Nationalsolo

Hi Sam Thanks for the reply and yes, I know you can only stabilize the clips in the bin. It was just a suggestion that seemed logical and possibly quicker. It rather looks like I might just as well stabilize the whole film copy each time and just be patient. :-)) I am adding my false "screen border" image with the rounded corners anyway which will cover up any deshaker borders. Regards Nat

Hi Scrolling time can effect how smooth it looks. If, for example you are scrolling text from top to bottom of the screen the smoothness will depend on the duration of the text clip. If this is rather short, say only a few seconds then the text has to move more pixels between each frame and this can produce a slightly jerky movement. Give more time for the text to scroll and it should appear smoother. Exporting with a constant frame rate may also smooth the result. If it seems uneven and not just "jumpy" it may be linked frame rate try making input and output frame rates the same. Worth trying Nat

Hi Checkout more closely the solutions mentioned above (i.e. undocking the clip preview pane) and you will see that it isn't THAT much different to the earlier versions of VP. The only thing I don't much like is that the Effects pane can't be adjusted in size and when on top it will always obscure part of the preview window.......... You can, of course "slide back" the animation editor and enlarge the preview pane but it's in integral part of the effects pane for many of the effects. I can't see why the animation editor can't be re positioned to appear from the bottom of the Effects window............ With this configuration you don't get an overlap and you can drag out the preview pane to fill the right hand side of the display where it will actually be larger than with the old integrated effects display. Nat

Hi In short....No. Unless your Photoshop colour profile is not correct. Try sRGB. My experience is that jpegs (edited using Picture Publisher, not Photoshop) import to VP and look just like the original. Can you upload examples with a post of before and after images.(Using- say, .Pictr.com) It might become more obvious what is happening. What version VP are you using? If the jpegs look fine when saved from Photoshop they should import to VP OK. Nat

Hi Sam OK, on reflection I agree with you on the points you made. It's just something I noticed that I found a bit inconsistent. If the name in the clip bin doesn't change (perhaps for reasons of compatibility with a generated .vpj or cache data file?) what about adding an identifier to the thumbnail similar to the green tick....like a red "S" just to indicate it is treated? On a slightly different tack....From a users point of view it would be logical to simply split the timeline at the start and end of the bad section and directly apply the stabilize function to this section...VP, in the background creating a clip from it, stabilizing it; and then putting it back into the timeline replacing the shaky bit. A bit like using the current effects. Is this possible? Something like this would be very useful for people like myself re-doing old super8 film copies where there are lots of shaky sections. Currently all we can do is stabilize the whole film which can take an age or create individual clips of the bad bits for treating which is also labour intensive. Nat

Hi Sam Thanks for your reply. After checking a little more I can happily concede that you are correct in saying that a copy is made of the stabilized file with the addition of "-stabilized" I originally couldn't find it as I had forgotten that I had changed the destination folder for these - I used to use the desktop. (Doh!) So that part is OK. However there is still a problem... The original unstabilized clip that was loaded to the clip bin IS replaced by the stabilized version without prompting and moreover it retains the original name..... "-stabilized" is not added! I don't think think this should happen at all...see below... To check this behaviour.... Load a suitable clip to VP e.g. "Shaky.avi" but make a copy "Shaky-copy.avi" and load that as well. Stabilize "Shaky.avi" After conversion you will see the "Shaky.avi" bin clip reload. Presumably being overwritten. BUT... It will retain it's original name so you can't distinguish that it has been changed. This is a mistake as it really ought not to do this. In effect you lose the original clip from the bin which shouldn't happen. Also as editor, the decision to overwrite a clip should be left to the user. Looking in the default destination folder you should find "Shaky-stabilized" as you correctly say. :-) In order to see that this overwrite has been made you can now compare the clips in the bin by placing them on the timeline....you will see that "Shaky" and it's copy are no longer the same......"Shaky" has been stabilized. I feel what should happen is that the stabilzed clip (with its new name) should be placed in the bin as a separate clip and that the original clip is not overwritten. It would be quite easy to make the replacement directly on the timeline after reviewing both clips. This test was done before anything was placed on the timeline but the same thing happens If the clip in question is already there, it also is replaced on the timeline. Nat

Hi Is it a crash requiring a PC reboot or does VP simply stop running or freeze while still displaying? Nat

Hi NCH Stabilization works very well and I am currently using it a lot when copying old super 8 videos, but formally stabilized clips were copied to the output folder with the original name plus the word "stabilized" added on and one could review it and decide whether to use it or not. In VP 4.48 The stabilized clip is now saved with the same name to the output folder and the clip in VP is replaced automatically with the stabilized one. There is no indication however in the clip bin that the clip has been treated, so it is difficult to determine which of the bin clips are the treated ones. It would be nice to keep them both in the bin. Am I correct in this or is there a setting to change so as to keep both files separate. Nat

HI Note that when you move a clip by dragging it along the Video track, BOTH THE CLIP AS WELL AS ITS SOUND TRACK will highlight (turn blue). If you have unlinked them then only the selected track will highlight and it will only be THAT track which will move. If you have inadvertently unlinked them, right click one of the clips (the video or the sound) and you should see the option to restore the linkage. You will be able to do this even if you have already moved the clip. Click on and close any gaps this produces. Check also that the clip audio (if unlinked) has not found its way to a lower Audio track as it may not be visible.....preview the "gap" and see if the sound is there. The Audio track should NOT disappear unless you unlink and specifically delete it Nat

Hi Tried mocking it up with a graphics program and a VP screen copy. I think it might be better if the IN/OUT markers were at the top keeping the cursor line as it is. Looks better too. What do you think? Nat

Hi Sam I have just realized while working on a Super 8 copy that had a rather poor border that I couldn't clean it up using the current border effect as the only adjustment this has is to the width of the border. The sides and top are not independent so the AR stays the same and is no good for the film format. In this case it was just a matter of having to use Crop. If however you can implement my idea above to make an effect that looks like a film type projection frame with rounded corners and an adjustable internal edge fade, could it be devised so that the sides can be independently adjusted? Nat

Hi Just gets better!

Hi "Check the earlier VP versions 2.xx The ends of the transition could be dragged left or right to off-set it with respect to the cut. (It still had to be on the join of course.) Currently it is fixed centrally over the join." Just noticed that V4.48 will allow you to drag the ends of the transition in or out but unlike the earlier versions when it was an orange bar. the transition could be de-centred by moving one end more than the other. Now when you do this it simply remains centred but changes its duration..... which can easily be done by clicking the X button and entering a different value into the duration box or continuing on to the transition properties box and changing it there. I appreciate that dragging the ends of the transition is a "visual" way of changing its duration but why not re-introduce the de-centering action the program used to have and have the additional feature? Nat

Hi NCH Just a small suggestion. Currently in the Clip Preview pane, the "Pointer" part (the red block) of the red cursor line is at the lower end of the line, (unlike the "Pointer" on the main sequence track and the Storyboard track which is at the top.) In this lower position it almost totally obscures the red IN marker when the clip is first accessed. This makes it a bit difficult to grab and its quite easy to find oneself moving the IN marker instead of the cursor line and vice versa. Would it be possible to place the pointer block for this pane at the top end of the line to make its position more consistent? Also It would make it easier to see and grab the IN marker. Nat

Hi Sam Thanks Reloaded VP 4.00 and deleted all the home made presets from the list except for one which wouldn't shift. Back in VP 4.48 just that one entry remains. No big deal though as I will just redefine it...just wondered why I couldn't remove any. I prefer the creation of effect templates when required anyway. Nat

Hi NCH I have created a couple of presets that appear in the drop down list. They are no longer useful but how do I clear these entries from the list? (Not referring to the Templates) I thought if I right clicked I might get a "Delete preset" option but there is no menu. Nat

Hi Check the earlier VP versions 2.xx The ends of the transition could be dragged left or right to off-set it with respect to the cut. (It still had to be on the join of course.) Currently it is fixed centrally over the join. The overall length of the two clips stayed the same as it does now. I found this useful where the clips contained a lot of noticeable movement and the still image(s) became quite obvious. Changing the position of the transition around the join would reduce duration of this effect for at least one of the still images The introduction of an overlay track meant one could create a "proper" cross-fade by overlapping the clips ( I say "proper" as in the days of actual film my camera could be faded out, wound back and the next scene faded in. In effect the film was overlapped. The problem as demonstrated by this thread is the inability to add transition across the clips on different tracks. trhaynes seemed satisfied with the suggestions made to overcome this. I would suggest that the current cross-fade effect is kept but a "proper" crossfade (dissolve) is designed so that , with both clips on the same track, all one has to do is to grab Clip 2 and drag it left over Clip[ 1. Some visual marker, cross hatching/colour bar, being created to show the extent of the overlap and within the overlap the transparency of clip1 being increased from 0 to 100%. Once the effect has been created the dissolve could be split automatically in the centre to allow a shape transition to be added over the join if required. Nat

Hi " trhaynes just wants to apply an A/B transition together with audio cross fade (without all these painfull processes described above) .". ...and you are correct VP won't support it but it was a possible solution. However...painful is a bit harsh I don't think they are particularly painful per se..just a bit phaffy. :-) Depending on your viewpoint part of the enjoyment of editing is finding a way of doing something with the tools available. Earlier versions of VP DID (or at least appeared to,) cross-fade the sound tracks when a transition was applied. (You could also displace the transition left or right so that each clip could have a different proportion of the transition.) but neither of these actions is now available. Who knows, NCH may have a look and implement something. Nat

Hi Note that "sequence" can be interpreted in different ways. ...a sequence of separate clips placed one after another or a single unit made from those clips. VP uses the latter concept. Once you have joined clips together to form a "sequence" (of clips) , you can click the tab marked "Sequence" on the toolbar right at the top of the screen and then select "New sequence" This will join your clips together and place them in the Sequence bin of the media list which will now show Sequences(2) as there is always a blank one present. The timeline will now clear. You will have created a Sequence. (Note you can can achieve the same thing if you click the Sequence tab shown under the top toolbar.) If you then add further clips to the empty timeline you can create another sequence using the same steps. (or by clicking the + after the words Sequence 1 x Sequence 2 x at the left end of the track) On the media list Sequence bin. the tab will always show how many sequences are present (+1 blank) Each time a sequence is created, the Video track 1 will clear. The answer to your question then is that you can now open the Sequence bin and add your sequences to the timeline in exactly the same way as clips. Each sequence will behave like a single clip. You can place them in any order on the timeline or as an overlay. You can split them and add effects etc. The original clips from which the sequences were created remain in the clip bin for use again if required. Sam's post shows Sequence 1(Brown) on the timeline with Sequence 2 (yellow) following it. Note there are 3 sequences in the bin and the bin Tab says Sequences(3) Sequence 3 is usually a dummy sequence and in VP 4.48 is normally shown as a Clapperboard icon. Nat

Hi Sam Thanks. It's not an urgent feature as the image border I mentioned works quite well. I can make it narrower etc using the Scale effect. I just thought it could be a useful enhancement to VP effects. I have plenty of Super8s to go at so it can easily wait for the next release. Nat

Hi Borate Thanks very much for the ideas. I had previously already played about with using a mask but getting the corners correct was quite a phaff. I ended up having to create transparent gif border in another program to use as an overlay. This does work OK but It would be so much easier if a border effect producing something like this could be added... Just like the current border effect with width settings but with round internal corners and perhaps with a variable blend on the inside. The current mask controls are not that easy to use as one can't add a grid to the expanded clip preview screen to see if things are parallel etc. and there are no value boxes. I didn't find it terribly intuitive which is one of the things VP prides itself on. My.gif border does work but its an added complication if I want to use any overlay effects. Nat

Hi NCH I am currently converting a large number of Super 8 films to digital format but would like to retain the old type projection border with rounded corners instead of the current sharp corners in the border effect. Could this be implemented? Something like "Old film border effect" Nat

Hi You have to have both clips on the same track to fully use any transition correctly but you can fade- in/fade-out a clip whichever track it is on. Borate and myself have looked at this in one of your earlier posts and I think this might work for you. It's pretty straightforward and you don't have to splt or unlink anything as we initially thought It's not 100% but it IS workable...... Place both clips together on Video Track 1 Pull up Clip 2 to the overlay track and drag it left for the full duration of any transition (e.g. 4 seconds) Add the circle transition to Clip 1 for 4 seconds Add a fade into Clip 2 using the f button that is on the clip. Make it 4 seconds. Clip 2 will now fade in through the circle transition. Sound tracks can be faded in/out as required. Everything remains in sync Nat

HI Borate That's exactly the step I mention in my post although I suggested making the overlap with just clip 2, (nevertheless the end positions are the same so we are thinking along the same lines. The difficulty here is that trhaynes wants to apply a circular (or similar) transition to the two clips which now are on different tracks and that can't be done. Applying the transition to Clip 1 will only apply it (for its complete duration) to the end of clip1. As there is nothing above this until the overlay kicks in, it shows only a black circle getting larger. As soon as the cursor line reaches the start of Clip 2 the transition has finished and Clip 2 appears in its entirety. This, I think is much better.. Not100% but much better... Place both clips together on the timeline Pull up clip 2 to the overlay track and drag it left for the full duration of any transition (e.g. 4 seconds) Add the circle transition to Clip 1 for 4 seconds Add a fade in using the f button to Clip2 for 4 seconds Clip 2 will fade in through the circle transition. Sound tracks can be faded in/out as required. Nat

Hi Borate's solution will work but unless I am mistaken, after adding the effect transition to the video you will have to unlink the sound track on Clip 2, pull it down to Audio Track 2 and then to the left so it overlaps the Audio of Clip 1. Then you can add your fades. This means that the Audio for Clip two will be out of sync. If you are using Music this probably won't matter. The problem here is that you can't simply place your Clip 2 onto the overlay track and have an animated transition between the two clips on the different tracks. There is a partial solution. Put your clips together on Video track 1. Drag clip2 up to the overlay track and to the left a little. (giving a suitable overlap....say 2-3 seconds. Using the prompt buttons under the preview screen move the red cursor line to the left end of Clip2. Now split Video track1 (Video only) Delete the cut off portion Unlink the audio from Clip2 Now drag Clip 2 back down to the Video track 1 You should now have the audio tracks overlapped but both still in sync. Apply the fade-out and fade-in to the overlap in the audio tracks as Borate suggests. Apply your circle transition to the Clips. As I said this is only a partial solution as the audio crossfade only happens half way through the transition but it might be better than nothing. (Much later...) Better solution...See below Nat