Corel VideoStudio Pro X4

If you are looking for a simple, low cost way of editing your own videos, you should definitely consider Corel’s VideoStudio X4.

VideoStudio X4 has a fairly traditional video-editing user interface which provides you with a timeline containing multiple tracks on which to place video and audio clips. You can apply transitions such as fades and wipes between video clips and you can also add titles and captions. Your video clips can be stored in a Library area and this also contains a number of preset titles, transitions and special effects. To use one of the library items you just drop it onto the timeline. You can preview the tracks one at a time or all together and, when you are happy with the results, you click the ‘Share’ tab to pick a file format for the output video or you can burn it direct to DVD or BlueRay.

This latest release of VideoStudio adds in a few new features. For example, you can now export videos in ‘simulated’ 3D – either in the traditional format with Red and Blue overlapping images or in the new polarized format which requires a special 3D monitor and polarized glasses. Corel even provides a pair of 3D glasses in the box for use with Red/Blue format videos. Bear in mind that the 3D effect is created as an approximation only. This is because it converts normal 2D videos so can’t reproduce the sort of depth-of-view effects of Hollywood movies filmed with expensive 3D cameras. In my own (admittedly inexpert) experiments with 3D rendering, I’d have to say the end result was less than impressive: my video clips barely looked 3D at all though my titles – maybe because they were high contrast - did give the impression of being in the foreground.

Another new simulated effect is the Time Lapse option. This lets you have certain numbers of frames removed at regular intervals so that a smooth video becomes slightly jerky to make it look like time lapse animation - that is, an animation that is created by taking photographs at fixed intervals - or it can be used to speed up a long video (for example, to show a flower opening) so that many hours are compressed into seconds.

For dedicated animators there is even a stop-motion option which helps you to capture images one at a time and put them together as an animation – for example, by taking sequential pictures of plasticine or wire-frame models that are moved between captures to give the effect of motion. This includes an option to capture frames at regular intervals so that you don’t have to keep clicking options in the software for each capture.

Apart from those features the main changes to this release are a slightly improved user interface; for example, you can drag panels around across one or more monitors. Which brings us to the question of how well the core features of this program work and is it worth the money?

First, it has to be said that this is not aimed at demanding video professionals. It is not intended to challenge Adobe Premiere Pro, for example. That doesn’t mean, though, that it cannot be used to create professional quality videos. If you need to create videos for your business or upload HD videos to YouTube, it provide a great combination of editing features with ease of use. Even if you haven’t done video editing before, it would probably only take you a couple of hours to learn how to use the principal features of the software to create videos with titles, multiple audio tracks, titles, effects and transitions.

In short, if you need a good value video editing suite, this is it!

Here’s a little video I edited together (to promote a Kindle book) using VideoStudio Pro. The entire editing took me about two hours. It takes advantage of features such as transitions, titles and overlays, the ability to slow down the speed of clips and various pre-set special effects: