VASST StillMotion bug still exists in version 1.1

earthrisers wrote on 5/7/2005, 3:00 PM
In mid-April, I reported the bug described below. Spot said he thought it'd be fixed in StillMotion 1.1, but StillMotion 1.1 has the same problem. I'm just re-posting to keep the topic "fresh". I'll probably purchase StillMotion when (if?) this is fixed, but not yet...
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I'm experimenting with the Trial version of VASST's Stillmotion. (version 1.1)

I put a group of photos on my video track and place markers according to the rhythm of my audio track.

When I run the script, the "Randomize" checkbox has no effect. Whatever transition is selected in the pulldown menu, that transition gets applied 100% of the time, regardless of whether Randomize is or is not checked. I also tried selecting "none", along with Randomize, and then 100% of the clips got NO transition...

I also determined that it's not possible to select "Randomize" WITHOUT selecting a transition from the pulldown list (the Randomize checkbox goes inactive if you don't make a selection).

Also, it's not possible to select more than one transition from the pulldown list. (Someone said that in Ultimate S, that's the way you randomize between 2 or more transitions -- but this doesn't work in StillMotion.)

Comments

earthrisers wrote on 5/7/2005, 3:30 PM
With further experimentation, I'm deciding that this isn't a true "bug", but just a limitation in the way the function works.
From what another posted said about randomizing transitions in UltimateS, you can select several types of transition and get true randomizing between them.
In StillMotion, you can select one particular "family" of transitions (from a small set of possibilities--swap left-right, peel out, sliders, swap&peel), and if you also check "randomize", StillMotion will randomize WITHIN THAT PARTICULAR FAMILY -- e.g., if you selected peel out, then some peels will go right, and some left.
This isn't nearly as powerful as I had assumed the "randomize" feature would be (I had thought it could randomize between different "families" of transition rather than just within a single family), but I guess I shouldn't call it a bug, because this is apparently the way it's intended to work.

So... it's not a bug.
Spot|DSE wrote on 5/7/2005, 3:41 PM
This is correct, it's not a bug, it's the way it was designed to work.
In Ultimate S, you can save as many transition sets, combinations, presets as you'd like, and randomly access them. If you wanted to save a set of 100 transitions, then the timeline would have 100 random transitions inserted from that set. The StillMotion tool does not have this option. You get the sets that you get, and that's it. If you want the ability to have loads of random transitions on a slide show or video project built with the automation, then you'd need to step up to the bigger brother, Ultimate S.