Mercalli 2.0: track position matters (UPDATE)

vtxrocketeer wrote on 12/7/2011, 7:39 AM

My project (11, Build 425, 64 bit) has many tracks and groups of tracks consisting of cineform avi's, Vegas generated media, and .wav audio events. Buried in a middle track (vertical-wise) is my "main" video track on which I attempted to stabilize some events with Mercalli 2.0 (NOT the version included with Vegas). Above this track are a collection of other video tracks and generated media tracks.

Without exception, Mercalli's stabilization process, when operated on an event on my "main" track, created a temporary track at the 'top' of the stack, as it usually does, and then crashed Vegas upon completion of the process. I had no other FX, pan/crop...nada. This is totally repeatable for me.

Puzzled, I opened a new project and placed just a single video event (same one from my "main" track above) on the timeline. Mercalli stabilized perfectly with no crash.

Back in my real project, on a whim, I moved the to-be-stabilized event to a temporary track at the very top of the stack. What do you know? Mercalli stabilized it with no crashes.

So what is the rule here? Mercalli-stabilized events have to be on the top track, even if temporarily? This doesn't seem to be a Vegas error (although the error dialogue mentioned only Vegas, not the Mercalli plug-in). If so, then I've created a "temp stabilize" top track for stabilizing video events as I edit, which track I'll then delete or mute before final render. This is a perfect workaround, but kind of a kludge.

Do others observe this strange behavior?

-Steve

Comments

ChipGallo wrote on 12/7/2011, 8:10 AM

Have you asked the Mercalli support guy about this? He is pretty responsive.

amendegw wrote on 12/7/2011, 8:27 AM

Steve,

I can't reproduce this.

...Jerry

btw: I've decided I love the upload to YouTube feature in Vegas 11. By using SnagIt video capture & this feature, I can post a demo faster than I can type a response.

vtxrocketeer wrote on 12/7/2011, 8:42 AM

Wow. OK, it's just me, I guess. Jerry, that video couldn't more clearly contradict my experience! Very nicely done and worth more than a 1000 words. That tells me that I need to figure out what is wrong on my end. Exactly what was the video media in your example? I could tell that you were rendering an avi. Codec?

I'll experiment a little more. One variable that I mentioned is that I'm using Cineform avi's which, in my experience and others', sometimes do not play nicely with Vegas 11. I'll try stabilizing a multi-track project with video events using different video media. While the results obviously won't matter to my current project, they will help me figure out whether I need to contact ProDad, Cineform, or (more likely than not) fix something on my end.

If I figure this out, I'll post back with results or a solution for the edification of our community. :)

-Steve

vtxrocketeer wrote on 12/7/2011, 7:02 PM

OK, folks, I figured out the problem, which could not possibly have been reproduced by Jerry for the following reason. It ain't my fault.

Mercalli crashes Vegas when the top tracks are placed into a GROUP. I recreated Jerry's example and Mercalli worked just fine, with the top two tracks being populated by generated media. Then I simply grouped the top two tracks into a group...BAM. Crash city after Mercalli stabilization. Open Vegas, ungroup, stabilize...PERFECT. No crash. Regroup --> crash.

Now, when I place a single video track ABOVE the GROUPED tracks, Mercalli once again does not crash Vegas after stabilization. I wonder if this has something to do with Mercalli not "liking" to place it's temp video into a group. Instead, it "likes" to place the temp video into a track all by itself.

So the problem seems to be that Mercalli doesn't like grouped tracks when they're at the very top. I'll have to contact ProDad about this.

OK, do you feel like proving me wrong again? At least this is totally reproducible on my end. No ifs, ands, or buts.

-Steve

amendegw wrote on 12/7/2011, 8:47 PM

Okay, this time it's reproducible:

...jerry

Byron K wrote on 12/7/2011, 9:49 PM

Posted by: vtxrocketeer, Date: 12/7/2011 3:02:40 PM
I'll have to contact ProDad about this.

Thanks for sharing this. Please keep us posted on their response.

I use Mercalli quite a bit, though, I haven't been bitten by this bug yet, probobly would have run into it sooner or later.

Thanks!

vtxrocketeer wrote on 12/8/2011, 7:49 AM

I already dispatched a note to ProDad's tech folks. I'll post back when I get a reply.

This was really a fluke that I discovered this because heretofore I never grouped tracks ABOVE my main video track(s).

-Steve

vtxrocketeer wrote on 12/8/2011, 5:58 PM

I heard back promptly from ProDad (kudos to them!) after describing exactly what is going on here. This is the reply sent from Germany:

"Hello, please use Mercalli V2 only in one clip as Plugin in the timeline of Vegas 11.
Mercalli V2 is a Plugin and no own Vegas effect.

Please check."

Well, I'm accustomed to reading tortured English and I believe that the helpful nugget in the response is this: use Mercalli on a single event on a Vegas timeline having a single track. Then, there is no known issue with Vegas. At least that is simultaneously consistent with my experience and not inconsistent with ProDad's response.

In my actual multi-track project, I simply created a top "temp" track for Mercalli. Once I'm done with stabilizing, I'll just delete or mute the track before a final render. So far that's working out quite nicely.

Conclusion: issue not resolved, but rather worked around.

-Steve