Saving edited clips, not whole movies.

Johnhhwales01

Newbie Location: UK Joined: Jan 22, 2016 13:35 Messages: 13 Offline

Solved by

Feb 06, 2016 06:29

Hi all, this may seem a stupid question. Again please bear with me as this is all new to me. I have been practicing getting to grips with editing clips. I started a new project and imported a load of short (10 second max) clips into the library. I don't want to pull them all down onto timeline yet, but simply want to edit each clip to remove the unwanted stuff, to get each clip down to about 3-4 seconds. However it seems that when I save the project to continue work on it at a later time, any changes I've made to the individutal clips is not saved.

I'm probably doing something very basic, wrong. Or, is there really no way to save little bits of work you do on a project and then re-visit it to do more work later? This can't surely be the case. The only other software I've used was Moviemaker and Ulead Studio 9.0 about 17 years ago, and I'm pretty sure I could save changes to files/clips etc by simply saving the project they are part of.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

cheers

John

Richmond Dan

Senior Contributor Location: Richmond, VA Joined: Aug 07, 2014 17:17 Messages: 673 Offline

Feb 06, 2016 07:37

Sure. Just import all the clips into the same project and drag each down to a separate track. Then trim them individually and save the whole project. You can view them separately by checking/unchecking each track (box on the left).

Another method, but more cumbersome, is to import each clip into a separate project, drag down to a track, trim as you like, then save the project.

Clips can only be edited and saved on a track, not up top in the media bin.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Feb 06. 2016 07:38

Regards,
Dan
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Johnhhwales01

Newbie Location: UK Joined: Jan 22, 2016 13:35 Messages: 13 Offline

Feb 06, 2016 08:08

Hi Dan,

what is the advantage of putting each clip on it's own track? Is it not simpler to lay all the clips onto one track and edit and shuffle them around; then save the project?

Bear in mind I have only ever really used Moviemaker in the past and always dropped the clips onto the one track. Multitracking is new to me and I'm struggling to see the advantage.

cheers

John

Jirka.Bolech

Senior Member Location: Liberec, Czech Republic Joined: Aug 16, 2014 06:03 Messages: 158 Offline

Feb 06, 2016 08:41

Hi John,

No changes to the input files shown in the media library take place while editing your project. PowerDirector just saves the editing information in a tagged file with the pds extension. Unless you save such a project file, even the editing information is lost. It's only when the output file is rendered in the Produce section that the edited video is actually created and saved.

I hope it makes sense.

Kind regards…

Jirka

Anonymous

Feb 06, 2016 11:39

Quote: Hi John,

No changes to the input files shown in the media library take place while editing your project. PowerDirector just saves the editing information in a tagged file with the pds extension. Unless you save such a project file, even the editing information is lost. It's only when the output file is rendered in the Produce section that the edited video is actually created and saved.

I hope it makes sense.

Kind regards…

Jirka

Hello John!

What Jirka says here is correct. I forget the terminology used, but in digital video editing, you're basically creating a new version of the content, without altering the original material at all. If the clip you start out with is 10 secs. in duration, If you've trimmed down to three, four or five seconds, you need to render it while it's on the timeline to get your new length, but you will still have the original 10-second clip for use at a later date. It's a non-destructive method of editing, compared to the practice of editing film... scissors or razor-blade in hand, snip, snip... another bit of film flutters to the floor! That was a very wasteful, destructive method in its day, It's far better now with digital editing!

Cheers!

Neil.

Richmond Dan

Senior Contributor Location: Richmond, VA Joined: Aug 07, 2014 17:17 Messages: 673 Offline

Feb 06, 2016 16:46

Quote: Hi Dan,

what is the advantage of putting each clip on it's own track? Is it not simpler to lay all the clips onto one track and edit and shuffle them around; then save the project?

Bear in mind I have only ever really used Moviemaker in the past and always dropped the clips onto the one track. Multitracking is new to me and I'm struggling to see the advantage.

cheers

John

No advantage at all. You said you didn't want to put them on the timeline, so I thought you wanted to keep them separate. You could just as well put them on the same timeline with space between them (or not).

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Feb 06, 2016 17:02

Hi John -

Just to add to what Dan, Jirka & Neil have posted...

Just like Movie Maker, you insert your clips and edit in whatever way you wish BUT you don't get the finished product until you Produce in PDR or Save Movie in MovieMaker - most video editing software works in a similar way. The names are just different.

You can, if you wish, produce only part of your project (e.g. the 10 second clip cut down to 5) by using Produce Range

Cheers - Tony
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Anonymous

Feb 06, 2016 22:15

Quote: Hi John -

Just to add to what Dan, Jirka & Neil have posted...

Just like Movie Maker, you insert your clips and edit in whatever way you wish BUT you don't get the finished product until you Produce in PDR or Save Movie in MovieMaker - most video editing software works in a similar way. The names are just different.

You can, if you wish, produce only part of your project (e.g. the 10 second clip cut down to 5) by using Produce Range

Cheers - Tony

Hello, John!

Between Dan, Jirka, Tony and myself, I think we've fairly-well covered this subject.

Cheers!

Neil.