Creating a Custom Overlay in PhotoSuite to Use In VideoWave

Once the video has loaded, press the Play button to begin.

Creating a Custom Overlay

Videowave already has a lot of overlays (VideoWave > Add Overlay) but if you want something new, or maybe a little more personal, it's easy to make your own custom overlays in PhotoSuite.

I used a paper sample downloaded from ScrapbookFlair.com, which Roxio listed in its newsletter as a resource for PhotoSuite projects, but any image on your computer should work, as well.

Begin by creating a new canvas in PhotoSuite by clicking File > New > New Canvas and setting up the New Canvas dialog box:

Size: Custom
Width: 720 pixels
Height: 540 pixels
Orientation: Landscape

Click OK.

To insert the paper, click Photo > Open/Create > Insert Photos and Cutouts and navigate to your paper image in the Add Dialog box that opens. Click on a paper and click on Add.

Stretch the paper to fill the canvas by dragging the corner handles.

Click on File > Save, give it a relevant name, and save the file with a DMSP file extension. This is PhotoSuite's native file format.

To cutout the center, make sure that you are in the All tab, scroll down and click on the Tools tab (in Creator 2009, click on the Change Objects tab) and then click on Mask/Cutout by Shape.

Click on the square shape and then click on the Add selected shape button. Drag out the square shape into a rectangle so that it fills about 70% of the center of the paper. This allows for the tv safe zone with a little extra so that the overlay is still visible.

Click on Create Cutout, select Cookie-cut it out and click OK.

Right click on the cookie cutout and click Delete to delete the cutout.

To add a few more elements, click on the Enhance tab and then click on Clip Art.

In the dropdown box, click on one of the categories and drag a peice of clip art out onto the canvas. Drag into any position you want and resize using the corner sizing handles. Drag any other clip art you want out and resize them the same way. Distribute them around the canvas however you'd like.

Click Add or Edit Text, and type your text in the text box.

Choose a font in Font drop-down box and make any style and color changes.

Save your file as a PNG file: Click File > Save As and in the Save dialog box, click on the Files of Type drop-down box and choose the PNG extension.

Click on the Options button and make sure Yes is selected under Transparency. Click OK and then click Save.

Open a production in Videowave and add your pictures and transitions, etc.

Click on the Add Photo/Video button, and navigate to the png file you just saved in PhotoSuite. Select it and click Open. In the Insert photo/video dialog box select Insert as overlay and click OK.

Right click on the overlay in the Preview window and click on Save as custom overlay in the context menu. Type in a name for your overlay and click OK.

To use your custom overlay in your future VideoWave productions, click on Add Overlay, click on the drop-down arrow in the Add Overlay dialog box, click on the Custom category, and choose your custom overlay from the list.

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