Jump to content

2 issues: black levels, and clip animation preview behavior


Miggy

Recommended Posts

I still have these 2 issues even after I reloaded my system.

After exporting, dark video information (black screen, shadows, etc) often aren't true black as they are in the original but are gray / blotchy. I first noticed this when putting a blank clip in between two video clips that's supposed to be solid black.

Adding an effect to a video clip on down the line in the sequence (in other words, not the first clip on the sequence, but say the 4th)... when animating the effect, moving the scrubber back and forth is supposed to show the current clip in the preview window - or at least I thought it supposed to / used to. Now it jumps back to the beginning of the sequence and will scan up to however long the clip I'm working on is. In other words, I have a sequence that's 5 minutes long total. The clip I'm doing the effect on is the 4th clip in the sequence and it's 10 seconds long. Moving the scrubber back and forth in the animation window jumps back to the beginning of the sequence and shows the first 10 seconds of it. This makes it hard to line up effects because you're not seeing the right video information in the preview window. The way I was getting around it before I reloaded the system, thinking it might just be my VP corrupted, was to temporarily move the clip I was working on to the beginning of the sequence so that the preview would show what I was actually applying the effect to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In repeated tests, was unable to duplicate your results...

Created a pure black frame in a graphics program and compared it side-by-side in Videopad to a black blank frame.   Export showed no difference between the two.

Set up an eight-minute, five-clip video and plotted effect keyframes for several clips.  Preview always displayed the scrubber position as the effects window was scrolled.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for testing, borate.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't using some setting incorrectly.

I never had problems before I upgraded. I'm starting to wonder if VP has some slight incompatibility problem with the new Ryzen 7 processors.

As far as the effects preview window, to make sure we're on the same page. When the effects window is open and extended, to where you're putting in keyframes - that scrubber you move back and forth should move the sequence scrubber at the bottom only in that particular clip (for those 10 seconds or whatever). But with mine, when I slide the scrubber in the effects window to the beginning of the clip, the sequence scrubber goes back to the beginning so I see the beginning 10 seconds of the sequence in the sequence preview window instead of the clip I'm working on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

borate,

I now see what you mean about switching over to clip preview tab to only see the clip preview. However, I like to see how the changes I'm making affect the sequence as a whole as a lot of times I'm lining up objects that are overlaid. Anyway, I have it set for dual preview mode so I have clip preview and sequence preview side by side. I tested it both ways, and I have the same problem whether using dual preview or single preview with the the sequence view undocked.

I uploaded a video I captured of what's going on. It only captured the main window and not the effect window, so you just have to imagine you see the effect window. You can see the cursor move where I am moving the effect window scrubber. I picked two short videos, the first a game of people playing Turkish Checkers and the second of a dog playing a piano. As you can see, as soon as I start moving the effects window scrubber, the sequence scrubber moves back to the beginning of the sequence. And when I move it back and forth, both videos pop in and out of view. It's hard to describe, but you'll see it.

 

[Unneeded Video deleted]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

c_major,

Yes, still having issue with dark portions of videos. My current project uses clips from Star Wars. This effect is really noticeable in Vader's suit. I'm not sure on the codec. I haven't changed anything, so whatever VP uses, I guess?

I usually export to .mp4 but I just tested exporting to .avi and same thing. I also have played it with different players.

Here's a video I uploaded to YouTube to illustrate it. I took the first 10 seconds of the famous Bark Side video and faded out the last 3 seconds. You might have to put YouTube on full screen to see the effect. After it fades out, you can still see portions of the screen that aren't black but gray and blotchy. It seems that how much this happens is variable. I have gotten smooth blacks before, but I have to export over and over. My most recent project i finally faded out to white and then to black and it worked fine (but maybe I got lucky)?

[Unneeded Video deleted]

 

eta:

Here's another video I made that shows it even better. I put a blank black clip in the middle of 2 short videos and you can see the artifacts all up and down both sides and along the bottom of the screen.

[Unneeded Video deleted]

If I didn't point out, it looks correct when I preview it in VP. This just shows up after exporting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, that's odd. I'm not seeing it on my laptop.

I'll have to figure out what's going on with my monitor  - fairly new, Dell 27" that has a great picture otherwise. That, now that I'm thinking about it, didn't used to do this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the latest drivers, as it's set to tell me as soon as a new driver is available.

I take back what I said earlier about not seeing it on my laptop. It's still there, just my laptop screen is a little darker and harder to see it.

I did a test of first creating a solid black picture using paint. I fullscreened that and my computer monitor shows it pure black. I then used that to create a video with VP and the result is that is shows black as it should. I added a blank black clip after the black picture I made, exported that. it shows the picture I made black, but the clip has the blotches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the test. Your video shows up correctly on my monitor.

I uploaded the one I did. Can you check if you see anything on your end?

I can't see it playing in a normal window, but can after changing the YouTube player to fullscreen mode.

It's almost like there's an afterimage of what was previously shown. The blotches are in the shape of the "Black Clip" text I made to indicate that the blank clip I inserted is about to come up. For a second or so after "Blank Clip" goes away, it's barely visible. But then it becomes more prominent.

[Unneeded Video deleted]

I ran that clip through VP and made a screenshot of the anomoly:

http://landowonder.com/snapshot.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

National,

I just see black in your screenshot in the post. But when I save it, then enlarge it I can see it. I took a screen capture of what I'm seeing and am posting it here so I can check it at work.

http://landowonder.com/capture.png

I did a bunch of tests last night and thought I had figured it out. I switched compressor to MP4 instead of the default (H26 or whatever it is) and the video I exported was completely black. I did several tests and all were black. Then I did one final one and it came out with artifacts. Whatever I'm seeing is *sometimes* being added by VP. I can't find a pattern, and I also don't understand why no one else can see them.

I thank you for all your input. I guess I won't worry about it if in fact no one else can see it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, I can't see it in that screenshot above on the monitor here at work.

However, I can see the effect in a video I posted a couple of weeks ago. I think this is when I first started  noticing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcTc3Vj9xfc

Put it full screen and pause around the 5 second mark after the fadeout. I'm almost certain this showed as a pure black fadeout in the preview window. It also does it at the fadeout at the end of the video.

 

ETA: I can't see it on my work laptop, however.  I think I'm going crazy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Miggy

Scrubbed back and forth around the 5 second mark in the fade out between the title and the opening of the parade. It looked black here....:mellow:  The end fade out only goes black for an instant right at the end. Generally I fade out to a blank black frame, which can then be adjusted to suit.

Nat

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks national and borate again for taking the time to do all the checks.

There is something there,  and it's a different pattern for each video. It seems to be video information left over from before the fade that gets turned into a ghostly distorted version of the original. Same with video clips that are separated by blank black clips, so it doesn't have to be a fadeout. Out of curiosity, I'm going to do a test where I start off with a black clip and see if there's anything there.

Other than that, I don't know what else to do. I'm sure my monitor's set correctly, as there's no issue with anything else I play on it. And plus there are times that my exported videos don't do this, even at the same export settings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It sounds like when playback reachs the end, the fade out effect not quite finish yet - need one or few more frames. We'll look at the code see if anything we can do.

Because the video compression algorithm, it's true that you might see distortion when the video is paused. It will look much better when playback at normal speed. Increase the quality factor when you export would help.

Also try add a black blank clip after the fade out to make it completely black when the video stops.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...