5 Minute Guide to Video Editing for Beginners

by: Natalie Aranda

Getting started with video editing is very simple you only need a few items and you can be producing quality movies at home that you will be able to enjoy for many years to come. Maybe even produce a hit Hollywood movie.

The basic items you need are a video capture card, the software to edit, your computer, storage space on your computer and a camcorder, VCR, or you can display your movie on your computer screen.

The process is effortless, all you do is capture the video to you computer using a capture card, then edit your video with video editing software and then download the video that you edited to either tape or burn it to a VCD, CD, or DVD.

Let’s look at your computer first. You will need a minimum of a Pentium II 300 or faster, a minimum of 256 Megs of RAM, but you will get better performance with 512 Megs. You will also desire to have a 30GB drive that is split into 2 separate partitions. This means that you will have a C: and a D:. The C: should be given 10GB and will have all of your software stored there and the D: will be where your audio, video and editing projects are stored. Your graphics card should be a 32 Meg AGP. You can have an 8 or 16 Meg but the quality will not be as good.

Storage is probably the most confusing thing about video editing. Video makers have many choices for storing their digital video files and this is why it can be so confusing.

If you desire creating your own DVD’s then you are going to need lot of storage. The most you can get out of a single sided 4.7 GB DVD is around 2 hours of video. If you are using DV footage you are going to need 13GB per hour of video, this means you will need 26GB of storage and remember you always have extra footage that you need to factor that in as well so you are now up to 39GB of storage space needed. If you are adding other options such as graphics, MPEG2 footage for the DVD and the folder to hold it all then you are now up to 50GB. So, for your 2 hour movie you will need 50GB of space at least.

So, when you begin be sure that you have enough storage on your computer for the type of video that you wish to store.

On to the video capture card and the video editing software. When you first visit the electronics store you will find many manufacturers that create video capture cards. The most popular include
Some of the reputable video capture card manufacturers are: Pinnacle, Matrox, Dazzle, ADS, Canopus, and Digital Origin.

What video capture cards do to put it in simple terms is that these cards use hardware or software compression to digitize your video onto the hard drive on your computer. This way you can edit your video and play it back onto tape or display your movie on your computer screen.

Some times, you can purchase the video capture cards along with the video editing software that you choose. Some of the most popular video capture cards that are packaged with video software include the Pinnacle Pro One which comes with the Adobe Premiere 6 full version, TitleDeko RT, DV Tools 2.0, Hollywood FX, and Impressions DVD. The Dazzle DV NOW AV can be purchased along with the Premiere 6 full version and the DVDit LE.

Having music along with your video can also be accomplished with a MP3 Converter that will allow you to convert your MP3 music into a wav file or the format in which you need for your video. You may also wish to purchase a MP3 Encoder which will allow you to Wav or other formats into a MP3. A CD ripper is another item that you may wish to purchase that will help with converting your CD’s to MP3, WAV, WMA type files.

One other software program that will make you life easier when you begin video editing is a MPEG Encoder which is a very easy to use program that will make converting several formats easy than you can imagine. Many of these MPEG converters will aid in converting DVD, VCD, AVI, MPEG, GIF, Flash, WMV, WMA, WAV, MP3, MP4, M4A, OGG, AAC, 3GP and even more/

So, now all you need to do is to find the best video editing software that you feel comfortable with and off you go. You can find several different video editing software companies that offer their software on a trial basis, this will let you try out the software so you can see if it is the perfect software for you. But, remember with the trial version you will be receiving the video capture card. You will have to purchase it separately.

Graphic Creations With Software

by: Sintilia Miecevole

A basic understanding of computers is all a person needs to create their own graphics with today's design software. Even with just small amount of design understanding, people can still use simple design programs to build their own cartoons strips, holiday cards, flyers and invitations. Your business and yourself can save money on special occasions by using one of the several user friendly affordable programs that are out there.

The number one choice for design software by both professionals and amateurs is Adobe PhotoShop. By cropping, recoloring and adding special effects, PhotoShop allows users to change photos anyway they wish. Entirely new pictures can also be created by using special drawing tools, or existing pictures can be modified anyway the user desires. PhotoShop uses a system of “layers.” By using layers, separate pieces of a picture can be changed while keeping the changes separate. For example, you can change the color on the bottom layer without affecting the color on the top layer. If you wish to draw more than creating full pictures, Adobe Illustrator may be the choice for you.

PhotoShop is a pixel-based program while Adobe Illustrator is vector based. What does this mean your probably asking yourself? When you make a picture in PhotoShop, you must use a certain resolution. A computer screen displays 72 pixels per inch for a clear picture, but when you print a 72 dpi picture, it appears blocky and blurred. If you are making a picture for printing in PhotoShop, you need to use 300 pixels per inch to get a nice, sharp image. Because Illustrator is vector-based, it uses a system of paths rather than pixels. In simple terms, it uses lines rather than colors. This means that everything you create in Illustrator can be enlarged up to any size you wish without ever becoming blurry or grainy. Designers often use Illustrator software to build logos for a variety of advertisements. The same picture or logo drawing can be used on a small business card or enlarged to fill an entire billboard.

For those wishing to create simple greeting cards or party invitations, there is a variety of user friendly software programs made specifically for these purposes. Many offer templates for several print sizes and folding options. For the more experienced user, the software program Quark is an excellent print layout tool. Adobe InDesign also offers professional quality layout options along with many of the same tools used in Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator. If you are to use these two programs, you will easily be able to create professional quality materials with InDesign.

There is a wide variety of file types used in graphic software programs. Most have their own native formats that can only be read by the parent programs. PhotoShop files have a .PSD extension, and Illustrator files are AI, making them only accessible by PhotoShop. When you are working with a work in progress, it is a good idea to save files in these formats, as they offer you the greatest flexibility in altering your creation. However, once you have completed your work and are ready to print your materials, you can save them in a variety of ways. Web pictures should saved as JPEGs, GIF or TIFF files. Pictures ready for printing are best saved as EPS files, to preserve color accuracy. If you plan to send graphics via e-mail, PDF offers the greatest flexibility, as most computers have Acrobat Reader, the program needed to read the PDF file type.

No matter what software fits your needs, making digital graphics can be a enjoyable and simple hobby, or even a professional career. It can take some time to get used to the terminology, but once you learn the tools of digital art, you will be on your way to building functional and decorative graphic masterpieces to share with the electronic world.