Unwanted rendering changes

Dagibit wrote on 11/22/2006, 9:35 PM
I've had to render some clips over multiple times, all in .avi format, in order to shorten them enough for a time lapse sequence (If you know how to stretch a clip more than 25% so I don't have to do this, please tell me). When I re-use them again in Vegas they look exactly the same as before.

I recently did a .avi render to preview my project and played it back in Winamp (then Windows Media Player) to find that it had become very dark, even for my LCD monitor (which is very bad for its night scenes). I had also rendered something to mpeg, which caused it to become noticeably more saturated.

What's going on? Is there some way to get Vegas to preview exactly the way things will look rendered? If not, is there some kind of master control for effects plugins so I can adjust the whole thing easier?

Thanks,
Dagibit

Comments

rustier wrote on 11/23/2006, 4:14 PM
Unless you want to spend substantial bucks (in my book anyway) for a studio monitor which can be calibrated to your final format, I would say your best bet, especially when you are doing some serious rework/modification, is to render just a short clip and take it to its final format to see. Preview can be misleading as you have discovered. You should be able to "spruce" up your video with the FX tools. I seem to recall there are some calibration tools for your computer monitor ( some gizmo you hang over the screen and it tweeks stuff) - which may be fine if your final format is for a computer screen - but if it is a tv - I think this is another story. The folks that know a thing or two about this subject - Glenn Chann I think is his name - he hangs mostly in Vegas forum, and Douglas Spotted Eagle come to mind right off the bat, and there are a few others( can't recall all the names).

As far as master control . . . there are so many thigns you can do with video I don't believe there is any one answer for you. Slowing down your video and rendering it - over and over - is stripping away information from the video - its no wonder it shows up dark. (And a night scene adds insult to injury). If you double the same video clip on the same time line you can "boost" the look, or you can use the fx tools - depending on the situation.

The easy and best way top do slow motion is to use a high speed camera that gathers many times the "standard" information so that when you slow it down the quality is still good. They are very expensive to buy - I have no idea what the going rental rate is. Time lapse is a another subject. Perhaps ther are some folks in here with time lapse experience. Good luck with it
Dagibit wrote on 11/25/2006, 9:11 AM
Thanks Rustler,

The deeper I get into this stuff the more seemingly unusual problems get! I guess Ill just have to learn what to trust, and what not to. I had asked about master effects control because this project will have like 80 something shots to correct, but Ill get through it.

I was actually talking about the long type of time lapse where time is compressed rather than stretched (I'm compressing a sunset in this case). Its kind of ticking me off that my $1000 Panasonic couldn't come with some kind of slow time lapse capture mode, though compressing the clips in Vegas still works anyway.

Thanks again,
David Dages
Dagibit wrote on 11/25/2006, 9:14 AM
Dang, I can't seem to edit my last reply. Sorry for the misspell, Rustier.

David Dages
Chienworks wrote on 11/25/2006, 12:56 PM
In addition to speeding the clip up 4X the way you have been doing you can also add a velocity envelope at 300% for a total of 12X.

Turn off resampling to avoid having groups of frames blended together. If you are using uncompressed AVI or DV AVI there will be no degradation at all, since the frames are being copied bit for bit instead of being rendered.

MPEG is always rerendered and is a much lossier format than uncompressed or DV.

Winamp isn't Windows Media Player. They are two completely separate programs from different companies. My experience with Winamp is that it distorts video colors somewhat. I wouldn't use it to watch video.