AddMercalli Automation – Vp17 Auto-Stabilization

Peter_P wrote on 10/31/2016, 3:41 AM

Hello together,

during Mai 2014 I wrote a Vegas pro custom command to automatically apply Mercalli 2.0 FX to video event and let it be analyzed. In September 2015 these functions have been adapted to the Mercalli v4 FX. Now that Vegas pro 14 is available, I enhanced this automation tool and added some features.

You now may select a preset or use the tuned settings of an event that already has adapted setting to be applied to the next events. Specify the number of events to add the Mercalli v4 FX and let it automatically be analyzed.

The Remap Mode ‘Cubic’ provides the best quality results. However, it requires a lot of power and may result in non real time preview. So you may change it in all Mercalli v4 events to ‘Linear’ or ‘Nearest’ during editing and change it back to ‘Cubic’ for final rendering.

You only may have one Mercalli stabilization FX on each event. If you want to use a pre Vegas pro 14 project with Mercalli 2.0 FX, use the ‘Remove Mercalli 2 FX’ to do so starting from the selected video event.

The AddMercalli_V4_2.01.zip file contains a brief description as a pdf and the two file that need to be copied to the ‘Application Extensions’ folder.

This tool is for free but with no obligation of any kind to me.

Edit 04Nov2016
The current functionality of V2.01 was adapted to be used with Vegas pro 13.

Edit 05Aug2019 V3.01
The tool was extended with some features and now can be used for the new event based Vegas Pro 17 stabilization. It can still be used for older MAGIX Vegas Pro versions, but will there only use the Marcalli v4 stabilization.

DJI Osmo Pocket clips are normally very smooth and may optionally be skipped. Detailed description can be found in the PDF of the ZIP file.

Edit 09Feb2020 V3.12

I have added two functions to AddMercalli_V4 ( & VEGAS Video Stabilization).

The VEGAS Video Stabilization already tries in 'Freeze motion' mode to reduce the 'additional Zoom' by selection the best fitting reference frame number. This is very close to the optimum, while on some footage the additional zoom may still be reduced a tiny bit. This is now easy possible with the newly added 'Reduce add. Zoom' in AddMercalli_V4 by n% and x-count of events, starting from the selected. Use '0' to apply this change to all following events with Freeze Motion stabilization.

On some static clips with non motion at all, it may be stabilized with the event 'Freeze Frame at Cursor' function. If this is applied, there should not be any other additional stabilization FX. The new version 3.12 skips events using this kind of stabilization.

Edit 24Mar2020 V4.01

The user interface was restructured and an Auto-Stabilization, that selects the parameter presets according to the scene content, is newly added. This can be used with the Vp17 internal stabilization FX or with the Mercalli V4 plugin starting from Vp14.

Edit 09Jun2020 V4.02

The user settings are now saved to an *.ini file and restored on next start.

Detailed description can be found in the PDF contained in the ZIP file.

Release History AddMercalli v4 for Vegas pro 14+:
Initial Release 31.Oct.2016 AddMercalli_V4_2.01.zip
Update 26.Sep2017 AddMercalli_V4_2.1.0.zip
Update 15.Jan2019 AddMercalli_V4_2.1.4.zip
Update 05.Aug2019 AddMercalli_V4_3.0.1.zip
Update 09.Feb2020 AddMercalli_V4_3.1.2.zip
Update 24.Mar2020 AddMercalli_V4_4.0.1.zip
Update 09Jun2020 AddMercalli_V4_4.0.2.zip
Update 02Oct2022 AddMercalli_V4_4.0.4.zip
Update 18Dec2022 AddMercalli_V4_4.05.zip for Vp17+

Release History AddMercalli v4 for Vegas pro 13:
Initial public Version 30.Sep2015 AddMercalli_V4_1.00.zip
Update 04.Nov2016 AddMercalli_V4_Vp13_2.02.zip

You may download these files from this location using the password : '02Oct2022' (without quotes - do not use cut&paste)

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Comments

Peter_P wrote on 1/15/2019, 2:50 AM

During daily work with this tool I felt the need to add some practical features.

Added features :

1. You can now remove all Mercalli V4 FX and get the number of changes shown. This can also be used to quickly count the number of Mercalli FX in the project – do not save, if you only want the count !

2. An optional Autosave will save your project before adding or changing Mercalli FXs.

3. On interlaced project this project setting is temporarily changed to progressive before Mercalli Analysis is started and switched back when done.

4. You may now also change the parameters of a number of already applied Mercalli FXs with a separate selectable preset.

So I can comfortably work with as little mouse clicks as possible.

Former user wrote on 1/30/2019, 3:42 AM

@Peter_P

Thank you for your great work. I've always used your custom command for batch rendering on Mercalli V4. Everything is working correctly here in Vegas Pro 14, 15 and 16. I also have the Mercalli V4 installed in Vegas Pro 13. Is there a version of this custom command for Vegas Pro 13 as well?

I found awesome your idea of making the interlaced project momentarily progressive so Mercalli works properly on interlaced media. Before I had to go into the project properties and change this manually. Now this is no longer necessary.

I noticed that the option Remove Mercalli 2 FX exists. Is it possible to use the Mercalli 2 in Vegas pro 14 or higher? Here Mercalli 2 only works until version 13.

Peter_P wrote on 1/30/2019, 3:49 AM

Is there a version of this custom command for Vegas Pro 13 as well?

@Former user

Yes, see first post of this thread.

I noticed that the option Remove Mercalli 2 FX exists. Is it possible to use the Mercalli 2 in Vegas pro 14 or higher? Here Mercalli 2 only works until version 13.

Mercalli 2 FX only works up to Vp13. I added this Remove option to ease migration of older projects with Mercalli 2 FXs to Vp14+.

Former user wrote on 1/30/2019, 4:00 AM

Thanks @Peter_P

Actually, I wanted to know if there is the Update 15.Jan2019 AddMercalli_V4_2.1.4.zip for Vegas Pro 13.

Here I already current use the Update 04.Nov2016 AddMercalli_V4_Vp13_2.02.zip in the Vegas Pro 13

Peter_P wrote on 1/30/2019, 4:41 AM

No, sorry I do not plan to further update the Vp13 version.

Former user wrote on 1/30/2019, 5:21 AM

Yes. It's understandable.

Thanks again for updating the custom command AddMercalli in Vegas Pro 14 or higher.

Peter_P wrote on 8/5/2019, 2:52 AM

Now the new version 3.01 of AddMercalli (see first post) also support the new Vegas pro 17 event based stabilization. I have kept the name of the tool and just added the Vegas pro internal stabilization.

Enjoy !

Former user wrote on 8/6/2019, 10:11 AM

Thanks for the update AddMercalli_V4_3.0.1

Peter_P wrote on 2/9/2020, 4:37 AM

I have added two functions to AddMercalli_V4 ( & VEGAS Video Stabilization). Please see the release notes in the first post of this thread.

Enjoy !

Peter_P wrote on 3/24/2020, 7:21 AM

Now the new version 4.01 of AddMercalli (see first post) provides Auto-Stabilization selecting the static(freeze) or dynamic(pan) parameter according to the contend of the scene of the events. On my i7-8700k system it handles 60 UHDp30 clips within ~13 minutes with a very high hit rate.

Hint: If you want an event to be skipped from automation, apply a VEGAS Video Stabilization without analysis and switch it off in the FX-chain.

Let it work for you and enjoy !

Peter_P wrote on 6/9/2020, 1:44 AM

The new version 4.02 will save the user setting to be restored on next start.

Peter_P wrote on 10/2/2022, 10:58 AM

The link and password (see first post) are now changed and an updated version has been released.

Peter_P wrote on 12/18/2022, 3:28 AM

Thanks to the hints and help from Harold-Linke and further advice from Edward Troxel (jetdv) I have updated some of my tools to reflect the user selectable display Interface Types and uploaded them for your use.

Peter_P wrote on 12/20/2022, 5:20 AM

Please note that even with the name ’AddMercalli’ this tool may very well use the Vegas pro internal Video Stabilization – as indicated in the above screen shot.

Joelson wrote on 5/25/2023, 12:39 PM

Hi @Peter_P

If possible, in future updates add an option to "Apply Stabilization as Media FX". I know Mercalli doesn't work as Media FX, but native VEGAS Video Stabilization does. When the option is unchecked, it will continue to apply stabilization as Event FX. This option is very useful as it allows you to apply changes to the event after it has stabilized without losing analysis data. Think about it.

Thanks!

Peter_P wrote on 5/26/2023, 12:44 AM

This option is very useful as it allows you to apply changes to the event after it has stabilized without losing analysis data.

@Joelson

This seems to be an advantage but on the other hand clips often have a larger shake at the end and this should be trimmed before stabilization to reduce the amount of zooming. I would not go this way.

Joelson wrote on 5/26/2023, 6:10 AM

This seems to be an advantage but on the other hand clips often have a larger shake at the end and this should be trimmed before stabilization to reduce the amount of zooming. I would not go this way.

@Peter_P

To resolve this, I create a subclip of the trimmed event and apply stabilization as a Media FX in this subclip. The advantage of this is that it is not necessary to analyze the entire clip, but only the part that will be used and, as a bonus, it is still possible to edit the stabilized event without losing the analysis data, since the stabilization is in Media FX and not Event Fx.

See my screen recording to understand better.

Peter_P wrote on 5/26/2023, 7:48 AM

it is still possible to edit the stabilized event without losing the analysis data, since the stabilization is in Media FX and not Event Fx.

Yes in this case you may shorten the used part but not freely edit. Since I do stabilization as the very last step and let AddMercalli run over all events in the timeline, there is very little need to change the length of the events at this stage.

However, when I get time, I will have a look for this option.

Dexcon wrote on 5/26/2023, 8:19 AM

To overcome all those Vegas Pro timeline stabilisation issues, I've long used Merc 3/4/5 SAL to in/out the wanted areas of the video images and stabilise those targeted sections of the video event and export to an .mp4 render Then import the Merc mp4 stabs to Vegas Pro's timeline - no more problems with editing the timeline to re-stabilise etc. Yes, that increases folder sizes on the hard drive, but has been said many times on the forum over the years - storage is cheap these days.

To put this in context, most of my video recordings are handheld and thus needs stabilisation either via Mercalli or occasionally via Resolve Studio or Mocha Pro, but understandably if it is only a few video events that need stabilisation in a project, then doing it on Video Pro's timeline would be a realistic option.

Peter_P wrote on 5/26/2023, 10:30 AM

Using the SAL hat a big disadvantage for me. In this case I do not use the original footage with the higher quality and all the recording data I want to be exported as subtitles with ShowRecDat. In addition I would have to stabilize on the first step, not knowing if the clips will be used in the project.