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Video Effects - Real time interaction possible while in sequence preview?


Miggy

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I'm currently working on adding a scaled down and rotated video superimposed over the video on the main track.

When you initiate an effect or switch back to it, VP goes to clip preview. While on that screen, it has up the "interactive" version of changing the settings (click and drag to reposition, click and drag the dots to rotate, etc). But when you switch to sequence view to see how it lines up with your main video, it goes away. You can change it using the values still, but that interactive ability would be really useful when you can see it over the main video. Is this just how it works, or am I missing something?

Also, this isn't too big of a deal, but I've been encountering a weird issue when several effects have been applied and I switch back and forth between them. To illustrate: I switch from rotate back to position and then click on the clip to drag it to a new position. The effects selection switches back to rotate. Most times I can switch back to position again and it will stick that time. Like I said, not too big a deal but wondering if this is a common experience.

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When you initiate an effect or switch back to it, VP goes to clip preview. While on that screen, it has up the "interactive" version of changing the settings (click and drag to reposition, click and drag the dots to rotate, etc). But when you switch to sequence view to see how it lines up with your main video, it goes away.

Under the preview window click the chevron to the right of the VIEW icon.  Make the CLIP AND BACKGROUND choice.

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I'll try that out when I get home this evening. Thanks, borate! That sure would make things easier.

Additional question: Is there a way to zoom in on the sequence preview? What I'm trying to position, scale, and rotate is rather small and it would be helpful to zoom in somehow to get precise positioning.

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Hi

You can enlarge the preview screen (Clip or Sequence) a little by dragging out the white bars at the bottom and right.

However, if you un-dock the preview screen by clicking the arrow in the top right hand corner it will appear in its own window and this can be enlarged to any convenient size making the effect controls more easily seen. The problem is that effect control windows can cover the enlarged Preview window. Just needs a bit of juggling. I would prefer the keyframe panel to open downwards as it would interfere less and one could enlarge the preview a little more and you would still see your keyframes..

0xFRpU.jpg

It all works OK though.

Nat

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Thanks, Nationalsolo.

I never did find the CLIP AND BACKGROUND  option (although I found the dual preview window option, if that accomplished the same thing?) , but undocking the preview window allowed me to do what I needed to do.

Another small followup question that would be a good suggestion for an update, unless it's already there and I'm just missing it. When you're in the effects window and applying an effect, it seems that VP applies it to the whole clip each time you make an adjustment. In other words, each time you click an arrow to increase or decrease crop (for example), it applies it to the clip (indicated by the frames repopulating). This makes it extremely slow to make any adjustments. What I'd really like it to do would be to have something like "Apply to clip" button on the effects window so that you can get your object positioned or cropped the way you want it, then click that button to apply. I hope I worded that clearly enough! Incidentally, this behavior of constant clip modification also eventually breaks my preview screen when it is undocked. The preview window sometimes reverts back to the first frame instead of the frame I'm looking at so I can make the adjustments. When it does that, sometimes it will go back to the frame I'm at after about 5 or 6 seconds, but sometimes it gets stuck. Further, sometimes undocking the preview window will fix it, but other times I have to close out of VP and restart. All this makes doing projects much longer than they should.

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Video editing is resource intensive.  Not knowing your system's specs, it's not inconceivable that these manipulations are overtaxing it.

With the effects window open there should be a VIEW button beneath it.  Click the chevron and choose Clip + Background.

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Hi

Application of an effect is made in real time and the clip is regenerated with each change in the parameters. You might be able to speed up the process by reducing the preview resolution in the Tools/Options menu. Being larger it's seems logical to me that VP has a lot more manipulations and work to to in the undocked window than when the effects are added to the usual smaller  undocked preview window.

Depending on your PC things might get slower but shouldn't hang or crash. If you have several manipulations going at the same time, each one requiring VP to start regenerating the clip again before the previous one is completed..That might cause some confusion. Although your proposal seems OK, I don't think it would work with VP as you would still need to preview it using a "copy" clip and THAT would have to be regenerated with each change as well before you finally "Apply it" to the actual clip. NCH most probably consider that real time changes are faster overall.

Nat

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Thanks borate and Nationalsolo,

I think I was looking at the wrong place for the Clip & Background option.. I'll give that a try and see how it works.

What I had in mind was not actually applying the effect, but just to have a graphical representation of the object you're repositioning, rotating, etc, on the screen. After further thought, you wouldn't need a "Apply" button, but maybe the effects wouldn't ne applied to the whole track until you exit the effects dialogue box. Might not be possible, but was just a thought.

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Effects can be applied to the BIN clip, which won't affect the same timeline clip.  Bin clips can be duplicated, so identical clips there can have different effects applied to each.

They won't be used in the project until they are dropped into the timeline.  Conversely, if effects are applied to a clip on the timeline they won't affect that clip in the bin.

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Hi Miggy

Regarding the enlarging of the preview window; I made a suggestion some time ago that the Keyframe graph screen might be better dropping down from the bottom of the effects pane instead of coming out to the right as it would allow a bit more room to enlarge the undocked preview window. The fact that the graph lines would not then line up with their control buttons which are at the right side  the effects pane would probably confuse users was a valid point made by NCH. That being the case the best you can achieve without having to keep bringing windows to the front, is approximately as shown below, (bearing in mind my screen resolution is pretty low at 1024 x 768)...

0H6QX1.jpg

The other point was with respect to the rapidity of effect changes. The example shown above is with a preview resolution of 512 x 288.(The lowest 16:9 available) The clip was a1920 x 1080  mpeg2 (converted from an mpeg4 with Prism . Rotating this 360 deg. in all three directions at once including regenerating the thumbnails took only a couple of seconds each time. Changing the preview resolution to 1920 x 1080 (same as the clip) slowed things down considerably and even when finished the playback was quite jerky.

I think you would find an improvement with a low preview resolution even if the actual image in the undocked window  is very slightly less clear.

Nat

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Thanks, Nat.

I've not had much issue arranging the window into a workable order. I've got a 27" monitor at 2560X1440, so I'm sure that helps.

As far as effects preview responsiveness, the new 6.21 version I installed last night seems to be performing better - but I'll try a lower preview window resolution. I had thought that the delay in process was because it was effecting the whole clip each time (which wouldn't be affected by your preview resolution) but maybe it's a combination of the two.

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