2014 - reusing components between projects?

Kevin-Tam wrote on 7/4/2021, 2:24 AM

Hi!

I'm launching into a video series where key concepts will be repeated across projects (videos). I would like to save time by "copying and pasting" the animations etc. associated with each of these key concepts. Unfortunately, I can't do it directly between 2 instances of Movie Edit Pro (copying an animation from a "donor project" and pasting it into the "recipient project").
The only other way I can see to do this is to start a new "recipient project" and while having it open in Movie Edit Pro, opening a "donor project" with the material I want to import and using the "Add new project" option (please see below)...

....the problem with this approach is that the "donor project's" objects insert into their original time points resulting in a mess of merged objects with the "recipient project's" existing ones.

Is there a better way I'm missing?

Thanks for your thoughts,

Kevin.
Movie Edit Pro 2014 running on Windows 10

Comments

AAProds wrote on 7/4/2021, 2:36 AM

@Kevin-Tam

These comments are for the MVP/MVD system. I can't recall if MEP 2014 uses this or the older DIP system.

Yes, transferring objects between "projects" is tricky. One way I've done it is to export a "movie" (ie an MVD) containing the objects I want to transfer, then open that MVD in the other project. It uses the File>Manage Project menu.

Another way is to simply have only one "project", and have each video of your series as a separate movie in that project. Just above the timeline, use the + sign to create another movie, and the dropdown to name it. Swap between movies by clicking on each tab. You use the standard Windows copy cut paste convention to put objects into a new/another movie.

Kevin-Tam wrote on 7/4/2021, 3:39 AM

Thanks for the prompt reply AAProds!

I've worked out in MEP2014, to create an MVD you do: File > Manage Movies > Export - question is, what exactly can I do with a MVD? I can't see anything clear about it in MEP's help file nor online.

Thanks for the reference re: +sign above timeline for separate movies - that looks very promising. Would this work?

Create a "Key Concepts" project which I'll use to import all the projects with key concept animations.
Cull out the objects in the imported projects that are not directly related to the key concepts (to keep things lean).
In any subsequent projects, I simply import the above "Key Concepts" project.
From the import, copy and paste into the new project any key concept animations I need for it.

If the above is correct, that's good, though one does wish Magix allowed for a more standard copy and paste workflow.

Cheers,

Kevin.

====

PS: I've tried out the above 2nd solution of importing into a "Key Concepts" project and it works a treat. One just has to ensure that the "donor" projects' files are kept in the same place from where they were imported to ensure future accessibility. Thanks for pointing out the idea that became the solution AAProds!

AAProds wrote on 7/4/2021, 8:11 AM

@Kevin-Tam Good stuff Kevin, I haven't really studied merging projects but have also learnt something.

I've worked out in MEP2014, to create an MVD you do: File > Manage Movies > Export - question is, what exactly can I do with a MVD? I can't see anything clear about it in MEP's help file nor online.

Just to clarify this bit, a MVD is (or I should say could be) one of the movies of a project ie one of the tabs. If you wanted to save only a movie (you may want to use it in another project) you can export that tab. It exports as an MVD ( a Magix movie file which contains all the edit points and other effects but not the actual video content), and you can import that MVD into another project. That is what I was alluding to at the beginning of my previous post. On the other hand, MEP's "projects" are MVPs, and they contain all the "movies" ie tabs of a project. It is a bit confusing and especially since you've worked out you can "insert" a project into another OK, there's not much need to export or save the MVDs.

johnebaker wrote on 7/4/2021, 9:49 AM

@Kevin-Tam

. . . . Another way is to simply have only one "project", and have each video of your series as a separate movie in that project. . . . .

Do be aware that adding more movies to the same project will seriously slow your computer down - 3 or 4 movies is reasonably acceptable.

As you add more the slow down will become more apparent - at 7 to 8 there will be a significant slow down and may reduce editing to a crawl.

Another alternative is to create a 'master' project with the common elements already in place. To use load the master project file, and use Save project as to create the working version then add the rest of video/images/audio as required - ensure you keep a backup copy of the master file in another folder because, as sure as night follows day, you will overwrite it at some point.

HTH

John EB