Trimming Video

[goddi]

Greetings,

Normally, I trim my video clips using another software program. It removes the unneeded parts of the video clip and therefore makes the final PTE file smaller in size.

However, I have now been trying to use the video editing menus within PTE but I can not get the desired results. I have tried both of the methods in the OnLine help:

Online Help:

http://docs.pictures...en/video/addvid and http://docs.pictures...ideo/properties.

For example, when I trim out the beginning and the ending portions of a video clip, I expect only the remaining portion to play. However, when I preview it, the beginning shot of the video clip stays frozen until the non-trimmed portion plays. Then, the ending shot of the video clip stays frozen until the normal length of the original video ends.

I see that you can trim video in either the O&A's 'properties' menu or in the 'Convert Video Clip' menu. If you use the 'Convert Video Clip' to trim the video, you have to convert and re-conver the clip each time you use the trim function. If you want to use this menu again to trim, you get a '...convert.convert' file. So this only helpful if you want to keep the first converted video length and make a second one with a different filename. But, still, it does not actually produce the trimmed video.

So I then used the O&A Propertes method of trimming. But, it also, as stated above, does not give me just the trimmed portion of the video clip I am looking for. The initial video frame is frozen until the untrimmed video portion appears and plays; then it freezes again during the last trimmed portion of the clip.

What am I doing wrong?

And I notice that the Slide Duration does not change when you have trimmed the video. Shouldn't it automatically change to show the trimmed time?

Thanks...

Gary

[davegee]

Gary,

This subject was raised (by me) a Loooooong time ago.

When you trim the video in O&A you need to MANUALLY reset the Full Slide Duration to equal the trimmed video time.

However an easier way is to do the trim before adding to the slide list - during a conversion process. If you go back to the original video each time you need to do a modification you don't get the file name problem. Converting a converted video is likely to cause other problems.

DG

[goddi]

Gary,

This subject was raised (by me) a Loooooong time ago.

When you trim the video in O&A you need to MANUALLY reset the Full Slide Duration to equal the trimmed video time.

However an easier way is to do the trim before adding to the slide list - during the conversion process. If you go back to the original video each time you need to do a modification you don't get the file name problem. Converting a converted video is likely to cause other problems.

DG

Dave,

I searched for your discussion but I could not find it. Anyway, that seems to do the trick. After trimming the clip, I set the Slide Options/Slide Duration to what the trimmed clip was. But isn't this very non-intuitive??? Why shouldn't Slide Options/Slide Duration automatically be adjusted to match what you set it during the timming??? Or, if there is a good reason not to make this automatic, perhaps there should be a check box next to 'Duration' to give you the choice?

Thanks...

Gary

[davegee]

"Why shouldn't Slide Options/Slide Duration automatically be adjusted to match what you set it during the timming??? Or, if there is a good reason not to make this automatic, perhaps there should be a check box next to 'Duration' to give you the choice?"

Ask Igor - maybe I asked him privately about it during beta testing of the Video Feature - it was a long time ago. What did you search for?

DG

[orizaba]

Why shouldn't Slide Options/Slide Duration automatically be adjusted to match what you set it during the timming???

Because in case you use more than 1 video in the same slide, this would complicate things!

Option, as suggested, could be useful.

Jose

[wideangle]

If you are deliberately chopping off the front end and/or back end of a video to produce a new clip, it will obviously be shorter than before, so you would logically expect the duration to be adjusted automatically. Can you think of any video editing software where this doesn't happen??

Shouldn't this therefore be the default action?

Regards

Wide angle

[PGA]

I think you are confusing "Video clip duration" and "Slide duration". They are two different things.

[goddi]

I think you are confusing "Video clip duration" and "Slide duration". They are two different things.

It seems to me that if you have inserted a video clip, its 'Slide Duration' should be the same as the 'Video Clip Duration'. When you trim the video clip, its duration has been shortened. There is no reason to keep its original 'Slide Duration'. What happens is the video clip will play up to the end of the trimmed video clip and then the last frame just stay on the screen for the length of what is shown in the 'Slide Duration'. If the 'Slide Duration' automatically adjusts, than the 'Slide Duration' will be the same as the 'Video Clip Duration' that was established during the trimming.

Gary

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Gary

Try adding a still slide at the beginning & end of your video clip & see what happens.

Eric

Yachtsman1.

[davegee]

When a video file is dragged into the slide list the slide duration is set to equal the video clip duration.

There is, therefore, a certain logic in expecting that if the video clip is the Main "Image" for the slide that any adjustment to its duration should be reflected in a change to the slide duration which it influenced when it was first added.

I have adopted the procedure of determining the video duration before adding it to the slide list. Is this not what you would do when using a third party video editor?

It has been this way for quite a long time now and anyone who adds video to the slide list on a regular basis would be aware of the anomaly and make his or her own mind up about what to do under these circumstances. It is not a new problem and neither is it a new request.

DG

[goddi]

Gary

Try adding a still slide at the beginning & end of your video clip & see what happens.

Eric

Yachtsman1.

Not sure what you mean. I have had a still image placed before and after a video clip with no problem.

Gary

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Not sure what you mean. I have had a still image placed before and after a video clip with no problem.

Gary

So, if your video clip is hanging on the last frame, you are doing something wrong. I suggest you check your basic PTE set up, this is mine, I'm not suggesting you do the same but I don't get the problems you describe.

Eric

Yachtsman1.

[goddi]

So, if your video clip is hanging on the last frame, you are doing something wrong. I suggest you check your basic PTE set up, this is mine, I'm not suggesting you do the same but I don't get the problems you describe.

Eric

Yachtsman1.

gp1.jpg

I don't think I am doing anything wrong. After trimming off the beginning portion and some of the ending portion of a video clip, the video plays and the video stops at the point of the ending trim. However, the background music continues as if the video is continuing to play its original duration. Once I set the Slide Duration to the new trimmed video length, the video plays as expected. My point is that once you have trimmed the video in PTE, the Slide Duration should automatically reflect this new length. If I understand Dave's last posting, he is in agreement with me. It is an old problem that has not been addressed by Igor.

Gary

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Gary

I must have edited a couple of hundred video clips using PTE. The only time the last frame of the video clip hangs into the next still slide is when I have messed around with some settings & only for milli seconds. Try going to the timeline view & drag the still slide after the video clip into the clip a second or so & see what happens then. Off to bed now so closing down for the night.

Eric.

Yachtsman1

[goddi]

Gary

I must have edited a couple of hundred video clips using PTE. The only time the last frame of the video clip hangs into the next still slide is when I have messed around with some settings & only for milli seconds. Try going to the timeline view & drag the still slide after the video clip into the clip a second or so & see what happens then. Off to bed now so closing down for the night.

Eric.

Yachtsman1

gp2.jpg

Take a look at this video I created. Link is from my Dropbox.

http://db.orangedox.com/K9lvwrlWhm4r59vrVE/Trimming.exe

Gary

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Gary

I downloaded your clip, I had to watch it a couple of times before it twigged what you were trying to do. I'm afraid I can offer no solution to what is happening other than ask why why why are you trying to trim a video clip from the timeline? Why you are getting the effect you are getting, I wouldn't know, I have never trimmed a video clip like that, so reluctantly I must withdraw from suggestions as I don't use your method. If necessary I always edit/trim video clips before adding them to the slide list never afterwards, in fact I have never witnessed the method you used. I assume it is there for a reason but I can't think of one

Yachtsman1.

[davegee]

Gary,

It seems that you are doing something wrong.

I agree with your analysis of what is happening except for one point.

At the chosen "END" point of the trim the music/soundtrack STOPS and the image is frozen until the end of the Slide Duration.

In other words the TRIM function trims both Video and the audio of the Video.

It makes more sense to TRIM before adding to the Slide List and, if you don't get it right first time, go back to the original and trim again.

DG

[goddi]

Gary,

It seems that you are doing something wrong.

I agree with your analysis of what is happening except for one point.

At the chosen "END" point of the trim the music/soundtrack STOPS and the image is frozen until the end of the Slide Duration.

In other words the TRIM function trims both Video and the audio of the Video.

It makes more sense to TRIM before adding to the Slide List and, if you don't get it right first time, go back to the original and trim again.

DG

Dave,

Actually, the added music track does not stop. The last frame of the video is frozen while the music continues for the length of the original slide's duration.

When you say it makes more sense to Trim before adding to the slide list, are you saying to use a 3rd party program and NOT the PTE's trim function?

If I am doing something wrong, what are the proper steps to use the trim function???

Gary

[davegee]

Hi Gary,

Perhaps it is unfair to say that you are doing something wrong?

Maybe I should have said you are doing something different to what I am doing.

I add an AVI to the Slide List by dragging it in. It is 5:46:112 long and I want to trim a little from the beginning and the end.

I adjust the Start Time (35:294) and the Duration (4:24:138) in the controls in O&A Properties. I leave O&A and press the play button on the main screen.

The video plays complete with soundtrack from the new beginning right up to 4:24:138 at which point the Image freezes and the Soundtrack stops. The progress marker continues (silently) to the end of the original Video/Slide Duration.

Alternative:

Right click on the original AVI in the File List and choose Convert Video Clip.

Click on Trim Video.

Adjust Start Time to 35:294

Adjust Output Duration to 4:24:138

Name your destination File by clicking on the Button at the end.

Click on Convert Selected.

When this has completed drag the resulting file from the File List into the Slide List and its Slide Duration will be set to 4:24:138.

DG

P.S. At this stage I have no other Audio Files in the project - are you perhaps hearing an Audio File that you have added in Project Options / Audio??

[goddi]

Hi Gary,

Perhaps it is unfair to say that you are doing something wrong?

Maybe I should have said you are doing something different to what I am doing.

I add an AVI to the Slide List by dragging it in. It is 5:46:112 long and I want to trim a little from the beginning and the end.

I adjust the Start Time (35:294) and the Duration (4:24:138) in the controls in O&A Properties. I leave O&A and press the play button on the main screen.

The video plays complete with soundtrack from the new beginning right up to 4:24:138 at which point the Image freezes and the Soundtrack stops. The progress marker continues (silently) to the end of the original Video/Slide Duration.

Alternative:

Right click on the original AVI in the File List and choose Convert Video Clip.

Click on Trim Video.

Adjust Start Time to 35:294

Adjust Output Duration to 4:24:138

Name your destination File by clicking on the Button at the end.

Click on Convert Selected.

When this has completed drag the resulting file from the File List into the Slide List and its Slide Duration will be set to 4:24:138.

DG

P.S. At this stage I have no other Audio Files in the project - are you perhaps hearing an Audio File that you have added in Project Options / Audio??

Dave,

Yes, the Audio File I hear after the 'freezing' of the last video frame is the inserted music...not audio from the video clip. It looks like your first method produces the same results as mine.

Your Alternative scenario is interesting. When I try trimming a video clip (using the Convert Video Clip menu) that has already been Converted, and it is in the Slide List, the video's file name shows as '....converted.converted.avi' after the conversion. However, when it is played, I get the same results that the last frame of the video clip freezes and then continues playing the original duration of that clip. But I noticed you say you drag down the '....converted.converted.avi' file down to the Slide List. When I do that, I get the correct trimmed clip and it works as expected. And I have to delete the first '...converted.converted.avi' file that is still in the Slide List.

But I also tried to do the same thing but use the 'Change Video File' method. This method does not work. It brings in the clip that freezes the last frame, etc. I have to actually drag the file down to the Slide List and then it will show the correct trimmed video clip. Very strange.

Gary

Added Later: To be clear, dragging down the trimmed file to the Slide List produces a different result than doing the 'Change Video File' method to bring down the exact same video clip into the Slide List.

.

[davegee]

Let's try again.

You have an empty Slide List. No Slides.

You do the Right Click thing on a video in the File List and it creates a Converted Version named whatever you want to name it by using the BROWSE Button in the converter interface. You can eliminate the "converted" bit altogether. So you now have two versions in your File List - the Original and the Converted/Trimmed versions.

THEN, you drag the converted/trimmed file into the Slide List and it creates a slide which is identical in length to your Video Clip.

If your project has Keep Full Slide Duration Ticked then the Video will run from the beginning of your slide's transition to the end of the next slide's transition. Your video will be running as it fades in and will continue to run until it fades out completely.

That's the way I use it.

DG

[goddi]

Let's try again.

You have an empty Slide List. No Slides.

You do the Right Click thing on a video in the File List and it creates a Converted Version named whatever you want to name it by using the BROWSE Button in the converter interface. You can eliminate the "converted" bit altogether. So you now have two versions in your File List - the Original and the Converted/Trimmed versions.

THEN, you drag the converted/trimmed file into the Slide List and it creates a slide which is identical in length to your Video Clip.

If your project has Keep Full Slide Duration Ticked then the Video will run from the beginning of your slide's transition to the end of the next slide's transition. Your video will be running as it fades in and will continue to run until it fades out completely.

That's the way I use it.

DG

Dave,

Yes, I see your method. I usually bring in the non-trimmed/converted video clip to the Slide List and see how it plays. Then I do a Convert of that clip and then do the 'Change Video File' to swap it out. You do the Trim/Convert before bringing it into the Slide List. If I do the Trimming of the '..converted.avi' file, I get the '...converted.converted.avi' file name, as expected.

Dragging down the trimmed/converted clip from the File List to the Slide List, as you do, works. But if you want to do the 'Change Video File' to swap a clip in the Slide List with the trimmed/converted clip, it does not bring in the trimmed/converted version from the File List that plays correctly. It brings in the trimmed/converted version that freezes at the last frame, etc. It only produces the correct clip if you do the drag down method.

So, if I decide to trim the video after it is in the Slide List, I would use the O&A/Properties method. However, it will give the 'freeze, etc' results. I have to drag it down to the Slide List to get it to play the actual trimmed version and delete the original clip that was in the Slide List. Or...I can go into the Slide Duration and manually change it to the new trimmed slide duration.

I don't understand the Keep Full Slide Duration, so I never have it ticked. When I drag down a video, I always do it in the Slide View, not the Timeline view (if that makes any difference).

I still think there is something not working right. I think your steps are logical and work; I think my steps are logical but don't work.

Gary

[davegee]

DG

[goddi]

Untitled-2.jpg

DG

Yes...Thanks... The file naming is not the problem, but it is nice to see it can be changed. The other problems, I hope, will be addressed by Igor.

Gary

[davegee]

Gary,

The recently posted Video Demo on this subject is a good example of what I described above - including the use of KFSD.

"You do the Right Click thing on a video in the File List and it creates a Converted/Trimmed Version named whatever you want to name it by using the BROWSE Button in the converter interface. You can eliminate the "converted" bit altogether. So you now have two versions in your File List - the Original and the Converted/Trimmed versions.

THEN, you drag the converted/trimmed file into the Slide List and it creates a slide which is identical in length to your Video Clip."

DG