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Thank you, playsound! I get that. Nice and simple. Much appreciated.
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I wish PD12 separated crop only from zoom/pan (or maybe I'm missing it).
I would like to crop to remove the 'top' of a video, then basically have PD12 'resize what's left' to the original 16:9 without any zoom or pan motion. There were some kind answers to a similar question I posted a couple of months ago (making an HD video from a 4K video) where I didn't really understand all the keyframe explanations to eliminate motion, but I did get my HD video from the 4K because I was able to accept the tiny pan/zoom that happened.
Now, I want to try and learn the 'no movement, just crop' workflow.
In this case, I made a time lapse of chocolate chip cookies baking, but want to get rid of a distracting section (all across the top).
It is small (I measured to 60 pixels deep, Y axis, on another program) from my 3840x2160 4K output. I am ok with changing the aspect ratio of the final product a bit since these are only cookies in an oven, but want final output at 16:9.
I still don't get setting keyframes I guess. I read another post that talked about selecting 'Duplicate Previous Keyframe', but if I select the clip>Power Tools>Video Crop>Crop Video>the crop window pops up, then all I can choose if I click on the double diamond+ symbol is 'Duplicate Next Keyframe' as the 'Duplicate Previous Keyframe' is greyed out.
Is there a simple workflow to cropping without motion effects? And maybe without having to learn Keyframes just yet?
Thank you
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Thanks for the explanation. I have only used it once, and I felt 'lucky' to have something I considered grey in the video.
I'll keep in mind you can click on something white for future trial, but maybe I will put it in the the Suggestion Box. I don't see any advantage for Cyberlink to not have a tool that most other editors have (choosing white!) and that is easier to use. I wonder what their rationale was. Thank you again.
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I stretched out the Time Line as far out as it would go (curiosity), and there seem to be 10 increments per frame when all stretched out.
Why is this since we can only edit one frame at a time? Is there some editing advantage?
Also, is there a button or something that truly allows you to view one frame at a time in the Time Line? It's a bit confusing to me currently when I'm trying to gauge accurate splits. So far, I've had to rely on looking at the frame numbers and the preview screen. Thank you.
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Hi,
I have ColorDirector 2 which I generally like really well. I was surprised and a bit disappointed that the eye dropper tool (if you hover over it) says to pick a GREY spot in the video, not white for white balance correction. I think it is much easier to find/see/guess at what should be white versus grey.
Is there an option to change that? Thanks.
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Uh oh, First, thank you Carl312 and Tony.
The uh oh is that it seems I can't edit the inserted frames. When I choose 'Clip' in the Preview and then click on the Time Line , the inserted frames remain grey. I wanted to use ColorDirector 2. So it appears the workflow should start with CD 2 on the whole clip, then do snapshots and edit those, then do splitting for frame insertions. Does that sound right? Back to square two, I think. Thank you.
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Project Management Question (I watched the PDToots 2 videos).
OK, I went back through my hummingbird clip and found more glistening spider web strands. I won't say how many, else someone is going to put me in a straight jacket for attempting this 'project'.
So that necessitated a crash course in Project Management since I will now have to do this in aliquots of time (time constraints).
I watched the excellent PDToots (2 vids on YouTube) and started accordingly.
1) It seems that I should also uncheck the 'auto save project' box under Preferences>Project, correct? Otherwise PD would save without me asking over the latest .pds file, correct?
2) What about the 'snapshots' I have saved in the project folder that need to be edited in a photo editor?
I named them according to their frame number in the trimmed file so I know exactly where to replace. When I save the 'corrected' file in the photo editor back to the project file folder, it's gonna tell me that file already exists and whether I want to overwrite it (which I want to).
Is that OK since I am not changing the file name, so that the next time I open up my project in PD, the photo NOW EDITED Snapshots will be what I see in PD's Media Library (instead of the original captured Snapshot) and I can insert them in to the timeline, as originally discussed? Does that sound correct? Thanks.
Moral: try wiping your bird feeder pole before filming your bird feeding station 
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Dafydd:
I HATE haggling. Can we pay you a 10% commission to haggle for us?
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That's brilliant! I hastily tried just one frame to make sure I understand the mechanics and it worked. I haven't actually made the edited frames yet, and the splits will be more than one group, so hope I do this sequentially, just do one at a time.
I have to wait a few days to try. So I learned a new word, 'scrubber', and I guess it is what PD calls the 'timeline slider'. I had to watch the video really close to get that.
Thank you for taking the time to make the video and I hope it helps others down the road too. I will update when I have successfully edited my clip. I think this will be a useful technique for my other 'problem' of getting rid of a logo off of a tee shirt.
I see you chose 'Insert Here and Move All Clips on the Timeline to the right'.
Could you just as well have chosen 'Insert Here and Move Clips on this track to the Right'?
In general, I will most often be dealing with just one clip, and may or may not need the sound track. Would having or not having the sound and FX tracks in use make a difference? Thanks again for the tutorial, I'm a visual learner.
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I filmed a hummingbird at a feeder and noticed a few frames with flashing light... the reflections of a spider web strand (filmed during a gentle breeze). It's just 4 frames separated by no reflection frames. I know I can get rid of the spider strand in Photoshop.
How do I reimport the 'fixed' frames back into my clip at the correct spot and get rid of the original offending frames. Still learning PD, thanks.
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Sometimes my motto is you gotta have WIT (Whatever It Takes), but not always...
I did look up and try two frame extractors, at your hint. IrfanView couldn't open my files (MPEG-4), but csSimpleVideoToImageExtractionTool did, so that was nice (and no bloatware as far as I could tell).
I'll have to wait till next week to work on this more. I can see that one file at a time background removal would be hard going for things like insects with skinny legs sticking out, but maybe not so terrible for objects that have a more unified perimeter, like a revolving cake on a lazy susan.
Thank you, Tony. Your reply made me laugh.
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Carl,
I still haven't located the ad video, but I do have Color Director 2, so will try those out for removing, or at least changing the colors of the tee shirt logos versus blurring it.
To my newbie mind, I don't see the difference between changing a color by tracking motion versus the other video on changing color via selection masks & keyframes, but I'm looking forward to trying it out next week. The logo in my clip only shows up for a couple of seconds, so maybe key frames is used? I'll try them both out next week. Thank you for the direction.
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Thank you playsound.
So if I edit a frame in a photo editor, how do I overwrite the unwanted frame back in PD? Or how do I insert the edited frame on the time line and then delete the old unwanted frame? Do I swap/replace somehow, or overwrite, or cut/paste somehow? Sorry, still a beginner. I am happy to be directed to a tutorial for this.
I did see that Adobe AE has a roto brush tool. Are there any plugins compatible with PD that have a similar function or have a paint brush tool?
Thank you.
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Thanks for your reply, Tony. I don't have much time, per se, but often will go the long haul to get the results. I've been known to scrape pixels at 3200% view in Photoshop, heh heh. I recently spent near a week (a few hours every night) for one photo file, a panorama of over 40 photos I had 'stitched' of a microscope slide I had panned at 60x. Surprisingly, I have a life  .
Could you or someone elaborate on how 'frame by frame' would be done? Do you mean doing a mask on a frame in PD on the timeline? (not even sure I'm asking the right question, as I'm new to NLE and haven't really worked with masks, not even in Photoshop).
Or do you mean taking a snapshop of each frame, working on it in a photo editor and bring it back into the timeline? What are the mechanics of replacing a frame in the timeline? I didn't see an overwrite feature. Would I some how trim/cut a single frame and somehow insert my newly edited frame? Is there a tutorial on how to do that?
Is there a 'paint brush' function in PD or in one of it's FX plug-ins (like from NewBlueFX or elsewhere)?
Open to all suggestions, thanks.
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Everything I have researched tells how to use the chroma key to replace a background, but is there a way to produce a video that IS a green screen so that the end user can change out the background WITHOUT ME SHOOTING IT AGAINST A GREEN SCREEN?
Example, how to isolate a bee on a flower so that the end user would have a video with just a bee against a 'green screen' that they could use? From my photography background, I've often isolated subjects to a one color background, but don't know how to isolate a subject in video yet.
I understand the concept of 'green screens' in general, i.e., you can't have any color in the subject as the screen color or else it would disappear in the end user's desired production. Maybe I haven't researched this the correct way?? I often shoot macro, and it's unlikely I could capture an insect to put against a green backdrop. Also I think it would be hard to film such small objects without a color cast of green falling onto the subject.
I have shot some macro against a white background, and then I suppose I could try color replacement of green for white?
But what about films made outdoors, like insects on plants, where there is background to remove? Do I have to do this frame by frame in a photo editor and re-import as a make movie by jpeg file sequence? Looking for the best PD workflow. I haven't tackled learning to work with frames yet if the answer is there, but I want to learn.
I love PD12 so far and really appreciate the helpful answers from the folks in this forum. Makes me want and able to grow in the product. I've been able to make a good start.
Thanks for any direction or information.
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I could have sworn (but can't find it now) that Cyberlink has a commercial for PD12 that shows removing an unwanted object from a VIDEO, not just one photo. There was a clip of tourists boating, and showing PD removing a swimming ?dolphin/porpoise in front of the boat. I was excited by that aspect, because it was akin to using Content Aware in Photoshop to remove an object from a picture.
I can't find it now. Well, I have some things I need to remove from a video... like a logo from the front of a tee shirt. I don't want to just blur it, but completely remove it. Should I take snapshots of the offending frames, removing the logos in Photoshop or PhotoDirector and replacing the unwanted frames in the PD with the newly edited frames, but I don't know how to do that.
Is that the most efficient way to have a clean output?
I've tried the regional tools in ColorDirector thinking I could swap out a color of a selected region, or maybe to try and paint in a color (would pick a surrounding color) but maybe I'm just not skilled enough at it or don't know how to yet.
Thanks if I can be pointed in the right direction. Clean/flawless output more important than pain in the process.
I'm still learning PD (I just learned how to Trim, so I'm still on baby steps, heh heh).
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Yes, PD rendered a 59 second .MP4 file for 4K as a 350MB file. Video Converter put it into a 54MB .MOV file, no change in dimensions or loss of quality that I could tell.
I don't know much about setting bitrates. The default in the converter is 8000 mbs. Does changing the bitrate (in the converter software) affect the final file for the end user somehow or does it just affect how long the conversion process takes? A bit off topic, but thought I would ask.
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Thanks Carl312,
Sheesh, don't know how I missed that simple search phrase. I think I was concentrating on 'editors' instead of 'converters'.
I tried two products and decided to go with Doremisoft Studio's Video Converter (~ $55 inc tax), in case anyone else has the same question.
I chose them over Gihosoft (aka Jihosoft) because Jihosoft only had a download presence, while Doremisoft had tutorials, a blog, several revisions with revision history to see...i.e., they seem more permanent and dedicated to improving/keeping up the software with time.
Anyway, it does what I want and I thank you!
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I need my 4K files in a .MOV format without losing size (for video stock photography, the agency wants submissions in .MOV).
Alas, PD only shows up to HD option for MOV. QuickTime PRO won't open up the .MP4 files PD generates for Ultra HD (4K files), so I could not convert there. I don't know if Avidemux will do it (I didn't understand their input/output choices but didn't see .MOV anywhere), and Mpeg Streamclip won't open PD generated .MP4 4K files either.
It would be fantastic if PowerDirector would include the capability to generate the .MOV container for 4K instead of limiting it to 1920x1080. Any work arounds? I would like to stay with PD instead of migrating over to Adobe (love their product, dislike the subscription based model) or another NLE.
I am Windows 8.1 based and my Handycam does XAVC S (H.264/AVC and the .MP4 container)
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Thank you Dafydd and Carl312.
I made an ingest folder on my desktop and copied the complete card over to it and verified I could open the files from the hard drive folder in PD.
I left the option to delete from the hard drive checked in Preferences so I can simply right click and delete. I like this, because I can be sure just the proper files are deleted and not worry about leftover xml or thumbnails, should I have tried to do it manually in Windows.
Now I can feel confident about reformatting the memory card to clean it up. Good advice and I missed the preference option to delete from the hard drive the first time I went through the Preferences.
One more question: when one Produces a film via the 'New Project' process, the original in camera clip is not altered, correct? So I can make as many versions/new projects as I want and be sure that the original in-camera file is unaltered? If so, is there any time I could accidentally alter the original in-camera file through playing around in PD?
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