NEW! Video Levels Tool for Movie Studio Platinum (and Vegas Pro!)

Musicvid wrote on 5/23/2020, 8:41 PM

This is a new free tool for Movie Studio Platinum (and Vegas Pro) that allows the editor to make custom output level decisions without the need for video scopes. In some cases, it gives richer colors and range than using the output Studio RGB filter, which is foolproof but conservative.

This project reflects a distillation of ideas from john_dennis, Marco., Nick Hope, musicvid, EricLNZ, several others, and best of all, comes with the Grazie seal of approval! Boat footage by permission of Gordon Laing at Cameralabs.

To use, unzip the project and run in MS Platinum 13 or newer, also Vegas Pro. You can change the project video and properties, or save the presets to use in your own projects. It's all self-explanatory in the demo. Your video will be rendered correctly for Youtube and the web, and home theater using conventional 8 bit playback formats.

Comparison of Failsafe vs. Optimal output levels:

Let me know of any problems with the .ZIP

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TvVgr33F_504xBI5SMJJhqHjtfSTZEUx/view?usp=sharing

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Background Reading:

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vegas-pro-levels-last-and-final-1--120319/

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/pc-to-tv-levels-a-comedy-of-errors--107325/

LevelsDemo.mp4

Comments

NickHope wrote on 5/26/2020, 4:29 AM

It's a great idea. I saved the FX chain as a filter package "Musicvid highlight illegal levels". I'm curious why you chose 14 and 236 for the mask luminance limits, rather than 16 and 235.

Musicvid wrote on 5/26/2020, 2:29 PM

@NickHope

  • It would be better to credit @Marco. with the package name. I was doing a parallel project in Photoshop and his Vegas method caught my eye.
  • 16 and 235 inclusive requires setting the the limits just outside the range. Using @john_dennis target patches, the lower limit stays blue with filter limit set at 15, but not at 14. Could have something to do with the legacy one-bit shift, but I'm not at all sure.