Does NewBlueFX's Bleach Bypass plug-in work for you in MEP Plus 2016?

pmikep wrote on 10/16/2015, 2:37 AM

Solved: See latest addition to question below.

I just bought the special upgrade offer for MEP Plus 2016 which included the ActionCam plug-ins from NewBlueFX. It comes with five effects. Only two work in my installation of MEP Plus 2016. Specifically, under "NewBlue Essentials" Auto Contrast and Lens Correction work as expected. But when I try "Filters > Bleach Bypass or Tint" or "Stylizers > RGB Shift," Magix defaults to its internal Brightness effect screen. Can someone else try Bleach Bypass and report if it works for you? I installed the Plug-ins, registered them, and they show up in Magix's Plug-In Manager. When I double click on a plug-in from inside the Manager, the first two work and call up a NewBlueFX dialogue window. But the last three don't do anything. I'm thinking this is a bug in MEP? I've reinstalled everything clean two times now. No change.

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 10/16/2015, 3:05 AM

Works OK here

. . . . "Filters > Bleach Bypass or Tint" or "Stylizers > RGB Shift," Magix defaults to its internal Brightness effect screen . . . . .

The first time I used these filters a small dialogue box appeared with a button labelled 'Use plugin' - did you get this?

Try resetting MEP to its default settings - File, Setting, Reset program settings to default - note you will lose any customised settings you have made.

HTH

John EB

pmikep wrote on 10/16/2015, 5:44 AM

Hi

Works OK here

The first time I used these filters a small dialogue box appeared with a button labelled 'Use plugin' - did you get this?

Try resetting MEP to its default settings - File, Setting, Reset program settings to default - note you will lose any customised settings you have made.

HTH

John EB

Hi John:

Thanks for the quick reply. I tried your suggestion of Resetting the settings. No change.

I notice one difference between your test platform and mine. You are running 2016 Premium. I am running only 2016 Plus. The Bleach Bypass for Plus came with a free, one-time, special offer update. Could it be that someone at Magix (or NewBlueFX) has to enable this plug-in to work with Plus?

Nor did I get the dialoge box asking if I want to use these Plug-ins when I use NewBlueFX. I do see that dialogue with Mercalli plug-ins. But never with NewBlueFX.

I noticed, after posting my question, that the Plug-in Manager is NOT being called for the Bleach Bypass plug-in in Plus. That might help a software guy solve the problem.

So, is anyone here in the forum running 2016 Plus who can try to see if Bleach-Bypass works for them?

johnebaker wrote on 10/16/2015, 7:03 AM

. . . . that the Plug-in Manager is NOT being called for the Bleach Bypass plug-in in Plus . . . .

The Plugin Manager is not necessary to use the effect, yours should be on the left, as shown in the image I posted, and requires only a single click.

. . . . You are running 2016 Premium. I am running only 2016 Plus. The Bleach Bypass for Plus came with a free, one-time, special offer update. . . . .

The different versions Plus vs Premium should not make any difference as you have registered the effect - I would suggest you also have look on NewBlueFX website forum and / or the send an email to NewBlueFX support.

HTH

John EB

pmikep wrote on 10/16/2015, 10:34 AM

Hi

. . . . that the Plug-in Manager is NOT being called for the Bleach Bypass plug-in in Plus . . . .

The Plugin Manager is not necessary to use the effect, yours should be on the left, as shown in the image I posted, and requires only a single click.

. . . . You are running 2016 Premium. I am running only 2016 Plus. The Bleach Bypass for Plus came with a free, one-time, special offer update. . . . .

The different versions Plus vs Premium should not make any difference as you have registered the effect - I would suggest you also have look on NewBlueFX website forum and / or the send an email to NewBlueFX support.

HTH

John EB

Hi again:

Yes, I sent NetBlueFX an email about this issue. I'll report what they say. From what you're telling me about Plus vs. Premium, this should not be a problem.

As for Plug-In Manager not being invoked - well, I was trying to give a hint to your software Engineers as to what the problem could be. I have an Internet firewall that also monitors running apps in Windows. When a new process wants to start (like Plug-In Manager) it asks me if it's okay for the process to run. It asked me if it was okay to run Plug-In Manager when I called up the NetBlueFX Lens Effect. It did NOT ask to run Plug-In Manager when I called up the NetBlueFX Bleach Bypass effect. Whether that's the cause or an effect, I don't know. I just offer the data.

johnebaker wrote on 10/16/2015, 2:39 PM

. . . . I have an Internet firewall that also monitors running apps in Windows. When a new process wants to start (like Plug-In Manager) it asks me if it's okay for the process to run. . . . .

Presumably this software remembers what you chose to do?

Which firewall program are you running?

With the exception of Norton and McAfee, which I would never use again, all the firewall software I have seen and used never asks to allow a process to run - they only prompt when Internet access is required and the program is blocked.

John EB

pmikep wrote on 10/16/2015, 3:27 PM

Hi

. . . . I have an Internet firewall that also monitors running apps in Windows. When a new process wants to start (like Plug-In Manager) it asks me if it's okay for the process to run. . . . .

Presumably this software remembers what you chose to do?

Which firewall program are you running?

With the exception of Norton and McAfee, which I would never use again, all the firewall software I have seen and used never asks to allow a process to run - they only prompt when Internet access is required and the program is blocked.

John EB

I am runnnig Comodo. The option to have it monitor processes is optional. (I like it.) Yes, it can be set to remember what you approved. So, in this case, the firewall software is not the problem.

Still waiting to hear from NewBlueFX support on this. (I tried renaming the Bleach Bypass plug-in files from FI (Filter) to ES (for Essentials) because the other two Essential plug-ins work. But that trick doesn't work. Somehow Magix knows the effect is supposed to be a filter, and it appears that it is being locked out by someone. Probably something buried in the Window's Registry.)

browj2 wrote on 10/17/2015, 10:26 AM

Hi,

Almost all work fine for me except for Pixelator, but I have Premium.

You say that you have Plus. The New Blue ActionCam package only comes with Premium. So, how did you get this package? Was it a special incentive offer with Plus? I think that this may be your problem.

pmikep wrote on 10/17/2015, 7:58 PM

You say that you have Plus. The New Blue ActionCam package only comes with Premium. So, how did you get this package? Was it a special incentive offer with Plus? I think that this may be your problem.

Yes, per my O.P., this was a special offer from Magix. In the meantime, a tech from NewBlueFX re-sent me the ActionCam pack download to try. No change. I plan to make a short video of what happens and I'll post the link here.

pmikep wrote on 10/18/2015, 2:09 AM

Here's a link showing the problem:

vid.me/54Cl (case senstive.)

johnebaker wrote on 10/18/2015, 6:13 AM

Thanks for the video

What I see happening is a flash when you click the effect link - this suggests that the effect dialog is opening and closing immediately - hence the apparent return to the last effect you used.

This could be due to:

Wrong display mode selected in the programs settings - see note 1 below
Graphics card issue - driver or insufficient RAM - see note 2 below
Open GL version incorrect or corrupted
A bug in MEP 2016 - unlikely as the other effects are working correctly

Note:

I am using the following settings
If you have a different graphics card check that it is correctly set in the lower dropdown indicated in the image, also check in the graphics card display manager that MEP is set up correctly.

If you have a NVidia graphics card see this topic. (Thanks to JohnnyO for this one)

HTH

John EB

pmikep wrote on 10/19/2015, 1:00 PM

Hi

Thanks for the video

What I see happening is a flash when you click the effect link - this suggests that the effect dialog is opening and closing immediately - hence the apparent return to the last effect you used.

This could be due to:

Wrong display mode selected in the programs settings - see note 1 below

Graphics card issue - driver or insufficient RAM - see note 2 below

Open GL version incorrect or corrupted

A bug in MEP 2016 - unlikely as the other effects are working correctly

HTH

John EB

Hi John:

I am running the display mode same as yours. My card is a new 960 GTX with 2 GB RAM and the latest drivers. So I don't think it's a hardware limitation. But I agree with you that it seems the problem is video related. That's why I tried switching the display in Magix to "compatable mode."

As for corrupt OpenGL drivers - I don't know where OpenGL drivers come from. I haven't installed them myself. I presume they are installed either with Windows or with the Nvidia driver?

I will try to understand the link about the special DLL for Nvidia. Afte I bought my new card, I read on the web that Nvidia stopped supporting CUDA and that one had to install old .DLL's to get CUDA working again. (For example, I cannot get hardware encoding to work in Magix with my new fancy GPU.)

As for possibly being a bug in MEP - if the Bleach Bypass window is substantially different from, say, the Auto Contrast window, then it could be something in MEP. Although you showed me that Bleach Bypass works for you in Premium. Although as I mentioned in the video, I have observed that users who download MEP tend to have problems that users of the pressed DVD version do not have. Slight difference in the way things are installed? (I have always bought the DVD version of MEP. This is my first try with downloaded software.)

johnebaker wrote on 10/19/2015, 2:59 PM

. . . . I read on the web that Nvidia stopped supporting CUDA and that one had to install old .DLL's to get CUDA working again. (For example, I cannot get hardware encoding to work in Magix with my new fancy GPU.) . . . .I am running the display mode same as yours . . .

These tell me that you are definitely not using the CUDA support of the GTX 960 and as only some effects are hardware accelerated this I suspect is the cause of your issue with Bleach Bypass.

The GTX 960 supports CUDA however as you have the latest drivers they do not include the CUDA support for the graphics chipset - the CUDA support software is now a seperate install.

Instructions on how to do this are here - you can skip the installation of Visual Studio 2008 - step 1 and the final testing step 5 - these are not necessary in your case.

You do also need to check that the GTX 960 has been set up as the card to be used by MEP as specified in the link I provided previously.

As with any driver installation you do this at your own risk.

HTH

John EB

Scenestealer wrote on 10/19/2015, 5:37 PM

For example, I cannot get hardware encoding to work in Magix with my new fancy GPU.

It will not, although be aware that Cuda is only available if you have installed the optional Mainconcept Encoder in MEP. The default Intel encoder uses Quicksync for HW acceleration via integrated Intel Graphics chips on the CPU.

The Geforce 7xx series or later cards can not make use of the CUDA rendering because the GK chips have not been enabled to use this by Mainconcept who build the encoder in Magix. There were a few 6xx series cards that still used the GF chips from the 4xx and 5xx series cards that allow Cuda rendering, but anything newer will not work as you have found.

As far as I know there has not been an update in MC's encoder nor is it likely there will be. While it is noticeably faster with CUDA there are quality hits in the rendered image that make it unpopular.

The 960 GPU will be utilised by magix but only for the parallel rendering of some effects and transitions during export, which can speed things up a little, however experience has shown that is is only marginal.

The main benefit of the 960 GPU will be during preview, for the acceleration of effects, filters and transitions.

If you have an Intel processor with onboard Intel HD graphics chip then use that for Hardware encoding at export as this will utilise the Quicksync facility to HW encode using the Intel graphics chip via Magix's Intel encoder. This option is very fast (at least with H264 encoding) and produces a high quality result.

Peter

pmikep wrote on 10/20/2015, 12:32 AM

I downloaded and installed the latest CUDA stuff, v75 from Nvidia's website. (Which seems primarily to be a SDK.) Unforunately, no change. I am still locked out of using the three NewBlueFX's speicial filters and stylizer.

I have tried to ensure that Magix is using the GPU. It seems to use it for transitions, as Peter said in a later Answer. (Because I can see that it does speed up transitions during preview.) I added Magix to the Nvidia Control Panel anyway.

A tech from NewBlueFX wrote me last Friday asking for more info on the problem. I sent him a video of the screen shots and am waiting on another answer from them.

Hi

. . . . I read on the web that Nvidia stopped supporting CUDA and that one had to install old .DLL's to get CUDA working again. (For example, I cannot get hardware encoding to work in Magix with my new fancy GPU.) . . . .I am running the display mode same as yours . . .

These tell me that you are definitely not using the CUDA support of the GTX 960 and as only some effects are hardware accelerated this I suspect is the cause of your issue with Bleach Bypass.

The GTX 960 supports CUDA however as you have the latest drivers they do not include the CUDA support for the graphics chipset - the CUDA support software is now a seperate install.

Instructions on how to do this are here - you can skip the installation of Visual Studio 2008 - step 1 and the final testing step 5 - these are not necessary in your case.

You do also need to check that the GTX 960 has been set up as the card to be used by MEP as specified in the link I provided previously.

As with any driver installation you do this at your own risk.

HTH

John EB

pmikep wrote on 10/20/2015, 12:46 AM

Hi

For example, I cannot get hardware encoding to work in Magix with my new fancy GPU.

It will not, although be aware that Cuda is only available if you have installed the optional Mainconcept Encoder in MEP. The default Intel encoder uses Quicksync for HW acceleration via integrated Intel Graphics chips on the CPU.

...

The main benefit of the 960 GPU will be during preview, for the acceleration of effects, filters and transitions.

If you have an Intel processor with onboard Intel HD graphics chip then use that for Hardware encoding at export as this will utilise the Quicksync facility to HW encode using the Intel graphics chip via Magix's Intel encoder. This option is very fast (at least with H264 encoding) and produces a high quality result.

Peter

Yeah, I've noticed that preview rendering goes really fast using the GTX 960.

I did install the MainConcept H.264 encoder, but it barfs when I try Hardware encoding. (As it did in MEP 2015. It reports an unknown error.) I had done some experimentation with hardware encoding with MX (I think it was) with an older Nvidia card. It was fun watching the CPU loaf along at about 20% while video was being encoded by the GPU. But as you acknowledged, the results were not as good as when the CPU did the encoding.
I'm am running an old quad core AMD CPU with does pretty well, so no QuickSync for me. I figured that Magix was supporting QuickSync starting with MEP 2015. It would be nice to have fast encoding via QuickSync, but I'm not going to change my CPU, my motherboard ($$$) and reinstall Windows just to have it. So for now, I'm stuck with CPU rendering.