How to recreate legacy projects in the latest version of VideoScribe

We've created this step-by-step guide to help you to re-create your existing legacy project in the latest version. There are a number of stages to this process:

1. Taking screenshots of your canvas layout
2. Rebuilding your project in VideoScribe
3. Setting the element animations and timings
4. Adding audio

1. Taking screenshots of your canvas layout

The first step is to take a few screenshots of your legacy project to capture the layout of your elements.

• Open your project in VideoScribe Legacy

• Take a screenshot of the entirety of your project’s content on the canvas and save this to your computer

• Now take a screenshot for each of the camera positions in your project

  • Double click on the first element in the timeline to zoom to your first camera position and take a screenshot of the entire visible canvas area - this is your camera 1
  • Next double click on each subsequent element in the timeline until the camera moves, and then take a screenshot on this canvas area - this is your camera 2
  • Repeat this for the whole project until you have captures an image for every camera position in the project

2. Rebuilding your project in VideoScribe

Once you’re happy that you’ve captured all the cameras in your project, head over to VideoScribe to start rebuilding your project. You'll use the screenshot images as templates to help you position all your elements (and cameras) in the appropriate places on the canvas.

Positioning the background template image

• Create a new project with the same dimensions as your original project (16:9, 1:1 or 9:16)
• Next you'll need to upload the image of your original project's entire canvas
• Depending on how large your project is, you'll want to scale this image to use an appropriate amount of the full VideoScribe canvas - use the zoom controls or Shift and mouse wheel to zoom out
• It's also a good idea to change the opacity of this background template image to 50% - you can do this from the 'Edit' tab in the right-hand panel
  
  
• You can also lock this image in place so it doesn't move, and set all the animation timings ('Entrance animation' and 'Pause before next animation') to zero so it doesn't interfere with the timings

Recreating the first section of your project (Camera 1)

• Upload the image of your first camera view and change the opacity to 50%
• Now position this on top of your full canvas image and scale so the images match up
• And as before, lock the image in place

• Next you'll need to reposition 'Camera 1' to fit around this second image - in the latest version. cameras are separate elements which you can move and scale
  
  

Now it’s time to add your initial elements and arrange them according to the background template:

• You'll need to add all the elements that share this camera view - refer to the timeline in the legacy project for the element order

  • When you add text, set the font and font color to be the same as the original
  • You may also have some images that have been recolored
  • You can copy the exact color hex codes from the legacy project and use these to create 'Custom colors' in the new project - as in the example below
• Arrange each one so it sits on top of it's reference image in the background template
  
  

Recreating the next section of your project (Camera 2)

• Next you can upload the image of your second camera view and change the opacity to 50%
• As above, you'll need to position this on top of your full canvas image and scale so the images match up, then lock it and set the timings to zero
• It doesn't matter too much where these template images sit on the timeline (you'll be deleting them when you've finished) but to keep things simple we suggest they all go at the very start
• Add a new camera (at the end of your current timeline) and position this to fit around this latest template image
  
  
• Next, add all the elements that share this camera view - refer to the timeline in the legacy project for the element order
  • Add these elements after your new camera element on the timeline
  • If you followed the tip above then the first element in this section should be highlighted in the template image

Recreating the rest of your project

• Repeat the above steps until you have added all the elements and cameras for your project

• If your project had a background color, then you can copy the hex code from the 'Background options' screen in legacy and then add this to your new project using the 'Scene settings' right-hand panel

• Once you’ve finished adding and arranging all your elements you can delete the screenshots from your canvas - it's a good idea to make a copy of your project before you do this - you can do this from the 'Home' screen

3. Setting the element animations and timings

The next step in the process is to set the animations and timings to match your original project.

• Open the properties screen for the first element in the timeline in your legacy project
• Make a note of the animation method shown at the top of the 'Drawing options' tab
• Apply this to the first element in your new project using the right-hand panel
  • Be aware that the 'Draw' animation method in legacy has been split in the new version into 'Hand draw', 'Pen draw' and 'Draw' (which is equivalent to 'Draw' with 'No hand'). Also 'Move-in' has been split into 'Drag-in' (which uses a hand) and 'Move-in' (which uses 'No hand')

• Next make a note of the timings at the bottom of the 'Drawing options' tab

• Use the 'Animate' time as the 'Duration' for the 'Entrance animation' and use the 'Pause' time as the 'Pause before next element' time
• If there is a 'Transition' time for this element, you will need to do one of the following:
  • If this element is the last element before a camera in the new project, then use the 'Transition' time for this element as the 'Duration' time for the next camera element
  • If not, then you're going to need to add this to the 'Pause before next element' time - so a 0.5s pause and a 1.0s transition would be entered as 1.5s
• Now repeat the above steps for each of the remaining elements in the project, setting the animations and the timings in the new project as you go

4. Adding audio

Locating any audio files

VideoScribe Legacy projects can have up to two audio tracks - a music track and a voiceover.

Music track

• Open the project in legacy and click the 'Music' icon in the top menu bar. If the project includes a music track, the name of the track will be shown in the bottom right of the screen.

  • If this is a track from the VideoScribe music library (see example screenshot below), then make a note of the track name. All these tracks are also available in the latest version, so you'll be able to add it to your new project.
    
    

  • If this is an imported track (see example screenshot below), then the first step is the check if you still have a copy of this audio file - you'll need an mp3 file to import it into VideoScribe. See note below if you cannot locate the original audio file.
    
    

Voiceover

• Next click the Voiceover icon in the top menu bar. If the project includes a voiceover track, you will see an option to preview the audio at the bottom of the screen.
  
  

  • If this was an imported track, the first step, as above, is the check if you still have a copy of this audio file - you'll need an mp3 file to import into VideoScribe. If the voiceover was recorded in VideoScribe, or if you cannot locate the original audio file, then see the note below.

Adding audio files to your new project

• If your project included music from the VideoScribe library, open the 'Audio library' from the 'Audio' left-hand panel to find the track and add it as 'Project audio'
• Import any other audio files from your project from the 'Audio' left-hand panel and add it as 'Project audio'
• Adjust the volume in these tracks right-hand panel

And you're done. You've recreated your project in the latest version, which includes many performance improvements and new features and will continue to evolve and improve.

If you are having any issues with this process, please raise a ticket and our Customer Successs team will be happy to help you.