Toggling movie between 2 video sources

scs0 wrote on 7/13/2003, 5:43 PM
I have 2 angles of the same content and I was hoping to edit between the 2 video clips and use an independent audio track. I began by sitting chunks of video together in the "Video" row of the timeline, but this will require some precision in video editing to ensure the audio and video are synched up properly.

Is there a better way? Could I put angle 1 into the Video row and angle 2 into the Video Overlay row, then specify which one I want in my content at any specific time? I guess a "Video Overlay" track is not approperate for this purpose. But, could I place the 2 on top of each other, use the split tool to cut them at the exact same points, then remove the chunk from the Video row and move the chunk down from the Video Overlay row? I'd like to try this, but the editor will not let me split the video in the overlay and video rows at the exact same point.

For example, if I have video in both the Video Overlay and the Video rows, and click on my timeline I get that vertical line representing my current point. If the Video Overlay row has the focus, the split command will split the video overlay track at that point. If I then set the video track to the track of focus (with the vertical position line at the same point) then select the split command, nothing happens.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Comments

Former user wrote on 7/13/2003, 6:54 PM
On my version of Video Factory, it allows me to split either video track. Make sure you have selected the track you want to split before you hit the split command.

What version are you using?

Dave T2
IanG wrote on 7/14/2003, 2:51 AM
I don't have access to VF right now, but from memory split should work across all the tracks. Is it possible the unsplit (?) track is muted? I've no idea whether that would prevent a track being split, but it's worth a look. Also, have a look at "Takes" - there might be something there you could use.

Ian G.
Steve Grisetti wrote on 7/14/2003, 8:25 AM

scs0--

You've almost got it, but you're making things too hard for yourself.

Lay both videos down, one on each video track (making sure they're both in sync with the audio, of course). Then, simply snip out the portions of the overlay track where you want to cut to the other track. (You do this, of course, by highlighting the overlay track and using the trim tool (aka the razor blade) to cut two points and delete what's in between.)

In other words, when there's video on the overlay track, that will be visible. When you delete a portion from the overlay track, the bottom video track will be visible, appearing to "cut" to your second angle. No reason to have all your video on the same track.

This is the way the pros do it, except often intercutting between several video tracks.
IanG wrote on 7/14/2003, 1:42 PM
I can duplicate your problem by selecting "Ignore Event Grouping" - it's got to be worth a look.

You can do some interesting things by using pan and crop to produce a split screen and showing both tracks simultaneously.

Ian G.
scs0 wrote on 7/14/2003, 4:22 PM
Thanks. I tried using the trim option and everything other than my selection was trimmed off. It seemed backwards; like selecting a word in a Word document, selecting "Delete" and watching everything aside from the selection getting deleted. How do you get the trim option to trim the selection and not the area outside the selection?

I was able to delete a section by making a selection, click the split events button, see the split events button break the selection into its own chunk, then delete the chunk manually.

But once I do it this way, how do I add a transition between the overlay and the portion of the main video that's being shown because part of the overlay was cut away?

Thanks
Steve Grisetti wrote on 7/15/2003, 9:25 AM

I'm not sure what you've got going there now, scs0.

Why do you want a transition between your overlay and the background video track? I thought you just wanted to cut between with a continuous audio track. If that's the case, you probably will need to do your cutting in two tracks and then dragging the overlay track cuts down onto the background track so that you can have transitions.

I'm not sure why you'd want to do this though. Transitions should be used very sparingly. To maintain the feel of continuous action between the camera angles, I'd definitely recommend simply cutting between your two sources by using the method I described above.

I don't know why everything but your selection is being trimmed off. Once you use the razor to cut the beginning and the end of the section you want deleted (making sure that the overlay track is selected, of course), just click on the segment (it will become highlighted) and hit your delete key.

Hope that works for you, my friend.
Former user wrote on 7/15/2003, 9:43 AM
If you want to dissolve between, use the fade effect on the upper track. This causes that track to fade in and out, thus creating the illusion of a dissolve.

Dave T2