Transitions

[vikingman]

Hi - I'm trying to do some image slideshows for some family members. I have Pinnacle Studio 9 with many of the Hollywood FX goodies and transitions. I also have Ulead Video Studio 9. Now for my question. I totally hate the Pinnacle Studio 9 - I've had many problems like many other users. But I do love all the transitions with the program and all the Hollywood FX added goodies I've purchased. I really like the Ulead Video Studio but am disappointed in the transitions. Is there anyway that my Hollywood FX transitions would work in my Ulead Video Studio? I've got Windows Media Center OS and 250gig HD plus additional 160 gig portable HD and 2 gig memory so space is no problem. Help me please!?!

[HollowStudio]

I to switched from Pinnacle Studio 10 to Ulead. There are a few things that Pinnacle did good like quantity of transistions, ability to apply transitions between video and text (like going from a video to a "fade to black", and ability to customize menus and a few others that Ulead does not have (or at least I have not found). What Pinnacle did not have was a stable product that worked everytime. I was having vide-audio ouy of sync issues left and right. I would think that there is no way to use Pinnacle transitions inside VideoStudio.

[sjj1805]

You cannot use Hollywood FX with Video Studio.
There is a work round for an earlier version of Hollywood Fx and Media Studio.

There ae several FREE transitions available tht will work with VideoStudio and also Media Studio here:
http://www.burgers-transition-site.de/d ... index.html

Regards
Steve J

[vikingman]

Thanks for the info - would you happen to know which earlier version of Hollywood FX might work? My brother has some earlier versions - I'm not sure which versions but it might be worth a try. - if I can figure out how to import them anyway! Thanks again.

[BrianCee]

When I hear people complaining about the transitions in Ulead VideoStudio I have to ask if you have them all and are they all installed ??

I have 182 different transitions - and many of them are customisable so in actual fact there are probably nearer 300 in my version of UVS9 - and there is certainly a 'fade to black' among them.

[sjj1805]

Thanks for the info - would you happen to know which earlier version of Hollywood FX might work? My brother has some earlier versions - I'm not sure which versions but it might be worth a try. - if I can figure out how to import them anyway! Thanks again.

Using Media Studio Pro ( 7 & 8 ) I have managed to install Hollywood FX Gold 4.5 though I had to manually copy and paste the plug in.
Hfx4GLD.vfx
from C:\Program Files\Pinnacle\Hollywood FX GOLD\Host Plugins\MStudio
To C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8.0\Vfx_plug

Steve J

[Ken Berry]

I tend to agree with BrianCee -- VS9 certainly provides more than a decent variety of transitions, including all the bog-standard ones like cross-fade and fade to black. How could anyone possibly become bored???

I guess my point may be a personal question of taste, but frankly I could never see myself using more than at most 5% of the ones provided anyway. I don't want my videos filled with an always-changing kaleidoscope of spectacular transitions!!! I might use one of the cuter ones for a particular effect which matches the exact theme of the video clip in question (for instance, I recently used the burn transition between scenes of a crusader castle in Jordan which at some time in the distant past had been put to the torch -- as far as you can burn stones!!!) But for the most part, I don't want exploding stars, or emerging hearts, or the panoply of other transitions available. But then again, I realise that probably a lot of people out there love them all and love using as many as possible!

All that being said, while I have never experienced any difficulty with Ulead's transitions apart, in VS9, with the album transition (which is a shame, since I think it is potentially one of the best they offer), there are some transition packages in other programs which work better, or at least appear to be smoother, than Ulead's. I am thinking in particular of Cyberlink's Power Director 5. It offers a few transitions that Ulead does not have, but otherwise they are much the same. But they appear to operate a bit more 'forgivingly' in the situation which also arises in VS9; namely, when you make virtual cuts of the video in the timeline, and move the virtual clips around (i.e you don't make actual cuts and save the trimmed video as new files). Putting transitions in between the virtual scenes in VS9, at least in my case, quite often seems to pick up a frame or two at either end of where the virtual cut was made, and given that I have since completely rearranged the order of the scenes, they appear momentarily in advance of the transition, but thus totally out of sequence and unrelated to the immediately previous scene. In Power Director, this does not appear to happen.

Another package with which I am more recently impressed is Canopus Video F/X, which provides more than 500 effects, and all very beautifully done, even if some (as in other packages) are, to me, still a bit too cutesy-patootsie! While they are obviously designed to work primarily with Canopus video products, they also have bridges which link the F/X to programs like VS9, Media Studio Pro and Adobe Premiers Pro -- all of which I have now downloaded. And thanks to one of our newer colleagues, Ilene, in this regard. They are not freeware, of course.

[Black Lab]

I have to agree with you Ken. On one of my very first VS productions a used a different transition at every cut, just to "show off" what I could do. But I rarely use anything but a simple crossfade now. Less really is more.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi vikingman

I have just counted 191 transitions in my version of Video Studio 9.

Along with the Burger Transitions another 20

If you do not see this amount then you have not installed the extra content files.

So how many transitions have you?

Trevor

[sjj1805]

I agree that you can go overboard with transitions but they are quite useful when creating slideshows from stills. A variety of transitions here does add a bit of zest.
When doing videos, look at what the professionals do - just watch a few Hollywood films or TV shows and you will see that straight cuts and simple crossfades are the things employed in the main.

Go overboard and your Home video will resemble those old Adam West "Batman" television series programs , Pow, Zap, Wham - get the idea!

Steve J

[vikingman]

Thanks for the replies I've been receiving to my question. Yes, I do have all the transitions that came with Ulead, in addition I have downloaded the Burger transitions. My total is about 200 transitions - and yes, that is a decent amount. But I also have to say that Pinnacle did a superb job with their special Hollywood FX transitions. And just because a person has a vast number available does not necessarily mean they will go overboard with them. I've only done two slideshows - both using Pinnacle and their transitions including Hollywood FX. The selection I had to pick from allowed me to make slideshows that I was tremendously pleased with, in particular a wedding album slideshow. There is where the added choice of transitions was fantastic - the slideshow was a compilation of pre-wedding activities, the wedding itself, and the reception and included 350 still images and the Hollywood FX transitions allowed some definite theme based wedding transitions that helped create quite a nice show. Did I use them all? Of course not, that would have been going "overboard" - but it was nice to have a choice for that particular theme. I will also say that as proud as I was of the finished product, creating these slideshows using Pinnacle was a total nightmare of program glitches and computer freezeups. That was what convinced me to switch to Ulead VideoStudio - and I have to say I'm very impressed with the program - but I do miss the selection of transitions I had before. I'm greedy - I want the best of both. Give me VideoStudio to create the slideshow - but give me Pinnacle for the choices of transitions available.

[sjj1805]

If you still want more then there are plenty available but you have to purchase them
http://www.ulead.com/products/partner.htm

I purchased and am very pleased with the Boris Factory Transitions.
This added a further 100 customizable transitions to my collection.
They work with Video Studio and Media Studio

Regards
Steve J

[sjj1805]

I bet many people dont realise you can even MAKE your own
http://www.ulead.com/learning/vs/vs9_10_1.htm

Steve J

[vikingman]

Thanks, Steve. That really looks to be something I'd like to try.

[Ilene]

thank you Ken for giving me the credit for finding the Canopus Vfx package of transitions. I personally like having a variety of transitions. I agree that too much, or too cute, can be over-board, however I make mostly slide shows using still photos and just a little video, so when you need to put a transition between each picture and an average movie has about 100 still pictures plus some title screens, you will find that you get bored of the transitions quickly. I do use the cross fade the most, but I also like to listen to the music and look at the pictures and find transitions that are most appropriate to the look and feel of my videos.

I have the Burgers free transitons, I've purchased Boris Fx, and the Canopus VFx...which have added a lot of value to VS9. I also like to use the Hollywood Gold Fx and don't like to use Pinnacle as the backbone of my projects. My work around is to take a few pictures at a time, and make small avi or mpg files in Pinnacle and then import them back to Ulead. It can be difficult if you want to play around with the timing of the slides at times, but I find that it is well worth the effort to add the variety that the Pinnacle transitions and Hollywood Gold effects offer and continue to use Ulead.

If there were a "patch" to make the Pinnacle effects as easy to incorporate into Ulead as Canopus or Boris are, that would be great!

I will definitely look into the tip on "creating your own transitions"..thanks!

Ilene