How To Use Power Director

How to use PowerDirector Mac

(Image credit: CyberLink)

CyberLink PowerDirector is 1 of the best consumer-level video editing programs. It has a great range of features, regular updates, and a good-value subscription toll. For about of its history, it's been a Windows-merely program, only in December 2020, PowerDirector was finally made available for Mac.

It can be tricky for beginners to get to grips with all its features, so in this commodity, we'll guide you lot through the key stages of editing a video using PowerDirector Mac. Fore more info on PowerDirector, encounter our PowerDirector review, or for other editing options, explore our list of the all-time video editing software.

How to use PowerDirector Mac: Preparation

Before you get started, you need to download and install PowerDirector. Make sure you meet the organization requirements: you need Mac OSX 10.xiv or later, at least 4GB of RAM (6GB is recommended), 128MB of VGA VRAM, and 7GB of free hard disk drive infinite.

PowerDirector is available from CyberLink'south website – or see below. In that location'southward a gratuitous trial version, called PowerDirector Essentials, which has no time limit only significantly reduced features. For the full version, you need to sign up for a subscription, which costs $69.99 a year or $19.99 a month.

One time you've called your programme, you'll be able to download a .dmg file. This isn't the programme itself just a downloader. When you open this, information technology'll accept yous through a unproblematic set of steps to download and install PowerDirector. Once this is done, PowerDirector will exist establish in your Applications binder. Load it upwards, and information technology's time to get started editing.

01. Launch PowerDirector

When yous first open PowerDirector, you'll be given a choice of four different modes: Full, Storyboard, Motorcar, and Slideshow Creator. Storyboard arranges your clips every bit a storyboard-like graphical display rather than a timeline, Machine features a wizard which guides beginners through bones edits, and Slideshow Creator is used for creating photograph slideshows in video format.

Total Mode is where you'll spend almost of your time. Its interface has four tabs: Capture, for recording videos; Edit, for almost of the editing work; Produce, for exporting videos; and Create Disc, for burning projects onto a disc.

In the elevation left of the Edit tab is the media room, where all your video clips, audio clips, and still images are stored. To import media, simply drag and driblet clips from Finder into the media room, or click the Import Media icon in the top left and find the clips on your computer.

To organise clips within the media room, you tin can add tags. Click the Add Tag button on the left to create a tag, so drag clips into the tag. This helps categorise clips past scene, location, or subject, for example. Y'all can likewise use the pinnacle bar to filter by media type or to switch between list and icon views.

03. The timeline and preview windows

Along the bottom of the editing interface is a multitrack timeline, on which you will assemble your video. To add together clips, drag them from the media room to the timeline. You can move clips effectually your timeline and layer them on acme of each other.

The preview monitor in the top right of the screen is where you lot can either preview clips you have selected in the media room, or watch the assembly of clips on your timeline, depending on what you last selected. Drag the cerise bar across your timeline to select part of your edit to preview.

04. Trimming clips

Often, you lot won't desire to utilise a full video clip. You lot can choose a department before calculation information technology to the timeline past correct-clicking on information technology in the media room and choosing Precut.

Or, you can trim in the timeline past dragging the terminate of the clip, past dragging the carmine bar to a bespeak y'all want to cut at and clicking the Split Clips icon on the bar above, or by highlighting a clip and clicking the scissors icon to open a trimming window.

05. Transitions

To find PowerDirector's library of transitions, click the transition room push on the top left bar. You can preview all bachelor transitions from here, and to add one to your video, elevate and drib it to the point where one prune touches the next.

You'll now see the transition appear on the clip in the timeline. Double-click on information technology to open the transition settings panel, where you can adapt elapsing and beliefs. To remove a transition, highlight it and press backspace.

06. Add video furnishings

PowerDirector has a range of video effects, including color remainder, spotlight, and stretch. Click the FX symbol on the height left bar to open the furnishings room. So, elevate an effect onto a clip on the timeline.

An furnishings symbol will appear on clips with effects practical, and clicking on this will open up up a settings panel. Each type of effect has its own settings that can be modified. You can also add keyframes to an upshot here – this means you can set different effects values for detail frames in the clip, then PowerDirector will automatically calibration the effects betwixt these keyframes.

07. Audio levels

Sound clips are added and trimmed the same manner equally video clips. The clip's graphic in the timeline will accept a volume line across it. Drag this up or downwardly to adjust the volume.

If you want the volume to change over time – eastward.chiliad. for a music track to become quieter when someone is speaking in a simultaneous clip – y'all can use keyframes. To add together a keyframe, concord Ctrl and click on a signal on the prune. Fix a level for each keyframe by dragging it up and downwards, and PowerDirector will automatically scale the volume between keyframes.

08. Titles

Click the T symbol on the top left bar to open the title room. Here, you'll see diverse championship presets. Elevate the i you want onto the timeline. If you place it on a track below a video prune, the title will announced on top of the prune.

Double-click on a title on the timeline to open the Title Designer. Here, you can write the text and accommodate its properties, including color, font, and shadow. Under its Advanced tab, y'all can also conform the title's animation.

09. Exporting

When you've finished editing your video and are ready to share information technology with the world, go to the Produce tab. Here, under the Standard 2nd option, choose a video file format, save location, and file name, then press Beginning.

This page also has an Online option, which is uniform with YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, and Facebook. You can utilise this to export your video in a format optimised to a particular spider web platform and directly upload to it.

Read more:

Hitfilm Express 15 review
The best video editing apps
The best computer for video editing

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Kieron Moore is a freelance writer based in Manchester, England. He contributes to Time to come sites including TechRadar and Creative Bloq, focusing on subjects including creative software, video editing, and streaming services. This work draws on his feel every bit an independent filmmaker and an independent Goggle box watcher. He can be found on Twitter at @KieronMoore, usually when he'south meant to be writing.