Hello there, welcome to this video! Let's get a general and complete
overview on how to use MAGIX Movie Studio Platinum 15 in a short time!
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video guides on Movie Studio!
MAGIX Movie Studio is a great video editing software with all the most
basic and important features from Vegas Pro in a compact user interface
made easier and focused on personal and customized video projects. In
this video we will get the fundamental features you need, to start for
the first time.
When opening Movie Studio its interface shows up with the latest
project saved. You can browse for an existing project by going to
Project, and then to Open....
To create a new empty project, use New... instead. On the New Project
dialog box, choose the standard format under Region, the audio format
under Audio, and then the main template to use under Video. Under
Project, fix the pixel resolution and the frame rate. At the bottom,
type the project name, and where to save it under Folder.
The main workspace is divided in two: on top you have several useful
panels with everything you need to create your video, such as media,
transitions and effects; and at the bottom you have the Timeline, that
is place where you edit, adjust and preview your project.
Each panel has its name on the tab with a cross button used to close
it. To reopen the panel, just go to View, Window, and then choose it
from the list.
To start creating your video, you have to import your media files
first, which can be images, videos or sound files. You can browse for
these from the Explorer panel, and add them by dragging and dropping
them inside the timeline. You can also slide them from any of your
folders directly.
All the media files imported on the timeline are shown as blocks called
Events, with their own file name and quick editing buttons on top, and
either thumbnails or sound waveforms at the bottom, depending on the
kind of media. You can check these better by zooming in and out the
timeline with your mouse wheel.
The project Timeline is divided in several rows called Tracks: images
and video frames are collected inside Video Tracks, with a frame icon
on the extreme left; and audio files are placed inside Audio Tracks,
with a speaker icon instead. By default a new project starts with three
Video Tracks and two Audio Tracks, but you can add others by
right-clicking on the Tracks themselves.
You can also adjust the Tracks height by dragging their edges. This
will also size the thumbnail and the waveform preview on the Events.
On the right, the Video Preview shows the timeline content exactly
where the white marker is placed at the bottom. You can click on the
timeline to fix it in time and check a particular frame. If you click
and hold on your pointer, you move the marker in time as you like, in
order to check your project frame after frame, without any audio. This
also creates a blue Loop Region, used to select a limited section of
your overall project.
To playback everything including audio, you have to use the player
below the Preview. You can also check all in full screen mode by
clicking on External Monitor on top, using the Enter key to play and
pause, and the Escape key to exit.
You also have several buttons to adjust the Preview settings, but
consider that these do not affect the final video that you are going
to render. Use Project Video Properties... to set resolution size,
frame rate and audio settings for the Preview; and use Preview Quality
to choose the quality to use. Pay attention that a high quality may
affect the overall performance of your computer.
Now, let's see how to edit the Events inside the timeline.
You can move an event in time by clicking and dragging it, within the
same Track or in another. If you have a video with sound, its audio
part is grouped with its frames together, so you always move both of
them. You can make these independent by clicking on them and using the
U key. At this point, if you move the audio part, this shows a red
background, indicating that it is no longer synchronized with the video
frames. To group them again, select them both with the CTRL key down,
and then use the G key.
In case you get Events overlapping in time, the Video Preview shows
the Events collected on the higher Video Tracks in front of all the
Events placed on the Tracks lower in position, from top to bottom. For
this reason Movie Studio starts with two important Video Tracks. The
Text Track on top should contain all the titles, since it is the
highest Video Track of the project, and shows text above any visual
Event. The second Video Track is called Picture-in-picture, which is
used to show a visible Event on another at the same time. You can also
move and size such media by clicking on the Track FX... button, and
using the Video Preview directly.
To stretch or shorten Events in time, just click and drag from their
edges. In case you stretch video and audio Events over their default
duration, these will be simply put in loop every time you see a down
arrow at the top of them.
Whereas, when you shorten these, you will just cut part of their
content. So in case you do not want to change or loop the content of
these Events, you have to stretch or shorten them by holding down the
CTRL key. This Time Stretch feature allows to change the Event
duration by acting on its speed rate, and not its content. So if the
Event is stretched, this is played slower; if this is shortened, it
is played faster to last less.
Remember to use CTRL+Z to undo any action if you make a mistake.
To cut, copy, or delete an Event, just right-click on it. If you have
any Loop Region active on the Event, just the part within it will be
affected by your modifications.
To split an Event, just click on it to select it, place the timeline
marker and then use the S key. You can join up the splitted pieces
any time by selecting all of them, right-clicking, and going to Event
Heal.
In addition, each Event has an envelope line that you can pull up or
down. In case of picture and video frames, this changes the
transparency level of the Event; on audio Events, this sets the overall
volume level.
Moreover, if you click and drag the inner corners you can also apply
fade-in and fade-out transitions, that change the envelope line in time
in order to introduce or exit from the Event content in a cool way.
In case of visual Events, these fade transitions simply change the
transparency level in time, but you can add special effects to them
by using the Transitions panel. Here, choose your favorite effect, and
just drag and drop it on the extreme edges of the Event. At this point,
the Video Event FX window shows up, in order to adjust the transition
effect properties while checking the Preview. You can reopen this
window anytime by clicking on Transition Properties....
To adjust the transition duration, just stretch its edges on the Event
itself.
These transitions can also be applied between two overlapping Events,
in order to go from one Event to the next one through a great effect.
With Movie Studio you can apply amazing visual and audio effects to
your media.
On visual Events, you can click on the Event Pan/Crop button to zoom
and crop their content. This opens the Video Event FX window on the
Pan/Crop page, as you can see on the plug-in chain at the top. Here
you can move, size and rotate the rectangle you see to change the
appearance of your Event while checking the Video Preview. In fact, the
rectangle represents the perimeter of your project content.
You can also disable Lock Aspect Ratio to size the rectangle freely,
and crop the Event content as you need.
You can also apply amazing visual effects with the Video FX panel.
Here you can browse for your favorite visual effect, and then drag and
drop it on an interested Event to add it. The Video Event FX window
will open on such effect page, showing all of its properties.
As you add visual effects, these will be part of the Event plug-in
chain on top, all placed right after the Pan/Crop page. You can enable
and disable each effect by clicking on the square, and change the
effect position by clicking and dragging it through the chain.
On sound clips, use the Event FX... button to browse for the audio
effects available. In this case you will use Audio Event FX panel
to adjust all the effect properties.
To add text and titles inside your project, open the Media Generators
window. This collects several useful media, from backgrounds to text
templates, animated and not animated. Choose one of the text templates
to drag and drop it on a Video Track to create a title Event. Just
make sure to use a top Video Track in order not to get the title
covered by other media.
Then you can use the Video Media Generators window to adjust the text
appearance, content, font, style, color, and animation if present. You
can open this window anytime with the Generated Media... button.
The Title Event is just like a visible Event, so you can use Event
Pan/Crop and Event FX... to size, crop or add effects.
On the extreme left you have several options to manage the content of
all the Video and the Audio Tracks.
Use the Mute button to disable or enable the whole content of a Track.
The Solo button disables all the Tracks of the same kind, leaving the
interested Track solo.
Moreover, Video Tracks also have the Track FX... button, used to add
visual effects on the whole Track content as seen for single Events.
Whereas, Audio Tracks show two bars: the first one adjusts the volume
level, and the second one the Panning, to set the correct balance
between the stereo channels.
Let's see how to save and export your project!
To save your project, go to the Save button in the top left corner.
To export your project content on a video or online, just click on
Make Movie on top, and choose whether to upload your project on Vimeo,
YouTube or Facebook; to burn it onto a Disc, or to export it to a
video file, either for cameras, devices or your own computer.
In case you choose to Save to an Hard Drive, give a video name on top,
and choose the video format at the bottom.
For the full list of video settings, go to Advanced options..., and
choose your favorite template under Formats and then Templates. The
MAGIX AVC/AAC MP4 format is one of the best, offering a 4K resolution
and a fast rendering due to the Intel QSV and the NVENC technology for
Nvidia graphics.
More below, set where to save the video, and then go to Render to
start rendering!
The project will be exported entirely, until the end of the last Event
on the timeline. You can choose the part to render by creating a blue
Loop Region on the timeline, and then enabling the option Render loop
region only.
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