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Click here to download free chapter on new features of Pinnacle Studio Plus. |
Click here to see ancillary material from the Studio 9 Visual QuickStart Guide. |
Click here to see Studio 9's color correction and image stabilization. |
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Why Buy This Book?• It’s task oriented. Where the Studio manual is feature oriented, the Visual QuickStart Guide (VQS) is task oriented, detailing most common operations with rigorous step-by-step instructions and sample screens. • It goes far beyond the manual. In many key areas, the VQS goes far beyond what's available in the manual. For example:
Reviews of The Visual QuickStart for Pinnacle Studio 9
Reviewer:
scoobiedotcom (see more about me) from Grayslake, IL United States
The must have guide to Pinnacle 9,
March 2, 2004 That's where this book was an amazing help. It actually lists why you would want to do something verses just how to do it. So I figured this was a good time for me to attempt to convert my VHS wedding video to DVD. I had from way back a dazzle component that my VCR hooked up to and converted it from VCR to mpeg on my pc (2 gigs) added menus etc and rendered to dvd. This process took, about 10 hours!! (Pentium 3 800mhz 256 ram Dell) The dvd came out and only played on pc not my home dvd player, plus the audio was like 5 minutes behind my video. Amazingly the solution was in this book! It said to remove menus, render to avi, and then try again. Well, I did that and it turned a 2gig mpeg, to a 26gig avi, I added the avi to my project, added all the menus back (I had written down the chapter and timecode before converting, this made it 10 times faster when adding them back to avi) and worked like a charm. I have to admit, I am very impressed at how much research is done. It seems like this book has come across all the issues that came up and had an answer for them. The Visual Quick Start Guide is a must for those who plan on doing anything with pinnacle 9!!
I began reading this book while waiting for Pinnacle Studio 9 to ship, and was thrilled that the first section of the book was an introduction to editing best practices. Once I started a project, I noticed that the book actually followed the same natural progression that a first-time user would take. The Visual QuickStart Guide was so well organized that I never had to skip ahead to the next chapter or look for anything in the index. I also have the product manual that ships with the program, but found it unfriendly. On the other hand, Jan Ozer's conversational style and clear screenshots of every example made it easy to read even when not sitting in front of the computer. I really feel like I can get more value out of Studio 9 with the help of the Visual QuickStart Guide.
If you're new to video editing, do yourself a favor and buy Mr. Ozer's book. You will not be disappointed. I started using Studio 8 that came preinstalled on my PC to make "finished productions" of my home movies and stills. I was never particularly satisfied since the only documentation supplied was the on-line help and a simple guided tour. Those were helpful but just were not really adequate. I knew there were features available in the software that I probably wanted, but didn't know how to get at. Upon upgrading to Studio 9 I resolved to find some other documentation. Studio 9 does come with a manual (the retail version of S8 probably does too, for all I know) but it is complete junk. It's practically just a list of features and menu options. Worse still, and why I feel justified in calling it junk, is that the index printing is mangled. Sub-sections of the index listings are not indented, making it virtually impossible to find what you're looking for. I'm sure that is just a printing error, but nevertheless, the supplied manual is not worth the space on your bookshelf. Jan Ozer's Visual QuickStart Guide Pinnacle Studio 9 for Windows is great! To start with, the index is excellent; something that's always important for a book like this. If the index is not useful, you won't use the book. This one works: complete; meaningful entries; and formatted properly. The book as a whole is well laid out. Mr. Ozer starts with useful information on shooting good video to start with (composition) and then goes through each of the steps to your finished product. Important and useful tips are given throughout the text, without wasting a lot of time on trivial information. Techniques are demonstrated in step by step form with USEFULL screen shots (zoomed in to demonstrate what is being discussed in the text), complete with call-outs where needed. And to top it off, what's shown in the book actually matches the software! The book is loaded with practical examples and solutions to common problems. The author also explains some of the add-on software available from Pinnacle, such as the Plus and Pro packs, how to use some of those features, and why you might want to use them. Since getting this book, I've seen numerous articles by Jan Ozer in PC Magazine. He obviously knows the subject well and it comes across in this book. This is also my first experience with any of the Visual QuickStart series, and it has been very positive. Highly recommended. Buy this book! If you're using Studio 9, you need this book. Chapter Summary:
Part 1: Getting Started 1. Producing Watchable Video Optimizing Camera Settings Shooting Basics Framing the Shot Handling Motion Types of Shots and When to Use Them Coverage 2. Introduction to Studio 9 What’s New in Studio 9 The Guided Tour Edit Mode Capture Window Make Movie Mode Undo/Redo Saving Your Projects Online Help Setting and Testing Your Capture Drive Testing Your Capture Drive Setting Default Durations Setting Auxiliary File Locations Part 2: Gathering Your Assets 3. Capturing From Your DV Camcorder The DV Capture Interface About 16x9 Video Working with 16x9 Video Connecting for DV Capture Entering DV Capture Mode Capturing DV Video Choosing Your Capture Format Capturing DV Video to MPEG Format Adding Scene Comments Viewing Your Captured Video 4. Capturing From Your Analog Camera or VCR The Analog Capture Interface Connecting for Analog Capture Choosing Your Analog Capture Parameters Tuning the Incoming Video Signal Adjusting the Incoming Volume Capturing Analog Video Adding Scene Comments Viewing Your Captured Video 5. Working with Still Images Capturing Still Images Editing Still Images 6. Collecting Assets in the Album Opening the Album to Video Scenes Loading Video Files Playing Videos Combining Scenes Splitting Scenes Working with the Album’s View and Tools Working with Scene Comments Working in the Still Images Tab Working it the Sound Effects Tab Part 3. Editing 7. To the Movie Window Looking at Movie Window Views Working in the Storyboard Getting Videos to the Timeline Customizing Your Timeline View Common Tasks in Storyboard and Timeline Views Trimming with the Clip Properties Tool Trimming a Clip on the Timeline Trimming Multiple Clips on the Timeline Advanced Timeline Editing The Art of Insert Editing Producing Split Edits Working with Still Images in the Movie Window Adding Motion to Still Images Working with Audio Files in the Movie Window 8. Transitions Looking in the Box Understanding Transitions Using Transitions Customizing Transitions Working with Hollywood FX Transitions Ripple Transitions for Slide Shows 9. Special Effects Fixing Problems with Your Videos Applying Automatic Color Correction Applying Image Stabilization Applying Noise Reduction Applying Artistic Effects Applying Time Effects Applying Color Effects Applying Artistic Video Effects Applying Visual Effects over Time Reversing Visual Effects
Creating a Music Video with Smart Movie 10: Designing Titles and Menus Opening the Title Editor Looking at the Title Editor Adding and Editing Text Using Studio’s Styles Resizing and Justifying Text Managing Word Wrapping Kerning and Leading Text Rotating and Skewing Text Using Full-Screen Titles Adding Logos to Video Creating and Editing Title Objects Working with Buttons Working with Multiple Objects Creating DVD Menu Templates Creating Rolls and Crawls 11. Working with Audio About Audio Tracks and Workflow Setting Recording Options Ripping CD Audio Creating Background Tracks with SmartSound Recording Narrations Editing Audio Clips Using the Volume tool Adjusting Volume on the Timeline Adjusting Audio Balance Creating Surround Sound Audio About Studio’s New Audio Filters Applying the Noise Reduction Filter Applying Other VST Effects Pro Pack Must Have Effects 12. DVD Authoring About DVD Authoring Using Menu Templates Using Custom Templates Previewing Your DVD Creating Audio Menus Creating Video Menus Burning a DVD Title Part 4: Other Output 13. Writing to Tape Setting Up Your Hardware Writing to Tape Writing Disk Files to Tape 14. Outputting Digital Files Decoding Compression Parameters Producing AVI Files Producing MPEG Files Producing RealVideo Files Producing Windows Media Video Files 15. Using StudioOnline Uploading Videos to StudioOnline Sending Videos from StudioOnline Managing Videos on StudioOnline Appendix I – Keyboard Shortcuts Main Studio Interface Title Editor Appendix II – Troubleshooting
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Note: The Visual QuickStart Guide for Pinnacle Studio 9 contains a chart with incorrect information about Studio 9's new filters and effects. You can view and print the updated chart by clicking here. You will need the Adobe Reader available here.
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