Combining two or more Projects.

[lata]

Hi Guys

We have been asked many times if it is possible to combine two projects and still retain the editing functions, That both projects open in the same timeline showing all clips and the edits that have been applied, allowing for further editing of the full project.

We have always assumed this is not possible and suggest rendering the project to a video file, to be added to the second project. Otherwise use Nesting, adding the VSP to the timeline, something I do not recommend anyway.

Video Studio uses Instant Projects and these do open in an existing project and display individual clips.
So why cant we create our own Instant Project” of a project and simply add that to another project. Well we can.
I have just tried and was successful, there was a but of a delay in reading the clips with Video Studio doing a Not Responding act, It was quite a long project, a bit of patience and things loaded ok. Maybe that’s my slow old PC?

Using File – Export as Template an Instant Project Template will be created having the default location within the Custom library.
Once created can be added to any project.

[BrianCee]

Well spotted Trevor - seems to work perfectly for me as well - seems like there is no end to how many projects you could combine using that method.

[Ilene]

what if you don't want to export an entire project as a template but you just want to save portions... ie love the way an effect, or series of effects turns out and I just want to save that sequence for use in another project?? I have tried/and hoped there was a way to " mark in and mark out" which portion of the timeline you would want to save as a template, but that doesn't work... or it would be nice if you could copy a sequence, close the project file, open a new project file and paste that sequence to a new timeline. Has anyone found any workarounds or suggestions on how to do this? what a huge time saver it would be while editing if you could simply replace an image or clip from one project and use that same sequence in another project. half the time I don't remember exactly how I achieved something!! or I often edit to the same music... wouldn't it be great to save "song a" as a project and just drop that on a time line to use with new material.

also everytime I use a template, and drop it on the time line, it collapses the time line ( shrinks all the time) -- is there a way to prevent this??

any suggestions appreciated...

thanks
Ilene

[BrianCee]

Please read this topic :- http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=55179

[Ilene]

Not what I'm asking Brian, but thanks. I render from "mark to mark" all the time. I can see how this works work if I wanted the sequence exactly the same (ie I guess I could open up an older project, replace a section w new data, save under new name, render out what I need, and drop on timeline I new project) but using this methodology makes the w clip uneditable in the new project ie if I wanted to tweak the size of an image or the timing somewhat.

I want to take sections and make them templates. Mark in here, out there and export as template

Btw using xpro7

Ilene

[BrianCee]

So why can't you first copy the template then open the the copy ( or project) delete all before the bit you want to keep, then delete all after the bit you want to keep , then export whats left as a template

[Ilene]

Projects are long with a lot of layers... I use multiple tracks... It's a lot of work to take a whole project apart to save little snippets. Would be great to render out sections as templates, that you can select by "mark in/out" without having to do the whole deconstruct. I attempted it once and everything started moving around on all the other tracks. Clips related to other clips etc. Thought maybe someone had found a workaround for this.

Or copy a series of clips to a "clip boards" and paste them in a new project.

[lata]

Hi

Combining projects by using Instant Projects was something I stumbled across, it does work but uses the entire project.

Unfortunately there is no options to extract a section of the timeline and create a new shorter project other than doing it manually.

The best option would be to edit the section you want and render a new video file.

But I agree that “ copy a series of clips to a "clip boards" and paste them in a new project.” Could be useful?

[Ilene]

Yes... Maybe for x8!!! One could only hope!

I've been doing it manually. I take a screen shot of a oroject, copy the elements to a media library, start a new project and try to line them up as close as I can. Best to make small clips that are easily editable on a new timeline where the music and image/video might call for adjustments.

Such a useful tool to be able to export templates that unfortunately has such a huge shortcoming.

[lata]

Hi

If you remove very clip after the section.
Switch to StoryBoard view will show all individual clips in the top track.
Back to Timeline view to remove other track content.
Then enable Ripple Editing
Remove all clips before the section, should keep the selection in order.
You may have to manually adjust the immediate clips left and right of the section.

Oh first save the project as a copy to preserve the original

[Ilene]

still a bit laborious... hopefully the next version will address this shortfall.. thanks for the tips.

Ilene