Forum Discussion
Inserting videos that have a shorter duration that the timeline
I’ve noticed that when inserting a video (MP4 file) that it can be a challenge to get the video’s ending to line up with it’s actual duration. For example, if a timeline has 20 seconds of content on it, but I insert a video that is 6 seconds, the video consumes the entire 20 seconds. I know its 6 seconds, and I want it to no longer exist after that point. Otherwise, the final frame of the video just remains onscreen for the rest of the slide’s timeline.
The usual solution that has worked for me is to, right after inserting the video, right click on it in the timeline and uncheck “Show Until End.” This results in the tail (end) of the video getting truncated on the timeline and is now exactly as long as the video’s actual duration. 6 seconds, not 20. Nice!
But an issue comes up when one doesn’t do this right away after inserting video, such as inserting the video and moving it (in the timeline) below some other items. After this, if I right click and select “Show Until End”, the video’s duration doesn’t get truncated, and still matches the length of the timeline. Once I’m in this situation, I’m not ever able to get the video to truncate to its original length.
What I’m looking to avoid is the work-around solution, where you manually drag the tail of the video to where you want it. That’s really hard to do when a video is several minutes long.
How can I properly truncate a video on the timeline so that it ends exactly at the end of the video (regardless of where it is on the timeline)? Is it a bug or a missing feature that this isn’t an option, or is this something I just don’t know how to do?
Related post: https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/video-duration-upon-import
No apology needed! You've been fantastic, Leslie. Thanks for your insight, help and video and this last bit of info.
This still isn't fixed? I have a 2:37:13 video which is the only thing on the slide/timeline. I've unchecked to show until end but the timeline continues after the end of the video when I preview it. The course menu is restricted so the timeline needs to end exactly with the video so the user doesn't have to wait an additional minute (not sure how much it's actually adding) before they can click next. We need tighter control over the timeline.
I've encountered the same problem; it seems to become more of an issue as the length of a video clip increases. I would like to know how Storyline calculates the displayed duration and how it takes frames-per-second (FPS) into account. For example, the number of frames in a 30-second clip can be:
- 15 FPS - 450 frames
- 24 FPS - 720 frames (traditional film)
- 25 FPS - 750 frames (PAL, SECAM)
- 30 FPS - 900 frames (NTSC)
- 60 FPS - 1,800 frames
The timeline in Storyline's video editor is largely useless, IMHO, as it completely ignores 25+ years of digital video editor convention (which was based on decades of analog video editor convention). Below 1 second, the number of frames is displayed, not 1/10's, 1/100's or (inexplicably) 1/1000's of a second.
It reminds me of multiple "conversations" I had as a Value-Added Reseller with Adobe, Apple, and Radius engineers in the early 90s. While Radius "got it," Adobe could not seem to grasp the concept of a 29.97 NTSC frame-rate (the 3/100 of a second needed for the black-burst/video sync/gen lock signal), insisting 30 FPS was exactly the same as 29.97 FPS. It wasn't until version 5 of Premiere that Adobe FINALLY acknowledged 29.97 FPS and could officially state Premiere was, in fact, "broadcast quality."
Hello Joseph, many thanks for this. However, I am not such an advanced user, and I have wrestled with this issue for two days. do you know of anyone or service where I can send it and it can be repaired?
I tried to save as video to see if i cut cut the end that way, but I think it is taking way too long and it will not happen.
Francisco
