Hi EXR -

For future reference, it's probably best to post separate quesions. It makes it easier for other members to find information relating to their issues.

Anyway...

1. & 2. Produced file size & Render time
The numbers you see in the Produce window are PD's estimates of file size & rendering time. Time elapsed & time remaining are indicators of just that... but they're still estimates.



Remaining = amount (in MB/GB) of video left to render. Remaining Time = time left in rendering process (estimate). The actual time to render will be determined by many factors - format, profile, SVRT, GPU, CPU, Preview enabled, etc...

Time Available is something I've never quite understood. I guess it's related to free space, but I'm only guessing. No bit of software or PC can tell me how much time it has available!

When you check the produced file, you'll probably find that its actual file size is somewhere near PD's estimate.

3. Chroma Key
How well this works will depend on the quality of the clip you're using. If it's recorded correctly with proper green screen techniques, you'll get a decent result. If not, you won't.

Chroma key takes ONE selected colour and makes it transparent, with degrees of tolerance. If the background is a nice clean colour without shadows and the subject is wearing NO similar colours, PD's chroma key will work well. If not, it will have trouble!!!

One of our PDtoots subscribers was having the same kind of problem & requested help. She couldn't work out what she was doing wrongly. We made her a couple of videos to try to explain. Here's one...

http://www.youtube.com/user/ynotfish77?feature=mhee#p/u/13/K54pCRC80HM

Cheers - Tony


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Hi Tony, looks like the chroma key is something that is not easy to do. Alright, thank you very much for your reply. Lets come back to the Production file size, Time & Remaining. Assuming the "remaining" shows that it is 3.3GB, this number 3.3GB will be the total output video size am i correct Tony? In another words, my production total video size is actually 3.3GB. Or we can say, we left with 3.3GB to produce. Because when the start to produce the production, the number under "produced" increases and the number under "remaining" decreases. Am i correct to say that Tony?

Finally, assuming the video size is 10GB, how much free space should we at least have? I remembered someone told me is 70GB. This mean that if my video is 10GB, my hardisk free space should have at least 80GB (70 + 10). Am i correct?

Hi EXR -

In the Produce module, after you select the format & profile, PD estimates the file size & it appears beside Remaining. After you click Start, the Produced figure increases as the Remaining figure decreases.

So - yes - you are right!

How much free space you need when you're producing? I don't know of a definitive answer, but I think 70GB might be a bit of an exaggerated myth. CL recommends - quote - 10 GB (20 GB recommended) for DVD production
60 GB (100 GB recommended) for Blu-ray Disc/AVCHD production.

One of the Senior Contributors, JL_JL (Jeff), did some extensive testing of this here - http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/21635.page

Chroma key isn't THAT hard, but you do need to start with the right material. Here's something simple to try out...
1. Download the two lower res images attached.
2. Import them into PD
3. Drop the rainbow image in track 1 & the crowd one in track 2
4. Click on "crowd" > then Modify
5. In PiP Designer, check Chroma Key... click on the eye dropper
- select black as the colour to "key out" - easy - should be clean
- select one of the green tones to "key out" - you may/will need to fiddle with the tolerance sliders to "remove" all the green

It's easy when the colours in the foreground & background are dissimilar (like in the crowd image). With video, it works the same way.

Cheers - Tony


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HiTony, thank you very much. You are a kind person.

Honestly, i am not sure about the total video size because i have not finish the production yet. Let us assume. Assuming my total video size is 20GB, and the free space is left with 30GB, am i still able to produce it?

Tony, can we side-track alittle bit. Under our "EDIT" tab, we will have our Library Window where we can see all our videos and music inside it with a green tick mark on the top right. I'm trying to remove it. I tried hitting the delete buttom on our keyboard, the thing is gone. But when i open the project, it appear there again. Then i tried another method. I right click on the media and select "remove from library." But when i open the project, it appear there again. I know that these videos and music inside the library window, if deleted, will not affect the production. But how do i remove it so that it will not appear there anymore?

EXR -

Thank you.

I'm afraid I can't explain what causes the thumbnails in the Media Library to reappear (or not) after you've removed them, except that the project file (.pds) records the file path for each media element that's been imported.

Personally, I don't remove items from the library as a rule. When I did (just now) I found that PD didn't behave consistently. Sometimes the thumbnails would appear after saving, cloing & re-opening & sometimes not.

Perhaps someone clever might be able to shed some light.

Cheers - Tony
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