Monday, June 04, 2007

Software manuals

There's a special art to writing manuals. For example, I've been trying to learn a basic overlay edit in my software for several days now. The instructions in a book I have take up only half a page. I follow them and nothing works right. I woke up this morning with an idea ... tried it ... it worked! Now I can make an overlay edit, which is pretty basic. I changed "click" in the instructions to "right click." Error or vague instruction, I don't know, but at last I know how to do something I'll be doing often.

Now there's one other essential editing chore I can't figure out. The instruction is for version two of the software and I have version three, for which the instructions don't make sense, the interface changing a bit.

Also, regarding outdoor scenes, if I use overlays only and don't edit the sound track, I could make a scene work more seamlessly. Use tight two shots and overlays.

I feel like I'm planning a cross-country trip in a go cart ha ha.

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