Applying 5 FX to a single clip is an awful lot, but there's no reason that each FX has to run for the entire length of the project. By that I meen that if you're using essentially the same FX but they need to be in different locations throughout your timeline, you can either use keyframes to track the objects in your clips, or end the FX at a cut and place a new one following it.

If you truly need to apply more than 5 FX at any point in your project, you should produce that section to "lock in" the edits, and then apply the next round of up to 5 FX to the newly-produced clip.

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Quote If you truly need to apply more than 5 FX at any point in your project, you should produce that section to "lock in" the edits, and then apply the next round of up to 5 FX to the newly-produced clip.

I thought about that as an idea; that's probably what I will end up doing. Thanks!

Quote I thought about that as an idea; that's probably what I will end up doing. Thanks!

You can also try adding several individual FX directly to your clip - unless you need the FX to apply to all the clips above the FX tracks on the timeline.

I don't know what the limit is when FX are applied directly to a clip, but I'm sure you can get at least 5 more.

Please note that having that many FX at a time may slow PD down to a crawl when you're trying to preview your work, and my original suggestion is the best workaround for that.

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This may be an ignorance-in-terminology thing on my part since I am still a beginning user, but what is the difference between

1) applying fx to my clip individually

2) having fx on fx-tracks.

that you're saying?

Because for instance, it's a blur, about which I am talking, as the fx I've put 5 of, in this project, in accordance with a video that this forum-member @StevenG made here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzKTcbPGLUM where he explained a way to do a "blur" for content in a video with the "Mosaic" effect. And so that is what I did. He also says there is a "Manual way" and an "Automatic way", with doing the blurring; and what I'm doing here is in accordance with what he calls the "Manual" way, where I use the "Mosaic" fx, use a Mask and whatnot, where I set up the a specific area where the blur(s) land/lands. But as I said, I've got several pieces of text/names and stuff, thorughout this particular clip, that are located on different areas on the page (I did a screen-cap to capture this particular clip) , and so I've needed several blurs in several spots.

Is what you mean with the "applying fx directly to a clip" different than having a specific fx-track? Like, for instance, in that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzKTcbPGLUM video I shared a moment ago, about blurring, the second method, what he called the "Automatic method", he selected the clip in its track, went to "Tools >> Motion Tracker" , and applied a Mosaic that way. This method does not use up an fx-track?

Just trying to think through the best way to accomplish this blurring of several spots in my clip.

Right now, this project consists of two video clips side-by-side. The first clip needs no blurring. But then the second clip does need several blurring, throughout several different sections of the screen, as the video progresses. But ultimately, this video project is probably going to total about 5-6 total different clips, and I can already see how 2 or 3 of those clips are all going to need different blurrings at different locations at different times, and it will likely be more than five of them--like, I'll need more than five instances of a blur effect.

So, should I just figure on this second method, which he called the "Automatic method", in that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzKTcbPGLUM video, be the way I do these blurrings, just because I may need so many?

Those are two different ways of applying an effect. The "manual" method that StevenG shows does in fact use the FX track, and would require an additional track for every FX that you add. (I'm using quotes because "manual" and "automatic" aren't standard PD terms - you have to watch his video to understand the context).

I his video he also shows that he ends the mosaic FX at the end of that clip, which frees up that track to be used again for any following clips. While he doesn't show dragging any FX directly on to a clip, you can also use his "manual" method by doing just that. To change the settings of the FX, click on the affected clip (rather than on the effect on the FX track) and chose the Effect tool above the timeline.

You'll see a box in the top left with that FX along with a checkbox, up/down arrows and a "-" button. If you drag another FX directly onto that same clip from the FX library, that box will change to show both FX. At any point, you can change the order that they're applied to the clip, or you can temporarily disable any of them by unchecking the box on the left.

If you want to permanently remove an FX, click on the "-" button.

If you have a single track of clips, like in your current project, there's no difference between using indivdual FX tracks or dragging the FX directly onto the desired clip(s).

If you're using masks, or PiP objects, or split screens on multple tracks, and you want the FX to apply to all of those clips, then you'd definitely want to use the FX track to do that.

As to whether to use his "manual" method or his "automatic" method which uses the Motion Tracker tool, that's entirely up to you. If the blurred areas are mostly stationary, then placing each blur the "manual" way is straightforward, regardless of whether you drag the FX onto the clip, use a new FX track for each, or any combination of those two. If there's more motion involved, I'd use the Motion Tracker.

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@optodata: Ok, that is helping me understand a bit better. So, in this case, for this project, I do need to utilize the inserting-into-individual-clips" method rather than the use-up-all-my-fx-tracks because I have so many spots where I need blurs.

Now, this having been said, my ignorance is showing again, because:

I am having good luck, one-by-one, using that "Tools >> Motion Tracker" method to insert Mosaic blur effects into individual areas of this on clip as I need.

But from what you were saying, I can insert a Mosaic blur on certain parts of clips without having to use the "Motion Tracker" method?

Like, after I've put about five Mosaic blurs using the Tools >> Motion Tracker method about which we've been talking, whenever I do what you say where I click "Effect" button above the timeline, I see those "Mosaic "effects listed there, yeah, with the ^ , ^ , - buttons there. But were you saying there's a way to add the Mosaic effect this way without using the Tools >> Motion Tracker route? Like, a 6th, 7th, 8th, Mosaic blur in this way rather than adding a new one with the Tools >> Motion Tracker method? I'm trying different things to add one in a way other than the Tools >> Motion Tracker method I used to insert the first five, but I keep running up against a wall. Is it that I add it onto its own, new "VIDEO TRACK", and add a Mosaic Blur that way? That's not seeming to work (I guess they are different kinds of elements so shouldn't work that way). Whenever I try to drag the Mosaic effect onto the overall clip, it sort of puts me a Chooser over the ENTIRE video, and the re-sizing handles at that point are seeming to make me resize the entire video frame, and not some just little Mosaic blur I want to put on a little part of the video after dragging it onto the clip.

Quote But from what you were saying, I can insert a Mosaic blur on certain parts of clips without having to use the "Motion Tracker" method?

Yes. With all of those in place, simply drag another mosaic FX directly from th FX library onto that clip. When you choose it from the FX list box, you can configure the settings without using the MT tool.

One thing I don't know off the top of my head is what the limit is for the max number of FX per clip. As I mentioned in my last post, you can also add 5 FX tracks under that clip and all of them will be in effect.

It may also help to reconsider all of this work you're looking at.

Rather than trying to place, configure and track all of these blurry objects individually, can you simply expand the size of each blur and get away with only a few in this clip? If not, and you do run up against a hard number limit, go with the produce-at-that-point method I mentioned way back in my 1st reply.

Whenever I try to drag the Mosaic effect onto the overall clip, it sort of puts me a Chooser over the ENTIRE video, and the re-sizing handles at that point are seeming to make me resize the entire video frame, and not some just little Mosaic blur I want to put on a little part of the video after dragging it onto the clip.

I'll probably try that produce-at-that-point method, because there are a couple of the blurs that will be in large portions of the video-clip for that entire video-clip.

While I understand that people may not care a *whole lot*, but, since I made several topics here at these forums about how to do certain things in Power Director 17, all for the purpose of my churning out this first video I've ever end-to-end and completed, I've finished this first-video-ever of mine, and it's here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE-yZkyQp4g

God bless!

--TravisJ