Hi Larry,

You don't have to use Color Boards....By fefault the background is set to Black....So anything that you place on the timeline....video clips and objects will all fade to black when using any of the transitions. Just place the transition at the end of each clip. I have attached a screenshot to show you what I mean.

If you want your objects to fade to another color, then that would be an apportunity to use a Color Board....I use a White Color Board frequently for Wedding Videos.

I hope I am understanding your question correctly. Let us know if I didn't address your question.

Regards,

Kevin
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Oh, great. I just tried it and it worked. I did a fade at the end of one object and the start of another object which caused a fade-out and in effect. I wish there was a way to repeat it for all objects, so I can do it once and replicate it throughout each object in my timeline. If I dropped 50 pictures on my track, I would have to add this 50 times.

I also noticed I couldn't find a way to change the duration of each object to a certain time. If I wanted to change the duration time to 3 but wanted to replicate it to all objects, I couldn't. True? With Magix, I could change the duration and it would allow me to apply to all objects.

Last question, why have multiple video tracks? You can't play them at the same time and they are linear. So, why not have just 1 linear track?

I use two other editors and they both offer the transition of fading to black before fading back to the next image. PD does not offer that. It's a featire that it is usually an exception rather than the rule that one would want to do. A longer transition period between segments may work well, leaving the black colour board for special effects at the beginning and end of chapters. Win 10, i7

I read that you can use a color board but I found it difficult to add a black board, then add a fade transition to the start and end of the black board. I tried but still can't get it correct.

This was necessary through version 8, but PD9 made it much easier to do. __________________________________
CORNBLOSSOM

Multiple video tracks are used to get "Picture in Picture (PIP)" effect. PD9 has 100 tracks. You can create a video wall PC specs :
OS Windows 10.0 Pro
MB - AS rock Z77 extreme 11
Intel 3770K @ 4.0 Ghz OC
Gskill 32 GB RAM 1800 Mhz
6 TB HDD, SSD bootable
nVidia ASUS GTX 660 Ti
BenQ 22" LCD monitor 1920x1080

Just a couple of other things that might help:

I know you want it to fade to black inbetween every picture. But if you do want to place a transition inbetween all of your pictures...Simply place all your pictures on the timeline.....Open the Transition room...Select the "Library Button" and you will see various choices..."Apply Fading Transition to All" "Apply Random Transition to All" This helps reduce the number of steps.

I also noticed I couldn't find a way to change the duration of each object to a certain time.

I don't know if you have explored the preference settings...select the button at the top of the open application on the far right of the buttons available..."Set User Preferences". If you open up your preferences, then select the Editing tab...you will see various time durations that you can set BEFORE you start your project. This way you can set the durations to what you like and maybe that will help speed things along. It's worth exploring the different preference settings.

On a related note....If you have 50 pictures on the timeline and they are currently set to 5 seconds each and you want to change the duration to 6 seconds for all.....Simply highlight the first picture in the series(single left click)...hold down the SHIFT key.....and then select the last picture in the series. The DURATION button will apppear above the timeline and you can then select this button and then enter in the new value.

Regards,

Kevin
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PD and other editors are non-linear and in a recent project i used 24 tracks - PD9 handled the task brilliantly.

OK, on the issue of the track itself, it isn't "black" it is zero/nothing a volume of empty space which has a varying degree of opacity.

Example:
Open PD.
Place the nature.mpg in Track 2 twice, abutted to each other.
Place a transition, Flip Down as a Crossover between them - it will work with Overlap also.
Now play through the video at the transition point.
A black backdrop shows - correct? No, incorrect, you are seeing an empty space (ha ha).

Now add to Track 1, one of the sample jpg above the transition - spread it out.

Play the sequence and the jpg will show through.

Please use a color board or a jpg.

Dafydd

But Dafydd....

One thing I don't see is the Fade to black between objects.

If he can accomplish what he wants without using a Black Color Board or created Black image....then what benefit will he get besides having to manually insert 48 Black Color Boards inbetween 50 pictures when creating his slideshow?

I don't think he was using multiple video tracks where seeing an underlying image would have been a problem.

I understood what you are saying....but when you said: "Please use a color board or a jpg." I wasn't exactly sure how it would apply to his specific project using One video track in creating a Slideshow.

Regards,

KEvin




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Yep that's a good point.

My attempt was to broaden the newbie editors view of the tool he has before him and not necessarily provide an answer you'd already resolved.

I was showing with the opacity and placement of a still image that something different was achievable and not a boring black between 50 images. PD9 is different from earlier builds and one should not assume or give the fade to track as a straight answer. I would not opt to fade to track - always fade to something in PD9.

Just my 4penny worth

Dafydd

Kevin - Thank you for the tips. I played around with them and they will most definitely help.

I will make the purchase of this product. It's more stable than Magix Edit Pro 14. They are up to v17 now but I didn't want to risk purchasing it and it crashing.

I must admit that Edit Pro 14 has some nice user interface features that reduce user clicks to get some of the same results in this product. I wonder if the development team here can start looking how to reduce clicks in some of the features by looking how other products do it.

Again, thanks for the help... I'm sure I will be posting soon.

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the feedback....

There is a great group of people here in the forum ALWAYS willing to help. I have found the forum to be very helpful in learning how to use the software and to gain better control over it in the event that something goes wrong.

And it is great to get so many viewpoints from the different members here on how you can do things.

Looking forward to learning more!!

Regards,

KEvin
Check out PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials and more! Over 5,000 Subscribers.

it isn't "black" it is zero/nothing a volume of empty space which has a varying degree of opacity.

That's a good point. On my current LCD it looks black, but on my old touch screen LCD it was more of a navy blue. __________________________________
CORNBLOSSOM