I'm beginning to experiment with my proDAD Adorage effects. Hopefully John CB (aka Mr ProDAD), or any other experienced proDAD user can put me straight on the basic point I've illustrated below please.
Or for better quality: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/ProDAD-Adorage-01.jpg
Hi Terry,
Quite simple really, the images are at: C:\ProgramData\proDAD\Adorage\Adorage-GfxDatas\Overlay-Anim\Erde\Gfx
and the masks at: C:\ProgramData\proDAD\Adorage\Adorage-GfxDatas\Overlay-Anim\Erde\Alpha
Size: 724 x 566 px
Resolution 96 dpi
Thus all of the effects in the Sample Pack are SD 4:3.
I have Adorage 13, and everything is HD, with size of images and avi's at 1920 x 1080.
I guess that if you want to use the samples in HD you have to buy the pack.
All is not lost. Open Adorage as a stand-alone, get your images A and B, click on the HD/SD button (third from top) to get SD. Once everything is set up, export sequence. It makes an avi. Here is the result: the first one is using it from MEP HD and the earth is ovaled; the second one is from the stand-alone imported into MEP.
Take a look at the masks in the Adorage folders. You may find some masks that you like. I have been playing with Pixelan and noticed that we have pretty much unlimited variable masks. I just published a tutorial on SmartBlur Pro and I'm working on the second one.
But, have to finish something on last summer's trip to the west for tonight, far from finished, but I'll have something...I hope. Too much time spent on Vasco da Gama retracing the route. BTW, the new version 9 is the one I've been waiting for, but still waiting for a deal before buying. One can use imported flat maps once again.
Hi John,
Thanks a lot, that's very helpful.
I'll try your stand-alone suggestion, but it would be much more convenient if I could use these effects and transitions within MEP itself. With an upgrade from XP 32-bit at some future date in mind, I'm not keen on buying new software.
Maybe a massive file re-sizing exercise would work? It's odd that the JPG images I've examined are not universally the same aspect ratio. The great bulk of the nearly 3,500 of them are 720x576 (AR=1.25, not 4:3). But in a brief search I found examples with ARs of 1.26 and 1.28.
Can you tell me what size the bulk of your JPG images are in Adorage 13 please?
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Do you (and others here) actually use the many transitions and effects that these plug-ins offer? I'm just finishing a project in which for the first time I've parted from using very few, to maybe 30 or so, from MEP's own repertoire. But I think this will probably prove a rare exception. So pursuing the even greater potential of these add-ons is more down to challenge and curiosity than any practical need!
Hi Terry,
Adorage 13, all look to be 1920x1080. The way it works seems to be different using avi files instead of a series of images.
For transitions, I like Pixelan SpiceMaster Pro the best.
I just imported 8 wmv files created using Vasco da Gama. I'm using VPX6 and there is a message at the bottom of the screen that says "Video readers are being reinitialized...." What is that? It stopped when I started editing. Back to work. Our friends will "love" and hour of Vasco showing the car and trailer driving across Canada. I had better get some content in here.
Hi Terry, I'm Max, one of the Italian Moderators
It's hard to me to explain it to you, but I show you how to do in this Video
p.s. my software is in Italian, obviously ...
Video readers are being reinitialized....
I don't know why it happens at that stage but I wouldn't worry about it. The message 'Video readers are being initialized....' appears when MEP first loads too.
I know exactly what you mean about your Vasco de Gama input. I'm the same with my Google Earth and Memory Map stuff. As my videos/DVDs rarely get viewed by more than five or six people, I've reconciled myself to being my own biggest fan. So if I spend an entire day making a 30 second overview of a walk or drive, it's 99% for my own fun and satisfaction!
Hi Terry
. . . . Maybe a massive file re-sizing exercise would work? . . . .
Try this
Start a MEP project import the images to the timeline, resize to 1920 wide, reposition so Left -= 0, Top = -240px and set image length to 1 frame. Export as mxv.
Total time 5 mins
Using with Chroma key - you do have to fiddle with the settings to get a decent transition - part of the earth disappears if settings are wrong, however the speed at which it moves this is hardly noticeable once you have the Threshold setting correct.
John
Hi Max,
Eccellente, grazie mille Max!
Non ho assolutamente nessun italiano. Ma ho seguito il vostro ottimo tutorial e l'ho applicato con successo.
(Edited by my wife, who knows a little Italian, from Google Translate.)
Hi John,
Thanks, but as Max's method worked OK and is easy to implement I reckon I'll settle for that.
And, of course, in most of the proDAD transitions the aspect ratio probably won't be noticable anyway.
It was apparent to me from Max's video that he used trial/error to arrive at that change of the vertical resolution from 100% to 140% (his first try was 142%). Any idea how you would arrive at that theoretically instead?
Hi Terry
. . . . Any idea how you would arrive at that theoretically instead? . . . .
Assuming original is for 720 * 576 then the AR is 1.25 (5:4)
16:9 AR is 1.77777
Vertical magnification factor = AR 16:9 / AR 5:4 = 1.7777 / 1.25 = 1.42 or 142%
John
Hi Terry
. . . . Any idea how you would arrive at that theoretically instead? . . . .
Assuming original is for 720 * 576 then the AR is 1.25 (5:4)
16:9 AR is 1.77777
Vertical magnification factor = AR 16:9 / AR 5:4 = 1.7777 / 1.25 = 1.42 or 142%
John
Thanks John.
(So you'd get an identical result by changing the width from 100 to 70%.)
Earlier, using the \erde folder of all the images responsible for that effect, I arbitrarily changed their width to 500. But I don't understand why it made no obvious difference to the result! Maybe I'll try repeating the exercise, even though it's now only a matter of intellectual curiosity.
Hi Terry
. . . . (So you'd get an identical result by changing the width from 100 to 70%.) . . . .
Yes if you do not want the transition to use the whole width of the screen.
After further experimentation with Adorage I noted that black' fringeing around the edges of the earth is visible, ie the result is the same as using the images to create a mxv as I described and applying chroam key to it.
I am going to try a little experiment with a moving mask to see what happens.
Added: The Earth images have too many stray pixels around the edge of the planet to create a smooth edged moving mask
John.
Hi Max,
Eccellente, grazie mille Max!
Non ho assolutamente nessun italiano. Ma ho seguito il vostro ottimo tutorial e l'ho applicato con successo.(Edited by my wife, who knows a little Italian, from Google Translate.)
The translation into Italian of your wife is not perfect .. but I've perfectly understood and appreciated its contents !
The fact that I've used the 142% in the first example ande the 140% in the second one is not a result of a calculation... but I've have simply based myself on my "eyes"
Regards from Italy... ciao
Max
"The Earth images have too many stray pixels around the edge of the planet to create a smooth edged moving mask"
Hi John,
I wonder if there's any significance in the fact that the AR of these particular 724 x 566 JPG images (all 100 of them) is ~ 1.279? As I mentioned in my reply to John CB on Saturday, "The great bulk of the nearly 3,500 of them are 720x576 (AR=1.25, not 4:3). But in a brief search I found examples with ARs of 1.26 and 1.28."