SOLVED - Magic Motion - Zoom In and Crop effect on Resolution

CS2014

Senior Contributor Location: USA-Eastern Time Zone Joined: Sep 16, 2014 16:44 Messages: 629 Offline

Solved by

Nov 28, 2015 16:57

I've just seen a past thread on some of this - AlS, Tony and Carl I think all commented. And it confirms much of what I'm stating here - I think.

I've recently stated out with a 1920-1080/60p clip and started experimenting with the Magic Motion Zoom In feature. I produced the clip - to an MPEG4 1920-1080 production - think it was MP4 or M2TS (which is ANOTHER issue with me - I don't understand the difference between these two choices = MP4 - or M2TS).

I think I zoomed in to less than 25% of the original screen size and noticed, pretty easily, a significant degradation of resolution in the final result. When I think about this, I think I should have realized that this would take place as when I try to zoom in THAT MUCH - stating out with just 1920-1080 - then trying to go to less than 1/4 that size and stretch it over the original screen size - THAT'S stretching out a very/relatively small number of pixels over that original screen size - ISN'T IT?

What resolution should I be 'shooting' with (GoPro Hero4 Silver) if I want to zoom in and still maintain high or 'near' high resolution (ok .. high def...)?

Thanks guys

CS

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Nov 29. 2015 21:35

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ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Nov 29, 2015 12:35

Hi CS2014 -

Obviously you know that Magic Motion is only for still images and Video Crop is for video. The same principles apply when you're zooming. The more you zoom, the greater the chance of loss of image quality.

What's happening is you're zooming to a smaller portion of the image/video, then that frame's being stretched to match your produced profile. You're effectively cropping the clip/image, then blowing it up again. The higher the resolution of the original clip/image the more room you have to zoom.

Examples - zooming to 25%

Source clip 4K 4096x2160 - final frame of zoom = 2048x1080. Produce to that profile Produce to 4K

Source clip 1920x1080 - final frame of zoom = 960x540. Produce to that profile Produce to 1920x1080

Source image 24Mpx 6000x4000 - final frame of zoom (16:9) 3556x2000. Produce to 4K Produce to 6K

Source image 6.8Mpx 3000x2250 - final frame of zoom (16:9) 2000x1125. Produce to 1080p Produce to UHD

This has been discussed ad infinitum (well - not quite) in these forums and various videos have been posted...

http://www.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/22276

http://www.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/40220

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpjakMgw-Bo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nE4R4H-RkE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrcnCwZXMCA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL-gV7zNVQA

If you intend to apply zoom or video crop, shoot at the maximum resolution you camera will allow.

Cheers - Tony
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CS2014

Senior Contributor Location: USA-Eastern Time Zone Joined: Sep 16, 2014 16:44 Messages: 629 Offline

Nov 29, 2015 14:00

Thanks Tony!

Don't think I quite realized with the correct terminology that Magic Motion was exclusively for stills(even though I JUST WORKED WITH IT... sighs) and Video crop was exclusively for video (thought is was all Magic Motion) - but I do NOW! I kept looking for Magic Motion and couldn't find it when I was trying to do this on the video clip! DOH!?!?!? (lol AND SIGHS... what a noob mistake).

But, at least I know how to do both now and can talk more intelligently about them and use the correct language too! Thank you again, Tony, for the clarification. And thanks for all the links. I did a search and was surprised that I had only found that one I mentioned. I'll give these a look sometime too.

Yep - to the max resolution - I was thinking that after I had sent this out. The GoPro Hero 4 Silver will shoot at 4k 15(NTSC) but only in an 'Ultra Wide' field of view. I think that is pretty extreme wide-angle sort of look - oh well. The resolution for that 4k setting is 3840x2160 in the GoPro.

Don't think PD13 allows 4k processing/editing does it?

Ahh... something to look forward to when I upgrade in a few years... lol

CS

p.s. - The two cyberlink links - I get a 404 Not Found error on. I can see the YouTube links though - but my internet connect is so horrible that I did NOT see the resolution change like in the 'last frame' examples you had in those videos.

I have horrible internet as I've been existing on a Verizon AC30 modem for my connection for several years. NOT high speed by ANY stretch of the imagination.
But I believe I was supposed to see how the higher resolution images held there resolution(sharpness) better than the lower res images - when you zoomed in on them.

Thanks again Tony -- those are great examples!
CS

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Nov 29. 2015 14:18

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ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Nov 29, 2015 14:19

Quote: Don't think PD13 allows 4k processing/editing does it?

Yes it does - the 4K profiles are listed in many of the production categories - AVC H.264, HEVC H.265, XAVS, WMV...

Cheers - Tony
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ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Nov 29, 2015 23:17

Sorry CS -

Those forum links should have been...

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/22276.page

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/40220.page

Cheers - Tony
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CS2014

Senior Contributor Location: USA-Eastern Time Zone Joined: Sep 16, 2014 16:44 Messages: 629 Offline

Nov 30, 2015 09:12

Thanks Tony!

Is the 'steps' that you took of the 'zoom in' a matter of just doing the math? I'd think it would be about reducing the area of the high resolution shot - like just taking a percent of the original number of pixel area.

Like 2048x1080 is 25% of 4096x2160 or 1/4 of the original 4096x2160 sized image. The zoom in was to 1/4 of the original shot. Am I thinking of this correctly?

So when I was doing what I was doing in my tests ... wow.. I was taking a 1920x1080 and trying to zoom in ... I'd say to much less than 25% of original shot.. no wonder I was getting so much reduction in resolution! I understand now... thanks!

Thanks
CS

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Nov 30. 2015 09:14

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ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Nov 30, 2015 16:23

Hi CS -

You not only understand - you're all over it!

Start with the highest resolution possible - and try to avoid producing to anything greater than the maximum zoom you apply.

If you apply zoom, you're effectively cropping then upscaling. Not good.

As an example, I cropped your avatar to 1/9th. The original is 640x360. I cropped it to about 213x120, then resized it to 640x360 (that's what happens when you produce to the originasl resolution)...

Cheers - Tony
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CS2014

Senior Contributor Location: USA-Eastern Time Zone Joined: Sep 16, 2014 16:44 Messages: 629 Offline

Nov 30, 2015 17:04

I usually shoot the still shots at 4608x2592 with just a point n shoot Fugifilm XP70. My video - the bulk of it this past fishing season - was shot at 1920x1080-60p.

I'm definitely going to play with the 4k setting on the GoPro to see what I can do with it in PD.

Yes my goodness - I knew my avatar was low res to begin with so to see that rendition of it cropped to 11% and then up-scaled... WOW... horrid isn't it? lol The original shot was a 4608X2592.... MUCH nicer...

!

Thanks so much Tony!

CS

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Nov 30. 2015 17:07

PD13 Ultimate - Build 3516, WIN 8.1, 64 Bit, 16G RAM, Intel Core i5 4460, CPU @ 3.2GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT720, Graphics Memory(total avail.)-4093MB
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