MSP 8 Bug in Force to Render Segment & Preview

VelcroFace · Post by **VelcroFace** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:21 am

There's a bug in MSP 8 that I reported soon after it was released. You can imagine my dismay when this bug was not fixed in the Service Pack.

As you know, when MSP encounters an area in your project that has
effects it cannot display in real time, the "Complexity Bar" (right below the Timescale) becomes various shades of red, depending on the complexity of the effects. Right-click on the Complexity Bar, and you have three choices:

1) Force To Render Segment & Preview. Video Editor creates a preview file of the particular segment even when in Instant playback mode, then automatically previews the rendered segment.

2) Set Preview Range.

3) Set Preview Range & Render Preview. Allows you to select a segment and render it at the same time.

Page 90 of the User Guide describes this feature in some detail. Trouble is, this feature DOES NOT WORK. I used "Force To Render Segment & Preview" quite frequently in MSP 7, but it's been broken in the new version.

Does anyone know if the Ulead developers are aware of this issue? If so, are there any plans to address it in a patch?

--
Michael

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:48 am

I have checked this out and it works for me.

I put on several files, used complex transitions, video filters and moving paths and overlays. After Instant Preview (clunky), I had a line in various shades of intermittent pink up to red. I right-clicked and chose the "Force to render..." option. I then re-Instant Previewed and there was a longer pause before it started and it played smoothly this time, with all the red and dark pink areas showing the lightest pink. I guess this is what was intended.

The Set Preview Range options also worked, with the blue line, which is perfectly normal.

I see no bug.

VelcroFace · Post by **VelcroFace** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:34 am

I right-clicked and chose the "Force to render..." option. I then re-Instant Previewed and there was a longer pause before it started and it played smoothly this time, with all the red and dark pink areas showing the lightest pink. I guess this is what was intended.

Did you actually see it render? Did the rendering window appear? (I'm not sure that's the technical name for it, but it's the window that appears covering the preview window. It has a readout of rendering time and file size tagged to it in a smaller window.) Add an effect, deselect the "Instant Play" button, and you'll see what I mean.

After rendering there should be no shades of red in the complexity bar. Not even the lightest pink. What's more, the line below the time scale should be green.

At least, that's the way it worked on MSP 7, and that's the way it's supposed to work on MSP 8. But it doesn't. It's a bug.

--
Michael

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:58 am

I disagree. The rendering done in the normal Preview is not the same as that done in Instant Preview. That done in the latter is minimal to allow it to preview smoothly in the shortest possible time, as the name implies. This is a distinct improvement over earlier versions which did a full render. If you want full render, just deselect the Instant Preview, it's as simple as that.

This is not a bug; it is fully functional.

VelcroFace · Post by **VelcroFace** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:06 pm

Apparently your definition of render is different from mine... and from what the video industry considers a render. If MSP 8 rendered, you'd see it render, and it would produce a temporary file.

What you're seeing is the effect MSP's read-ahead cache, which makes possible most real-time previews of effects. That's why there's a hesitation every time you start the timeline to play in preview.

Have you ever used MSP 7? I'm assuming you haven't. If you have, you'd know the difference, and recognize this as a bug.

--
Michael

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:46 pm

Sorry, you have hit the wrong one with your assumption! I've been using MSP for many years, back to v. 2! And, before I retired, I was using it professionally. And I've been one of the MSP8 beta testers for a number of years.

Yes, there is a difference but this is NOT a bug, it is a great improvement, as you get the effect of rendering without the long delay. Whether it is called rendering or not is a question of semantics.

This is NOT a bug.

VelcroFace · Post by **VelcroFace** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:33 pm

If it's not a bug, then it's a step backwards from MSP 7. In any case, I refuse to continue arguing this with someone who refuses to see the truth.

--
Michael