Making Movies in CyberLink PowerDirector: Basics of Video Editing

Making Movies in CyberLink PowerDirector: Basics of Video Editing
Page content

CyberLink PowerDirector is a powerful software program that you can use to make movies on your computer. It’s simple and intuitive to use, and can still produce professional quality videos.

To get started using CyberLink PowerDirector, you must first capture or import your video, audio or image content into the program. To capture video, simply click the “Capture” tab in the PowerDirector interface. Select the source by clicking the appropriate icon above the video window. If a capture source is available, it will appear in color; if it isn’t, it will be grayed out. Press the “Record” button, which looks like a white button with a red dot, to begin capturing. To import media into PowerDirector, click the “Edit” tab and select the yellow folder. Click “Import Media Files” or “Import a Media folder” to import your audio and video files into CyberLink PowerDirector.

Editing Your Movie in PowerDirector

Basic movie editing is simple in CyberLink PowerDirector. In the “Edit” tab, click the tab which looks like a director’s slate at the top left of the screen. Ensure that “Timeline View” is selected in the workspace at the bottom of the screen. Begin adding media such as video and images to your video by clicking and dragging files from the “Media Room” to the Master Video Track in the workspace. You can add either video clips or still images to this track. Add any voice-over narrative to the Voice Track. Add music clips to the Music Track directly below the Voice Track. Click and drag the edges of the video clips or images within the Master Video Track to shorten them or make them longer. Click “Movie” in the preview window to view the progress on your video. Click the “Effect Room” tab and click and drag effects to the Effects Track to add them to your video. If you like, you can also click the “PiP Objects Room” to drag objects to the PiP track. These images will appear as an overlay over your video track. Click the “Transition Room” tab to add transitions between your video clips or images in the Master Video Track.

Adding Titles and Credits to Your Movie

Click the “Title Room” and drag the desired title to the Title Track in the workspace. There are many different types of titles that come with CyberLink PowerDirector, including dialogue balloons, graduation, kids’, romantic and sports titles. However, in most cases, the “Default” titles will do. Double-click the title within the track to edit it. You can either select your font attributes at the top of the screen or select a graphical font from the left side of the screen. Click “Font Face Settings,” “Font Shadow Settings” and “Border Settings” to change the attributes of a graphical font that came with PowerDirector. Type in the text you’d like for your titles or credits. Use the tools at the top of the screen to edit your titles and credits, then click “OK.” Titles and credits will appear as an overlay over your video.

Producing Your Movie in PowerDirector

Click the “Produce” tab to create your finished movie. In this section of CyberLink PowerDirector, you can create a file, a streaming video, write back to DV or HDV tape or upload your video straight to YouTube. If you choose to save your video as a file, select the highest quality file that you have room for on your hard drive. However, if you choose to create a streaming video or upload to YouTube, you should try to reduce the size of the video file while preserving the video quality as much as possible. The best settings in this case would be Windows Media Video 8 or 9 or RealVideo format designed for a local area network or broadband connection between 100 Kbps and 500 Kbps. If you’re concerned that people on a slow connection may have difficulty viewing your video, select a format for dial-up modems at 56 Kbps. If you choose to write your video back to tape, your DV or HDV recording device must be connected before you begin the process. Rewind or fast forward your tape to the place where you wish to begin recording, then click “Next” to write the video back. To upload your video to YouTube, you must enter your YouTube username and password into PowerDirector, type the title and description and select a category for your video.

For more tips on using PowerDirector and to find downloads for the video editor, visit CyberLink.com. For additional video editing tips, read How to Capture Analog Video in Windows Vista and How to Edit Movies in Windows Vista Using Windows Movie Maker.