Using the ] - + ] keystroke option

ray-young wrote on 6/11/2018, 12:39 PM

We use MEP to process the sermon videos from our church each Sunday. In our weekly sermon videos, i have developed a format for the PowerPoint slides that our pastor uses. I use the [ - + ] keystroke combination to recall the format that I have developed, standardizing the size and position of the slide on the screen. but i still have to import the slide, then click on [ - + ] and select the format each time i bring a slide in. Our pastor is a PowerPoint monster, averaging over 40 slides per sermon. Is there any way to automatically default to the setting i have developed, so that when I import the slide, it automatically morphs into the format i have developed? I would like to use that format that I have developed as an automatic format, without having to re-select it time and time again.

Comments

browj2 wrote on 6/11/2018, 2:29 PM

Hi Ray,

I'm not quite sure of what you mean, especially with the keystrokes.

If all of the slides are the same format, and I presume that they are, and you want to adjust them all to the same size and position, then once you have the first one done, hit - to copy the size/position information for the one selected, then select the rest of the slides and press Shift+- (don't press the + it means "and") to paste the size/position to all of the selected slides. I presume that you know how to select more than one object at a time.

If the size/position is always the same from one project to the next, do one, then Save video effects with Alt+- , give it a name. Next project, select the slides, load video effects with Ctrl+- and the effect will be applied to all selected clips.

HTH

John CB

johnebaker wrote on 6/11/2018, 2:59 PM

Hi Ray

Assuming you have a fairly recent version of PowerPoint on your PC, you can use PP to export the slides as a video file eg 1920 x x1080 Full HD and it will use the recorded timings where they have been set by the creator/presenter or manually set at the time of export.

You can then load the video into MEP ready formatted to the correct aspect ratio and edit as necessary.

HTH

John EB

ray-young wrote on 6/11/2018, 6:29 PM

Thanks to both of you for responding. To John EB, I already export all of the slides in PowerPoint as a .jpg-filled folder and then transfer the individual .jpg slides into the same folder as the raw footage that I import from our cameras. To John CB (how cool is it that your names are so similar?), I hadn't thought of modifying them all at the same time. I've already created a number of standard formats that I can retrieve by using [Ctrl] [ - +] at the same time. But what I've been doing is importing each individual slide one at a time, then retrieving the standard format and applying it to the slide. I've been adjust the format of the slide first, because in reviewing the video, I never know how long our pastor is going to stay on the content of that slide, so I stretch it out on the timeline by watching and listening and then transitioning to the next slide. What I was hoping to find in MEP was a way to retrieve the standard format without having to go through all the key-clicks that are required. I have to drag and drop the .jpg slide into the editor, then use the [Ctrl] [ - + ] key combination to go to the standard formats folder, then double click on the preferred format. Multiply all of that by 40+ slides and it's a lot of clicking! ;>) Because our pastor is a highly mobile speaker, I try to make sure that I shrink each slide down to the correct size and relocate it using the format I've developed because if I don't, the size of the slide blocks my ability to "follow the rabbit", as we have named chasing our pastor using our three-camera configuration. There are times when I have to use one of several other default formats that I have developed, sometimes displaying the slide on the left hand side of the screen, sometimes on the right hand side, based on where our switcher operator placed him on the incoming video. What I would LOVE to be able to do would be to drag and drop the .jpg slide into the editor and have the editor automatically convert the size and position of the slide without having to go through all of the additional keyclicks. Then, if I needed to go to an alternate format, I could use the keyclick combination to do that. As I mentioned, converting them all at the very end of the process wouldn't work very well because the size of the slide coming in would often block my ability to see where the pastor is in the video itself. Still, it might be worth a shot. I'll play with it and see how it affects my ability to view the video portion. Thanks to both of you for your input! Any other good ideas are gladly received!

browj2 wrote on 6/11/2018, 6:44 PM

Hi Ray,

The first method that I mentioned keeps the effects in the clipboard, so as long as you don't do a - , that is, copy effects to clipboard, Shift+- will work to paste each time that you need it. Of course, if the format is different each time that you insert a image, then you have a problem.

"...so I stretch it out on the timeline by watching and listening and then transitioning to the next slide." Hmmm, I need a couple of examples. I think that the Object Trimmer may help you out here but I need and example to test.

Are you also using transitions?

John CB

browj2 wrote on 6/12/2018, 12:35 AM

Tested my idea of using the Object trimmer tonight and it doesn't work. Oh well.

John CB