Adding stills to markers on timeline

[plekkie]

For some DVD projects I have been asked to add photos as a slideshow to a DVD. In order for the photos to follow the beat of audio, and to have better control of the size and position of the photos, I don't use the typical slideshow option in DVD authoring programs, but I make a simple movie in Edius, existing of stills, audio and titles.

As it takes quite some time to get the result I want, I am wondering if anyone in this forum has any ideas for improvement.

My workflow is as follows:

• Add audio to timeline
• Add opening title to timeline
• Add markers to the timeline according to the beat of the audio, by tapping the V key on the keyboard
• Select all stills (e.g. 200) in the bin and add to timeline
• Adjust duration of stills to the marker intervals
• Adjust size and position of stills with lay-out tool

It is the duration adjustment according to the marker positions that is time consuming, knowing that the time between markers is not an exact same number of frames all over the timeline. Especially when removing a still afterwards, it requires complete checking and re-adjustment.

Any suggestions?

[GrassValley_KH]

Not sure if this would work, but it's worth a shot - first, you need to have the option for continuous playback while editing enabled.

Then place all the images down onto the timeline in the correct order, with a duration that is eccessively long (to ensure you'll always have enough time between beats).

Playback - instead of using the 'v' key, hold down 'ALT' and tap 'm' to the beat. This should do a ripple cut each time...

[GrassValley_KH]

Oh, I forgot - make sure that the track containing the stills is selected/highlighted first before cutting!

[johnmoore]

I did a similar project, but in my case the music I used had a very regular beat and was only just over 1 minute long, hower, using audio software I timed the exact duration and also determined the exact duration of the beat, and in my case it was something like 0.83 seconds per beat (I wanted a still at every beat).
In Edius in the settings (forget which one now) I set the duration of the stills at 0.83 secs. I then sorted the still in the bin to the order I wanted then dragged them on to the time line and I aligned them with the first beat.
It worked very well but still required some adjustments, and in some parts I substituted some video over say 4 beats, but keeping the still duration equal to the beat duration was the secret.
I tried your method before coming up with this.
I'm still on Edius V4 and the waveform on the Audio track is too dense to show the beats unless it has a wide dynamic range.
Hope this helps.
John

[pjsssss]

I'm still on Edius V4 and the waveform on the Audio track is too dense to show the beats unless it has a wide dynamic range.
Hope this helps.
John

John, you can enlarge the height of the audio track (click on the left side of the timeline of an audio track and choose height 4 or 5) and it will help AFA the waveform not being so dense

[SimonD]

I use the 'M' method described by Kenneally very frequently, though I'm using video clips not stills.
I 'cut' by listening and by picking the peaks on the waveform. I don't have time to be accurate to fractions of a second but the results are good in my opinion.

[plekkie]

Thanks! I'll give the "M" method a try today.

BTW, I read about following feature in Adobe Premiere Elements 4:

"Edit to the beat of a favorite song (New)

Easily create entertaining slide shows and movies that move to the music. Adobe Premiere Elements automatically detects the tempo of your musical soundtrack and syncs the beginning and end of each scene with the beats."

Does anyone have experience with that?

[plekkie]

Tried the "M" method, and it works like a charm. Thanks!!!!