Re-usable START and END sequences for projects

[terry dennis]

I hope that I can explain what I am trying to achieve so that people can understand it !
What I am trying to achieve is a re-usable mini-project (call it 'A') to start each new main project (call it 'B') that I embark on. Of course , because each 'B' will have a different title , 'A' would contain the title clip and need to be editable.
Similarly , I would like a different 'A' for the ending.

The problem that I cannot get round is that when a project is opened in VS Editor , it REPLACES the previous project rather than being able to be loaded by ADDING to it. ( I cannot think of any other way to describe it !)

Can those reading this understand what I am driving at and , if so , is it possible to achieve and how ?

[GuyL]

Create your project that has your "template" and save the project file.

Open any new project and then open the folder in windows explorer where your template is saved. Drag and drop it to the timeline. Voila!

[terry dennis]

Sorry , Guy , I don't get that !

I understand that first bit about saving a project that has the template - this can be just the standard opening without anything else.

You then come to a new project in VS and , with Windows Explorer open at the appropriate folder , drag the Template down into VS and position it at the beginning of the new project. The only problem is that the template is inserted as a uneditable video - if your template included a title , you cannot get at the title to change it from the original to the new project ! ..................... or am I missing something ?

[Ron P.]

I think what GuyL may have been suggesting is something similar to this;

Create your template project. For example placing 2 color clips (beginning and end) in the main time line.

Place a title at the beginning in the title track, then one at the end.

Make sure your Project Properties (File>Project Properties, or Press Alt+Enter on your keyboard), are set to the properties that you will be editing the most. You can also create different templates having different project properties.

Save the project file, for example My DV-1 Template.vsp.

What you have now, is a project file containing 4 elements that are used in most all projects, An opening (color clip), An ending color clip for your end credits to be displayed on, and a couple of title clips, that you of course can say whatever you need.

Now when you are going to start work on a new project, open your template vsp (My DV-1 Template.vsp in this example). Then immediately Save As, select a new name, like My Vacation.vsp. Now your template file will be preserved, for later use, and you can continue on with your project.

This is the only way that I can think of, to have VS to what you're wanting it to do.

[terry dennis]

Sorry ! I am having a bad day !

I see what you mean about the Project Properties facility but for the life of me I cannot see what SPECIFICALLY to change !

Please be gentle with me !

[Ron P.]

Ok,
If you're editing video inserted from your miniDV or Digital 8 camcorder (or other means that uses the DV format) then you will want your Project Properties to be set to match those video clips. DV is contained the AVI wrapper, and most people just refer to it as AVI, which is not completely true.

So in your project properties, select the File type to be *.avi. Then pressing on the Options button will open the Options Dialog. The various tabs allow you to set the different parameters, such as File Size, Aspect Ratio, Bitrates, and then the Compression, called CODEC (COmpression DECompression). For most DV it would be DV-Type1. However again match this to your video clip properties. If you captured DV Type-2, then of course set this to DV Type-2.

If you capture to MPEG-2, then you would select MPEG as the File Type, and in the Options Dialog, go through them and set the parameters to match that of the video clips you would be editing....

Does that shed some more light on it?

[GuyL]

Either way would work but vidoman's suggestion is much easier.

Simply open the project template and save it as a new project and work with it from there.

Vidoman..why do you make it so simple?

[terry dennis]

Thanks for all the help , guys !

From all that you have said and from me filling in a few missing blanks , success has been achieved ! The following is a simple summary for dummies like me to achieve the objective (you willl note that I have assumed minimal knowledge !) ,

1. Start a new project and create a START and END sequence each containing a video clip , title and music. The END sequence immediately follows the START sequence. Save the project as StartEnd Template.vsp , for example

2. Capture the new video to be edited which will produce resultant clips in the Video library within VS.

3. With VS ready to start a new project , retrieve the Template and save it as a new project. Select the required video clips for the new project and drag them down on to the time-line between the START and END sequence.
(A block of clips can be selected by holding down the 'CTRL' key and clicking on each clip that is required , then drag the block if clips down together.) Continue to edit and save in the usual manner.

[Ron P.]

Yep that's how it's done, by thinking outside the ol' box..

Thanks for sharing your technique. Like you said others will benefit from this..