jacksonmacd

You're welcome. Always interested to improve software that I like. My email is in profile if you require future testing.

BTW - if I double-click the preview panels to open a standalone Preview window, then they work properly. It's only the in-place previews that are corrupted. The final output file also works properly. I can workaround the problem; it's really just a nuisance. However, if you want me to pursue it further, I am willing to help.

If I clear the cache and re-open the project, then the text works properly and the diagonal line does not appear on the Sequence Preview window. However, if I let the system idle for a few minutes (time to rebuild the cache), then the text spontaneously goes corrupt and the diagonal line appears across the Sequence Preview window. The text was created with an outline ON. Turning it off has no effect on whether the text goes corrupt. Adding a text clip to a brand new project with a cleared cache also had the corrupted text, but with such a small project, the cache is updated instantaneously. If I clear the cache then reopen the big project, the existing text clips work properly. If I create a NEW text clip (no shadow or outline), then it is immediately corrupted - scrolls on the diagonal. The corruption shows up first in the Sequence Previews that include the Text Clips. For a few minutes, the Sequence Previews are corrupt, but the Clip Previews of the original Text Clips work properly. However, after a few minutes, then the Text Clips become corrupt too. It seems to work when the item is not in the cache, but fails when it is in the cache. The cache hasn't reached its full size yet as I write this message, but I've seen it as large as 600 files and occupies about 1.5 GB. It takes several minutes to rebuild the cache each time. (BTW, the cache folder is not completely emptied upon exit; about 6 "sound" files remain in the cache folder)

I wrote a very detailed, step-by-step testing response but did not save it externally before clicking the Dropbox link in previous message to confirm it still works. That clobbered the message. Will try to recreate from memory. Bottom line is that v 4.11 and v 4.22 have the same behaviour with the corrupted textboxes. However, v 4.22 did work properly on occasion by swapping between versions, but I could not find a reliable way to make the text boxes work properly. On the other hand, playing with the Scrolling / Non-scrolling setting in the textbox definition did seem to always cause the diagonal scrolling corruption. One textbox contains three lines of white, centred text. When it is working properly, it simply scrolls down the screen. However, when it is corrupted, it acts almost like a Photoshop layer mask in that there are both white and black copies of the text. The white text scrolls vertically, but is hidden except for when it is superimposed over/under the black text which scrolls on a diagonal line. The same behaviour is present in single-line textboxes, although it is harder to see because the text occupies less screen real estate. The dropbox (see earlier message) contains two project files and the video diagnostic results. The original one is the original project. The V-3 copy is from when I found the textboxes to be working properly and SaveAs immediately into a new file. Sometimes the V-3 works properly, sometimes it has corrupted textboxes. Could not find a pattern. Don't know if this stuff is useful, or just a red herring. Hope you can find the cause.

System font had been set to 150%. tried changing it to 100% and 125% (recommended). No change with either of these settings. Tried several fonts, all with the same results. FWIW, and if you think this may be a video problem: Windows 10 64 bit on a Lenovo Y510P notebook computer Two NVidea GeoForce GT755M video cards Driver version 353.62 (most recent)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uaroqd7y940vzlr/AADW99bb5kIdFS516YUMu0wpa?dl=0

???? - I don't see how to attach a file to this reply. Must be overlooking something. ============================================= Ok - here are two screenshots. 1. The Sequence Preview panel showing the diagonal line. The black part of the text seems to be the word "January" that is flipped over, and viewed from the back. The white part is "2015" that is not flipped, but is displayed over top of the "January" 2. The text-box definition dialog, exhibiting the same "flipped-over" behaviour.

Using VP 4.22 on Windows 10. The Sequence Preview window contains a single, diagonal black line running from top left to bottom right, and I don't know where it came from or what it means. Also, the text content of all Text clips is "folded" across itself when viewed in the Clip Preview window, so the text is unreadable. This "folded" behaviour is repeated in the Sequence Preview window when I click the Play button, and the text moves diagonally rather than straight down the screen when vertical scrolling is applied. However, both the video and the text are rendered properly (no folding or horizontal movement) in the output video file. The Video Effects dialogs for the text clips do not have anything applied (everything is blank). So the line is more of a nuisance than a real problem, but it must be from some setting that I accidentally applied to the video. Any ideas where it comes from and how to eliminate?

New: Added toggle button (on toobar audio tab) to switch audio scrubbing on/off. Thanks! I missed it after upgrading, until I saw this note. Sure would be nice to have a direct link from the Help menu to a Changelog. Relying on this forum does not provide comprehensive coverage.

I agree with the need for a changelog. Just now upgraded to 4.21 (squeaked in within the 3-month time limit on free upgrades) but can't determine what new features it contains. The list of upgrade versions in a previous message in this thread is out of date, rendering it useless in this current situation. BTW - I had suggested some changes that were incorporated into 4.11 and benefited from one free upgrade (after purchasing one upgrade). Kudos for that program, but I agree that the conventional upgrade price is unrealistically high. Contrast the upgrade prices for VP with a file manager called XYplorer which sells a lifetime licence. Now *that's* a pricing scheme to aspire to!

@c_major: Using 4.10, I can apply an effect to multiple clips (e.g. Brightness), but can't see how to control the values that are applied. For my case, the brightness always reverts to 128, but I want to apply brightness ~90. How can I do that to multiple clips?

Just noticed there is a "Video File" button on the "Export" tab. Takes you directly to the Export dialog. It's exactly what was needed, and is already there...

I thought it might be caching, so I left the computer running overnight, and there was no difference in the disk space consumed in the cache folder. Still getting the stalling behaviour after the overnight session. This morning, I deleted all the cache files via the Options and let the cache rebuild itself. Windows Task Manager reported 100% disk activity for a while, then it fell to zero after some time (guessing ~1 hour). The cache is now about 8 GB, compared to about 7.5 GB before the rebuild, so not a huge change. The stalling behaviour seems to be fixed, so there may have been something corrupted in the cache. I would like to see something changed in the caching behaviour so that it is more responsive to the section that you are currently editing. For the way I am using VP, caching everything that's contained in the current sequence would be beneficial. Or maybe priorize the caching so that the current sequence is done first, then revert to caching the entire file. I really appreciate your responsiveness in considering this issue.

Using 4.10 Starting with a long, single clip (e.g. 6 hr), add it to the sequence, and pan thru it on the timeline. When I find a section that I want to include in the final product, I copy/paste the clip so I now have two copies. I drag the clip boundaries to the time that I want included, then repeat for multiple clips (e.g. ~50). Then I play back the video using the main arrow under the Sequence Preview window. So far, so good. The problem occurs at some of the clip boundaries: the audio plays back unimpeded, but the video stalls with a "building preview" message. I can understand it happening once per transition, but it occurs multiple times when I play back thru the same transition. This can occur on several of the transitions, but not all of them. And not in sequence - some of the earlier transitions stall, while the later ones play back properly. Further, sometimes a transition plays properly one time, but then falters when I play through it a second time. No recognizable pattern to how it reacts. I've tried "scrubbing" thru the clips when zoomed in tightly, and scrubbing thru the Sequence. Sometimes it helps, other times it makes no difference. I've "clear cache of all unused clips", but it did not make a difference. There is lots of available space on the drive, and the maximum cache size is set to 100000 MB in Tools > Options > Disk. The cache is currently about 7.5 GB for the current project with one source file. The cache had previously been about 18 GB for another similar sized project, and about 28 GB when two projects were cached. It never grew beyond about 28 GB, even after starting a third project. Is there some technique to ensure smooth preview playback?

Wow! Very easy. Thanks. Between the time I sent the message and you replied, it happened again on another clip. Your response was very helpful!

Is there a way to rebuild the preview for a single clip? I've been editing short sections out of the big file and making individual sequences. Been working well. All of a sudden, the preview for one of the clips became "frozen"; shows just a single frame although the audio is intact. When I preview the clip, a message is displayed "Building Preview, please wait..." but nothing ever changes. Further, if I set In and Out points and click the Green Down Arrow, I can't play the resulting section in the Sequence. It shows just a single frame. Other than deleting and rebuilding the cache for the whole file, is there any way to rebuild the preview for the single clip?

Using v4.10

Had opened a project (about 4 h of video) with multiple short clips identified in the file. Viewed one particular clip successfully. Then set In and Out points for another section and clicked the green down arrow to place it in the sequence. Subsequent attempts to view the original clip failed: all that appeared in the clip preview was a single frame from the afore-mentioned In/Out segment. Tried creating a new project with the same original file, but with the same (unsuccessful) results. Final resolution was to go into Options > Disk and clear the cache. When I subsequently re-opened the original project, I could successfully view the clip again. However, it takes FOREVER to rebuilt the audio cache, so I can't do any editing before that step is completed. FYI of the developers - there is a problem with dealing with corrupt caches. Would also be nice to have more granularity of rebuilding the audio caches on large files so that editing can commence before all the caches are rebuilt.

I noticed the same problem. Toolbar button opens a multi-step wizard instead of (previous) dialog box. Please revert to the dialog box since it's much quickere.

All good suggestions. 24 GB free on C drive; creating a SD file. My testing this morning was with only VP running, although I had previously tried multi-tasking. Hadn't tried clearing the cache; will retry, and post if it makes a difference. I've got the latest NVidia drivers, although looking at the CPU and GPU load makes me wonder whether VP actually uses the GPU when rendering. This laptop computer has dual GPUs (and maybe integrated graphics as well?? dunno) which may be a confounding factor. I appreciate the feedback that I haven't missed anything obvious. It's definitely a puzzle.

Using licensed VP 3.52 on Windows 8.1 on a Lenovo Core 7 notebook with 8 GB memory. I've created a ~9 minute sequence consisting of about 60 clips. Had been creating "trial" versions of the final rendering during its development, and final output file size grew to 228 MB. Output is .AVI, H264, and YouTube 720P. Everything appeared OK until yesterday. Many of the frames of yesterday's trial were corrupted - they appeared "solarized" - and many of the text overlays failed to appear, although the full sequence was rendered. Tried again, but VP crashed about 10% of the way thru rendering. Tried several times, with crashes occurring at different locations in the sequence. Frustrated, I put it aside for the night. Tried again this morning, and the full sequence rendered properly (file size 228 MB) in about 16 minutes. Immediately tried again, and the rendering took about 5 minutes with file size about 35 MB. Tried a third time and it took about 16 minutes to complete the rendering. File size is 235 MB compared to previous 228 MB, and a few frames were "solarized". This is without making any changes to the project file. I suspected overheating, so I installed a hardware temperature monitor. CPU is stable at about 70 C, while GPU is stable at about 45 C. What could explain the unpredictable behaviour? How can I ensure that VP will correctly render the output?

Tried that, but dragging would not open a gap. However, there is an orange "helper" outline that appears when attempting to drag. Its the same outline as appears when dragging from the media window to the timeline. Bonus: the orange outline "snaps" to the clip boundaries, which is exactly what is necessary to avoid creating "sliver" clips. Lesson learned: avoid using the green down arrow or the menu commands. Dragging the clips is the way to go!

Thanks, borate. That is a good tip

Suppose I have a sequence with some existing clips, and I want to add a new clip between (say) existing clips #3 and 4. I know that I position the cursor near the end of #3 then "PLACE ON SEQUENCE AT CURSOR", but that always seems to split either #3 or #4, resulting in an extra clip of 1 or 2 frames. How do I place it exactly between #3 and 4 without splitting the existing clips?

Not sure we are understanding each other. I don't know what you mean by the word "complete" in this context. For example, my original project has 25 clips. Let's say that the inpoint/outpoint for number one is 1 minute and 2 minutes, while clip number 2 is 5 minutes and 7 minutes. Similar data for all of the 25 points. **That's** what I would like to import into the second project. Instead, what I get is a list of 25 clips, all with the **same** name and all with in/out points that span the entire length of the original file. There is zero information about what timespan is covered by any of the clips. My question: is that what you mean by "complete". If so, then the program is working properly, but delivering useless information. If it's not what you mean, then I am afraid I don't understand what you mean by "complete". So far, I have not even *used* the clips in a sequence -- I've only identified their in/out points. It's cut down a six-hour file into perhaps one hour of "interesting" stuff. I fully expect that more cutting will be required as I make a final sequence. I will look at your information about saving out the various avi's, but it just seems to me that preserving the information about what timespans are represented for each clip would be more straightforward.