Blurry pictures after applying Picture-In-Picture effect

[leetzeyin]

Hi,

I have a photo in large size and high resolution.
However after I apply the Picture-In-Picture effect in Video Studio ProX5, it became very blurry.
Already check all the Attribute settings and there is nothing wrong with the setting.
Can anyone help?
Thanks a lot!

Thanks & regards,
TY

[lata]

Hi TY
Welcome to the forums

There was some issues with earlier versions when using Apply Anti Flickering on Photos --Preferences (F6) --Edit tab.
Deselect this option to see if it improves quality.
-----------------------------

Picture in Picture is quite involved so a little difficult to simulate just what you are doing.
It may e best if you can create a test project VSP making it available for us to download along with the image. Smart Package (zipped) could be useful for this.

[leetzeyin]

Hi Lata,

Thanks for the suggestions.
I had tried deselecting the Anti Flickering but it does not help.
The zipped package of my test project can be downloaded at the link below:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4kk9fadpck0f2xu

Thanks a lot!!!

Thanks & regards,
TY

[lata]

Hi
Sorry for the delay in my reply......

The images are a little small or low quality which will reflect on the video quality.

The 319392_n.jpg, the two people picking the lock is only 720 wide.

The video frame being widescreen will be about 1024 px for standard video.
If you are using HD then it can be 1920px

Your image is being stretched to fit the frame resulting in a lower quality.

The other two are portrait one of which is very poor quality (5.jpg) showing horizontal lines across the face. Was this image scanned?
The Graduate looks reasonable but when viewing in an image editor shows the low quality.
Zoom in a little and you can clearly see jagged edges.
Again Pixel Dimensions are not that great.

Do you have the original images before they were cropped?

You need the best images you can get when adding to video, the video frame size for standard 16:9 would be 1024 x 576px, this would be the minimum size I would use.
then if applying filters or pan&zoom would increase this and I would recommend a pixel dimension twice the video frame.
So for standard 16:9 you would use 2048px x 1152px
Landscape is preferable to Portrait simply because the video frame is landscape.

[leetzeyin]

Hi Lata,

Thank again for the reply.
Oh I see, then i should get the original pic for 319392_n.jpg.

Yes the graduate photos are scanned.
Maybe I should scan and save in other formats eg. png or tiff, to get a better quality?

Thanks a lot for the explanation.
I'll try to amend my project according to your inputs and feedback to you again!

Thanks & rgds,
TY

[leetzeyin]

Hi Lata,

With the same test project, i replaced the photos.
1st effect looks fine.
However the 2nd & 3rd effects are still blurry after i replaced the with good quality picture.

This is the link of the test project.
http://www.mediafire.com/?m8bb5mw1qma3rwl

Thanks & regards,
TY

[lata]

Hi TY

Thanks for the new images, ...........the images are a little soft focus especially the boy, being taken at 1/30sec, increase that to 1/60 sec may give a crisper image....nice kids though

Ok
First the preview screen does not fully represent the final output quality.
When I hit play (Project Playback) I see a marked reduction in quality, but the final render looks ok.
If you edit the project properties to use 1920 x 1080 frame size, Use AVI Xvid, the project playback quality issue seems to reduce.

Ok I have had a play with the project, some comments.
This is what I did.

1 / Reduce the size of the images to keep them within the Safe Area, thats the rectangle you see on screen when viewing in Clip mode, anything outside this may not be viewable on a TV set.

2 / With the clips in the overlay track, first choose Fit to Screen, then Keep Aspect Ratio, then apply the Picture- in - Picture filter.

3 / Move the images up screen to allow you to view more of the reflection, increase the transparency of the reflection.

4 / Set the key-frames to pause images on screen.

5 / Increased the duration of images to 8 seconds to slow the transition across the screen.

6 / Disabled Anti Flickering from F6, I know this has caused some problems when using Pan & Zoom.

7 / Rendered to Mpeg4 16:9 using the Youtube template.

What are you intending to make, a standard DVD or HD video, or Video for the internet.

[Pete Waterman]

Just wondering why your ISO is set to 1000 just curious?
looks like plenty of light in the room.

[Kingston]

You will get a much better image if you increase the Size from 30% to about 70% in the NewBlueFX Picture-in-Picture effect. Then in the Preview window, do not increase the size of the frame so much. What is causing the blurred look is the image is reduced very small in the NewBlue PIP effect, then that is scaled way up in the preview window when you drag the handles way outside the frame. So, try to get the size correct with just the NewBlue PiP effect, then make minor adjustments in the preview window.

[leetzeyin]

Lata,
Haha! fyi the kid in the pic is not a boy but a girl!
I had received the project file which you amended, and i applied the same project properties to my real project, and the playback quality improved!

The major mistakes i made in my previous project is as highlighted by Kingston.
I should not re-size the in the preview window, but in the NewBlueFX setting, or by applying the one you suggested:
"2 / With the clips in the overlay track, first choose Fit to Screen, then Keep Aspect Ratio, then apply the Picture- in - Picture filter."

I tried rendering to MP4 HD, and the output is what i need for my video presentation.
It is meant to be projected by a LCD projector, i think MP4 HD is good enough for that.
Really thanks a lot for your help!!

Pete,
The ISO was my mistake, hehe.

Kingston,
Thanks for your correction, that is exactly what i did which contribute to all those blurry images!

Thanks & regards,
TY

[lata]

Hi TY

Please apologise to the "girl", I'd noticed the bluish background and assumed a boy, I should have looked at the pink dress Doh.

Glad you have managed to improve quality.

Rendering
I suggested the You Tube option which gives 1280 x 720
As you are using a projector, try rendering the project to 1920 x 1080 frame size Create Video File - mpeg4 HD, should view better on the big screen.

good luck

[leetzeyin]

Hi Lata,

Acknowledged, thanks a million!!

Thanks & regards,
TY