VPX7 and Mercalli v4

simmiv wrote on 4/25/2016, 6:18 AM

I'm using VPX7 with the latest patches.. I'm editing Hero GoPro videos which are taken from a moving vehicle.. I got VPX7 with the view of using Mercalli to provide some stabilisation of the video footage as during travels in the car the camera has a tendency to shake a bit.

I've tried Mercali to no avail. Doesn't matter what adjustments I make it simply makes the shake worse! not better.. See here for comparison..

The first part is the Raw Footage, the second part is run through Mercalli V4 with default settings.. Suddenly it becomes jerky as you can see.. I've no idea as to what I can do to get the jerkyness to stop.. Anyone had any experience with this??

I've posted a support request to ProDad a few months ago, but they haven't deigned to reply..

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 4/25/2016, 7:28 AM

What settings are you using in Mercalli 4 ?

John EB

simmiv wrote on 4/26/2016, 5:55 AM

Hi.. This footage used pretty much the default settings.. Universal Camera, Without Fisheye etc.. I've tried various cameras "Sports Cam" "Glide Cam" etc. and the jerkyness doesn't change much.. Also changed the "Wihtout Fisheye" to the "GoPro Hero 3 in Housing 1080" which the footage is taken on. Mercalli seems to take out the minor shakes and introduce a big swing instead!

Simmi

Scenestealer wrote on 4/26/2016, 6:44 AM

Perhaps post a screenshot of the (Click Edit) > "Movement" and "Border" tabs in the Mercalli V4 settings window in the VPX > Effects Tab in the media pool, after selecting in the timeline the clip you have already stabilised.

johnebaker wrote on 4/26/2016, 8:43 AM

I downloaded the video you posted on Youtube and tried the settings I normally use for Mercalli 4 to stabilise the image - it stabilised the raw footage section well, despite only being 480p resolution, and contained no jerks or jumps.

These are the settings I used:

HiRes version here

The actual amount of 'unsteadiness' is very small and you could probably screw setting 1 - see image down to 5%

Clicking 2 you could also try reducing settings on the movement tab 4 - there is no jerky pan or roll in the original video

Setting 3 is the same as 1.

If you wish to upload the same short section to raw footage upto somewhere like Dropbox, then we can test it on the original.

HTH

John EB

simmiv wrote on 4/27/2016, 7:32 AM

Thanks for those tips.. I'll try again with the same footage and your settings and see how it goes.. Have to wait until later to try, but will post here once done!

simmiv wrote on 4/28/2016, 6:13 AM

Hi..

Here is the link to the raw footage..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18234303/GP040029_short.mp4

I tried the settings and they didn't seem to take away the jerkyness.. Only if I untick the "Smooth Camera Path" does it take the jerkyness away.. I'll try some more..

johnebaker wrote on 4/28/2016, 7:20 AM

Thanks for the clip.

I can confirm that there is an issue, however what is causing it is baffling - everything I have tried gives the ocassional jerking.

. . . . Smooth Camera Path . . . .

Where is this setting? I do not have one with that name in my Mercalli v4.

Which GoPro Hero model was used and did it have any stabilisation turned on?

Out of curiosity - where was this shot and were you on a moterbike or in a car?

John EB

simmiv wrote on 4/29/2016, 6:25 AM

Thanks John.. Sorry I was also using the Mercalli v4 full version i.e. the demo one.. It has that setting above the camera selection. I can't see it in the Magix Plugin. I've now found that it "The option Smooth Camera Path allows the stabilization of a video to be turned on or off" So in essence it turns off the stabilisation! The full version in demo mode gives you an easier way of playing with the file, plus the graph at the bottom. However I can't seem to find any settings which smooth the video without adding the jerkiness effect.

This video is recorded on a Hero GoPro 3+ camer on top of a car driving along the road. I have a youtube channel with these driving videos ( https://www.youtube.com/user/TravellingVikings) I wanted to use Mercalli to take out the finer vibrations, but as it does it introduces these jerk effects.. Thus I've had to use them as original.

I've tried the Magix stabilisation as well (Effects, Video Object Effects, Image Stabilization) and it does a very similar thing. Perhaps it's something in the video which these image stablisations program can't fix..

Simmi