Using Pinnacle Studio 9 for Windows XP

While iMovie has been considered the best program for capturing and editing digital video on the Macintosh, Pinnacle Studio 9 offers a similar solution for PC users. Like iMovie, it allows users to capture from multiple sources (including a digital video camera or a VCR) and edit video using a multi-featured audio and video suite. In addition, Pinnacle Studio will convert your files to a number of common formats - such as VideoCD and DVD - for you to burn and watch whenever you want. This tutorial will show you how to capture video from a digital source, create a simple movie with transitions and titles, and burn the final project to a DVD.

Capturing Video from a Digital Video Camera

Before capturing video, make sure that your digital video camera is properly connected to your PC's Firewire port. If your camera is not connected properly, you will see the following error message:

On most DV cameras, the camera should be set to "Playback" mode before video can be transferred, but check your camera's manual for any additional settings you may need to make.

1. In the upper-left corner of the Pinnacle Studio window, click the Capture tab.

   

2. Since we will be burning the final video to DVD, make sure that the video quality setting is set to "Full DV Quality" by clicking the ··· button on the main console. A blue light will appear above it once it is selected.

   

3. Click the icon on the main console. Using the Select folder and default name for captured video dialog box that appears, navigate to the folder on your hard drive to which you want to save your video. Type a default name for each clip in the File name: text box. Click the OK button to continue.

   

4. Click the Start Capture button to begin capturing video. Your captured clips will be visible in the "Notebook" panel in the upper portion of the screen.

   

5. Type the name of the video you are capturing in the Capture Video dialog box that appears, and adjust the times under the Stop capturing after: heading if you want the capturing process to end after a certain point in the source video. Click the Start Capture button when you are ready to begin.

   

6. If you wish to stop the capturing process at any time, click the Stop Capture button. Capturing will automatically stop after the source video is complete, the time you have specified is reached, or the disk to which you are capturing has run out of space.

Note: By default, Pinnacle Studio will automatically create a new clip whenever it detects a "cut" in the footage. While this is desirable in some cases, it may be inconvenient in others. If you want to disable this feature, choose Capture Source... under the Setup menu at the top of the screen, and click the No auto scene detection radio button.

Editing Your Captured Footage

1. In the upper-left corner of the Pinnacle Studio window, click the Edit tab.

   

2. The video clip(s) that you have just captured will be displayed in the clip catalog in the upper-left portion of the screen. If you wish to add or edit additional clips at any point during your project, click the icon to locate the clips on your hard drive.

   

3. Pinnacle Studio offers a variety of views to help you create your project, but in general, the best view for editing is the Timeline view. To switch to this view, click the icon on the right side of your screen.

   

Adding Clips to the Timeline

1. Click on the clip in your portfolio that you wish to add to your movie.

   

2. While holding down the left mouse button, drag the clip from the portfolio onto the Video track. The track is designated by the icon on the left of the timeline.

   

3. A thumbnail of the clip will now appear on the timeline. You can do the same thing with additional clips by dragging them to the area before, between, or after the clips already on the timeline.

   

Removing Clips from the Timeline

1. Right-click on the clip in your timeline that you wish to remove.

   

2. From the drop-down menu that appears, click the Delete option.

   

3. The clip will be removed from the timeline. All other clips following the clip that you just deleted will be shifted backwards to fill in the resulting empty space in the timeline.

   

Note: By selecting the Delete (leave gap) option from the drop-down menu, the position of the clips that follow will not be adjusted, leaving an empty space on the timeline in the place of the clip that was just deleted. There are limited uses for this option, and in most cases, you will use the normal Delete option.

Trimming Clips on the Timeline

Trimming a clip is adjusting the starting point and ending point of a clip so that only a portion of it is played. It can be used to remove the unwanted head and tail of a clip that you do not wish to use in your final video.

1. Double-click on the clip in the timeline that you wish to trim. The Clip properties pane will appear.

   

2. On the lower half of the Clip properties pane, you will see a sliding bar with a pointer at each end. To set the new start point of the clip, click and drag the left slider along the bar until the new starting point is shown on the left screen inside the pane.

   

3. To set the new end point of the clip, click and drag the right slider along the bar until the new end point is shown on the right screen inside the pane.

   

4. Click the button inside the pane to return the cursor to the new start point that you specified. Click the button to play the clip until the new end point is reached. If you are satisfied with the changes you have made to the clip, click the button in the upper-right corner of the pane to close it. Otherwise, make additional adjustments to the start and end points as necessary.

Note: Trimming a clip on the timeline does not have any effect on the clips as they sit in your portfolio, which remain completely unchanged throughout the course of your project. Because of this, you are allowed to drag multiple copies of the same clip onto the timeline and trim each copy individually. This is very useful if you have captured all your footage as one large clip and wish to edit separate sections of the footage independently.

Adding Transitions to the Project

1. Click the Transitions button on the left side of your video portfolio.

   

2. The Transitions pane will appear, containing a large number of possible transitions that you can choose from. Choose a category of transitions by choosing an option from the drop-down menu at the top of the pane.

   

3. Click on the thumbnail for any transition to preview it. A preview of the transition will play inside the video pane on the right side of the screen.

   

4. To add any transition to your project, click and drag the transition between the two clips between which you want the transition to appear, just as you would if you were adding a new video clip to the timeline.

   

5. You can adjust the length of the transition by clicking and dragging one of its edges on the timeline.

Adding Titles to the Project

1. Click the Titles button on the left side of your video portfolio.

   

2. The Titles pane will appear, contianing a large number of possible title styles that you can choose from. If one of the styles shown is suitable for your needs, click on it to select it. A preview of the title will play inside the preview pane on the right side of the screen.

   

3. If you would like to create your own title style, choose the Create Title option under the Toolbox menu at the top of the screen.

   

4. The Create Title pane will appear. Click the Title Overlay button if you wish to create a title that can be placed over an existing video clip, or click the Full Screen Title button if you want the title to fill the entire screen.

   

5. A new window will appear over the Pinnacle Studio workspace. On the right side of the window under the Standard tab, a list of pre-made styles will be shown. If you find a style that you wish to use, click on it to display a list of sub-styles. Click on the sub-style that best suits your needs to select it.

   

6. If you wish to create your own style from scratch, click the Custom tab at the top of the window. The Custom tab has three settings that you can define. The Face heading lets you choose the color or gradient of the title you are creating, and the slider lets you add a blur to the title.

   

   The Edge heading lets you set the color and thickness of the title's border, and you can add a blur to the border as well.

   

   The Shadow heading lets you add a drop shadow to the title, and you can add a blur and change the distance of the shadow from the main text.

   

   Adjust these settings until you have the look you desire, which can be previewed in the pane at the lower-right corner of the window.
7. Whether or not you have chosen a pre-defined style or created your own, click inside the main editing window to create a text box. Choose the font face, size, and style using the drop-down menus and options at the top of the window. When everything is set properly, you may enter the necessary text inside the text box. You can resize the text box by clicking and dragging the yellow dots on the border, and you can move the text box by dragging the border itself.

   

8. Type a name for the new style in the Name: text box at the top of the window, and click the OK button to save it. You will return to the timeline screen.
9. To add the title to your movie, click on the title thumbnail in the Titles pane, and drag it onto the timeline, as you would a movie clip or a transition. Titles are placed onto the Title track, which is denoted by a icon on the left side of the track.

Adding a Soundtrack to the Project

1. Save the song that you want to use in the movie soundtrack as an MP3 or WAV file. Copy this music file to your hard drive in your My Music folder, which is located inside your My Documents folder.
2. Click the Audio button on the left side of your video portfolio.

   

3. The Audio pane will appear, showing a number of sound effects that you may add to your project. Choose My Music from the drop-down menu at the top of the pane.

   

4. Every audio file stored in your My Music folder will be shown in the Audio pane. If there is a song in the list that you would like to add to the movie, click on it to select it. A preview of the song will play inside the preview pane on the right side of the screen.
5. To add the song to your movie, click on the song title in the Audio pane, and drag it onto the timeline, as you would a movie clip or a transition. Music is placed onto the Music track, which is denoted by a icon on the left side of the track.

   

6. You can adjust the duration of playback by clicking and dragging one of the edges of the song on the timeline. For your convenience, the right-most edge of the song will snap to the last frame of video in your movie.

   

Adding Sound Effects to the Project

1. Click the Audio button on the left side of your video portfolio.

   

2. The Audio pane will appear, showing a number of sound effects categories that you may add to your project. Double-click on the category name that best suits your needs to view the available sound effects.

   

3. Click on any sound effect in the list to play a sample of it in the preview pane on the left side of the screen. If you wish to use sound effects that are not shown in the list, click the icon to locate additional sound effects on your hard drive.
4. To add the sound effect to your movie, click on the sound effect name in the Audio pane, and drag it onto the timeline, as you would a movie clip. Music is placed onto the Sound Effect track, which is denoted by a icon on the left side of the track.

   

5. You can adjust the duration of playback by clicking and dragging one of the edges of the song on the timeline. If you would like the sound effect to loop repeatedly, you can drag multiple copies of the sound onto the appropriate track.

   

Adjusting the Volume of Audio Tracks

The following tip applies to the Sound Effects track, the Music track, and the Audio track, which are denoted by the , , and icons on the left side of the timeline, respectively.

1. Click on the audio sample that you wish to edit.

   Notice that there is a solid blue line drawn near the top of the sample you have selected. This line represents the volume of the sample. We can use this line to adjust the overall volume of a sample, create fades, or mute the sound sample altogether.

   

2. Move your mouse cursor over the thin blue line. The cursor should change from the pointer arrow to the audio pointer.

   

3. Click on the blue line. A small square will appear where you have clicked. Click and drag that square (the pointer will change to a lighter shade of blue as you drag) to adjust the volume of the sound at that point. Raising the square will raise the volume, and lowering the square will lower the volume. The volume before and after that point will be gradually raised and lowered to smooth out the difference in volume.

   

4. Repeat this process to adjust the volume at different points.

   

Note: The automatic volume adjustment creates a fade effect between the point you are currently editing, and the closest points to the left and right. If you are editing your first audio point for any sample, Pinnacle Studio treats the start and the end of that sample as if they were points you had previously edited. Keeping this in mind, if you want to isolate the fade effect to a smaller part of the sample, you will need to make two edit points: one where you would like the fade to begin, and one where you would like the fade to end. Otherwise, the fade will start at the beginning of the sample and continue until the edit point you have made, which is usually not the effect you will want to create.

Burning the Movie to a DVD

1. Once you have finished creating your movie, click the Make Movie tab at the top of the screen.

   

2. On the left side of the Make Movie pane that appears, click the Disc button.

   

3. Place a blank DVD into your DVD burner drive, and click the Create disc button to create your DVD.

   

Notes on DVD Burning

DVD discs come in two sizes: single-layer and double-layer. The most common writable DVD's are single-layer and can hold two hours of video, while double-layer DVD's can hold four hours. Burning a double-layer DVD requires a special, newer DVD burner.

Writable and rewritable DVD's are available in two formats: DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W. DVD-R/W discs cannot be burned by DVD+R/W drives, and vice versa, though both formats can be read by most DVD-ROM drives and DVD Video players. Most DVD burners on the Union College lab computers are DVD+R/W format.