Barb -

I've never attempted to put 22 chapters in a project.

When I record dance concerts, which (in my case) are typically a series of separate dances from different groups, I don't use chapters at all.

I produce each dance item as a separate title, each with its own little intro/title screen. When it gets up to disc burning, I just import each title into Create Disc.

Cheers - Tony
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Tony, I'm confused. If I have 80 mins of footage I want to import but it's basically 25 different dance groups each a 2-4 mins long. Wouldn't you import the whole thing and then split it into dance groups? You mind walking me thru the steps because I don't understand what you're doing and how you're titling each group but not using chapters? Does your disc end up having just a root menu with icons for each dance group showing and you use choose click on which one you want to play? That sounds involved. The last authoring program I was using (old but great) was DVD Workshop (which will not work with new pc, Windows7). Anyway, it would let me import the edited mpeg2 file and I could quickly scroll thru the footage and make an index mark at each dance but not a chapter. I then made a title page where you just hit "Play". It would start playing in total but you could hit the "skip button" on remote and jump to the beginning of each dance.......was hoping PD10 could be that easy. Since I'm using a/b roll, once I sync up those cameras I want to edit thru the whole project at one time, split by dance and burn to disc. Can you elaborate on how you do your project?
Tks
Barb
Barb

HP h8-1080t i7CPU 950@3.07 GHZ
10GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce-550Ti
1.5 T & 500GB HD
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
Power Director 10 Deluxe

Complex question Barb.

I will get to it a little later... with screenshots etc.

I've been using up to 4 cameras so (to decrease the load on the PC & me) I make each dance group a separate project in PD.

Each project is produced with its own title screen & imported into the final disc project.

Do a search on the forum (PD9 & PD10) for anything Jeff (JL_JL) has written about playback options. Good luck getting the search function to function.

Cheers - Tony
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Okay Tony, Thanks. I've been shooting this recital about 14 years and they're happy with their product as is so want to keep it easy...I'll check out the other. Also We sell about 230 sets of discs.... hard work but worth it!
Off to rehearsal.
Tks again
Barb Barb

HP h8-1080t i7CPU 950@3.07 GHZ
10GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce-550Ti
1.5 T & 500GB HD
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
Power Director 10 Deluxe

I'm pretty sure that my very first project had 20+ chapters, so it is possible; but the menus got pretty ugly. Jerry Schwartz

Hey guys! It's me again. Just finished filming the dance recital this week and need to make decisions about the most productive way to handle. Anyone out there editing 2-camera dance recitals that can take the time to share? I've gotten to a point but not sure how to continue. I actually imputted two songs into my PC via firewire. Since they were imported as .avi files, I used Any Video Converter to convert to mpeg2 files and then imported into PD10. Using tips previously shared, I was able to sync up the footage from both cameras pretty easily using the Opacity. I took the good audio track went into Wave Editor and made both tracks the same. I locked that audio track, muted the other camera audio, minimized my screens and did my A/B roll cuts with the split. I put the main camera on the bottom timeline and used some transitions. I then went back and made a chapter mark for dance 2. That's as far as I got, and here's what I still need and what I hope the final results will be......
I need to go back and lower audio in places (applause too loud) and need to add another 20 dances to this dis.
All I'm wanting as the final product is a dvd with a Title Page and with a "Play" button. When it starts playing, I'd like for viewers to use the remote and skip 21 times so they can quickly jump to the different songs. Any way to make that happen?

If no, and I do need to have a title page and menu page so they can choose the dance they want, can someone walk me thru that? ...any suggestions so it won't look so cluttered?

Thanking in advance for your help here.

Barb


Barb

HP h8-1080t i7CPU 950@3.07 GHZ
10GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce-550Ti
1.5 T & 500GB HD
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
Power Director 10 Deluxe

Why did you convert the AVIs to MPEGs? I'm no expert, but I avoid any conversions that aren't absolutely necessary. I'm always concerned that something will get lost along the way.

I don't understand the bit about using Wave Editor. What were you doing?

The easiest way to lower the volume in certain places is to do it right on the timeline. Expand the timeline so that you can see the waveform easily. If you click on the waveform, you'll create a combination keyframe/volume level that you can move around with the mouse.

So far as I know, the only markers you can put on a video are the chapters. You can remove the chapters when setting up the menus, but then you won't have any "skip" function. I think your only option is to give the users a four- or five-page menu.

The first thing to do when setting up chapters is to give them appropriate names. Those names will show up on the menus, and "Chapter 1", "Chapter 2", etc. isn't very elegant.

Setting up the menu itself is very easy, if you want to use one unchanged. In addition to the ones that come with PD, the DirectorZone web site has zillions of them. Click on the menu picture, and click on "Apply to all pages" in the window that pops up, and you've got it.

If you want to customize or design your own menu, the only things I can suggest are to look through the PDToots or just play with the system. It really isn't that hard to do, as long as you don't fall into the trap of trying to do something that just can't be done. Since the system is pretty limited, it isn't hard to fall into that trap.

For example, the menus can only be two levels deep. Although you can specify a frame to use for the chapter's menu thumbnail, the thumbnail animation will always start from the beginning of the clip. When you save your changes, make sure you don't accidentally replace the menu sample you started with. Jerry Schwartz

Hey Jerry! I'm just now learning this software but I thought I read several places that you should import into PD the closest format to your final output....for me that's mpeg2 DVD. Did I misunderstand that? Would it be better to import as .avi? As for using the Wave Editor...and someone just shared this with me last week. When I shoot weddings, or events, I use two cameras and have both audio tracks on both cameras capturing audio....thus, probably overkill but I have 4 different audio inputs I can choose from. So...if external mic on channel 2, camera 2 is the audio source I want to use, I can go into the Wave Editor and duplicate that channel 2 (L) audio to channel 1 (R) as well. I didn't choose to record the external mic on both channels in case something screwed up, at least I had the ambient sound. Anyway, that's the use of the Audio Editor. I also have been going into the editor to adjust the volume so I thank you kindly for the tip of how to do it there in the timeline.

You know, I have always tried to "custom" my menus and haven't used what's in the program so I guess that's why I've gotten so confused with the wedding video I was working on (and still haven't finished).

As for the this dance recital and having 5-6 chapter menu, I don't think I'm going to like that very much. SURELY, there's another way. This software has been a real challenge for me. I've edited for years but coming from a standalone editor (MacroSystems, Casablanca) and without keeping up with "updates" for editing and using DVD Workshop2 (now obsolete) for easy, on the fly authoring, this is a huge learning curve. Hopefully, there will be others out there who are producing dance recital dvd's that might have some suggestions or directions for me.
As I said, I just imported two dances so I could experiment with the a/b roll, audio and menuing before importing ALL That Footage... Thanks so much Jerry for your input and I'll try that timeline audio editing tomorrow.
Barb
Barb

HP h8-1080t i7CPU 950@3.07 GHZ
10GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce-550Ti
1.5 T & 500GB HD
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
Power Director 10 Deluxe

Hi,
I have created a small tutorial for Creating menus but being a beginner not sure if it is sufficient
Here is the Link
http://members.shaw.ca/macgregorj/tutor/CreateMenu/index_2.htm
comments welcome.
Jim Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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Thanks Jim, I think that will be a great help. Before I leave the recital edit and return to the wedding recept edit, I have a few more questions for Tony or someone about putting 20+ dance routines on a menu. Here's some of my thoughts, questions.....(remember, I'm importing SD footage via firewire from my Sony Z5U)
1)Would you import footage on harddrive (which is .avi) and then import into PD as an .avi file or would you encode to mpeg2 before importing into PD? 2) If you import as .avi after editing and when producing would you choose the mpeg2 SP so all of the dances will fit on one disc (this actually changes the quality, size & bitrate doesn't it?)
3)If I produce and save each dance clip individually and then import all these clips into a Master Project file, couldn't I use the "auto chapter" where you insert a chapter at the start of each clip for my menu and chapters? If it all sounds confusing....I am!!
Thanks again to any and all for your time and help walking me thru this.

Barb
Barb

HP h8-1080t i7CPU 950@3.07 GHZ
10GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce-550Ti
1.5 T & 500GB HD
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
Power Director 10 Deluxe

Hi videogal -

Here's a quick toot showing the process I use when assembling discs in a similar circumstance to yours... http://youtu.be/lQtsiuzLKjY

What I do is:
1. Edit each dance item separately (separate projects), each with its own title screen for that particular dance item. The videos are produced to MPEG-2 DVD HQ because they'll be going onto DVD anyway. (I also produce to MPEG-2 1920x1080 for BR burning)
2. When all editing is complete & I'm ready to go to the disc stage, I open a new project and do what the toot says.

The tutorial, by the way, is based on screen captures in .AVI format. I didn't convert them before importing. The only conversion was done in the final rendering.

Your questions:
1. Yes - rendering as MPEG-2 does change the resolution & quality. Each time it's converted/rendered, a little more gets changed/lost. That's why Jerry suggested leaving out the initial conversion. Import your .AVIs - edit & produce.
2. I don't use chapters at all. I import separate titles (as shown in the toot). I just find it the simplest thing when you want users to be able to select what they want to watch.

Cheers - Tony
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Quote: 2. I don't use chapters at all. I import separate titles (as shown in the toot). I just find it the simplest thing when you want users to be able to select what they want to watch.

Cheers - Tony

Tony, I don't understand this bit. I can understand producing your project in chunks, to make things easier; but I don't understand how this affects navigation.

I must have missed something. Jerry Schwartz

Hi Jerry -

No - it doesn't affect navigation whether you choose chapters or not. It's the playback options that do that. I really only mentioned that because the OP seemed confused.

Selecting the playback option "Play the Selected Title Only" allows the viewer to choose what they'll watch, which most suits this kind of disc.



You're right - whether they're made as chapters or separate titles makes no difference. I was just offering a process based on the K.I.S.S. principle.

Cheers - Tony


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Thanks, Tony Jerry Schwartz

Tony, Thank you So Much for that tutorial. I can't believe you took the time to do that for me and so quickly. I am so amazed at all the knowledgable people who are readily there to share, help and guide. That in inself makes this software product AWESOME! About the only other question I have right this moment is.... did you choose a menu that used text and no icons for your chapters or is there a way to keep the numbering, use text chapter titles and delete the picture icons from the menu pages? Looks like you guys have got me back on track for a bit so thanks again and hopefully, I can get some projects finished up before I'm shouting that s.o.s again! Barb Barb

HP h8-1080t i7CPU 950@3.07 GHZ
10GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce-550Ti
1.5 T & 500GB HD
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
Power Director 10 Deluxe

Jim, finally got a chance to view your tutorial on custom menus. I kept trying to change templates but actually hadn't tried the icon to create from scratch so I do thank you very much!!!!! I'll be on it the first of the week.

Beautiful weekend here in North Carolina and sure hope everyone can get away from the computer and enjoy this beautiful outdoors!!

Barb
Barb

HP h8-1080t i7CPU 950@3.07 GHZ
10GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce-550Ti
1.5 T & 500GB HD
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
Power Director 10 Deluxe

Tony, Jim, Jerry & others who have been so helpful..... I'm ready to start editing these dance recitals and was reviewing all the notes from our forum conversation. Jerry, I understand that you handle each dance routine as an individual title (but wouldn't that mean that's the only dance you have on the timeline at the time you're editing & producing it?) Don't you import your hour of footage from the different cameras at one time? Seems like you would want to sync up footage from both cameras "one time" before you start editing the a/b roll? How would that be done? The way I'm thinking through this, if I import all into PD and put on timeline and synch up footage from the 2 cameras. Then what? Do you split up the footage by dance (title) before you a/b edit each dance routine? I feel So Dumb asking these questions but I'm trying to think thru it so I can avoid hours of trial & error.

In my way of thinking, I would import footage from my 2 cameras into my PC and then into PD (.avi format).
Would sync up the two cameras and then split the footage into the different dance routines. This is where I'm confused. I'm not sure how to save and get back to that saved synced up and split footage since you only want 1 dance at a time on the timeline to edit, produce and save as it's own title. I think I understand making the disc with all the individual dance titles but stumped up to that point. Also, I liked in the final disc having title names and no icons... how do you make that happen (everything I've tried has the video icon as well)

Hope to get started on this first thing tomorrow morning so appreciate any help sent my way.Oh.... and a Happy Father's Day to All you dad's out there!

Barb
Barb

HP h8-1080t i7CPU 950@3.07 GHZ
10GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce-550Ti
1.5 T & 500GB HD
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
Power Director 10 Deluxe

Barb -

So - I'm assuming that you set up the cameras at the start of the recital & they roll continuously throughout (i.e. each camera records the whole concert from go to whoa) - YES?

If so, take these steps to end up with a separate editing project for each dance:

1. Open a new project & import the clips from both cameras
2. Save project (say Dance_ALL)
3. Sync the tracks using whatever cues you've given yourself, like a point where there is a specific action (e.g. the very first music note)
4. Now, go through the whole thing to locate the breaks between each dance (I usually select a midpoint in the break, so there's a bit of "extra" at the start & end)
- with the scrubber at the midpoint of each break, select both clips and use MultiSplit, so your project is now "divided" into separate dances
- I sometimes insert a colour board at each split (in both tracks) to create an extra bit of lead in/out, but that's not necessary.



NOW...

6. Go to File > Save As - save the project as "Dance_01"
7. Select everything from Dance 2 on (just click & drag) & remove it. Save. Close.



8. Open "Dance_ALL" project
9. Go to File > Save As - save the project as "Dance_02"
7. Select Dance 1 clips & remove. Select everything from Dance 3 on (just click & drag) & remove it. Save. Close.
8. Continue till you have a separate project for each dance routine.

Barb - as a side note, I'm not sure about the wisdom of trying to conquer the basics of PD while you have clients waiting. You're probably loading yourself up!

Cheers - Tony
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Barb, what I was doing wasn't exactly the same as you are doing.

In my source material, there was no real break between scenes. It was more like a ballet than a recital. I couldn't split it into discrete projects; the best I could do was put chapter markers at the start of each segment. This was purely for navigation. I had a bazillion chapters, so the menus were nasty.

A hierarchical menu system would be a big improvement, but CyberLink has heard that before.

If I were doing what you are doing, I would load both video feeds into one project just as you thought. I can't imagine trying to synchronize the two otherwise.

At this point, you run into another "wouldn't it be nice" feature. If you could split a project into pieces, so that you could work on each sub-project separately, that would be great; but so far as I know, you can't. Either you work on the project as one big chunk, or you have use a sequence of split, delete, save, and undo over and over again.

I'm sure somebody else has a better workflow for this. Jerry Schwartz