Studio 9 is a video editing product created by Pinnacle Systems. This page contains tips and tricks to make the most of your Studio 9 experience. There are links, a review and screenshots to help get familiar with Studio 9. Have fun.
 | What's New (Added 1/7/04) |
| Review (Updated 9/8/04) |
| Main Screen (Updated 9/8/04) |
| Studio Basics (Updated 8/17/02) |
| Simulating a Second Video Track (Added 2/1/04) |
| SmartSound (Added 7/13/02) |
| Title Effects (Updated 11/22/02) |
| Hollywood FX (Updated 2/1/04) |
| Patches / BETAs (Updated 5/13/05) |
| Studio 9 Links (Updated 12/31/04) |
| Capture/Import • Capture, import and edit wide-screen (16 x 9) video |
| Edit Mode Video Effects • Video Enhancement o Image stabilization o Automatic color correct o Analog cleaner • Video Plug in support o Included plug ins: Speed Strobe B/W Color Correction Posterize Sepia Lens Flare (Windows XP/2000 only) Noise Water Drop (Windows XP/2000 only) Blur Emboss Mosaic Old Film Stained Glass (Windows XP/2000 only) o Plug in effects fade in and fade out o Addtional plug ins available from Pinnacle Systems and from third party developers Audio Effects • Audio noise removal • Stereo panning • Surrond Sound panning • VST Plug in support o Included plug ins Noise Reduction Graphic Equalizer Grungelizer Karaoke Vocal Removal Reverb Leveller o Plug in effects fade in and fade out o Addtional plug ins available from Pinnacle Systems and from third party developers |
| UI and Ease of Use Improvements • SmartMovie automatic editing • UI scalable to 1280x1024, 1600x1200 • Full screen preview monitor • View more than one capture file in album • View multiple folders in clip media albums • Improved track locking mechanism • Improved Undo • Improved background rendering |
| Make Movie • Output wide-screen (16 x 9) video • Ouput surround sound audio |
by Allen Pilgrim
INTRO
Studio 9 is simply the easiest video editing software to use on the market. With the addition of Hollywood FX Pro this package is hard to beat.
FEATURES
SmartSound music creation is one of my favorite features. From the first version of Studio that I used I found this to be a valuable resource. Regardless of the style or length of your clip there is almost certainly something that will make your final project more impressive. The styles that come with it range from Classical, Country, Jazz, Pop, Rock, as well as Hot and Spicy. There are also a number of variations for each of the Styles. You can also purchase more music directly from SmartSound.
CAPTURE
The capture feature is how you get your video footage from your camcorder to your computer. The method I use is to connect my Sony DCR-TRV720 directly via a FireWire cable to the FireWire card. You can choose whether you want to capture in DV full-quality, MPEG full-quality, or Preview-quality.
I prefer the DV full-quality. In my opinion there is simply no reason to capture in MPEG. The main reason is that you would be capturing to a greatly compressed format. This causes a certain amount of degradation in the video quality.
One of the benefits of the Preview-quality mode is that it only takes about 200MB of hard drive space for an hour of video. However, it is not very good quality. Once you do all your editing you will need to put in your original tapes so it can find and capture only the clips used in your project. This is time-consuming and increases the wear and tear on your camcorder heads. Drive space is cheap so just buy a bigger capture drive.
EDITING
The editing capability is truly the greatest strength of Studio 9.
PROBLEMS/BUGS
None at this time
FEATURE REQUESTS
Here you will find a list of the top feature requests that people would like to see in the next version of Studio. They are not necessarily in any order but I will try and put the most requested items near the top:
E-mail us if you have other ideas.
BOTTOM LINE
Studio 9 is a versatile video editing package that rivals many packages costing a great deal more. Studio 9 is a product that I highly recommend. If you are serious about video editing I would also recommend getting Hollywood FX Mega (formerly called Pro). With these 2 products you can do virtually anything you can imagine.
Storyboard View
The Storyboard View is used to quickly edit your movie. Each scene is represented by showing the first frame of the clip regardless of length. The transitions are shown between each of the clips. You can easily drag a transition between two clips.
Timeline View
The Timeline View is a more advanced method of editing your video. Clips are represented based on their actual length. This view also gives you the ability to lock the audio track independently of the video track. You can also lock other tracks. This view allows easy access to all of the various audio tracks. This is the preferred view for most editing.
Text View
The Text View can be used for a couple of reasons. This view gives the exact details of the clip. For example you can see when a clip starts and how long the clip is. It also gives you a name for the clip to aid in organization. The Text View is also helpful to help track down problems in your video. You can also copy everything in the Text View and paste it into an Excel spreadsheet.
| Select what you want to navigate. For example select the video timeline or the album |
| Go to the beginning by pressing the Home key |
| Go to the end by pressing the End key |
| Hot Tip: Immediately go to any location in your video by simply typing the numbers in the preview window and pressing Enter |
| Many people have wondered how to get a printout that includes all of the
information in their project. Here's how to do this:
|
One of the more popular feature requests for Studio is a second video track. Since it didn't make it into this version of Studio what can you do? Here is a method that you may be able to use:
| Capture footage from camcorder 1 |
| Capture footage from camcorder 2 |
| Put footage from camcorder 1 on the timeline |
| Add a large black title on the timeline to separate the footage |
| Put footage from camcorder 2 on the timeline at the end |
| Do all your editing in the first half (camera 1) |
| Lock the audio track |
| Cut out the video from the section you want to replace with footage from camcorder 2 |
| Get the footage and insert it in this spot The thing to keep in mind with this method is that it is difficult to sync the audio unless you are very good at being precise with your cuts. Avoid using this method for close-ups of people singing or talking. Instead use it for things like weddings where it doesn't matter if it's slightly off when the people are coming down the aisle. |
Ever wonder how to get the songs you've created using SmartSound out of Studio so you can use them in another program?
| Add music to the timeline using SmartSound. |
| Once you start to play the song it will generate a wave file. |
| This file is stored in a subfolder under your Auxiliary Files folder. The name of the subfolder will be the same name as the current project you are working in. The wave file will have a name such as this: _z0000.wav. |
| You can copy this anyplace you like, rename it, and even modify it in your favorite audio editing software. |
| People ask how I did this effect. This is done with a very simple trick and does NOT require Hollywood FX. |
| Create a new image in your favorite graphic editor (I like Ulead's PhotoImact) and change the dimensions to 720x480. |
| Type in the words "The End" (or anything else you want) and save this to a JPG file. |
| Using your graphic program make the letters slightly bigger (or smaller as the case may be) and save it with a unique name. Do this in increments that will make it look as smooth as you want it. |
| When you're all done take a look at the screen shot below to see how this all works. You just put the smallest one first and set it to 4 frames. If you use about 25 photos it should look pretty smooth. |
Screenshot from Studio 8
| Open up a background in PhotoImpact (use your favorite graphic editor) and change the dimensions to 720x480. |
| Then add all the letters, one at a time, to spell out THE END. Arrange them the way you want them and save the file as "The End 7.bmp." |
| Next remove the letter "d" and save this as "The End 6.bmp." |
| Do this until all the letters are gone. |
| Note: In order to do this you will definitely need a program that supports objects or will allow you to delete the individual letters. |
| In Studio simply browse to the folder where you save these (using the TitleDeko tab). You will see thumbnails of the pictures. Drag them down in order. |
| Set each picture to display for about 7-10 frames. |
| The final step is to find a cool sound effect and trim it to the right size. In my project I used the sound of someone hammering. |
| Note: This is called Presenting3 because it is actually 3 separate projects. I got this idea from Mike Shaw. |
| Begin a new project and call it Presenting1. Make it 16 seconds. |
| Add 4 titles that all say Presenting and make each one 4 seconds. Be creative and use many different styles, sizes, fonts, and colors. Also move them to various locations on the screen. |
| Now add transitions of various lengths to bring the text on and off the screen. An example would be drag the "slide right" transition down to the first title. Make it only 2 seconds. Drag another "slide right" transition to the right side of the same title and also make it 2 seconds. The effect is that it will continue to move across the screen. (S7 offers another way to do this called crawls). For your next title choose something like a "Matrix 4 Wipe" and make it only 1 second. Add another of the same transition to the right side of the title and also make it 1 second. |
| Write this as a digital AVI file. |
| Begin a new project and call it Presenting2. Drag your Presenting1 movie to the video timeline. |
| Add 3-4 more titles and offset them from the first ones. In other words start the titles at different times. Try not to have them start and end in the same spot. Titles going in opposite directions seem to look the best. |
| Try to contrast them with the titles in the first video. |
| Write this as a digital AVI file. |
| Do the same thing one more time. |
| Use SmartSound or Microsoft Music Producer to write some music for it and you have a cool intro for your movie. |
| Go wild and try doing this with other text or graphics. |
| Have you downloaded some HFX effects only to discover that you can't see them. When you manually add effects you will need to delete a file called "effects.org" which is found in the \orgs folder. The next time you start Studio this file will be recreated and your new transitions will be ready for use. If you have HFX 5.1 you will also need to delete C:\Program Files\Pinnacle\Hollywood FX 5\Album\AlbumOrg.org. |
| Organization of your HFX effects will make working with them much more enjoyable. I number the folders that contain my effects so they appear in the order I want regardless of the title. For example "00 - My Effects" or "01 - Other Effects." |
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Studio 9.4.3 -
Release Patch
(released 5/11/05) Studio 9.3.5 - Release Patch (released 10/29/04) Studio 9.3.5 will add the following new features to the standard version of Studio • Surround sound is now ProLogic II compatible, with separate Right and Left rear channels • Surround sound can now be previewed using the PC soundboards surround outputs • Supports dual-layer DVD-9 burners and media • Supports new version of SmartSound (QuickTracks 3) with purchase and download of individual songs (Requires QuickTime 6.0 or higher) |
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Studio 9.3.5.4b - BETA Patch
(released 10/1/04) WARNING: Keep in mind that using a BETA patch is NOT recommended for the average user. By using a BETA patch you are putting your system at risk. If someone tells you to install it to attempt to resolve a particular issue you will need to consider this warning very carefully. |
| Studio 9.3.5.3 - BETA Patch (released 9/28/04) |
| Studio 9.3.5.2b - BETA Patch (released 9/16/04) |
| Studio 9.1.2 - Release Patch (released 6/11/04) |
| Studio 9.0.8.8 - BETA Patch (released 3/19/04) |
| Studio 9.0.8.9 - Release Patch (released 3/23/04) |
| Studio 9.0.4 - Release Patch (released 2/13/04) |
| Studio 9.0.8.5 - BETA Patch (released 3/10/04) |
| Studio 9.0.8.4 - BETA Patch (released 3/9/04) |
| Studio 9 Plus Upgrade |
Check here for special upgrade offers to Pinnacle's latest version of Studio.
| Studio 9 Support |
This is the place to go for the latest information on Studio 9. Download drivers, patches and utilities.
| Studio 9 Webboard |
Check this out for up-to-date information on Studio 9 from fellow video enthusiasts. Here you will find several experts who started out just like you and are more than willing to offer help. The webboard is a rich source of solutions and also a place where you can exchange ideas.
| Studio How To |
This is a great place to learn video editing techniques as well as using Studio.
| Studio 9 Manual |
Here is the latest Studio 9 manual.
| Studio 9 Add-On Products |
Check here for the latest add-ons to Studio 9.
