Creating your own Smart Compositor™ template using the Smart Compositor™ Designer tool
Smart Compositor features a collection of templates that you can select, customize, and insert in your video project. This is the perfect solution for video producers who need to create eye-catching templates for opening sequences or segues well within their time and budget.
Now, you can create your own themed templates and categories using the Smart Compositor Designer tool. This added feature allows you to convert a *.dvp project file into a scene template and mount it in the Smart Compositor library almost instantly.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create your own Smart Compositor template by following 3 basic steps. Begin by preparing your project file.
Step 1: Prepare your project file
Download msp8_sample_project.dvp and open it in Video Editor.
Alternatively, you can create a new project or open an existing one. You can also open a template file, modify it, and save it as a new project file.
Remember!
- Place your audio clip on a separate track. If audio is combined with video on a single track, audio will be ignored. Make sure also that there is only one audio clip (including virtual clip) on the Timeline.
- 3D moving paths, project clips, and silence clips are not supported in Smart Compositor.
When done, launch the Smart Compositor Designer tool by selecting Project: Design Tool.
Smart Compositor Designer will first check your project file.
If all requirements are met, you can start creating your template.
Click Next to proceed.
Step 2: Set project preferences
In the Set Preferences step, you can view properties of elements in your video and specify whether users can or cannot modify certain attributes. To do this, expand the tree view, click an element, and clear or keep the options selected. The settings that you can customize depend on the type of video element that you select.
Click Next to proceed.
Step 3: Save the template
In the Convert and save step, you can package your template to be used inside Smart Compositor.
To save the template:
- Select the path where you want to save the template in Save folder. Let us use the default path for now.
NOTE: You can click 
to browse for your desired location.
- Type your template name in Name. You can select the appropriate folder where your template will be placed in Category type.
For this tutorial, try creating your own template category by selecting Customized in the Category type drop down menu. Then enter the name of the new category in the Customized.
- Select Package as an Installer (EXE) under Save options to package all files used in your template into an executable file.
NOTE: You can also select to package your files into a folder that you will later copy and paste manually into the program directory. For complete information on this option, refer to the Smart Compositor Designer User Guide.
- In Thumbnail, click the arrows
/ 
to scan your video and search for the thumbnail image to be used for your template.
NOTE: You can also click 
to browse for an image file in your computer.
- Click Save to package your template.
- After the process is completed, click Finish.
Your installer file has been created. It is time to bring it over to the Smart Compositor library. You must first close MediaStudio Pro 8.
Browse for the created EXE file, and then double-click it to unpack. The Ulead MSP Pro: Scene Template Unpacker opens. Click OK to install your template.
This automatically adds your new template and category type into the Smart Compositor library.
Launch MediaStudio Pro 8 again to view your scene template.
Congratulations! You have just created your own Smart Compositor template.
For information on how to use Smart Compositor, see the Creating project segments in Smart Compositor tutorial.
