Comments

Tim L wrote on 12/20/2005, 2:43 PM
Yes, there is a way to specify a default length for transitions (or at least for crossfades?), but....

...I am not anywhere near a computer with VMS installed, so I don't remember where the setting is.

Look around in the menu bar items and find something probably called "Preferences" or "Options" or something, and see if you can find it. If you add a still photo to the timeline by double-clicking it in the media pool, VMS will place that photo at the current cursor line location, then will place the cursor line 3.0 seconds (or whatever) from the end of that newest event. If you then add the *next* photo by double-clicking it in the media pool (instead of dragging it), you will get a 3 second overlap.

Also, when you *do* manually drag an event to create an overlap, I think you get a little "snap to" kind of positioning at your default crossfade length.

I don't know if this is applicable to transitions other than crossfades.

Tim L
Tim L wrote on 12/20/2005, 7:04 PM
Okay, I'm home now, so I can fill in the details. By the way, all of this applies to VMS 6. Similar features might be available for earlier versions, but I don't know for sure.

In the menu bar at the top, click "Options", then "Preferences". In the Preferences window that pops up, click on the "Editing" tab.

About 1/3 of the way down is a setting for "New still image length". Here is where you can set the default time (in seconds) for each new still when you add it to your timeline. You can change this as you edit, so if you have some slow music, you might have a long overlap, and later in the project you might have some faster music, and want a quicker overlap as you add those photos. Just change the "New still image length" as needed, depending on what you need at that moment.

About 2/3 of the way down is a section called "Cut-to-overlap". The "Amount (seconds)" field is where you enter your default "overlap" time -- the time of the crossfade.

In order for the automatic crossfades to work as described above, the "Automatic Crossfades" button must be active. This is the button on the top toolbar that looks like two overlapping triangles. Click it so it looks like its lit up.

The "Cut-to-Overlap" time described above is also used for transitions (like page peel, push, 3-d blinds, etc.) If you have two events that are just touching, but not overlapping, and you drag a transition between them, VMS will automatically create an overlap using the default time. Be aware, however, that it does this by extending the events, not by moving them, so the events may "loop" or start to repeat, if you have the "Loop" switch on. It would be better to manually create the overlap first, by dragging the second event so it overlaps the first, then apply the transition to the overlapped area.

I hope this helps.

Tim L
sgparry wrote on 12/20/2005, 10:01 PM
Bless you! I knew it was in there somwhere but just couldn't quite get it right. I will give this a try tomorrow when I am less flaky.

Many thanks,

Stan
Tim L wrote on 12/21/2005, 5:59 AM
uh, yeah, speaking of flaky....

This part:
"You can change this as you edit, so if you have some slow music, you might have a long overlap, and later in the project you might have some faster music, and want a quicker overlap as you add those photos. Just change the "Cut-to-overlap" as needed, depending on what you need at that moment."

obviously belongs with the paragraph below it, where I talk about the "Cut to overlap" setting. (Its so much easier to spot your own mistakes when you read them back the next day...)

Tim L