Messages posted by SparkyVegas

JPerdue the problem you describe has nothing to do with 360 still resolution or file size. 360 video will work with view designer, but there IS a problem with still images and has been since 360 arrived in PD15. So your jpeg format is correct and you wouldn't even be able to open view designer if the image wasn't in a 360 format with the correct efix data, and the insta360 one x software does that. Even if you edit / color correct in another program the data can be injected once more.

Yes, a 360 still will work just fine in view designer and when first played in the timeline. BUT, when you have more than one at some point it breaks all your keyframed positions and displays only the last position for the entire time it plays. It's a bit of a mystery of when the break can happen. It may be like yours after just one. I've also had several images with or without using a transition and then it suddenly stops working.

There is a work-around. For the ones that have broken you first remove any added transitions. Select that clip in the timeline and reopen it view designer. Your keyframed positions should still be there and play correctly in that window. Click OK and return to the timeline and play ONLY that clip with transitions still removed and it should play correctly. Then grab the yellow tabs on either side of the timeline slider to select only that clip's area. You will now see "Produce Range" added to the function buttons just above the timeline. That takes you to the produce page where you can select to produce an mp4 with framerate and bitrate to match the rest of your video. When finished producing just that clip and returning to the edit page, that mp4 will now be in your media library. You can then use that to replace the still on your timeline and add any transitions. For future use, obviously just select the clip as it's created.

Not a wonderful workflow, but it works. Unfortunately after 3 more generations of PD and the problem still exisits, I'm not holding my breath for this to be corrected anytime soon. As a longtime PD user I haven't upgraded from 16 as I kept hearing this hasn't been resolved, and some other new glitches have been added. It's a shame, since I like using most of what this software can do.

Quote

Sparky,
Further to my earlier response of today, I have tried this now and it works like a charm.

Thank you very much for your response and providing a solution that works.

Life just became a bit easier !!!

Ragged, glad I could help!

I've used Blufftitler for several years and it's so much more than just a 'titler'. You can get very creative with all it's features or customize the templates they offer. Plus they have frequent updates and are active in their community forums for answering questions or feature requests.

I've also used PDR going back to version 8 or earlier, and because of certain features and workflow I have preferred it over other editors. So not being able to import AVI and keep the transparency is pretty frustrating.

The transparent png image sequence was also a pain as you mentioned. Even a 4 second clip @ 30fps is 122 individual images and that increases with time length or framerate. Another suggestion made was to put in a solid background and chroma key it. With all the motion, color and reflection you can do in Bluff, that often produced crappy results. It's kinda like watching the weather person and holes or jagged edges appear in their clothes when lighting or their outfit color is too close to the keyed color. Command line ffmpeg works to convert to mov, but again, not a great workflow.

So it took a lot of trial and error of trying multiple converters, but finally stumbled into XMedia and it did the conversion well, and did it quickly. Plus it can convert a ton of other formats when I have the need. So it has been a great work around.

And while PDR isn't the only editor that won't keep the transparency of AVI files, I continue to hope they add that feature.

Oh, and my apologies. I noticed a typo in the first screenshot, but what can I say, I quickly knocked it all out in the middle of the night.

Quote Ragged, also a fan of Blufftitler and a shame PDR doesn't work with AVI files with transparency. Seems odd that a Windows video editing program won't do transparency using a Microsoft container, but WILL do Apple formats if you have Quicktime installed with the final version or Lite, even though no longer supported for Windows since 2016.

BUT, there is a MUCH easier way to use Bluff transparent creations in PDR, by converting them to mov files instead of using the numbered png's.

Of course you can download open source ffmpeg and do it from command line. Better yet, just use a shell GUI for ffmpeg. A while ago I included a link to a freeware program in a Bluff community post, but not sure if it's OK to post it here. You can just Google it, it's called XMedia Recode. It's a very basic site in both English and German and offers a variety of installation options including a portable version. It also has Intel Quick Sync and Nvidia support. (Nvidia 378.66 or higher driver) Once installed it also has a number of languages if needed.

I feel it's very easy to use and on my dedicated video machine it's very fast, but of course your mileage may vary. I'll include some screen shots with instructions, but I'll have to continue in a second post. Seems I can only do 3 attachments at a time.

PART 2

Here's the last screenshot.

Also a quick example of a Bluff Avi converted to mov. Simple rotating reflective text with flower particles produced in PDR over one of the included pics. The Bluff AVI was 3.70GB and the XMedia Recode mov with high bitrate used was 264MB. So if you create something you may use again, after converting you can delete the AVI and save disk space.

https://youtu.be/FDMWysB6dz8

Ragged, also a fan of Blufftitler and a shame PDR doesn't work with AVI files with transparency. Seems odd that a Windows video editing program won't do transparency using a Microsoft container, but WILL do Apple formats if you have Quicktime installed with the final version or Lite, even though no longer supported for Windows since 2016.

BUT, there is a MUCH easier way to use Bluff transparent creations in PDR, by converting them to mov files instead of using the numbered png's.

Of course you can download open source ffmpeg and do it from command line. Better yet, just use a shell GUI for ffmpeg. A while ago I included a link to a freeware program in a Bluff community post, but not sure if it's OK to post it here. You can just Google it, it's called XMedia Recode. It's a very basic site in both English and German and offers a variety of installation options including a portable version. It also has Intel Quick Sync and Nvidia support. (Nvidia 378.66 or higher driver) Once installed it also has a number of languages if needed.

I feel it's very easy to use and on my dedicated video machine it's very fast, but of course your mileage may vary. I'll include some screen shots with instructions, but I'll have to continue in a second post. Seems I can only do 3 attachments at a time.