Video Track vs Overlay Track

[canuck]

Going back to my example of the art class - 20 clips - 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 30 seconds, 2 minutes, etc . . . Assume I want to do lap dissolves between them so they each have to overlap the adjacent ones by a second or two. What goes on the Video track, what goes on the Overlay track(s)?

Your example is very easy to setup: put all clips on the main video track, nothing goes on the overlay track. Then switch to the storyline mode and put a "dissolve" efect between each clip ( the crossfade would be best). You can adjust the transition duration by double-clicking on the transition panel and then change the duration time of the transition.

[canuck]

So you can overlap them on the same track?

No, obviously you can't overlap on the same track but you achieve the same effect by using "dissolves".

You can also do overlaps using the overlay tracks by putting different videos on different tracks. You would of course have to have something on the main video tracks for the duration of yhe show even if it is just a "black" video.

[canuck]

I'm still unclear on what is "the main video".

The main video is whatever you put on the video track

[canuck]

In fact on that topic, why does Corel have a distinction between Voice and Music tracks? Aren't they both audio?

Some video tools have a whole bunch of video tracks, each with the same capabilities, and a whole bunch or audio tracks, each with the same capabilities. This seems simpler and more intuitive to me. I don't understand why Corel needs to make them so specialized and different.

Many video editors (if not all) have the same setup of of specialized names for different tracks. Yes there is really no difference between a music track and a narrations track and a sound effects track: they are all audio. The advantage of having different "track" names is that it is easier to find an audio clip that way. In most video editors you can hide the various tracks. So if you hide the music and SFX tracks you only need to concentrate on the narration track for example.

[BrianCee]

Sorry canuck - but you CAN overlay clips in any track - but VideoStudio will simply put a transition across the overlap - which one depending on your preference settings.

pnelson - just put all your clips in the top "video" track - open the transitions library and drag whatever transition you want down onto the join between the clips.

You really would find it easier to just do something rather than keep worrying about principles - you will find out much more by just "playing" in VideoStudio than tying yourself in knots worrying about principles.

Like most NLE editors VideoStudio does not work with your actual files in the timeline but thumbnails so even if you get in a terrible mess while playing you can just delete the whole project and start again.

[plnelson]

So you can overlap them on the same track?

Your example is very easy to setup: put all clips on the main video track, nothing goes on the overlay track. Then switch to the storyline mode and put a "dissolve" efect between each clip ( the crossfade would be best). You can adjust the transition duration by double-clicking on the transition panel and then change the duration time of the transition.

And then you said

No, obviously you can't overlap on the same track but you achieve the same effect by using "dissolves".

I'm confused. A cross-fade (AKA lap dissolve) requires overlap. That is to say, there is a point in time when both clips are visibly playing.

Say I have two exactly 10 second clips A, and B, next to each other on the video track. A starts at second 0.0 on the timeline and goes to 9.999... B starts at second 10.0 and goes to 19.999...

Now I do a 2 second cross-fade, meaning there is a 2 second period of time when both clips are playing as one fades out and the other fades in. That means that B has to start playing at 9.000 seconds and A has to stop playing at 10.999 seconds. How do they do that? Does Corel stretch them or move them or what?

[canuck]

Why would you care how Corel programs that feature as long as it works.

[plnelson]

You really would find it easier to just do something rather than keep worrying about principles - you will find out much more by just "playing" in VideoStudio than tying yourself in knots worrying about principles.

So I set up an experiment with two clips exactly 10 seconds long adjacent to each other on the Video Track - call them A and B. Thus the second video ended at exactly 20 seconds. In Settings>Preferences>Edit tab I set the default transition effect duration to 2 seconds for crossfade and dropped a crossfade transition onto the boundary between the two clips.

The first thing I noticed is that they overlapped - so they can overlap on the video track. B starts at 8.12 (why not 8.00?) and it ends at 18.02 which is close enough to 18.00 for student videos like this.

"Playing around" has its place but it's random and I don't know how much I can generalize from this. Can I do the same transitions on an overlay track? And remember the original question wasn't about transitions but about the differences between the kinds of tracks. Transitions are just one tiny aspect of that. (This seems like an exhausting way of learning this stuff. I'd much rather have a detailed reference manual.)

So what I think I've learned in 4 days and many postings is that the Video track and the overlay tracks are identical in every respect except that clips on the video track must be contiguous (no gaps). But you can fake gaps with long stretches of black, So keep an all -black still photo handy to drop in there.

[plnelson]

Why would you care how Corel programs that feature as long as it works.

Because to use it well, with good results, You need to understand these things. Does it move A and B together; does it just move one of them and not the other? Does it stretch one? It matters, for example, because you may have audio on another track that you want to keep sync'ed with the various video clips, so you don't want the transitions moving your clips around or changing their time, or at least you have to be able to predict what it will do when you apply such transitions so you don't get nasty surprises.

[Ken Berry]

The first thing I noticed is that they overlapped - so they can overlap on the video track. B starts at 8.12 (why not 8.00?) and it ends at 18.02 which is close enough to 18.00 for student videos like this.

To further complicate things, in fact video times are measure in hh:mm:ss:ff where hh = hours; mm = minutes; ss = seconds and ff = frames. So in fact your B starts at 08 seconds and 12 frames (there being 29.97 frames in every second of NTSC video, or close enough to 30). It ends at 18 seconds and 02 frames.

It starts at 08:02 instead of 8:00 because that is where you overlapped it at. If you increased the "magnification" to show individual frames in the timeline, you could in fact drag clip B to exactly the 08:00 point.

Note, however, that this sort of overlap in the main video track -- i.e. the use of transitions -- is the only kind that can happen in that video track. Transitions can in fact also be used in the overlay tracks, but only some of those transitions affect only the videos or images in the overlay tracks. The other transitions affect both the main and overlay tracks at the same time, which is often an effect you do not want to have.

But more generally, the overlay tracks are used to enhance the main video track in some way e.g. by emphasising something or drawing attention to something else, or just to make the main video track more (or even less) attractive.

[lata]

Hi plnelson

If you add two 10 second images to the top timeline (Main Video track) the overall duration will be 20 seconds, that makes sense.
If you add a 2 second transition between the two images, effectively the second image will move left by 2 seconds, overlapping the first, the overall duration will now be 18 seconds. (in fact all clips right of the new transition will move left)

The digital clock shows the first frame as 00:00:00:00 so 10 seconds will show as 00:00:09:29, for 20 seconds 00:00:19:29 (Hr:Min:Sec:Frames) for Ntsc standards.

You cannot have gaps in the top track, clips will fill the timeline from left to right,
because of that you are best editing from left to right.

Overlays
Well they are like working with an image editor that uses Layers, images being stacked on top of each other, except the lower tracks overlay the upper tracks.

Working with the Overlay track is a little different, you can have gaps between your clips, you can easily resize the frame allowing you to apply a Picture in Picture effect (more than one image on the same frame)
You can apply transitions to a single clip, you do not need two adjacent clips.

Hope that helps

[PCFlyer]

For exact length video and clips, put a black track down on the main video track to the full length of your intended video. Put your clips on the overlay tracks 1 and 2 so they alternate. For a controlled dissolve, Click on a clip, you'll notice the blue "options" tab will be available to the far right in the panel just above the tracks.
Click the options tab, in the Direction/Style section find the two icons with 4 bars that rise and 4 bars the descend. These are the fade in motion effect and fade out motion effect. Apply them to your clips. You will then have a dissolve between each clip. Next drag the start/end point of your clips as needed so the dissolve works as you would like without the black base showing too much. You will get the proper effect with a little practice and know how much overlap is required to get the desired result.

If you want a fade to black between each clip then just have them alternate sequentially on the timeline. For the dissolve effect, stretch the upper most clip say track 2 to begin before the clip on track 1 ends.

I also use the overlay tracks for adding black bars to the top and bottom of the screen to change the aspect ratio to 2.39 to 1. Obviously on the upper most tracks, say 3 and 4 in this example.

Also, you don't need a black photo - use the "Graphic" Icon just to the right of the main preview screen, select "color" from the upper pull down menu, then select and drop in the black color. Typically a 5 second clip is added, but the settings can be changed. Stretch as needed.

[plnelson]

So I took the earlier suggestion and put everything on the Video track - 30 second pause, 1 minute pose, 30 second pause, 1 minute pose, etc, etc.

Then I discovered that on the video track I can't resize the pose images to match the frame the way I want to. But I can on the overlay track! On the overlay track you just click the image and you get all these resizing handles and options to control the aspect ratio, etc. So there's another difference between the video and overlay track! Is there some alternative way of having the same resizing/aspect-ratio control for images on the video track? If I move them to the overlay track what do I put where the images were on the video track, and can I still do dissolves between the Pause clips (on the Video track) and the Pose clips on the overlay track?

And this is why I started this thread - look at the original question and this is exactly what I was asking - What are the differences between these two kinds of tracks? I appreciate the effort people have been making putting in their personal thoughts but it's clearly no substitute for comprehensive documentation. Since this forum is on the Corel site, is there anyone from Corel here who can tell us where I can get a comprehensive answer to my question from Corel itself?

[BrianCee]

It is not compulsory to put anything in the video track just ignore it and put everything in the overlay track - you can still use transitions in the overlay tracks - I know some users who have never used the video track - everything goes in one of the overlays (you have 20 by the way).

If you really want to put something in the top track then just grab a color block from the color library - a black one is available but you can use any colour since it will be hidden - put that in the video track - then just set it's duration to your requirement.

We might be under the Corel banner but no one from Corel ever visits the VideoStudio forums - none of us work for or are paid by Corel


Now that you have started to use VideoStudio you are finding out the answers to your original question.

[lata]

Hi

Yes you can re-size the frame in the top/video track, the process is called distort.

From the top track…Double clicking any clip will open the Options panel below the library.
Choose the Attributes tab – tick Distort Clip
The yellow re-size handles will show on the preview screen.
You can now re-size and position just like the overlay track.

Tip
If you set the first clip and wish all others to have the same settings you can use Copy Attributes, right click the clip in the timeline.
Then Shift click to select adjacent clips, right click and Paste attributes.

This paste most edits but not all, but a useful feature.

Save the project as a copy so you don’t mess up your previous work
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There are some subtle differences between the top track and overlay tracks, but similar to an Image Editor working with “Layers” a stack of images placed on top of each other.
The different layers overlaying each other.
For video the top track would be at the bottom in an image editor.

The main difference is that there can be no gaps in the top track, all clips shuffle left to fill the timeline.
The overlay tracks would be used for transparent files allowing the upper tracks to show through.