How to create a split edit effect with iMovie 11

1. The Precision Editor

Find a clip in your project whose audio you'd like to extend and mouse over its thumbnail. You'll see a button appear lower left of it. Click on it and select the first option: Precision Editor. The lower part of the interface is replaced with a more zoomed-in version of your clips and their edit points.
2. See waveforms

By default, you'll only see the video clip. Just like the project section, you can zoom in or out of it with the slider, bottom-right of the section. If you want to see the clip's audio track, you need to click on the Show Audio Waveform button, top-right of the interface.
3. Create the split edit

Move the cursor to the edit point's blue line and make sure it's over the audio waveform, not the video. Now drag to the right to extend the audio but leave the video exactly where it was. You can do the same for the clip beneath it so you don't hear two audio tracks at the same time.

Advanced iMovie Tips

iMovie is a proprietary video editing software application which allows Mac, iPod Touch 4th generation, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 users to edit their own home movies. It was originally released by Apple in 1999 as a Mac OS 8 application bundled with the first FireWire-enabled consumer Apple model – iMac DV. Since version 3, iMovie has been a Mac OS X only application bundled in the iLife suite of Macintosh applications.

iMovie imports video footage to the Mac using either the FireWire interface on most MiniDV format digital video cameras, the USB port, or by importing the files from a hard drive. From there, the user can edit the video clips, add titles, and add music. Effects include basic color correction and video enhancement tools, and transitions such as fade-in, fade-out, and slides.

Different with Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Por X, iMovie is a primary video editor. But even though, this software still has some advanced tips to help you create a great video. Here we go in the next video, it will teach you to getting more out of iMovie, including: 1080 Export with iMove, color grading, kenburns, and text effects.

How to Edit Video with Sony Vegas?

1.    Go to: File - New. This will bring up a new project where you will select your desired options. It will also ask you where you want your prerecorded files saved. Be organized! (If you ever need to work on something in the future, but you've move these files somewhere else in the meantime, Vegas won't be able to find them.) Make a new folder for your items. For learning purposes, keep the default settings: NTSC DV (720x480, 29.970 fps). This is for your standard aspect ratio (4x3) and a standard frame rate. You'll notice other tabs such as Audio, Ruler, Summary and Audio CD. Just stick with Video for now. This is all you will need to get started.

2.    Select your options and decide what folder you're placing your data in. Then import your video to edit. To import you can select File, Capture Video. Or, if your video footage is already on the computer, just go to File, Import, Media. You also have the ability to just drag and drop media into Vegas from a folder.

3.    Click Capture Video. The program will ask if it's DV or HDV. Select what applies to your camera. A window called Sony Video Capture will pop up. This gives you the options to Capture, Advance Capture, and Print to Tape. After plugging in your camera with the appropriate method, the program will automatically recognize your device. Proceed to capture the video, which will import into Vegas.

4.   Importing from a file is as easy as drag and drop, or File, Import, Media. Either way the media will fall into the Vegas Timeline ready for editing. Just select what media you want to drop, either from the Import menu or using drag and drop, and you're ready to begin your edit. (Note: Import Media or drag and drop also works on pictures and audio.)

5.    Begin some basic edits, now that you have your media in place.

Basic Edits

1.   Hit Ctrl A and drag your media to the beginning of the time line, if necessary. Use the Up and Down arrows to zoom in and out of the frames. If you use the Up arrow as far as it goes, you will see all of the frames. Use the side-to-side arrows to rewind and fast-forward through the timeline. You can select and use the trimmer, but it isn't necessary. That's getting a little more technical.

2.    Delete visual or audio clips by selecting the undesired and simply hitting Delete on the keyboard. If you want to shorten the length of a clip, simply click on the end or beginning of the clip with your mouse, and drag it to the middle to your desired length. If you want to cut (or splice) a clip in two, simply zoom in with the Up arrow, scrub through with the side arrow, and hit S to splice exactly where you want.

3.    Apply simply effects. If you look at the end of each frame, you will see there are two buttons: Event Pan/Crop and Event FX. You can also step things up with plug-ins, although out of the box Vegas has a lot of plug-ins ready to go. Select all of the frames you want to have the same effect: group them by right-clicking and going to Group. Then when you apply anything to one frame, it will do it to them all.

4.    Speed up or slow down a scene using Velocity Envelope, which many call Motion Control. Just go to the desire section you want to add slow-motion to. Splice exactly the scene desired, then right-click the scene and select Insert/Remove Envelope; Velocity. This will make a green line appear in the middle of the scene. You can move it down for slow motion, or speed things up by moving it up. Right-click the line to assign markers. With markers, you can gradually speed things up or down.

5.    Render your video. Just take your loop region at the top of the time line right above the times. Make sure you're at the beginning of the video. Drag it to the end of your video. Go to File, Render As and select an option. You can render your video in many formats, such as .mov or .wmv.

Some PowerDirector 10 Tips

Cyberlink PowerDirector 10 is a video editing software program that typically comes bundled with a JVC camcorder. However, you can purchase PowerDirector separately on the Cyberlink website (see "Resources"). PowerDirector allows you to import or capture your video, edit it, enhance it and produce a polished product. Tips on how to add titles, color boards and transitions will help you in producing a great video.

Transitions

Transitions help to enhance the production of your video by allowing you to create effects like fade-ins and fade-outs. The "Transition Room" contains all of the transition effects that can be applied between video or image clips in the workspace. However, you may also apply transitions within one single video by simply "splitting" the video into separate clips directly from the video track on the timeline. To split a media clip, select the clip you want to modify. Place your cursor at the position at which you want to split the clip, and click "Split." The clip is split into independent clips that can be moved or modified separately in the workspace. Transitions may then be applied to as many of the split sections desired. Splitting a video or audio clip does not delete any portion of the content. Both halves of a split video or audio clip can be stretched back to any length up to the original duration.

Colorboards

Color boards are often used to create a color background at the beginning or end of a video. They are an excellent complement to a title because they help make the title stand out. To add a color board, click the "Media Room" icon on the left of the screen to open the "Media Room" in the "Library." Select "Color boards" from the "Filter" dropdown list. The current color boards appear in the library. Select a color board, then add it to the workspace. You may do this by dragging one or more color boards to a desired position in the video track. When adding clips to the video track, you cannot leave an empty gap between the last clip and the new clips you are adding. Clips added to the end of the video track follow immediately after the final clip in that track.

Titles

Titles can be added to the beginning of the video with or without a color board, directly on the video clip, and at the very end of the video with or without a color board. Note that color boards can only be added at the front or the end of the video. Additionally, you can select different effects for your titles as you desire. Click on the "Title Room" icon to add a title. The title effect options will appear in the window, and you can choose whether to add an effect or leave the title plain. Whenever you set an option in the "Title Designer," a preview of the effect is instantly displayed.


Source is
http://www.ehow.com/list_7483044_power-director-tips.html

How to Make Templates for PowerDirector 10 Ultra

PowerDirector 10 Ultra is a video editing and DVD authoring program produced by Cyberlink. Although the application has many built-in features, users have the option to customize certain elements like DVD menu templates. PowerDirector users can do this when they launch the "Menu Designer" module.

1. 
   Launch PowerDirector 10 Ultra. Click the director's chair icon. Choose "File" and select "Open" from the menu. A file selection window will deploy. Search for your project file. Select the item and click "Open" to load the project into the program.
2. 
   Click the "Create Disc" tab and the DVD menu template library will display. Select a preferred menu template and click the "Modify" button to begin customizing it. The "Menu Designer" module will display.
3. 
   Click the "Set Background" icon. A file selection window will deploy. Search for an image to replace the default menu background. Select the item and click "Open." An image re-sizing dialog box will deploy. Choose from the "Crop," "Letterbox" or "Stretch" options to size the image for the menu background.
4. 
    Click the "Change Text Properties" icon. Scroll down the "Menu Properties" library and choose a color for the menu text. Go to the "Disc Menu Font Properties" toolbar and set the typeface, size and alignment of the menu text.
5. 
   Click the "Set Button Properties" icon. Scroll down the "Menu Properties" library and select a preferred layout for the menu buttons.
6. 
   Click the "Save" icon to store the custom template in PowerDirector. It will be available in the "Menu Designer" module for future projects.

Source is
http://www.ehow.com/how_10006998_make-templates-powerdirector.html

Final Cut Pro X: Three Tips from a Top Trainer

The Manhattan Edit Workshop has been getting a lot of calls for Apple Final Cut Pro X training, says Apple Certified Trainer Ari Feldman. That’s why it’s holding its first FCPX class, a hands-on intensive, on July 9th and 10th.

To prepare, Feldman has been spending a lot of time with the new software. “Man, is it different,” he says, praising its much faster performance. He also likes the new markers feature, which lets producers place to-do items within a project. Markers can be set as done or not done.

Much is missing, of course, like multicamera editing and XML export, but Feldman notes that Apple has promised to get those restored with an upcoming update.

Many experienced editors, including Feldman, are having difficulty adjusting to the trackless timeline. “That’s a new one on me,” he says, although he’s reserving judgment on whether or not he likes it until he’s spent more time with it.

At the moment, the user forums “read like an angry mob,” says Feldman, something he predicts will blow over in six months to a year as Apple provides improvements. Until then, plenty of people, both experienced and new to Final Cut, will need training.

“It’s the most polarizing piece of software I’ve ever seen,” he adds.

To help you adjust to the radically new Final Cut Pro X, here are three tips that Feldman has discovered:

Scrub with the S Key
With FCPX, Apple has introduced a simple way to scrub through your footage without moving the playhead. Press the S key on your keyboard to turn the feature on. Then, you can move your mouse over your footage to scrub through the video. Press the S key again to turn the feature off. “It’s a faster way to scrub through your footage,” says Feldman. Afterwards, your playhead is exactly where you left it.

Reverse Your Ken Burns
Adding motion to still photos (the Ken Burns effect) is possible in Final Cut Pro 7, but Feldman especially likes how simple and intuitive it is with FCPX. Zooming in or out on a photo is a snap. But there’s also a Swap button on the interface that lets you reverse the effect you’ve created. This is a great timesaver when you change your mind or want to play with different effects.

Duplicating a Project
Creating duplicates of a project has baffled some users, since FCPX lacks a Save As menu item. The solution is to hit command-D to bring up the Duplicate Project window. This lets you create a duplication on another hard drive, duplicate a project and all of its clips, or duplicate a project and only the material used in the timeline. It’s the FCPX version of the Media Manger from previous versions of Final Cut, says Feldman.

Source is
http://www.onlinevideo.net/2011/06/final-cut-pro-x-three-tips-from-a-top-trainer/

Tips: Get to grips with Final Cut Pro X

Apple's latest video editor is very different from the previous version.

Surf the new colour correction tools

Highlight a clip in the Timeline – choose Show Color Board from the menu beneath the wand. There are separate windows for adjustment of Color, Saturation and Exposure. Fine adjustment is achieved by using the arrow keys, and adjustments can be made in real-time as you play the clip. Furthermore, you can choose from a wide selection of presets, accessed via the gear icon at the bottom of the Color Adjustment window.

Time and again

Control-click a clip in the Timeline and choose Retime. On first glance it appears the speed controls in FCP X are quite limiting - the menu reads Slow 50%, 25%, and 10%. Furthermore, Fast is 2x, 4x, 8x and 20x. Don't be deceived – you can have any speed you want. Apply the Slow or Fast setting of your choice. Drag either end of the Retiming slider and the centre indicator will show precise speed changes as you drag.

Kill space invaders

With background rendering switched on eventually render files will fill up your hard drive. This is unnecessary as you really only want to keep those files which are required for the edit. In the Project Library highlight a project and choose the File menu – scroll to Delete Project Render Files. You can choose to delete Unused Render Files Only or All Render Files.

Source is http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?FeatureID=3305492