Simultaneous video layering?

[SamZee]

I've tried to look for programs that would enable you to "conjoin" two or more videos to play simultaneously but haven't had any luck. I also tried the search bar to see if there was anything like that in this forum, but couldn't find what I was looking for. Anyway, I was just wondering if any of you knew of a program that could let you import 2 or more video files and make merge them with their audio for a split screen kind of deal. Like this video...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1HwurUBRnyg
Thanks in advance.

[edDV]

That effect is called a "Quad Split". Are you looking to do just that or more general layering where dozens of elements are stacked like this along with their shadows?


What are you willing to spend? Programs like Premiere Pro or Vegas Pro handle this as routine. Consumer versions limit layers to two or three.

The most difficult "art" of video effects is translating "vision" into detailed storyboard so the techies can work their magic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compositing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_compositing

[SamZee]

I was looking to have a split between 3 or 4 videos, how it is in the link I posted. Could Vegas or Premiere do that?

[edDV]

I was looking to have a split between 3 or 4 videos, how it is in the link I posted. Could Vegas or Premiere do that?

They could but may be overkill and have excessive learning curve for just that. Security cam software does that. Can you be more specific as to your need? What are you trying to do? A guitar training tape?

[SamZee]

What I would do is, have like 3 video files of me playing the different parts of a song simultaneously, so have like the top half of the screen be something, then 2 different things below it. Kind of like that

[edDV]

What I would do is, have like 3 video files of me playing the different parts of a song simultaneously, so have like the top half of the screen be something, then 2 different things below it. Kind of like that

Do you have editing software now?

You can do this one layer over backgound at a time with loss each pass or all at once with more expensive software.

Google "video quad split" to see if anything simple is out there.

[guns1inger]

StackHorizontal and StackVertical in avisynth is another option.

[SamZee]

downloaded and installed avisynth... but theres no .exe file to start it... its weird.

[jagabo]

AviSynth works via text scripts. You creat the scripts with a text editor (Notepad) and then open the scripts with your encoder -- as if was a video file.

v1=AviSource("video1.avi")
v2=AviSource("video2.avi")
v3=AviSource("video3.avi")
v4=AviSource("video4.avi")

StackVertical(StackHorizontal(v1, v2), StackHorizontal(v3, v4))

You'll probably want to resize too.

You can use AvsP to help you create scripts.

[mrbonner]

Hey Guys.

Im a noob to video editing. the most Ive messed with was movie maker. How ever id like to do something similar. Except Id just like to do a split screen type thing with two clips instead of 4. have the audio overlay and everything. What software would u guys recommend for a noob like mysel that can do this?
Thanks.

[jagabo]

With AviSynth you can do the following to view 2 videos side by side:

v1=AviSource("video1.avi")
v2=AviSource("video2.avi")

StackHorizontal(v1, v2)

Or stacked vertically:

v1=AviSource("video1.avi")
v2=AviSource("video2.avi")

StackVertical(v1, v2)

The videos must be the same height if stacking horizontally, the same width if stacking vertically. Of course, this leaves with with a very wide or very tall frame. For example, if you stack two 720x480 frames sibe by side you'll get a 1440x480 result. If you wanted to keep a 720x480 frame you would have to crop:

v1=AviSource("video1.avi").Crop(180,0,-180,-0)
v2=AviSource("video2.avi").Crop(180,0,-180,-0)

(StackHorizontal(v1, v2)

That crops 180 pixels off the left and right edges of each video leaving only half the width. Stacking them horizontally gives you the 720x480 frame again.

Or you could resize and add borders:

v1=AviSource("video1.avi").LanczosResize(360,240)
v2=AviSource("video2.avi").LanczosResize(360,240)

(StackHorizontal(v1, v2).AddBorders(0,120,0,120)