Hi John -

I do have some thoughts on this... in fact I'm in the middle of making a tutorial about that very thing.

It's just a fact that, the more you zoom in on an image the more it's likely to look blurry... an image (bordered by the yellow rectangle) is cropped or zoomed, then the "zoomed in" area (green rectangle) is stretched to fill the screen again. That's where blur comes in, because no software can make extra pixels out of nothing!



That original photo is from a Canon 7D - 5184x3456. In making the tutorial I'm doing, I used it as one of the sample images, and for pre-testing. Even though it's a reasonably high res image, it's possible to make it blurry. It's also possible to minimise the blur.

The results of the testing might be a little long winded & tedious for forum readers, so here's the bottom line of avoiding blurriness with crops & zooms in video (slideshows)... Crop the image to match the project's aspect ratio before importing.

An example is the image above with Magic Motion applied:
Original image (5184x3456) - Resolution at each keyframe 1920x1080
Pre-cropped image (5184x2916) - Resolution at each keyframe 5184x2916

Of course, with images like that the difference is hard to detect when viewing on your PC. It's viewing the produced file on HD TV where the difference is more obvious.

The above information is even more critical with lower res images. That may or may not apply to your circumstance.

Cheers - Tony

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Another important factor is whether you are making a SD-DVD or Bluray/AVCHD. When compared to original photo quality or HD video output, photos on SD output video, just do not look good to most.
Photos need HD output to look the best. Self Built PC - W7 Pro 64 bit w/ SP1
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Internal Drives: SATA 3 7200rpm = 1.0-tb, 640 gb, 300 gb /
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Epson 810 DVD-CD printer.

Thank you both for the detailed info and advice.

I'm very familiar with the fact that any image looses res when zoomed/cropped. What's happening w/PD10 on Pan and Zoom goes far beyond this.

The source image is 2592 x 1944 and is close to the 4:3 video aspect ratio. The image looks crisp and clear in the viewing window before pan and zoom effects, but goes very fuzzy (looks very blurred or out of focus) after, even though the start point of the zoom is the full image.

Adding to the confusion, the third or fourth item I tried zoom and Pan, it looked better (but still not good).

This is not a HD project, just a simple YouTube video to illustrate on of my new products. I 'produce' it as an avi file but the image undergoes the degradation before that step (immediately upon the pan and zoom).

I appreciate your comments very much. I'm new to this forum and can already tell the quality and generosity of the members.

Correction to my last post:

In the window:

the image looks crisp when I just click on it,

becomes blurred when I drag it to the timeline area, click on Magic Motion, and Pan and Zoom,

then shows up crisp again in the new window when I click on Motion Designer.

However, it reverts to very blurred after using Motion Designer.

I'm new to PD, so maybe I just have video res set too low?

When dealing with photos, I have found that with most NLE's, it is best to always set your "project" as full resolution HD. Then adjust your "output" to the source, SD in this case.

Randy Self Built PC - W7 Pro 64 bit w/ SP1
ASROCK 970 Extreme 3 / AMD Black X4 3.2 / ATI 6850 1 gb /
8 gb DDR3-1600 / 1394 Firewire / LG SATA-2 Bluray Burner /
Internal Drives: SATA 3 7200rpm = 1.0-tb, 640 gb, 300 gb /
Pana TM90 / Canon HV30 / Sony HC 7 / Canon M40
Epson 810 DVD-CD printer.

Hi John -

My apologies for the "lesson". I understand your situation better now.

So the images look:
- clean in the Media Library
- blurry in the timeline
- clean in Motion Designer
- blurry back in the timeline
- blurry in the produced file

► Check your preview resolution & set it to Full HD



► It would be helpful if you could post one of your images here as an attachment. We can test it on our PD10s & maybe narrow the problem.

Are you working in a 4:3 project or 16:9?

Cheers - Tony



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Hi Tony,

It is 4:3.

I don't have either HD option on th epull-down list; Normal Preview Resolution and Real-Time Preview are checked.

I tried viewing the zoomed clip after checking Fine Preview Resolution and it is crisper. Thank you.

Does switching to Fine Preview Resolution make any difference resolution of the clip in the produced file? If so I'll produce it again but I'd guess not.

You've been so helpful with this, I'd like to ask your advice on how to get the best quality video for a short YouTube piece.
Windows-AVI or DV-AVI. I believe YouTube advises that MP4 is better but it takes over 20 minutes to produce and then I can't view it even with QuickTime.

Attached: original JPG file and snap-shot from zoomed part of video (taken from the preview window and converted to jpg because the bitmap file was so large.

John -

I've been playing with this for the last hour or so. There's something going on with Magic Motion that isn't clear to me yet... i.e. I don't have a definite assessment!

I set up a 4:3 project that has a series of images (same resolution as yours 2592x1944)
1. the original image (no zoom)
2. the same image with MM zoom applied
3. a snapshot of the last frame of the zoomed image...



When viewed at High, Normal or Low resolution, there is a stark difference in image quality at the point above. At that point it snaps from blurry to clear in one frame! When viewed in preview in Full HD or HD, the difference isn't so clear.

► Exactly the same thing occurred with your Coors Light image. Thank you for posting that.

There's a full HD demo uploading to YouTube right now, illustrating the above. I'll post the link when it's finished processing.

The good news is that it doesn't appear to affect the produced file... but I still wonder why it's occurring!

* Perhaps someone who understands more about how PD is processing the images might be able to shed some light.

¸.·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><(((º>

On the YouTube question, it rather depends what your requirements are. Quality or speed? A balance of both?

Personally, I wouldn't be posting AVIs on YouTube. Depending on the nature of the video, I'd choose AVC H.264 or MPEG-4 for quality. If size/time were important factors, I'd use a high res WMV profile.

An important thing, since we're talking about Magic Motion, is to make sure the video bitrate isn't too low. In my investigations earlier, I produced and MPEG-4 (1920x1080) with a bitrate of 3MBps. The motion sections looked terrible. I ditched that idea! I produced to AVC H.264 using a 1440x1080 profile @ 18MBps & it was crisp & clean (and a lot bigger)

So - which format & profile you choose is based on your needs. If I was putting "product" for people to see, I'd take the time to upload the best quality video I could.

Cheers - Tony
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Almost forgot...

Download & install one of these free players for viewing a variety of video formats...

VLC Player - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Splash Lite - http://mirillis.com/en/products/splash.html
Media Player Classic - Home Cinema - http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/

Cheers - Tony

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Hi,
I am going to chime in with my work around for a similar situation (i think).
We went on a cruise and my wife took some photos and I videos. I compiled a DVD utilizing both.
For the images I brought in my wife's photos at full resolution, created a slideshow using 4:3 aspect with transition a few minor crops and zooms then produced a mpeg-4 file. Start a new project and import your 'slideshow' into a 16:9 timeline then create a pip object with a frame masking out the black areas around the 'slideshow' (re size slideshow to fit. the using a pleasing frame. I don't know if that helps...but it may help..inspire you..
Jim Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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Great idea James! Adding a frame gets around the black bars issue & leaves out unnecessary cropping. It also adds a bit of a different visual focus.

John - this demo is on YouTube in 1080p (.m2ts), so you can see it more clearly. Click on YouTube to watch in HD.



By the way, the limited number of preview resolutions (I think) is related to a 32-bit OS.

Cheers - Tony
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Quote: Hi Tony,

It is 4:3.

I don't have either HD option on th epull-down list; Normal Preview Resolution and Real-Time Preview are checked.

I tried viewing the zoomed clip after checking Fine Preview Resolution and it is crisper. Thank you.

Does switching to Fine Preview Resolution make any difference resolution of the clip in the produced file? If so I'll produce it again but I'd guess not.

You've been so helpful with this, I'd like to ask your advice on how to get the best quality video for a short YouTube piece.
Windows-AVI or DV-AVI. I believe YouTube advises that MP4 is better but it takes over 20 minutes to produce and then I can't view it even with QuickTime.

Attached: original JPG file and snap-shot from zoomed part of video (taken from the preview window and converted to jpg because the bitmap file was so large.

Hi Invent1,
If you attach a diagnostic file members can examine your PC capabilities. You've stated you don't have the HD preview options in the drop down. This is indicative of a lower end graphics card and the performance of the card's display will vary when an additional call is made of it's capabilities. Video and image degradation in the display will occur.

You'll need to replace the graphics card or live with the display issue.

The above is just a guess and based on your response to Tony's image instruction.
I don't have either HD option on th epull-down list; Normal Preview Resolution and Real-Time Preview are checked.

Diagnostic guide: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/19405.page
Part B

Dafydd

Magic Motion.

Tony, you have a Canon 7D (Mark II I presume).

I have found when using high resolution images stitched together to form a wide panoramic shot. Then bringing the pan image into PD (9 and 10), Magic Motion doesn't zoom in with distinct clarity. A comparison between a desktop Preview and in PD will show some distinct differences in clarity.

Magic Motion zoom and pan have limitations in PD10 (and 9) and I had reported my findings to CyberLink.

Whether the issue here is the same, I don't know - not having tested any. However upon reading the thread - clarity does appear to be a replicable issue for Tony on the same/similar test Invent1 has run.

The Canon 7D is an amazing camera and when fitted with the right lenses produces some stunning shots, by the right camera user of course. Wide arc pan, stitch the image and then test zoom.

Dafydd

Invent1 wrote:

I don't have either HD option on th epull-down list; Normal Preview Resolution and Real-Time Preview are checked.

I tried viewing the zoomed clip after checking Fine Preview Resolution and it is crisper. Thank you.

The reason these two HD preview options are not available to you is because you are using a 32 bit operating system. If you changed to a 64 bit OS then these higher quality preview options would be available in the preview drop down menu. but you need a PC with sufficient grunt to edit in these higher quality preview settings.

And no, the quality of the preview screen is not related to the quality of the final produced video. The quality of the final video is based on the quality of your original images and video clips and the quality/ resolution and bitrate settings of the final produced file. Better quality usually means bigger file size.

Kevin
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Dafydd - no - sadly, I wish I had a 7D... but my neice lets me use hers!

The image I used above was lifted (in RAW format) from a photography site.

... and you're absolutely right about the camera!

Cheers - Tony

Note to self. Don't drink & type.
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You've probably heard this whine before: "All I wanted to do was make a simple video..."

Before your help, my state of mind was 'fear and loathing" with PD

Now I feel a little more like the kid in the song Camp Grenada. Thanks for making the sun come out.

I downloaded VLC, found Preferences (the video tutorial was exc.), added 1 sec transitions, and produced as H.264.

It's not great art but is much better than before.

Now I'll be searching for a better camera for video (both my Fuji's have huge background audio noise, and they won't do manual focus during video - so focus keeps jumping). It would be nice to have one for the RV and motorcycle anyway.

And it looks like I'll have to build a faster pc (it's now P4 2.4CGHz 800 fsb, 2G RAM, with ATI Radeon 9600XT 128M 8X).

I'm not sure my wife will thank you for the last two.