How do I alternately bring certain short parts of four different video tracks to the front?

Tom335

Newbie Joined: Jun 29, 2020 09:36 Messages: 6 Offline

Solved by

Jul 03, 2020 04:09

Hi,
I'm a beginner in PowerDirector and would like to create a music video showing four musicians performing a song. I have a separate video file for each musician (audio muted) and one separate audio file that contains the soundtrack of the final music video. So there are five tracks in total.

In PowerDirector I have now divided the playback screen into 4 parts (PiP). In each PiP window I placed one musician (track). If a musician plays a solo, I would like to bring the corresponding PiP window (track) to the foreground during the solo, then back to the original position. This should be done alternately for different musicians (tracks) at different positions of the song.

My problem now is, that I can easily move and zoom a PiP window into the center of the screen but this window is then partly hidden by tracks with higher numbers. As a temporary solution, I have created a sixth video track. Then I cutted video tracks 1-4 into various pieces and moved the pieces to be zoomed to track 6.

This appears to be a very cumbersome method and it is difficult to maintain all those various cutted parts in different tracks and create smooth transitions.

Isn't there a better way, to bring parts of any track independent from its track-number to the foreground?

Hope I explained it right. Here's a youtube video that outlines what I would like to do:
WHISKEY SOUR HAPPY HOUR SUPERJAM: "The Weight"

Thank you for your help.
Tom

Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Jul 03, 2020 08:55

It takes a lot of editing to create what you wamt.

The key factor is how PowerDirector treats its tracks.

The hightest numbered track is on top of the lower numbered tracks. You can change that somewhat by using transparency. If a higher number track has transparency, then parts of the lower numbered tracks will show though.

You have to choose which artist you put in the highest number track for the duration you want him/her seen.

There may a a tutorial somewhere on Youtube that may demonstrate how that is done.

I.E. track 3 is shown on top of tracks 1 & 2. Audio from all tracks are mixed into one stereo audio.

. Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Tom335

Newbie Joined: Jun 29, 2020 09:36 Messages: 6 Offline

Jul 03, 2020 10:21

Quote It takes a lot of editing to create what you wamt.

The key factor is how PowerDirector treats its tracks.

The hightest numbered track is on top of the lower numbered tracks. You can change that somewhat by using transparency. If a higher number track has transparency, then parts of the lower numbered tracks will show though.

You have to choose which artist you put in the highest number track for the duration you want him/her seen.

There may a a tutorial somewhere on Youtube that may demonstrate how that is done.

I.E. track 3 is shown on top of tracks 1 & 2. Audio from all tracks are mixed into one stereo audio.

.

Thanks Carl. I think I understood this.
I was hoping though, there is a possibility to change the "appearance layer" (what appears on top) dynamically e.g. with keyframes inside of PiP Designer or with any other kind of automation.

Too bad.
Thank you anyway

Philwild

Senior Member Location: Hemel Hempstead, UK Joined: Oct 05, 2017 12:04 Messages: 208 Offline

Jul 03, 2020 10:53

You could use keyframes to bring one video forwards and the others back and out of the way?

Have a look at this, is it close to what you want?

https://youtu.be/IC1QzqVDNSs

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Jul 03, 2020 11:07

Quote In PowerDirector I have now divided the playback screen into 4 parts (PiP). In each PiP window I placed one musician (track). If a musician plays a solo, I would like to bring the corresponding PiP window (track) to the foreground during the solo, then back to the original position. This should be done alternately for different musicians (tracks) at different positions of the song.

My problem now is, that I can easily move and zoom a PiP window into the center of the screen but this window is then partly hidden by tracks with higher numbers. As a temporary solution, I have created a sixth video track. Then I cutted video tracks 1-4 into various pieces and moved the pieces to be zoomed to track 6.

This appears to be a very cumbersome method and it is difficult to maintain all those various cutted parts in different tracks and create smooth transitions.

Isn't there a better way, to bring parts of any track independent from its track-number to the foreground?

Hope I explained it right. Here's a youtube video that outlines what I would like to do:
WHISKEY SOUR HAPPY HOUR SUPERJAM: "The Weight"

Thank you for your help.
Tom

In addition to what Carl312 already explained you can place all four videos on different tracks and resize them to fit each of the four corners. Produce this video and use it as the background in track 1. You can now do what you want with a video in the lower track, resize and keyframe.

That Whiskey Sour YT video does not do the zooming and movement that you desire. It is a lot simpler and easier to create.

Tom335

Newbie Joined: Jun 29, 2020 09:36 Messages: 6 Offline

Jul 04, 2020 10:50

Thank you tomasc and Philwild.
I'm gonna check this out.
Thank you for your help.
Tom

Maliek

Senior Contributor Location: San Antonio, Texas USA Joined: Nov 10, 2012 12:01 Messages: 851 Offline

Jul 04, 2020 11:06

Carl312 and Tomasc provided great solutions.

PowerDirecgtor doesn't have an alternative means to bring items to the foreground. The highest numbered track will always be in the foreground.

The only way I can think to do what you want and keep each musician on their original track would be to use the PIP Deisgner to scale in to the solo artist and fill the screen. While the solo artist is being scaled up use PIP Designer and Opacity keyframes on the three other musician clips to fade them away. Once the solo is complete use PIP Designer and scale/position keyframes to move the solo artist back to the original position. While the solo artist is being scaled down use PIP Dsigner and Opacity keyframes on the other three musician clips to fade them back onto the screen. These steps should be done simultaneously for the best effect.

Let me know how it goes.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 04. 2020 11:08

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Tom335

Newbie Joined: Jun 29, 2020 09:36 Messages: 6 Offline

Jul 05, 2020 08:20

Quote Carl312 and Tomasc provided great solutions.

PowerDirecgtor doesn't have an alternative means to bring items to the foreground. The highest numbered track will always be in the foreground.

The only way I can think to do what you want and keep each musician on their original track would be to use the PIP Deisgner to scale in to the solo artist and fill the screen. While the solo artist is being scaled up use PIP Designer and Opacity keyframes on the three other musician clips to fade them away. Once the solo is complete use PIP Designer and scale/position keyframes to move the solo artist back to the original position. While the solo artist is being scaled down use PIP Dsigner and Opacity keyframes on the other three musician clips to fade them back onto the screen. These steps should be done simultaneously for the best effect.

Let me know how it goes.

I tried your and Carl's suggestion. Although this is definitely some editing effort, it works fine. In order to keep the amount of tracks small and avoid chopping my original videos, it appears to be the best solution for me.

Thanks all you guys, for your help.
Tom

Maliek

Senior Contributor Location: San Antonio, Texas USA Joined: Nov 10, 2012 12:01 Messages: 851 Offline

Jul 05, 2020 09:48

Quote

I tried your and Carl's suggestion. Although this is definitely some editing effort, it works fine. In order to keep the amount of tracks small and avoid chopping my original videos, it appears to be the best solution for me.

Thanks all you guys, for your help.
Tom

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