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@Bubba - I did not use grid to line them up but probably should have. Since it was a quick and dirty for a sports video for Coaches to review youth performance, I wasn't being too nit picky on that. My turn around time was pretty tight and it was purely volunteer work (my kid is on the team). So, I went with the eyeball method. However, I do need to go back and check that for future video drop ins.
@JL - I did do a search on this forum but came up wiht nothing. Thanks for the link.
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I put a video clip on the timeline then took the Solar 3D clip and put it on the FX track. It changes the vid clip and I can edit the effect to alter the "intensity". No problems for me.
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thanks - resources are always good to have.
I did a quick glance and that seems similar to what I did; a quick answer to my original problem. I admit that I like having the source because I can change the font and color and location. Good stuff though.
Again, hope I wasn't out of line posting the above. Most of what seems to be here is "how to" Q&A but I think the intent includes sharing successes with other PD users.
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Hi all...I hope I'm not out of line in posting this technique for adding a stopwatch overlay on some video. I thought I would share to see if it helps others or to spark some discussion so that I or others may learn. Anyway, I hope this sort of post is okay; if not I apologize.
I've been digging around a bit trying to find out if PD can imprint a stopwatch or clock on a video. Now I don't want to just put it on as I film. I wanted to use fonts and colors of my choosing as well as be able to sync the clock to the event. For example, think about a sports sequence...say running the 100M dash. I want to put a clock that begins at 00:00 when the gun sounds and have it stop at the finish line. I wanted total control of the clock but exact precision isn't required. That is to say that if I am off by a hundredth of a second, the sun will still rise. I use it for kids sports - not a Swiss Clock for the Olympics. My original hope is that there was and easy plug in or setting in PD, but I didn't find one. (of course, it doesn't mean it isn't there. It just means this noob hasn't found it. If there is an easier way, I'd love to learn it and the below journey was a great exercise for learning PD.)
I started with a one minute stop watch in the format of XY.Z where X is the tens, Y is the ones and Z is the tenths. Once the Gun fired I would see "00.0" then "00.1" then "00.2" and so on until I got to the end of "59.9" seconds. I can add more columns to add minutes using the same technique to get "1:03.5" for 1 minute: 03.5 seconds". My current project will top out in the 3 minute range. I chose an LED style font and made it bright red.
I set up three video tracks. The first track will be the tens, the second column the ones and the third track the decimal point and tenths.
In the Third track (decimal and tenths), I placed a blank title and set the duration for 1s. I added text of ".0" in the font and color of my choosing. I put it in the upper right corner where I wanted it. Since I am at 30fps, I increment the tenths every 3 frames. In frame zero, one, and two the text in the frame reads ".0". In frame three I change it to ".1" and in frame six I change it to ".2" and so on till I have ".9" in the last frame. You have to really spread out the timeline to make working at this minute level easier. Once I had this tenths of a second sequence, I can copy it over and over again as needed.
In track two, I added the one's column. I set the duration for one second and added a text box and typed "0". Once I the text lined up with ".0" from the third track, I just cut and paste 9 times. In each 1 second segment, I updated the number. Don't forget to paste the "tenths" in track three to match. The two tracks composted together got me "0.0" through "9.9".
Wash rinse and repeat to add the tens columns on track one. Extrapolate out for the minutes column if you want. I produced the video which I can then pull into other projects and hit with Chroma Key and I have my stopwatch. Perhaps this is a bit tedious and I am sure there is a more elegant way to pull this off and my solution is probably a bit like hitting a nail with a jack hammer, but it got the results I wanted and I can always go back to the source project and put in different fonts, colors, etc, etc. (oh my, how was that for a run on?) I may even do a countdown in this manner. One quirk with the font I chose was I had to lead all 1's with a space to prevent the clock from squeezing in and out like an accordion. I wanted a stable width like on a scoreboard.
Again, I hope this is useful to someone and I hope I am not out of line sharing.
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Quote:
Editors have wanted Cyberlink to provide a Text based menu system for years. Give us a choice of Thumbnails or Text links.
There are competitors that have Text based menu systems.
Just look at some of the commercial DVDs you can buy in the store.
Altering the menu module they have now to allow more flexibility for the user simply can't be that hard. I have been using Pinnacle for years and want off that train. PD has everything to kick them to the curb except a good menu system. Its a shame Cyberlink isn't listening if people have asked for years for menu flexibility. Now I have to use another vendor's menu system to get what I want. If I have to buy additional software to handle menus, I may as well go back to the competitor's product. This just makes no sense for Cyberlink to not offer more menu flex given the rest of the product being so much better than the competition's.
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I think the best way to get your animations is to create them in another package that can export to a PD supported format. The most powerful tool I have seen is Blender (and its free - www.blender.org). Beware, Blender is powerful 3D editor, but it does have a steep learning curve (well worth it in my opinion though). I'm sure you can find other packages to do simple 2D animations. Just make sure you add a layer to the bottom of the render stack or background that you can chroma key when you import it to PD.
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Quote:
Powerdirector has a Menu structure that you can not change, there is always a PLAY and SCENES item on the main menu if you have more than one chapter defined in the Edit module.
I just finished my first large project with PD10 - a highlight video from my son's team. For individual games, this structure worked fine, but for a highlight video I did not like it. I wanted to go straight into a menu to select individual game highlights but no intent for a single movie production to string all games together. This is the one glaring weakness I have found in PD so far. Does anyone know if PD plans to provide more Menu flexibility in the future?
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I will try another USB port in a bit...it requires me to climb under the desk and I have an errand I need to run first.
The Mixer settings - I'm unsure with those. They seem okay. The part that gets me is the device shows up as a Web Cam and any video that I do capture doesn't even have an Audio track in Edit mode. My hypothesis is that PD doesn't recognize an audio track from teh video in the first place. I could, of course, be wrong. I do have a DV port on the camera, but I don't have a 4pin to six pin DV cable. WHile I am out, I may see if I can find a cable for a reasonable price and try that (do they even make a 4 to 6 pin cable? I'll have to google that here in a sec).
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Hi,
I don't have any experience with your device. Please check the audio selections are set up correctly on your PC and within PD10 for the capture to take place.
PD10 open > Capture Workspace > Settings (bottom right), Audio options
Check you've selected the right Profile as well.
Dafydd
I checked the settings - it says Pinnacle 710-USB for the video capture. It also shows Pinnacle 710-USB as the Audio Device. The last box, audio input, is blank and there is no drop down to select anything. Under Profile, I just have it set to MPEG2. The details show Stereo Audio under that.
The interesting thing I see is it shows up as a Web Cam. Its a USB cable between the external box (cable converter) and the composite cables going to the camera. I wonder if PD doesn't consider Web Cams as having sound in.
I also checked my Pinnacle drivers; I am up to date.
Thoughts from all would be appreciated.
On another note, I see that new cards are not that expensive. My camera can output composite and Svideo. Does anyone have any suggestions for capture devices that work well with PD?
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I'll double check that after I solve my current menu'ing challenge (its a learning issue, not product I am sure), but I thought I went through the capture settings pretty well. I'll let you know. Thanks!
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Greetings! I am a recent convert to from Pinnacle Studio 12 to PD10. Its nice over here in the light but I do still have one foot on the darkside - my capture hardware. I use the capture hardware from PS Movie Box. My camera plugs to the Pinnacle box (composite cables) and then to the PC. When I capture in PS12, everything is just fine. PD10 will capture video and list the driver as a Pinnacle driver. However, it will not pick up the sound. I know the cabling and h/w are fine because the only thing I change is from Pinnacle to Power Director. I'd like to cut ties with the Pinnacle s/w completely, but can't till I solve this one quirk. I suspect I will need to get a new capture card, but wanted to check with the guru's here to see if anyone else has experienced this.
Thanks!
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