Why does text get fuzzy over time?

djcc wrote on 2/22/2004, 8:01 AM
I've noticed that text does not seem to remain crisp in a MS project over time. I've built a variety of projects, usually a mix of stills and video, incorporating a variety of text. If I spend a few weeks adding and editing material, I've noticed that text often looks fuzzy compared to when the event was first placed in the project... I cannot seem to find a common denominator to it - not sure if it results from subsequent editing of the text, or if any and all text just seems to degrade in quality resulting from the dozens of times a project is opened and saved.....

Anyone else notice this?

Comments

djcc wrote on 2/23/2004, 5:25 PM
Anyone?
discdude wrote on 2/24/2004, 4:51 AM
Did you render the footage and re-import it into the project (like you mentioned in your Flash post)? Contrary to what most people think, DV is not lossless. Making multiple renders will lead to visible artifacts.
djcc wrote on 2/24/2004, 6:25 AM
No rendering followed by input. I am merely talking about placing a text event on the timeline and, over time, discovering that it is just not as crisp at it originally was.
Steve Grisetti wrote on 2/24/2004, 6:54 AM
I'm not sure anyone else but you is experiencing this.

It's nothing I've ever seen.

Are you sure it's actually deteriorating, or does it just look that way in preview? Try exporting the section as an AVI and see if the final output looks deteriorated.

Also, just a shot in the dark -- Are you compressing your hard drive data? (XP lets you do this whenever you run Disk Clean-up.) You might be corrupting your video files by doing so. Just a shot in the dark, but maybe.
discdude wrote on 2/24/2004, 6:54 AM
Are you talking about previews or actual rendered output?
djcc wrote on 2/24/2004, 1:55 PM
I'm not compressing my hard drive, and I am talking about actual rendered files. It goes like this: I create a project for the first time, add some text, video, maybe stills. Render it - every thing looks nice and crisp.

I spend the next few weeks tweaking the entire project. The difference is clarity for text from an AVI rendered when I first started, to a rendered AVI at some later point is quite noticeable.

Either that, or someone slipping something into my coffee! I'll have to try and duplicate it sometime...
dand9959 wrote on 2/24/2004, 2:18 PM
Well, it may have something to do with the other edits you are doing to the project, somehow.

I can see no way how it would deteriorate all by itself, but I suppose you could try an experiment where you create a project with some text in it, render it (to make sure it is crisp). Leave it alone for a couple weeks, come back and render it again...see if it is fuzzy. If it is...that would be truly amazing!
Chienworks wrote on 2/24/2004, 4:39 PM
Don, have you added any effects or filters in the intervening time that might be affecting the track with the text? Have you changed the color of the text? Have you put a strong colored background behind it? Any of these could make it appear fuzzy.
djcc wrote on 2/24/2004, 6:34 PM
I might play with the text a little while tweaking the entire project - maybe adding, or deleting an outline, shadow, or other enhancement.... possibly playing with color, etc..... but no effects or filters to the event other than that.