How to Preserve Title Text Font Size / Aspect Ratio?

[Mercer]

Hello. I've created a test video with titles, fade ins, fade outs, etc - and everything looks great in the preview, but I noticed after actually creating the video (H.264 640x480, 4:3), the title fonts get resized (they look compressed/horizontally squished).

Is there any way to freeze or preserve the exact font size(s)/aspect ratio of the title text so that it looks the same regardless of format I save out to later? Please tell me this can be done. I've poked around to see if there was a right mouse menu option to "lock aspect ratio" (or set "Auto Resize Title = Off") but to no avail.

If not, would a workaround be to save the text in a jpeg and fade that in/out? ...or will that get resized, as well?

Please help.

Thx much.

[lata]

Hi Mercer

and welcome to the forums

Video Studio defaults to using widescreen 16:9

Go to Settings and de-select Enable Widescreen.
Your preview screen will then display as 4:3

Now try rendering the project, try Share Create Video File Mpeg4—640 x 480

[tommy12]

Hi Trevor,

I also have some 640 x 480 clips (30fps AVI MJpeg) from my Canon point-and-shoot, that you might remember we discussed before. I converted a few test samples to mp4 to see if it would be more friendly to VS in terms of keeping the aspect ratio of transitions the same as the clips at 4:3, without having to turn of Smart Render. But no luck on that.

I hope I'm not considered as hijacking this topic, I certainly don't mean to, but I saw you suggested outputting to an mp4 file using the VS preset, so I tried it, too. The problem is that the output bitrate is set at 2500 kbps. This seems like a very low bitrate even for 640 x 480. My clips have a bitrate of about 15 Mbps = 15,000 kbps, and the output quality using the VS preset, needless to say, is not very close the original. There must be some reason that Corel has it set so low, and I was just wondering if you know if it is just a leftover remnant from when they bought it from Ulead or if there is a specific target for that particular output?

When I go into Make Movie Template and try to make an MPEG-4 template with 640 x 480, the highest bitrate I can choose is for the Main compression and is 4,000 kbps, again not very high. The only way to get a higher bitrate is to hope that the Same As First Clip Option is available. In my case it is, so I can get 15,000 kbps if I choose that route. But I can't adjust it to any other value and I can't find an option to save the template for the future as a preset. It would actually be better, I think, to lower it to around 12-13,000 kbps because it seems to get rid of some of the noise, although at the expense of losing a little bit of detail. But VS doesn't seem to be able to do that? Since VS CAN output to 15,000 kbps, do you know why they limit the Make Movie Templates to 4,000 kbps?

Thanks again for all your help and keeping me from abandoning VS when I first used it.

Tommy

[Ken Berry]

I can't find an option to save the template for the future as a preset.

If you go into Settings > Make Movie Template Manager, click on the Add button which appears on the new dialogue box. A further dialogue box will appear with two text windows. The top one ('File Path') has a button to its right with "..." on it. Click that. An 'Open Video File' box will appear. You navigate to where you have a video clip with the Properties you want to make a preset of, and select that file. That box will close and you back to the earlier one. Give the new template a name then OK out of it and close the original dialogue box. Next time you go to Share > Create Video File that new template will appear at the bottom of the drop down menu of formats.

Note, however, that you cannot edit that new template to change any of its Properties. If you do so, it will revert to a DVD preset and you will have to start all over again.

Since you want to change the bitrate to 12 or 13 Mbps instead of the current 15 Mbps, then find a clip with the desired bitrate and use the same method to set up another template for that bitrate.

[tommy12]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your reply.

Trying to Add a Template from a mp4 file gives me an error.

I have the same problem when I tried to Add a template using a MOV file.

Tommy

[lata]

Hi Tommy

I think the original poster has a different problem to you, I believe Mercer has an aspect ratio issue, I recommender 640 x 480 as a simple option to choose a 4:3 ratio and the H264 would indicate Mpeg4 although Mercer does not say?

Tommy
Your original files were Mjpeg.Avi, I did not realise you could set / adjust the data rate for these types. As far as I can see they could be described as Uncompressed Mjpeg’s if you understand me.

Surprised to find that “Same as first clip” is available yet you cannot use Add function in MMTM for Mjpeg, at least it works for me.
Or are you referring to the converted Mpeg4 files.

You should be working with the Mjpegs not the Mpeg4 files.

When we tested the transition aspect in the other post, the fix was to deselect Smart Render, I don’t think you provided a sample Mjpeg, although I was able to replicate the problem

Can you provide a sample of the Mjpeg files, at least we will be able to see the quality and maybe recommend a suitable editable format.

[tommy12]

Hi Trevor,

You are correct. You cannot set/adjust the data rate for Mjpeg.Avi. I am talking about my Mjpeg.Avi clips that I converted to MP4/H264AVC.

I converted some sample clips to test whether I could use them successfully with SmartRender ON and not have that weird apect ratio change I got during transitions that I have with my original AVI clips. But it didn't work. I still get that strange aspect ratio change during the transitions, the same thing as we discussed in one of my other posts that you were kind enough to help me with. The only way not to have the aspect ratio change during transitions is to turn SR OFF. The original AVI clips render very slowly with SR OFF but, for some reason, the MP4 clips render faster.

You suggested to the original poster that he might use the share preset MP4 640 x 480, and I was just wondering why the preset data rate was set so low at 2500 kbps.

My issue is with not being able to make a 640 x 480 MP4 Template that has a data rate as high as my clips. I can't do it manually or by using the Add button, even though I have the option to share using Same As First Clip. Have you successfully used the Add button on MP4 clips?

Why do I want to work with Mjpeg.avi that I have converted to MP4, instead of using the original Avi? Because I have to turn SR OFF so that transitions will not change aspect ratio, and because the MP4 files render faster than the original Avi when SR is OFF. Also, I can control the data rate. Even though I can't create a template or change the data rate in VS, I can set it to some degree during the conversion from AVI to MP4. But then I have to decide ahead of time what I want the date rate to be, which takes up time trying to see what the different affects will be on the final video. It would be much better to just convert to MP4 once using the original data rate and set the output data rate later. If the data rate could be set in VS that would be ideal. But I see no way to do that for MP4 clips higher than 4000 kbps. The only option seems to be Same As First Clip, which gives you the same date rate as the original and is non-adjustable. It also forces you to put one of the MP4 clips as the first clip in the timeline.

Also, if I can lower the data rate of the MP4 files I can make them smaller.

I did upload a sample Mjpeg.avi clip and you tested it and got the same result as I did during the transition. It wasn't a very good quality clip but we were concerned with the transition and not the quality of the video at that time.

I think I am stuck with the only option for the MP4 clips being Same As First Clip, with no way to change the data rate in VS?

Tommy

[lata]

Hi Tommy


Converting the original Mjpegs to Mpeg4 is not giving you good video, converting the Mpeg4 again is not going to improve the quality, even if you were to up the data rate.
Silk purse and Sows ear comes to mind

You should use the Mjpegs to find a more editable format, Photojpeg, Quicktime, Avi Div X and many other options are available to try.
Without the originals I cannot do any tests, certainly Mpeg4 is not doing you any favours.

I have searched my pc, 4Shared/and media fire folders and cannot find any Mjpeg files, if you did upload these as a sample can you provide the link again.

[tommy12]

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for the suggestion of different formats to convert the Mjpegs to. I had good success with the Divx format (xVid actually). It creates quality about the same as or equal to the original.

And it also solves my original transition problem. Just to remind you, during transitions between clips the aspect ratio changed to some weird widescreen value and the way to prevent that was to turn of SmartRender. But then creating output files took a long time.

Now, the clips converted to Avi.xVid work normally. Output files can be created with SmartRender On and transitions work normally without the aspect ratio changing.

The original Canon 640 x 480 clips are not a friendly format for VS.

Of course, drawbacks to all this is the time spent converting and organizing the new clips, and keeping both the original and converted clips double the space used on the hardrive.

Thanks again for all your help.

Tommy

[Ken Berry]

The original Canon 640 x 480 clips are not a friendly format for VS.

I think it would be more accurate to say that 640 x 480 is not a friendly format for DVDs or Blu-Ray discs as it is not included in the international standards for those discs. It seems to be OK for computer viewing, the internet or even direct viewing when played directly on a TV (albeit with black bars around it).

Oh, and of course it is not really consistent with PAL standards either, particularly when -- apart from the 480 part of it -- it has a frame rate of 30 frames per second...