Ulead VIDEOSTUDIO 5 User Manual

User Guide Ulead Systems, Inc. November 2000

First English edition for Ulead VideoStudio version 5.0, November 2000.

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

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.

North & South America: International:

Ulead Systems Inc. Ulead Systems, Inc.

http://www.ulead.com http://www.ulead.com E-mail: info@ulead.com http://www.uleadasia.com

http://www.ulead.com.tw E-mail: info@ulead.com.tw

Europe: Japan:

Ulead Systems GmbH Ulead Systems, Inc.

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

Table of Contents

The big picture ....................................................................................................................................... 4

An introduction to Digital Video ................................................................................................................. 4

An introduction to MPEG ........................................................................................................................... 5

How VideoStudio works ............................................................................................................................ 6

Whats New? .......................................................................................................................................... 8

Hardware checkup before using VideoStudio ..................................................................................... 10

Installation and DV configuration .......................................................................................................12

Getting around Ulead VideoStudio ...................................................................................................... 14

The Library ............................................................................................................................................ 18

Steps to create your movie .................................................................................................................. 20

Glossary ............................................................................................................................................... 68

Index ....................................................................................................................................................70

Library Manager ......................................................................................................................... 19

Start ...................................................................................................................................................... 22

Capture ................................................................................................................................................. 24

Checklist for successful video capture ..........................................................................................24

Capturing MPEG video ................................................................................................................ 26

Split by scene ............................................................................................................................ 27

Capturing still images ................................................................................................................. 27

Video file size in Windows ........................................................................................................... 27

Batch capture ............................................................................................................................ 28

Storyboard ............................................................................................................................................. 30

Storyboard mode ....................................................................................................................... 30

Timeline mode ........................................................................................................................... 31

The Tracks ................................................................................................................................. 31

The Options panel ...................................................................................................................... 32

The Play project button .............................................................................................................. 32

Working with clips ...................................................................................................................... 34

Using image clips ....................................................................................................................... 38

Capturing still images in the Storyboard step ............................................................................... 39

Using color clips ......................................................................................................................... 39

Using video filters ....................................................................................................................... 40

Effects ................................................................................................................................................... 42

Transition magic ......................................................................................................................... 43

Title ...................................................................................................................................................... 44

Rolling & scrolling ....................................................................................................................... 46

Fading in & out .......................................................................................................................... 47

Putting it all together .................................................................................................................. 48

Using video or image clips as titles .............................................................................................. 48

Voice & Music ........................................................................................................................................ 50

Voiceover narration .................................................................................................................... 51

Background music ...................................................................................................................... 52

Working with background music .................................................................................................. 53

Mixing it up ................................................................................................................................ 54

Fade away ................................................................................................................................. 55

Finish .................................................................................................................................................... 56

Sending a movie by E-mail .......................................................................................................... 58

Putting a movie on the Web ........................................................................................................ 58

Electronic greeting cards ............................................................................................................. 59

Make Movie Manager .................................................................................................................. 60

Projects, templates & video save options ..................................................................................... 61

MPEG-1 file for VCD ................................................................................................................... 63

MPEG-2 file for DVD ................................................................................................................... 64

Recording back to DV camcorder ................................................................................................. 65

The Internet .............................................................................................................................. 66

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

The big picture

Editing video in computers used to be dominated by professionals only. Nowadays, with the introduction to video editing software programs such as Ulead VideoStudio, editing video in your computer is easy and fun, even if you’re new to the digital video world!

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 (DV)?

The viewing area of the DV is big in 720x480 pixels, with more than 500 horizontal resolution and PCM 16 / 12 -bit stereo sound. For the DV camcorders themselves, they are usually compact and lightweight. In addition, the tiny DV tape is easy to carry, and its digital record and playback format, are superior to analog ones such as High-8, 8mm, S-VHS and VHS. What’s more, capturing DV data into your computer or recording back to your DV camcorder is simple through the IEEE 1394 (also known as FireWire or i.LINK) interface card, in a purely digital form without loss of quality. No wonder DV has taken the world by storm, becoming the format of choice for enthusiasts.

DV camcorders

That’s why Ulead VideoStudio fully supports DV editing. You can even control your camcorder with Ulead VideoStudio and the mouse! (See page 13 for details on setting up VideoStudio.)

Video storage media

THE BIG PICTURE

Yet, what about those long existing analog camcorders, tapes, as well as other analog video sources like TV and VCR? VideoStudio doesn’t leave them behind. Through an analog video capture card, you can still capture, edit and record your video in VideoStudio.

An introduction to MPEG

Another recent development is MPEG. Ulead VideoStudio gives you the power to edit MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 movies with amazing frame-accurate technology. The wide availability of CD-Recordable (CD-R) allows anyone to create their own Video CD (VCD). Ulead VideoStudio lets you create WhiteBook standard MPEG-1 (Video CD 2.0) movies that are ready to be written to a VCD.

Ulead VideoStudio

Ulead VideoStudio also allows you to create amazing DVD quality movies using the MPEG-2 format, which is also used in the upcoming digital television era. Start by capturing MPEG-2 video straight from your camcorder (depending on your video capture card’s capabilities, see page 26), then trim and edit your movie with frame accuracy. Finally, take advantage of DVD quality (see page 64) to create your final MPEG-2 movie.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

How VideoStudio works

VideoStudio 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. What’s more, editing your video on the computer offers the ease of mouse clicks, drag and drop operations, as well as cut and paste operations. VideoStudio also offers more than a hundred transition effects, professional titling capabilities and simple soundtrack creation tools. Learn in seconds, create in minutes.

Getting video off your camera and onto your PC’s hard drive is the first step in creating digital video. This process is known as capturing video. You will also need a video 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.

Ulead VideoStudio workspace

A 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.

A video clip

THE BIG PICTURE

Putting a transition effect between clips is as easy as select and apply. Adding Title with customized text titles or even video clips. And with a few more clicks, you can animate your titles to scroll or fade.

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 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.

All of the tracks in your movie are organized into a video project file. This project file (*.VSP) contains all of the information about how your movie is put together, including all video and audio files made within VideoStudio. Yet, the project file itself 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 at your designated location. This process is called rendering.

Transition effect and title

Voiceover and music

A movie clip sample

So just follow along in Ulead VideoStudio’s step-by-step path. 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?”

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Whats New?

Find out the latest features and enhancements in VideoStudio and take advantage of them right away!

• Reusable template from a video file - When you’re opening a new project, you can directly

take the settings from an existing video file such as an AVI or an MPEG file. This avoids the hassles about getting the right settings, and helps to maintain the same quality of the movies you make.

• Automatic plug-and-play capture device detection - Whenever you change to a capture

device source that uses Microsoft DirectShow driver (applicable to most DV camcorders), VideoStudio instantly detects it as a new capture plug-in. So, you don’ t have to change the plug-in manually, as well as close and reopen VideoStudio.

• Fast batch video capture - If you need to capture a number of sections from a DV tape, this

feature is your best choice. All you need is to set the Mark in and Mark out points for all the sections you want, and capture them all at once!

• Scene change detection for video capture - Breaks a video file (DV formatted AVI only)

into several clips automatically whenever there is a recording date and time change. This helps you better manage your video, because in many cases the scene change is the beginning of another theme on your DV tape.

• Seamless capture - If you’re using Windows 98, Me or 2000, capturing DV is no longer

limited to maximum 4 GB at a time. Once the size of a captured DV has reached 4 GB, VideoStudio automatically continues the capture process by saving the captured video to another file. So, no matter how long your video is, capturing is a one-time process.

• Customized library folders - Lets you create personal folders in libraries for managing files.

• Next generation processor compliant - Supports improved multimedia capabilities such as

digital video decoding and encoding, if your computer uses the Intel’s next generation processor (Williamette CPU).

• Powerful video filters - Besides the effects to be inserted between video clips, VideoStudio

now provides video filters that can be applied to clips themselves directly. These filters change the appearance or style of clips, giving you more varieties in presenting the clips.

• Enhanced titles - In VideoStudio, the Title step is no longer limited to plain text only. You

can also place video or image files into your movie. These inserted files can even have transparent background, or blend with the original video clip in a special moving path. For normal text titles, shadows and borders are now included to give you more choices in changing text appearance.

• Better streaming video support - Creates a movie that uses the latest streaming video

technologies, including the Streaming RealVideo (*.rm) and the Streaming Windows Media (*.wmv). These formats replace the previously known active streaming format (*.asf or *.asx), and help to maintain uninterrupted transmission of video files over networks such as the Internet.

WHAT’S NEW?

• Convenient right-click menu - Provides quick access to commands such as copy, paste,

delete and properties when you right-click a video clip, title, or audio track. The rightclicking commands are available in both Storyboard and Timeline modes, as well as the libraries.

• Improved workspace - Provides better organized program appearance when the screen uses

high resolution: 1024 x 768. Under this mode, you can see more thumbnails in the library at the same time for your convenience.

• Make Movie Manager - Displays a customized list of video file format templates. You then,

don’t need to spend time in setting options every time you make a movie.

• Flexible project settings - Once you have set the properties of a project, you can still change

them later at any time. This gives you worry-free flexibility whenever you need to make property changes.

• Mark in / out during playback - Now you can directly set the beginning or the ending point even when a video clip is being played. To do so, just click the Set mark in / out buttons or the F3 / F4 key respectively to trim a video right away.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Hardware checkup before using

VideoStudio

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 (also known as FireWire or i.LINK) interface card, and consult your camcorder’s manual for the proper hardware installation procedures. This is crucial as correct hardware settings are a must to ensure VideoStudio runs properly in your computer, especially if you’re using a DV camcorder and an IEEE 1394 card. So, find out which operating system (O/S) you’re using and then go to the Control Panel: Systems - Device Manager from your O/S. Here you need to check if all the listed devices below have been properly installed.

Windows 95

VideoStudio does not support Windows 95. Please upgrade to a newer Windows version like Windows 98 Second Edition or Windows Me.

Windows 98

If you’re using the first edition of Windows 98, it can detect the installed IEEE 1394 card. But, it works with Texas Instruments DV driver only. What’s more, this version of Windows does not come with this driver. So, you need to find it first. For example, usually you can get it from the drivers (if bundled) that come with the IEEE 1394 card. Below is the checklist:

• 1394 Bus Controller

• Sound, video and game controllers: 1394 camcorder (This device appears only when the DV camcorder is on, and it’s connected to the computer through the IEEE 1394 card.)

If you are using Windows 98 Second Edition, it fully supports the IEEE 1394 card and comes with the Microsoft DV driver. Yet, you can still use the Texas Instruments DV driver. Check if you have the following devices:

• 1394 Bus Controller

• Image Device: Microsoft DV Camera and VCR (For Microsoft DV driver only . This device appears only when the DV camcorder is on, and it’s connected to the computer through the IEEE 1394 card.)

• Sound, video and game controllers: 1394 camcorder (For T exas Instruments DV driver only. This device appears only when the DV camcorder is on, and it’s connected to the computer through the IEEE 1394 card.)

HARDWARE CHECKUP BEFORE USING VIDEOSTUDIO

A device list on the Device Manager in the Systems Properties dialog box, Windows 98 Second Edition

Settings tab after clicking the Properties button when a hard drive is selected. Access this from Control Panel: System - Device Manager.

Windows Millennium Edition (Me)

Windows Me fully supports the IEEE 1394 card with the following devices detected:

• 1394 Bus Controller

• 61883 Device Class

• AVC Device Class

• (Brand name) DV Camcorder: The brand name depends on the DV camcorder connected to the IEEE interface card. (This device appears only when the DV camcorder is on, and it’s connected to the computer through the IEEE 1394 card.)

Windows NT 4.X and 2000

Windows NT 4.X does not support IEEE 1394 card. For Windows 2000, it fully supports the IEEE 1394 card with the same devices as detected in Windows 98 Second Edition. (See the illustration above or the previous page for the checklist.)

Notes:

• In Windows 98 and Me, please select the DMA option in the Device Manager: Disk drive: Settings

tab. In Windows 2000, the DMA option is hidden but it’s always enabled. DMA avoids possible drop frame problems later when you are capturing video.

• In addition to commonly used Texas Instruments and Microsoft DV drivers, there are other drivers

available. Consult your camcorder’s manual for suitable drivers.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Installation and DV configuration

Installing Ulead VideoStudio:

1 Place the Ulead VideoStudio CD into

your CD-ROM drive.

2 When the Setup screen appears, follow

the instructions to install Ulead VideoStudio 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.

Please also install the following applications, because they are very important in making digital video work well on your computer. The installation program will walk you through installing:

Ulead VideoStudio installation screen

• QuickTime

• Windows Media Format

• RealPlayer

• Acrobat Reader

Running Ulead VideoStudio:

• Double-click the Ulead V ideoStudio icon

on your Windows desktop. OR

• Select the Ulead V ideoStudio icon from

the Ulead VideoStudio program group on the Windows Start menu.

Running Ulead VideoStudio from Windows Start menu

INSTALLATION AND DV CONFIGURATION

Setting up Ulead VideoStudio for DV:

1 Connect your camcorder to your IEEE

1394 capture card.

2 Insert your video tape into the camcorder

and turn it on. Make sure it is in the playback mode (usually named VTR or VCR). See your camcorder’s manual for specific instructions.

Note:

When your camcorder is in the record mode (usually named CAMERA or MOVIE), you can still capture real-time video directly in VideoStudio, even if there’s no video tape inserted.

3 Run Ulead VideoStudio. 4 Click the Global commands button and

select Change Capture Plug-in.

5 Select the appropriate DV Capture Plug-

in. Though this varies depending on your hardware, the most commonly used one is Ulead DirectShow Capture Plug-in.

6 Click the Global commands button and

make sure the detected device is listed. This is located below Change Capture Plug-in with a black bulleted mark in front.

You also need to set up how Ulead VideoStudio will control your camcorder through the IEEE 1394 interface. The appropriate settings depend on your particular capture card.

Setting up DV device control:

1 Click the Global commands button and

click Select Device Control.

2 Select from the Current device list. For

example, if the detected device is Microsoft DV Camera and VCR, please select MS 1394 Device Control. Similarly, if the device is DVcam Capture (T exas Instruments driver), select TI 1394 Device Control.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Getting around Ulead VideoStudio

The Ulead VideoStudio 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.

Options panel

Contains controls, buttons, and other information.

Preview window

Shows the current clip, video filter, effect, or title.

Folder button

Click to switch between various library folders.

Load media button

Click to add video or audio 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.

Track buttons

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

Trim bar

Used for trimming, editing, and cropping video clips.

Example of T oolT ips

Zoom controls

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

GETTING AROUND VIDEOSTUDIO

T oolTips

While moving the mouse over a button or object, you can see a balloon that pops up with the name of the item.

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.

Insert media button

Displays a menu allowing you to place video, audio or image

Switch mode

Toggles viewing mode between Storyboard and Timeline.

clips directly on the project.

Time units

Represents the timing of clips in hours : minutes, seconds, and milliseconds

Clip navigator

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

Project scroll controls

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

Continued...

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Global commands button

This button pops up a menu that contains many useful tools such as online Help and preferences. You can also setup device control and capture plug-in from here.

Clip navigation buttons

These can be used to move around a project or a selected clip. See next page for details.

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, simply click Redo.

Context sensitive help

This button activates the Context sensitive help feature. After you click on it, your cursor changes to a question mark. Move over an object in the program and click again.

Global commands popup menu

Trash can

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

GETTING AROUND VIDEOSTUDIO

Moves to the point right after the present one of a project, clip, or selected area.

Moves to the preceding point of a project, clip, or selected area.

Home

Moves to the starting point of a project, clip, or selected area.

End

Moves to the ending point of a project, clip, or selected area.

Repeat

Plays a project, clip, or selected area continuously.

Play project / Stop

Click to render (create) your project. Once the project is rendered, click this button to play the project. Holding the Shift key down while clicking, rendering or playback is based on the selected duration (between Mark in and Mark out) on the Trim bar. To cancel the rendering process, press the Esc key. Or, click it again to stop the playback.

V olume

Click and drag the slider to adjust the volume of a clip’s audio output or music. This adjusts the volume of your speakers at the same time.

Play / Play clip / Stop

Click to play a DV tape, or a selected video or audio clip. Note that holding the Shift key while clicking the button, playback is based on the selected duration (between Mark in and Mark out) on the Trim bar. During playback, click this button again to stop.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

The Library

The Library is a storage depot for everything you need to create a movie: video clips, video filters, 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.

Adding media clips to the Library:

1 Click the Load media 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.

The type of clip that can be inserted depends on which step you are working on (such as 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.

Load media 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.

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.

Note:

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

Trash can

Deleting thumbnail dialog box (Source file will not be deleted.)

Deleting source file dialog box (Source file will be deleted.)

GETTING AROUND VIDEOSTUDIO

You can also right-click any clip in the Library to open the quick menu for viewing clip properties as well as copy, paste, or delete. While holding the Ctrl or the Shift key, you can also click various clips for multiple file selection.

Library Manager

The Library Manager organizes your custom Library folders. These folders help you manage and store all kinds of media files.

Using the Library Manager:

1 Select Library Manager by clicking the

Global commands button, or the downarrow button in the Library area.

2 Select a media type from the A vailable

custom folder list.

The down-arrow button

3 Depending on how you want to work on

these folders, click New, Edit, or Delete accordingly. Select a specific folder from the box below, when at least two custom folders exist.

4 Click Close.

Library Manager dialog box

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Steps to create your movie

Ulead VideoStudio 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. Click a step item on the menu bar to move directly between steps. The step you are currently in is highlighted in green.

It’s not necessary to work through every step every time, but these steps can serve as a guide to creating a complete movie. These 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 (*.VSP) 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

The Start step is for creating a new project file or opening an existing one. This is the very first and required step whenever you want to work in VideoStudio. See page 22.

Capture

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. Video filters can also be added to create unique appearances of video clips. See page 30.

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 42.

STEPS TO CREA TE YOUR MOVIE

Title

No movie would be complete without opening and closing titles. Not only can you use text in any Windows True Type font, color and size, but you can add video or image clips. This gives you the power to animate them just like the pros. See page 44.

Voice & Music

Steps 6 and 7 deal with audio. Background music is probably one of the most important factors determining the mood or feel of your movie. Add ambiance with tunes from your favorite CDs or record a voiceover narration to effectively clarify important parts of your video. See page 50.

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 56.

Notes:

• When moving between steps, Ulead VideoStudio Guide - a real-time online Help - appears to give you quick reference and tips. You can decide whether to show it in the Preferences dialog box (by pressing the F6 key).

• Since video rendering usually requires a large hard drive space, use the Preview tab on the Preferences dialog box to assign proper space and folders in the hard drive(s). Do this before opening a project in VideoStudio to ensure enough space for rendering and previewing.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

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 such as 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 VideoStudio. The actual process of creating a movie from a project file is called rendering.

Creating a new project:

1 Click the New project button. 2 Enter a Project name, and choose a

folder Location on your hard drive. The project name later will be used to create a subfolder under this location.

3 Select a template from Available project

templates (including all templates you created previously, see next page for details). Select the one that most closely matches the type of movie you want to create.

4 Click OK.

Opening an existing project:

1 Click the Open project button. 2 Select the project file (*.VSP) you want

to open. If you are not sure where the file is, use the Browse button and then click the Scan button. This finds all *.VSP files under your assigned folder or drive.

3 Click Open.

Note:

A fast way of opening an existing project

is to use the Recent file list. Just move the mouse over the project to want, and then click it to open. However, VideoStudio cannot open a project if it was moved or removed.

Open dialog box

Browse dialog box

START

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 page 61.

Creating a new template:

1 Click the Global commands button. 2 Select Templates Manager from the

menu.

3 Click New. Here, enter a name for your

template and select a file format.

4 Set up the details of the template. (See

page 61 for details.)

5 Click OK.

Note:

Templates Manager also allows you to

modify templates. To do so, select from Available movie templates and click the Edit button.

Tip:

Press the Ctrl+ S keys to quickly save your project from time to time in VideoStudio. This

ensures that all project settings and file links are always up-to-date.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

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.

Checklist for successful video 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 except Windows Explorer and Ulead VideoStudio. Also, disable Screen Saver to avoid possible interruption during capturing.

• Best results can be achieved by using a dedicated video hard drive, preferably with the capabilities of at least Ultra-DMA/66, 7200 rpm and more than 30 GB space.

• For better manipulation of batch capture (details on page 28) and camcorder device control, correct timecode on the DV tape is a must. To do this, before actually shooting your video, use the standard playback (SP) mode and shooting a blank video (for example, leaving the lens cover on while recording) without interruption from start to end of a tape.

Capture audio

Captures original audio tracks from your source to your hard disk.

Capture to Library

Captured video is placed into both the workspace and the video library.

Split by scene

Automatically separate captured video into several clips whenever there is an obvious scene / frame change.

Video menu

Displays a menu allowing you to modify your capture settings.

Switch mode

Toggles between Capture mode and Playback mode for instant previews.

Options page controls

Click to toggle between Capture Settings (Page 1) and Batch Capture (Page 2). The middle number indicates the current page number.

Capture video

Records video from your source to your hard disk.

Capture image

Captures a single frame as a still image from your source to your hard disk.

Capture duration

Sets the length of time for the capture.

Captured frames

The total number of captured video frames.

Dropped frames

The total number of lost video frames while capturing.

CAPTURE

Capturing video (analog capture card with audio / video jacks or S-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.

Tips:

• The Capture menu item is grayed out or unavailable in the Playback mode. Yet, in the Capture mode if you still encounter the same situation, check whether your video capture hardware is correctly installed.

• In step 3, a confirmation dialog box appears. Click OK to start actual capture process.

• Delay of capture might occur due to the prompt of confirmation dialog box or the connection between hardware. To avoid this delay, clear the option “Enable press OK to capture” on the Capture tab in the Preferences dialog box. Also, rewind your video tape to an earlier point and then start capturing. Remember that you can always trim the video later in VideoStudio.

• The normal number of dropped frames is zero. If there’s any dropped frame, check if the DMA setting is enabled. See page 11 for details.

Confirmation dialog box

Capturing DV video:

1 Turn on your camcorder and set it to Play

(or VTR / VCR) mode. See your camcorder’s manual for specific instructions.

2 Run Ulead VideoStudio. Then, open a

project and go to the Capture step.

3 Correctly setup the DV plug-in on the

Global commands menu, and then click the Play button in Ulead VideoStudio.

4 When you get to the part of the video you

want to record, click the Capture video button in Ulead VideoStudio.

5 Click the Capture video button again (or

press the Esc key) to stop recording.

Note:

For setting up DV plug-in, see page 13

for details.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Tip:

When you connect a new video device (such as a DV camcorder) that uses Microsoft DirectShow

driver to your computer, VideoStudio detects it automatically with a confirmation dialog box asking you if you want to use the newly detected device. Just click OK to accept the change, without the need to restart VideoStudio.

Capturing MPEG video

Capturing video directly from your camcorder straight to MPEG is one of the most exciting developments in computer video. Ulead VideoStudio gives you the flexibility to choose MPEG-1 or MPEG-2, depending on your needs. MPEG-1 is usually recommended for older computers or people who want to create VCDs. For MPEG-2, it is more suitable for those with faster computers or people who want excellent DVD quality.

Notes:

• This feature is only available if the analog video capture card supports RGB 24 or YUV capture. (Please see the manual for your capture card.) Once you have configured your hardware and software, you can capture video using the standard procedures described on the preceding pages.

• IEEE 1394 interface card does not support MPEG video capture.

Setting up MPEG capture:

1 Connect your camcorder to the capture

card.

2 Turn on your camcorder and set it to Play

(or VTR / VCR) mode). See your camcorder’s manual for specific instructions.

3 Run Ulead VideoStudio. 4 Click the Global commands button and

select Change Capture Plug-in.

5 Select Ulead MPEG DirectShow

Capture Plug-in (or Ulead MPEG VFW Capture Plug-in).

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. (See page 25 for details.)

CAPTURE

Split by scene

This divides a captured video file (DV formatted AVI only) into several video clips based on the recording date and time change between video sessions. A video session is a period of video which is filmed continuously. The feature is very useful when you have lots of video sessions recorded on the same DV tape at different times and you want to separate them into different clips. To do so, select Split by scene on the Options panel, and then start capturing (see page 25).

Once a video is captured, the Scenes & Recording Cuts dialog box appears where you can preview, check, combine or split all video sessions. Once you’re done, click OK.

Notes:

•

Though the captured video is separated into several clips in VideoStudio, there is only one captured video file on the hard drive. To actually divide the video into several files, go to the Storyboard step and save each clip as an individual video file.

•

You can also split an existing video file (DV formatted AVI only). Simply load it from the hard drive into the Library. Then, right-click the thumbnail and select Split by scene.

Capturing still images

In addition to video, VideoStudio also allows you to capture still images. Simply follow the procedure for DV video, but in step 4, press the Capture image button on the Options panel instead

Capture image button

whenever you see a frame you want. For details, see page 39.

Video file size in Windows

Windows operating systems have some limitations of video file length when capturing and rendering. Since VideoStudio runs on Windows, the same situation is therefore unavoidable. So, when you need to capture or render a very long video, do this several times and note the following limitations of a file size.

• For all Windows systems (except Windows 2000 with NTFS formatted partition in hard drive) while the DirectShow driver is used, the maximum captured or rendered file size is 4 GB.

• For all Windows systems (with analog capture cards) while the VFW (Video for Windows) driver is used, the maximum captured file size is 2 GB.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Batch capture

Overburdened by a lot of stuff to capture from your DV tape? You can get peace of mind through VideoStudio’s Batch capture. This new feature captures all the video clips you want in just one click and saves your time considerably. To do so, simply keep watching the video. At any time, press the F3 key as the Mark in point and then the F4 key as Mark out. Repeat press F3 and F4 as many times as you like, as long as you feel you want to capture a particular section on the DV tape.

Note:

Batch capture can be achieved only when you’re using a DV tape and the IEEE 1394 card for

computer connection.

Options page controls

Click to toggle between Capture Settings (Page 1) and Batch Capture (Page 2). The middle number indicates the current page number.

Start batch capturing from the Tasks list

Captures the listed tasks all at once.

Play all or only selected tasks

Edit the tape’s name

You can give the tasks to be captured a name. Once they’re saved to video formatted files, it’s easy to trace them later.

Tasks list

Displays all the tasks you created in the timecode format. Click to select a task. Multiple selection can be made just as you would in Windows Explorer.

Cut the selected task(s)

Deletes the selected task(s).

Clear all tasks

Deletes all tasks on the list.

Modify a task

Changes the timecode of either the starting or the ending point.

Previews the selected tasks before capturing.

Mark in a new task

Uses the current frame you saw as the starting point of a task.

Mark out a new task

Uses the current frame you saw as the ending point of a task.

CAPTURE

Using Batch capture:

1 Turn on your camcorder and set it to

Play (or VTR / VCR) mode. See your camcorder’s manual for specific instructions.

2 Run Ulead VideoStudio. Then, open a

project and go to the Capture step.

3 On the Options panel, click the right-

arrow button (or the middle button and select Batch Capture). This moves to the 2nd page on the Options panel for Batch capture.

4 Click the Play button in Ulead

V ideoStudio.

5 When you get to the part of the video

you want to record, click the Mark in a

new task button (F3). Click the Mark out a new task button (F4) to end the

task.

6 Keep watching the video, and then

repeat step 4 as needed.

7 If you feel these tasks are what you want,

click the Start batch capturing from the Tasks list button. Otherwise, adjust the tasks by using modification buttons. (You can also directly double-clicking a task, and then enter new timecode.) Once you are done, click the capturing button.

8 Batch capture starts based on all or

selected (if any) tasks. The process stops when the last task is captured. A report appears also for your reference.

Note:

It is up to you whether to click the Stop button before starting Batch capture. Yet, if you need to

modify some tasks, clicking the Stop button first helps VideoStudio find tasks to be captured earlier.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Storyboard

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

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

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

Timeline mode allows frame accurate editing of individual clips.

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 the Storyboard mode, some people prefer to switch to the 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 (based on frame and timecode relationship) 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’re starting from scratch, you can drag clips from the Library and simply drop them on the Timeline.

Storyboard mode

You may find that starting out in the 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.

STORYBOARD

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 35 for more information on trimming.

Timeline mode

When Ulead VideoStudio is in the 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 to 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. You 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.

Zoom control buttons

Storyboard mode

Selected clip

Transition effect

Fit project in window button

Timeline mode

Ruler units

The Tracks

The Timeline is divided horizontally into four tracks. The Video (including filters & effects), Title, Voice, and Music tracks all correspond to the Ulead VideoStudio steps of the same

name.

Switching to different tracks:

Video

• Click the Step menu item on the top that corresponds to the track.

• Click the track, the clip, or the icon located to the left of each track you want to work on.

Title Voiceover

Music

The tracks

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

The Options panel

Ulead VideoStudio offers different controls on 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.

Video duration

Video mark in / out

Displays the starting / ending point of a video clip (after trimming).

Displays the length of time of the clip. Click a digit or an arrow button for modification.

Volume

Click the arrow or enter digits directly to adjust volume.

Save current frame as a new image file

Saves the currently selected frame to an image file in the Library.

Save selection as a new video file

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

Clip properties

Click to display specific information about a clip.

Cut video clip

Deletes a selected video clip.

Reset

Sets all values back to defaults.

Set mark in / out

Trims and sets the starting / ending point of a clip during playback.

Fade in / out

Gradually increases / decreases the volume between zero and full.

Export video clip

Saves a selected video clip based on the chosen method in Output options.

Output options

Click the arrow to select a method for sharing your movie with others. See page 58 for details.

Apply changes

Applies new settings made on the Options panel to the selected clip.

Any changes that you have made on the Options panel are applied to the clip when you click the Apply changes 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 the Ctrl+Z key.

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. (See page 17 for a specific description of each button.)

STORYBOARD

A Ulead VideoStudio 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.

Clip navigation buttons, with the Play project button circled

Rendering is easy, but it can take some time. Fortunately, Ulead VideoStudio offers SmartRender technology, which 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 menu. By efficiently allocating disk space for temporary files, you don’t need to worry about “Out of Memory” error messages.

However, the space in your hard drive reduces as the number of temporary files increases. From time to time, you need to delete these temporary preview files of the current project to speed up rendering or previewing. To do so, use Preview Files Manager on the Global commands menu.

Global commands menu

Preview Files Manager dialog box

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 VideoStudio 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 important sections. 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 keyboard while clicking the Play project button. For details on partial rendering, see page 57.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

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.

Trimming a clip with the Trim bar:

1 Select a clip from the Timeline or the

Library.

2 Click and drag a T rim handle to set the

trim position.

3 When you’ve selected the area you want

to trim, click the Apply changes button.

4 You can selectively play only the

trimmed portion of the clip by holding the Shift key and clicking the Play clip 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 Video mark in / out figures on the Options panel to monitor your trimming. The Mark in / out points can also be set by pressing the F3 and F4 key, respectively.

•

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

Video mark in / out area

Inserting a video clip onto the Timeline:

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

• T o insert a clip directly to the Timeline, click the Insert media button, located to the left of the Timeline.

Insert media button

STORYBOARD

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.

Zoom buttons

Trim handles

Scroll bar

Trimming a video clip that has been inserted onto the Timeline

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 Video mark in / out displays

on the Options panel to numerically monitor your trimming.

5 Other clips in your project automatically

Note:

reposition themselves according to your edits.

The time unit on the ruler scale changes accordingly when the view is adjusted by Zoom controls.

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. A wheel mouse can also 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 the Ctrl+Z keys. You can set up the levels of undo by pressing the F6 key to open the Preferences dialog box.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Trimming a clip with the Options panel:

Video duration

Displays and sets the length of time of the clip.

1 Select a clip on the Timeline or in the

Library.

2 Click the time in the Video duration

box. For example, click the seconds (“), and the numbers begin blinking.

Arrow buttons

Use these to fine tune your trimming.

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 changes button.

Note:

Changes made in the Video duration box

only affect the Mark out point. The Mark in point remains unchanged.

Reset

Sets all values back to defaults.

Apply changes button

Applies new settings made on the Options panel to the selected clip.

Video mark in / out

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

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 it does not take up any more disk space since you still have only one video file saved on the hard disk.

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 changes button. 4 Reinsert the original clip into the Library

by clicking the Load video button. So, currently there are two versions of a single clip in the Library. Repeat steps 1 to 4 to create more versions as needed.

Note:

In step 1, if you want to use an existing

clip in the current project, drag a clip from the Timeline into the Library first.

STORYBOARD

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 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 checking the Options panel or the Trim bar. Once the clip is trimmed, you can rename the thumbnail in the Library to avoid confusion between the trimmed and the original. (See detail on renaming in the notes below.)

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

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.

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 VideoStudio gives you a margin of safety in that it saves the trimmed video to a new file and does not alter the original file. You can press the Delete key or drag the thumbnail to remove it from the Library, or even remove the original file to recover disk space when you are sure of your changes.

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 Save selection as a new video

file button.

4 You now have two different physical

video files on your hard disk, the original file (such as SOURCE.AVI), and a trimmed copy (such as SOURCE-1.AVI).

Notes:

•

To rename a thumbnail, click on the name of the thumbnail and modify it in the same way as you would in Windows Explorer.

•

Dragging a clip from the Timeline to the Trash only removes the thumbnail. The original video file on the hard disk is not affected.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Using image clips

While Ulead VideoStudio 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.

Inserting an image clip:

1 Switch to the Image Library by clicking

the list and selecting Image.

2 Click an image in the folder, or 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.

Load image button

This button changes depending on the type of Library folder.

Once an image is on the Timeline, you can set it to any time span you like by dragging its Trim handles, or by entering a duration in the Image duration box on the Options panel.

Still images provide excellent backgrounds for title sequences. 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 like Ulead PhotoImpact, or have Ulead VideoStudio do it for you when the movie is created.

Note:

Since VideoStudio automatically resizes the still image based on the current project settings,

possible image distortion might occur if the original image has to be resized considerably. To improve this situation, try to adjust the image to the 4:3 ratio (same as TV screen) in an image editor and save it to another file. Then, load it to VideoStudio.

Trim handles

Information about an image clip

STORYBOARD

Capturing still images in the Storyboard step

Though capturing still images is available in the Capture step (see page 27), you might want to do it in the Storyboard step. This is because you can, in the Storyboard step, move to a specific frame precisely. It also avoids possible undesired vibrating effects as the video keeps running when still images are captured in the Capture step.

Capturing still images:

1 Select a clip in your project. 2 Drag the Preview bar to a single frame

you want to capture.

3 Switch to an image folder in the Library.

The folder can be the default Image folder, or the one created by yourself.

4 Click the Save current frame as a new

image file button on the Options panel. The new image file is saved in the hard disk and is represented as a thumbnail under the image folder you assigned.

Note:

The still image format can be BMP or

JPEG, and the size is the same as its source video clip. To choose a file format to save, press the F6 key and go to the Capture tab in the Preferences dialog box.

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.

Inserting a color clip:

1 Switch to the Color Library by clicking

the list and selecting Color.

2 Click a color in the folder, or the Load

color button to choose another one.

3 Set a Duration and click OK.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

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

Once a color 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. See page 44 for more details.

Using video filters

Video filters are effects which you can apply to video clips in order to change their style or appearance. For example, you can improve the color balance of a clip, or make the video look like a painting. Filters are applied over each frame in a clip. By specifying the different start and end values, you can control the intensity and speed of a filter as it moves from the first frame to the last.

Inserting a video filter:

1 From the Library list, select Video Filter

folder.

2 Click the video filter you want. 3 Click the Advanced options button for

filter customization. (Before this, click a specific thumbnail on the Options panel if you want to do detailed customization later.) Available options depend on the filter selected.

4 Click the Add to timeline button. 5 Move the mouse over the video clip you

want to apply the filter and click it.

STORYBOARD

Shift up / down video filter buttons

Example of a dialog box after clicking the Advanced options button

Add to timeline button

Advanced options button

Notes:

•

VideoStudio allows you to apply a maximum of five filters to a single video clip.

•

When there is more than one video filter applied to a video clip, you can change the order of filters by clicking the Shift up / down video filter buttons. Yet, the order change affects the whole appearance or style of the video clip.

•

Advanced options can be made to the first frame and the last only in a video clip. So, drag the slider to either of these two points for adjustments.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Effects

Transition effects 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.

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 between two video clips.

4 Drop your effect and it will snap into

place.

Note:

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

Drag and drop transition effects right onto the Storyboard or Timeline mode

EFFECTS

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 on 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.

Border size and color

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

Duration

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

Transition effects direction

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

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.

Add to timeline / Apply changes

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.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Title

While a picture may be worth a thousand words, there is no doubt that clarifying titles or credits like 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 titles in minutes.

Adding a text title:

1 From the Title step, use the Clip

navigation buttons below the Preview

window, or directly drag the Preview bar to scroll through your movie.

2 When you see the frame where you

would like your title to appear, click the Create or edit Title clip button or directly click the Preview window. Remember that you cannot create a new title over an existing title clip.

3 T ype in your title in the Preview window

and customize it as you would in an ordinary word processor. All settings are available on the Options panel. (See page 45 for details.)

4 When you are finished, click the Add to

timeline button. Repeat steps 1 to 4 by moving to a different frame to enter a new text title as needed.

Preview bar

Create or edit Title clip button

Clip navigation buttons

Add to timeline button

Notes:

•

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

•

When entering text, you can press the Backspace key to correct mistakes and press the Enter key to start a new line. Move around the text with the arrow keys as needed. To change the attributes of text, first highlight the text by selecting it with your mouse and then make revisions.

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

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

TITLE

VideoStudio improves the Options panel with new features like border, transparency and shadow. Simply use these settings to design the look of the current selected title. Note that available options might be different, depending on the title preset you choose.

Option page 1: General

Depending on the option you choose, it can apply to the whole text title, or part of it.

Create or edit title clip

Click to begin making or modifying a title clip.

Font face

Selects any True Type font installed on your computer.

Options page controls

Click to toggle between three option pages: General, Transparency, and Shadow.

Line spacing

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

Font size

Sets the size of the text in points.

Font style

Bold, italic and underline.

Motion style button

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

Reset

Reverts to original settings.

Option page 2: Transparency

Each option here applies to the whole text title.

Border width

Sets the extent of the border around each character in a text title.

Transparency

Sets how visible the title is over your video.

Color

Sets the color of the selected text.

Alignment

Left, center or right justification.

Duration

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

Apply changes

Applies new settings to the title clip.

Border color

Sets the border color of the whole text title.

Soft edge

Sets how smoothly a text title blends into the video clip.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Option page 3: Shadow

Each option here applies to the whole text title.

Shadow styles

Determines the shadow type. Available detailed settings vary depending on the shadow style you choose.

Transparency

Sets how visible the shadow is over your video.

Modifying a text title:

1 Click a title clip on the Timeline. The

selected clip will be surrounded by a broken line and two yellow handles.

2 Click the Create or edit title clip button,

or directly click the Preview window to change the text.

3 Again, you can simply move to another

step to finish, or click the Apply changes button. You can also use the Reset button make the text change back to its original state.

Create or edit title clip button

Shadow color

Sets the shadow color.

Intensity

Sets the extent of the shadow.

Soft edge

Sets how smoothly the shadow blends into the video clip.

Reset and Apply changes buttons

Note:

Once a title clip has been inserted onto the Timeline, you can adjust its duration by either clicking and dragging on the handles, or entering a duration value on the Options panel. To see what the title looks like in the Preview window, use 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 it from the Timeline to the Library.

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 check the Options panel.

TITLE

Animating a text title:

1 Select a text title on the Timeline or

create a new one.

2 On the first page of the Options panel,

Motion style button

click the yellow Motion style button.

3 Select a motion style from one of the

preset choices.

4 Click the Apply changes button.

Text title animation effects on the Options panel

Most of the motion 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 has a box with three arrows pointing down. This represents a title that starts off the top of the screen, scrolls downward across the screen, and scrolls off the bottom.

A brief description of each motion style is also available in a pop up message format when moving the mouse over a motion style button.

But the best way to figure out what these really do is to select the effect, and then click Play clip button to see the result in the Preview window. You can also use the Preview window to see the results of your changes by grabbing and dragging the yellow Preview bar 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.

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.

Fading titles:

1 Select a text title on the Timeline or

create a new one.

2 On the first page of the Options panel,

click the yellow Motion style button.

3 Click one of the three buttons for fading.

Buttons for fading

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

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.

Creating 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

Note:

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 Repeat this procedure until you have

credited the whole gang.

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 ensure that they are readable in the final version of your movie. (See page 57 for information about previewing parts of a movie)

Using video or image clips as titles

In addition to text titles, VideoStudio provides a new feature that adds video or image clips as titles. This new feature is particularly useful when this video or image file has a transparent background. So, the object in the video or image file does not just blend smoothly into the background. More importantly, you can simply design a custom-made video or image title in dedicated editors like Ulead COOL 3D 3.0 and Ulead PhotoImpact 6.0 first, and then import it to VideoStudio as a title.

Notes:

•

For a video title with a transparent background, currently VideoStudio only accepts the AVI format with a 32-bit RGB data type created in Ulead COOL 3D 3.0.

•

For an image title with a transparent background, the accepted format is PNG, PSD, and TIF. For example, to do it in Ulead PhotoImpact 6.0, create an irregular shape selection first. Then, save it as one of the above mentioned format with the option “Save Selection” activated.

Video Save Options dialog box in Ulead COOL 3D 3.0

Save As dialog box in Ulead PhotoImpact 6.0

TITLE

Also, VideoStudio adds a new versatile moving path option that animates a video or image title in a way of your choice. The way to use the option is the same as the one for text titles. Below is the introduction to all the options (including moving path) that apply to both video and image titles.

Option page 1: General (Video)

See page 32 for details.

Option page 2: Motion (Video and Image)

Option page 1: General (Image)

Note:

As VideoStudio automatically resizes an image clip to the 4:3 ratio, it’s better to create an image at this ratio beforehand to avoid possible undesired distortion.

Moving style

Determines the way a video or image title moves. Move the mouse over each icon for its ToolTips with specific description.

Zoom ratio

Sets the degree of magnification for a video or image title.

Anchor position

Determines the location of a video or image title within its underlying video or image clip.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Voice & Music

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.

Voice track

Detail of the Timeline showing the two audio tracks with WAV file clips

Insert media files button

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 Insert media files 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 several 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.

Music track

Load audio button

VOICE & MUSIC

Voiceover 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.

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.

Detail of Voiceover on the Options panel

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. W atch your video play in the Preview window to synchronize the narration with the action.

5 Click the Stop button (or press the Esc

key) when you are finished recording.

Adjust Volume level meter

Note:

Before narration in VideoStudio, check the audio settings in Windows. For example, in Windows 98, go to the Start menu and then click Programs: Accessories - Entertainment - Volume control. Please click Options: Properties and then select Recording. In the volume controls list that appears below, select the MIC option and then click OK. Here in the MIC Balance area, make sure the Select option is checked and the microphone volume level is adjusted to your desired level.

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.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

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 additional file formats, including MP3. MP3s are an exciting new way to share music over the Internet and there are thousands of songs available for you to download.

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

CD track information on the Options panel

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

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

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 the Esc

The Record button turns red when recording.

key) to insert the recorded clip onto the Timeline.

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.

WAV file trim information

VOICE & MUSIC

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.

Duration

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

Volume

Sets the volume for the entire clip.

Selected WAV file with Trim handles

Mark in / out

Shows trimming information about the clip.

Fade in / out

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

Clip properties

Click to display detail information about the clip.

Trimming an audio clip:

1 Select a clip by clicking on it in the

Library or the Timeline.

2 Click and drag a T rim handle to set the

trim position.

3 When you have selected the area you

want to trim, click the Apply changes button.

4 You can selectively play only the

trimmed portion of the clip by holding the Shift key and clicking the Play button.

Apply changes

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

Trim handles beneath the Preview window

Apply changes button

Play button

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

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 on the 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.

Audio controls for a video clip

Volume amplification control

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.

VOICE & MUSIC

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.

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.

Fade in

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

Volume

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 out

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

Detail of an audio clip on the Options panel

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

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.

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 a

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.

5 To start the rendering process, click the

Save button.

Make a movie button

Save As dialog box for making movies

The speed at which your computer renders or creates a movie can vary greatly, depending on how complicated your project is, which occasionally takes 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.

Notes:

• Once a movie is rendered, an associated thumbnail will be displayed in the Library.

• If you’re using an IEEE 1394 interface card, the maximum file size of a rendered movie is 4 GB. Yet, Microsoft Windows 2000 with a hard drive using NTFS formatted partition can go beyond that limitation.

• If you’re using an analog video capture card, the maximum file size of a rendered movie is 2 GB.

Tip:

To minimize rendering time, use the same video file format settings for source video files (including captured video files and inserted ones), project, and movie template. The second-best method is to have the same settings for source video files and project. The second method at least saves the rendering time whenever you use the Play project button for previewing before actually making a movie.

FINISH

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.

Rendering partially:

1 Make sure that no clips are selected (a

selected clip has a broken line around it). You can deselect 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

Video clip with selected preview area in red

on the Timeline. This represents the range selected quite clearly. (Another way of selecting a preview range is to drag the yellow triangle along the red line. Then, press F3 and F4 respectively for starting and ending points.

3 Click the Make a 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 61.)

5 Click OK to return to the Save As dialog

box and then click the Save button.

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.

Note:

Another way to preview parts of your project is to click the Play project button while holding the

Shift key, even if you’re not in the Finish step. The selected range will be rendered and then played in

the Preview window. This method creates a temporary video file under the folder you assigned in the Preferences dialog box for preview files location. Please deleted them from time to time by selecting Global commands: Preview Files Manager, so as to free up hard drive space.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

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 the HTML document.

Creating a Web page:

1 Select a video clip from the Library. If

you want to use a project, make sure you

have already rendered it using the Make

a movie button.

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

Note:

HTML file.

6 Click OK when you are finished.

In step 1, you can go to the Storyboard step, and then select a video clip from either the Timeline or the Storyboard mode.

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:

<PARAM 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 are not using the ActiveMovie control. ActiveMovie is a small plug-in for your Internet browser (standard with IE 4.0 or above), 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.

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, use the Ulead VideoStudio online Help and enter Email as the search keyword on the Index tab for assistance.

FINISH

Electronic greeting cards

Multimedia greeting cards are an attractive way of sharing your video to friends and relatives. Instead of sending the video as a simple attachment in an e-mail, Ulead VideoStudio packs the movie into an executable (*.exe) file that automatically plays the video as soon as the user runs it. In addition, the video is displayed in a background image of your choice. 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.

Creating a greeting card:

1 Select a video clip. 2 Select Greeting Card from the drop

down list, and then click the Export video clip button.

3 Your video appears in a bounding box in

the Multimedia Greeting Card dialog box. Select an image from the Background template by doubleclicking it.

4 Move the mouse over the thumbnail, and

drag it to adjust the position. Another way is to enter X and Y axis values. You can also resize the image using the black controls around the thumbnail, or enter Width and Height values directly.

5 Enter a file name for the card in the

Greeting card file entry box.

6 Click OK to create the card.

Multimedia Greeting Card dialog box

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 Browse button next to the Background template file name entry box.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Make Movie Manager

The Make Movie Manager lets you create, modify, or delete movie templates. With movie templates ready, making a movie is simple because all you have to do is choose a template you like without taking the risk of improper settings.

Using the Make Movie Manager:

1 Click the Global commands button, and

then select Make Movie Manager.

2 Select a media type from the A vailable

movie templates list.

3 Select a template, and then click New,

Edit, or Delete accordingly. (Depending on how you want to work on these templates.)

4 Click Close.

Note:

If you do not want to use a movie template, select Custom in step 2. Here you can freely choose a file format and its options.

Using a movie template:

1 Go to the Finish step, and then click the

Make a movie button.

2 Select a template from the list that

appears. Available choices depend on the number of templates created previously.

3 Move to the folder you want to save the

movie, and then enter a file name.

4 Click Save.

FINISH

Projects, templates & video save options

Since project properties, project / make movie templates, and video save options share mostly the same settings, this section gives you an overall introduction to video file save options and suggestions. Project properties determine the video settings in your project, while make movie template and video save options save your movie in different formats at your choice.

• Project (template) properties: Access it any time by clicking the Global commands button and select Project Properties (or Templates Manager / Make Movie Manager and then choose a template). Next, click the Edit button.

• Video save options: In the Finish step, click the Make a movie button. Next, click the Options button. (If you have movie templates ready , click Custom first.) The default values are based on your project properties (template). You can customize them, but watch out for possible incompatibility problems if values are not properly set.

Note:

Available settings depend on the type of file format you choose. The following settings are for

Microsoft AVI files only. Click the Help button for specific instructions whenever in the dialog box.

Ulead VideoStudio

If you only want to render a small portion of your movie, create a Preview area, and then come back here to 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 after creating. You can, of course, play your movie with Windows media player at any time after rendering.

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

Video Save Options: Ulead VideoStudio

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

common to use 29.97 fps 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 when captured. This results in the highest quality video and the quickest rendering times. In the Storyboard mode, select a clip and click the Clip properties button to find out about these settings.

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 VideoStudio will stop and warn you if the data rate is too high. It may well be impossible to compress 640x480 30 fps video down to a data rate of 150 Kb/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.

Video Save Options: General

Video Save Options: Advanced

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

FINISH

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 Clip properties 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).

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 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.

Video Save Options: Compression examples using different codecs

MPEG-1 file for 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 CD-ROMs, VCD players, or even DVD players.

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 VideoStudio.

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Creating an MPEG-1 file:

1 Open your project and go to the Finish

step.

2 Click the Make a movie icon. 3 From the Media type list, select NTSC

VCD (or PAL VCD, depending on your TV standard).

4 Enter a name and click Save 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.

MPEG-2 file for DVD

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 and Digital Video files are of the same video resolution. NTSC MPEG-2 (DVD) is 720x480 pixels, while PAL MPEG-2 (DVD) is 720x576 pixels. This fairly large resolution implies that the MPEG-2 file size is much bigger than MPEG-1’s.

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 frame-accurate editing, and then create a final movie in the same format. You can further use a special DVD authoring tool to create a DVD that can be played directly on a home DVD player or the DVDROM on your PC.

FINISH

Creating an MPEG-2 file:

1 Open your project and go to the Finish

step.

2 Click the Make a movie icon. 3 From the Media type list, select NTSC

DVD (or PAL DVD, depending on your TV standard).

4 Enter a name and click Save to render

your movie.

Recording back to DV camcorder

All movies on a computer are composed of ones and zeros and are therefore digital, but Digital Video with uppercase for both “D” and “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. Ulead VideoStudio offers comprehensive support for DV in all of its manifestations on the market. 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 / VCR mode). See your camcorder’s manual for specific instructions.

2 Select a compatible DV formatted AVI

file from the Library. If you want to use a project, make sure you have already rendered it using the Make a movie button.

Note:

To check if a video clip is a DV formatted AVI file, right-click its associated thumbnail in the

Library, and then select Clip properties. (See the above illustrations.)

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

3 Go to the Finish step. 4 From the Output options list, select your

DV Recording device (for example: MS DV Recording).

5 Click the Export video clip button. The

DV Recording - Preview Window

dialog box opens. Click Next.

6 In the DV Recording - Record Window

dialog box, click the DV recording button to begin the process.

7 Click Finish.

DV Recording button

DV Recording - Record Window dialog boxDV Recording - Preview Window dialog box

Note:

Before recording a video file back to your DV camcorder, make sure the video is saved with the correct codec. For example, the codec DV Video Encoder - Type 1 usually works well for most NTSC DV camcorders. You can select it from the Compression tab in the Video Save Options 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 60 MB and take many hours to download. But at reasonable file size, 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 very high compression ratios that usually result in very low quality movies. This means your

FINISH

movie should use a small window (320x240 or preferably smaller), low frame rate (15 fps), and radio quality mono audio (8 bit). 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 a 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 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 (*.WMV, previously named *.ASF or *.ASX) 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

ULEAD VIDEOSTUDIO USER GUIDE

Analog

A signal that is not digital. Most VCRs, radio/ television broadcasting, AV in/out, S-VIDEO, 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.

Driver

A software program that controls the connection between a specific device and a computer.

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 15 fps (not suitable for VCD or DVD).

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).

MP3

Abbreviation of MPEG Audio Layer-3. MP3 is an audio compression technology that produces near CD audio quality at a very small file size, making it transfer quickly over the Internet.

MPEG-1

A standard for video and audio compression used in many products like VCD. For NTSC, its video resolution is 352x240 pixels at 29.97 fps. For PAL, it works at 352x288 pixels at 25 fps.

MPEG-2

A subset of MPEG-1. It’s a standard for video and audio compression used in products like DVD. For NTSC DVD, its video resolution is 720x480 pixels at

29.97 fps. For PAL DVD, it works at 720x576 pixels at 25 fps.

GLOSSARY

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/PAL

NTSC is the video standard in North America, Japan, Taiwan, and some other regions. Its frame rate is 29.97 fps. PAL is common in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China, Thailand, and some other Asian places, which has a frame rate of 25 fps. There are other differences. In the world of DV and DVD, NTSC has the video resolution of 720x480 pixels, while PAL has 720x576 pixels.

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.

Project File

In VideoStudio, a project file (*.VSP) contains the required information to link all associated image, audio, and video files. You need to open a project file first before starting video-editing in VideoStudio.

Render

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

Smart Rendering

SmartRender technology renders only project changes, eliminating the need to re-render whole projects and enabling fast previewing.

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.

Template

A work pattern in a software program. It includes predefined formats and settings to save user’s efforts and reduce risks of making mistakes.

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, image, or video file that 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.

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.

Video Filters

A video filter is a method of changing the appearance of a video clip, like mosaic and ripple.

Voiceover

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

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Index

ActiveMovie control 58

Adding text title 44

Adding transition 42

Advanced Streaming format 67

analog capture 25

Animating text title 47

Apply button 46

audio clips 50

Background music 52

background music 7

backgrounds 39

Batch capture 28

Breaking clip 37

camcorder 25

Capture 20, 24

capture card 25

capture still images 27

capturing 6

capturing DV 25

capturing MPEG video 26

capturing still images in the Storyboard step 39

capturing video 6

CD 50

Clip navigation buttons 33

Clip navigator 15

closing credits 44, 46

codec 62

color clips 39

color library 39

Compression 62

Ctrl+Z 35

data rate 62

delay of capture 25

deleting media clips 18

deleting source files 18

device control 13

Digital Video 10

dropped frames 25

duration 46

DV 4, 10

DV Recording 66

DVD 64

DVD quality movies 5

E-mail 58

Effects 20, 42

entire project 61

existing project 22

Export video clip 58, 59

extended credits 48

F6 35

Fade away 55

Fade in / out 47, 53

Fading titles 47

Finish 21, 56

FireWire 4

Fit in window 31

Fit project in window button 31

Frame rates 61

Frame size 62

Frame-based frame type 61

Getting Ulead VideoStudio 14

Global commands button 16, 33

greeting cards 59

handle 34, 36, 37, 53

i.LINK 4

IEEE 1394 card 4, 10, 28, 56

image clips 38, 39

image library 38, 39

Insert 18, 19, 60

Insert image 38, 39

Insert media button 15, 34

Inserting color clip 39

Inserting image clip 38

Inserting video clip 34

Inserting video filter 40

Installing Ulead VideoStudio 12

interface 14

Internet 66

INDEX

jump cuts 42

Library 14, 18, 36

Library Manager 19

license 2

Load audio button 50

Load clip button 18

Load media button 14

Make a movie button 56

Make Movie Manager 60

Mark in 28

Mark in /out 34, 35

Mark out 28

maximum file size 56

media clips 18, 30

Mixing it up 54

modes 30

modifying text title 46

movie template 60

moving clips between tracks 55

moving path 49

MP3 50, 52

MPEG 5, 26

MPEG-1 63

MPEG-2 5, 64

multiple versions of a single clip 36

music 21, 50

music track 50, 52

Narrating movie 51

narration 50

new project 22

new template 23

opening and closing credits 44

Options panel 14, 32

Out of Memory 33

PCM 4

Play project 33

Play project button 32

Preferences dialog box 21

Preview Files Manager 33, 57

Preview range 57, 61

Preview window 14

project file 7, 22

Quick Time 67

RealVideo 67

record 25

recording movie to your DV camcorder 65

recording music from a CD 52

rendered 33

rendering 7, 22

rendering movie 56

rendering partially 57

Reset button 46

right-click menu 9

rolling & scrolling 46

ruler scale 35

ruler units 31

running Ulead VideoStudio 12

Scroll bar 35

scrolling animations 47

scrolling credits 46

seamless capture 8

Select a clip 35, 36

Sending a movie by E-mail 58

setting up MPEG capture 26

Shadow 46

SmartRender 33

Soft edge 43, 45

Software license 2

solid colored backgrounds 39

sound tracks 54

Split scene 27

Start 20, 22

Start step 22

step by step 6

store your title clips 46

Storyboard 20, 30

Storyboard mode 30

Streaming video 67

successful capture 24

Switch mode 15, 30

Switching to different tracks 31

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Templates Manager 23

temporary files 33

timecode 24

Timeline mode 31

Title 7, 21, 44

Title button 44

Title motion button 47

Title safe area 44

Tolerance 62

Tracks 31

tracks 7

transition effect 7

Transparency 45

transparent background 48

trim 34

Trim handle 15, 35, 38, 57

Trimming audio clip 53

Trimming clip from the Timeline 35

Trimming clip with the Options panel 36

Trimming clip with the Trim bar 34

Ulead VideoStudio project 33

undo 35

Using still images 38, 39

yellow Trim handles 35

Zoom controls 15, 31, 35

VCD 63

video capture hardware 25

video clip 6

video filters 8, 40

video or image title 48

VideoStudio CD 50

Voice 21, 50

Voice track 50

Voiceover narration 51

voiceover narration 7

Volume 17

Web page 58

Windows 56

Windows 4.X, NT and 2000 11

Windows limitations 27

Ulead VIDEOSTUDIO 5 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

The big picture

An introduction to Digital Video

An introduction to MPEG

How VideoStudio works

Installation and DV configuration

Getting around Ulead VideoStudio

The Library

Library Manager

Steps to create your movie

Start

Capture

Checklist for successful video capture

Capturing MPEG video

Split by scene

Capturing still images

Video file size in Windows

Batch capture

Storyboard

Storyboard mode

Timeline mode

The Tracks

The Options panel

The Play project button

Working with clips

Using image clips

Capturing still images in the Storyboard step

Using color clips

Using video filters

Effects

Transition magic

Title

Rolling & scrolling

Fading in & out

Putting it all together

Using video or image clips as titles

Voice & Music

Voiceover narration

Background music

Working with background music

Mixing it up

Fade away

Finish

Putting a movie on the Web

Sending a movie by E-mail

Electronic greeting cards

Make Movie Manager

Projects, templates & video save options

MPEG-1 file for VCD

MPEG-2 file for DVD

Recording back to DV camcorder

The Internet

Glossary

Index