from the project in the next step, Arrange.

Capturing video

1. Turn on your video source device and check all the connections to your computer.

2. Watch the Preview window for the output of your video source device (e.g. For recorded tapes, start playing the tape. For cameras, adjust the focus and point to the desired location.). When you see the part that you want to start capturing, click the Begin button.

3. To pause or end the capturing process, click the Stop button.

4. Repeat steps 2-3 to capture several video clips.

Ulead Video Wizard ready to capture video.

Note:

Right-click on the Preview window to select your capture card. See pages 7 and 9 for more information.

In the Arrange step, a thumbnail representation of each video clip in your project is visible in the main window. They are placed in the order in which each clip is going to be played in your movie.

Now that you have arranged your clips in the correct sequence, you may want to cut (trim or edit) unnecessary portions out of a clip. See the next page to learn more about trimming clips.

Notes:

•

To delete a clip from a project, simply click the thumbnail representing that clip to select it and then click the Remove button.

•

T o add movie files that are already saved on your computer into your project, click the Add Video button.

Arranging your movie

1. Click on the clip that you want to move from the sequence of clips. Selected clips are highlighted in blue.

2. Drag the clip to a new location. This will automatically change the order of the other clips.

3. Click the Add Effect button to define how the transition from one clip to another takes place. In that section, you can also add music and titles to your movie.

Arranging video clips. Selected clips are highlighted in blue.

Note:

There are other helpful buttons in the T rim Video dialog box that you can use to scroll through the frames of a clip. Watch the Status bar at the bottom of the window for information about the Mark in and Mark out points, which you can use for more accurate trimming.

Capturing video to your computer with frame by frame accuracy is not easy. Fortunately, precise editing is really not a problem with V ideo W izard.

Trim handle

Click and drag to trim a clip.

Return

Click to return to the main Video Wizard interface.

Play trimmed clip

Plays the trimmed portion of your clip.

The T rim V ideo dialog box.

Trimming a clip

1. Select a clip and click the Trim button.

2. In the Trim Video dialog box, slide the Handle to the right until you see the exact point

that you want to use as the starting point of the clip.

3. Click the Start Trim button to mark it as the first frame of the trimmed clip.

4. Slide the Handle further to the right until you find the point where you want the clip to

end.

5. Click the Stop Trim button to mark it as the last frame of the trimmed clip.

6. Click the Play trimmed clip button to see your edits.

7. Click the Return button to go back to Video Wizard.

This step really completes three major parts of your project. Transitions between scenes, background music, and opening credits are all taken care of here. The interface is simple and gives you a chance

to quickly spice up your production. The most useful tool for your home movies is the Transition effect. A transition is what

occurs when one scene ends and another starts. By adding effects, you can take separate clips and smoothly blend them into a complete movie.

Just below the Transition effect item is the Audio file entry box. Adding music to your movie makes it more interesting to watch and helps to set the mood. You can use any Windows audio file (e.g. *.WAV) or try the samples that are included on your Ulead VideoStudio CD.

The final section allows you to add a Title to your movie. As with the other two parts, the Wizard’s incredibly simple method gets a quick working title into your movie. You can enhance these effects later in the main program, Ulead VideoStudio.

Notes:

•

The Video Wizard applies the same transition between all of the clips at this point ( unless you select Random).

•

Ulead VideoStudio uses animated samples and instant previews to help you choose the perfect effect.

Adding effects to your movie in step four.

Creating opening credits

1. Click in the Text entry box.

2. Enter your title.

3. Click the Text color box to select the

colors for your message.

4. Click the Background color box to

set that color.

Adding an audio file

In the Audio file entry box, specify the path and name of the audio file (*.WAV) that you want to use in your movie. You can click the

Browse button to find the file yourself.

Adding a transition effect

1. Click the Transition effect drop

down menu.

2. From the drop down list, select the method of transition to use between your clips.

Selecting a transition effect.

Browsing for a music file.

Adding an opening credit.

Creating a movie file

Click the Create Video File button. Video Wizard will start rendering, or creating, the actual movie file. Watch the progress clock to estimate the length of time it will take to make the movie. When it’s done, the program will automatically switch to the Play step where you can watch your newly created movie.

In the Create step, you will be able to make the actual movie file. How long it will take depends on the number of clips included in the project, the duration of each clip, any effects you have added, and your hardware’s capabilities.

So far, you have only been collecting the parts of your movie. The information about these parts has been stored in a Project file (*.VSP). The project file contains all of the information necessary to make your movie, but it is not the movie itself.

Note:

If you want to use more powerful editing tools at this point, you can open your project in the main program, Ulead VideoStudio. When you click the Open In VideoStudio button, the Video Wizard closes and your project file opens in the Ulead VideoStudio workspace.

Ulead Video Wizard ready to render a movie.

Now that you have a finished movie, the Play step is where you can watch the entire picture. The movie you have created is now a video file and is a completely finished product. So, sit back and relax while you play back your movie.

Go ahead and play it again. By using Video Wizard, you have an excellent first draft of your movie. The completed project is ready for further creative editing in Ulead VideoStudio.

While Video Wizard is not a required part of making a video project or creating a movie, you may find it convenient to use in setting up all of your new projects. Later, you can use the main program to fine tune and perfect your movie. That’s what the rest of this manual is about.

Playing back a video file

Click the Play button to run the movie you have just created in the Preview window.

While in the Play step, you can also play back other movies (e.g. *.AVI), which are saved in your computer. Simply click the Load Video button and locate the file you want to watch.

Reverse / ForwardPlay

Stop Home End

Loop

Playing a movie file with Video Wizard.

Options panel

Contains controls, buttons, and other information.

Preview window

Shows the current clip, title, or effect.

Load media button

Click to add media files to the Library .

Library

Stores and organizes all of your media clips.

Timeline

Represents the period of time that a clip appears in your movie.

Clip navigation buttons

Controls for moving around and playing your movie.

T rim bar

Used for trimming, editing, and cropping video clips.

Project scroll bar

The fastest way to move around your entire project.

T rack buttons

Each activates a track to edit. Clicking a button changes the Preview window and available options accordingly.

Ulead VideoStudio 4.0 interface.

Map of Ulead VideoStudio

The Ulead V ideoStudio interface has been designed to make the sometimes complicated task of editing movies on your PC intuitive and enjoyable. The illustration on this page shows an overview of the entire program, while the next few pages detail more specific features. Note especially the Options panel, which is highly context sensitive (meaning that it changes depending on the program’s mode) and contains a ton of information.

Time units

Represents the timing of clips in hours : minutes ‘ seconds “ milliseconds

Tool Tips

By holding your mouse cursor over a button or object, a balloon pops up with the name of the item.

Clip navigator

Click and drag these controls to scroll through a clip. The position is shown in the Preview window’s contents.

Selected range

These color bars represent the trimmed or selected part of a clip or project.

Trim handle

Click and drag to trim a clip.

Zoom controls

Change the view to zoom in/out or fit the entire project on the screen.

Switch mode

Changes the view from Storyboard to Timeline view. (see page 28)

Add media

Displays a menu allowing you to place video, audio or image clips directly on the Timeline.

Project scroll controls

Use the left and right buttons or grab the scroll bar to move around your project.

The Workspace

Continued...

Volume control

Controls loudness of the music output. Drag the slider to adjust the volume of your speakers.

Clip navigation buttons

These can be used to move around a selected clip. The button highlighted in yellow plays the clip while the green one means playing continuously.

Context sensitive help

This button activates the Context sensitive help feature. After you click

on it, your cursor changes to look like the cursor pictured at left. Move your cursor over an object in the program and click it.

Play project

Click this button to render (create) your project. This can take some time, but is an important feature: see

page 31.

Global commands button

This button accesses a menu that contains many useful tools to give you a hand when using Ulead VideoStudio. One example is the item, Ulead VideoStudio 4.0 Help.

Important program attributes can be found under the Preferences item and you can create and organize your templates by clicking the Templates item.

Trash can

Drag and drop clips here to delete them. You can also select a clip and press Delete on your keyboard.

Undo and Redo

Any changes you make that you don’t like can be instantly fixed or undone

by clicking the left button. And if you change your mind, just click Redo.

The Library

The library is a storage depot for everything you need to create a movie: video clips, audio clips, still images, transition effects, music files, titles and color clips. These are collectively known as media clips. You can think of the Library as a general manager for all of the pieces of your project.

The type of clip that can be inserted depends on which step you are working on (e.g. Title or Music). The most convenient way of working with clips is using your mouse. If you want to add clips to, or use clips from the Library, first select the desired clip, then drag and drop it to its destination. You can even drag and drop files right from Windows Explorer into the Library panel.

Adding media clips to the Library

1. Click the Load clip button to open a dialog

box for locating the media clip to insert in the Library.

2. Select the desired file.

3. Click Open when you are finished.

Note:

Deleting source files from your hard disk permanently removes them from your computer. Y ou may not be able to recover them again. Please make sure that those source files you are about to delete are unnecessary .

T rash can.

Deleting media clips from the Library

1. Select the clip that you want to remove

from the Library.

2. Drag the selected clip to the Trash can or press the Delete key.

3. When prompted, verify whether you also want to delete the source file from your hard disk.

Load clip buttons

These allow you to locate the clip you want to add to the Library. A media clip can be a video, color, image, or audio clip.

Step by step

The Video Wizard quickly creates finished movies and is an excellent way to start any project. Ulead V ideoStudio itself is similarly laid out in a step-by-step format, following the items in the menu bar at the top of the program, from left to right. It’s not necessary to work through every step every time, but the steps can serve as a guide to creating a complete movie. The steps don’t necessarily need to be followed in the order that they are presented, either.

Your work is saved in a small project file (*.UPV) that organizes all of your media files together. A project file is NOT the same as a movie and changes made to it do not affect your media clips. It is possible to have a number of different projects using the same clips.

Start & Capture

The Start step is for creating new project files or opening existing ones. Once a project is opened in the program, new video can be recorded onto your computer’s hard drive in the Capture step. See page 24.

Storyboard

The Storyboard step and the Storyboard section of the program under the Preview window are the heart of Ulead VideoStudio. This is where you arrange, edit, and trim your masterpiece. See page 28.

Effects

Transition effects between scenes are fun and easy. Thumbnail animations and drag-and-drop operations put dozens of cool effects at your fingertips. See page 38.

Step by step

Title

No movie would be complete without opening and closing titles. Ulead VideoStudio lets you use any Windows True Type font on your computer, of any color and size, and gives you the power to animate them just like the pros. See page 40.

V oice & Music

Background music is probably one of the most important factors determining the mood or feel of your movie. Add ambiance with tunes off of your favorite CDs or record a voiceover narration to effec- tively clarify important parts of your video. See page 44.

Finish

The final cuts have been made and the music has been synchronized with care. Now it’s time to put it all together and make a master copy of your newest movie. See page 50.

Step by step

Start

The Start step is where you create a new project file (*.VSP) or open an existing project. A project file is a small file used by Ulead VideoStudio to store all of the information about your

movie: clips used, trimming information, duration of movie, size of frames, and type of movie to make. A project file is not the finished movie and can only be opened in Ulead V ideoStudio. The actual process of creating a movie from a project file is called rendering.

Templates save many complicated settings for capturing video and for creating your movie in the Finish step. They are an extremely important part of your project and should not be overlooked. More information about template options can be found starting on page 54.

Start & Capture

Creating a new template

1. Click the Global commands button.

2. Select Template from the menu.

3. Click New and enter a name for your template, then click OK.

4. Set up the details of the template and click OK.

Creating a new project

1. Click the New project button.

2. In the dialog box that opens, enter a Project name.

3. Select a Template that most closely matches the type

of movie you want to create.

4. Click OK.

New project

Open project

Detail from the Options panel.

Global Commands button.

Notes:

•

Use the Open project button and the Recent file list to

open previously created projects.

•

Press Ctrl+ S to quickly save your project.

Step by step

Capture

The process of recording video to your computer is called capturing. When everything is ready to go, the video feed from your source device should be visible in the Preview window. If your card supports a television monitor, you should also be able to watch your video there.

Capture video

Records video from your source to your hard disk.

Capture frame

Captures a single frame from your source to your hard disk.

Duration

Sets the length of time for the capture.

Switch mode

Switches between Capture mode and Playback mode for instant previews.

Capture to library

Keep this option selected to automatically take advantage of the organizational features of the video library.

Video menu

Displays a menu allowing you to modify your capture settings.

Note:

If the Capture menu item is grayed

out or unavailable, your video capture hardware may not be correctly installed. Please follow your hardware manual’s instructions carefully .

Capturing video

1. Hook up your video source device to your capture card. On some cards, you also have to connect the audio cables to your sound card.

2. Use your device’s controls to move around and find what you want to capture.

3. Click the Capture video button to begin recording.

4. When you have recorded what you want, click the Capture video button again or press the Esc key to stop capturing.

Step by step

Capturing Digital Video (DV)

Digital Video (DV) is a video format that is fundamentally different from

traditional analog formats like VHS, Hi-8, and S-VHS. It is much easier for your computer to capture DV video than it is to capture other formats because DV is widely supported and the data rate is lower. In addition, the quality of the video is exceptional because it is retained in a purely digital form, from capturing to editing, and finally back to your camcorder.

Basically, the procedure for capturing DV is the same as presented on the previous page. Make sure you have configured your hardware and software (see page 9 for details), and follow this procedure:

The keys to a successful capture

Capturing video is one of the hardest things you will ever ask of your computer. Video takes up a huge amount of disk space and, because of the high data rate, is difficult for your hard disk to handle. Here are a few things you can do to ensure success:

* Shut down ALL other programs that are running. Use CTRL+ALT+DEL, select an item,

and click End Task to make sure nothing is running except Explorer and Ulead VideoStudio.

* Best results can be achieved by using a dedicated video hard drive. This doesn’t have to be

an expensive AV hard disk anymore, but the advantages of using a separate, dedicated, video-only hard drive cannot be stressed enough.

* Defragmenting (or better yet, formatting) your hard drive between projects can dramatically

improve performace.

Capturing DV video

1. Turn on your camcorder and set it to Play mode (or VTR mode). See

you camcorder’s manual for specific instructions.

2. Run Ulead VideoStudio, open a project, and go to the Capture step.

3. Click the Play button in Ulead V ideoStudio.

4. When you get to the part of the video you want to record, click the

Record button in Ulead VideoStudio.

5. Click the Record button again (or press ESC) to stop recording.

Step by step

Capturing MPEG video*

Capturing video directly from your camcorder straight to MPEG is one of the most exciting developments in computer video since DV was introduced. Ulead V ideoStudio gives you the flexibility to choose MPEG-1 or MPEG-2, depending on your needs. MPEG-1 is recommended for older computers and for people who want to create VCDs, while MPEG-2 is more suitable for those with faster computers who demand excellent quality in a highly compressed format.

* Note: This feature is only available if your video capture card supports RGB or YUV capture (please see the manual for your capture card). Once you have configured your hardware and software (as detailed above), you can capture video using the standard procedures described on the preceding pages.

The Video Menu.

Setting up MPEG capture

1. Connect your camcorder to your capture card.

2. Turn on your camcorder and set it to Play mode (or VTR

mode). See your camcorder’s manual for specific instructions.

3. Run Ulead VideoStudio.

4. Click the Global Options button and select Change Capture Plug-in.

5. Select Ulead MPEG DirectShow Capture Plug-in (or Ulead MPEG VFW Capture Plug-in). Please restart Ulead V ideoStudio.

6. Click the Video Menu button and select Video Properties. Choose the type of MPEG you would like to capture.

7. Capture your video as you normally would.

Step by step

A storyboard is an outline for a movie. It contains sketches and drawings, in chronological order, of the events that occur in your story. The bottom half of the Ulead VideoStudio interface is simply an electronic storyboard.

The Storyboard can be viewed in two distinct modes by clicking the Switch mode button. Which mode you use depends entirely on personal preference, but most people find both modes to be useful at different times. For example, the Storyboard mode is the fastest and simplest way to add clips to your movie. Clips can be moved around by simply dragging them. After arranging your scenes in Storyboard mode, some people prefer to switch to Timeline mode to fine tune their effects and perform frame accurate trimming and editing of individual clips.

Switching to the Timeline mode, Ulead VideoStudio show exactly when and where events in your story occur and you can see at a glance the contents of various media clips. A clip can be a video file, an audio file, a transition, a colored background or a title. If you’ve used the Video Wizard to create your project, a rough storyboard was automatically created. If you’re starting from scratch, you can drag clips from the Library and simply drop them on the Timeline.

Storyboard

Timeline mode allows frame accurate editing of individual clips.

Storyboard mode presents an overview of the entire project’s video track.

Click the Switch mode button to change between the two display modes.

Step by step

Storyboard mode

You may find that starting out in Storyboard mode is the easiest way to get your project rolling. After starting a new project, switch to the Storyboard step and take a look at your project. Each picture represents an event in your movie, an event being a video clip or a transition. The thumbnails reveal at a glance the chronological order of events in your project, but do not tell you much about the clips themselves.

You can drag and drop clips to arrange them, and transition effects can be inserted between clips. Selected clips can be trimmed in the preview window. See page 32 for more informa- tion on trimming.

Timeline mode

When Ulead V ideoStudio is in Timeline mode, clips are placed on the workspace as short sequences. The length of these clips accurately represents the duration of the clip in your project. The ruler units can be adjusted for your convenience. Setting the ruler units to fractions of a second gives you precise control over trimming and editing, while longer ruler units allow you to view more of your project. Yo u can control ruler units by using the Zoom control buttons. Click the Fit project in window button if you want to see the entire project displayed on one screen. If you have a mouse with a scroll button, the scroll button can be used to zoom.

Timeline mode.

Zoom control buttons

Fit project in window button.

Selected clip.

T ransition effect.

Storyboard mode.

Step by step

The T racks

The Timeline is divided horizontally into four different tracks. The Video and Transition Effects, Title, Voice, and Music tracks all correspond to the Ulead VideoStudio steps of the

same name.

The four tracks, each with a clip inserted. The Video track is active.

Title

Video and Effects

Voiceover Music

The Options panel

Ulead VideoStudio offers different controls in the Options panel depending on the step or track you are working on. This way the workspace is kept simple and uncluttered. Just remember that if you can’t find a control that you are sure you have seen before, try switching to the type of editing you want to do first.

Duration

Sets the length of time

of the clip.

Mark in/out

Displays the exact time of trimming.

Volume controls

Use to adjust amplification and fade in and out.

Export plug-ins

Special features used to share your movie with others.

Clip properties

Click to examine specific information about a clip.

Trim to video file

Applies any trimming modifications to a clip and saves it to a new video file.

Capture image

Saves the selected frame to an image file.

Reset

Sets all values back to defaults.

Apply

Applies changes made in the Options panel to the selected clip.

Switching to different tracks

There are three ways to do this:

• Click on the Step menu item corre-

sponding to the track.

• Double-click on the track or clip you

want to work on.

• Click on the icon located left of each

track you want to work on.

Step by step

The Play project button

While you are editing, there are many times that you will want to preview your work to see how your project is progressing. The row of buttons below the Preview window are used to navigate around your project, play clips, and create previews of your entire project.

Clip navigation buttons, with the Play project button circled in yellow.

Any changes that you have made in the Options panel are applied to the clip when you click the Apply button. All of the settings can be restored to their original values by clicking the Reset button. As with any changes you make in Ulead VideoStudio, you can always undo them by clicking the Undo button or by pressing Ctrl+Z.

A Ulead V ideoStudio project (*.VSP), cannot be played until it has been

rendered, or created. Click the Play project button to begin the process of

rendering your project for previewing. Rendering is easy, but it can take some time. Fortunately, Ulead SmartRender technology

optimizes the rendering process by not re-rendering the parts of the project that have not changed. Ulead VideoStudio performs this magic with heavy use of temporary files. These files are stored in a location that you can set in the Preferences: Preview tab, found on the Global commands button menu. By efficiently allocating disk space for temporary files, you don’t need to worry about “Out of Memory” error messages.

The Preview Files Manager, also on the Global commands button menu, can be used for specific manipulation of individual project preview files.

So the best advice we can offer is that you edit for a while and then when you need a break, hit the Play project button and let Ulead V ideoStudio render your project. By doing this fairly often, render times should be very reasonable.

Rendering a portion of your project, instead of the whole thing, can save you time and give you a quick preview of an important section. This is especially useful for rendering across transitions, title sequences, or to check the timing of audio clips in relation to the associated video. If you only want to render the part of your project, hold the Shift key on your key- board while clicking the Play project button. For more information about partial rendering, see page 47.

Step by step

Working with clips

The best part of editing your movie on your computer is the ease with which you can snip and trim with frame by frame accuracy.

Video clip selected in the Library, ready to be trimmed using the green T rim bar .

Trim handles

Inserting a video clip onto the Timeline

• From the Library, drag and drop the clip to the Timeline.

• To insert a clip directly to the Timeline, clip the Insert media files button, located to the left of the Timeline.

Insert media files button.

Trimming a clip using the Trim bar

1. Select a clip by clicking on it in the Library.

2. Click and drag a Trim handle to set the trim position.

3. When you have selected the area you want to trim, click the Apply

button.

4. You can selectively play only the trimmed portion of the clip by holding

the Shift key and clicking the Play button.

Notes:

• The green bar beneath the Preview window represents the selected portion of the clip. If the clip has not been trimmed, the green bar extends for the entire length.

• Watch the Mark in/out displays on the Options panel to monitor your trimming. The Mark in/out points can also be set by pressing F3 and F4, respectively.

•

For precise control, click on a Trim handle, hold it, and use the Arrow keys on your keyboard to trim one frame at a time.

Apply button.

Step by step

While trimming and editing, you may sometimes need to adjust the view of the clips on the Timeline. Use the Zoom controls to control the view. The Scroll bar makes navigating through your project quicker and easier. The wheel on a scrolling mouse (e.g. Microsoft Intellimouse) can be used to scroll, and you can zoom by holding the Ctrl key while using the wheel.

Don’t forget that you can always undo just about any changes you’ve made in your project by pressing Ctrl+Z. You can set up to 99 levels of undo by pressing F6 to open the Preferences dialog box.

T rimming a video clip that has been inserted onto the Timeline.

The key to making highly accurate cuts and edits is controlling the ruler scale in the Timeline. When each unit represents one second, you can get pretty close in estimating your edits.

Trim handles

Scroll bar

Zoom buttons

Trimming a clip from the Timeline

1. Select a clip by clicking it on the Timeline.

2. The yellow Trim handles on either side of the

clip can be dragged to change the length of a clip.

3. The Preview window reflects the position of the Trim handle in the clip.

4. Watch the Mark in/out displays on the Options panel to numerically monitor your trimming.

5. Other clips in your project automatically reposition themselves according to your edits.

Step by step

The Library can store multiple versions or copies of a single video clip. This means that you can break large clips up into a number of smaller clips using the trim tools and save these clips to the Library as separate entries. The source video file itself is not physically altered, nor are actual copies made of the original file. This is very useful since it allows you to manage your production very creatively but does not take up any more disk space since you still only have one video file saved on your hard disk.

Duration

Sets the length of time of the clip.

Spin buttons

Use these to fine tune your trimming.

Mark in/out

Displays the points in the original clip where the trimming takes place.

Apply button

Click to apply changes made in the Options panel to the selected clip.

Trimming a clip with the Options panel

1. Select a clip on the Timeline or in the Library.

2. Click the time in the Duration box. For example,

click on the seconds (“). The numbers begin blinking.

3. Enter a length of time for the clip. The Mark in shows where the clip begins and the Mark out point displays the end of the trimmed clip.

4. Click the Apply button.

Creating multiple versions of a single clip

1. Select a clip from the Library.

2. Grab and drag a Trim handle to set the trim position.

3. Click the Apply button.

4. Re-insert the original clip into the Library by clicking the Load video button.

Load video button.

Step by step

Many times, when you make an edit, you may wish to make a permanent change to the clip and save the edited file. Again, Ulead V ideoStudio gives you a margin of safety in that it saves the trimmed video to a new file and does not alter the original. You can go ahead and delete the original to recover disk space when you are sure of your changes (press the Delete key or drag the clip to the Trash can).

The method of trimming illustrated here allows you to use your original video file as the source for a number of different clips in the Library. This type of editing does not affect the source file anyway.

This Library contains four versions of the same clip. Selected clips are highlighted in blue.

Breaking a clip into multiple files

1. Select a clip from the Library or Timeline.

2. Grab and drag a Trim handle to set the trim position.

3. Click the Trim to video file button.

4. You now have two different physical video files on your hard disk, the original file (SOURCE.AVI), and a trimmed copy (SOURCE-1.AVI) .

T rash can.

T rim to video file button.

This clip is a trimmed version of the original video file saved on the hard disk. You can see at a glance that it has indeed been trimmed by selecting the clip and looking at the Options panel or the T rim bar. Y ou should definitely rename the clip in the Library because the thumbnail will not change.

When the original clip is reinserted into the Library, the Mark in point is zero and the Mark out point is the last frame. The duration is the entire clip. The Trim bar clearly shows that the clip has not been trimmed.

Step by step

Once an image is on the Timeline, you can set it to any time span you like by dragging its Trim handles or by directly entering a Duration in the Options

panel.

Still images provide excellent backgrounds for title se-

quences. Since you can precisely control the duration,

images provide an easy way to control the total length of

your project. You can even create very effective “slide

show” movies composed entirely of still image clips. Images that are the same size as your video frames work best. You can resize your pictures in an image editor or have Ulead VideoStudio do it for you when your movie is created.

Using image clips

While Ulead V ideoStudio by definition is primarily used to put together motion pictures, you shouldn’t underestimate the value of still pictures in your video productions. You can use images or pictures from any source, and even use individual frames from a video file.

Library selection menu.

Information about an image clip.

Trim handles

Load image button. This button changes depending on the Library folder.

Inserting an image clip

1. Switch to the Image Library by clicking the

drop down list and selecting Image.

2. Click the Load image button and browse for

the picture you want to store in the Library.

3. Drag and drop the image onto the Timeline just like any other clip.

Step by step

Once a clip has been inserted into the Library, you can drag it to the Timeline to put it into your movie project. Color clips are great for beginning a movie. Place your opening credits over the top of the color clip and then use a cross fade effect to create smooth transition into your movie.

Titles set against solid backgrounds are often easier to see than if set against an image, especially a moving one.

You can enter the red, green, and blue values for your clip, or click the color box to pick the color visually.

Load color button.

Inserting a color clip

1. Switch to the Color Library by clicking

the drop down list and selecting Color.

2. Click the Load color button.

3. Choose a color. Click the color box and

select Ulead Color Picker to visually select a color.

4. Set a Duration and click OK.

Using color clips

Color clips are simply solid colored backgrounds that are useful for titles and transitions. For example, black clips can be used for an effective fade to black transition. They are added to a project by selecting the Color Library, inserting a specific color clip into the Library and dragging and dropping the clip into your project. The duration of a color clip can be controlled just like an image clip.

Step by step

Transitions give your home movies a truly professional touch. Fortunately, they are also the easiest part of Ulead VideoStudio. For your first few videos, feel free to go a little crazy and try out every transition in the Library. Once you’ve gotten used to using transition, you can express your artistic side by modifying the preset transitions to your own liking. In any case, you’re guaranteed to have fun in this section.

Simple jump cuts used to be all you could do with your home videos. This is when one scene stops and the next scene starts immediately. Ulead VideoStudio, on the other hand, has tons of styles of transitions you can use, from cross fades to explosions. We’ll deal with the details of these effects later, but for now you just need a project with two video clips in it.

Note:

Y ou may find it easier to work on transition effects when you’re in the Storyboard mode.

Effects

Adding a transition

1. From the Effects step, use the drop down list in the

Library to select a category of effects.

2. Scroll through the effects thumbnails in the Library

panel and find one that you like to use.

3. Click and drag the effect to the Timeline, roughly be-

tween two video clips.

4. Drop your effect and it will snap into place.

Drag and drop transition effects right onto the Storyboard.

Step by step

Your clips appear adjacent to each other on the Storyboard. You’ll recall that the Storyboard has two different modes, Storyboard and Timeline, but transitions work the same way in both modes. The illustrations on the previous page shows VideoStudio in Storyboard mode. The mode can be switched by clicking the Switch mode button.

Transition magic

If you’ve tried a few simple transitions as outlined on the previous page, you really have mastered all you need to know. Ulead VideoStudio pretty much takes care of all the details to make your transitions smooth and professional. That doesn’t mean the program has taken control of your movie for you, however. After you have added a transition to your project, take a look at the Options panel. Below is an example of one of the transitions, from the Slide effects, specifically the Barn door. In this effect’s settings, displayed in the Options panel, you can change many parameters that will allow you to control exactly how the effect is going to be used in your movie.

Duration

Sets the length of time for the transition. You can also modify the duration by using the yellow Trim handles on the Timeline.

Border

Select a size for the border (in pixels) on the left and choose a color by clicking on the color box.

Soft edge

The soft edge applies to the border of the effect. This blends the two clips together more smoothly. If you don’t have a border set on the clip, these buttons are unavailable.

Title motion buttons

These buttons control the direction of motion in the transition effect. In this transition, the two doors can move in eight different ways.

Add/Apply

Click to add the new transition to the Timeline. When you are modifying a transition that has already been inserted, this button has a check mark on it. Click to apply your changes to the selected clip.

Switch mode button.

Step by step

While a picture may be worth a thousand words, there is no doubt that clarifying text here and there throughout your movie adds to its comprehensibility. And what movie would be complete without opening and closing credits? If you can type, even with just two fingers, you can create professional credits in minutes.

When entering a title, a faint rectangle is visible in the Preview window. This represents the Title safe area, and it is the recommended maximum size for your text. Along with the rectangle, you should see a blinking cursor.

The titler works like a very simple word processor. Type your text, press Backspace to correct your mistakes and press Enter to start a new line. You can move around the text with the arrow keys. If you want to change the attributes of text that has already been entered, you need to highlight the text by selecting it with your mouse.

Title track button.

Title button on the Options panel.

Title

Adding text

1. From the Title step, use the Clip navigation button on the

Trim bar to scroll through your movie.

2. When you see the frame where you would like your title to

appear, click the Title button or click on the Preview window. Remember that you cannot create a new title over an existing title clip.

3. Type in your title in the Preview window.

4. When you are finished, simply move on to the next step or move to a different location to enter a new title.

A centered title being edited. Note the Title safe area around the center of the window.

The yellow triangle represents the position of the title clip in the Timeline.

Step by step

The Options panel, as with the other features, allows you to modify the settings of the tool that you are currently using. Use this to design the look and feel of your text with just about any style that is available in a standard word processing program.

Duration

Sets the length of time for the title clip. You can also modify the duration by using the yellow Trim handles on the Timeline.

Alignment

Left, center or right justification.

Font style

Bold, italic and underline.

Title motion button

Select a type of animation for your credits. Click to display animation styles.

Line spacing

Sets the spacing, or leading, between lines of text.

Font size

Set the size of the text in points.

Font

Select any True Type font installed on your computer.

Edit title clip button

Click to begin editing.

Reset

Reverts to original settings.

Apply

Applies changes to Title clip.

Color

Sets the color of the selected text.

Once the title clip has been inserted onto the Storyboard, you can adjust its duration by clicking and dragging on the handles, and you can see what your title looks like in the Preview window using the Preview bar handles. The Library can also be used to store your title clips. To add a title clip to the Library, just drag and drop from the Timeline.

As with other Ulead VideoStudio features, if you’ve already tried out this function, you know all you need to know. But of course there’s more...

Modifying a title

1. Click on a title on the Timeline. The selected clip will be surrounded by a broken line and two yellow handles.

2. With the pre-existing text in the Preview window, use the Style buttons to change your text.

3. Again, you can simply move to another step to finish, or click the Apply button. You can also use the Reset button make your text go back to its original state.

Step by step

Rolling & scrolling

One of the most common and effective techniques for presenting closing credits is the rolling or scrolling credits. With Ulead VideoStudio, this is simply a matter of specifying a direction and a duration for your text. After you have entered some text and inserted it onto the Timeline, click the title clip you have created and look at the Options panel.

Most of the Animation style buttons, the last twelve in fact, represent scrolling animations. It is a little difficult to explain in words, but not hard to understand.

For example, the button at left (A.) has a box with three arrows pointing down. This represents a title that starts off of the top of the screen, scrolls downward across the screen, and scrolls off the bottom.

The other button at left (B.) has two arrows, symbolizing motion that starts off screen on top, scrolls down, and ends in the middle of the screen. If you hold your mouse over a Title motion icon, a short pop up message briefly describing the motion appears.

But the best way to figure out what these really do is to select the effect and use the Preview window to see the results. As usual, you can see the results of your changes by grabbing and dragging the Preview handle beneath the Preview window.

The speed of scrolling is directly determined by the length of the clip: very slow title animations take longer to play. So if you need a scrolling title that lasts for less than a second, the speed of scrolling is going to necessarily be quite rapid.

Animating titles

1. Select a title on the Timeline or create a new one.

2. Click on the yellow Title motion button.

3. Select an Animation style from one of the preset choices.

4. Click the Apply button on the Options panel.

Possible title animation effects available on the Options panel.

Animation styles

Title motion button

Apply button.

Step by step

The default duration of a title clip is about three seconds, but you can adjust this to make it longer or shorter by dragging the handles on the title clip on the Timeline, or by entering a value in the Options panel.

Putting it all together

To create a long list of credits in a production, it is necessary to insert a series of title clips into the Timeline.

You’ll end up with a number of separate, sequential title clips on the Timeline. Try adding a small space between clips for a brief pause. Anyway you do it, test your titles to insure that they are readable in the final version of your movie (see page 51 for information about previewing parts of a movie).

Fading in & out

Another incredibly useful, easy, and effective method of displaying your titles is to fade your text in from invisible to crisp and clear and then back to invisible again. This works especially well for opening credits with a slow fade, or as captions with a quicker fade.

Cross fade title animation options.

Fading titles

1. Start by creating a new Title or click on an existing one.

2. Click on the yellow Title motion button.

3. Select the last button, the Cross fade button.

Extended credits

1. Start by creating one clip with multiple lines of text.

2. Drag a copy of the Title clip from the Timeline to the Library. This is

the easiest way to maintain consistency on each title’s attributes.

3. Drag title copies from the Library back to the Timeline to create new titles.

4. Modify the text in the copied title.

5. Now repeat this procedure until you have credited the whole gang.

Step by step

The importance of music in a video production cannot be overstated, and a running narration can be just as critical. Ulead VideoStudio has the tools to make sure your audio is top notch.

Like the other parts of VideoStudio, the audio tracks are activated by clicking on their respective Step on the menu at the top of the program interface, by clicking on the icons to the left of the track, or by double-clicking on the track itself. The upper audio track is the Voice track. This can be used to create a running narration of your movie. The lower audio track is the Music track, and can be used for background music. You can even use music from your favorites CDs.

Detail of the Timeline showing the two audio tracks with WA V file clips.

If you already have some audio files (including MP3 files) ready to be used in your movie, it is just a matter of clicking the Add media button and inserting the clip onto the Timeline. The Library can also be used to store your audio clips and dragging and dropping to and from the Timeline is effortless. Click the Load audio button at the top right of the Library panel to add audio clips.

Incidentally , the Ulead VideoStudio CD also comes with nearly one thousand audio clips ready for you to use. These clips are mostly short sound effects clips and can be very humorous when used in your movies, or can be used to create additional ambience.

Voice track

Music track

Voice & Music

Load audio button.

Add media button.

Step by step

V oiceover narration

Explaining exactly what is going on in your movie can really help your viewers understand and enjoy it better. This technique is often used in television documentaries and news stories.

The easiest method of recording a narration for a video is to record in short ten or fifteen second sessions. This allows you to prepare what you are going to say more easily and to quickly fix mistakes. When you have mispoken and recorded a bad clip, just select the clip on the Timeline and delete it. Some people are comfortable doing impromptu narrations, some people prefer just an outline, and others like to have the complete text of what they want to say written out beforehand. Don’t worry, this is still only the project and not the actual movie, so you still have a lot of room to experiment.

Narrating a movie

1. Use the Preview bar to move to the section of the video you want to narrate. Remember that you cannot record over an existing clip, so make sure none is selected by clicking on a blank section of the Voice track.

2. Select the Record with preview option and then click the Record button. A small lever meter appears.

3. When you speak into your microphone, the meter should light up. Use the Windows audio mixer to adjust the level of the microphone.

4. Click the Start button and begin speaking. Watch your video play in the Preview window to synchronize the narration with the action.

5. Click the Stop button (or press Esc) when you are finished recording.

Note:

Windows audio mixer can take any number of forms depending on your sound card. In general, it can be found by going to the Start menu in Windows 95, clicking the Program menu item, Accessories: Multimedia: Volume control. In Windows 98, substitute “Entertainment” for “Multimedia”. If a speaker icon is visible on your Windows taskbar, you can right-click on it and select Open audio controls.

Adjust Volume level meter.

Detail of Voiceover Options panel.

Stop button.

Step by step

Background music

The mood of your movie is determined as much by your video as it is by the background music you use. Whether you choose Classical, Country, or Chinese folk music, the decision is entirely up to you. The source of this music can be any CD in your collection.

To use the audio from a CD in your movie, you first have to record the music you want with your computer. This creates a WAV file, which is the digital audio data from your CD. Ulead VideoStudio now supports a number of addtional file formats, including MP3. MP3s are an exciting new way to share music over the Internet and there are thousands of songs availible for you to download.

After you have recorded a clip, the controls on the Options panel have changed somewhat. The top numbers now represent the total Duration of the inserted clip. As with other types of media clips, you can now trim the inserted music file to better fit your movie.

The Record button turns red when recording.

The Play button changes to the Stop button when playing a CD.

Detail from Options panel showing CD track information, the Record button and the Play button.

WA V file trim information.

Recording music from a CD

1. Insert the CD in your CD-ROM.

2. On the Options panel, select a Music track.

3. Select the track (song number) on the CD that you want to play.

Important: Many computers automatically play CDs when they are inserted. You must close all other CD players for this step to work properly.

4. Click the Play button to listen to the CD to find the section of the

song that you want to record. Remember that you cannot record over a WAV file on the Music track, so click on a blank portion of the track if the CD controls are unavailable.

5. Click the Record button when you are ready.

6. Click the Stop button (or press Esc) to insert the recorded clip

onto the Timeline.

Step by step

Working with background music

You can drag and drop audio clips to move them or add them to the Library. From the Timeline, a selected audio clip has two yellow handles that can be used for trimming. Again, just grab a handle and drag it to shorten a clip, either from the beginning or end.

T rim handles beneath the Preview window.

Duration

Displays and lets you change the duration of the WAV file.

Mark in/out

Shows trimming information about the clip.

Fade in/out

Gradually fades the beginning and/or ending volume of a clip.

Info

Click to display detail information about the clip.

Volume control

Sets the volume for the entire clip.

Apply

Click to apply trimming and volume changes to the selected clip.

Play button.

Trimming an audio clip

1. Select a clip by clicking on it in the Library or the Timeline.

2. Click and drag a Trim handle to set the trim position.

3. When you have selected the area you want to trim, click the Apply button.

4. You can selectively play only the trimmed portion of the clip by holding the Shift key and clicking the Play button.

Selected WA V file with T rim handles.

Step by step

Mixing it up

VideoStudio has two explicit sound tracks, one for voice and one for music. If you captured your video with sound, then in reality, you also have a third sound track that is included with the video file. This really gives you a lot of creative freedom. Vacation shots, scenery and nature videos, and movies of parties all lend themselves very well to music video style productions. Or you can combine this format with a voiceover. And when someone talks to the camera, you may want to eliminate the music all together for a short period of time. The key to making this all work smoothly is to control the volume of the various clips. This is done with the Options panel.

The control of your audio tracks is found on the Options panel. The panel shown below is actually from a video clip, but you will notice that it is the same as the audio clip Options panel. The first control is the volume control, expressed as a percentage of the original. Click

the control to select from a range of audio amplification options: 0 to 500% (where 100% is no change and 0% will completely silence the clip). If you want a

completely silent part, it is probably easiest to just delete the clip from one

of the audio tracks. This, however, is not the best way to eliminate the

audio part of a video clip on the Video track. Any changes made with

this control applies to the entire clip.

Ulead VideoStudio splits the audio into Voice and Music tracks for convenience as well as simple mixing, but you shouldn’t feel limited by this. You may have noticed that you can insert any sort of Windows audio file onto either track, regardless of the content. Music clips can go on the Voice track and vice versa.

Volume amplification control.

Audio controls for a video clip.

Step by step

Fade away

Background music that starts and stops suddenly can be distracting. If you record an entire song, this is probably not a problem since most songs have a beginning and ending. But, smooth transitions are a different matter if you only want to use a portion of a song. Ulead VideoStudio provides the tools necessary to seamlessly blend your music into the background.

Moving audio clips between tracks

1. To move an audio clip from the Music track to the Voice track, you first need to drag the clip to the Library.

2. Delete the clip you have just copied from the Music track.

3. Switch to the Voice track by double-clicking on it.

4. Drag the clip from the Library to the Voice track.

Volume control

Sets the volume for the entire length of a clip. Use this control to lower the volume of the audio on a video clip so that your voiceover narration can be clearly heard above the background.

Fade in

Slowly fade the volume of the first 30% of a clip from zero to 100%.

Fade out

Slowly fades the volume of the last 30% of a clip from 100% to zero. Active controls are yellow.

Detail from the audio clip Options panel.

Step by step

Finish

Currently, there is no single standard format for video on a PC. This is not an uncommon issue in the early days of any new technology. There are dozens of choices you need to make about the format of your final movie. Fortunately, in the case of digital video, choosing the wrong format costs you nothing. In this sometimes complicated section, we’re going to walk you through the universal procedure you need to follow to make a movie, talk about the various options you need to consider, and discuss the actual formats’ strengths and weaknesses.

The speed at which your computer renders, or creates, a movie can vary greatly depending on how complicated your project is, but it can take some time. Be patient and let your computer do its thing. You may even want to let your computer render really big projects overnight or while you’re at work.

Rendering a movie

1. Click the Finish step to display the Options

panel for making your actual movie file.

2. On the Options panel, click the Make movie button. The Save As dialog box appears.

3. Enter a File name for your movie and select a file format from the Save as type list.

4. Select a format that is the same as your captured clips’ format (*.AVI or *.MPG).

5. To start the rendering process, click the Save button.

Save As dialog box for making movies.

Make movie button.

Step by step

Rendering quick previews of parts of your project is invaluable in fine tuning effects, titles, and synchronizing audio in your projects. In the image above, you can see that the Preview range covers a bit before and after a transition effect. The resulting video file will accurately show how the transition will look in the final movie.

If you’ve gone through the process of creating a movie already, you know that rendering may take quite a while. Sometimes, it is hard to know how your project is going to work until it is actually rendered. Fortunately, Ulead VideoStudio lets you select a portion or range of your project to render as a preview video for just this reason.

Partial Rendering

1. Make sure that no clips are selected (a selected clip has a broken line around it). You can unselect a clip by clicking on the ruler at the top of the Timeline.

2. The green bar and Trim handles now act on the entire project. Use the handles to select a Preview range. You can tell that the Preview range is working on the entire project because a red line appears on the Timelime. This represents the range selected quite clearly.

3. Click the Make movie button on the Options panel.

4. In the resulting Save As dialog box, enter a file name and then click the Options button. On the first tab, Ulead VideoStudio, select Preview range instead of Entire project. (For more info on Video Save Options dialog box and recommendations, see page 54.)

5. Click OK to return to the Save As dialog box and then click the Save button.

Make movie button.

Video clip with selected preview area in red.

Putting a movie on the Web

After you have created a movie that is suitable for posting to the Internet, Ulead VideoStudio can assist you with the actual task of coding an HTML document.

Sending a movie by E-mail

When you select E-mail, Ulead VideoStudio automatically opens your default e-mail client and inserts the selected video clip into a new message as an attachment. As with regular e-mail, enter a recipient, a subject and a message and then send your message.

If you have problems getting this to work, get an error message about your e-mail not being set up correctly, or get a MAPI error, see the Ulead VideoStudio help file for assistance.

Your default browser now opens, showing you how your page looks. You can, of course, enhance this page by using your favorite HTML editor or even Windows NotePad. When you upload this page to your Web server, you need to change one line of code to reflect the relative links to the associated movie file:

<P ARAM NAME="FileName" VALUE="C:\My Project\my_movie.avi"> In this example of an ActiveMovie object, this line points to a local hard drive, so you need to

point it to its location on your Web site. You’ll also need to change the link if you don’t use the ActiveMovie control. ActiveMovie is a small plug-in for your Internet browser (standard with IE4.0), and your viewers will also need to have it installed. If you choose No, the page will be set up with a simple link to the movie.

Export video clip button.

Detail from Options panel.

Creating a Web page

1. Select a video clip. Make sure you have already rendered your movie file if you want to use a project.

2. Select Web Page from the drop down list on the Options panel.

3. Click the Export video clip button.

4. Choose whether you want to use an ActiveMovie control (See below for more information.).

5. Enter a name and location for the new HTML file.

6. Click OK when you are finished.

Creating a Greeting Card

1. Select a video clip by clicking on it.

2. Select Greeting Card from the drop down

menu.

3. Your video appears in a white box in the Mulitmedia Greeting Card dialog box. Select an image from the Background template panel.

4. Adjust the position and size of your video.

5. Enter a name for the card in the Greeting card file name box.

6. Click OK to create the card.

Electronic greeting cards

Multimedia greeting cards are an attractive way of sharing your video to friends. Instead of sending your video as a simple attachment in an e-mail, Ulead V ideoStudio automatically packages the movie into an executable (*.exe) file that automatically plays the video when the user runs it. In addition, the video is displayed in an appealing frame complete with a message. This procedure only works on finished, or rendered movies, and not on projects. You can select individual clips or render your movie to include the whole thing in a card.

The templates that are provided with Ulead VideoStudio are JPG image files. If you are artistically inclined, you can create your own templates in any graphics editor, or even use still frames captured from your movies. Search for images with the top Browse button in the Multimedia Greeting Card dialog box, and use the bottom one to select a location to save your card.

Multimedia Greeting Card dialog box.

Export video clip drop down menu.

Video Save Options and recommendations

If you click the Options button in a Save As dialog box, you’ll find a whole host of choices. Ulead VideoStudio uses default values based on your Project template. These settings may have been perfect for you, but it is still important to understand these variables.

General

If you have a sound track in your project, select Audio and Video for the Data track. Frame rates can be set anywhere between 15 and 30 frames per second. Higher frame rates mean high quality, but larger file sizes. Check your capture card manual for possible frame rate recommendation. For example, it is common to use 29.97fps for NTSC video going back out to a VCR in North America. As with Frame rate, a larger Frame size yields a larger file size. It’s best to try to render your video with the same frame rate and frame size as you captured. This results in the highest quality video and the quickest rendering times. In the Storyboard mode, select a clip and click the Info button to find these settings.

Ulead VideoStudio

If you only want to render a small portion of your movie, go back to the Storyboard step and create a Preview area (see page 47), then come back here and select Preview range. Otherwise, Entire project is selected by default.

For computer video, a Frame-based frame type is always fine. If you want to watch your movie right after rendering your project, select Play project after creating. You can, of course, play your movie with Windows media player at any time after rendering.

Video Save Options: Ulead VideoStudio.

Video Save Options: General.

Compression

This is where you choose the codec, or type of compression software, you’ll use to create your video. All digital video is compressed in some way, and the video clips you captured to your computer are already using some kind of codec. To maintain the highest possible quality and keep render times to a minimum, it is best to use the same codec to capture your video and to create your final movie. This information can be found by clicking the Storyboard step, selecting a captured clip, and clicking the Info button. Some video capture cards record “uncompressed” video, in which case you should select None as the compression type (this, however, will create a very large file).

Advanced

In this tab, you can specify the data rate of your video file by targeting a specific medium for play back. Data rate is calculated in kilobytes per second (Kb/Sec) of data that needs to move from your source (disk drive, CD-ROM, modem, etc.) through your computer. If you have a Target playback device in mind right now, select it from the list. You can set the Tolerance to let the data vary a little, otherwise Ulead V ideoStudio will stop and warn you if the data rate is too high. It may well be impossible to compress 640x480 30fps video down to a data rate of 150Kb/Sec, but this depends on your video (e.g. whether it has a lot of action) and how much quality you feel you can sacrifice.

Many codecs allow you to select the Quality of the output as a percentage. In some, you can set the Keyframe for every X frames; for now the default for the codec should be adequate, but lower numbers mean longer render times and higher quality. The Data type is usually set

Video Save Options: Advanced.

Video Save Options: Compression.

VCD

A VCD is simply a special version of a CD-ROM. The exciting thing about this format is that it can be read by most newer stand-alone DVD players, which are becoming very popular in the US.

The format used on a VCD is MPEG-1. The previous section explains how you can put a video file on a CD to play back on a computer. This file can be just about any format: AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, etc. When you want to create a VCD file, however, you need to create a special WhiteBook standard MPEG-1 file that has very technical specifications. Fortunately, creating such a file is easy with Ulead V ideoStudio.

Creating an MPEG-1 VCD

1. Open your project and go to the Finish step.

2. Click the Make Movie icon.

3. Select MPEG files *.mpg from the File type list.

4. Click the Options button.

5. Click the Compression tab.

5. From the Media type list, select NTSC VCD (or PAL VCD,

depending on your TV standard).

6. Click OK. Enter a name and click OK to render your movie.

MPEG-1 is a highly compressed format that maintains very good quality. Once the file is created, you have to use a special VCD creation program to write (burn) the CD on your CD writer. Simply follow the instructions for those programs to write your movie to the correct location on the CD. Keep in mind that the quality of the blank CD could be important and that not all stand-alone players can play VCDs created on your computer.

by default, and again, should match your captured clips. Audio compression can also be set, independent of the video compression. Data rates are listed, so you can easily see the impact on your completed movie. There is no point in choosing a higher quality audio setting than your original source audio files. And, like video, selecting the same audio compression as used in your highest quality audio clip (usually music) is your best option.

Creating MPEG movies

1. Click the Make Movie button.

2. Select MPEG Files (*.mpg).

3. Click the Options button.

4. Select the type of MPEG file you want to create.

5. Click OK.

6. Enter a File name for your MPEG movie and click OK.

MPEG-2 on a PC

The most exciting recent development is MPEG-2, which is used on DVDs and digital satellite television. MPEG-2 yields highly compressed files of extremely high quality. There are a couple things you should consider about this format.

First of all, MPEG-2 files can only be played back on your PC and only with the proper software player. In the future, it may be possible to create DVDs at home using this format, but that is not currently feasible. Secondly, because MPEG-2 is so powerful, it requires a fast CPU (or a dedicated MPEG-2 video card) not only to create the video files, but also to view them (a 450MHz CPU is a recommended minimum).

With that in mind, MPEG-2 is an excellent choice for any type of movie. Ulead VideoStudio lets you capture directly from your camcorder to the MPEG-2 format, perform frameaccurate editing, and then create a final movie in the same format. MPEG-2’s highly compressed nature means that you can fit about 16-20 minutes of video onto a CD-ROM. This is plenty of space for most home movies.

The following is a general procedure for creating any type of MPEG movie.

When you set up the MPEG options in step 4, click the Help button for information about the specific parameters. In the simplest scenario, you should select either MPEG-1 or MPEG-2.

DV - Digital Video

All movies on a computer are composed of ones and zeros and are therefore digital, but Digital Video with a capital “D” and a capital “V” stands for a

very specific format of video, just like VHS or High-8. This format can be understood (played back, recorded) by your camcorder. When you have the proper hardware (capture card) and software (DV codec), it can also be understood by your computer.

The most exciting thing about DV is that it can be copied from your camcorder to your computer, and then back to your camcorder (after editing, of course) without any loss of quality. While previous versions of Ulead VideoStudio supported even the very first DV products on the market, this latest version now offers comprehensive support for DV in all of its manifestations. This includes, but is not limited to, Type-1, Type-2, PAL, NTSC, and even the device control of your camcorder.

Recording a movie to your DV camcorder

1. Turn on your camcorder and set it to Play mode (or VTR

mode). See you camcorder’s manual for specific instructions.

2. Go to the Finish step.

3. From the Ouput options list, select your DV Recording device (for example: MS DV Recording).

4. Click the Export video clip button. The DV Recording - Preview Window opens. Click Next.

5. In the DV Recording - Record Window, click the DV record- ing button to begin the process.

The Ouput options list with the Export video clip button to the right.

The controls in the DV Recording - Record Window dialog box.

The Internet

The Internet is becoming an exciting new place to share your movies, but there are a few things you need to watch out for. A short three minute

vacation video can easily run 60MB and take many, many hours to down-

load. But if you are reasonable, you can put your movies on the Net just as easily as you place an image on a Web page. Effective use of video on the Internet requires that you understand that you necessarily must use very high compression ratios that result in very low quality movies. This means your movie should use a small window (320X240 or preferably smaller), low frame rate (15fps), and radio quality mono audio (8bit). Videos with a lot of motion or action are not well suited to this medium.

When you are ready to create your movie, the procedure is the same as any other method. Click the Finish step, click the Make Movie button, and then select the Options button. On the Compression options tab, select a codec. Cinepak and Indeo are good choices. Again, you have to consider that these videos are going to be played on someone else’s computer, so you need to use a popular codec found on many computers.

MPEG-1 (Moving Picture Coding Experts Group) is becoming the de-facto format for video and audio on the Web. It is currently used in millions of commercial Video CDs around the world and provides high compression ratios without loss of quality. This is an excellent choice not only for the Internet, but for all movies that you plan to play on your computer.

Streaming video is an exciting new method of displaying video on the Internet. This means that your video begins playing while your movie is still downloading. Some methods of streaming require special software, a special Internet server and can be expensive, but there are a number of alternatives appearing. Ulead VideoStudio allows you to compress your files using RealNetwork’s RealVideo file format (*.RM), Microsoft’s Advanced Streaming format (*.ASF) or Apple’s QuickTime format (*.QT). These formats also require your viewer to install the appropriate player, but all are widely available for download on the Internet. Excellent results can be achieved with any of these codecs.

Glossary

Analog

A signal that is not digital. Most VCRs, televisions and stereos are analog. Computers are digital, dealing in ones and zeros. Information from an analog source must be digitized to be used on a computer.

Capture

The recording of video or images to a computer hard disk.

Clip

A short section or part of a movie. A clip can be audio, video, still images or a title.

Codec

COmpress and DECompress. All video on a computer uses a special algorithm or program to process video. This program is called a codec.

Color Clip

A simple background color used in a movie. It is often used for titles and credits since they stand out clearly against the solid color.

Compression

Making a file smaller by removing redundant data. Nearly all digital video is compressed in some way or another. Compression is achieved through a codec.

Data Rate

The amount of data per second that is transferred from one part of your computer to another. In digital video, the data rate of your source is very important: CD-ROMs have lower data rates than hard disks. The data rate of the Internet is very low.

Digital

Computer data consisting of ones and zeros. Contrast digital information with analog.

Effect

In Ulead VideoStudio, an effect is a special computer generated transition between two video clips.

Frame

A single image in a movie.

Frame Rate

The number of frames per second in a video. NTSC video is commonly 29.97 frames per second (fps), but smaller video files can be created on the computer by using lower frame rates, like 15fps.

Library (Ulead VideoStudio)

The Library is the repository for all of your media clips. You can store video, audio, titles, or color clips in the Library and instantly retrieve them for use in a project.

Mark In/Out

Points in a clip that have been marked for editing and trimming purposes. A section can be selected from a longer clip by setting its beginning (Mark in) and ending (Mark out).

NLE

Non Linear Editing. Conventional editing on a VCR is necessarily linear because you must access clips on a video tape in order. Computer editing can be done in any order that is convenient.

NTSC/P AL

NTSC is the video standard in North America and some other places. Its frame rate is 29.97fps. P AL is common in Europe and Asia and has a frame rate of 30fps. There are other differences.

Plug-ins

Plug-ins are small utilities in a program that add special functions or effects. In Ulead Video Studio, there are a few output functions that let you send videos by e-mail, create Web pages or send multimedia greeting cards.

Render

Rendering is the process of making a finished movie from the source files in a project.

Source

The source or origin of your media, usually a camcorder or VCR. Audio CDs are great sources for music clips.

Storyboard

A storyboard is a visual representation of your movie. Individual clips are represented as image thumbnails on the timeline.

Streaming

This is a relatively new Internet technology that allows large files to be played as they are being downloaded. Streaming is commonly used for large video and audio files.

Timecode

The timecode of a video file is a numerical way of representing the position in a video. Timecodes can be used to make very accurate edits.

Timeline

The timeline is a graphic representation of your movie in chronological order. The relative size of clips on the timeline gives you an accurate idea of the length of your media clips.

Title

A title can be a movie title, a caption or credit. Any text overlays in your movie can be referred to as titles.

Transition effect

A transition is a method of sequencing between two video clips, like fading from one into another. In Ulead VideoStudio, there are a large variety of special transitions available, and they are called Effects.

Trim

The process of editing or cropping a movie clip. Computer video can be trimmed frame by frame.

Voiceover

The narration of a video or movie is commonly called the voiceover. This is most notable in documentaries, especially nature shows.

Index

ActiveMovie control 52 Add Effect 12 Add media 44 Adding a transition effect 15, 38 Adding an audio file 15 Adding media clips to the Library 21 Adding text 40 Advanced Streaming format 59 Animating titles 42 Animation style buttons 42 Apply button 41 Arrange step 12 Audio 14 audio clips 44

Background color 15 Background music 46 backgrounds 37 Breaking a clip into multiple files 35

camcorder 25 Capture 25 capturing 5 Capturing Digital Video 26 Capturing MPEG video 27 Capturing video 5, 25 Capturing video (Video Wizard) 11 CD 44 Clip navigation buttons 31 closing credits 40, 42 codec 55 Color clips 37 color library 37 Compression 55

Create step 16 Creating a Greeting Card 53, 56, 57 Creating a movie file 16 Creating a new project 24 Creating a new template 24 Creating a Web page 52 Creating MPEG movies 57 Creating multiple versions of a clip 34 Creating opening credits 15 Cross fade 43 Ctrl+Z 33

Data rate 55 Deleting media clips to the Library 21 Digital Video 9 digital video 4 duration 41 DV 7, 9, 26, 58 DV Recording 58 DVD 57 DVD quality movies 7

E-mail 52 effect 14 Effects step 38 events 28 Export video clip 52 Extended credits 43

F6 33 Fade away 49 Fading in & out 43 Fading titles 43 Finish 50 Fit project in window button 29 Frame rates 54 Frame size 54

Get Video 10 Global command 31 Glossary 61 green bar 32

Handle 32, 34, 35, 47

image clips 36 image library 36, 37 Insert 21 Insert image 36, 37 Inserting a color clip 37 Inserting an image clip 32, 36 Installing Ulead VideoStudio 8 interface 18

jump cuts 38

Library 21, 34 license 2 Load Audio button 44 Load clip button 21 Load image button 36

Make movie button. 50, 51 Map of Ulead VideoStudio 18 Mark in /out 13, 32, 33 media clips 21, 28 Mixing it up 48 modes 28 Modifying a title 41 Moving audio clips between tracks 49 MP3 44, 46 MP3 audio files 7

MPEG 7, 27 MPEG-1 56 MPEG-2 7, 57 Music & Voice 44 Music track 44, 46

Narrating a movie 45 narration 44 New 7

opening and closing credits 40 Options panel 30 Out of Memory 31

Partial Rendering 51 play only the trimmed 32, 47 Play project 31 Play step 17 Playing back a video file 17 Preview files manager 31 Preview range 51 Previewing 31 Project 10 project file 6, 16, 24 Project template 54

Quick Time 59

RealVideo 59 Record 25 Recording a movie to your DV

camcorder 58 Recording music from a CD 46 rendering 16, 24, 31 Rendering a movie 50 Reset button 41

Rolling & scrolling 42 ruler scale 33 ruler units 29

Scroll bar 33 scrolling animations 42 scrolling credits 42 Select a clip 33, 34 Sending a movie by E-mail 52 Setting up DV device control 9 Setting up DV support 9 SmartRender 31 Software license 2 solid colored backgrounds 37 Start step 10, 24 Step by step 4, 22 store your title clips 41 Storyboard 28 Streaming video 59 switch 28 Switching to different tracks 30

Template 24 temporary files 31 The Internet 59 The Library 21 tiles 5 timeline 28 Timeline mode 29 Title 14, 40 Title motion button 42, 43 Title safe area 40 Tracks 6, 30 Transition effects 14, 38 Trim 13, 32 trim handle 33, 36 Trimming a clip 13 Trimming a clip

from the Timeline 33, 34

Trimming a clip

using the Trim bar 32, 47

Trimming a clip

with the Options panel 34

Trimming an audio clip 47

Ulead VideoStudio project 31 Ulead VideoStudio 4, 7 Ulead VideoStudio CD 44 undo 33 Using still images 36 UVP 10

VCD 56 video capture hardware 25 video project 17 Video Save Options 54 Video Wizard 10 Voice track 44 Voiceover narration 6, 45 VSP 16, 24, 31

Web Page 52 Whats New? 7

yellow Trim handles 33

Zoom controls 29, 33

Ulead PYRO1394DV, VIDEO STUDIO 4.0, VIDEOSTUDIO 4.0 - 10-1999, VIDEOSTUDIO 4 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

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User Manual