Messages posted by scardario

Ok, I just realized these setting can be changed in Preferences->Editing for all the project.

Is there a way to do it in a per-PIP basis, I mean, without affecting the times for the other PIPs?

Hi

I'm seeing that the default duration for a PIP is 5 seconds (when inserted on the timeline) and maximum duration is 10 since the PIP Designer doesn't allow me to create keyframes past this time.

Is there some way to change these values?

Hi, been using PD for a week and have enjoyed it a lot. Thank you.

I was expeting to use a lot of sequences of transparent PNGs in my videos but soon realized that, even when possible, it was not easy to do it. I finally found a way by modifying some XML files in a PIP folder, as I detail in this post:

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/51017.page#post_box_267841

What makes the issue more frustrating is the lack of documentation, I had to compare samples of other PIPs in order to learn this, and even now there's a lot of variables and tags inside the XML that I don't know how to use.

What I'd really like is a feature inside the PIP Room to allow to create a PIP not only from an image, but also from a sequence of these. And some documentation aimed at artists and technical artists to learn to use and modify the XML structure by hand.

Other thing that I'd like to see is the ability to control a group of objects as a PIP. If I import a sequence of images I can transform each image but when I group them to manage them more easily I lose the ability to control them.

Another thing I'd like to see in a software like PD is the use of Transform Curves instead of manually entering "easy in" and "easy out" values since transform curves are easier to use and more convenient.

Quote Hi Scardario -

I can't help you out with editing XML files to get what you want, but the method Cranston posted (which he generated, tested and made the tutorial) will work for you.

Thank you for the help!

I already figured out the XML thing thanks to one of the PIPs in the packs. I had already tried the method Cranston posted with some degree of success, but I was having problems dealing with the semitransparency.

For those who are looking for the XML method, is not really difficult:

You have have to create a PIP out of the first png on the sequence. Just press the "Create a new PIP object from an image" button on the PIP Object Room

Look for it on the hard drive and copy the rest of the sequence pngs (mine was under Documents/Cyberlink/15.0/MyPinPs)

Open the .cpt file, in my case, it was "PinPTemplate.cpt", I recommend a text editor such as sublime to do this

Under the "Metasource" tag, modify or add the variables "AnimationImgCount" to add the total of pngs and "AnimationImgList" to add the file list separated by a comma and a space. Look for the attachment, the space after every comma is important. If you have to modify "AnimationDuration" you can do it too

And that's it. It should work now

Tips:

Sublime column selection tools and TextPastry plugin help a LOT at the moment of creating the file list inside the .cpt

Sometimes It's good to compare the variables and tags from the XML to those in other XMLs, just look for another .cpt in some of the installed packs or download one to compare.

Some PIPs from the packs have their PNGs packed in a zip, I haven't tried with these, I know they use the word "Pre-comp" before every file inside the .cpt. I would recommend skip these and look for a PIP with all PNGs in the same folder as the .cpt file.

I think that's all, it's not really that difficult, it's a shame there's no documentation or tool for this kind of things since it's extremely useful. I'd like to have a reference for every variable and valor inside the .cpt and other similar files.

Quote I think you are referring to the "in-house" animated PIP objects that come with PowerDirector content packs. There are several people here who understand XML files and the animated PIP structure, they can be changed but I believe the process to be a little laborious. What exactly is it that you would like to accomplish?

Thanks CS2014 and Cranston for the replies, I already tried to create a video out of the transparent pngs and tried the chroma option, but chroma is a bit difficult to use properly, as traces of the background color cand be difficult to remove from the semitransparent borders.

Hi BarryTheCrab, what I have is a bunch of character animations made in other software like toon boom. I want to take advantage of the semitransparent nature of the pngs to interact with the background and other objects. As I just mentioned, using chroma is not an options since it's very difficult to use without affecting the image borders, and it's not a static mask as a world spinning; instead it can be a character running, so a mask won't do it.

The process looks laborious but I'd like some indication of how to do it, I can understand XML and basic coding already, and started to analyze the cpts that came with the examples from the content packs, but additional help would be very much appreciated.

Hi, I need to create PIP objects out of a sequence of semitransparent PNGs and I realized by looking into the PIP templates installed that some of the PIP objects are a sequence of transparent PNGs packed in a zip and with a cpt file that have a XML structure, and with some thumb and images.

I've been unable to find documentation on how to do this kind of stuff, anyone can point some useful info on how to create PIP objects this way? Is there a tool o a XML specification for this kind of files?

Thank you