Volume of Video Clip

[JEB]

Hi,

Is there any way of fading in/out the audio of a video clip within PTE. Do I have to in some way strip out the audio with some other software and apply fade directly to the resultant audio file?

I am presently working in 7.5 Beta 10 so perhaps it is something that has not yet been implemented.

John

[Lin Evans]

Hi John,

There was an announcement by Igor a few weeks ago on this.

What you do is first mute the video (objects and animations property tab), then "add the video" to the sound track. If you don't know the name by memory, just remember the file extension and use the DOS wild card to see all the videos in the folder. For example let's say your video has a long file name so after navigating to the folder where it resides, just place the following:

*.extension name (such as Star Dot FLV or Star Dot MP4) and the program will show all videos with that extension. Then simply choose the video and the audio will automatically be perfectly extracted by PTE and you can use all the normal audio features to control it. This includes the waveform, fade-in, fade-out, offset, etc. The audio will sync perfectly with the video and no third party software is needed.

This works in 7.0 as well as in the 7.5 betas....

Best regards,

Lin

[davegee]

Doesn't the dropdown now offer "all files" so that you are able to choose the file name that matches the video? Too late to check - maybe in about 8 hours?

Dg

[Lin Evans]

It does in the latest beta versions, but you have to choose "video files" from the arrow drop down to get to them - it's not "automatic." On 7.0 if you want to see the video files you will need to do it as outlined above which will work with all versions including the new betas.

Best regards,

Lin

Doesn't the dropdown now offer "all files" so that you are able to choose the file name that matches the video? Too late to check - maybe in about 8 hours?

Dg

[davegee]

Correct .

It must have happened in one of the early 7.5 Betas - 3?

DG

[JEB]

Thank you folks,

I'll have a look at that later today.

That man Igor thinks of everything!

John

[vilara]

This is a known solution, but it requires to have to synchronize the resulting sound with video.

[Lin Evans]

Actually, it synchronizes perfectly without any changes - that's why Igor did it. PTE removes the video without affecting the audio track.

Best regards,

Lin

This is a known solution, but it requires to have to synchronize the resulting sound with video.

[JEB]

Hi Lin,

I'm afraid I am not understanding this.

You say "mute the video". Do you mean "Mute Audio"?

You say ""add the video" to the sound track"". What do you mean by this?

What I have done is -

1. Create a blank slide in the slide list

2. Select my video file by navigating to it from the "Video" symbol at the TLH corner of the O&A window.

3. Select the "Optimisze" button from the box that appears.

I am perhaps not looking in the correct places but for some reason it's not working for me.

I have attached a couple of screen shots.

Regards

John

[Lin Evans]

Hi John,

Yes, sorry about the confusion. Put the video in then go to the Objects and Animations Screen, Properties Tab and click so that there is a check mark beside Mute Audio.

Next open the Project Options, click on the Audo Tab then click on Add Audio File. You said you were using the beta, so next look down where it says "Files of Type" and click on the little blue box with a down arrow on the right and choose "Video File."

Now navigate to the folder where your video file exists and click on it. You video file's Audio Track now has been added as an "AUDIO FILE." If you converted the original video file, use the converted video to add rather than the original.

Now you can do anything you wish just as if you were working with a "normal" audio file. PTE extracts the audio automatically and the audio track is now properly synchronized with the video. You can fade-in, fade-out, adjust volume, and use all normal audio features.

Best regards,

Lin

[JEB]

Lin,

I am always astonished at the speed with which folks like you respond to requests from we lesser mortals!

I fully expected not to get a responce till tomorrow so went off for a cup of coffee and on my return (20 minutes) there was my answer.

Thanks Lin, I have got it working to my sattisfaction.

I'm now looking forward to the implementation of the envelope tool as I am going to need for it in this job I am working on at present.

Audacity, apart from major editing, is going to be redundant in my work flow from what I can see, as Igor appears to be giving us more than I for one thought we were going to get.

Thanks again,

John

[davegee]

John,

Does the existing PTE envelope tool not do what you want?

DG

[JEB]

Dave,

I don't think that's active yet in 7.5B10

John

[JEB]

Dave,

CORRECTION

It is and it will !!!!!

John

[davegee]

John,

It's always been there?

DG

[vilara]

Lin said "Actually, it synchronizes perfectly without any changes".

For me, this is not the case:

[Lin Evans]

Have you failed to set the start time on the video sound track to the start time on your video slide? Synchronization isn't really the right term to use because the video's audio is perfectly synchronized as in the original video but you still must set the start time for the audio to correspond to the start time of the video unless the video happens to be the first slide.

In the relevant sense, synchronization would be fine tuning the audio to correspond exactly as it was to the video before extraction. When audio is extracted with an external program then added back and with the video start time and audio start time being identical, and the sound track is not properly aligned with the video as it was in the original, then we have a synchronization issue. Then re-aligning it by micro adjustments is what is generally meant by "synchronization."

This has really nothing to do with video in particular. If you want a sound track to correspond to the start or middle of a slide somewhere along the timeline, you need to set the offset to that specific time desired. Likewise it is the same when you place the video somewhere along the time line other than at the beginning. This is audio "alignment" when you place the offset on the audio of that video to correspond to the start of the video.

I think perhaps we have more of a "language" interpretation issue than a substantive difference in experiences.

What I mean by "synchronization" is that there will be no timing differences between the extracted audio and the muted audio on the video. They will correspond precisely. When you use third party software to extract the video then add it back with the encapsulated audio on your video muted, this is sometimes not the case.

Best regards,

Lin

Lin said "Actually, it synchronizes perfectly without any changes".

For me, this is not the case:

[vilara]

What I wanted to say that is that audio from the video clip does not automatically positions itself below the video clip. But that is not a big problem

[Lin Evans]

Yes, absolutely correct!

Best regards,

Lin

What I wanted to say that is that audio from the video clip does not automatically positions itself below the video clip. But that is not a big problem

[davegee]

Lin,

I thought exactly the same thing as Vilara after I read your post. I knew what you meant (I think) but it did not read that way.

The Audio belonging to the Video must be offset to match the start time of the Video and then, as you say, synchronisation should not be a problem.

Best wishes,

DG

[Lin Evans]

Hi Dave,

That's one of the problems with "language." I would never think to use the word "synchronization" (or British spelling synchronisation) in conjunction with matching the proper audio start position to the proper image or video. When we put in an audio track, unless it is assumed that we want it to start in conjunction with the first slide, we logically assume that we must tell PTE what slide it goes with. Likewise, when we separate an audio track from it's video, to me, it is understood that now we have two separate entities and this "audio" could be used as any other audio with any slide or video. So PTE has no way of knowing that we want to use it with a particular video or slide. We therefore must inform the program of the precise place we want to use the audio. In the relevant sense, that is at the start of the video we extracted it from. I suppose it would be "possible" to program PTE in such a way as to "assume" this by the file names, but this would be perhaps limiting.

Personally, I reserve the word "synchronization" in the relevant sense for use in precise micro-matching of audio to the video it came from so that speakers (singers) facial features and mouth movements correspond perfectly to that audio track as it "should" be or have been in the original video. Placing the extracted audio at the same instant of the beginning of the video could loosely be considered "synchronization," but I would never use that word to describe this action. What I would use is alignment or start position because synchronization has a different intrinsic meaning for me.

Best regards,

Lin

Lin,

I thought exactly the same thing as Vilara after I read your post. I knew what you meant (I think) but it did not read that way.

The Audio belonging to the Video must be offset to match the start time of the Video and then, as you say, synchronisation should not be a problem.

Best wishes,

DG

[vilara]

What I would like it is that the audio from a video clip remains attached to this clip, but that can be modofy the volume (or envelope)