Split Screen - A Quick How To

Several people have asked me how I do the split screen comparisons, so I thought I would post a simple tutorial for those who are interested.

I use PowerDirector 10, but the general techniques should be applicable to any software editing software that provides two or more tracks for video.  First prepare your video as you normally would in the first track.  Load the clip you want to compare in the second track.

In the screen shot above, I have selected the clip in the top track to work with first.  In order to make it easier to see the position changes I want to make with the top clip, I deselect the second video track.

Notice there is a plus sign within a circle on the viewing screen in the first photo.  (If you can't see it, double click on the photo for a larger image.)  Place your cursor on the plus sign and move the clip toward the top of the frame.

Now to work on the second clip.  Check the video box so that it reappears on your editing screen, and click on the clip itself so that you can move it. 

In the screen shot below, the video of the second clip is pretty much obscuring the top clip which I have already moved.  Now all I have to do is place my cursor on the plus sign and drag the second track toward the bottom of the viewing screen.

And voila!  You now have both video tracks visible on the same screen.  Magnify the tracks and move the second clip right or left until you have a common starting point in the two clips.

If you want to add a little more work to your project, you can crop the second clip to remove some of the sky.  Unfortunately, in PD10 this isn't as easy as it could be since there is no pre-set template that allows for one step horizontal cropping.  (Oddly enough, there are three templates for vertical cropping.)  I don't know how easy it is to crop the view in other software, so I leave that for you to explore.

Here is a shot of the finished project.  I have cropped the bottom clip and moved it so that Belle and Dusty are both just breaking the plane of the first jump.

Time to Work on Our Dog Walk

Yesterday at the Ready Steady Go NADAC trial, Dusty went 3 for 4, which for him is absolutely awesome.  Additionally, one of the Q's was in Elite Chances.  His last Elite Chance Q was in February, 2010.

Belle and I didn't do quite so well.  She missed two of the three dog walk contacts in her runs.  However, our Touch n Go was awesome, and I savored it despite the missed contact.  On our Jumpers run, I remembered that I outran her twice last weekend, so I took a conservative lead out, thinking I'd easily beat her to the spot where I wanted to do a front cross.  Wrong.  I ended up doing a rear cross and got the first serpentine, but I wasn't were I planned to be for the second and pulled her off the third jump.  Then I managed to pull Belle off a second jump later in the course, and finally for the final blow, I managed to get her to drop a bar.  When it was Dusty's turn, I lead out to where I wanted to do my front cross, and things went much better.

Since Belle did a little stress scratching at the start line on almost all of our runs, I decided to leave not line her up between my legs for Tunnelers and see if she found that less stressful.  I ran away from her and when I turned to face her from the exit of the second tunnel.  I received the shock of my life when I realized she was half way through the tunnel.  Belle never breaks her start lines!  I was so flustered I momentarily forgot the course and omitted the first loop.


 
I was a little bummed that Belle and I did so poorly in terms of Q's, but when I thought about it, the Regular run was pretty good and the TnG was really nice except for the missed dog walk contacts.  And both the Jumpers and Tunnelers NQ's were due to handler error.  So I need to work on my handling--nothing new there and it's time to tackle the dog walk contacts again.

I don't particularly want a running dog walk contact.  However, I seem to absolutely suck at teaching fast 2o2o contacts.  So, my plan is to work on a running dog walk contact with Belle.  It will be good practice for my next dog.  For now, I'm going to prop one ramp of the dog walk on a milk crate and use the table as a starting point.  I tried it this morning, and decided to also place a hoop at the end of the ramp.  I simply tossed a ball and released Belle to get it, clicking when she hit the yellow and saying nothing if she missed.  Actually, the only problem we encountered this morning was that initially Belle did a 2o2o.  However, she quickly got the idea that I wasn't looking for a stop.

Here's wonderful video of a woman in France using Silvia Trkman's method to train a running dog walk.  It makes me wish I had a set of stairs.

Scott County Kennel Club Trial - Part 2

Saturday was the day I had been practicing for and I knew that the challenges on Craig Josling's courses might be quite subtle.  First up was JWW.  Because I wanted Belle to run her fastest, I started out with her on my right.  Unfortunately, I got ahead and my timing at the tunnel was very poor and almost forced her into the wrong end.  I should have just lead out to the landing side of 2 and run to the tunnel with Belle on my right.  Much less chance of me messing that up.

Having cued too early once on this course and getting away with it, I lost total presence of mind and out ran Belle by what seemed an eternity to the weave exit.  I turned and faced her and ended up pulling her out.  Bad handler; poor trainer :(

Now for the subtleties of the course.  If the handler goes in deep to the tunnel and fails to get ahead of his dog, he will be forced to move in the direction of the unnumbered jump between 8 and 9 in order to not run into the wing of 9.  Next, if the handler is not far enough ahead of his dog going through the box for 11 to 12, his line into the box will drive his dog off-course to 19.  Lastly, tunnel 14 caused handlers problems both coming and going.

By comparison with the JWW course, the Standard course was pretty straightforward with no cleverly hidden potential off-courses.  My plan for the opening was to send Belle over 3 to the tunnel and pick her up from the landing side of 5.  However, after watching the runs before me, I realized that there was no good reason to use distance handling here, so I ran with her.

Almost everyone, including me, did a front cross or a blind cross between 9 and 10.  Most did a second front cross between 11 and the table.  I was hoping to achieve a tight wrap by cuing it with deceleration and a verbal "wrap."  I should have also thrown in an offside arm to grab Belle as she took off.  Something went wrong and Belle turned left upon landing.  I think it may be because I moved back and a little bit to the left to signal the turn.  Also if you look at the line from the 9/10 gap to where I ran for the post turn, it is trending left.  This is a sequence I want to set up and try to run in as many different ways as I can think of.

Surprisingly, very few dogs took the wrong end of the tunnel after the A-frame.  However, several did not pick the weaves as their next obstacle upon exiting the tunnel ;-)

What Did You Learn Today?

In addition to working on Silvia Trkman's Handling I class, I also decided to try out Dawn Weaver's monthly online instruction series.  Dawn has two different sets of exercises available, one for novice teams and one for more experienced teams.  I took the plunge and sent my $26 across the seas for the first set of experienced exercises.  The first set of exercises required a set of 12 weaves, two tunnels (actually one tunnel and a chute), and six jumps.  (Each exercise includes four sequences.)  You videotape your efforts and submit up to five minutes of you and your dog working on them by posting them to YouTube and sending Dawn the link.  Dawn will then review your video and email you feedback plus a link to video of her running the sequences with her dog(s).  (A terrific option is that if you are having a problem in training or in the ring, you can submit video of that instead of your efforts on that month's exercises and Dawn will give you feedback.)

The feedback I received was awesome.  Since I train on my own, I can only improve or change what I realize needs improvement or changing.  That can be a rather huge Catch 22.  For instance, I didn't realize how many times I am late in completing my front crosses.  I thought I was supposed to finish my rotation as Belle was in the air.  Oops.  That actually makes it late.  I also never realized that I often backhand Belle into a rear cross while facing the wrong direction.  Additionally, Dawn gave me some advice about my lead outs and my positioning relative to a jump that is to be wrapped.  Very interesting stuff that took my several hours to digest

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.