Opacity Dilemma Exclusive to PD10 ?

Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Solved by

Feb 05, 2012 17:48

Hey All,

With this latest version of PowerDirector I have been dealing with complications relating to opacity, whereas when I am having multiple clips playing at the same time to have 2 scenes being shown simultaneously in a project, only 1 of the clips gets shown while the other is not being shown at all, ignoring the keyframes I have setup for varying levels of opacity at differing times within the designated timeslot for both clips.

In PD9 I remember learning how to achieve this effect and was able to utilize it to my satisfaction, by manipulation of the opacity for each of the clips playing at the same time. Oddly, in PD10 with the same projects that I worked on in PD9, the films have remained exactly the same but the opacity problem has arisen.

To verify that I am doing this correctly, I will very briefly provide an example of 2 clips I am dealing with which coincide at the same time on the project timeline. Both clips start at the same time and end at the same time, and I have the 2nd clip placed on the track right below it, which is track 2. The clip on the 1st track has an opacity of 100 for the entire duration of its playthrough, while the clip on track 2 has an opacity which starts at 0, progressively rises to 50 at the middle mark, and progressively drops back to 0 at the end mark.

Any tips on this would be great.

1Nina

Senior Contributor Location: Norway, 50km southwest of Oslo Joined: Oct 08, 2008 04:12 Messages: 1070 Offline

Feb 05, 2012 18:37

Hi Andrew,

I remembered I had recently read another post about problems with opacity:

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/21458.page

It is somewhat strange that various "stuff" occurs within PD- used over time.
Things work,- then they don't. You might get an advice to re-install.
I suspect it's a general wish among us that PD would be more stable.

If Cranston or Tony see your post here, they might have a trick up their sleeve.

Nina
Just something.
https://www.petitpoisvideo.com

ynotfish

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

Feb 06, 2012 05:50

Nina - Sorry - there's nothing up my sleeve.

Andrew - I set up a similar scenario with 2 clips of equal duration, then set the keyframes for opacity variation throughout for the clip in VT2

VT2 clip's opacity was like this in PiP Designer...

& on the timeline...

Opacity levels behaved correctly here. Maybe I'm missing something... or maybe PD's just doing its thing of behaving differently on different PCs under different circumstances.

The produced file is attached.

Cheers - Tony

Filename	OpacityTest.wmv	Download
Description
Filesize	1461 Kbytes
Downloaded:	447 time(s)

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Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Feb 12, 2012 22:22

Incredibly frustrating. Still can't get the opacity issue fixed. I notice, however, that when I have either of the 2 clips (which play simultaneously) selected in the modify menu, under the add/edit pip motion tab (2nd tab), and I try playing the scene through this window, the opacities that I have set for both clips work fine, and I actually see the 2 clips playing together at varying opacities.

But, when I am on the timeline trying to edit, 1 of the clips is never shown at all, while the other clip is shown only.

I'm surprised nobody else who had read this thread has come across this problem in PD10. This never happened to me in PD9.

I honestly am very disappointed with PD10. Too many broken features/bugs that really reduce the enjoyment of using the program.

ynotfish

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

Feb 12, 2012 22:46

Hi Andrew -

Your frustration is understandable, & I wish I could offer you some useful ideas... but it doesn't matter what I throw at my PD10 it performs fine with this issue. In testing your problem I've had 4 clips playing simultaneously with varying opacity. No problems.

I guess you've tried testing it in a separate project with just you two clips & nothing else.

It's a bit surprising that noone else has chimed in - which (sort of) indicates that others aren't having the same problem... or just haven't tried doing what you're doing.

It (sort of) points to an issue with your PD10/PC, rather than an inherent problem with PD10 (and there are a few of those!). Have you got to the point of doing a complete uninstall/re-install yet?

Cheers - Tony

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Feb 12. 2012 22:46

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Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Feb 12, 2012 23:24

I have uninstalled/reinstalled PD10 once so far, and while it did fix a few things it didn't fix others. Is there a recommended way to clean uninstall/reinstall ? I feel like there must be registry errors with the program or something.

Bubba in TX

Senior Contributor Location: Central Texas Joined: Dec 12, 2009 21:32 Messages: 1332 Offline

Feb 12, 2012 23:43

Not sure if I got the right set up... 3 clips... Clip 1 up first, then clip 2 fades in for a bit, then clip 3 fades in for a bit, and lastly clip 1 fades back in for the finish.... the opacity in all 3 clips did what I told them what to do.... did I miss a step?


Filename	opacity.PNG	Download
Description
Filesize	58 Kbytes
Downloaded:	407 time(s)

Filename	opacity test.wmv	Download
Description
Filesize	20357 Kbytes
Downloaded:	248 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Feb 12. 2012 23:44

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ynotfish

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

Feb 12, 2012 23:49

Andrew -

What some recommend, others might not. I am not aware of an "official" method.

My own recommendation is to uninstall the software (including Contents Packs, SmartSound & WaveEditor) using Revo Uninstaller or CCLeaner (not to be confused with CLCleaner).

After uninstalling each component (I use a moderate level registry scan in Revo Uninstaller) & a restart, I:
1. re-install the software & its associated bits
2. open PD & activate the software
- an optional step, in your case, might be to test the issue with the base build...
3. install the latest update (1129b)
- again optional, I generally reinstall the latest verion of Quicktime after all that.

I'm not suggesting that this will cure the problem. It's just what I'd do to "clear the decks".

Cheers - Tony

Bubba - you missed nothing mate. You & I (at least) are getting the same result.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Feb 12. 2012 23:51

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Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Feb 13, 2012 00:42

Thanks for the advice. I will let you know if the problem is gone once I do a full uninstall/reinstall.

Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Feb 18, 2012 16:54

I am happy to report that I am no longer receiving any issues with opacity. Another full uninstall/reinstall seemed to fix it this time around. However, I am using the base version of PD10, and haven't yet updated it to the latest build. I'm pretty confident that I won't get any more problems from updating. But, I will update this thread if anything else occurs.

Thanks for all the advice !

Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Feb 23, 2012 20:22

Unfortunately the same issue has been reoccurring. I still cannot see both video clips if they are set to 50 % opacity each at the same mark on the timeline.

I have uninstalled/reinstalled PD10 3 times now and still no progress. I am really perplexed here.

Any other help is appreciated.

Andrew90

Member Location: USA Joined: Dec 20, 2010 16:31 Messages: 108 Offline

Feb 24, 2012 19:01

I thought I fixed the problem, but it only improves if I start an entirely new project from scratch.

I am going to contact cyberlink support about this, but I have a feeling there isn't much they can do that a reinstall can't for solving this technical issue.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Feb 24. 2012 23:45