Dear community,
Could you give me some feedback for the VEGAS Video Stabilization plugin? What do you think about the Basic, Professional and Expert mode? What do think about the improved results (compared to the old plugin) and automatic sliders?
I haven't tested it extensively but the results are pretty good
I would like to see:
1. A real help documentation, not only tooltips, to explain the different stab and tracking options
2. Applying it as mediafx slows down the workflow. I would like to use it as eventfx. Other stab plugin can do it (Borisfx stab, Prodad (with bug though).
3. A possibility to correct rolling Shutter
4. An option to use previous and future frames to fill in the borders
Hi Pascal,
the stabilization result seems to be much better now. But as long as it is only a Media FX I have to keep using Mercalli V4.
Remember that you can create subclip to limit the selected range used in final, and that will only limit the process for that range, not the overall 'source clip'. But still, the FX required to be put in MediaFX level.
Hello, coming from my previous Forum Post, I would like to address some few things that I think Magix should improve and fix it a lil bit more better for the video stabilization.
From Previous Post https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/jello-stabilize--114314/
No doubt the current Video Stabilization system in VEGAS Pro 16 build 352 have significant improvement from the previous updates. But the problem here is I cant do some basic "anti jello" trick where most professionals editor out there use this method when they try to stabilised their handheld footages.
The trick is very simple. Before you applied any stabilization in post, you masked out the subject in focus. After done doing rough masking and animate the masking positions, then you can apply the stabilization FX. The stabilization will only analyse the background instead of the foreground included (which is the subject in focus that has been masked out). Once it finished analysing the footage, we can then turn off the masking and the footage will have a very clean stabilization without any jello/shake/jitter.
But the problem here, in VEGAS Pro, we cant add the VEGAS Pro Stabilization FX in Video FX, but it can only be applied through Media FX. Where It won't read the masked footages from Video Event PAN/Crop. Even with Bezier Masking FX, I can't manually animate the masking along the timeline without having the auto tracking features off/disable (It can only masked out the first frame).
Another thing that I want to highlight is the micro jitter coming from a Gimbal. If anyone have try a gimbal before, doest matter what brand, how expensive the gimbals is, it will 100% create micro jitter if you don't have a basic in operating the equipment. Even buddy of mine who have experience operating vast type of gimbals, sometimes wrong movement can create noticeable micro jitter. So it can only be fix in Post Productions.
This is where After Effects and Premiere Pro shines a bit better then VEGAS Pro. From that software (Pr/AE), It will 100% eliminate the micro jitter without following the motion of the subjects. Where it VEGAS Pro it does remove the jitter, but the problem here once the subject is isolated from the background (Shallow depth of field), or getting closer to the camera, the VEGAS Pro stabilization will starts to follow the subject motion. I found out the "Translation" mode works the best in eliminate the micro jitter from the gimbal but it will 100% follow the subjects motions.
From my previous post, some people is kinda confused what Im trying to say, its either I'm addressing an issues or suggesting a features. Its my own fault not to explain very well. But I think from this post Its more into suggesting an improvements I guess?
The VEGAS Pro Stabilization is almost perfects, and I think it would be great if there's a basic tutorials/post about the Expert Mode cause most user out there would love to know what does this and that affect their video.
And to make things more clearer, I have uploaded some videos clip of mine where it was shot on a gimbal. There is 1 Raw video clip straight from the camera so maybe Magix can try to stabilised and eliminate the jitters (R&D for next Stabilization updates) as well some demo clip from that same raw footages, showing what does this mode do to the video clips. Here is the link :
Sample Clips https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b15GHK1FwHoykaEb2pbVnPO2lL55m3s7
Also I want to add on is the preview bugs that causes from Vegas stabilization where the masked footages aren't align with the preview windows
Thats all, Thanks
Remember that you can create subclip to limit the selected range used in final
I know, but this is quite nasty if you have to apply stabilization to many events. And in addition you can not put this MediaFX in the EventFX chain. This limits the usability if you have clips with low contrast e.g. s-log2/3.
This is another good example from Alex above of the disadvantage of a MediaFX stabilization:
The trick is very simple. Before you applied any stabilization in post, you masked out the subject in focus. After done doing rough masking and animate the masking positions, then you can apply the stabilization FX. The stabilization will only analyse the background instead of the foreground included (which is the subject in focus that has been masked out). Once it finished analysing the footage, we can then turn off the masking and the footage will have a very clean stabilization without any jello/shake/jitter.
@alifftudm95 I used the Bézier masking (inverted rectangle) to select/filter the foreground and used the stabilizer for the background. Finally, I deactivated the Bézier masking (like in your trick). The result looks good to me.
Hi Pascal,
the stabilization result seems to be much better now. But as long as it is only a Media FX I have to keep using Mercalli V4.
Vegasaur has a Batchstabilisation feature where you can choose between Mercalli4, the new Vegasstabilizer or the old Vegasstabilizer (ofcourse only when installed or activated) also automatic subclip creation is possible (when using new/old Vegasstabilizer). With Vegasaur it doesn't matter if stabilization is a media fx or an event fx.
OK... My GPU doesn’t support OpenCL 1.2, but my MoBo GPU does, but is slower. Do I UG for this s/w or just stay with Mercalli and be content not have the edge treatment.
@alifftudm95 I used the Bézier masking (inverted rectangle) to select/filter the foreground and used the stabilizer for the background. Finally, I deactivated the Bézier masking (like in your trick). The result looks good to me.
Seems almost perfect, but the footage swivel left and right. But Im gonna give it a try with Beziere Masking
With Vegasaur it doesn't matter if stabilization is a media fx or an event fx.
Generating a subclip and using this for a Media FX does not bring back the advantage of the Event FX chain benefits.
The advantage of first generating a subclip is that only the trimmed portion of a media clip is stabilized and not the whole media clip. Ofcourse do I prefer the Mercalli event FX stabilisation approach, but Mercalli has also its price.
What are the advantages / benefits of using stabilization as an event fx rather than media fx (aside from not having to subclip )?
Plus, it is not completely stable as an event fx as we have all discussed previously.
At my system (VPro16 and VMS15) it is stable as hell, when you take into account that for stabilization of interlaced video the project settings must be set temporarily to progressive and that the amount of rendering threads is set to 1.
What are the advantages / benefits of using stabilization as an event fx rather than media fx (aside from not having to subclip )?
You can use it as a part of you Event FX chain and so you can have contrast enhancing or masking of fast moving objects before the stabilizer.
As 3POINT mentioned Mercalli V4 ist working very good and stable - at least with my UHDp30 footage. I habe projects, where almost all events of a 65 minutes video are using Mercalli V4 and contrast enhancing Event FX before it.
@Peter_P The word 'stable' does not mean that the stabilizer is crashing the plugin or the VEGAS host. It means that the result as MediaFx are better (for different reasons like resolution, quality, independent against trimming).
Why you are not using the effect chain (with subclips) as MediaFX?
I've worked a lot with both the old and the new stabilizers. If interlaced material is to be optimally stabilized, this has to happen before pan / crop and resampling, I think. That's why I like to use stabilization as Media FX. At the moment not everything is optimally implemented. Above all, a consistent proxy workflow for subclips is missing. Harder is also to insert keyframing, but it is a great enrichment. Masks, sharpening and contrast enhancement are also possible as Media FX. After stabilizing you can remove them.
I have also used Mercalli V4 on a trial basis, with moderate results. For particularly difficult clips I have used Deshaker with Virtualdub. There is (still) no stabilizer which always gives the best results. At the moment I am still switching between the old and the new stabilizer. The new stabilizer will be the favorite for me, if he will also treat interlaced material optimally.
@Peter_P The word 'stable' does not mean that the stabilizer is crashing the plugin or the VEGAS host. It means that the result as MediaFx are better (for different reasons like resolution, quality, independent against trimming).
That is not what I see with my footage. There is the stabilized result of Mercalli V4 still much better in most cases.
The only disadvantage is that I have to render with a 1-Thread setting to avoid glitches. Up to now, I could not check if these glitches also appear in a longer project with all events having a Vegas Stabilization.
To use interlaced footage with Mercalli V4 you should temporary switch the project to progressive before analyzing. I still planed to include this temporary switching into my AddMercalli tool. But currently I don’t have any interlaced footage any more.😉
Maybe this switching also helps with the integrated stabilizer.
To use interlaced footage with Mercalli V4 you should temporary switch the project to progressive before analyzing. I still planed to include this temporary switching into my AddMercalli tool. But currently I don’t have any interlaced footage any more.😉
Maybe this switching also helps with the integrated stabilizer.
The Vegasaur Batchrendering script always sets, when stabilizing interlaced media, the Projectsettings temporarily to progressive. So, also when using the Vegas Stabilizer.
If I look at a 'legacy-stabilized' frame, both fields are almost congruent. this is only possible if the fields are corrected separately.
I have found in Mercalli V4 no option that allows this. After stabilizing, the fields still have the same position to each other as in the original.
I can imagine that switching to progressive with deinterlacing, makes the analysis more robust, but the result is only corrected to 1 / 25s (PAL), not 1 / 50s.
Probably switching your project from 1080i50 to 1080p50 instead to 1080p25 before analyzing with Mercalli solves your problem.
Actually... what I meant by "stable" was that Mercalli sometimes loses it's settings and needs re-analysis, and sometimes even this does not work, so you need to delete the effect and start again. Not a render problem. Not a crash problem.
In terms of quality, for me it's footage dependent: Vegas' new stabilizer does a better job "smoothing" whereas Mercalli does a better job "locking down."
In any case, my new workflow relies on Davinci Resolve to prepare footage for editing in Vegas (Proxy generation, colour correction / grading, optical flow speed changes, noise reduction... and stabilization) so my needs have changed and I anticipate mostly using the new Vegas stabilizer in a selective way (i.e. for smoothing out high-motion clips.) Mercalli is unlikely to be needed in this workflow.
Actually... what I meant by "stable" was that Mercalli sometimes loses it's settings and needs re-analysis, and sometimes even this does not work, so you need to delete the effect and start again.
I see this only when I stabilize before trimming/arranging events. Indeed than you need to delete the effect and start again.
Some other Pros and Cons are: The Vegas stabilizer always stabilizes the whole media clip and not just the trimmed part (when you make not a subclip first). Attaching media fx like attaching event fx, by an extra media fx icon, would also help. The stabilization results of Vegas stabilizer is now almost as good as Mercalli. No extra costs for the Vegas stabilizer. Analyzing is not that fast as Mercalli but changing parameters afterwards doesn't need new analyzing. Rendering of Vegas stabilized clips goes faster than rendering Mercalli stabilized clips. Also the Basic, Pro and Expert mode is helpful.
@3POINT
Yes, I switched to 1080p50 for analysis. The problem remains.
A good result is provided by the legacy stabilizer with deinterlace method blend fields or interpolate for timeline playback / rendering. This seems to be important, although project is interlaced.