Alan R

Hi Nat I searched the forum for "Panorama" and found another user had already asked the same question, to which you provided the above answer! I followed your instructions as best I could (probably changes between VP 2016 and VP 2021) but the result although it panned, remained vertically squashed. Something had not worked, so further searching found the "Stretch to Aspect Ratio" effect which when applied worked perfect. Was I right in having to add the extra effect or have I missed something in the Zoom effect I needed to have done? Note I had already created what I wanted but using the "scale" effect (you will remember from our conversation over the last few days) that we all concluded has some issues with large jpegs, and this panorama was some 4,700 pixels wide. Look forward to your reply. Alan

I fully understand - and in this case the solution where needed is so simple - and this discourse will at least inform the user base that in rare circumstances there may be issues but having read all this - the solution is trivial. Thanks for all your help Alan.

Interesting - I never considered it might be the render process getting upset by the high resolution demand. But no worries, maybe we can be content with the fact that trying to demand a super high resolution (that is almost unreasonable) problems might be expected. Rather than as I said, lets get a cure, would be nice if we got a warning message instead then at least rather than crash, we could correct the issue and then re-render. Thank you for your help (maybe in this instance "....category of things that are not meant to be known." may not be applicable 😃) Alan

Hi Nat - interesting to read your comment - at least I'm not going mad! Totally agree with your size comments of keeping at or below 2K, all my photos are now at HD and there's no problem at all. To be honest if I look back through earlier projects I see that usually when I post the jpgs they will be saved at HD so this issue with large images and tweaking them with 'scale' was almost never likely to happen!! So has this "large" issue been around longer than we think?? My camera takes huge images and that gives me wide cropping options for which I mostly take advantage, not the increased resolution. My TV is HD and not a huge 50 inch plasma screen set half a mile away 😆 Appreciate your coments Alan.

Tried the repository and successfully downloaded VP 10.96 Pro 64bit and installed without issue. Sad to say the same issue with large jpg (4539KB 5472x3080) is still present. Reduced the large jpg to smaller (204KB 1920x1080) and it rendered as expected. All scale animations exported using https://drive.google.com/file/d/14-lWuQ45mCv2qFX2g7DlyBTTryhgIiNy/view?usp=sharing In that I can relatively easily reduced the resolution of the huge files (at no detriment to perceived quality) so they process ok, are we heading toward another of Borates quotes "Until it can be replicated by others it remains in the category of things that are not meant to be known." 😊

Two points 1) your TRY THIS links are just not working, so I cannot comment on your suggestions. 2) the lo-res export - does it animate using the scale effect? All I see when I play your video is static images of my pic that I am trying to animate (using scale graph tweaking) interspersed with irrelevant adverts. I do not see anywhere what I am looking for. I have produced a short video using one of my smaller jpg's (625GB) of applying a scaling effect - its called desired_demo.mp4 and is here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IGJYWFTpPcdnvqrJwsCP1lD0FEPgEDG4/view?usp=sharing If i had used one of my huge jpg's all I would get is a black screen for 3 seconds. I have also uploaded a pic of the effect window I am using - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IEXYexj_ZawTMhCE1sBlAoVTC5VsFYFp/view?usp=sharing

That's disappointing as it's so solid and predictable on my VP, but peculiarly only using 'scale' effect (others seem good) and then only on the rendered output as internally all playback and cursor dragging shows exactly as expected. PC specs are RAM 32GB (16GB usable) CPU Intel Core-i7-6700 @3.40GHz NVIDIA GT640 Also your try 10.88 link did not work - is this a special 10.88 as that is the release I am currently using. Thanks.

Here are the links to 5 images that illustrate the issue https://drive.google.com/file/d/14GhadUjiyf5M323NdHlFst_pmC0F0Pwq/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RJzApsJulU1A6J1GZqxF1EtmWTzWnlWv/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W0WcnaCEWQtVRy8_a9zbj7JjuhH81FWm/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dSfoTfhWGgIcNqjYmo68vI7LbrCHejwO/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oL6axefQiqudAwRk1Pv-V-8Ax8xRSzaL/view?usp=sharing they are all blue sky images and simply if the are huge they're the up-setters, good luck let me know what you conclude.

Think I can do better than send you a file - I have concluded VP does not like large jpg's Have had a play - and jpgs that work are around 600KB, and the ones that upset VP are around 6,000KB The large ones are straight from my camera, and the smaller ones went through an image editor, and I guess it might have been my decision to go for 1920x1080 and consequently ending up with a smaller file size. I have to add that VP went quite horribly wrong in that some of my experiments did not just fail to render (other than black) but actually corrupted the resultant file in strange ways. In one experiment I had 5 pics which were respectively pass/fail/pass/fail/fail and so I was expecting image/black/image/black/black, but actually got the first image correct, then 2 blacks, then a repeat of the 1st image again. I conclude the 'large' jpgs were perhaps overwriting VP internal storage with resultant chaos. I provide no documentation of this final chaos as the solution is simple, reprocess the jpgs to a smaller file size. But that said, if you would still like one of my huge jpgs just ask. It would be nice to know what the critical size is (to help us live with the problem until a fix is released) and that the fix would be to cure the problem so that large jpg's are not a problem (some users may want to use hi-res jpg's to be able to zoom in sections without image degration). PS I have only seen this chaos using 'scale' effect, and a few others I have tried seem ok, so 'scale' seems vulnerable. There may be others but my investigations are definitely not exhaustive by any means. I would hope your tech team will fairly quickly find the suspect code, and effect a cure which will probably be universal. Only affected the render process, everything from inside VP looked as expected.

Running 10.88 masters, installed months ago, this issue appeared only a week or so ago. When you mentioned 'photo' I thought, only tried this using one pic, lets try others. So I did and the problem only shows on some photos and not others ??? All from the same camera and all taken with 20 minutes So now I will see if I can see anything different in the ones that mess things up, as opposed to the ones that don't. Then I'll try your other suggestions. Will post on my progress.......

When I apply the 'scale' effect to a photo (no adjustments), the photo renders as black. Remove the scale effect and the photo renders perfect. When I apply some visible adjustments to 'scale' so I can see the result by dragging the cursor, it looks just as expected. Render, and its black. All other effects seem to work as expected. Is it possible for some parameter in the 'scale' effect to have become corrupted such that if affects only render, because inboard all the effects still work as expected, its just the render using "scale" that renders black. This used to work fine and something seems to have died in the last few weeks, but only manifests itself in this one peculiar event.

Brilliant - thank you Needed some experimentation and a read up on decibels about which I readily admit I knew next to nothing! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jWUhynEBAiYf2NkVhkKfX65Z9n-IDPSH/view?usp=sharing are my settings, they work well, and the background music is almost unheard when even the slightest murmur is present, which is what I wanted. Thank you again, Alan. PS how did you insert your image into this chat? rather than a link that I did?

I'm sure VP can, but need a prompt in the right direction please. Have a project, visit to a zoo, plenty of images and clips the latter carrying their own soundtracks of chirps squawks & roars etc. I want to add some background music that gets automatically suppressed (to some degree) when a real live zoo sound is present. Can't even remember what the technical term is, but any pointers welcome. Thanks.

Thank you - made me smile when I immediately saw you had opted for a very neat alternative way of achieving what I wanted. Re-reading our original chat I guess trying again to find out whats going on was just not worth any more time. Your help much appreciated as usual Thank You Alan.

Created a piece of text (scroll bottom to centre) dragged cursor to end where sequence window shows the final position of the text, then right-click Take Snapshot... at HD (same as project) and the snapshot image is blank. Blank in all images snapped at any resolution. Yes Borate, you were involved in a similar query around April this year - and concluded this 'remains in the category of things that are not meant to be known' 😃 Was on an earlier release then, and now on 10.88 and there are minor differences but fundamentally the same fault. Are we likely to have any more success today? or maybe someone can suggest how I can get what I seek, and that is to have a piece of text rise from bottom to centre then freeze there before fading away. Thanks in anticipation.

Is there any way effects can be saved? Somewhere under Appdata for example Seems as though each install might get random effects "added at install time" ??? Is that each download/install or just each time you run the setup.exe?

Great 😃 Thanks Borate. Alan.

Ok - Thanks for the info Alan. PS is there a distinct difference between Installation and Upgrade as far as NCH is concerned? I must admit that upgrades seem to go faster and I don't lose custom effects I have created. Alan.

Great - thank you - by "effects can vary with each installation" do you imply that the effect can come and go - as exampled I am on 10.88 and 10.96 has it? From an overall perspective, is it true to say once you got it it will be with you forever? or can you find it missing at some arbitrary release in the future? How does this affect a project created when PDust was in the release, if that project is subsequently edited with VP that does not have it? Surely this sort of 'now you see it now you don't practice' must be limited to trivial issues like effects, rather than mainstream features? Not a major issue with me as I seldom use effects - but nevertheless interesting to talk with someone more knowledgeable me - thank you. Alan.

I've hunted for it and cannot find anything in 10.88 ??? do I have it? is it very well hidden? Or was it a passing feature that no longer ships? Alan.

Having just been notified of the latest VP release 10.95 (10.96) I asked NCH what was new over and above the headline items, and they apologised they do not have a list of changed/new features. I would really like to know more as I feel some updates are of little interest and can be installed later, whereas others would be real attractive and warrant an immediate install. I like VP and am fairly competent using it (I think ) but it would be nice to stay familiar with the detail of whats being added/tweaked or improved, rather than either having to spend time hunting for features you're unaware exist, or bumbling along unaware that something has gotten a whole lot better and is now worth using. Talking of mysteries I have pixie dust (apparently) but where is it, and how does it work? Thanks

Hi Thanks guys for your usual prompt replies. Now at least I can see what I cannot do. As is usual with VP there are numerous workarounds and in this case it's very much a one-off, so following Nats guidance I'll make a copy of the relevant piece of audio to Track 2 and lock it there, while I chop up the video track. Thank you both for your input, as usual it's much appreciated. Alan.

... and leave its associated video track editable? "lock this track" locks both audio and video irrespective of whether video and audio are linked or not. I want to chop up the video component and leave the audio in-tack. If negative - I could always "move the unlinked audio to Track 2, and then lock Track 2, before editing Track 1 (video) Lock track seems to suggest lock both elements of Track X?? Alan. VideoPad Professional v10.43

Nat - that's brilliant sound advice that makes very good sense. Nice to read my assumptions on what clears what and when are on target, I seem to be learning well with your guidance, and that's very much appreciated. Thank you Alan.

Thanks Nat - my cache is also accessible - I think I buy into your idea about clearing at the end of a project, heaven knows how I managed to accumulate 48 GB !!! One curiosity remains - I get to the end of a project - save for the final time - at what point do I Options/Disc/Clear Unused cache Files ? Menu/File/New project ?? so that VP will assume all of cache is unused? Thanks Alan