Movie Studio 2023 165 Platinum
I want to both blur a moving object and maybe steady a video. I have read the PDF parts that I could find were relevant, but every description seemed to casually say "Do this" and when I went to find out how, I would then be told to "Do that" and so on.
This makes the process look really easy...if you know how.
So I would like a source of somewhere that lays it out in detail, including where I can find each sub-process in the menu structure.
Thanks
Nick
Hi and welcome to the forum
. . . . I want to both blur a moving object . . . .
See this tutorial - although done in Movie Edit Pro (Movie Studio is the rebranded name) the technique is the same.
For Stabilisation look in the Effects tab, under the Video section you will find Vegas Stabilisation.
HTH
John EB
Forum Moderator
Thanks for the reply and the lesson in politeness :D...."Hi. I am Nick and I am new here, and I am really looking for some help"...Seriously I was rather brusque and my only excuse is that I was getting a little short on patience.
Thanks for the pointers. All the name changes and such can make it hard to look for info.
Nick
OK. I checked out that tute, briefly. Brief because AFAICS it describes a completely different process from the one Help shows.
Help does not talk of special filenames or extensions. It simply says to drop in any image on a Track below the Track that the "reference" (subject?) video is on. Then you work out what segment of the reference track you want to follow, position, rotate and resize the masking object (on the lower track) so that it sits over the moving subject. Then ask of the masking object to attach to picture position in the video. The implication is that then the masking object should follow the subject as the video plays.
AND SUDDENLY I GOT IT TO WORK ...while trying to make sure I was describing what was not! I did not take the last step of using the mouse to frame the tracked subject. When I did that the tracking was fine.
I am going to keep testing, but if this works it will be BY FAR the simplest tracking setup I have used. I tried VSDC and to do this took maybe 20 steps. It also kept crashing and was horribly unreliable.
Hmmm...except it jumps all about and misses the target as soon as there is any real movement. Are these tracking algorithms just not that good? Are they only usable to track very slow- or little-moved objects; those are the only ones I remember. Do I go back to keyframes as johnebaker has suggested?
Nick
Hi
. . . . Seriously I was rather brusque . . . .
On the contrary I found your post to be to the point and concise in the issue you were having.
. . . . Help does not talk of special filenames or extensions . . . .
The issue with help files is that they have to give you sufficient information but not turn in the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica, I gave extra information about these as I create many of my own masks for special shapes and effects.
. . . . .except it jumps all about and misses the target as soon as there is any real movement. . . . .
The tracking is very good when the movement/jumps are not too large and relatively smooth and the contrast between the tracked subject and the surrounding area is good. However the tracking object can be jerky if the tracked subject moves in jumps as can be seen in this second tutorial where the title follows the motion of the surfboard.
Try using a larger selection area so that the tracked object remains inside it when the larger jump occurs.
HTH
John EB
OK. I have a video where the subject moves smoothly enough as I am panning across the image while the subject stands still. It seems that the tracking is OK if the subject stays sharp and does not move too fast. So if I am videoing in lower light and pan fast, the track seems to lose it if the subject blurs and fools it. I was warned that it can also happen even if,say,a person turns their face if the focus is on the head alone. Again it seems to be matter of recognition.
Does MS offer different algorithms for tracking? I would happily settle for a lot slower tracking if it was more tolerant of change.
Incidentally I worked out that if the tracking bombs, you place another tracker on a new rack and start again. But even then I was finding that after a frame or 5 it would lose again if there was too much blur or movement.
Thank you for your patience.
Nick
Hi Nick,
Here are two tutorials that I did showing two different methods for blurring - motion tracking and manually - amongst other things.
For stabilizing, I presume that you don't have Mercalli.
attach to picture position in the video
John CB
I will check those out. I have worked out the basics and seem to be able to actually move forward with this task, but I always want to learn
HAH! I do not even know what Mercalli IS! 😆
Nick
OK I checked out Mercalli. I tried to get the trial. Apparently I have logged in before. But:
(1) the password I requested never got here
(2) in all honesty, the price is above my "pay grade" (which at this stage is Aud$100 over my career): I am a hobbyist: any income will be peripheral.I do not even dream any more.
Nick
Hi Nick,
in all honesty, the price is above my "pay grade"
Likewise. It's just that Mercalli came with some versions of Movie Edit Pro Premium/Movie Studio Suite.
Mercalli v5 is both a plugin and a stand-alone. Unfortunately, the current offering is v6, stand-alone only, and is not bundled with any Movie Studio offering, Video Pro X New and Subscription only. However, it may be offered with the next version. So, maybe next year.
John CB
Thanks for the heads up. I will keep my eyes that are in it open. 😀
Please understand that I josh. I will.
BUT....The common art is to offer these deals so folk will grab the next version. Trouble is I have had "gifts" that were severely diminished or even shill or trials for later release. Interesting ideas but a waste of my anticipation and time.
I resent that from a product I want to trust
Nick
It took 4 tries, but I tracked the object I couldn't before. By simply copying and pasting the previous tracker and reattaching it right at the end of the last time, it worked. One I sorted that out it was quite quick to do.
OOI I wanted to post up a short vid, but when I tried it just sat there, with no data movement. What are the rules for posting up a video, please?
Nick
Hah! I am trying to post up 5.7MB :) I will have another go. I will try with an mp4
hmmm...I am still getting 0 Bps
Hi gain. Yep the one with tray(?) and an up arrow.
Are you here just to rub it in? 😀 Your upload speed is 2X my down load speed. My upload just makes 5Mb(its)ps. 😬 But there was absolutely no sign of data activity at my end on my data monitor. I will keep trying.
Nick
Hi Nick.
Sorry no, but an upload speed may have some bearing on whether it gets timed out or not. Other people say they have no problems at all so it may be partially down to upload and download speeds. Another option would be to upload to YouTube and then just post the view code into this portion with no need to use the upload button. At the YouTube end you can mark it as limited to anyone who has the link and then only people visiting this page will see it.
Ray.
Thanks for coming back. This seems a really good forum! I was joking about rubbing it in!
I have not let it time out. It's just, regardless of my upload speed the best "speed" I have seen when I have tried was about 1.4KBps.
I may try YT as you suggest...Ohhh Nohhh! Another learning curve.
Hi Nick. I did pick upon the use of the smiley. 😉
There could be several reasons why it is failing. Even if anyone has a fast upload speed or not, the individual has no choice with which 'highway' the information goes from your computer to the server. In theory it should change each time one tries. There is really no such thing as a direct connection between one server and another. You may not even be uploading to the same server I did. Many large companies do that. Whether Magix does this or not I don't know. They may not know 🤣.
Compared to learning a new editing program, uploading to YouTube is a doddle 😅, just don't lose your login details.
One thing that may be important (or not, another unknown factor for uploading here) is I have never tried uploading footage that is more than HD in resolution. (1920 x 1080).
Ray.
Yeah, I am aware of the vagaries of where my data goes 😲
OK. As I said I will give YT a kick-start and see how I go. I do have a knack for getting tangled.
This one is definitely not over 1920X: 480*360. I have limited data allowance unless I am up after 01:00.
This seems like a lot of stuffing about for a few seconds of video, but once I have it sorted, it's sorted.
Nick
OK. Here we go. The flicker toward the end is when I changed to a different masking image. I left a second or so at the start to show what was being masked.
Nick
Hi
Definitely 480 x 360 resolution, I assume this is the original video clip resolution?
Tracking looks good for the fast movement 👍👍
John EB
