Hello there, welcome to this video! Let's see in a short time how to use
VEGAS Movie Studio 14 and all its main awesome features!
Leave us comments in video description to improve our future guides for
this software!
Movie Studio is one of the best software products that can be used to
create slideshows and professional videos with amazing effects and
transitions.
When you open it, a small start-up dialog box opens on the centre. Here
you can use Open... to open saved Movie Studio projects, or New to create
a new one. Let's start with a new empty project to see how to use Movie
Studio.
At this point, the New Project dialog box opens. Here you can fix several
video properties for your project, such as the Region format, the kind
of Audio, and the video resolution and frame rate by choosing a ready
video template under Video and under Project. Further below, choose a
project Name, and where to save it under Folder. When you go to OK, the
main Movie Studio workspace opens on the new project. This is composed by
several panels on top, the main project timeline at the the bottom, and
several buttons at the very bottom.
The panels on top can be regulated as you like. If you close any, you can
recover them by going to View and then to Window.
At the bottom, you have the main project timeline, which is used to
contain, describe and fully edit your video project. But, to start working
on it, you have to import all the necessary files first, such as videos,
images and sound files.
Go to the Explorer panel, browse for your files, and then drag and drop
these on the project timeline. You can also drag and drop files from any
of your computer folders as well.
The imported files are represented as small rectangles called clips,
contained inside rows called Tracks. Video Tracks welcome images and video
frames, and are indicated by a frame icon on the far left, whereas Audio
Tracks contain sound files, and show a speaker icon. By default you have
two Video Tracks and two Audio Tracks, but you can add new ones by
right-clicking on a vacant part of a Video or an Audio Track and going to
Insert Track.
The timeline shows a quick preview of your clips. Images and videos show
thumbnails on their content, and sound files show their own sound waveform.
You can check these better by enlarging the Tracks height by clicking and
extending their contours, and zoom in and out by using your mouse wheel.
To check how your overall project is going on, you have to use the Video
Preview window. This shows the project content right where the timeline
playhead is placed. To check a particular frame, just fix the playhead
by clicking on the timeline. To check your project frame by frame, you
can click and drag the playhead, forwards or backwards. This is great to
check images and videos, but not audio, since the preview remains muted.
To playback both visual and audio clips, you have to use the Player
right below the Video Preview.
On top of the Video Preview, you can use External Monitor to playback
in full screen mode, using the Enter key to play and stop, and the Escape
key to come back to the main project workspace.
If you have problems with the Video Preview, you can adjust its settings
by going to Project Video Properties... and changing the resolution, frame
rate and audio settings. Then, through Preview Quality, adjust the video
quality to use. The lower it is, the lower the load on your computer will
be. Remember that these settings affect just the video preview, and not
the final video you will extract from the project.
Let's see how to edit your clips inside the timeline.
To move clips in time, just click and drag them on the left or right. If
you drag video clips with sound, both will be moved in the same way. If
you want to separate video frames from audio, click on the video clip to
select it, and then use the U key.
You can also move your clips from one Track to another of the same kind.
If you have visible clips placed in different Video Tracks, but in the
same instant of time, the Video Preview shows them overlapped, showing
the clip that stays on the higher Track in position in front, and all
the clips on lower tracks behind.
To stretch or shorten clips in time, approach one of their extreme edges,
and click and drag. If you shorten video and audio clips, this will also
cut part of their content, and if you stretch them you will start looping
their content. In this case, dark markers appear on the clip, indicating
the points the clip starts to loop.
If you want to stretch or shorten without changing the clip content, you
have to use the Time Stretch feature. This is used when you drag the clip
edges while holding CTRL down. In this way, you will stretch or shorten
the clip by acting on its playback speed, instead of its content. So, if
you shorten the clip, this will be played faster; if you stretch it, this
will become slower.
You can cut, copy and paste selected clips by right-clicking on it and
using Cut, Copy and Paste. If you cut a clip in this way, you will always
cut the whole clip, unless you use the Loop Region.
If you click and drag right above the timeline, you create a selected
timeline Region called Loop Region. At this point, if you cut the clip,
only the part that is contained within the Loop region will be affected.
Remember to use CTRL+Z or the Undo arrow on top to undo your latest
actions done if you make any mistake.
You can also split a clip in two by placing the playhead at the correct
position, and then using the S key from your keyboard.
Furthermore, if you hover the top of a visible clip, and click and drag
down, you will regulate the Opacity level of this clip, adding transparency
to it. In the case of sound clips, this will adjust the Gain volume level.
Movie Studio allows you to add great Transitions to your clips. These are
cool effects used to make a clip appear (fade-in transition) or disappear
(fade-out transition) in a certain amount of time. For example, if you
click and drag from the corners of any visible clip, you will quickly add a
fade opacity transition, where the opacity level of the clip changes in
order to make it appear and disappear. You can add sound fade transitions
to sound clips as well, and these will change the volume in time.
The Transitions panel above lists all the available Transitions you can
apply to your visible clips. Choose one, and drag and drop it on a fade
transition just created. This will take the effect you have chosen. Then,
you can change the transition properties by right-clicking on it, and
going to Transition Properties..., and regulate their time duration by
stretching their edges on the clip itself.
Transitions can be applied between two clips as well. Just overlap these
on a same track, and a simple fade transition will be created. If you
want to use another transition, just drop another from the Transition
panel.
You can also apply amazing effects on your clips.
The Event Pan/Crop is a cool effect used to zoom in, zoom out or crop
any image or video clip. You can open it by clicking on Event Pan/Crop....
Then, through the Video Event FX window, you can move and edit the
central rectangle in order to change the way the clip must be shown. The
rectangle represents the full area shown on the Video Preview, in respect
to the clip content. So, if the rectangle is bigger than the clip, you
apply a zoom out; if it is smaller, you will apply a zoom in, showing just
what is within the rectangle.
By default, the aspect ratio of the rectangle is kept fixed, and is
equivalent to the clip aspect ratio. But this is not good if you want to
crop the clip content. If you disable Lock Aspect Ratio on the left, you
can size the rectangle as you like, and so begin cropping the clip.
The Event Pan/Crop... is the basic effect applied on any image and video
clip, but you can apply many other effects, all listed on the Video FX
panel. Choose one, and drag and drop it on your favorite clip. At this
point, the Video Event FX dialog box opens on such effect, with all its
settings and properties. Check the Video Preview to see what the clip
looks like.
When applying multiple effects on a same clip, the Video Event FX lists
all of them in order on top. You can enable and disable each effect by
checking and unchecking them.
The Video Event FX can be opened through the fx icon on the visible clips.
Also sound clips have an fx icon, and this is used to open the Audio
Event FX, which is used to add and manage sound effects.
You can also add Text and Titles. The Media Generators panel lists
several ready templates, such as backgrounds, colors, Credit Rolls and
Titles. Choose a text template, and drag and drop it on a Video Track.
This creates a visible clip, called Title clip, that you can move and
edit as seen for video and image clips. Just make sure to place this Title
clip on a top Video Track, or text will be overlapped by other clips.
A part from Event Pan/Crop... and Event FX... the Title clip also shows
the Generated Media... button. This opens the Video Media Generators, used
to customize your piece of text, by regulating its text content, font,
size, style, color and appearance.
You have several options on each of your Tracks on the far left. For
example, the Mute (M) button disables an entire Track content, making it
unavailable. Whereas, the Solo (S) button makes the interested Track the
only Track available inside your project timeline. Also, the Track FX...
can be used to add visual or sound effects on a whole Track content.
Also, inside Video Tracks, you have the Track Motion... feature. This
allows you to size and deform the clip content as you like, by moving and
stretching the central rectangle you see. Try it out!
Inside Audio Tracks, you can adjust the volume of all its clips by using
the Volume bar, and balance the left and the right stereo channels by
using the Panning bar.
While working on your project, remember to save it often by using CTRL+S,
or the Save icon in the top left corner.
If you are ready to export the final video from your project, just click
on Make Movie on top. Here you can choose to upload it to a social website,
to upload it to YouTube, burn it on a disc, or render it directly on your
computer. Then, choose a Name for your video, the video file format,
and the destination folder more below. When you click on Next... Movie
Studio will start rendering your video, from the beginning of the project
timeline to the end of the last clip.
But, if you want to render just a part of your Video Project, select it
first by creating a Loop Region, and then start rendering it. Just
remember to enable Render loop region only.
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