Installed PD 12 on another Puter and copied and pasted it from there, lost the movies but learned something, so all is well. David a Yorkshireman in the USA

Quote: As a general rule, my proceedure is to import all my video content into the media library and "go hard at it" until I've completed the editing process(assemble the clips, drop in the transition effects, add any titles and captions, add my narration track and any music) then produce the video in one session. I don't save as a PDS file(pack the content and other "bits & bobs into a project file) as I've always preferred to take a video editing project from start to finish in one session. I've been working this way since PD5. I now have both PD8 Ultra and PD14 Ultra on my computer.

If I'm understanding this correctly... you never save your work? If that's true... I have to express my OPINION in that this is bad advice for anyone. Especially if it takes days to finish a project.

I'm certianly not saying you shouldn't work this way. Sure, I've made 5 minute videos doing exactly what you do, but I always save the project at the end. If I don't need it a few months later, it's purged. I live in a area prone with power outages. When I'm making video for clients, I HAVE to save and sometimes pack projects. CTRL+S = Save / CTRL+SHFT+S = Save As and Pack everything when "finished".

Like George Lucas says... "A film is never finished, it gets taken away." CyberPowerPC | Win7HP-64 | AMD FX-8320 3.5 Ghz | 8GB Mem | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB | WEI 5.9


My Video Editing Computer | My DirectX Diagnostics


PowerDirector 15.0.2820.0 | PhotoDirector 7.0.7504.0 | AudioDirector 6.0.5902.0 | ColorDirector 4.0.4627.0 | Power2Go 9.0.2602.0


Sutter Hill SDA Church | Anadrac_Organ_Works | My_Youtube_Channel

Hi, Jcardana!

......Like George Lucas says... "A film is never finished, it gets taken away." That's all very well for George Lucas, but I'm no George Lucas! The project for me is the finished edit! I see no need to store the components together in a PDS file to link up the clips, titles, captions, transitions and other "bits and bobs". I have the original MPEG2 or(as from my new camera, MP4) video files stored on my hard-drive for me to edit in another way(I might do two, three or more different edits before I'm satisfied, and not always in Power Director), so the raw content is all I really need. The final "produce" is the proof of my pudding! I have the time to dedicate to putting the video together and I much rather just plough ahead and get the edit finished.

Cheers!

Neil

That's an interesting approach, Neil, but I imagine most of us when working on a large-ish project need to take a break and do something else. I know I do. Also it's not unknown for PD to throw a wobbly occasionally on my system so it's useful insurance to save the project (and allow it to auto-save).

The PDS file takes up very little space and among other things it allows one to return to a project and produce a modified version without having to start from scratch.

I've not so far used the Pack Project Materials because, like you, I keep the original camera material on the SD cards it was recorded on so as long as these remain readable I can always just re-import it if I need to re-create a project. However in practice I just leave the captured files on the hard drive as long as there's space - with a 1TB drive I haven't run out yet - and also back them up on a couple of 1TB external drives. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

Neil.F.1955,

You are practicing a very dangerous method of editing. If anything goes wrong while editing a project, you would have to begin the project all over.

These two tutorials explain a very good workflow that works in nearly all cases.

Project management 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAOnn8g0C_o After watching management 1, you can continue from the video to management 2.

Project management 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2CYLYIynB0

You can work however you want, it is your method that works for you. If you follow the above guidelines, you may never lose what you are doing in a project.

Granted when you are done you can delete the entire project work folder without packing the project materials. That would clear your computer of all of the work files for that project.

You would only use the storage for the project while you are working on that one project.

Imagine if you were a member of the PDToots team and you lost the work that many people had been working on for days or months. 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.

Hi, Mike!

How's it goin'? I tend to copy from the camera's SD-card across to my internal hard-drive(though, on occasion I have edited content directly from the card, either in situ, still in the camera, or removed from the camera and inserted to a card reader). After I've "mucked about" with the material(done a few different edits), I'll store the content onto a 2TB external hard-drive, that I might revisit the content at a later stage for yet another attempt to make a still-better(I hope) edit(if I come up with any new ideas for it). Doing this, I can later clear the content off the SD-card, freeing it up for later use. For working on "large-ish" video edits(like one on the tramway museum in the outer Sydney suburb of Loftus, for instance), I'll work on it for thirty-or-so minutes, have a break, get a snack or drink, then come back to it, but always try to get it done in one session. That's how I've always worked. I get into the mood for a video-editing session and just "push on through". Certainly works for me!

Cheers!

Neil.

Quote: Neil.F.1955,

You are practicing a very dangerous method of editing. If anything goes wrong while editing a project, you would have to begin the project all over.

These two tutorials explain a very good workflow that works in nearly all cases.

Project Managment 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAOnn8g0C_o After watching Managment 1, you can continue from the video to Mangment 2.

Project Managment 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2CYLYIynB0

You can work however you want, it is your method that works for you. If you follow the above guidelines, you may never lose what you are doing in a project.

Granted when you are done you can delete the entire project work folder without packing the project materials. That would clear your computer of all of the work files for that project.

You would only use the storage for the project while you are working on that one project.

Imagine if you were a member of the PDToots team and you lost the work that many people had been working on for days or months.

Thanks for the suggestion, Carl, but as I'm not part of the PDToots team, that's somewhat of a moot point(I guess, if I was, I'd likely save content in PDS files), but as I'm working for myself, I've no need of storing material that way. If I lost the edit I was working on, I still retain the raw MPEG2 or MP4 content, and would, on second attempt, probably create a better edit, using a couple of ideas I thought of but didn't use in the aborted first attempt, so all is not lost. I am, after all, a hobbyist videographer, producing content that, in the end will only be seen by family and/or friends. I don't upload to YouTube(after the kerfuffle over music copyright flagging issues, can you blame me?).

Cheers!

Neil.