How to make a countdown sequence for the start of your EditDV programmes.
You can use various methods to create countdowns, including using other 3rd party programs such as After Effects and 3D software, but the easiest way is as follows.
- Make up a single image file for each number you want to have in the countdown sequence (using Photoshop or your favorite image software). Use either NTSC resolution (720x540 pixels at 72dpi) or PAL resolution (768x576 pixels at 72dpi) depending on the project
- Save each of these images as PICT files
- From within EditDV select a bin where you want to store the new clips (maybe make a new bin and call it countdown)
- go to the File Menu and select Import
- highlight one of the image files in the file requester and hit the Import button
- a dialogue box with all sorts of options will come up, the main thing you'll want to change is the duration to be 1 sec (i.e 00:00:01:00)
- click okay
- repeat this with all the other clips (note it will remember the duration for wach of the other clips so you should only have to click okay) then click Done
- drag all the image clips out of the bin, in the correct order, onto the timeline
- now you can either just have it play as is (cuts only, with one image per second) or go crazy with a bit of imagination, using wipes and other transitions (or stagger clips on two separate video tracks and use the PZR filter to create even more weird and whacky transitions)Also if you really want to get a bit more creative you could save an alpha channel matte with the Pict image (easily done within Photoshop), so you could then get video footage on background layers within EditDV to show through various portions of the Numbers (be it with the video running in the foreground or the video running in the background).
