Using PS 11.1.2 I've searched the forums pretty thoroughly and can't seem to find anything relating to the ability to show a grid on a background scene for title placement and alignment. I don't mean the little justify tool that only allows one 9 options for placement or the alignment tool. I mean a true, editable grid size, grid tool. Am I missing something really obvious (wouldn't be the first time!) and if so would appreciate any information on how to implement.

Sorry to say Rick, but to the best of my knowledge there is no such animal in Studio.
I have used 9,10,11 and a little bit of 12 and I haven't come across it yet.

Mick is correct in that there isn't a adjustable grid.

One workround is to create a grid and put it on the overlay track.

The alignment options also include "Align top/middle/bottom" and "Space evenly", grouping and ungrouping, so you shouldn't need to do anything by eye.

I supposed it's down to how you are used to working.

Thanks for the confirmations. It's a shame that there isn't that option in the Title tool. It's especially useful when setting up multiple line titles like lists, etc. The problem I see with your workaround is that there would be no easy way to adjust the grid box size for different alignment needs. For instance, one title list might want to have each line resting on a 20 pixel square line and another on a 10 pixel line. Grid is especially useful for aligning titles vertically

Maybe we'll see this capability in a new version. Hint....hint....hint

Aligning a vertical list and equally spacing it is is pretty straightforward using the Align Left and Space Evenly Vertically options in Title Deco. You should try it - I think you will find it's much quicker than individually placing titles onto a grid.

Thanks for the reply. I tried the alignment tools you mentioned and agree it is quite easy. I still think I like the flexibility of a grid. It allows more precise placement of titles and in some cases that would be faster then the alignment tool. Say  I wanted to set titles to align left and then have each line rest on the bottom of a a 30 pixel grid. Pretty quick to do with a visible, adjustable grid. I think that type of alignment would take a little guessing with the existing alignment tool. I also think that using both would be the ideal solution. Set the placement with the help of a grid, then use the alignment/space tool to lock in. Just my opinion.

Yes - I agree that having both would be ideal. It's also the sort of feature that could be added easily, so as Pinnacle look for ways to add features to Studio to justfy a new version, it might well be a candidate.

I wasn't sure if you knew how powerful the existing controls were.

jjn:

Aligning a vertical list and equally spacing it is is pretty straightforward using the Align Left and Space Evenly Vertically options in Title Deco. You should try it - I think you will find it's much quicker than individually placing titles onto a grid.

 But would this work if one wanted to arrange, say, 20 chapter links onto a single menu?  It would be nice to have a utility to set up a quick grid or table with X rows and Y columns and auto-justification.  Some projects really do require break-up into many chapters, and in other cases it is convenient to use chapter points to segment a video into units <5 minutes so that the >> or << buttons can serve to jump over or repeat sequences.

Once you have a good understanding of how the alignment tools work in Title Deco, setting up a 5x4 grid of buttons is a doddle.

It involves the use of grouping and ungrouping and both vertical and horizonal "Space Evenly"

If you'd like me to go throught the steps I can.

I use an image with a grid on it and pull it up as a background in either the titler or menu. Once i have the foreground all where I want it I drop the background grid image out and pull in the real background image or video.

Cheers

Doug

Sunrisepilot:

I use an image with a grid on it and pull it up as a background in either the titler or menu. Once i have the foreground all where I want it I drop the background grid image out and pull in the real background image or video.

Cheers

Doug

Isn't there a problem with having to adjust the grid size? Say you want 20, 50, 100, etc pixel square boxes for the grid don't you have to create individual grid images for those? Not saying that it's not possible; just it would be much easier if PS had that capability.

I agree that Pinnacle SHOULD add the feature, but I would not hold my breath.

The grid I use hadbold lines every 10 and lighter lines avery 5.

I never have to ajust tighter than 5. And a smart man saves the new menu or title to reuse.

Cheers

Doug

 

I would also appreciate a modifiable grid for aligning objects on the screen.  I spent a considerable amount of time figuring out how to do the following:  http://eastbaymedia.net/demoreel/news_mag.wmv.  A grid would have saved me an hour or more of carefully manipulating the frames for alignment.

Since I was compositing and using both video tracks it would not have been possible for me to construct my own grid an put it on the overlay track.

Moved to Edit from General Feature Request section.

Update: Thanks Jeff.

Shouldn't this be in Feature Requests Marc?

Despite the strengths of the "Space Equally" tool, there still are valid reasons for wanting a grid....

Thanks for the suggestion, Jeff.

Even if one creates a manual grid, perhaps by means of overlay, it still leaves another problem: the row and column sequencing of the chapter titles.  There appears to be no reliable priority (i.e. L to R, then down; or down then L to R).  Sometimes it seems to follow a logic.  Other times it seems arbitrary.  When I tried to assign menu links to a reasonably symetric grid, the sequence from 1 to 12 seemed to jump down, then right, then up, then down, etc.  I tried to move the buttons about to change the order, but the priority seemed to stick, independent of where I moved a button, or whether I broke and reset the chapter links.

This dovetails with the issue described in thread 267184, where it is observed that Studio 12.1 jumbles or mis-orders chapter sequences users create in their menus.  Manually assembled grids or arrays are very difficult to set up, because Studio seems to confuse or reject horizontal or vertical sequences of buttons that a user tries to devise manually.  The menu goes kerflewy.

This is something that has bugged the jeepers out of me as well.

Create a nice menu layout only to have the sequence all out of whack.  No rhyme or reason or logic to how the menu orders the chapter links regardless of how you lay out the menu.

Cheers

Doug