Don't worry if you missed the first UK Corel® VideoStudio® Pro X3 1 hour webinar, you can watch it here!

Hosted by our resident VideoStudio expert, Jan Piros, it is a great refresher on the power of the product or an excellent introduction if you’re new to taking your captured footage off the camera to edit and share.

Jan presents an overview of the user interface, shows you the basics of clip placement, works with some great tools and filters as well as showing you some cool little tricks. There is also a question and answer session at the end.

Q&A Section

Q: Why did you reduce the size of the preview window in Pro X3?

A: There was no change in size to the preview window in X3. But while we are on the topic, you can easily change the size of the preview window by draging it to make it larger. Click and drag the edge of the timeline or library to make your desired adjustments.

Q: I use the GoProHD camera a lot. Should I change the format from MP4 to something else is there a preferred format to edit in? I also have an issue when creating a video file. It always crashes before completing.

A: You can work in any format you like, it makes no difference to VideoStudio! On the issue of your GoPro video file crashing: we’ve discovered an issue working with QuickTime files, but happily there’s a new patch due at the end of November 2010 that will deliver a fix for this, plus some performance enhancements, a new output profile optimized for iPad and a few more things. Check corel.com/patches!

Q: How can I transfer VideoStudio 10 projects to VideoStudio Pro X3?

A: VideoStudio 10 projects are supported within VideoStudio Pro X3. Simple open VideoStudio Pro X3, then go to “File; Open,” locate your file and your project will open, ready for editing.

Q: The webinar was excellent, why do you not supply this as part of the software package? It is much easier to understand than the handbook…

A: A good suggestion! Have a look here and stay tuned for more in this area over the next few months.

Q: We are making a Halloween DVD for a school project. Can you make a person faded enough to look like a ghost figure?

A: Yes, a popular trick. I’d recommend you use a green-screen to do this. For this you would need a piece of green fabric which has both uniform colour and shading. When lighting, illuminate the screen as consistently as you can. Put your subject in front of the screen (about 1-2 metres and make sure they are well lit. It is important that you do not generate any shadows on you greenscreen – you really want to make the screen as close to one value of green.

Capture your person to video. Then bring the video into VideoStudio and drag it into the overlay track and select Chromakey. Ther are fine adjustments there allowing you to adjust colour. Here you can also set the “ghostly” transparency of the video.

Q: I downloaded the free trial and found it fantastic. Do you get more with the full package?

A: In terms of features, when you get the trial, you get the full power and capabilities of VideoStudio Pro X3 for 30 days. However, users of the full product get ongoing updates, including new tools, templates, fonts and other extras, through the Corel Guide. Simply click the arrow-surrounded-by-circles button in the top right hand of the interface.

Q: When I change the length of a clip at the beginning of a project all my subtitles have to be repositioned so they line up again. Is there a way to avoid this?

A: Yes, you can avoid this by using “ripple editing.” Toggle on the locks on the left side of the timeline, and your timeline elements should be kept together.

Q: Can I choose NTSC or PAL when I burn a project to disc?

A: Yes. You can find this option under ‘share’.

Q: How do I create videos of a specific size (dimensionally) for posting to the web?

A: Simply browse the various video profiles under the share tab or use the “Custom” option to select your own output profile.

Q: Is NewBlue an add-on, or is it standard?

A: NewBlue is actually a company – a provider of excellent video filters. Within VideoStudio, you get the excellent NewBlue Sampler Pack, Audio Scrubbers and Picture-in-Picture tools.

Q: When editing AVCHD files in VideoStudio Pro 3 there is a juddering of footage at each transition, any advice would be appreciated.

A: When editing, the combination of multiple video clips abutting transitions generate a greater computing load, and depending on the performance capabilities of your PC, this may generate some judder. However your final product should be fine when rendered. A faster machine will avoid this, but again your results should be fine regardless. You can also turn on Smart Proxy and your editing will occur at a lower resolution making it more fluid. The output will still be the original resolution.

Q: When I imported footage it said "Change the order?" I want the order to be as I filmed it. How do I ensure that this happens?

A: Video clips are generally imported in the order you filmed them, and these should be imported into VideoStudio in the same order by default

Q: How do you make photo-effects with PNG-Photo Files?

It is possible to import photo files and create all sorts of interesting video effects with them. We’ll hold a future webinar on this subject, so stay tuned!

Q: How do you group certain scenes so the few groups you have edited can be moved around all together?

A: The easiest way to do this is to simply hold down the shift or ctrl keys and then click each clip, then dragging to move them around at once.

Q: Does VideoStudio support .mts (avchd) files directly?

A: Yes! VideoStudio supports .mts/AVCHD from most camcorders, DSLRs and compact cameras. You can download the free trial and try it out. If you have any problems, you can contact us through our support site. But again most AVCHD video is supported.

Q: Can I import video via USB?

A: Yes. Simply plug in your camera and import from under the file menu. Most video formats are supported within VideoStudio, but to be sure, make sure you install your camera’s software so the appropriate codecs are loaded on your system. VideoStudio will pick these up automatically.

Q: What is the orange line above the timeline?

A: That’s the project duration marker. You use this to render a specific section of the timeline. When you are in project mode, drag the orange flags under the preview window to designate the selected area. Then when you make a new file, you can tell VideoStudio to use the selected preview (orange line) area for the file.

Q: How can you move a project created on a PC to a new PC then continue to edit it before burning?

A: This is easy with VideoStudio – use a "Smart Package." Smart Package is located under the File menu. It will gather your project elements together in one folder to take with you.

To find out more about Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 and download a free 30-day full trial click here >>