video layers not behaving

wrice wrote on 3/31/2013, 8:59 AM

I have three layers of stills that I want to use to produce a moving image; the back layer is a starfield, the mid-layer is a debris field and the front layer is a driver in a vehicle. You can see through the window - I made the window white, set Chroma key to white and the background for the debris is white, and then I set the mid-layer to pan right to left.

That all works fine; the debris 'flies' between the vehicle and the background stars - BUT even though all images have been sized to 720 width, when I export the movie there is a vertical band on each side of the forground image, and it shows the moving debris field on each side of the front image, beyond the normal borders. WHY does that happen and how can I control the image so that it does not appear outside the 720 horizontal width limit that is the actual size of my images and the selected output size; only 720 - why is it wider?

Comments

terrypin wrote on 3/31/2013, 11:31 AM

Hi,

I don't think I've understood that confidently enough to attempt reproducing it with your object sizes. Make a small project exhibiting the problem and (assuming you have the facility in your unspecified version of MEP) use File > Backup > Copy project and media into folder zip it up and upload it so that we can see what you mean.

Also let us know your project and export settings. A mis-match there seems one possible cause.

Meanwhile, do you mean something like this:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/3TrackDemo.mp4

My project and export resolutions were 1920x1080 (HDTV PAL 16:9).

My rocket had a white window and had chroma key of white applied.

My middle layer (intended to be the moon, although I didn't notice until now that my background already has one!) has a white 'sky' and that too therefore has chroma key of white applied. I panned it right to left.

The project and its media are here:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/3TrackDemo.zip

Unzip, run the MVP, and compare it to yours.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

 

Last changed by terrypin on 3/31/2013, 12:29 PM, changed a total of 4 times.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK. PC: i7 6700K, 4.0 GHz, 32GB with Win 10 pro. Used many earlier versions of MEPP, currently mainly MEPP 2016 & 2017 (Using scores of macro scripts to add functionality, tailored to these versions.)

wrice wrote on 3/31/2013, 4:19 PM

Thanks for replying. I looked at your sample; it is very similar. I made a 10 sec version by deleting the rest of the video so you could see it. The unwanted effect was not there, so I did not uplaod it.

I think the problem is multi-layered; I think that when working with this editor you cannot do this/try that/put this here/ drag and drop that there, etc. I think this editor likes things done in certain careful steps. Once you apply anything, the relationships between clips, objects, transitions, etc., all become put together in a way that you should not revise. You should play around, figure out what you want, have it all planned and then start over, and do it step by step. First the background layer, etc. Then adjust times. Then apply the transitions, then the effects. Then the music. To interrupt any of that with editing risks strange results; jumps, unexpected repeated images, and so on. I think one of the tiny adjustments I made to an effect or transition somewhere extended the boundaries of that image and widened it. My demo works the way I intended the video to work. So my problem is somewhere in a couple of hundred applied changes. Great. I'll chop it up until I find the pesky little bad boy, and edit it out, and probably end up starting all over again.

So your request for an example should eventually lead me to a solution; thanks!

 

cpc000cpc wrote on 3/31/2013, 7:09 PM

wrice,

Your description of the debris field being visible on each side of the front image suggests the pesky problem is the width of the foreground being reduced rather than the width of the debris field being expanded. Do you see any change in the foreground if you export it on its own? There was a TV Cropping setting to prevent loss of edges when displaying on old analog sets.

Regards,

Carl

wrice wrote on 3/31/2013, 8:35 PM

Terry, thanks for the reply - see my added comment to my original post; here is a link to a .rar of the files and a short video showing the results:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37489935/_Magixtestfolder.rar

Thanks!

wrice wrote on 3/31/2013, 8:38 PM

Carl - no - the screen is visibly wider than any of the original images. All images are still, no video in the video! :)

I set the middle layer panning and that is what extended the edges; however, I did a short version by editing out the rest and the effect went away, so it's a bad effect/transition somewhere, perhaps. Feel free to look at the example.

Thanks.

cpc000cpc wrote on 3/31/2013, 10:45 PM

wrice,

As far as I can see the only problem is that your project is set up with a 16:9 aspect ratio but the car clips are 4:3. Changing the project setting ([E] key shortcut) to 4:3 seems to give that effect you want without bars on the side. Depending on program version you may need to type it in '4:3' if there is no drop-down selection. Alternately you would need to make a 16:9 version of the driver in the car.

Very neat effects! Congratulations. 

Carl

Hmmm... 4:40 am in England -- I'll beat Terry! :-)

terrypin wrote on 4/1/2013, 1:13 AM

Hi wrice,

I think there are two things wrong:

1. Your foreground and background clips need cropping so that they all fill the screen. Just select all of them, right click and use Cut automatically to fit screen. (Or shortcut Alt+Shift+B)

2. You've applied panning to the background as well!

 

@Carl: BTW, TV cropping feature relevant to modern flat screens too.
Also, while I think of it, any thoughts on my question yesterday about Layout files?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK, Monday 1 April 2013, 07:13

 

Last changed by terrypin on 4/1/2013, 2:32 AM, changed a total of 4 times.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK. PC: i7 6700K, 4.0 GHz, 32GB with Win 10 pro. Used many earlier versions of MEPP, currently mainly MEPP 2016 & 2017 (Using scores of macro scripts to add functionality, tailored to these versions.)

wrice wrote on 4/1/2013, 9:10 AM

.....E.....

It's almost too elegant!  one keystroke!

Totally fixed everything!

Thank you so much!

I really need to study this program harder.

 

wrice wrote on 4/4/2013, 10:11 AM

Just as a follow-up, here's the video I made from these tests - I intend to cut in several external views of the ship later - for now this is the base file. Opinions would be appreciated.