Thank you for your suggestion.

I have always let the program match the highest resolution source video, and I render various versions from there. I've been doing that since the old Movie Studio days. Have I always been doing it wrong?

These videos were ready to go out to the dance company when I noticed the problem last night. So, to your suggestions, I reset project settings using the 3840x2160, 1920x1080, and 1280x720 templates and re-rendered the bad section in each one. Every result was different, and the only one correct was when rendered to 3840x2160. (The effect was still entirely absent in the MPEG-2 version for DVD.)

Does this mean I have to change edit the flare effect position for every render? Or should I do a master 3840x2160 render (Ack! 30 minutes to render each minute of a 1+ hour video!) and produce the other versions from that one?

Thanks again!

Did you already try deselecting GPU acceleration in Options/Preferences/Video?

Also - do you mean HitFilm Light Flares or Ignite Light Flares?

A guess: In your FX window set Pan/Crop after the Light Flares FX.

Marco, thank you.

I did not deselect GPU acceleration. Can you explain the general reason why this might work? I can try it on one segment with the Light Flares.

Yes, I did mean HitFilm, which came bundled with the latest Vegas Pro Edit (HitFilmVegasBasic.ofx.bundle), which I downloaded and installed on December 30.

Pan/Crop was done first because it's animated to follow the dancer. I decided some days later that this moment of the ballet's story needed some definition and clarification, so when she stops and touches the 'mirror', I inserted a light flare animation (rising/falling curve). Is there a way to reset the Pan/Crop to be after Light Flares without recreating all the animation curves of both?

Thank you once more!

There is no need to reset Pan/Crop. Just place it after Light Flares in the FX window. This should not affect your animation and if it does just replace back. But you would need to replace the Light Flare position once then.

Deselected GPU acceleration. When Vegas restarted and the source file reloaded, the program throws a warning that the HitFilm effects are not installed. (I now remember trying this yesterday.)

Pan/crop moved to after Light Flares: No change in render.

At this point it's looking like the Light Flares effect is reading the source video rather than the project settings. With 3840x2160 it's in the right place. With 1920x1080, it's a little up and left. With 1280x720 it's even further up and left. With MPEG-2 at 720x480, it's way up and left, almost off-screen.

Because of how long it takes, I may render just this section as 3840x2160, and then drop it into a new track with the previous 1920x1080 rendered version. It won't help making the MPEG-2 version, though, because I'll lose all my scene markers (I think).

And this is a volunteer project, too. 😬

This is strange. When I let Pan/Crop before the FX then I get same mis-placement as you got. But when I place Pan/Crop after the FX the FX placement is solid, no matter which resolution applied.

Could you show a screenshot of your FX window?

@Kalvos:

I have always let the program match the highest resolution source video, and I render various versions from there. I've been doing that since the old Movie Studio days. Have I always been doing it wrong?

In the early days I did the same. Then I started to use trackmotion along with its shadow and glow intensively. I also often rendered from the same project to different resolution targets (such as 720p and DVD). And wondered why they look different. Not just in the way 720p and DVD are different.

I found that when I set the project to the target resolution, and tweak my settings, the result is always good. Of course this means for me to have different versions of the project for the different targets, otherwise they are the same.

I would recommend in general to have the project in the same resolution and framerate as your target is, not as your source.

So, if your target is fullHD, I'd set up the project as fullHD regardless of the source resolution. If your target is just a DVD, set it accordingly. That helps avoid similar surprises.

@Marco_Polo

Here's the screencap. Pan/crop is last in the chain. The flare is placed properly on the preview from the timeline. However, when rendered, it is nowhere near.

@klt

Crazy to have multiple files. Same thing with Finale and music files -- one for score, one for proper parts, one for audio demos.

Most of the time I just document concerts and have nothing tweaked but HSL and B/C, a couple of synced cameras, and a nice audio file. This time an hour-long ballet just didn't hold up visually without a few fancy bits, and the choreographer wanted that. I'm on their ballet company's board so got to play volunteer because they wanted DVD, Blu-Ray, 720p internet, and 1080p internet.

This is my finding and I learned it still with Vegas 10. If Vegas resizes the project during render, something is off -not everything, but something. If the project contains only a fullscreen video, and a title, it does not matter. But if I need things lined up pixel-perfect, the deformation occurs, and it will gets annoying.

Maybe it's not really necessary for you to have multiple files, but can you try to resize you project to the target resolution prior to render? Just set a resolution in project properties to the target size.

And see if what is the result? After resizing the project do you have to retweak that effect, or is that start still in the right position? If yes, what is the result if render to your target resolution which now equals to the project resolution?

Thanks, yes, @klt, it's never in the right position except on the timeline and in a full resolution render that matches the original camera file. I've tried source/target in all nine combinations and other suggestions by you and Marco.

Plus, the crosshair for the effect center doesn't ever match the effect on the timeline no matter what project settings I try. I suspect some incompatibility somewhere -- video card / effect / resolutions.

Now to the next test: reboot! 😐

@Kalvos

@klt is correct,

This is because your output settings differ from your project settings. Your output should always be the same as your project configuration.

So you say, you change the project to 1920*1080.

The effect is OK on preview.

Then render to 1920*1080 and the effect is displaced?

It's really beyond my mind.

As a workaround I'd render to an intermediate where it is inplace (it's that the original camera resolution if I understand right).

Then use this intermediate in the other renders. That should wor theoretically, and probably will speed up your subsequent renders, as the effect is rendered, does not need more computation.

Reboot complete. No change.

@Former user, yes, I've already tried matching project and output settings. This works only when the project settings, output settings, and source file settings all match.

@klt, yes, I rendered just that section with project and output matching the source file settings, which is fine. Fortunately, it's only a single 3-minute portion. Now I'll create a new project with the full render and this clip. That should do it.

I'll let you know. Thanks again!