Hearing audio while precision keyframing

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Hearing audio while precision keyframing

Postby KatzInAZ » Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:07 pm

Is there a way to be able to hear the audio when one is scrubbing a slide during precision keyframing? I can see the waveform - but can't hear it while scrubbing.

With Adobe Producer - you can scrub along and "hear" the audio - which helps tremendously when trying to do precise timings.

I haven't found a good way other than trial and error, and listening to a slide over and over - which doesn't work if your slide is particularly long.

In my case, I have a background video that runs several minutes - so my slide has to be several minutes long :( due to ProShow Pro's limitations. Thus to adjust any keyframes near the end of the slide, and verify the results, I must set the keyframe, then listen to the entire slide until I get to the end to check my keyframe. Then re-adjust, repeat... etc. Can take up to 2 minutes to check each change on a keyframe. ugh.

I hope I'm missing something !

Thanks folks
Kathy

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Re: Hearing audio while precision keyframing

Postby gpsmikey » Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:37 pm

Unfortunately, I don't think you are missing something - I don't think there is a way to do that in Producer. I agree it would be nice and I generally don't run into the issue myself because I export the uncompressed avi and finish it in Vegas if I want to add/edit video (which also supports the sound with scrubbing). The problem is, this was originally created for doing slide shows from a bunch of images. Then we got the ability to handle video but then we want the features that our video editors have. Unless someone here knows otherwise, I don't think you can get there. I would suggest forwarding the request to Photodex so they can add it to the list of requested features. Hopefully they will add that ability.

mikey
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mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
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Re: Hearing audio while precision keyframing

Postby cherub » Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:30 pm

Kathy,
I must set the keyframe, then listen to the entire slide until I get to the end to check my keyframe. Then re-adjust, repeat... etc. Can take up to 2 minutes to check each change on a keyframe. ugh.


Ditto to everything that Mikey said. Being able to hear the music while scrubbing the slide would be a great addition to PSP.

However, you don't have to watch the full slide every time.
If you scrub your main preview (not in full screen playback), you can stop the slide at any given point by dragging the cursor and then pressing on Play. This will allow you to watch only the keyframes towards the end of your long slide.
Not quite what you need, but still something to try.

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Re: Hearing audio while precision keyframing

Postby KatzInAZ » Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:51 am

Good morning all.

Mikey - thanks for the advice. I'll give that a try. Once you've exported the uncompressed AVI and taken it to your video editor, you then (if I'm understanding you right) have 2 video layers in your editor - the AVI made from ProShow, and the video you want as background overall. How to do you get the background vid to show through to your PS Vid, short of just making the PS vid size smaller than full screen size? Or phrased differently, is there a way to make the PS Vid act as if it was a .PNG type format, short of reducing opacity?

clear as mud? :)

Mona - thanks for that tip. I'll give that a try. Flipping back and forth isn't ideal - but as you said, sure is better than watching the slide from the start each time.

Thanks all!

Kathy

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Re: Hearing audio while precision keyframing

Postby KatzInAZ » Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:05 am

Just FYI - I've submitted 2 new feature requests

1. The ability to hear the audio when you do a timeline scrub.

2. The ability to underlay a video (say add a separate video background "line") so that one could create a show with multiple slides/effects/transitions, and have the video background running happily along on it's own.

:D Kathy

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Re: Hearing audio while precision keyframing

Postby gpsmikey » Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:24 am

As far as I know, there really isn't a way to have a transparent background that you could put a video under. Generally where I have used it in the video editor is when I wanted to have things like lower thirds over the existing video for information or text that spanned multiple slides etc. You could chromakey out a background, but I suspect due to the color space used it would not look as good as you would hope (although I have not experimented with that feature yet). I also use the video editor to assemble show segments I have made with common type segments between them (like for the soccer team, a common transition segment between games where each set of game pix was a different show segment). Unfortunately, a video editor doesn't give you anywhere the ease and power of Producer for creating a slide show. On the other hand, Producer doesn't give you the power with video that a video editor does. The trick is trying to come up with a way to use both to your advantage :twisted: (I see the posts in the Sony vegas forums where people are jumping through a bunch of hoops to make fairly simple slide shows and think "Producer", then I see the posts here asking about working with video and think "Sony Vegas" )

The ideal solution would be for Photodex to add the ability to scrub the audio as well (like we want) as well as the ability to add a transparent background although experimenting with chromakeying could prove interesting - it might not work too bad as long as your slides don't have the key color in them :-) (nothing quite like a see-through green tie on someone)

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
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Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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Re: Hearing audio while precision keyframing

Postby KatzInAZ » Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:53 pm

See through green tie? hmm.... ideas are a comin'.... uh,, no... better not...

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Re: Hearing audio while precision keyframing

Postby Vidmon » Wed Dec 18, 2013 12:25 am

OK, so Producer 6 is out. Again they left out the ability to "scrub audio" on the timeline for precise edits. Maybe I missed something in the latest demo they just sent out? Many of us have been asking for this feature for years to speed up our production process. Seems like they are more focused on creating new visual effects than giving us what pros are looking for. I own everything they have offered but I'm holding off buying Producer 6 or future updates until they realize audio is just as important as all the overkill on video effects. Until then I'll use Producer for my uneducated clients and my video editor for clients that expect more precise videos. Come on photodex, listen to what your customers are asking for. If you want to call yourself "PRO" show then please add this "Pro" audio feature.

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Re: Hearing audio while precision keyframing

Postby im42n8 » Wed Dec 18, 2013 2:01 pm

For years, we've been asking for lots of stuff we thought would improve the program. Photodex, in trying to keep feature bloat to a minimum (and hence, the degree of inherent usage complexity low), has been careful about what features they do add. Some of our requests took years before we finally saw them.

Photodex doesn't want to end up with a program that only diehard users are going to use. They insist on trying to keep the ease of use as a paramount aspect of the program. As it is, they've done that. While there are features that only experts will tackle (such as modifiers), those are features that aren't required to use the program. We ask for features that are going to enhance the usability of the program . . . but, from Photodex's perspective, many of those requests would, when implemented, would mean enhanced complexity of use. The caption layers feature is one of those features that were asked for years ago. This volume control points feature was also on the books for quite awhile. The ability to use other than True Type fonts has also been on the books for a long time.

Video backgrounds was requested many many years ago as was the ability to recognize alpha channels (that is, transparency in a video without having to resort to masking).

We may disagree with the tact they've taken but, you can only use the features the program provides. Even with what's there, it's amazing what can be done in the shows. Unfortunately, the more interesting effects achievable can only be created by those who really know the program well. They know how the program works and know a number of its less obvious secrets. Some of these features are in plain sight too ... their effective use, however, is not quite so obvious.

Just because you don't have the ability to hear audio during scrubbing does not mean you cannot do precise work ... that's just an excuse. Making "precise videos" is not limited because you can't hear audio during scrubbing ... again, that's simply an excuse; something to blame your inability to use the software in the way you want, instead of using the software to the limits of your ability.

Dale
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