And unlike most plugins from Red Giant Software, Magic Bullet Mojo happens to work inside Sony Vegas too. How does it perform? Well, I demonstrate Magic Bullet Mojo inside Sony Vegas in the video below.

Just click on the image to watch it now (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):

You can download a free trial version of Magic Bullet Mojo (for Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere, Avid, Final Cut or After Effects) by clicking here.

This is the first serious challenge for ScreenFlow, which has long been regarded as the best choice for making screen recordings on a Mac.

So how does Camtasia for Mac stack up?  Is it better than ScreenFlow…is it worse…and which of these two competing titles should you use?

I answer all of these questions and more in a video I’ve put together demonstrating the features of Camtasia for Mac.

Click on the image below to watch the video now (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):

]]> http://webvideouniversity.com/blog/2009/08/28/video-review-camtasia-for-mac/feed/ 7 http://webvideouniversity.com/blog/2009/02/16/video-tutorial-creating-tv-style-photo-effects-in-sony-vegas/ http://webvideouniversity.com/blog/2009/02/16/video-tutorial-creating-tv-style-photo-effects-in-sony-vegas/#comments Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:32:51 +0000 Dave http://webvideouniversity.com/blog/?p=230 Adding motion to still photos (the Ken Burns effect) is nothing new.  In fact, it’s so common these days that web sites have popped up whose sole purpose is to allow you to create animated photo slideshows.

However, a new technique that is starting to be done more and more in the world of television, is to take a still photo and isolate just a portion of that photo…while still adding motion.

For example, taking a photo of monkeys that starts like this:

But ends like this:

I’ve put together a video tutorial showing you how to do this in Sony Vegas.  It’s actually far easier than you may think.  And it’s a great way to add dramatic and very unique effects to your videos.

Click on the image below to watch the tutorial now (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):

]]> http://webvideouniversity.com/blog/2009/02/16/video-tutorial-creating-tv-style-photo-effects-in-sony-vegas/feed/ 9 http://webvideouniversity.com/blog/2009/01/26/video-review-new-veoh-video-compass-browser-plugin/ http://webvideouniversity.com/blog/2009/01/26/video-review-new-veoh-video-compass-browser-plugin/#comments Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:44:42 +0000 Dave http://webvideouniversity.com/blog/?p=206 Last week Veoh released a new browser plugin, called the Veoh Video Compass, that allows you to receive relevant video results as you’re searching the web.

For example, lets say you’re on Google and you’re searching for “baking pans”.  Google will return their normal search results as they always do, however, across the top of your browser you’ll also see thumbnail images for related videos that Veoh has found for “baking pans” too.

You can then click on any of these thumbnail images to watch the videos…without ever leaving the page you’re on.

Now the video results that are displayed…well…they are only for videos that are on Veoh (after all, it is their plugin).  But they do offer a couple extra nifty features that allow you to share the videos and even perform additional video searches for any text term on a web page.

But rather than continuing to explain what the Veoh Video Compass is a all about, it’s much easier to just watch it in action.

So I’ve put together a short video tutorial that shows how you to install the Veoh Video Compass plugin and all of the things you can do with it.

To watch the video tutorial, just click the image below (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):

To download the free Veoh Video Compass browser plugin, click here.

While “best practice” is to get everything right when your video is originally shot, it also happens to be very easy to fix mistakes in “post”…meaning in your video editing software.

In the tutorial below, I use Sony Vegas to show you how to take some less than desirable footage and improve the colors.  Specifically, I show you how to change the background color and even the shirt color of the person in the video.

Click on the image below to watch the tutorial now (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):

With this feature, Gmail users can now do real-time, one-on-one video chats with other Gmail users. It’s all 100% browser based…you do it all through your Gmail account. You just select one of your contacts, invite them to video chat, they’ll be notified…and just like that, the two of you can video chat live.

What’s more, because Gmail video chat is browser based, it works on both Windows and Macs.

I’ve put together a short video tutorial showing you how to get video chat setup in your Gmail account…and…how to use it. In fact, in this tutorial, you’ll see me video chatting with myself; using one Gmail account on my Mac and another on my Windows machine.

Just click on the image below to watch the tutorial now (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):

Maybe you want to use the photo as a thumbnail image on your web page. Maybe you want to use it in an email. Or maybe there’s just a great shot in your video that you want to print out and hang on your wall.

In the video tutorial below, I show you how, in Sony Vegas, to capture images from within your video footage…plus 3 simple ways to use these images with your video. It’s a short tutorial…only 5 minutes and 8 seconds.

Click on the image below to watch the tutorial now (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):

And a great way to ease the learning curve with video editing software, is to first work with still images (photos). You can actually create very powerful videos using nothing but still images.

In the tutorial below, I show you how you can quickly and easily put together a nice, simple photo slideshow using Sony Vegas. A slideshow that…even if you have zero experience…you can create in under 10 minutes.

Just click on the image below to watch the tutorial now (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):

At the beginning of August 2008, a new product called DV Kitchen was released. DV Kitchen takes your video and encodes it using the high-definition h.264 codec for the web. That’s nothing new…there are many products that do this. But what makes DV Kitchen unique, among other things, is that they use their own home-grown version of the h.264 codec.

The result (or at least the claim), is that with DV Kitchen and their special h.264 codec, you get the best quality web video possible at the lowest possible file sizes (as compared to competing products).

So I decided to test DV Kitchen out…in a head-to-head competition…against other leading tools that produce h.264 video for the web.

What happened? What were the results? Is DV Kitchen superior, equal or just another ho-hum tool? Well, I made a video of the competition. Click the image below to watch it (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):

If you’d like to check out DV Kitchen for yourself (which I strongly recommend), you can go here to find out more and even download a free trial.

Many video editing applications claim to provide near-perfect green screen effects with just a click of the mouse. In reality, achieving a decent green screen effect with digital video is going to take some time, patience and skill (as anyone who has attempted to do green screen video has quickly found out).

I often get asked (by frustrated people) if there is an easier way to do green screen video. And up until recently, my answer was no. But that all changed when a company called Red Giant Software came out with a product called Primatte Keyer Pro.

Primatte Keyer Pro is a plugin effect for higher-end video editing software like Final Cut, Avid and Adobe Premiere. And with it, you can literally achieve near-perfect green screen effects with one click of your mouse. In fact, it’s the only product I’ve found that can back up it’s “one-click” green screening claims.

I’ve put together a short tutorial video demonstrating how fast and easy it is to create green screen video with Primatte Keyer Pro. Click the image below to watch it (if you’re a Firefox user, you’ll need to be using Firefox 3.0 or above to watch this video):