To
include video from your camera in a show, you must have a camera tray in the Action Area. Each new show is preloaded
with just such a tray.
If you transition away from the camera and want to return to it, you'll need to add another camera tray. To do so, drag and drop the camera icon from the Video Library to the Action Area. If you want to transition to the camera with an effect other than the default, then you can save a step in most cases by dropping the desired effect on a blank spot in the Action Area. That's because the camera is the default media input for most types of effects.
A show can contain as many camera trays as you like, but they should never be adjacent to one another because bad things happen when you try to transition from the camera to the camera. (We believe the physics of this are closely related to what happens when you cross the particle beams of two proton guns.)
Unlike with live audio from your microphone, which is recorded regardless of any action trays, Vlog It! records live video only when a camera is active in the show—it's not enough that there's a camera somewhere in the show; the camera must be either the A Source or the B Source in a dual display effect.
Though Vlog It! ends up recording your video, we refer to it as "live video" to distinguish it from recorded video clips that you can add to a show. Live video differs in significant ways from video clips:
Is it Live or Is It an Unspecified Leading Brand of Magnetic Tape? That doesn't matter as far as Vlog It! is concerned. If you connect a VCR or other tape playback device to your computer, Vlog It! will treat the incoming video as if it's live from the camera. In fact, the program won't even know that the signal is coming from tape, nor does it care even one itsy bitsy iota.
Bridging the gap between Video Tape and Digital Video Clips: Vlog It!'s Capture feature allows you to quickly and easily create a digital video clip from content recorded to video tape.
Don't like the background in your studio? Then paint it green: That alone may not improve matters unless you have a touch of the Irish. But if you couple the green background with Vlog It!'s V-Screen feature, then you're all set to replace the background with an image of your choosing. That's right, at the click of a button, you can appear to be at a presidential inauguration, on the fifty yard line at the Super Bowl, or in St. Peter's Square for a papal benediction.
The
camera is unique among all the media inputs and video effects in that it has no options on the Actions Tab. But
that's not to say that you have no control over the camera. You just have to look in another place, namely on the
Setup Tab with the Video button selected. That's because these settings affect all shows,
unlike settings on the Actions Tab that are specific to the selected instance of a media input or effect.
The Adjust Colors button opens a dialog of standard color adjustment controls. The color settings affect all live video in your show, so if you tweak the setting in between recording two segments, both segments will reflect the new settings.
Vlog It! applies these settings at record time, so adjustments made after recording a show will not be used unless you subsequently record for at least an instant. In this situation, you can avoid recording over any of your finished show through the following steps:
The Properties button takes you to the options panel for your camera, if it has one. We can't elaborate on the settings that will be available there because the options vary from camera to camera and are totally dependent on the camera's abilities and the version of the software driver.
The Advanced button opens a dialog that has only one option: Pause Camera when Offscreen. This option is relevant only if you're running Windows 2000 and using a DV camera; if either of these conditions is not true for you, please move along. There's nothing to see here.
Okay, if you're still reading this section, then you're using a DV camera plugged into a computer running Windows 2000, in which case you may encounter problems when a show transitions to or from the camera. In this event, enabling the Pause Camera when Offscreen should resolve those problems and generally make your life experience richer.
Is one camera just not enough? Then you might want to consider investing in Visual Communicator Studio, the top of the line in our related product family. You'll be able to not only cut between the different cameras but also show two of them at once with the Head to Head Effects and other dual source effects.