Carl, thanks for your swift reply. Looking at my question again, I don't think I presented the problem properly. I was not trying to put two objects in the same place (at the beginning) but I was trying to put the intro/outro at the start then trying to put the periscope object further along the movie. Whichever way I tried, I could not place more than one object in the movie without everything going haywire. I would, for example, place the intro/outro at the start then move the red marker along the timeline to the position where I wanted the periscope object to be. I then moved the periscope object against the red marker position and released the mouse button. That is when it all went wrong.

However, I have now tried everything I could think of and have found that if I CUT the time line at the red marker position, the periscope object is then accepted there without affecting the intro/outro. Seems strange to me to have to CUT the timeline for an object to be added. I hope I've found the correct answer by trial and error.

Thanks again, Bill 

Hi

Correct me if I am wrong - I suspect you are trying to put these on the same object - if this is the same video/image object then you must make a cut at the point where you want the Periscope frame to begin as seen in the image below - this was originally one video object on the timeline - note this does not affect the original clip in any way MEP is a non destructive editor.

When you apply these effects they must be applied to individual objects and they will take up sections of the timeline as shown below

HTH

John

John, thanks for your reply. I'm still not quite with it and I think it's my fault for not making my problem clear because I was using the wrong terminology. It's probably because I'm calling an 'effect' an 'object'. My test film involves a yacht at sea (real life shots) we then see a nuclear submarine in the distance and I then want to 'turn this around' so that the sub is looking at the yacht through the periscope effect. I have shots of the yacht taken full length from the bow, showing the crew at the wheel, possibly as the sub would see us. So, what I tried to do was insert an intro/outro at the start of the movie, then further along when the sub appears, I tried to insert the periscope effect. That is when it all went wrong. By trial and error I found that I had to CUT the movie where I wanted to insert the periscope effect. I did not realise that I had to cut the movie at first. The potential problem I see with this is that if I want to insert a number of effects then the movie is virtually cut to pieces. It puzzles me why the effect has to be placed on the video timeline which has to be cut, rather than in a track below it using the red marker line as a guide. Or am I doing something else wrong?

By the way, I am really struggling to understand the object buttons generally. I shjould add that I was never top of the form at school! Thanks for your help, Bill

Hi

I think the confusion arises because, and correct me if i am wrong, I think you have one complete video of the yacht/sub that you want to apply various effects to.

If this is the case the video was originally constructed from many individual parts, such as the yacht seen from a distance, the sub, the crew on the yacht etc and these have been exported in to one continuous video file.

As the individual effects must be be applied to a specific section or object, the video has to be cut to create  seperate individual objects on which to apply the effect - this is the way many effects in MEP are applied, there are some which affect the whole project but that is another topic.

Here is an example of the timeline showing the many parts of a project

   hires verson here

effects have been applied mainly to the images and video at the start of the project to make then appear and create the initial background image.  The end result is as shown here (a shortened version of the original)

HTH

John

Hello again John, you are correct when you say that it is one complete video and I now understand why the video has to be cut, in order to apply various effects. I think what puzzled me is that a previous editor I had (dare I mention Corel?) allowed me to add effects, below the video track, in an 'overlay' track, where I could move it freely. This did not require the video to be cut to allow addition of effects, no matter whether the video was continuous or made up of sections. Thanks again for your help. I somehow think I'll be asking a few more questions before I adapt to Magix.

Bill

Bill,

MEP does let you put most objects (clips, images, ordinary titles etc) anywhere you like on the timeline -- and on any track you want not just a single dedicated (limited!) overlay track like some dare to be mentioned editors. The cutting of the video is only necessary with the MEP's 'automatic' intros, outros and most other design elements. You can sometimes make adjustments if you first un-group the elements -- but you do so at your own risk!

Regards,

Carl

Hello Carl, thanks for your reply. I understand what you are saying about inserting different types of objects as opposed to automatic intros/outros etc. I'll carry on experimenting with my 'test film' on that basis. You mention ungrouping and that is another aspect which I cannot get to grips with. I can't follow what the various 'buttons' are supposed to do. As initially mentioned, I had MEP pro 2013 and I struggled with this for a while then gave up. I then bought MEP Pro 2014 and I am determined not to let it beat me this time! Bill

Bill,

Are you reading and re-reading the Help pages and the pdf manual?  Have you printed the manual so that you can read it in bed at night? 

Main thing to be aware with grouping and un-grouping (the link and broken link icons) is that, like mathematical parenthesizes, they can be 'nested'. Not a problem is itself but can lead to severe hair pulling if you accidently add an extra level or two of grouping -- suddenly un-grouping won't seem to work.

Say A and B are grouped (A B), similarly X and Y (X Y), and then the two groups are grouped ( (A B) (X Y) ). You can't un-group (A B) until after that pair is un-grouped from (X Y). The potential problem with extra levels is that you can get something like this, ( ( (A B) ( ( X Y ) ) ) ) whose un-grouping is left as an exercise for the reader!.

Regards,

Carl

Carl, I have in fact already done what you suggest by printing the manual and reading it at night. I remember a teacher at school saying that some people learn by reading, some by seeing, some by hearing and some by doing. He was actually the Latin teacher and gave the Latin for these actions. I think I belong in the 'doing' category so I'll carry on doing as much as I can, possibly learning by trial and error, but coming back here when I am well and truly stuck! Thanks again.

Bill