Jumping Solid Colors with Crop Tool and Copying Text

David-Wigfield wrote on 6/13/2025, 12:42 PM

Hi, I have two questions. I am using Movie Studio 17, Build 223.

First, if I am cropping a solid color, to use as a background for text, and I am using the Video Effects Crop tool, the color that I am cropping will bounce around the screen, sometimes elongate and just won't stay where I want it. This happens no matter what anchor point I have set in the Crop Effects toolbox or if I am using the little yellow handles or the sliders in the toolbox. Any ideas why this would be the case? I am not sure if it only happens on solid colors that I have copied from the timeline to a new location or on newly generated solid colors. Really annoying when trying to size it to fit my text.

Second, if I have a text template in a bin, EG, text, red, scale 0.7, and I drag that to the timeline and then edit it, it changes my template text to whatever I wrote on the timeline and changes the name in the bin. Is there an obscure setting somewhere that automatically makes a copy of my text template when I put it on the timeline and leaves the original template alone? Would it leave the template alone if I drag it from the Custom Bin instead of the All Media area? Of course, when I copy text on the timeline and paste as new media event, it just adds that new text to the bin. I want to preserve my template.

Still like MovieStudio 17 but the crashes I get when I use the JKL keys to fast to scrub are really driving me crazy. Did a clean install and wiped everything from the registry and got crashes down to just a couple per session, down from every 5 minutes or so.

Wish there was a fix for this. Been eyeing DaVinci as a replacement. Oh well.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any suggestions you have on my two questions.

Comments

EricLNZ wrote on 6/13/2025, 8:36 PM

With your first problem I suspect you may have created several keyframes which is causing the size and position to bounce around your screen. But without seeing a screen grab of your FX window it's difficult to be sure. Personally having cropped the solid colour I'd use the Picture In Picture FX to position and size it. Both Position and Size can be animated.

EricLNZ wrote on 6/13/2025, 8:55 PM

With your second problem to my knowledge using "Titles and Text" you cannot create templates. You create Presets which become available in the drop down list list when you drag any text item from Media Generator 'Titles and Text' to your timeline. I find if I subsequently alter this it doesn't alter my preset which is available unaltered for any new text items.

Anyway as you've discovered if you copy and paste a text item on the timeline you get the below Paste Options box which by using the first option solves your problem.

EricLNZ wrote on 6/13/2025, 9:13 PM

With you last problem please post Media Info on your most used media https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-how-to-post-mediainfo-and-vegas-pro-file-properties--104561/

VMS17 is now a few years old now and technology moves fast so it's possibly struggling if you have files from an up to date camera or phone. So the fix may be to move up to Vegas Pro. There's a 30 day trial available from Magix. Whilst more complicated than VMS VP is a familiar layout and editing system and will open your existing VMS 'vf' files.

EricLNZ wrote on 6/14/2025, 3:55 AM

Playing around further with problem number 2 - Text Presets (Templates) I find:

Presets aren't only available in the Drop Down list in the Preset list in the Video Media Generators text adjustment window but also in the Media Generator Titles and Text window showing thumbnails of all the Presets (Templates). I'm sure a new one I created earlier wasn't there previously but now after restarting VMS17 it has appeared.
Dragging a Preset thumbnail from there to put the item on the timeline gives the preset correctly even if I've previously added the preset and altered it
But this doesn't work if I alter a preset on the timeline and then with its Media Generator text window still OPEN drag the preset again to the timeline. On the timeline the new item shows the preset correctly in its thumbnail but in the Preview window you can see it has actually acquired any alterations you previously made in the still open Media Generator text window. So it's important to close any such windows before adding a preset to your timeline.

David-Wigfield wrote on 6/15/2025, 12:24 PM

Hi Eric, Thank you for the response. I went in and checked and there are no key frames. I have had that problem with the jumping entity using the drop tool on two different video cards, so I don't know what that means. Sometimes it does it, sometimes not. Most of the time though, it does jump. I have used picture in picture before for things like this, but I forgot about that effect. I tried it yesterday and while it sizes and positions nicely, I could only get it to reduce the size in equal ratios, if that makes sense. I need to draw all of the edges in individually to make the background accompany the text. I'll play around some more. Yes, presets on the text. I haven't edited in a while and forgot about those too. I'll set those up for this project and I think that will help solve my problem. It would have been nice though when you dragged a text item out of a bin if the program asked if you wanted to create a new copy of it just like it does when you copy and paste on the timeline. As for the program freezing. It appears to occur only when I use the JKL keys rapidly in succession while scrubbing. I continually hit Control S while I am working. I did a complete uninstall including cleaning what I could find in the registry and that helped immensely. I had Vegas 20 for a while I was doing a lot more editing but dropped it because of the cost. I know Movie Studio 17 is many years old and not supported anymore, but I really like it's ease of use and interface. It's a shame Magix decided to drop it. As long as I can keep Ver 17 working for my tutorial videos, I'll continue to use it but, I will investigate DaVinci some and play around with it. Thanks again!

jetdv wrote on 6/15/2025, 12:37 PM

@David-Wigfield, Movie Studio (through version 17) was basically the "baby brother" of VEGAS. You can upgrade to VEGAS Pro 22 and have mostly the same interface but with more abilities and features.

EricLNZ wrote on 6/15/2025, 6:12 PM

It would have been nice though when you dragged a text item out of a bin if the program asked if you wanted to create a new copy of it just like it does when you copy and paste on the timeline.

I agree. It seems strange that it doesn't.

jetdv wrote on 6/16/2025, 7:41 AM

It would have been nice though when you dragged a text item out of a bin if the program asked if you wanted to create a new copy of it just like it does when you copy and paste on the timeline.

I agree. It seems strange that it doesn't.

I actually disagree with this. If you're pulling something from the bin, you should get that exact item added without needing to answer any questions. If you want a new copy, then copy it after adding it.

David-Wigfield wrote on 6/16/2025, 2:50 PM

A quick update. I did some playing around with entities jumping using the crop tool. I discovered that it appears to only happen if I copy an already cropped entity from the timeline and then paste it back into the timeline. The copy or copies, if I copy and paste multiple times, will jump around the screen. The original will not. So, what I have is a preset for the text background color I like, and I will just use Insert Generated Media each time and use my preset. I guess the jumping is just a bug and at least I have a workaround.

As for the copy from the bin, if you have to copy after adding, that is just an additional move that you would have to make. You would have to add from bin onto timeline, copy that item, place it, remove the original and then move the copy to the desired location. If it asks if you want a copy or not when selected from the bin, it is only one additional mouse click. Doesn't matter anyway because there will be no more updates. Thanks to all who commented on my original questions. I appreciate the help.

jetdv wrote on 6/17/2025, 7:38 AM

@David-Wigfield If I copy something from the bin, I expect to get the item I copied - not something different. If I want something different, I add a new item to the timeline and start adjusting from there. I do have several presets that I use and, generally, find it easier to add a new item and pick a preset. My main exception to this is if I need several titles using the same preset - I'll add one, pick the preset, immediately copy it, and the "paste as new" as many times as needed -- but it's still just the "base" preset on each one except they are not tied to each other and can all be changed individually.