A new feature in FlipShare 5.0 is the ability to import images and video into FlipShare that you didn't take with your Flip.  For example, you might want to use a clip taken with another camcorder in your movie, or a photo taken with another camera.

Format Requirements

For HD camcorders, the final size of your video is in a 16:9 width-to-height ratio, so you should use images and videos that have that ratio, as well.  The images can be in whatever filetype that your video editor supports. More specifically, FlipShare requires that you use JPEG files (.jpg) that are either 640x360 (strangely, the help file says 640x480) or 1280x720.

Additional video requirements, according to Flip:

For the Mac:

• Compression: H.264
• fps: 30
• Resolution: 640x480 or 1280x720
• Audio setting: AAC
• Save as a .mov file

For the PC:

• Compression: H.26
• fps: 30
• Resolution: 640x480 or 1280x720
• Audio setting: AAC
• Save as an .mp4 or .wmv file

Some Great Tools

If you want to create an image, or modify an image or photo to meet the above requirements, there are free image editors that are easy to use. 

• For Windows, my personal favorite is Paint.net, which you can download by clicking this link. This editor will, for example, let you crop a photo to the appropriate dimensions, or convert a file of a different format to .jpg.
• For the Mac, a free tool called Paintbrush fills the same needs.

You can use any number of video editors and converters to conform whatever video you might wish to use to FlipShare's requirements.  A video converter for Windows that is very simple to use is called Any Video Converter, and uses a very simple, three step process:  1) Select a video, 2) Select a format, and 3) convert.  You can obtain that program here.

An interesting thing this program allows you to do is to download YouTube videos and reformat them, allowing you to incorporate YouTube videos, or pieces of them, into your own.

Once you have a properly-formatted image or video you wish to use, simply use the Import... selection from the File menu and follow the directions on the screen.

FlipInFocus members can ask any questions they might have about the process here.