SemW Preview Levels Extension Warning

Jessariah67 wrote on 6/30/2019, 8:23 AM

Chasing after the whole "why does my render look different from the preview, I found this among one of the very helpful posts:

Install SeMW Extensions. Enable its Preview levels extension (Tools menu > Extensions), which will put a new dropdown menu above the Vegas preview window. In that dropdown menu choose "PC". You can safely render with that set, as it applies to preview only.

THIS IS NOT TRUE. Don't get me wrong - the extension works great (I had to adjust the gamma a bit to match on my system) and it takes much of the guessing out of the render game, but IT DOES AFFECT THE RENDER. It adds the Levels plugin to the Video Bus and needs to be turned off - just like the instructions for manually setting up the levels. You can use the drop down to go back to "Original," but I prefer to do it manually, as the dropdown, in certain circumstances, will actually add a second instance of the plugin to the Output FX/Video Bus chain.

Again - great extension. Needs to be turned off before rendering. (Unless I'm missing something - and if I am, please correct me, as I would love to not have to remember to turn it off...)

Comments

Marco. wrote on 6/30/2019, 8:29 AM

SEmW Preview Levels adds an option to the render window where you can select wether it would stay enabled for rendering or disabled. Default is disabled.

Jessariah67 wrote on 6/30/2019, 9:39 AM

Weird. I notice a difference without doing anything. I'll have to check into why that is, but there is a difference on my renders - maybe because I altered the plugin values?

Marco. wrote on 6/30/2019, 9:43 AM

Probably because you're checking the rendered video outside of Vegas Pro where different players use different decode levels.

Former user wrote on 6/30/2019, 12:52 PM

I use this extension for several years and have never encountered this kind of problem. Maybe the problem is with your settings. Different players also have different level settings as mentioned by Marco.

Jessariah67 wrote on 6/30/2019, 3:31 PM

I don't see the option in my render window, unless it's worded differently or buried somewhere.

Marco. wrote on 6/30/2019, 3:52 PM

Assumed you have one of the Preview Level Options selected before, you'll find that render option here (sorry, can only show the German localized Vegas Pro GUI):

Former user wrote on 6/30/2019, 3:57 PM

Eu não vejo a opção na minha janela de renderização, a menos que seja redigida de forma diferente ou enterrada em algum lugar.

Go to Render As and in Render Options see the option Keep previews levels

fifonik wrote on 6/30/2019, 4:06 PM

Thanks. I was never aware of this option as well (using the extension).

Jessariah67 wrote on 7/1/2019, 6:14 AM

Now I see it. I think my going in and manipulating it manually must've done something (or the initial install was corrupted - though, I doubt that was it). It all works just fine now. Thanks gain for the help & clarification. It's amazing, after 20 years, that I'm still learning about features, etc.

Dexcon wrote on 7/1/2019, 6:41 AM

@Former user … re render settings + Keep Preview Settings, that's excellent advice. I've only recently started using SeMW, so that's a very important point I'll have to apply when rendering. Thanks.

Satevis wrote on 7/2/2019, 11:37 AM

sorry, can only show the German localized Vegas Pro GUI

Pro tip: You can use the SeMW Extensions to change the VEGAS language (requires a VEGAS restart, though). ;) Tools/Extensions/SeMW Extensions and then there's a Language menu at the top.

As for why there even is a "keep" option: There are a few cases in which you may actually want to keep the conversion for the render. Rendering image sequences, for example.