Reducing Time for Slide Show

Grazie wrote on 5/4/2002, 1:06 PM
Tip - Just experimented with a combination of "Fast-motion" movie [Ctrl - squash clip] on a series of bmp files. I've now got a really snappy slide show from video clip. The actual clip I squashed was a MPEG. Got the picture diplay length down to 0.5 of second. Pace is very important in a vid show.

Question: How can I assign a still picture to a "beat" on the sound track?

Grazie

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 5/4/2002, 2:04 PM
Well, the first thing you have to do is determine the tempo of the music. I had an advantage with the "nightwalk" video in that i created the sound track to my own specifications and had it play at exactly 120bpm. I wanted the pictures to occur every half beat, or 240 per minute. This equals 4 per second. I set the project properties to 24fps, so i had to have a new picture every 6 frames. At first i was manually shortening each picture to this length as i added them. Then i got smart and changed the default picture length to 2,500,000 under Internal Preferences. Of course, this only worked this nicely because i picked "nice" numbers like 120 and 24. If i had use 30fps, then each image would have to have alternated between 7 frames and 8 frames. If the music had been a different tempo then the math would have worked out differently. You could stretch/shrink the music so that the beats do come evenly on frame boundries, add the images, then shrink/stretch everything back to the original tempo. You can also pick a frame rate for the project properties that fits the beat, even if it ends up being something bizarre like 13.873, then let the rendering process sort it out at the end.

If you need to individually make fine adjustments, you can zoom in far enough to see individual frames and line the transitions up with the audio timeline. The beats are usually the loudest peaks in the waveform. Keep in mind that the transitions should occur at frame boundries. If you set them between frame boundries, VideoFactory will move them to a boundry anyway, and it may not choose the one that fits best.

I guess the overall message here is that it's not an easy automatic process. The effort is worthwhile though.
Grazie wrote on 5/4/2002, 2:17 PM
Chienworks, thanks for that - I knew you would have a really thought out solution....

I've also just now played with the 50,000,000 "ntDefVideoStillLength" setting - what a revelation!

However, I've just been experimenting and... also read the keystrokes commands. I can add quite creatively markers, by tapping in time/beat the M key to the sound of the music, and zilions of Markers appear. Well, here's the thing - can I now select stills that will jump to those individual markers - straight from the Media Pool by drag and Drop? I'm dragging whole loads of BMPs, in order, straight to a visual track. What do we need to do that will "sprinkle" them to each marker ie jump to the marker? OOOh yes please...

I know you have an answer - If we can do this WOW! No more messing around with the Math eh... go on have a go.... "I guess the overall message here is that it's not an easy automatic process" well let's about that eh...

Waiting in anticipation ....

Grazie
Chienworks wrote on 5/4/2002, 2:21 PM
LOL!!!!! Good attitude :)

Well, you can double click the images in succession from the media pool and each one will end up buttted against the previous one. However, they will still be whatever the default length is in the Internal Preference setting. However ... If after you place each picture, you pull the edge back to the marker of the *next* beat, it will be the right length. Then click on that marker to place the cursor there. The next still will start at that marker. Repeat ...

Beware of being overconfident in placing your markers though. It is harder than you think to consistantly hit the beat. But with practice you may get close enough, and you can always adjust any that are off.
Grazie wrote on 5/4/2002, 2:35 PM
Brilliant! Now then, there must now be a way to do this .... easily?

I'm not looking for perfection. Even 4:4 or waltz 3:4 time can be easily tapped out. I've just been tapping - getting my music head around this [Where's VinceG when you need him!] at least demi-semi-quavers beats in a 4:4 bar. I think that makes 8 or 16 markers to the bar.

What you are saying is that the default times for a still will overide the placement...Hmmmm...

Is there a way of "filling-in" between markers? The default may give the smallest amount of still required, but ... I don't know enough of the intricacies of the Internal settings to "force" a fill-in, if it does exsists!

Grazie

Chienworks wrote on 5/4/2002, 3:30 PM
As far as i can tell, even Vegas doesn't offer this functionality. However, if we suggest to Sonic Foundry through their product suggestion page that they take the features of the BeatMapper™ from ACID and combine that with a way to auto-mark, and then allow an inserted clip to automatically snap it's endpoints to a selected range, that might do it. However, i would guess that this feature would be slated for Vegas only, not for Video Factory. Oh well, maybe when VV4 arrives it will have killer upgrade deals for VF users again :)
Grazie wrote on 5/4/2002, 5:04 PM
Chienworks - thanks for the feedback and your research.

Is there nothing "lurking" within Internal Prefs for what we are trying to achieve?

Just to add I've used your suggestion with something of success. I'll give it a further go. I'm meeting up with a fine artist friend next week to assist him with a project which will be using what we have been discussing.

Another thing - I'm looking to give something of a "shaky" feel to clips - like the effect an earthquake might have on a camera while capturing such an event. Apart from rocking my laptop backwards and forwards [that's a joke!] is there an effects thingy I can create or download? I know this sounds cheesy, but where I would employ it would be to give some "action" to some stills.

Any ideas?

Grazie
Chienworks wrote on 5/4/2002, 7:07 PM
YIKES! Ummmm. well, (*sigh*) in Vegas this could very easily be achieved with Track Motion and keyframing the motions. In Video Factory, probably the best thing to do is to split the clip up into very very short sections (maybe a couple of frames each) and use Pan/Crop to move/rotate each section slightly from each other. Hopefully your earthquake won't last too long!
Grazie wrote on 5/5/2002, 1:00 AM
Thanks Chienworks. I've got an idea to incorporate some "shaky" handrawn frames to go around a video clip and to have a a scratchy and naturalist type of feel to the presentation I am doing.

I suppose what this all boils down to, is that I need to spend time making "template" type files that I can call up and "adjust" to my fancy as I work.

Is there a way to create templates - of any form, video/audio, - in VF? 'Cos once I've got my Earthquake, it'll be really neat to use this oin other projects by, I suppose replacing the actual clip. Or is there a way of it to the transistions tab? Or is there a way of adding further "bespoke" tabs like you can within the template structure of Microsoft Word?

I'll have a go at the Pan/Crop idea.

The more I use this product the more I'm finding more I can do and more I want to be in version 3.0 - if that will happen. Do you think that these wizbangs we are thinking about will only appear in VV 4.0?

Tarah

Grazie


Chienworks wrote on 5/5/2002, 6:32 AM
Well, one hopeful sign for the VF'ers is that so far, Sonic Foundry seems to be using Video Factory as a "playground" for new ideas for Vegas. Last time around, VF2 got all the fancy new transitions, film effects, user interface, and video capture before they showed up in Vegas 3. In fact, Sonic Foundry often posted that Vegas users should download the newest VF build to get the new features. Go figger ;)

As far as saving all these templates for future use? Hmmm. That doesn't seem too promising to me. About the best you can do with Video Facotry is to open up an existing .vf project file next time you want to start a new project, then replacing the media with new clips.
Grazie wrote on 5/5/2002, 6:46 AM
Okay.... Is there no way I can add things to the transitions "Tab" or whatever? Or even a new tab - ie "Grazies Earthquake Features"? Somewhere in one of the VF files must be a collections routine, bringing all this stuff together - maybe not available to us mere mortals.

Can one add one's own toolbar icons? Now there's a thought!

Regards

Grazie.
Chienworks wrote on 5/5/2002, 7:57 AM
That you will have to take up with Sonic Foundry. http://www.sonicfoundry.com/support/productsuggestion.asp
VinceG wrote on 5/8/2002, 7:31 PM
<< Where's VinceG when you need him! >>

Hi Tarah!
I've been away from the boards. Been very busy in my recording studio. I had to put the video editing on the back burner for awhile as I am busy re-discovering the power of my audio studio AND giving it an upgrade.

Anyway, you are always in good hands with chienworks! I see he took care of you very well.

Best Regards!
VinceG
miketree wrote on 5/9/2002, 1:55 PM
>>> ....Then i got smart and changed the default picture length to 2,500,000 under Internal Preferences.

OK, How do I do this? Where are the internal preferences?
Chienworks wrote on 5/9/2002, 2:33 PM
Go to Options, then hold down the Shift key when you click on Preferences. You'll see a new tab labeled "Internal".
BEWARE!!!!!! Do not change ANYTHING in this section unless you really know what you're doing. One wrong keystroke could kill your VF installation. If you do mess stuff up, you can hold down the CTRL & Shift keys next time you start up VF and ALL of your preferences will be reset back to the original state.