Use the Video module to turn your photo and video files into videos with music, transition effects, and text titles. This feature can also be used for editing existing videos. The video output is saved as an MP4 file. The images are stored in H.264 format, and the sound in AAC.
After launching Video, use the right panel to make any adjustments needed for your video project’s basic parameters: resolution, number of frames per second (FPS), and the video’s background. You can go back and change the video’s resolution and background during your work, but not its FPS. The video’s background is used whenever the ratio of sides for a picture does not match the ratio of sides for the video itself.
Use the Video module to turn your photo and video files into videos with music, transition effects, and text titles. This feature can also be used for editing existing videos. The video output is saved as an MP4 file. The images are stored in H.264 format, and the sound in AAC.
After you open the Video module, the right panel contains the 
Create New Project button. Click this button to create and open a new project. During future visits to the Video module, the project’s name is listed below the Create New Project button, and the date of the last changes to the project is shown on the right-hand portion of the row with the project’s name. Hovering the mouse over a project-name row displays four icons:
Duplicate – this creates a precise copy of the project. The duplicate project is automatically given the old name plus “- copy” at the end.
Rename – this renames the project.
Archive – this moves the project to the Archived Projects tab. For projects that are already in that tab, clicking the icon moves them back among the unarchived projects.
Delete – the project is deleted irreversibly.
Archiving Projects
While you are working on a video project, the previews in the project are loaded into cache memory. This is useful when you need to be able to switch back to a project without having to wait a long time for all the data in it to reload. But if you have a lot of projects and you don’t need to go back to them often, it’s pointless to keep all this data cached, especially if the cache memory could be better utilized. Use Archive to inform the cache memory that the preloaded previews can be removed if the memory is needed for something else. They will not be removed before that point.
The Video Project Interface
Just like the other modules of ZPS X, the Video module contains a display area in the middle and three main panels—the Navigator on the left, a panel for tools and settings on the right, and the Filmstrip at the bottom. All three can be shown and hidden. To do this, click the gray bars at “their” edges, or use shortcut keys (F6 for the Navigator, F8 for the right panel, and F9 for the Filmstrip).
The behavior and appearance of the Navigator and Filmstrip are the same as elsewhere, but the right panel contains functions and information that are specific to the current project in the Video module.
Basic Settings in the Right Panel
The top row of the right panel in the Video module contains these icons:
Back – click this to go back to the list of already created projects.
New Project – creates a new empty project named “New Project (X)” (“X” here indicates the number of the new project), which is opened immediately.
Rename – use this to rename a project.
Duplicate – this creates a copy of the current project with the same contents, and with the same name plus “- copy” at the end.
Under the picture representing the given Video module project, three options are shown – for resolution, frames per second (FPS), and the video background.
Resolution offers 12 possibilities. The default value is FullHD 1081p (1920 x 1080). You can change this value at any time during your work with a project.
The FPS is set to 25 by default. Six values are offered. The FPS value can only be changed if no files have been added to the project yet. That is, it can’t be changed in the middle of a project.
The video background color is black by default. It can be changed at any time during your work with a project. The background color appears in the final video whenever no image or video clip is present in the timeline and whenever a clip has empty areas on two sides because it doesn’t match the ratio of sides chosen under Resolution.
Tools
There are icons under the basic settings options that change depending on what kind of clip has been selected.
| 
– no clip has been selected.
| – an image clip has been selected.
| – a video clip has been selected.
| – a text clip has been selected.
| – an audio clip has been selected.
| – a transition has been selected.
Adding Files to a Project
To add files to a video track, drag photo and video files up from the Filmstrip or use the Add Selected Files / Add All Files buttons. To select multiple files on the Filmstrip, hold down Ctrl while clicking them. To select a series of consecutive files, select the first file in the series, then hold down Shift while selecting the last one.
If you are pasting multiple files onto the timeline at once, a window with pasting options is displayed. Pictures can be pasted as separate items or as a timelapse. For timelapses, you can set the picture display length. For individual items, you can configure the duration, a transition effect, a pan&zoom effect, and intensity levels for these.
A separate audio track (or tracks) is used for adding sound to the video and can be added to the timeline. Audio files in the MP3, WAV, AAC, or FLAC formats can be added by dragging them from the filmstrip onto the timeline or via the 
button in the audio-track settings.
Center Control Panel
Playhead – the name for the moving slider on the timeline that indicates the currently displayed position in the project. During video editing, it is the starting point for any edits you make using the buttons.
Buttons
Set in point – Trims away the whole part to the left of the marked point
Separate – Splits the clip into two halves in the marked spot
Marker – this adds a red visual aid, a marker, to the timeline. Double-click a marker you have inserted to open a window with other options. You can change a marker’s color, add a comment to it, or rename it.
Set out point – Trims away the whole part to the right of the marked point
Duplicate – The marked item will be copied to the same track and added in accord with the pasting method you have chosen.
Link – this option is only available when multiple clips are selected on the timeline. Clicking this icon links the clips into a group. From then on, selecting any clip in that group then selects all the clips in the group. The linked clips can all be moved or deleted together.
Delete – If a specific video clip (or clips) is selected, it deletes only the selected clip(s). The trash icon in a video or audio track deletes the whole track.
Insertion options – the selected files from the Filmstrip are inserted in the given location in accord with the insertion method you have chosen.
- Insert – When inserting content into the middle of a video clip, this will split the clip into two parts and insert the whole new clip.
- Overwrite – When inserting content into the middle of a video clip, this will overwrite a corresponding amount of the clip.
- Replace – When inserting content into the middle of a clip, the entire rest of the clip will be replaced with the contents of the new files.
- Place on top – the selected files from the Filmstrip will be inserted into the given location within a new track.
- Place at end – inserts the given files from the Filmstrip at the end of the current track.
- Fit to fill – the entire original clip is erased and replaced with a new clip.
- If the new clip has a different length, the length is adapted to the original clip.
- Replace whole clip – the entire original clip is erased and replaced with the new clip.
- If the new clip has a different length, the new clip’s length will be respected.
Export frame – exports the current video frame as a file in the JPG format.
Fast Preview – use this to set whether preloaded lower-quality previews should be used for video previews, or full-quality videos instead. Work with preloaded previews is less of a drain on a computer’s performance.
Compact header – adjusts the layout of the controls, moving some of them under 
for individual tracks.
Add video track – adds a new video track named Vx (with x being a number).
Add audio track – adds a new audio track named Ax (with x being a number).
Snap – The newly added picture snaps to the existing pictures.
Automatically move playhead on click – When this option is active, clicking a video/audio track in a project automatically shifts the Playhead to the given position.
Automatically select clip under playhead – When this feature is active, all the clips in the main video track, “V1”, will be selected. If the video track is empty, the clip in the track with the next higher number will be selected. If a clip in a higher layer is selected and highlighted, it will stay selected for the clip’s entire duration.
menu icon – opens more options. If Compact header is selected, some of the options move to this menu.
- Set Overwrite Mode as default – with this mode turned on, Overwrite Mode is active unless you turn it off, so newly inserted frames overwrite existing frames in a video track by default.
- Show playhead controllers – shifts the options for setting the starting/ending picture and splitting the video from the main panel into the Playhead indicator on the timeline.
- Show levels – displays the volume and image opacity within individual clips and enables adjusting them to different levels within a clip. You can set multiple nodes on these indicators and use them to adjust effect strength within a clip. To then remove one of these nodes, double-click it.
- Show filenames – Displays the names of the files used in video/audio tracks.
Lock track – Locks the video/audio track, making it uneditable. If the symbol is not visible, then it is located in the drop-down menu for the video track under the button.
Overwrite mode – When Overwrite Mode is turned on, every newly inserted frame overwrites the existing frame in the video track. When it is turned off, a newly inserted frame splits the existing frame into two parts, and the remaining clips in the video track are shifted by the length of the newly inserted clip.
– Shifting the slider changes the intensity with which the frame is displayed.
– Shifting the slider changes the volume of the audio track.
Show audio – Shows or hides the audio track in the video.
Display keyframes – clicking this icon turns on keyframe editor display. Editor controls then appear in the timeline under clips that have keyframes. If no clips have keyframes, clicking this icon has no apparent effect.
Shortcut keys for working with clips in the timeline:
Ctrl+A – selects all the clips in the project’s timeline.
Ctrl+dragging a clip – copies a picture to a selected place in the timeline.
Ctrl+Alt+dragging a clip – if a video clip is cropped, this shortcut repositions the clip and the contents of the crop based on which parts of the original clip the crop corresponds to.
Alt+dragging a clip – if a video clip is cropped, this shortcut retains the clip’s position but shifts the contents of the crop.
Dragging a clip+Alt – when dragging a clip, toggles between overwriting and not overwriting.
Ctrl+Shift+dragging a clip – copies the clip to the selected layer. It is copied to the same place in the timeline as it had in the original clip.
Shift+dragging a clip – deletes the gap after the originally dragged clip and shifts all the following clips to keep from creating a gap within the track.
Selecting clips’ borders+Shift – the clips are moved on the timeline to avoid changing their durations.
Toolbar
Several video editing tools are located in the right-hand toolbar.
All changes made to a project are saved automatically.
Green Export button – this button creates an MP4 video based on the project. After clicking this button, set the location for saving the file. In the next step, choose the settings for the resulting video. These affect its overall size and quality. After you configure these settings and click “EXPORT,” the video will begin to be generated. This export runs in the background. To check export progress, check the Notifications – under the bell icon.
Adding Text
– To easily add text to a video track using one of several available templates, click the T button on the side panel’s toolbar. Then select the template you want, and then drag it to a location of your choice on the timeline.
Add text item with metadata – if an image is selected on the timeline, the icon is displayed in the Clip properties. When this function is used, a text field is created over the image. This text field is a new image layer with an identical duration, and it takes information from the base photograph. Use variable text within the text field to make use of information contained in the picture’s metadata.
Text Field Editing Options
To start editing the text field’s settings, first select it on the timeline.
Clip length – text display length, in the format (h:m:s:FPS).
Frame margin – sets the margin around the text field’s edges.
Alignment in frame – defines the overall alignment of all text fields together. This function is dependent on text field width.
Video fading – use this to manually set the duration of the transition effect that makes the text gradually fade in/out at the start/end of the clip.
Animation – use the drop-down here to select the text’s animation type.
Text box – use this to add the text. Use the controls under the text box to control its settings, such as its font, size, color, line spacing, and indentation. You can also set how the text is aligned within its text field and adjust the field’s width (default value 100). The Text padding option sets the text’s indentation from the frame borders.
Metadata Source – the text field can be connected with a photo of your choice used in the project. You can do this at any time. To make this choice, use the eyedropper and select a photo, or choose from the drop-down menu.
Variable text inside the text field – when you are linking a text field to a photo, you can use variable text in the text box to display selected parts of the photo’s textual metadata. To see what variable-text items are available, click the triangle next to the text field.
Transition Effects
To add transition effects between pictures, click Add Transition Effect (the 
icon in the right panel). Choose the effect you want from the menu, and drag it between two videos in a video track.
On the timeline, a transition is shown in the form of a green rectangle at the border between each pair of clips. Double-click the green transition to view the Edit Transitions section of the right panel. Use this section to set the length and other settings for a transition. The settings offered vary among the different transitions.
To organize the list of available transitions, click the star icon in the top right corner of the transition animation field. Clicking the star moves a transition into the Favorites section at the start of the list.
To remove a transition that has been added to a track, select it (click it) and then press Delete, or right-click it and use the Delete item.
Transform in Place
Use the Position and Transformation section in the right panel for creative work with pictures in your videos. You can adjust individual video clips’ size, position, rotation, and other parameters. You can also adjust these by working directly inside the Video preview. To do so, first choose the Position and Transformation section in the right panel. A control rectangle is then displayed around the selected video clip. Click and drag this rectangle’s control lines to change the Scale X and Scale Y values. In the middle of this rectangle, there is an Anchor. Its position sets the point around which the picture is rotated when you use the Pitch, Yaw, and Rotation functions. To control the picture’s rotation from the preview, work with the space above the rectangle. To set its rotation, work with the space above the rectangle’s corners. To set its Pitch, use the sides of the rectangle. To change the X Position and Y Position, click and drag the area inside the rectangle.
More Information
Creating Videos in ZPS X: Part 1
How to Create Videos in ZPS X – Part 2
The Improved Video Editor in ZPS X: Compose Like a Pro, Easy and Fast