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Auto Movie Creator
v3.15
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Using Scene Detection in
Auto Movie Creator |
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When you want to turn
home video into a
polished movie, one
time-consuming step is:
dividing it into scenes.
With most software, you
have to carefully
position a slider or
count off a number of
frames, manually cut,
then advance slowly
through the video
looking for the next
spot to make a cut and
carefully pick a new
position. |
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Auto Movie Creator makes
all that obsolete.
With the built-in scene
detection, you just tell
the program to do all
that for you.
Leave the routine work
to the program, while
you concentrate on the
creative part of the
job. Just tell the
program to detect
scenes, wait for a
little while, and you’re
ready to edit your
movie. |
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This article will
explain the ideas behind
scene detection, and
walk you through the
process using Auto Movie
Creator. Reading
this article may be the
last time you have to
think about the process
of finding scenes in
your video! |
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Background |
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Before we can discuss
the process, it’s
important to know what
some of the terminology
means. Digital
video is a series of
still pictures, called
frames. Each frame
consists of many
individual points of
color, called picture
elements or pixels.
Rapidly swapping of the
frames, in succession,
gives the illusion of
motion. When
filming, a shot is a
video segment that’s
recorded by a camera in
one uninterrupted step.
Switching from one shot
to another is called a
cut. When you
start Auto Movie
Creator’s Scene
Detection, you’re asking
the program to identify
the cuts and split the
video into clips at
those points. |
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When a person manually edits a film, he or she looks for dramatic visual changes
between frames to find cuts. The computer tries to do the same, but since it
doesn’t actually understand what’s happening, it has to use mathematical
analysis of each frame to compare them. For instance, if you see that frame
10,345 has a blue car in it, but 10,346 is showing a couch, you’ll immediately
recognize that a cut happened there. The computer, instead, compares frames
using several methods.
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One simple method of
scene detection is to
compare each pixel in
one frame with the
matching pixel in the
next one, and count how
many are identical.
A score is generated for
this frame-to-frame
change, based on how
many pixels have
changed. One
problem with this method
is that if the camera
moves rapidly, all the
pixels change (but there
has been no actual cut).
There are mathematical
techniques to compensate
for motion. |
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Using Scene Detection
in Auto Movie Creator |
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Detecting scenes with
Auto Movie Creator
couldn’t be easier.
The first step is to
import your video file
into the Video and
Photos Collection,
or capture some video
from a digital camera.
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Right-click on the movie
in the Collection and
select Detect Scenes…
The Detect Scenes
window appears. |
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Here you can adjust the
sensitivity of scene
detection.
Remember that the
program assigns a score
for each frame-to-frame
change. The
sensitivity is the
minimum score that’s
considered a cut.
The farther to the right
(Detect Less Scenes)
you drag the slider, the
higher the score, and
the fewer scenes the
video will be split
into. Drag the
slider to the left and
Auto Movie Creator will
consider lower scores a
cut, and you’ll end up
with the video divided
into more clips.
If you change your mind
about adjusting the
sensitivity, just click
Default.
When you’re ready to
continue, click
Detect. |
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Detection can take
anywhere from seconds to
minutes, depending on
the length of the video,
as well as the frame
size (resolution) and
other factors and, of
course, how fast your
computer is. While
scene are being
detected, a progress bar
will be displayed,
showing how far along
the detection process
is, and how many scenes
have been detected so
far. Generally it
will take significantly
less time to detect
scenes than it would
take to watch the video. |
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When detection is
finished, the Video
and Photos Collection
window is divided.
A new section appears at
the bottom, showing the
clips that the video has
been divided into.
You can now treat the
clips exactly like video
files in the Collection.
For instance, you can
right-click on them and
add them to the
Storyboard or Preview
them. |
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If you click on a
different movie or still
in the Video and
Photos Collection,
the Scenes area will
close. When you
click on a movie that
has had its scenes
detected, the Scenes
area will reopen and the
scenes will be
displayed. Scene
information is stored in
the Project file, so it
will not be lost even if
you close and reopen
Auto Movie Creator (as
long as you save your
project). |
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If you decide that you
would like to detect
either more or fewer
scenes, you can simply
right-click on the video
file again and restart
Scene Detection, using a
different level of
Sensitivity. |
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Auto Movie Creator’s
Scene Detection makes
movie-making more about
your creativity, and
less of a boring chore.
It’s one of the ways
we’re making video
editing just as much fun
as it always should have
been. |
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