Hello mate and thanks for your reply. :)

Point 3# wont actually be relevant to me then, as the only thing I use Magix for is the auto lighting feature.
I do all my actual animations/transitions on Windows MovieMaker as I prefer it's more basic layout and interface.
But so the only 'effect' which I use on Magix is the auto lighting feature, which is automatically for the entire duration of the clip as standard?


And thankyou for providing me that info regarding Point 1# and 2# though also.

As if what you have said is definately accurate and correct, I can literally just load the 10mins video clip onto Magix, select any random point in the clip with the preview slider, and then click ''auto lighting'',
and it will automatically analyse the entire clip and dynamically adjust the lighting/contrast for every frame of the entire clip footage to what is correct/best for each frame,
not simply just base those levels on what was best lighting-wise for the frame at which was showing when the button was pressed...?

As if that is definately accurate, well that will save me quite abit of time. :)


 

Hi

1. No
    
2. AFAICS the effect analyses the whole clip
    
3. When you add an effect of a predetermined length and you then adjust the length of a clip or image the effect length remains the same.
   
   By clicking combine effects curve with object length, no matter what length you change the clip or image to the effect will maintain is proportion of the total length
   
   eg if you add an effect that is 2 secs long to a 5 sec long clip, set combine effects curve with object length and change the length of the object to 10 secs the effect will now last for 4 secs.

I would suggest you read the installed PDF available under Help and view the 'Getting started' tutorials by browj2 (John CB) in the tutorials section of the forum.

HTH

John EB

I have updated my original post, as unfortunately what you posted is just totally inaccurate and wrong.

I found this out through trial and error, but basically the editor DOES do exactly what I asked in question 1# and 2#.

So was just a total and utter waste of my money having bought this piece of junk

Hi

Thanks for the update - you will note in my reply point 2 I said AFAICS = as far as I can see.

One point the does arise from your requirements/findings - if you want the whole clip analysing what determines the average brightness/contrast levels for the Auto adjust to work to.

A predominantly light clip with some dark/deep shadow is going to result in the shadows having no detail at all and a clip with predominantly deep shadows/dark colours and some light is going to blow out the highlights.

These adjustments are all about compromise due to the restricted colour and contrast range of video and the playback devices.

John EB

Wasn't having a go at you mate, sorry if it came across like that.
Ultimately I do appreciate your free help to atleast of given it a try. :)

Was most just stating what I did to let any future viewers with the same query know the answer.

@Apollo89x

. . . . Wasn't having a go at you mate, sorry if it came across like that. . . . .

Not at all and no offence taken, I was just clarifying what I had said.

Since you posted what you got I went back and dug through some of my video clips to find one with an 'extreme' range of contrast ie contains a large area of light sky in one section and deep shadows at another point in the same clip - was a vertical pan taken in Adelaide so the sky was almost blown out and the building in shadow, and applied the Auto lighting at various points and as you said it does only using the frame at the cursor position.

Gamma however did work wonders on the clip - brought up the building to a more reasonable level.

Cheers

John EB

I film around 50 weddings per year, and frequently have lighting problems during the speeches when the head table is in front of a very bright outside window. As subjects move during the speeches, the unmanned cameras frequently under or overexpose as the back lighting changes due to the movement. I use a mix of brightness, contrast and gamma correction to solve the lighting variations, by simply adding keyframes at the appropriate points to trigger changes where I need them. I also sometimes just cut a clip where there is a sudden change in the lighting, and just change that particular section to match the others without needing keyframes. It's also easy to drag the edge of the cut and corrected clip back over the previous part so that the correction is gentle via a slow crossfade, without losing continuity in the shot.

After using many editing programmes over the years, I now use Magix exclusively for my editing. To describe the software as 'A piece of junk ' because it doesn't perform as you would hope in one small area, is a bit over the top! I find that there is a huge amount of depth and versatility in the programme and it has earned me a good living for many years, frequently carrying out a lot of complex multi camera editing.

Roger

Yes I do retract that comment.

Ultimately after MovieMaker Magix is the only other editing softwatre I feel comfortable using due to it's interface not being too difficult for me,
plus it does have some good features which WMM doesn't, like being able to instantly seperate audio from video and then attach that audio to a screenshot/other video... ect,
and also the auto-brightness feature is better than nothing.

Just wish so much it worked dynamically assessing all the frames of the clip though. :/

My son had a school holiday project that requires him to put together a bunch of video clips and sound effects. The teacher gave them the free version of Windows Movie Maker, and he struggled to sync the sounds to the video at exact frames and had issues with transitions at exact frames. After an hour or so he decided to switch over to MEP and got it completed in just under an hour. He had good intention to use what the teacher provided but that tool was just too weak.

@Apollo89x

I have been following your threads and I still don't know which product that you have purchased. You said that you purchased "Magix," but it would seem that you did not buy the company, so I have concluded that it must be one of the products produced by Magix. Could you please tell us which one? If Movie Edit Pro, there are 3 choices, basic, Plus and Premium. Have you updated to the latest patch? What is the patch that you have (see under Help, About)? Did you download and install the Additional Content? If so, then you will find, depending on whether or not you purchased the basic version, a panoply of transitions, amongst other things that you definitely won't find in Windows MoveMaker.

As for Auto-exposure, it would be good if it was dynamic. I thought that it was, but have never used it because just about anything "Auto" doesn't do what I want. As has been suggested, you can set what you want and key-frame changes to correspond to whatever changes in your clip.

Effects are by clip, not movie. You need to learn the difference.

For Brightness, unfortunately it raises the bottom end such that blacks become grey, and it brightens everything else as well, including the bright areas. We can see this in the instruments in VPX, but not in MEP. It's best to use Gamma (low) or HDR Gama to brighten darker areas without brightening brighter areas.

There is a lot to learn.

John CB

I bought movie edit pro basic.

Ouch! We always recommend Plus as one quickly runs into limitations with basic.

I had/have no need for plus! lol

The only feature I use Magix for is to auto-fix the lighting/contrast for my videos, nothing else.

So the version I bought is sufficient for that.

I had/have no need for plus! lol

The only feature I use Magix for is to auto-fix the lighting/contrast for my videos, nothing else.

So the version I bought is sufficient for that.

According to Magix.com site, you could have purchased the Premium version for less than the basic version. In Canada, Premium is on sale for 79.99$, basic sells for 89.99.

I noticed on one other thread that you were complaining about normal editing features because they are different (and much more powerful) from WMM). One that was missed is that to go from frame to frame, you simply use the left and right arrows, or the jog wheel (if the preview window is wide enough to see it). For someone who seems to be trying to do something professional, using WMM seems very strange.

John CB

I'm based in UK, and paid £30 for the basic, which is the max I'd spend (as was massively overpriced for this software).

And you can use the word 'powerful', however that word means nothing in reality mate! lol

Its software, not a rugby player, and so neither is more 'powerful' than the other.

What I need though when doing editing of clips daily, which are for professional commercial sale, is an editor which is very user-friendly and enables me to pause clips with the touch of a pause button, and preview how it'd look for every transition which I may want to add in.

Magix has neither of those features, and is extremely slow and weak at saving files compared to Movie-Maker speed (power).

My laptop is the same, but whilst MM has the power to save 1GB file in 45mins, Magix takes 7hours to save that same file.

I get that you are a mod here so will ofcourse be bias purely for Magix,

but the software is full of basic massive issues such as lacking a pause button, which just was poor feeble design by the makers of the software.

I am not a mod.

I'm based in UK, and paid £30 for the basic, which is the max I'd spend (as was massively overpriced for this software).

I get that you are a mod here so will ofcourse be bias purely for Magix,

but the software is full of basic massive issues such as lacking a pause button, which just was poor feeble design by the makers of the software.

I am not a moderator.

You have already been told that the space bar does play and stop. Stop = Pause. I think that most video software does the same thing; I have 2 others that do. So how can what is the normal way of doing this be "poor feeble design?

How about you give us the list of what is lacking rather than just saying that there are "basic massive issues?" We have issues with some bugs, but "basic massive issues?"

Speaking of basic, I have 2 tutorials about Basic Editing in MEP that you might want to watch.

As for transitions, MEP starts where WMM leaves off. And if you need more, check out my tutorials on Pixelan SpiceMaster.

John CB

Hi All

There is a feature in one of the New Blue Plugins that came with some of the Premium versions called Auto Contrast and this does in fact dynamically adjust the contrast over the duration of a clip and does a reasonable job. It could be purchased from New Blue retrospectively and possibly even trialed, although I refrain from recommending it as it may be considered a "piece of junk".

I agree that the Magix Auto Lighting effect has limited usefulness and it would be better if it reflected the changes it applies in the corresponding effect sliders Br, Con, Gamma etc. allowing you to fine tune it after application.

As JohnCB has mentioned, the HDR adjustment is a better option as it only effects the dark areas, boosting them but not the top end which can then be brought down with the other effect sliders.

Nice tip there Roger, to cut and isolate the problem area, adjust, then crossfade the two ends.

Peter

I am not a mod.

I'm based in UK, and paid £30 for the basic, which is the max I'd spend (as was massively overpriced for this software).

I get that you are a mod here so will ofcourse be bias purely for Magix,

but the software is full of basic massive issues such as lacking a pause button, which just was poor feeble design by the makers of the software.

You have already been told that the space bar does play and stop. Stop = Pause. I think that most video software does the same thing; I have 2 others that do. So how can what is the normal way of doing this be "poor feeble design?

How about you give us the list of what is lacking rather than just saying that there are "basic massive issues?" We have issues with some bugs, but "basic massive issues?"

 

I tried that spacebar thing, but all that did was cause the status bar at the bottom of the screen to say ''loading video'' or some similiar message.

There seems to almost be some kinda wierd confusion/lack of understanding on this forum of what a ''Pause Button'' actually is though, so just to clarify-
If im editing a 12.09mins footage, at 3.26,08mins into it I want to 'pause' the frame there, but then be able to have it resume playing from that exact place, on all other editors you just click the 'pause button'.
So i can click resume, but then press pause again a fraction of a second later at 3.26.59mins, so review if that is the exact place where I want to split the clip to add a transition, or maybe I will want to resume then pause again till its at 3.27seconds.

However on Magix you cannot do that basic essential core function, as the developers didn't add a pause button, only a 'hard stop' button, which is simply a reset clip to start button,
which is barely even used during editing.


Magix developers also failed to make the software work as being able to do auto-snap seamlessly into correct place 'drag n drop', when splitting footage, to add animations/transitions inbetween.
What I mean by that is that if I want to spilt my clip at 1minute 19seconds, add a black screen for 3.6seconds with transition fade in and out, and then resumethe 2nd half of that footage,
i want to know that my black screen will start exactly at 1.19minutes, not at 1.18.50 to overlapping the footage/nor at 1.19.30 leaving a gap of 0.3 seconds between the footage and the image, I want it to just be exactly snapped into place, so it plays seamlessly.

Windows Movie Maker offers that feature as standard, but for some bizzare reason the Magix developers lacked the ability to know how to do that,
and so you instead just have to try lining-up your footage sections to the milli-second yourself, and then just hope n pray that you haven't got an overlap or a gap!


I also want to be able to split my footage, then mouse-over a range of available transition animations, and have the preview automatically play showing both video & audio of how exactly each different transition would look in-play, just by mousing over it, so I can then select the best one.
However Magix developers again seem to lack the intelligence/ability/or whatever other word you wish to use of being able to design things user-friendly, and instead seem to think 'hiding features' is logical, as what all very busy editors want to do is spend their time searching around and reading PDF files to findout where basic core features are! :Z
So with Magix, when you click on the tab showing transitions, all it shows you is a bunch of pre-made visual images which if you click will replace your actual footage.

Yes I'm sure if I investigate deep into their pdf manual there probably is some hidden tab on the program where if you click it whilst doing a dance & entering a coupon code, you then will be able to reveal a selection of transitions which you can use to link footage sections together,
but to be perfectly honest why on earth would anyone want to go through all that hassle, when free editors like MovieMaker offer you all that in an extremely easy user-friendly way, and which can be done in seconds, to not waste your time.... :S


As i've said I have worked out a way to do what I need now, by simply-
Uploading all the raw footage (27,000bitrate / 50fps) into MovieMaker, doing all my edits there, saving the file to my laptop as a .WMV file (which saves it maintaining 24,000bitrate / 29.7fps).

Then uploading that .WMV file onto Magix, doing the auto lighting on Magix, and then saving it from Magix back onto my laptop as a .MP4 file (which for the 1st clip i've done maintained 17,000+ bitrate / 29.7fps).

I would ofcourse prefer it if MovieMaker had an auto-lighting feature, or even just a contrast adjustment feature, so I could then cut out using Magix entirely, and do all the editing on WMV, to keep that 24,000 bitrate.
However sadly I do need to use Magix for that, but atleast the drop from 27,000 bitrate to 17,000 is barely noticeable, and hopefully the drop from 50fps down to 29.7fps will have no actual noticeable impact on quality either.


 

@Apollo89x

. . . . I tried that spacebar thing, but all that did was cause the status bar at the bottom of the screen to say ''loading video'' or some similiar message. . . . .

That is normal behaviour and occurs every time for first playback of the timeline or a clip where you have added an effect, irrespective of whether you use the play button or spacebar - it is the prerender caching the video for playback, you usually see this most on longer clips or where an effect requires extensive processor time to fill the cache before playback starts, short clips are usually cached quickly.

. . . . There seems to almost be some kinda wierd confusion/lack of understanding on this forum of what a ''Pause Button'' actually is though . . . .

Not at all - it is a question of semantics and context. In MEP if you have set the option Spacebar stops at current playback position then Pause and Stop are the same thing - starting playback using the spacebar or play button continues from where the cursor stops - this has been made clear to you in other comments.

As an example

• Premiere Pro, a professional industry standard video editor, has no pause button - only Play and Stop
• Final Cut, another professional industry standard video editor for MACs, has no Stop button - only Play and Pause .

Which is right and which is wrong - neither - there is no mandatory 'requirement' for a Pause button when the program can be set to do what you want.

There may be a personal requirement, however no software manufacturer is going to tailor software to a single users requirement.

. . . . will start exactly at 1.19minutes, not at 1.18.50 to overlapping the footage/nor at 1.19.30 leaving a gap of 0.3 seconds between the footage and the image, I want it to just be exactly snapped into place, so it plays seamlessly. . . .

It is becoming increasingly frustrating for us to help you - reading the rest of your post indicates that you have not read the manual - for example in this single sentence

. . . . will start exactly at 1.19minutes, not at 1.18.50 to overlapping the footage/nor at 1.19.30 leaving a gap of 0.3 seconds between the footage and the image, I want it to just be exactly snapped into place, so it plays seamlessly. . . .

both are covered in the manual: -

• the time units are not mins:sec:decimal secs - they are mins:secs:frames, the frame is the smallest unit you can work with in video, how long it lasts in decimal seconds depends on the framerate of the video, eg 1:18:50 and 1:19:00 are the same for video at 50 fps and a frame is 20ms long.
   
• MEP has a snap function when placing objects it may not be turned on.

Comparing MEP to WMM is like trying to compare chalk and cheese they are 2 very different things - WMM is a consumer drag and drop 'we do the rest' video editor with limited functionality compared to MEP, a full blown video editor which is used by prosumer and pro's alike.

John EB

You can praise Magix all you want mate, but in my view its just a massively overpriced waste of money, that is poorly designed, is missing essential features/has loads of irrelevant features/requires you to read a book before even being able to use it,

and is far more time consuming to use than WMV, but still gives a poorer result overall.

I wasted my money buying Magix,

but don't recommended it to anyone else for the points which I've mentioned.

I give up. I help those who want help. You obviously don't want any.

And as I told you in my first post, you did not buy Magix.

Sorry, I'm out of here.

John CB

@Apollo89x

Much as I hate giving up on helping somebody, I too cannot help further.

There are several issues that are impeding progress, that have been discussed in this and your other topic.

John EB

Not being rude, but I'm not 'seeking' help anymore with this issue.

I foundout the solution to my issue already myself, and how to fix it to now endup with my videos maintaining 50fps & 27,000+ bitrate. :)


My last few posts were simply providing info/answers to your questions explaining to you some massive downfalls in Magix which makes it severely inferior to Windows Movie Maker for anyone who wants to use those core features.

You ofcourse will never accept that though, as you just want to promote this software/encourage people to pay to download this one, so its a moot discussion. :)