Rolling and Crawling Titles

To create a rolling (moves from bottom to top) or crawling (moves from right to left) titles is very similar to creating static titles.

1. Open the Title Tool and select either the Crawl or Roll button.
   
2. Select the Text option and type your text on to the title.
   
3. As you enter text with a rolling title you will notice the length of the page becomes longer the more lines you type. However, with crawling titles the text does not continue to move to the left. Instead it flows down as with a normal text box. Once you have finished entering your text, go to the Object menu and select Make Crawl. The text will be placed on a single line and you can use the scroll bar to view it.
   
4. Format the text as required and save the title to your bin.
   
5. To add the title to the sequence open the title into the Source monitor.
   
6. Add a second video track by selecting Clip - New Video Track.
   
7. Drag the V1 source button to V2 record track to patch the track.
   
8. Add an IN and OUT point onto the sequence where the title will appear.
   
9. Add the title to the sequence by clicking the OVERWRITE button.
   
10. To view the title it must be rendered first.
    
11. Once rendered you will see the title either roll or crawl.
    
12. If the speed of the title is too fast or too slow adjust the IN OUT point and overwrite until you are happy with the speed.
    

Using keyframes to add movement to a still image

Occasionally you will need to use a still image in a sequence. However, its generally not a good idea to use still images in a movie as still images do not keep the attention and interest of the audience for very long. Sometimes you have no option but to use a still image and so a simple technique can be used to make a still image more interesting.

A simple and effective way of making your still image more interesting is to make the image move within your Avid sequence. By combining the use of scaling and position effects and keyframes, you can zoom into or out of an image. Zooming in draws the audience closer to the point of interest while zooming out reveals more of the surroundings.

The following instructions will show you how to create a zoom in effect on an image. The image will first appear at its original size, and then after a few seconds start to zoom in. Then the image will stop again for the remaining few seconds of the clip.

1. Import an image into your bin and edit about 6 seconds onto the sequence.
2. Go to the Tools menu and choose the Effects Palette
3. In the Effect Palette select Image from the list on the left
4. Then click and drag the Resize effect, from the list on the right, onto the clip in the sequence. When an effect is added to a clip it is indicated with a pink rectangle.
5. Next go to the Tools menu and choose the Effect Editor
6. When open, the Effect Editor should list a number of effect options, such as Background and Scaling. The clip should also be highlighted pink. If not, move the Playhead to the clip and click the Effect Editor window to activate the tool.
7. Notice that two pink triangles appear at the start and end of the clip in the Sequence Monitor. The pink triangles are keyframes, which allow you to make changes over time.
8. As we want our image to remain still at the start and end and only move during the middle, we will add two more keyframes to show where the movement starts and ends.
9. Move the Playhead a few seconds into the clip
10. Press the Add Keyframe button on the sequence monitor
11. Then move the Playhead a few seconds from the end of the clip and add another keyframe
12. There should now be 4 keyframe triangles on the Sequence Monitor
13. Click and select the 3rd keyframe so it highlights pink.
14. Then in the Effect Editor adjust the Scaling and Position properties. Activate Fixed Aspect before adjusting the scaling so that the image stays in proportion.
15. Notice the numbers to the right of the Scaling and Position faders. Once the image is in the final position write these numbers down as you will need them for the next step.
16. Select the 4th keyframe. Then click on the Scaling numbers and type in the quantity you wrote down in the previous step.
17. Do the same for the Position numbers

That's it. You should now have an image that zooms into a focal point. All that remains is for the effect to be rendered.

In the example movie there are four images. Each image either zooms in or out. To zoom in (as instructed above) you adjust the Effect properties on the 3rd and 4th keyframe. To zoom out adjust the effect properties on the 1st and 2nd keyframes.

Mobile Learning - Tribal organistion

Geoff Stead - Tribal, Digital Learning Studio

http://www.m-learning.org/index.htm

http://moblearn.blogspot.com/

http://elgg.jiscemerge.org.uk/andyramsden/weblog/

Learner technologies and open educational resources

RSCwales - JISC event 3rd April 2009

Work-based Access to Learning through E-services (WALES) project - Tony Toole, University of Glamorgan

Re-purposing Content for IT Education - Angelo Conti and Owen Phillips, Swansea University

Education through Ubiquitous Technologies and Online Resources - James Williams and Tony Toole, Swansea Metropolitan

Who Learns from Open Educational Resources? - Andy Lane, OpenLearn, Open University

FlipCam user experience

First impression of this small video camera was how simple it looked. A good sized screen for such a small device and a big red button for starting and stopping record.

The picture quality is excellent although there is no zoom function. There are no settings to adjust either which makes the FlipCam that much simpler to use.

However the audio quality is not good. I filmed a quick sequence while I spoken behind the camera and my subject spoke in front of it. Listening back on FlipCam, the sound seems OK, I can hear both voices fine. But once I got the video file onto my computer, the levels were actually really bad. I can only assume the FlipCam is boosting the sound when it plays from the device.

There is no mic input for you to use an external mic either.

Editing the video at first glance seems a great selling point, especially when the nearest rivals do not have editing available. However, once you go into the editing function you soon find that editing video on the FlipCam is actually only top and tailing the clip. You can't cut bits out or trim sections from a long clip. You would need a real piece of editing software to do anything useful editing. Perhaps that what the rivals assume you would do anyway.

I also had problems getting the video file from the FlipCam onto my computer. This could be the rather odd nature of the computer I was using, so this needs further investigation.

To sum up, the FlipCam offers great video picture quality but the audio quality lets it done. And don't be swayed by the fact you can edit you video. You will want to edit with a better application than a top-and-tailer.

Video editing comparison

During the summer of 2009 I spent some time comparing 3 entry level video editing packages. The software had to work on PC computer rather than Macs. We already had iMovie on Macs but we needed to make video editing available to the wider student population as all but one classroom contained only PCs.

Comparison was made by determining the usability, available support and cost effectiveness. The results of the comparison can be seen below.

Adobe Premiere Elements

Corel Video Studio X2 (12)

Pinnacle Studio 12

Avid - changing the speed of video

Most of the speed effects found in Avid are variable speed effects, i.e. speed bumps, fast to slow or slow to fast. The most commonly asked for speed effect is a constant speed change. To create this effect you should use the Trim To Fill option found in the Timewarp effect. Although very simple, using this effect is not immediately straight forward and so here is an explanation on how to use it.

How to make a clip faster of slower

1. Open your sequence.
   
2. Open the Effect Palette and select Timewarp from the list on the left hand side.
   
3. Click and drag the Trim To Fill effect onto the clip you want to make faster or slower in the sequence.
   
4. By default the speed of the effect is always 100%. Unlike other effects where you adjust the options in the effect Editor, with the Trim To Fill effect you make the clip faster or slower on the timeline with the Trim Tool.
   
5. Click the Trim Tool to go into trimming mode.
   
6. Dragging the trim handles to make the clip longer will slow the speed of the clip. If you have Clip Names displayed you will notice the percentage of the speed change as the clip length changes.
   
7. Conversely, dragging the trim handles to make the clip shorter will make the clip faster.
   
8. Moving the trim handles does not edit the clip, only the effect is adjusted.
   

eLearning - Tutorial and presentation creation software

Course Genie

CamStudio - http://camstudio.org/

Wink - http://debugmode.com/wink/

Course Lab

Uduto

Xerte

Apreso

Camtasia

Impactia

Captivate

Using Technology to make your teaching more accessible

I attended a JISC TechDis workshop yesterday about how technology can help us make our teaching more accessible and inclusive. It was a very useful morning and I came away thinking that what I had learnt could not only help me understand how students with disabilities could benefit but also how useful some of the techniques and technology could be of use for teaching in general.

I have listed below what was covered during the workshop.

Microsoft Word
Powerpoint
PDF creation

Podcasts
Mindmapping
Mobile technology

Instant Presenter, Elluminate, Wimba etc
Audacity audio editor
Camstudio
DSpeech
Robobraille or ReadTheWords
LetMeType
Dasher
WINK
Xerte

Collaboration tools
Wikis
Blogs
GoogleDocs
Gabby
Vyew
Mindmeister
EtherPad