Hello people, welcome to this video! Let's see the newest Pinnacle Studio
19 and everything you need to know to start straight away!
Leave us comments to improve our language and our next videoguides.
Pinnacle Studio is used to create and produce your own videos. It is
composed by three main different workspaces, all listed on top: Organize,
Edit and Author. Organize collects all content; Edit is used to create
and edit your project, while Author to create discs and menus.
The most important workspace is the Edit one. This is composed by three
main blocks: the Navigation Panel on the left, used to import media,
effects, text and features; the Preview on the right, used to check how
your project is going on; and, at the bottom, the main timeline, where
you work and create your project.
To start from scratch, simply go to File and then to New, choosing
between Movie and Disc. Before starting with your project, you need to
import all the media files you need, like pictures, videos and sound.
If your files are in your computer, simply click and drag them directly
on the Navigation panel. All files will be collected under the
Collections tab.
If you have to import from Discs, webcams and devices, click on the
Import button, and browse for your files. Check all the files you want
to import, helping yourself with Check and Uncheck all below. Then, just
go to Start Import at the bottom.
The Navigation Panel contains all Pinnacle Studio content and features,
including your latest files imported. If you hover on Navigation on the
extreme left, you can check the full content list: Project Bins, in red,
collects all files imported for the actual opened project; Library Media,
in blue, collects all your public media files in your computer; Projects,
in violet, collects all Pinnacle Studio projects and discs you have saved;
Collections, in green, usually collects your latest files imported.
Most important is the Content section, in yellow, that contains all the
features of Pinnacle Studio, from effects to transitions and titles.
The Organize workspace on top shows your whole Navigation Panel more
in detail, if you need.
Once your files are imported in the Navigation panel, you can add them
in your timeline below. Select the file to check it through the Preview
on the right, using its player below in case of videos and sound files.
Then, import your files simply clicking and dragging them in the timeline.
This is composed by different rows or Audio/Video Tracks, that collect
your files, displayed as colored rectangles called clips. You have four
different kinds of clips: Picture clips, with a thumbnail representing
the image, under a dark blue color; Video clips, with or without audio,
with thumbnails and sound waveforms, under a light blue color; Audio
clips, in a dark yellow color and with their sound waveform shown; and
Text clips, that represent text and titles, with thumbnails in a green
color.
Each of these tracks can be managed independently. You can rename a
track clicking on its name on the left. Then, more on the right, you
have two important icons: use the eye to hide the visible content of the
track from the Preview. Use the loudspeaker icon to mute all sound
content instead.
Plus, through the lock icon on the extreme left, you can also lock a
track, in order to protect it from any editing. Click again on the lock
icon to unlock the track.
If you right-click on a track, you can delete it clicking on Delete
track, or add new tracks going to Insert New Track if you need.
It is very important to manage your timeline while you are working on it.
You can zoom in and out around your pointer holding CTRL down and using
your mouse wheel. To move vertically along the different tracks, hold
ALT down and use your mouse wheel.
The Preview, in the top right corner, shows your video project exactly
where the red playhead is placed on the timeline. You can fix the
playhead clicking above the A/V Tracks. You can also drag it clicking and
dragging, or using your mouse wheel.
When you check your project, the Preview is set in the Timeline mode,
showing your overall project with all its clips inside. The Source mode
is referred to the selected file in the Navigation panel, instead.
In case you preview videos, you may need to wait that the rendering bar
gets completed, above the timeline. This is done to show your preview
smooth and good.
Let's see how to work with your clips. You can move any clip in time,
in the same or in a different A/V Track simply dragging it.
To stretch or shorten your clips in time, just click and drag from the
inner edges of the clip, when your pointer becomes a white arrow directed
externally from the clip. If the arrow is directed towards the clip,
you will adjust the gap between such clip and the following one.
You may not stretch too much audio and video clips, since these do end
after a certain time. If you stretch too much, a red part may be added
with the clip. This part is blank: it is silent and has black video
frames in time.
You can cut, copy, paste or delete a clip simply right-clicking on it.
If you ever mistake, you can undo and redo using the arrows below File.
To split a clip in two, fix the playhead on your clip and click on Split
Clips above.
The order of the A/V Tracks is very important. If you have clips on
different A/V Tracks that overlap in time, the Preview shows first all
the content of the Track that stays above the others. For example, if
you want to place text on a video, the text must be on the A/V Track
that stays above the track that contains the video.
While building your project, always check the output sound with the dB
meter in the bottom left corner. If this gets red, you may risk
distortion and saturation. To adjust audio settings, simply click on the
first icon on top. Each A/V Track will have its own dB meter to check
their volume, but also two important knobs: the first one adjusts the
overall track volume, measured in dB. The green one adjusts the volume of the
selected clip inside the track, if it has audio.
In Pinnacle Studio you can also add text, effects and transitions.
To add text, simply click and drag a text template from the Titles
section in the Navigation panel. You can edit it simply double-clicking
on the Text clip and going to the Text Editor, changing text font, style
size and color.
To add effects, simply open the Effect section. You can check the kind
of effect through the Preview on the right, as you do with files. To
apply an effect, click and drag it in your interested clip. Help yourself
with the colors: the blue effects can be applied on visible clips, so on
pictures and videos; whereas yellow effects are audio effects, that can
be applied on sound clips only. Clips with effects applied will show a
pink line on top.
Then you also have the Transitions. These are used to make clips appear
and disappear through special effects.
If you hover on the top corners of the clips, you can click and drag
to apply a fade transition, with the duration you prefer. If you apply
transitions on audio clips, this will affect the sound volume.
If you don't like the simple fade-in and fade-out transitions, you can
simply drag others from the Navigation panel, under Transitions section.
You can also apply transitions between two clips, passing from the
first clip to the following one. To do so, just apply a transition to
a clip, and put the two clips close enough.
When your project is finished, save and export it! To save it, go to
File and then to Save Movie As... This saves your project in a .axp
format, in order to open and edit it in the future. If you want to
export your video instead, go to Export, above the Preview.
Under Export type, choose to export to your computer, to any device or
decide to burn a disc. Set format and settings under Settings, check your
video project from the Preview and the final location more below.
If you want to render just a part of your video project, just fix the
orange markers below the timeline preview. Just what falls within the
orange markers will be rendered.
Finally, if you need to adjust the Project settings, click on the second
icon on the extreme left.
Thanks for watching this video! Check out our guides in our channel
to discover more!