Pinnacle 18, Use digital photos to create YouTube video

[Laura Buffy]

Hi everyone, OK I am completely lost with Pinnacle 18.
This is what I need to do: use digital photos to create a video to upload to YouTube for my online classroom (I am an art instructor).
I got a new laptop with Windows 10 expecting to be able to use Movie Maker, but NO!
So Best Buy suggested I buy Pinnacle 18. I did and the Geek Squad installed it for me.
I printed all 400+ pages of the PDF user's manual. OMG!
I've gone to YouTube for help and the "basics" assume that I already know how to do simple things like add text, which I don't in this software!
I've tried Lynda.com and they don't support Pinnacle anything.
Question: Is there such a thing as "Pinnacle for Dummies'? because that's how I am feeling right now!
Any suggestions would be so helpful!
Thanks, Laura Buffy

[redwudz]

Laura Buffy, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks,

Moderator redwudz

And welcome to our forums.

[Laura Buffy]

Thank you Moderator Redwudz...I am really new to all of this, I appreciate your help! LB

[budwzr]

The "Pinnacle Class" editors are designed for newbies, so you cant get much simpler. Check out Magisto.

[Laura Buffy]

Thank you budwzr, so in y'alls opinion do I still need Pinnacle Studio 18?

[budwzr]

Magisto will automate a "Ken Burns" style still animation, and score the soundtrack. Then you can add more on top of that, with Pinnacle or another software.

[Brainiac]

Pinnacle Studio does have a function similar to Magisto called SmartMovie. It basically adds pan and zoom effects to your selected images and video clips and matches the video duration to the audio. The complete project can be further edited on Studio's timeline, so you can add titles, change transitions, etc.

There is a book sold by Amazon and other places. I have not read the book, but found it via a Google search. Here is the link in case you are interested: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pinnacle+...nnacle+18+book

The book is called Pinnacle Studio 18 Plus and Ultimate Revealed.

As far as still needing Pinnacle 18, it depends on whether you want to dig in and learn the nuts and bolts of Studio, or if Magisto (or some other option) fits the bill. If you do learn how to use Pinnacle efficiently, then the concepts you learn will make it easier if you decide to upgrade to a more robust editor.

Brainiac

[Laura Buffy]

Oh my Gosh! Thank you Brainiac, I have a deadline for this Monday to post to an online classroom...I do want to learn how to create beautiful videos and will follow up with the link you provided. I really appreciate all y'alls (southern plural for y'all help today. I'll check back in to report my progress! Laura Buffy

[SameSelf]

The best way to learn how to use these NLE's is to simply get in there and power through a project, no matter how painful. You will make mistakes, many things won't make sense, but that is how you learn. It is a lot like learning to bake a souffle, watching videos of someone else will only get you so far. Even after watching a video, it will still take two or three or more tries to get it right. Working with NLE's is exactly the same in my experience. Good luck. Oh, and BTW, how did you end up with version 18? Version 19 has been out since September.

[Laura Buffy]

Hi SameSelf, Well to answer your first question...18 is what Best Buy sold me! At the moment I am NOT happy with them, my new laptop is completely locked up...but I digress!
Anyway, I agree with you in that the best way to learn something is to just do it. I preach this to my art students all the time...thanks for calling me out on this! My Grandfather always said "if you want to learn how to build a house, then build a house"
So, last night I was playing around with importing pictures into the timeline and investigating what all the buttons do. Then the thing just locked up! It is a Lenovo with windows 10 and something called One Drive keeps trying to sign in.
Got an appointment with Geek Squad tomorrow to fix the situation.
Meanwhile, I won't be able to create a video by Monday's deadline, so I'll just do a picture by picture tutorial on my blog.
Thank you for your reply!

[TreeTops]

OneDrive is Microsoft's cloud storage feature. You can Google search "How to turn OneDrive off in Win 10"