Xara with Video Pro X - using art brush

[browj2]

As I mentioned, the latest Xara patch fixed the problem of using art brushes in the interface between Magix Video Pro X (VPX or Movie Edit Pro) and Xara (animation) that creates animated graphic overlays and masks.

The attached quick and dirty video was made in two steps. First, I opened the interface from VPX which opens the video as a background into the Xara animation screen. I selected a brush made by Frances Proctor, I believe, a flowering plant, and had it grow. The video advances every time you click on Copy. I moved the flower to follow the dog's mouth.

Then I used the nest video feature of VPX, which is almost the same as exporting the compiled background with animation and importing it. Then I did another overlay for a mask, again going into Xara animation from VPX. Now I could see the flower and create a moving, resizing mask that tweens, thanks to Xara, to hide the part of the flower that would be hidden by the dog.

Back in VPX, I gave the mask a chromakey alpha, and added the original video to a track below. End.

I didn't try lopping off the flower the first time round, but I will try.

Edit: I will put this on a web page for easier access. One should not have to download the video to watch it. Magix/Xara should fix up this forum like the Magix.info forum where we can embed videos in the message.

Bernadette eats flower.mp4

The part that is new for me is that Xara no longer crashes after using an art brush and returning to the video editor. It also seems more stable. More testing to be done, but this made my day.

[gwpriester]

Such a clever dog! Cool video.

[angelize]

awesome! And yes it was indeed me that created that brush. Nice to see it in use! thanks for sharing the video

[Boy]

Thanks for the demo of what XDP and Magix VPX or MEP together can yield, John. Very interesting. I'm no longer not working with video material but I can imagine that having this interface between the two programs opens up a lot of new animation and FX options for video editors. It almost makes me want to buy one of the Magix video packages and try it out with some old video material I shot.

[browj2]

Thank you all for your comments. That was filmed yesterday and Bernadette ate the first spring flower. Montreal is not Vancouver.

If anyone wants to see how to do this, please let me know. I produced a few quick how to videos about it. One was simply to be able to fully justify text, something that cannot be done in the video editor.

The feature is documented in the Magix Movie Edit Pro and VPX manuals and has been there for a long time. It's just that the animation was broken in Xara versions X10 and X11 and fixed in X12.

I do have a problem and I raised it once in a thread but can no longer find it. Egg gave me a reply, but I don't think that it works. I am trying to animate a line like tracing a route on a map. I have tried several methods but the line always does some snaking. See the video in the link to see what I mean and what I want. Is there some way to not have the snaking effect (easily) using the animation mode in Xara?

I spent a few hours last night trying to break the Xara interface with VPX and finally succeeded. Xara does not like a shadow and crashes upon exit if there is a shadow. Normally, shadows can be used in Xara animation, but must remain static or they will not be seen; they don't tween. However, using one should not cause Xara to crash. EDIT: Tried again today and the shadow did not cause a crash. The shadow does not show up, even on a static object.
I spoke too soon, it does cause a crash.
Overall, though, it does seem quite stable and I feel comfortable using it much more in my videos. It's great for quickly drawing overlays to illustrate something in a video or making multiple masks. No export/import, as exiting Xara brings the animation into the video editor.

Thanks,

[Boy]

I would like to see some more of your experiments and find out what is possible with XDP and the video app.

[browj2]

I would like to see some more of your experiments and find out what is possible with XDP and the video app.

I added a couple of quick tutorials that I did just to show the interface and a couple of uses. There are many more, but this gives an idea of the possibilities.

I also threw in a short 35 second video of Bernadette set to music sung by my wife. Nothing to do with Xara, but fun with video.

[julia]

Enjoyed the video and song of Bernadette. Very cute!

[Boy]

Thanks for the tuts. They give a good impression that doing animation and titling in MEP is very easy with XDP.

And Bernadette is the new, sung heroine!

[Egg Bramhill]

Hi John, thanks for the video tuts.

I can't get MEP2016 to load a frame into XDPX365. It opens Xara but imports no frame. Is there a setting required somewhere?