When you are ready to run through your show, click the Rehearse button.
After the countdown timer runs, the teleprompter and Action Trays will start to scroll up. As each Action Tray moves through the pink Action Bar, you will see the actions take place in the Output Monitor. You should read the lines of the script as they pass through the Action Bar so that your eye line remains as close as possible to camera lens. It also maintains the synchronization between the script and the actions. If you are not using a script, you can look directly into the camera when speaking.
If the text is moving too fast or too slow, adjust the Scroll Speed using the slider on the the Director tab.The higher the setting, the faster the scroll speed. You can also refine the timing by adjusting the font size of the script, which you do through the right-click menu for the Teleprompter, or by putting in line breaks to space out your script. Line breaks are especially useful for building in pauses
Once you've refined the timing of the script to achieve a comfortable pace, you can turn your attention to repositioning actions so that they occur right on cue. Note that you can move Action Trays after recording as well as before. Dragging a tray down in the Action Area make it occur later; dragging it up makes it happen sooner.
They say practice makes perfect. Even if you don't have your sights set on the pinnacle of perfection, you'll find it well worth your time to run through each show a few times before starting to record. With a bit of practice, it's easy to deliver a polished that keeps the audience's interest. Here are a few particular aspects of your presentation to focus on:
When your show is as polished as you can make it, you are ready to record. Just click the Record button and perform your show. The only difference from rehearsing is that now Vlog It! will be recording the video from your camera and the sound from your microphone. Vlog It! lets you start and stop recording wherever you like. You can shoot segments out of sequence or at different times, and if there's a glitch in a take, you can re-record any segment. This gives you so much versatility that we coined a new term for it: Flex-Recording.
You
have the option of starting and stopping recording anywhere you choose or using Action Trays as start
and end points for recording defined segments. No matter how you go about recording a show, Vlog
It! keeps track of your takes on a frame-by-frame basis. When you review and publish the show,
the program pieces together the latest version of each frame. If any segments have not been recorded
when you launch the Publisher, a warning will appear on the first page of the wizard. You can proceed
with publishing without recording any or all of a show, but as a rule you will want to record all segments
that use a camera as the media input.
The bluish vertical stripe on the splitter bar between the Teleprompter and Action Area is the Recording Status Indicator. This shows which segments have been recorded.
Altering timing while recording will move trays: Flex-Recording and other features depend on the absolute timing of events and recorded content. If, while recording, you do anything that alters the show's timing, Vlog It! will automatically reposition all affected trays in order to maintain synchronization between the Action Sequence and the recorded content. Actions that will cause this to happen include pausing or advancing the Teleprompter, jumping to the next effect, and ending the current effect.
Before you change a show's timing during or after recording, there are some things you should know. Remember in science fiction stories how messing with time (like changing events in the past) always has consequences? They can be good consequences, like leaving yourself winning Lotto numbers, or bad consequences, like having your grandfather never exist. While the potential effects of time-altering actions in Vlog It! are not quite as dramatic, here are some that will help you avoid undesirable consequences:
Moving Trays does not move previously recorded content: By contrast to a video clip, which can be moved by changing the position of its tray, moving the tray for a camera after recording does not move the whole recorded segment. (As with the previous point, this is because Flex-Recording works on absolute timing.) All recorded content remains exactly in the position it was recorded, so moving trays affects only future takes and the timing of events when reviewing and publishing.
Don't change camera or mic after recording: If you change a camera or microphone assignment after recording part of a show, you must clear all recordings for the show before you can record another segment. When you start recording after reassigning an input, Vlog It! will prompt you to either switch back to the original source or clear all recordings.
By using Action Trays to bracket the start and stop points for positional recording, you're sure of beginning and ending at precisely the same frames every time. Another advantage is that this method also controls rehearsing, so you can practice a segment knowing exactly what the timing will be.
In some situations, you may want recording to start at the beginning of the selected transition, whereas in others it might be better to start recording a segment at the end of the effect. The same goes for where recording stops. For instance, if the last mediA Source in the segment is a camera, then you should set recording to continue through the End Point transition. Otherwise, that video clip will end abruptly before the final transition begins.
To
set an Action Tray as the point to begin recording a segment, right-click it and select either Start
Recording Before This Action or Start Recording After This Action. To set
the end point, select Stop Recording Before This Action or Stop Recording After
Action. These options will not be available if the selected tray is already set as a Start
or Stop Point; in their place, the menu will have a single entry for clearing the current setting.
If a Start or Stop Point is already assigned to another tray, in most cases you can move it to the selected one without first having to clear the other tray. (The exceptions are that you cannot set a Start Point after an existing Stop Point, nor can you set a Stop Point before an existing Start Point.) In order to record the entire show or do a take freestyle, you must remove both end points. The easiest way to do so is to right-click a blank spot in the Action Area and select Clear Start Recording Action, Clear Stop Recording Action, or Clear Start and Stop Recording Actions.
By this method, you can start and stop recording wherever you like. It couldn't be any simpler:
Taking it from the top: In order to "take it from the top," scroll to the beginning or press CTRL+Home with the focus in the Teleprompter. Otherwise, recording will start where the Action Bar is (or at the tray that's set as the Start Point).
Completely Re-Recording? Clear Old Recordings first: If you've recorded all or part of a show and you're about to re-record it from top to bottom, then you should first click the Clear Recordings button on the Project control panel. That will free up the disk space used by your earlier takes. For more information, please see the Clear Recordings section below.
Beware
Leftover Bits: The Freestyle method runs the risk of leaving snippets of intermediate takes that extend
a few frames beyond the final insert. The red bands in this illustration represent such unwanted leftovers.
Using trays as end points avoids this problem.
Mix and Match: When recording a segment, you can freestyle one end and set a Start or Stop Point for the other end.
If you want to record a segment starting at the very beginning of the show, you must either set the initial tray as the Starting Action or scroll all the way to the top. Otherwise, recording will start at the current position.
Conversely, if you want to record a segment that runs to the very end, no Stop Point is necessary because Vlog It! automatically stops recording at the end of the show.
Designing for Flex-Recording: We recommend building pauses into your script at strategic spots where you think you're likely to break the show into segments for Flex-Recording. This will make it much easier to achieve smooth transitions between two neighboring segments. The logical spots to insert such gaps are at the beginning or end of key transitions. If the live audio bridges right across a transition where you start or end a segment, it will be quite a challenge to get the audio to flow smoothly. Even a brief pause at the right spot will make your life much easier on this front.
Count on the Countdown Timer: While you have the option of disabling the Countdown Timer, we recommend keeping this feature on when you're Flex-Recording. It gives you the extra few seconds you need to get set before recording begins. You enable this option through the Application Settings dialog, which is accessed through the Settings Menu.
If you prefer to record your shows off-the-cuff rather than reading from the Teleprompter, then you will probably want to trigger effects manually rather than having them fire off on their own as they pass through the Action Bar. Here's the workflow we recommend to operate in this manner:
When you're running a show manually, you can use the Teleprompter like a set of note cards, reminding you of the points you want to hit.
No shortage of space: If you're designing a show specifically for a manually triggered presentation and you anticipate using the On-the-Fly editing capability, we recommend leaving room for at least two or three trays between every pair in the Action Area. Remember, space there is free, and since you'll be controlling the timing with the Next Effect button, the timeline is irrelevant. Meanwhile, since you cannot move trays while rehearsing or recording, there's no way to make space for shoehorning in another tray.
Vlog It! allows you to add a new graphic or video or change what's in an existing tray at any time while rehearsing or recording. To add a new graphic, simply drag-and-drop the file somewhere below the red Action Bar in the Action Area. Once it's in there, Vlog It! treats it like it was in the show all along, transitioning to it when it moves into the Action Bar. If you're working with the show paused, a video clip will play in its entirety regardless of whether the whole clip fits before the next tray.
To swap a graphic for one that's already in the show, drop the new file on the existing tray just as you would when editing the show normally.
Before you record, be sure to turn the audio Output Volume down in the Setup tab so you don't get any feedback from your speakers through your microphone.
If you are not relying on audio cues for your dialogue, you can click the Mute checkbox to completely mute the output for best results.
Vlog It! can help you keep your sound levels
in check while recording.
If
the audio you are recording is too loud, you'll see an icon of a microphone in the Output Monitor window.
Lower the recording level and try again.
As you may be aware, recording video fills disk space faster than almost any other activity you're likely to do on your computer. Web cam content consumes about 20 megabytes per minute, including accompanying audio. DV footage takes up about 220 Mb/min. If you know roughly how many minutes of live content will be recorded in a show, you can estimate how much disk space will be needed for the project's audio and video files. You can then check whether you have sufficient space through the Windows' My Computer dialog. Vlog It! will display a warning message if the space on the designated drive is down to the point that you can record only another 30 seconds of web cam input or 5 seconds of full-res DV input.
The Clear Recordings feature deletes all audio and video files recorded for the current project. Why, you may ask, would you ever want to do that? Two main reasons:
What's not deleted: This feature purges only audio and video content created through the Record process for the current project. Clips created through Vlog It!'s Capture feature are not deleted, nor are any other independent clips that happen to be used in the show. This function also does not delete published output video from the show.
You're not quite done yet: When you finish recording, all the pieces are in place for your finished show (assuming that you added all the media files prior to recording and don't need to reposition any trays afterwards). However, the project is one step removed from being a buttoned-up video file. That step is to publish your vlog.
You
can review a show at any time either at the click of a button or by scrubbing the show's timeline. You
can review as many times as you like while programming and recording a show. If you feel that you need
to change something, you can go back and make the changes, record again if necessary, and review once
more.
The Review button, which is centered below the Preview Monitor, plays your show in real time, complete with all audio and video that you've recorded. It starts reviewing from your current position in the show—more specifically, at the point in the show corresponding to the position of the Action Bar. Simply scroll to the point of interest and then click the Review button. To jump to the beginning of the show, you can click in the Teleprompter and press CTRL+HOME.
Don't be alarmed if on review your show appears a bit jerky or the quality of the images is not as high as you expect. Due to limitations of system resources, you may not get full frame rate when reviewing. As for image quality, Vlog It! uses "cached" or simplified versions of some images in order to reduce demand on system resources. So proceed with publishing and have a look at that finished output before commencing with pulling your hair out.
As you scroll up and down in the Teleprompter/Action Area, Vlog It! scrubs the visual media inputs and effects. Transitions will run. Video clips will scrub. If the Action Area contains any cameras and the show has been recorded, then the recorded content will also scrub; otherwise, the live feed will be shown.
Real-Time Scrubbing works no matter how you move around in the show—by arrow keys, Advance command, Previous or Next Effect command, scrollbar, or mouse wheel. The main scrollbar to the right of the Action Area allows you to scrub an entire show in one sweep, but the degree of control diminishes with the length of the show. For the finest control, click and drag the splitter bar between the Teleprompter and Action Area.
With shows that have been fully or partially recorded, you will see the recorded content when scrubbing with the Project, Director, or Actions Tab selected. The Preview Monitor shows the live feed for camera segments that have not been recorded as well as while you are recording and rehearsing. The live feed is also displayed when you go to the V Screen or Setup Tab, but as soon as you scroll the show in any fashion, Vlog It! switches to the Director Tab and goes to scrubbing recorded content if any exists.
Save It or Lose It: If you record some or all of a show and save the project, then record any additional segment and close the project without saving, all recorded content for the project will be deleted. To avoid losing your previously recorded content, you must save the newly recorded segments.
No need to re-record: After recording and reviewing your show, many types of changes are possible without having to re-record your show. For example, adjusting microphone boost and clip audio levels, replacing media, adjusting media colors, and even changing title text can be done and immediately reviewed and published. Only moving or adding camerA Source Action Trays requires re-recording the show. In fact, Vlog It! does not require you to record a show even once before publishing much less to re-record after any particular change. That said, after making changes you may find it necessary to re-record at least certain segments in order to get the results that you desire.
Why Vlog It! may reposition trays after recording: Real-Time Scrubbing, as well as other Vlog It! features, depend on the absolute timing of events and recorded content. Therefore, if you take any action while recording that alters the show's timing (e.g., pausing the Teleprompter), Vlog It! will automatically reposition affected trays in order to maintain synchronization between the Action Sequence/Teleprompter and the recorded content. The act of scrubbing a show does not cause trays to be moved—only recording does. But since Real-Time Scrubbing is one of the features that made this repositioning necessary, we wanted to call attention to it here.