VideoStudio 11 Movie Wizard questions

[awp]

I'm currently using the VS 11 trial to check out its abilties in terms of creating the 3x DVDs (HD content on a standard DVD).

But what I wanted to do was do an HD slideshow thru the wizard as I don't often have the time to do the standard editor playing with the transitions, etc. However, I wasn't pleased with the results as some heads were cut off of pictures, photo duration was messed up, etc.

So I had two questions:

1. Is there any way to open a project back up in the wizard? I found I could only open a finished project in the main editor and not in the wizard where it was originally created. I have 170 photos in a show and the photos are not in order so it was time consuming to put the in order and I don't want to have to do it again. I also don't want to spend the time fixing issues in the main editor when I may have been able to resolve them with settings in the wizard. Believe me I love doing this stuff manually, but in some cases I just don't have the time.

2. I'm still a relative novice when it comes to video editing and was having some issues with the Wizard when I first attempted to do a slide show. I left many of the default settings and it continually failed when it rendered. So I went in and changed things and figured out that if I changed the default field type from "Lower Field First (DV)" to "Upper Field First", then it did not fail when rendering. What does this setting do? And does this have anything to do with the fact that several of my photos on the final output had heads cut off of people, etc?

Any help would be great!

[Ron P.]

#1. No there is not. I wish I had more of an answer to this, however the plain and simple one is that it does not allow opening a project into the wizard.

#2. Slide shows, since they use still images, which are not interlaced, can use the Field Order setting of Frame Based. The field order setting should have nothing to do with the heads being trimmed off in your slideshow. This has to do with the Pan and Zoom effect applied to it.

FYI, if your primary interest is to create slideshows, then you might want to download and try DVDMF 6+. DVDMF is able to create some great looking slideshows.

[awp]

Thanks vidoman. They really should incorporate the ability to open a project in the wizard. The wizard saves time, but can still be timeconsuming if you are using a lot of photos to put them in the correct order. So having to start all over again if something goes wrong is a pain.

Another thing that I don't like about VS 11 so far is when you are in the editor and want to change the duration of photos, you have to select one at a time and change them. Other software lets you change the duration and select "apply to all". I know you can set a default duration, but if you need to change it for timing reasons in the middle of a project, it's a real pain to go and change each one individually. The same goes for transitions. If you move or delete something and had been using default random transitions, they go away and you have to manually select them again. Again, other NLE products I've used can apply random transitions during the editing process and not just at first.

Another thing with other products, is the ability to do minor photo edits such as red-eye reduction. I know there are color correction dialog, but red-eye would be nice instead of going out to another application just for that. Oh, and I have PhotoImpact 11 so it would be kinda cool if they integrated the ability to "jump to editor" in VS11 for this sort of thing.

There's are minor quibbles and the main focus on VS11 is video, not photos. But they are frustrating none-the-less.

I do both video editing and photo slideshows and wanted HD capability. I had already purchased the full version of VS 11 believing the higher level product would be able to do what VF6 does with even greater capability. I know VF6 is pretty limited in video editing compared to VS11.

Anyway, just some obsverations coming from someone who had used other products in the past. After reviewing my other options, I decided on VS11 for HD work. There are some user friendly omissions to me, but overall I still like VS11.

[Black Lab]

Another thing that I don't like about VS 11 so far is when you are in the editor and want to change the duration of photos, you have to select one at a time and change them. Other software lets you change the duration and select "apply to all". I know you can set a default duration, but if you need to change it for timing reasons in the middle of a project, it's a real pain to go and change each one individually.

Click on the first clip, hold Shift and click on the last clip. Now click on Clip > Change Image/Color Duration.