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Videoon 11/4/2016
Will XDCAM EX ever smart-render again?
Yes, that explains why it was pulled out, but I still wish to know if it will ever be put back. Peter
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Videoon 10/29/2016
vegas pro 14 upgrade price
Magix has pretty much lost me as well. VP14 is a lot of money for very little improvement. As a result of these events, I am again examining other editors. Thus far I have been working with trial version of Avid and Edius, and have found the latter to be pretty close to Vegas in its workflow paradigm. The one notable Vegas feature that no others seems to have is the ability to create transitions by merely sliding one clip over another. However, if I have to I can live without that though I will miss it. Another motivating factor for me is that my work in academia entiles me to some great pricing. Namely, a perpetual Avid license for $295, and an Edius one for $199. I can also leverage most of my plugings without the need to repurchase. I will continue my evaluation of editors and as you can see there really isn't too much reason for me to be loyal to Magix. Peter
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Videoon 10/29/2016
Black and White Icons Are Wasting My Time
This vaguely reminds me of an old joke about a painting in the Museum of Modern Art of a polar bear eating a marshmallow in a snowstorm. Peter
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Videoon 10/28/2016
Upgrade offer Extended to Nov 18, 2016
I am guessing that Magix has extended their upgrade deadline because there are quite a number of users (myself included) who find VP14 to be a rather lackluster release for the amount they are charging, and are therefore not upgrading. Peter
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Videoon 10/4/2016
Smart Adaptive Deinterlacing example
Speaking of past Vegas abilities, will the smart rendering of XDCAM-EX footage ever be put back into Vegas? It always worked great for me, but apparently the Sony engineers said it had some problem and was thus yanked in one of the point releases. Peter
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Videoon 10/2/2016
Think of it as Magix Vegas 1.0
I have mixed thoughts about the current situation. I had stated in another post that v14 does not provide any advantage for me over v13 and its price point is too high for what new features are in the release. As such, I am staying with v13 until I see a future release (i.e. v15) that I feel is a worthwhile purchase. At the same time, I realize that the acquisition of software and personnel from Sony occurred just a few months ago, making this first Magix release a real challenge for the new owners. However, if I do not see a really strong Vegas release from Magix in the next version, I will simply keep using v13 and make the switch to another editor if I see advantages in doing so. These days high-end editors are more-or-less similar with some being easier to use than others. I am not at all adverse to learning a different workflow paradigm, as I have absolutely no emotional attachment to any software package. As far as I am concerned, they are just tools to solve problems and multiple tools are a necessity in this field. Peter
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Videoon 9/29/2016
NewBlue Titler products on VP14
I stand corrected, my information was wrong. Well in any case, I really think we need a more stable titling product than NB. I have tried it a couple of times and did not have the patience to deal with all the bugs. I now use the titler in Boris Red. Peter
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Videoon 9/29/2016
NewBlue Titler products on VP14
I thought Magix owns ProDAD. I will double check my info. Peter
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Videoon 9/29/2016
NewBlue Titler products on VP14
Now that Magix owns Vegas, it is highly probable that they will replace NB Titler with something much more stable. Namely, their own Heroglyph titler. This would allow them direct control over quality and increase their own revenue stream instead of paying for a third-party license. Peter
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Videoon 9/28/2016
Are you satisfied with the new VEGAS PRO 14?
Like many of you, I was really looking forward to the VP14 release. But upon reviewing its capabilities, I must admit that I feel rather underwhelmed. First off, I very rarely work with any Prores clips in my scientific research, so that feature (whose implementation I understand is somewhat limited) does not provide any advantages for my particular needs. Second, the GPU support that I was anticipating is still barely there -- most disappointing. With regard to the new user interface, I too do not like the monochrome icons, as color (above shape) has been proven to be a key feature in human cognition and perception. As for the bundling of software, I use Mocha Pro or the Boris Red plugin for stabilization, Mocha Pro or Boris Red for tracking, Boris Red for titling, Red Giant's Magic Bullet Looks plugin for color grading and video looks, and I already have DVD Architect from previous versions of Vegas Pro. All this being said, it makes no sense for me to buy the Vegas Pro bundle for $250. Next I considered the Vegas Pro Edit version for $200, but with little to offer me with regard to new features, and having a comparatively steep price, I have eliminated this as well. The bottom line is that I will stay with VP13, with which I have been quite pleased, and wait until some future release when Magix makes upgrading worthwhile for me. Peter
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Videoon 9/9/2016
Vegas Pro Magazine
Richard, looking back at what I said I realize that I reacted too harshly in saying that we do not need such materials for ourselves. Now and then I do pick up some good pointers from magazine articles. But I still do think that the main thrust of these sorts of magazines is to attract new customers. Peter
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Videoon 9/8/2016
Vegas Pro Magazine
@vkmast: I understand and agree with your point. In general, such marketing material , is designed for those who are NOT on this forum and are potential customers (thus all the "glitz"). Clearly, we already know what Vegas does so we do not need such materials ourselves. Peter
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Videoon 9/8/2016
Vegas Pro Magazine
For those who think that a magazine and/or other advertising material is a waste of resources, be aware that improvements in Vegas functionality are created by software engineers, while magazines, cut-sheets, and websites are created by marketing personnel. More Vegas advertizing means more revenue for Magix and more revenue means more software engineers to improve Vegas. The folks at Magix Software GmbH have been in business since 1993 and have been growing steadily since. Their success obviously indicates that they know what they are doing (unlike some here who pass judgment on business strategies yet have never been in the corporate world). Peter
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Videoon 9/7/2016
Remove color matting a.k.a. unmultiply
Thanks Marco. I was not aware that a Demult function is available in Ignite -- I will check it out. If there is no free version out there, I rather pay a one-time fee for the HitFilm package than a repeating subscription for Universe. Peter
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Videoon 9/7/2016
Remove color matting a.k.a. unmultiply
@DrLumen: Yes there is a way (for fire and smoke). Use the Channel Blend effect with the parameters that I detailed earlier. If you have not yet tried it, I suggest you do to see what it does. As for a test image, are you looking for an asset with both an alpha and premltipled black background or the same but without alpha (or both versions)? Peter Edit: I just want to add the the Channel Blend method that I describe IS unmultiplication. However, it can only work if you use just one of the RGB channels for the Alpha information. The true unmultiplication algorithm uses the greatest value of R, G, or B at each pixel. So if the Channel Blend effect would allow the entry of equations such as "max(R,G,B)" instead of just numerical values, all this would be solved.
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Videoon 9/7/2016
Remove color matting a.k.a. unmultiply
@DonaldT: Thank you, but again, mask generation is mathematically not the same as Unmultiplication. Using a Vegas luminance mask of the fire on one track multiplied with the track below of the original black-backgound fire yields incorret results as can clearly be seen below: The first image is the correctly unmultiplied fire, while the second image is the one multiplied by the luminance mask. Again note the incorrect darker edges of the fire. In addition to not yielding correct results, the mask approach requires two tracks while the unmultiplication approach is merely one effect dropped on a clip with no addtional tracks or track settings. One might ask how we know that unmultiplication is the correct approach? Just take an asset that has both an alpha channel and is premultiplied against black. One merely has to set the alpha to Premultipled black in the Media tab of the clip properties to get the correct result. Call this Image 1. Now set the same property to alpha None and you will see a black background. Next, apply the unmultiply effect to the clip and get Image 2. If you mathematically subtract the two images (I do this in a small OpenCV app that I wrote), you will find that every pixel has a value of zero. That is, images 1 and 2 are identical and therefore Unmultiplication is the correct algorithm for color matting removal. So again I ask if anyone knows of an Unmultiply effect for Vegas that is not part of a subscription package (such as Universe). Note that you can no longer install the free Universe 1.6. Fortunately, I have one machine that does have the old version but my others do not. For those I use the Channel Blend effect that I descibed ealier in this this post. Peter
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Videoon 9/7/2016
Remove color matting a.k.a. unmultiply
@Marco: Yes, you are correct that applying the Levels effect to crush the blacks and then compositing (with either Screen or Add) comes very close to doing the job. I have used that many times and it works in a great many cases, but not for all. For the tough ones, I switch to After Effects where I unmultiply the background and render a straight alpha, which I then use in Vegas. I can continue bouncing back and forth between appications, but it would be really nice to do this all in Vegas. Thanks,Peter
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Videoon 9/7/2016
Remove color matting a.k.a. unmultiply
@DonaldT: the alpha channel settings work well if the clip has BOTH an alpha channel and a premultipled image. If there is only a colored background with no alpha, it does not work. @Quitter: Chroma Keying is NOT what I want, as there is no way that it can unmultiply the background color regardless of the settings. Mathematically it is not the same (take my word, my doctoral thesis is in computer vision). The following DOES work, but only for fire and smoke (assets that contain information in the Red channel). Apply the Vegas "Channel Blend" effect and set the transformation to the values: Red = 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000Green = 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000Blue = 0.000 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.000Alpha = 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 or as indicated in the screen shot... If you look at the first value in the last row you will see that I assign the red channel value to the Alpha channel to make the fire visible (revealing both solid and translucent regions) but leaving the background transparent. If you have never used this effect you really should give it a try (especially those folks who keep suggesting the use of Chroma Keying). Unfortunately the vast majority of users do not understand what this effect does. I thank all of you who have made suggestions to me. However, my problem is that I very specifically need an unmultiply function (not from Universe) that works on both red-containing assests like fire and smoke as well as on multi-colored assets like glowing balls of light (and please do not suggest Chroma Keying). Peter
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Videoon 9/6/2016
Remove color matting a.k.a. unmultiply
Thanks for the suggestion OldJack, but I think that you (and perhaps others) might not be quite familiar with image background premultiplication problem and how Chroma keying is completely different from Unmultiplication. The latter is necessary where footage is pre-multiplied with another color (i.e., part of the alpha information is contained WITHIN the RGB channels). This typically happens with fire, smoke and illumination assets (glowing balls of light) where the subject matter is partially translucent. Here are examples of why keying does not work. Below are images of the original fire asset (first image), the effects of matt removal using Keying (second image) and Unmultiplication (third image): Notice that keying incorrectly leaves a dark outline around the flames, while unmultiplication correctly reconstructs the original flames as they were recorded. Again, keying and unmultiplication are different mathematical operations. Peter
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Videoon 7/19/2016
Chromakay in V12 any good vs AE Keylight?
@ken c: In looking at your footage on www.tradingjazz.com, I can see a distinct black outline in your foreground image. You really ought to look at doing a Light Wrap to correct this, as it currently looks pretty obvious that it was keyed. Take a look at these to see the difference: https://vimeo.com/121163371 https://web.borisfx.com/helpdocs/?page_id=872 Peter
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Videoon 7/18/2016
Chromakay in V12 any good vs AE Keylight?
Keying is only the first step in the process. If you want a "believable" result you need to also do spill suppression of the foreground and color edge wrapping of the replacement background upon the foreground. All three tools need to be of good quality. Peter
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Videoon 7/10/2016
Vagas Pro 13 + 14 Free ($200) Email Offer
They state specifically that they will release it. Take a look at the web page and watch the video at the 22 second mark here: http://www.imagineersystems.com/features/plug-in-option/ Whenever Imagineer Systems says that they will do something, they always come through. Peter
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Videoon 7/9/2016
Vagas Pro 13 + 14 Free ($200) Email Offer
John, on their website they say that the OFX version of the plugin for Resolve and Nuke is coming soon. I assume that until that happens, the current integration with Resolve is the same as in v4 (I have not tried it myself). Peter
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Videoon 7/9/2016
Vagas Pro 13 + 14 Free ($200) Email Offer
John, if I recall correctly, I think you said a while ago that you qualify for the academic version of Mocha (as do I). Note that the academic version includes BOTH the standalone AND plugin of Mocha (which is really useful if you use After Effects). I'm definitely pleased that I upgraded. Peter
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Offline, Last login 11/14/2016, Member since 8/25/2016