Vidding for Newbies with Corel VideoStudio

If you haven't done so yet, please read the "Vidding Intro" before delving deeply into the rest of these tutorials.

Get started with vidding with Corel VideoStudio.

What's so great about Corel VideoStudio?

It's so easy, especially for newbies: Even though I am primarily a Mac vidder, Corel (formerly Ulead) VideoStudio was actually the first video editing app I seriously used. I knew absolutely nothing about video editing but VideoStudio's interface made it all so obvious and intuitive. In the passing years, many newbie vidders have made their first vids with VideoStudio and with great results. It's easy and yet there are enough effects customization so that a vidder doesn't "outgrow" it too quickly.

It's competitively priced: VideoStudio's price is competitive with other mainstream consumer video apps, and there are often upgrade deals on Corel.com which will tempt the budget-minded vidder.

It's got a lot of features while still being very newbie-friendly: Often it's hard to combine "newbie-friendly" and "lots of features" but VideoStudio does a pretty good job. There are some limitations on what effects VideoStudio can do, but still—once you figure out the essentials of editing, there is still a lot more you can do (and learn) with VideoStudio.

While I consider Corel VideoStudio one of the easiest apps for beginning vidders, it's not going to be for everybody. I recommend that you download the demo first at Corel.com to make sure it works with your system and you like the interface.

I don't plan on making this tutorial too full-bodied because Corel has always had pretty good tutorials on their site: Corel Tutorials. What I'll attempt to do here is show you how to prepare your clips from DVDs (or downloaded clips—preferably in HD!) and how to make a video with high visual quality.

Make sure that your computer can run the latest version of VideoStudio X3:

System Requirements

Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista® or Windows® XP with latest service packs installed (32-bit or 64-bit editions)
Intel® Core™ Duo 1.83 GHz, AMD Dual-Core 2.0 GHz or higher recommended
1 GB RAM (2 GB or higher recommended)
128 MB VGA VRAM or higher (256 MB or higher recommended)
3 GB of free hard drive space
Minimum display resolution: 1024 x 768
Windows-compatible sound card
Windows-compatible DVD-ROM drive for installation
Recordable DVD required for creating DVDs
Recordable Blu-ray™ drive required for creating Blu-ray™ discs
Internet connection required for online features

The system requirements for VideoStudio are pretty hefty. I think this is in part due to its support of HD, but that's not all of it. (After all, my old PowerMac from 2002 can edit in HD.) It's because a lot of the new camcorders create video files that require a lot of computer horsepower to process. But, as vidders we won't be using those kinds of files. So we don't require super fast computers. (Don't get me wrong—it's never a bad idea to have a fast PC for video editing!)

If you fear that your computer is not fast enough to run VideoStudio, then see about picking up a copy of Videostudio X2 (just one generation back) since it will run on slower PCs and also supports HD. (And I'm going to teach you how to edit in HD!) Or, trot yourself over to the Sony Vegas tutorial and try it instead. The cheapo version of Vegas Movie Studio can run on very old systems.

Corel VideoStudio X2 System Requirements are: (partial list)

Intel Pentium 4, AMD Athlon XP (or equivalent), or higher
Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Home Edition/Professional, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, or Windows Vista operating system software
512 MB of RAM (1 GB of RAM or more recommended)
1 GB of hard disk space (for installation)

So you can see, it's far less demanding on your PC. If you're uncertain about running X3, go for X2 instead!

Ripping your DVD and preparing your clips for editing:

For vidding in Windows, you need to have a DVD drive in your computer. You'll also need some DVD ripping software and a converter program (to convert your DVD rip to a good type of AVI file for editing).

Because I have written many tutorials on ripping DVDs and converting to AVI, I'll just give you the links:

RIPPING A DVD (extracting the contents of the DVD):

Rip a DVD (link goes to the Foolish Passion Fan Video forum, no membership required to view this tutorial). My favorite DVD ripping app for Windows is DVD Decrypter.

CONVERTING THE RIPPED DVD TO AN AVI FILE TO EDIT IN VIDEOSTUDIO:

Trim that clip! Tutorial which discusses DVD ripping, and also walks you, step-by-step, through the process of creating AVI files for editing in VideoStudio. This is the easiest process, but I recommend buying a $20 plug-in to get the video converting software to work.
If you don't want to pay the $20: Convert your DVD rip (or downloaded XviD/DivX AVI files) to an AVI suitable for editing with VirtualDub or, use Any Video Converter to make an MJPEG AVI file from your DVD. (I still have to update that tutorial to cover ripping DVDs, and that link goes to the Foolish Passion Fan Video forums, and this tutorial does require membership to view.)
OR, if you are technically minded and don't mind reading detailed tutorials, you can't do any better than the AMV.org guide for preparing video. These guys are phenomenal.

CONVERTING YOUR MP3 or M4A audio files to WAV:

The iTunes-to-WAV tutorial is the easiest way to go. You do not want to try to edit MP3 or iTunes downloaded music straight in VideoStudio. Sometimes it'll be just fine, but other times you'll get audio break-up, cracks, and pops.

SOAP BOX MOMENT—A word about other DVD ripper/converter methods: I'll fully admit a few things right now. Yes, I am very opinionated about what process is better for preparing your clips for editing. (Who knew that such a topic would be controversial? LOL.) My way is not the best way, or the only way, but it is a technically decent way and it's free (or at the most, $20). The types of clips I'm going to have you create will be stable in your video software and shouldn't give you quality problems or software problems (like crashing or freezing).

Many vidders use another method of preparing clips and are reluctant to change. This is because it's easier (often they just download the clips off the Internet and edit them straight away) and because it uses less disk space. But the files they use can cause quality loss and often, crashing and freezing. (Of course these vidders insist that they never have problems, but someone obviously is, because I hear complaints about this a lot, if you hadn't guessed! LOL.) So yes, I am going to be relentless in reminding you to edit with "tried and true" codecs. Your vidding experience will go much smoother that way.

To read more of my opinions (and rantings!) about this matter, check out the "Crashing/Freezing" tutorial and the Video Quality tutorial.

Getting started with VideoStudio and info about editing in HD >>