From GEAR Software Knowledgebase

GEAR Video 8.20 contains a Video Editor. This allows you to edit your video clips, combine them together and create photo slideshows with animated transitions.

Contents 1 How to edit your video 1.1 Adding video files to your project 1.2 Removing video items from your project 1.3 Changing the order of the added video items 1.4 Splitting video items 1.5 Zooming and Scrolling 1.6 Adding Transitions 1.7 Changing the transition duration 1.8 Changing a transition 1.9 Removing a transition 1.10 Adding background music 1.11 Removing music files from your project 1.12 Moving music items 1.13 Splitting and trimming music items 1.14 Adjusting volume levels 1.15 Previewing your video 1.16 Adding photos to your project 1.17 Saving your video

How to edit your video

Once you have captured your video or chosen the video you wish to use from some other source, you
can immediately start encoding the files, preparing them so that you can start authoring your DVD-Video
disc. However you may wish to edit your files first. You may wish to remove scenes from your
captured files, merge some files into a single movie, add a background audio track etc. GEAR’s Video
Editor allows you to do all of this and more.


In order to start the Video editor, select “Video Editor” from the Edit menu.
This will bring up the Video Editor.
The Video editor can be divided into three distinctive areas

• The preview window at the top left allows you to see what your edited video will look like.
  
• The transitions window at the top right provides you with a list of the many different transitions you can use while editing.
• The bottom area is the actual editing area where you can add video, add music and do all the other tasks you may wish to perform.
It is important to note that the GEAR Video Editor is a non destructive editor. This means that the
editor will never actually alter your source files.


Adding video files to your project

[↑]

There are thee ways to add a video file to your project.


1. Click on the “Add Videos” button in the editing area.
2. Click on “Add Video Clip” in the “Edit” menu
3. Drag & Drop your video file into the Video bar of the editing area

Note that the first two options will give you to option to start browsing for files in your “My Videos”
folder, your “My Pictures” folder or in the folder where GEAR stores it’s captured files. If you are
using video which you captured using GEAR then this is where you should look.



Each file added will be represented as a thumbnail in the video bar.






Removing video items from your project

[↑]

To remove a file from your project, click on the file in the Video Bar and then either click on


the “Delete Selected Item” button from the tool bar or press the “Delete” key on your keyboard.

Changing the order of the added video items

[↑]

Items are played in the order they were added to the project. However you may wish to change
this order.

To do this, click on the video you wish to move with your left mouse button and drag the file to the
desired locations. While dragging, a red place marker will appear when you are at a location the file
can be positioned. Release the mouse button to drop the file.







Splitting video items

[↑]

In order to add transitions or to remove specific parts of your video it may be necessary to split your
video. By splitting your video, you create two separate video items based on the same file. Once
done a transition can be placed between the two items or one of the items can be removed. Note
again that this operation does not have any effect on your original files.



To split a file, simply place the blue position pointer on the correct location and then click on the “Split Video Item” button in the tool bar.



Positioning the position pointer can be achieved in two ways.

1. By clicking on the top of the bar with the left mouse button, you can Drag it to the desired position.
2. While playing the video in the preview screen, the positioning pointer will move with the

video. By stopping playback at the desired moment you can also set the bar to the correct location.

Zooming and Scrolling

[↑]

While editing it is often desirable to increase or decrease the time scale. This


basically allows you to zoom into the project to be able to more precisely set a
split point or to zoom out to have a better overview of the project.





Zooming can be achieved by using the zoom panel in the editing area. Clicking


on the “+” button zooms you in while the “-” button zooms you out. Clicking on
any of the zoom level indicator boxes between the two buttons will allow the


GEAR Video Editor to immediately set itself to that zoom level.


When you are using a high zoom level or you have many files into your project, you will not be able
to view the entire project in the editing area and will need to scroll through the project. To achieve this
simply move the mouse cursor to the time indicator bar. Notice that the mouse cursor now changes
into a hand. Now click with the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the left or right to scroll
through your project.





Adding Transitions

[↑]

While editing your video, it is often desirable to have the video smoothly change from one scene to
the next. This is called a transition. Transitions can be placed at any point where two video items are
joined. This can be the spot between two separately added files or the location where you split a video
file. GEAR Video provides a wide range of different transitions for you to choose from, they are listed
in the transition window.


The simplest way to add a transition to your video project is to select the desired transition from the
transition window and drag it to the editing area. When you have positioned the transition above a
valid transition point in the project, a yellow zig-zag pattern will appear. Dropping the transition will
place it at that location.




The transition will now be displayed as a blue section in the transition bar.


Changing the transition duration

[↑]

A standard transition takes two seconds to fully transition from the first video item to the next.
However it may be desirable for the transition to be longer or shorter.


In order to change the transition duration, select the video item you are transitioning to, click on it
with the left mouse button and drag it to the left to increase the duration and to the right to decrease it.




Note that by following the same steps when no transition has been added, the GEAR Video Editor
will automatically add a “Horizontal” transition between the two video items.


Changing a transition

[↑]

Once a transition has been placed, you can change the transition by selecting the required new
transition and dragging it from the transition window and dropping it onto the box in the Transition
Bar you wish to change. Note that this will only change the type of transition. The transition’s
duration will remain the same.



Another method is to use the Transition Properties Dialog. To call this dialog, select the


transition you wish to change and then click on the “Transition Properties button.


The dialog will give you a pull-down list of all available transitions. By selecting a different
transition in the list you can change the transition used in your project.



This dialog will also allow you to adapt the smoothness of


the transition.


During a transition, the video changes from one item to the
other along transition defined lines. In the dialog this is the
border lines between the blue areas and the green areas.


By lowering the smoothness, the files will transition along
these lines more quickly giving a sharper effect.


By increasing this value the transition takes longer resulting in
a softer and more blurred transition.





Removing a transition

[↑]

To remove a transition from your project, click on the box in the Transition Bar and then either


click on the “Delete Selected Item” button from the tool bar or press the “Delete” key on your keyboard.


Adding background music

[↑]

To make truly compelling movies, it is often desired to add background music to your video
projects.The GEAR Video Editor allows you to add background music which can be mixed with the
original video’s audio or can replace it all together.


There are thee ways to add music to your project.


1. Click on the “Add Music” button in the editing area.
2. Click on “Add Music Clip” in the “Edit” menu
3. Drag & Drop your music file into the Music bar of the editing area

Note that the first two options will give you to option to start browsing for files in your “My Music”
folder or in the folder where GEAR stores it’s captured files. If you are using music which you
captured using GEAR then this is where you should look.


Each file added will be represented as a block in the music bar.



Removing music files from your project

[↑]

To remove a music file from your project, click on the file in the Music Bar and then either click


on the “Delete Selected Item” button from the tool bar or press the “Delete” key on your keyboard.


Moving music items

[↑]

Music items can be placed at any location within the project.


To do this, click on the music item you wish to move with your left mouse button and drag the item
to the desired locations. While dragging, a “ghost box” will appear when you are at a location the file
can be positioned. Release the mouse button to drop the file


Splitting and trimming music items

[↑]

Within the GEAR Video Editor it is possible to split and trim music items in order to ensure that
they fit correctly within the project.



To split an item, simply place the blue position pointer on the correct location and then click


on the “Split Music Item” button in the tool bar.



Positioning the position pointer can be achieved in two ways.





1. By clicking on the top of the bar with the left mouse button, you can Drag it to the desired position.
2. While playing the video in the preview screen, the positioning pointer will move with the video. By
   stopping playback at the desired moment you can also set the pointer to the correct location.


To trim a file, you must first select the item in the music bar. Then place the mouse cursor over the
left or right edge of the box depending on whether you wish to trim the beginning or the end of the
file. The mouse cursor will change into a double pointed arrow. By clicking and dragging the cursor
you can now trim the music to the desired length.




Adjusting volume levels

[↑]

When adding background music to a movie, the music track is mixed with the original audio track
from the video items you have used. By default both tracks are set at there original volume levels.


In most cases you will most likely wish to place the emphasis on either the music or the original audio.
In other cases you may wish to remove the original audio track all together. This can be achieved by
adjusting the video and music item’s volume levels.






In order to adjust the volume level of a music or video item, select the appropriate item and


then click on the “Volume Settings” button in the tool bar. This will display the volume
adjustment dialog.







Within this dialog you can lower the
volume levels of the selected music or
video item by moving the slider bar to
the left. To increase move the slider to
the right. The volume level value is in
percentage of the original.


To mute the audio, move the slider all
the way to the left and you have a level
of zero.


This dialog also gives you the
opportunity to add FADE IN and FADE
OUT effects to your video. When you
select this option, the audio track will gradually fade in from zero to the selected volume level
and then play at that level until the end of the track where the audio will gradually fade back out.


Previewing your video

[↑]

At any time while editing your video you can view your results in the


preview window by using the preview controls. This will allow you to
PLAY, PAUSE and STOP playback as well as to STEP FORWARD a single frame. The video
and audio will be shown as you edited it. It is important to note that the quality of
the preview will always be less then that of your saved video.


Adding photos to your project

[↑]

There are thee ways to add a photo file to your project.


1. Click on the “Add Videos” button in the editing area.
2. Click on “Add Video Clip” in the “Edit” menu
3. Drag & Drop your photo file into the Video bar of the editing area

Note that the first two options will give you to option to start browsing for files in your “My
Videos” folder, your “My Pictures” folder or in the folder where GEAR stores it’s captured files.


Each photo added is converted into a 6 second video clip and will be represented as a thumbnail in
the video bar. Once added you can treat any added photo the same way as added video including




adding transitions and background music. Note that a project can consist of only photos, only video
and a combination of the two.


Saving your video

[↑]

Once you are done editing your video you can then save it to a VCD, SVCD or


DVD compliant video file which can then be used to author a video disc.To
save your video, click on the “Save Movie” button in the tool bar which will display the Save Movie dialog.






Within this dialog you can


choose the format of the video
(DVD, SVCD or VCD), the
quality of the video and the
filename of the saved video.


In regards to the video quality
setting, it is important to note that


the higher the quality the larger the file will be allowing less video to be placed onto a DVD or a CD.