Photo Story 2018 will not export my project

Novice-John31 wrote on 2/12/2018, 11:05 AM

Hi,

Athlon2 X4 , 3 GHz , 16 GB RAM, ASUS HD6570 250GB ssd OS. Win7 X 64bit Photostory 2018

Had just finished an 8 GB slide show and wanted to export it on a Mpeg 4 file, to my computer. Pressed the correct buttons and up came a notice informing me that there were 3 areas in my slide show which did not contain any image or video. When I went to the "next empty range", the red marker in my storyboard just stopped at the start of a piece of video that I had downloaded from my Fuji HS 50 EXR bridge camera. On viewing the sections indicated in the work window of the program, the video and sound worked, with a tiny bit of juddering. So I clicked on "ignore" and the whole program crashed. I had to force stop the computer and so left it for a few hours to cool off.

On restarting my computer and the program, then going through the same steps, up popped a small window stating "Mixing down....(No hardware acceleration). It got as far as 1% render and the informed me that it could go no further, because of the lack of external codecs. On the third attempt the program took 4 hours to render the first 2 mins of the project.

So, believing that Fuji codecs were missing (even though the still photos were OK) I tried to download them from the Fuji website. Nothing. Hearing that downloading Codec Packs from strange websites was dangerous, I downloaded one for Win 7 from Microsoft and the latest Quick Time from Apple.. I also checked that my motherboard IDE/SATA settings were configured to ACHI, so that the ssd was running well.

During my travels whilst surfing the internet, I naturally alighted on the Magix Forum, but could not find any reference to my problem in the Fotostory section. However, on another forum, there was mention of turning off my graphics card, because the integrated one on the motherboard could render the project faster and that separate graphics cards were sold primarily to gamers!

It was at this point (3 am), with a thoroughly befuddled brain, that I gave up and decided to seek help!

Is there anyone out there who can solve this problem?

Novice John

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 2/15/2018, 10:49 AM

Hi.

You wrote: Had just finished an 8 GB slide show

I wonder whether that is the problem, i.e. the size of the project. What are you using as the source of the information that it is 8GB? That is very large for a slide show; if you were exporting it to DVD you would have to look into using either a dual-layer disc or two single-layer discs!

How much unused space does your SSD have? I assume it is the only hard drive you have? Again, to export an 8GB project actually requires a great deal more than 8GB because of the various temp files etc. that are created during the export.

Your 3 blank areas could be extremely small, even as little as one single frame; the export process will still "see" these as a problem. If you step through the timeline, using the left and right arrow keys (which equates to moving through your project one frame at a time, right = forward, left = reverse) you will quickly establish what are those blank areas. Your video which PS reported as having a blank area at its start could again be just a single black frame from your camera. You need to remove them.

You should not need to consider downloading any codecs for your project, even for your Fuji video footage, especially if it plays on the timeline without any problem. As a general rule, codecs other than those which are a feature of Windows or which the specific software (in your case Photo Story) installs, are best avoided.

on another forum, there was mention of turning off my graphics card, because the integrated one on the motherboard could render the project faster and that separate graphics cards were sold primarily to gamers!

I would really like to know which forum produced that interesting (rubbish) information! I happily run a graphics card AND have graphics capability on my CPU; the two can, and do, work together (I see the "workload" being shared on some video exports). However, your CPU is now pretty "old" and rather low-powered. A quick Google search led to this page which compares its performance with other similar processors; as you will see, it does not score especially well! I strongly suspect if you do have a separate graphics card and have, indeed, turned it off or removed it, you have actually made your situation worse! Also, your CPU alone cannot offer you the benefits of Hardware Acceleration; hence the error message you quoted above.

As a first step to trying to resolve your problem I would:

Check exactly how much unused space you have on your SSD, especially if it is your only hard drive. (As a general rule, it is always best to have your source files (videos, pictures etc.) on a separate hard drive to your operating system and programs.)
"Reactivate" your graphics card.
Reduce the overall size of the project, perhaps by splitting it into two, then trying the export of the first half and seeing what happens. Also, check and remove any blank areas.

Please let us know the answers to the questions I've posed and whether any of the possible solutions worked!

Jeff

Novice-John31 wrote on 2/15/2018, 1:41 PM

Dear Jeff,

Many thanks for the helpful comments. Unfortunately, being bogged down by so many views on the Internet, I forgot to include all the info. you needed.

So here goes.

1) My ssd is only 38% full

2) I have a 1 TB, data only, HDD in the computer.

3) Although I'm still learning, when I read the comment about CPU/ integrated graphics card being faster than my CPU/ HD6570 card, I checked and ensured that my computer was using the latter combination and left it as it was. (I basically needed reassurance that my computer was set up properly. You gave me that reassurance and I am much more confident now. Thanks.)

4) I am going to follow your suggestions conscientiously , particularly the one regarding cutting the project in two, as I had the same problem with Serif's Movie Plus, a couple of years ago.

I will definitely keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks, John

Novice-John31 wrote on 2/18/2018, 11:19 AM

Dear Jeff,

Update :- As I could not work out how to split the project into two halves, I decided to attack the "blank areas" in it. With trepidation I switched to timeline and searched successfully for them. The method appears very efficient, but I have yet to master how to delete them in timeline.

So, on reaching the blank areas, I switched back to storyboard and deleted them.

Everything worked out well and I exported the project, in MPEG 4, to somewhere in my computer. (Photostory has a mind of its own and still wants to export to my SSD, but I'm working on that).

When I found the MPEG 4, I dragged and dropped it to a 32 GB pen drive The icon for the folder appeared instantly (bad sign!!) in the window for the pen drive. I then carefully removed the pen drive, using the standard method, plugged it into my TV and, nothing!

When I checked the drive, using my PC, I found that it was empty. So it was up on the Internet and another brain aching day of surfing. (Harder than reading for my maths degree) I learnt that ALL, yes ALL my pen drives were configured using FAT 32, with the minimum number if bytes assigned to them. Also their default transfer rates were minimal. The last thing I found was that Windows 7 X 64 Bit has slower transfer rates than Windows XP!!! I'm working on that too)

After applying the fixes suggested on Windows Forums, the MPEG 4 was transferred to my pen drive and successfully viewed, without a glitch, on my TV.

Moral of the story :-

1) Make sure you know what the file transfer rates are for your Win 7 PC and pen drives.

2) Use this Forum when you do not follow the German logic in the manual. The contributors have experience and can explain methods in words of one syllable, for pensioners like me.

3) You do not just learn how to use a good editing suite, but also a lot of interesting facts that improve the performance of your computer.

Suggestion :- If Magix can find and display these "blank areas", why can it not automatically delete them??

After successfully completing this assignment, with the help of a tutor (thanks Jeff), I'm off to the Isle of Wight for a well earned 3 day break at our favourite hotel in Bonchurch.

John

johnebaker wrote on 2/18/2018, 1:03 PM

. . . . Photostory has a mind of its own and still wants to export to my SSD, but I'm working on that . . .

Thankfully it knows exactly where it is exporting to - the location where it exports to is/can be set in 2 locations - in the Program settings (Y key) and in the export dialog as shown in the 2 images below.

You will note that my locations are on a W: drive - this is my second hard drive where all the data is.

The export dialog lets you change the location the file will be exported to, if you do not want it in the default location set in the program settings.

. . . . . Moral of the story :-

1) Make sure you know what the file transfer rates are for your Win 7 PC and pen drives

True however exporting directly to a pen drive is not good practice - the data rate is significantly slower, up to 20-25 x longer than exporting to a hard drive, this affects the render time in the same proportion.

2) Use this Forum . . .

Agreed - manuals can never give you enough detail without being the size of an encyclopaedia.

3) You do not just learn how . . . .

That is computers for you 😕

. . . . Magix can find and display these "blank areas", why can it not automatically delete them . . .

A good question, IMHO automatic deletion can and would have unwanted side effects especially when there are deliberate blank spaces on a track eg as in this collage (done in MEP for 15 images, however the same applies to Photostory )

HTH

John EB

Novice-John31 wrote on 2/19/2018, 8:44 AM

Dear John,

Thanks for the clear and useful info. Regarding exporting, perhaps Magix knows best?

Thinking about it, perhaps it's best if I let Magix export to my SSD, C: drive and then move the finished project to my HDD?

That way the rendering of the project is done more rapidly, in my SSD and moved, at my convenience, to the HDD.Also whenever I want to show the larger projects on a TV/ another computer, I can copy them to a pen drive, from the HDD. (I'm going to investigate the Y key procedure, which I've overlooked until now. Thanks.)

Unless you can foresee any problems, I will keep Magix's present settings and continue as before.

Perhaps Magix could offer the opportunity to beginners like me, to manually delete the blank spaces it has found, using just a single key?

As usual you and Jim provide the information (and safety net) for us novices to learn so much more rapidly. Thanks.

John

johnebaker wrote on 2/19/2018, 11:03 AM

Hi John

. . . . . perhaps it's best if I let Magix export to my SSD, C: drive and then move the finished project to my HDD? . . . .

There is no need to have 2 separate operations, ie render to one drive then copy to the other.

AFAICS Photostory uses the drive with the OS by default, rendering to a temporary folder then copies the video to the specified destination folder when it is complete or, if the video file is going to be very large, a block of data is ready.

. . . Jim . . . .

I think you mean Jeff unless he has a second name we do not know about 😁.

Thanks

John EB

Novice-John31 wrote on 2/20/2018, 3:18 AM

Thanks John. Sorry Jeff, my mind's a bit befuddled at the moment, but 3 days on the Island should repair it.

John