Recently I made a blog post about a CNC Router Table Project where  I made a computer desk. I got quite a few comments from people asking if I had any videos to document the process. I had taken some rough footage during the process but hadn’t had the time to edit it into a nice format.  I finally slowed down long enough to get out the video editing software and edit the file.

Corner Desk - I made these desks on a CNC router table. They use slots and tabs to assemble and require no tools.

I used a really nice Video editing software from Sony called Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum. I am really impressed with this software so far. I am not a video buff so I am not up on all the latest gadgets for editing video. However, I find that this program fit my budget and does way more things than I will ever need. There are many cool features that I am dying to try out but I tend to focus on what I need to get a job done and then branch out as the need or whim allows.

Desk Created on CNC Router Table

With Vegas Movie Studio I can take my clips from my video camera ( a Panasonic HDC-SD90) and store them on my computer. I can open the clips and place them onto a thing called a timeline. The timeline is a place where I can place, video, audio, text and other kinds of media to be manipulated. You can add transitions between the clips so that the movie doesn’t look jerky when scenes change. You can slow things down or speed them up. Add text and even a sound track. I know that you don’t need all these features, but it is nice to have them.

Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD

Sony Vegas Movie Studio will also create Still pictures from inside your video for you. It will also let you create a slide show from still pictures and import them from your hard drive. Creating a slide show with music or narration is a quick way to build a movie without having to use video footage.

One feature that I really found handy in Vegas Movie Studio was the trimmer function. You open a clip in the trimmer and it allowed you to slice the clip up into many small segments and then place them on the timeline. This really saves space and lets you make a shorter more relevant video from rough clips.

I took all the clips I had an loaded them up into Vegas Movie Studio. I shortened a 3 day process down to about 7 minutes. Then I added a few transitions, some text and a few audio files. When I got the video edited to my liking  I clicked a few buttons and exported the video right to my youtube account.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot…. When you make a video for youtube and you include music in that video, you have to have a license to use that music. Most recording artist won’t let you use there music without paying royalties, which can be quite expensive. One way around this is to use Royalty free music.  This is music that anyone can use without having to buy a licence. Here are a few sites that offer Royalty Free Music.

• free play music
• audiomicro
• shockwave sound

All these things were new to me before I got Vegas Movie Studio. Thanks to the great tutorials included in the program that show you how to do common tasks, I was able to make a video of how I designed a computer desk and made it with a CNC Router table.