How to prevent transitions from affecting aspect ratio.

john_dennis wrote on 6/20/2017, 1:13 AM

Drop one these .PNG files on to a track above you current work. All you transitions and effects will happen on your current tracks below this new one. The 1920x800 window will be transparent to you video underneath. If this mask doesn't suit you, you can create another one with any shape transparent window. Virtually all of the templates that you are likely to use to render will have a 16x9 aspect ratio by default, however. Thus the requirement to mask for other aspect ratios.

john_dennis wrote on 6/20/2017, 11:34 AM

For future reference, this issue was discussed for other aspect ratios in this thread.

OldSmoke wrote on 6/20/2017, 9:15 PM

I think there are many ways to skin the cow. In the past, I used two track on top of the actual video track. I used a Solid black (Media Generator), Pan/Crop to bars and Track/Motion to move them in place.

3POINT wrote on 6/21/2017, 12:08 AM

For me, the easiest and quickest way to achieve a cinemascope aspect ratio, without cropping every event, without spending extra maskingtracks or downloading a mask.png or blackbars generated with mediagenerator, is putting following cookie cutter preset on the preview window.

OldSmoke wrote on 6/21/2017, 7:28 AM

3point. That is a good way too but will leave you with ilegal blacks, the bars. You would then have to use a solid below with a legal black value.

3POINT wrote on 6/21/2017, 7:37 AM

So, Vegas black background is illegal?

john_dennis wrote on 6/21/2017, 9:00 AM

"So, Vegas black background is illegal?"

Review this thread for a discussion about the Vegas "background color".

OldSmoke wrote on 6/21/2017, 9:00 AM

Yes, depending where you view it, it can make a difference. There are many discussions about it here in the forum and I never thought about it before either but yes, its below 16 assuming you want to follow the 16-235 range rather than 0-255, Vegas background is 0. I still like your simple approach, but how do I know the bar's pixel height when I use a cookie cutter?

NickHope wrote on 6/21/2017, 9:44 AM

So, Vegas black background is illegal?

Also see section 3 of this FAQ post: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-why-does-my-video-have-more-contrast-than-the-vegas-preview--104567/

3POINT wrote on 6/21/2017, 10:36 AM

I still like your simple approach, but how do I know the bar's pixel height when I use a cookie cutter?

I don't need to know the bar's pixel height, I need to know the wanted aspect ratio. For Cinemascope this is 1:2.35=0,425. This will be the size of the cookie cutter window.

I never had a problem with my "illegal" black bars. On my HDTV they are just black.

OldSmoke wrote on 6/21/2017, 12:15 PM

For Cinemascope this is 1:2.35=0,425. This will be the size of the cookie cutter window.

I wouldn't have thought of that!

I never had a problem with my "illegal" black bars. On my HDTV they are just black.

I am sure you haven't. For me its just a matter of conforming to the "standard". One day, hopefully soon, we won't have to worry about it at all anymore and TV signals will be full range too. Or bigger?

3POINT wrote on 6/21/2017, 12:48 PM

Another approach is to produce directly in 1:2.35 aspect ratio and match all events to that aspect ratio. Than you don't have to worry about "illegal" black bars, because they are not part of the video.

OldSmoke wrote on 6/21/2017, 4:04 PM

Another approach is to produce directly in 1:2.35 aspect ratio and match all events to that aspect ratio. Than you don't have to worry about "illegal" black bars, because they are not part of the video.

I doubt such a file would play correctly on a HDTV or UHDTV.

john_dennis wrote on 6/22/2017, 7:57 AM

I created a 1920x800-23.976p file and it played fine on mine. Personally, I'm not enamored with the aspect ratio.

OldSmoke wrote on 6/22/2017, 8:04 AM

I created a 1920x800-23.976p file and it played fine on mine. Personally, I'm not enamored with the aspect ratio.

Yes, it does play on my TVs too, that is great news. Depending on the content, I quite like to look of it, gives you the old cinema or film look.