ulead mediastudio pro 8 infos

[Farlo]

First let me make it clear that Ulead has given me a partial release from my NDA (non-disclosure agreement) regarding MediaStudio Pro 8.0.

The contents of this post are therefore not speculation, though the images herein show user interface details that may change before release.

Now that we have all of that out of the way, here's a very partial list of MSPro 8's new features:

Single Track editing:

No more Va/Fx/Vb tracks. Transitions can now be placed on any track. Transitions are applied by overlapping adjacent clips on the same timeline. In the image below the yellow portion is the transition;



Overlays:

Overlays can now be placed on any track, just like transitions, and you can apply transitions between them.

Multiple Timelines:

You start out with the Main Timeline, but can add more at any time. These timelines can be used to load in multiple projects at once or they can be used as Nested Timelines.

Nested Timelines:

Nested timelines can each contain a portion (or chapter) of a given project with the whole being assembled on the Main Timeline. This makes them work like a video outliner.

Virtual Clips:

Nested timelines are accomplished using Virtual Clips. A Virtual Clip appears to be an ordinary clip, but in reality they contain all the contents of its target timeline including other Virtual Clips.

In the transition image above the second clip is a Virtual Clip. Doubleclicking on it opens its target timeline revealing its contents;



Needless to say this opens up a lot of possibilities.

Enhanced display engine:

MSPro8 also has an enhanced display engine which ensures smooth zooming, scrolling and scrubbing.

That's all I can say for now, but as you can see things are changing in major ways. More details will be forthcoming in a few days.

and

Ulead had once again relaxed the MediaStudio Pro 8.0 beta NDA so more info can be released to the public by the members of the beta team. If you have any questions team members will be glad to explain or elaborate on this info within the limits imposed by the remainder of the NDA.

First a caveat: at this stage of the beta some of the user interface details shown in the below screenshots are not what will be in the finished product. Individual controls may well be re-drawn, moved or redesigned entirely.

With that out of the way lets take a look at two of its new features; The Effects Manager and the Titler.

Effects Manager:

MediaStudio Pro 8.0 has its effect controls centralized into a single interface called the Effects Manager. In the Effects Manager there is a tree list of all the effects applied to a clip or its attached audio track.

These effects can all be shown at once and are stacked so their keyframes can be synched. The dividers between the 3 major sections of the Effects Manager can also be moved as you see fit.



Effects Manager also includes a new keyframer which can be zoomed in or out. This allows for frame accurate control of the keyframes. The below image is of the same timeline and keyframe as the image above, but it's been zoomed in for more accurate control of the effect. Each division is equal to one frame;



The Effects Manager can also be be expanded by doubleclicking its title bar, making all the controls easily accessible.



Once in the expanded state it can be sized as you see fit and the setting will be preserved for the next time you expand it. This also means that you can stretch out the keyframer to as wide as your desktop permits (image resized);



Doubleclick on its title bar in the expanded state and it will shrink back down to its original size and position in the user interface.

Titler:

First for the really good news: the new titler renders much, much faster than the one in MSPro 7.x. I'm certain it will be even faster by release as the code is still being optimized. Here's a look at the control panel;



You can check out the features by downloading the full sized image of its control panel here;

http://digitalvideo.8m.net/msp8titler.jpg

Key to the titler are the effects that can be applied to its titles;

Style:

Styles make the title characters more graphical and multi-colored.



Animation:

Text animations can be anything from a simple rolling or typewriter credit to lines or even single letters flying in and out from all directions.



Effects:

Effects animate individual characters in the title. They include effects ranging from fire to ice and much more.



Text can be directly entered into the preview window or loaded in from existing text files. Once in the preview the title can be further manipulated using simple edits or by using handles;



Also note that the Title Safe Margin and the background clip are drawn on the preview. The Title Safe Margin is used to determine where the image will be cut off on conventional TV displays. Outside this margin is a no-no when creating titles for display on these devices, which is why the pointer is dragging the right boundary back into the Title Safe limit on this image.

The Titler also has three distinct modes in which it can operate: Normal, Roll and Crawl. Note the icons for each in the left panel and the changes made in the effects panel;

Titler Normal Mode:



Titler Roll Mode:



Titler Crawl Mode:



That's it for now. More info in a few days or so....

and

As usual the features discussed below could undergo changes in their look/feel/function before MediaStudio Pro 8 is released because the beta is ongoing. That out of the way here we go again.....

Extensive HDV Support:

MediaStudio Pro 8 can batch capture HDV video from all the latest HDV camcorders and decks with device control. Once captured you can either edit HDV sources at their native format or you can turn on Smart Proxy to create Proxy files for editing on limited systems.

HDV sources can be freely converted between HDV Program Streams (*.mpg) to view them on your PC or HDTV and HDV Transport Streams (*.m2t) in order to write them back to an HDV camcorder or deck.

HDV projects can also be exported to WMV_HD or downconverted to the SD format of your choice including DV, WMV, Quicktime or MPEG 2 for DVD authoring.



Smart Proxy:

MediaStudio Pro 8 can now create and edit using Proxy files.

Proxy files are reduced resolution versions of your source video clips that facilitate editing high resolution (720x480 to 1920x1080) video on limited systems or even laptops. Once the edit is finished the changes are then applied to the full resolution source files to maintain the highest possible quality on export.

In the Smart Proxy control in Preferences you can set the cutoff resolution at which Proxy Mode will be automatically activated, the folder in which Proxy's are stored, choose from several pre-defined Proxy compression templates (MPEG or DV) or create your own templates using the codec(s) of your choice. Smart Proxy can also be toggled using a timeline control.

Downconversion is performed in the background.



Downconversion progress meter;



Real-time Mobile HDV editing:

MediaStudio Pro 8 can also edit HDV in real-time on mid-range or notebook systems using the Smart Proxy feature. These Proxy files can be edited in true real-time with low demands on system resources. This process is completely lossless since your final output always links back to the original full-resolution files.

This is the perfect solution for documentary producers who have embraced HDV and who want to edit on the go.

Smart Package:

Smart Package is an extension of the old Package function. The old Package function would let you copy or move all of a projects resources into a single folder to facilitate archiving, but Smart Package now extends this capability significantly. Now it not only does the "old stuff" but it will also include source clips from the new Nested Timelines but will also create and Package all Proxy files. It can also create Smart-Trimmed files and save their "handles" (trimmed material).



Collaborative Editing:

Smart Package mode is great for collaborative editing and archiving, not only in HDV but in other formats. Whatever your format of choice you can Smart Package and share Proxy files for collaborative editing then combine them as multiple timelines for assembly, referring back to the original footage for export.

Neat

im lazy, but its shaping up to be much more full featured than previous versions were, which excites me as the previous version left alot to be desired.

[bum]

That looks prety cool. The single track editing (which vegas has had all along ), video nesting and motion tracking are features which realy caught my eye. I'm wondering if video/audio tracks can be moves above or below each other freely, so for example you can have an audio track between two video tracks. Doubt it will take me away from my beloved vegas but I'l certianly have to give it a try once it comes out.

[DeinReich]

Only thing I'm worried about is if they can fix the speed of the program. The versions I've used were horribly slow at everything, but the wait was worth it IMO.