Many ScreenFlow users may not fully understand the capabilities of one of the new version 4.0 updates called nested clips, so I think it’s a good idea to give some examples of how you can use this powerful new feature for your projects. screencast.
The most obvious feature of this feature in ScreenFlow 4 is to help keep your timeline clean and organized. This in itself is a valuable tool because when you’re doing screencasts, especially those longer or more complicated types, you know how intense your workflow projects can be. Layers and layers of audio tracks, images, annotations, callouts, and screenshots can make your workflow downright confusing at times.
The other benefit is the ability to add effects to all tracks within the nested clip. I did a lot of work with this feature during the beta version and I am convinced that it is the most important update that the software has ever had. The ability to add a video action to a nested clip essentially allows you to duplicate effects, since presumably some of the tracks within your nested clip will already have video effects applied individually. For example, you can apply an opacity effect to a single track, then nest that clip and add a resize video action on top of it, causing them to run simultaneously.
The ability to combine the 2 video actions running at the same time really smacks of professional video editing software, and when combined with a bit of creativity, you can now create some amazing effects in ScreenFlow.
These are some of the effects I’ve already tried using nested clips.
I created a motion logo to appear in my video within its own nested clip. This created the common television effect of having a brand, title, or preview in the corner of the screen while a show is running.
I also use the new feature to pull in multiple title lines independently, then split all of those tracks and merge the second half of all of them into a nested clip so I can move all the titles offscreen together. If you’ve ever seen kinetic text videos, here’s what I did with my titles in ScreenFlow.
During my beta test, I also created intros and outros, based on the same nested clip. I would just make one for the intro, then copy and drag it to the end of my video and make some minor adjustments to make it clear that the video was ending. That saved a lot of time and kept my video’s visual theme and branding very tight.
I get a lot of greats for effects when watching TV because a lot of TV channels and shows get pretty creative using graphics, particularly news shows like you see on CNN. They use lower thirds a lot, and nested clips are perfect for creating lower thirds that you can copy and paste anywhere in your video, where you might need a new title or an intro to a new section. What I’m doing now with the lower thirds is copying and pasting them from one video to another, not just within a project, and they seem to transfer easily.
The last thing I did a lot of work on during beta and nested clip testing was making my own transitions. I use it because the type of transitions I was using were more like layers on top of my video that would close together, add a logo, and then open again to a new video theme so I could continue with the content. As with lower thirds, a nested clip in contact with a transition is also easy to transpose to any part of your video or to another video project. That’s great for creating a series of videos on Youtube.
These are just some of the things I’ve used nested clips for in this short time since the release of ScreenFlow 4. I really think the feature is only limited by your own creativity, so I hope a lot of ScreenFlow users will push this program. for you to make some really interesting and amazing graphics in your screencasts and video marketing.
