@Schmacker

Hi

. . . . file/manage project/add a new empty movie . . . .

This option will either create a multi movie project or start with a new timeline depending on the option you select when you see the dialog shown below.

If you select Don't close you will create a multi movie project with multiple timelines - you will see multiple tabs as shown below.

If you select Close, the existing movie is lost and when save the project is saved you are overwriting the previous project.

Neither of these option is creating Chapters.

Chapters are added to a complete movie, you need to add and edit all the video images, audio to one timeline edit as required and then place Chapter markers in the appropriate points in the video for burning to DVD or Blu-Ray the menus will be automatically created.

I would suggest you read about Chapters in the PDF manual available under Help.

Note: You cannot export the project as a video, file eg mp4, from Movie Edit Pro with Chapters in it.

HTH

John EB

That definitely helps but it makes me sick at the same time. From that description it sounds like I've been discarding my previous sessions work each time i start a new one.

Hopefully I've rendered each of what I've been incorrectly referring to as chapters, and can recover a lot of what I've done.

I had ASSumed that i was somehow saving separate individual movies within the same project.

This learning curve is steep and painful, but I'll get there.

Where is the best place to learn an efficient process and workflow for a "project" (terminology is part of the struggle) that involves numerous videos.

My goal is to create a training course that will consist of numerous individual videos, 1 for each "chapter" or lesson in the course.

The structure of the course is to have 3 maybe 4 modules that will each contain several chapters. Each chapter will contain 1 to 5 lessons.

Each lesson will be a separate mp4 Vimeo file that i expect to be approximately 3 to 10 minutes each. Most chapters will have their own introductory type short video as well.

If it makes a difference, the lessons are primarily exported PowerPoint slides with recorded audio with occasional on camera shots of me teaching something.

Any advice you can provide or point me to would be greatly appreciated.

@Schmacker

Thank you for the additional information, which does make much clearer what you are wanting to do.

Speaking entirely personally (and @johnebaker may well suggest a different scenario), I would create a separate MEP Project for each of what you term your "chapters", but have a dedicated folder on my hard drive where I store ALL the media files and ALL the project files used in each "module". Thus, every file, video, image etc for that module is stored in one folder. (When we speak of an "MEP Project", that is what is created when you choose to "Save" or "Save as..." your work and will result in creating a "project file" whose extension is .mvp.)

If you do as I have suggested you will have one folder for each module and that folder will contain everything you need to be able to open, edit, change, export etc. any and each chapter to your desired mp4 format output.

HTH

Jeff

@Schmacker

Hi,

I have done 2 tutorials on basic editing and 1 about Getting Started that you should review. The last part of Getting Started covers multiple movies.

First off, you should read the Quick Start chapter in the manual. The first page describes and defines Projects, Movies, and Objects.

A project can be composed of 1 or more movies. Movies are just multiple timelines that are saved within a project. They are not separate MDV files. You can export a Movie to an MDV file and open it in another project. However, if you export Movie1 to MDV from Project 1 and then continue editing Movie 1 in Project 1, the exported file is not updated. Only the Project file MVP is updated when you save.

The main intention of a multi-movie project is to create a DVD or BR with multiple movies. Each movie can have chapters. These show up in the menu of the DVD/BR.

Chapters are just markers within a movie that will show up in the menu when you go to the create DVD/BR interface. Otherwise, they can just be used as markers within a movie. They will not show up in an MP4 file (there is actually a way to do this, but don't go there).

There are other reasons to use multiple movies in a project. You may want to copy things from one movie to another, like titles, credits, effect, certain objects. You can only do this within a project, not between projects. You may want to split up a long project into multiple movies, each to be exported as MP4 files. Each, that is. You cannot export more than 1 movie to an MP4 file. You many want to work on different parts of a project separately for ease of editing or something and then combine the movies into one at the end using copy/paste or merge.

...as I start to work on each new chapter I've been selecting file/manage project/add a new empty movie thinking MEP was somehow storing each chapter, or new movie, in its own file within the project.

Instead of doing that, simply click on the + button beside the movie tabs or click on the drop down button and add from the menu.

As I mentioned, movies are stored in the MVP project file unless you actually export to MVD.

However, now that I want to go back and edit one of the previous chapter/movies I can't seem to find the file.

Your movie should still be in the project file. Why are you not looking there? Did you delete the movie from the project? If so, tough luck. You may be able to recover an older version of the project - File/Load backup copy. These will be in the format name_project_BAK1.MV_.

What to do in the future.

If you have many movies in a project, you may find that the automatic backups take longer.

1. Create 1 project per module.
2. Add movies to the project for each lesson in a module.
3. Give each movie the correct name, including the first movie - click on the popdown menu beside the tab and rename the movie.
4. Edit each movie with the title or introductory video, nothing to do with creating chapter markers unless you want a chapter marker just for you for editing purposes. I use project markers as a guide.
5. You can copy things like your template titles, overlays, effects, presentation arrows, music, intro videos, etc., from one movie to another and make adjustments in that movie - i.e. change the text.
6. Do a Save as and change the project name by appending a progressive revision code to the project name, like r1, r2... before starting each movie or more or less frequently. If something really bad goes wrong with your project and its backups, you can revert to a previous version so that you don't lose all of your work.
7. When done, do not delete the project MVP file. You can back it up along with everything that is used in the project to a separate folder and back up to external media, like another hard drive or a DVD or BR data disk. If you have to go back a year from now to edit your project and you have deleted it, then you are starting from scratch or from the exported MP4 file that you can use in a new project. About once a month, someone asks on this forum about how to edit a DVD or BR that they burned but have deleted the original MVP file and possibly the source video and photo files.
8. If you do decide to also burn the module to a DVD or BR, then you can add chapter markers at the appropriate places in the movies and go to the Burn menu where the Modules (Movies) will show up, each with Chapters.
9. I hope that you understand that objects - video files, photos, audio files - that are "imported" into MEP are not actually in MEP or the MVP project file. MEP just remembers what they are (filename) and where they are on your hard drive (path) and they have to remain there for use in the project by MEP. If you import a video clip into MEP and then delete it from your hard drive, the next time that you open your project it will tell you that it cannot file the source file. If you have deleted it and have no back up, your project has just become totally useless.

I create template projects, some of which contain standard things like credits, coloured tracks, certain objects that I may need for that type of project. I start with the template and then do a Save as right away with the correct project name. Then I change Movie name(s). Some of my templates have 2 movies, one with just coloured tracks, the other containing objects that I use, like my intros, outros, credits, etc.

HTH

John CB

First, let me say THANKS! All of the responses are immensely helpful. I've got some studying to do to get the full value but the benefits can already be seen.

You movie should still be in the project file. Why are you not looking there? Did you delete the movie from the project?

Should the movies still be in the project file if what I've done is file/manage project/add a new empty movie and selected CLOSE each time? I've not intentionally deleted anything.

@Schmacker

Hi

I would also concur with @emmrecs, and @browj2 solutions creating a new project for each module - I think we should call them that to avoid confusion with Chapters.

I would also recommend saving the projects with names that are a consistant format eg Subject1-module1 etc.

Are these going up on Youtube or Vimeo or a dedicated server - either your own or education establishments system, eg Moodle, etc for viewing over a network or the Internet?

If so then export as mp4 - this is the most universal format to use - it also requires the Streamable option checked in the export settings Advanced option - see image below

Once you are confident with MEP, then advance on multi movie projects, they can be confusing to work with

John EB

Should the movies still be in the project file if what I've done is file/manage project/add a new empty movie and selected CLOSE each time? I've not intentionally deleted anything.

@Schmacker

If you don't put anything in the Movie (under the specific Movie tab), then there is no reason to create it in the first place.

As I pointed out, clicking on the + button does the same thing as file/manage project/add a new empty movie.

What do you mean by "CLOSE?" There is no Close command for either the project or the movies.

John CB

@browj2

There is no Close command for either the project or the movies

Hi John.

I think @Schmacker is referring to the "Close" button in @johnebaker's first screenshot above.

@Schmacker, if I am correct and you did choose "Close" without first saving the project , then yes, the movie project is gone! 😭  But, if you then saved the "new" movie under the same name as the "old" movie even if you had previously saved that old project, the file is now overwritten by the "new" movie.

Jeff