MEP 2013: Quirky behaviour - but temporary

terrypin wrote on 10/9/2012, 8:25 AM

This has preoccupied me for an hour or two but happily has finally righted itself. No idea how or why it happened or went away. So I'll describe the symptoms in case

1. Anyone else observes the same sometime.

2. It's relevant to any other issue, or offers clues/insights.

To follow along, do this in a fresh project:

Place an object in track 1. Then Video effects > Chroma Key > Click drop-down arrow top right > Load effects mask > Form1_1920x1080.jpg (the first in the folder, but any of them will do). That places the mask in track 2. Then choose White for the Chromakey setting of the mask.

Depending on which object I selected, (track 1 object, track 2 mask, none or both) the playback of that section was either correct (a view of the object through the rectangular mask) or incorrect (white rectangle mask over the object). I could only get correct display when the mask was selected. And even then it wasn't immediate, I had to move the marker first.

Here's a couple of screnshots (using the last mask, Oval9):

I loaded MEP17 instead and that had no such problem. Playback was independent of whatever track was selected, as it should be.

I reloaded MEP 2013 and the problem was still present on that pair of clips. Then I chose another object in track 1 and dragged my own mask onto track 2 below it. That did not cause the problem. I returned to the problem pair - and they were now OK!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Comments

JohnnyO wrote on 10/9/2012, 7:51 PM

hmmm. I am rendering a very large visei right now so I can't test this.

But when I use effects masks I never applychromakey. In the window that lists the effects on a clip there s an effects mask symbol that you can use to activate the mask if it is not. Then when you apply the effect tothe clip the it will show only where the efect mask is. I tested this out last week with MEP 2013 and it works as expected. I never used it like you do.

terrypin wrote on 10/10/2012, 3:05 AM

Thanks JohnnyO, but can you (anyone) spell that out in more detail please? I don't know what you mean by "... the window that lists the effects on a clip there s an effects mask symbol that you can use to activate the mask if it is not."

Do you mean the KF window? If so, 'Effect mask...' is checkmarked, and I see nothing in its drop-down menu of obvious relevance.

Maybe someone could post a screenshot to help me identify this please?

These are the steps I've just taken to add a mask:

If I use Video Effects > Chromakey I see it comes in with an Alpha setting, if that's relevant. It should still show up, whether the 'Alpha arrow' points up or down.

If instead I drag the mask in directly, it behaves as you'd expect.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

terrypin wrote on 10/10/2012, 8:16 AM

OK, I finally worked this out. Intuitive - NOT!

For anyone else struggling to understand how this is meant to be used, here's a couple of explanatory screenshots:

And for better quality:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/MEP2013EffectsMask-4.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/MEP2013EffectsMask-5.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/MEP2013EffectsMask-6.jpg

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK