Applying & Saving Color Correction Adjustments

[MJS_888]

I am a VideoStudio newbie and would appreciate help with a couple of basic (I think) questions. I have learned how to adjust the appearance of a video clip on my timeline using the "Color Correction" sliders and how to slice and dice a clip using the "Multi-Trim" tool. However, I am frustrated that the program insists on resetting the clip's "attributes" to "default settings" before allowing me to use Multi-Trim, causing me to lose any "Color Correction" adjustments I made. How can I use "Multi-Trim" without losing my Color Correction adjustments?

Is it possible for me to select multiple (or all) video clips on my timeline and apply the same "Color Correction" adjustments to all the selected clips at once instead of one clip at a time? If so, how?

Thanks!

MJS

[lata]

Hi MJS

I don’t use Multi Trim but prefer to use the scissors to cut my clips, then delete unwanted bits, Mark-in Mark-out can also be useful to trim ends.

FX Filters
Applying filters to multiple adjacent clips can be achieved by Copy and Paste Attributes.
Having applied filter, right click clip for Copy attributes, then Shift Click last clip will select all, right click for Paste attributes.

If you now cut the clip it will affect the FX filter as set in customise.
You will be best to cut your clips to remove unwanted frames, then apply filters.

[MJS_888]

When I use the scissors and Mark-in Mark-out controls instead of Multi-Trim, the program constantly crashes (usually when I hit "play" after using one of those commands or after moving the scrubber or after selecting a different clip or after using a navigation command or after switching between Clip and Project modes). It seems like if my computer is not fast enough to execute a command quickly, the program crashes instead of waits. Are there any settings I can adjust to reduce the frequency of crashes?

Thanks for telling me about Shift Click to select multiple clips! I will try applying filters and using Copy and Paste Attributes.

[lata]

Hi

What version of Video Studio are you using.
What type of video file are you editing? Right click a clip and select properties what are they.

If you were to use the sample video clips from the library do they crash when using the scissors.
I guess I’m asking if the crashes happen with all types of video you use?

[MJS_888]

I am using the latest updated version of VideoStudio Pro X7 and was working with a low resolution .mp4 file about 130 MB in size (640 x 360 dimensions). I made a large number of splits, trims, etc to this file. When I hit the Play button in the Edit workspace, is the load on my computer's processor much greater if I have made 100 splits/trims versus only one or two? The program never crashed while I was using Multi-Trim.

I have not yet worked much with other files. However, I just tried playing with the two tiny sample .mp4 files and so far the program is not crashing. Do you think the crashes may be related to the specific file I was editing? When it isn't crashing, this VideoStudio program appears to be faster than other (much less powerful) programs I have used.

[lata]

Hi

There are many different types of MP4 video files, some will work without problems, others not so good.

You can match the project properties to the video files properties, this should help, again works for some video types.

Go to Settings – Preferences (F6) – Tick Show Messages when inserting first video….
Start a NEW Project and insert one of your MP4 clips to the top timeline.
Do you get a message asking that you match the project properties?
Hopefully that will work providing the properties of your video files are suitable.

Now try cutting the video file.

Playback of the project should not be affected by simply cutting the clips, adding FX Filters or heavy edits may cause Project Playback to slow, but as I say I wouldn’t expect simple cuts to cause problems.

[MJS_888]

Thanks for the help! I now think the program did not like the specific file I was working on. I screwed around with the sample files enough to slow the program down, but it did not crash.

I set my Preferences as you suggested and tried reloading the problem file. I did get the message to match project properties. After that, playing with the file does not seem to crash the program. However, the Mark In and Mark Out commands are not available (greyed out) in Clip mode (so I must trim a clip by cutting it into two clips and deleting the unwanted clip). In addition, I lost the sound during playback in Clip mode after applying a filter (Brightness & Contrast)...and deleting the filter did not bring back the sound. I discovered that opening and closing the Sound Mixer will bring back the sound until I switch to Project mode and back to Clip mode. Are these issues common? Is there a way to enable the Mark In and Mark Out commands in clip mode?

A quick unrelated question if you don't mind.... I think I made the mistake of customizing a filter for every clip in a project before I used another filter (Hue & Satuation) which I do not need to separately customize for each clip. Am I correct in thinking there is no way for me to copy and paste ONLY the Hue & Saturation filter settings to other clips in the timeline?

[lata]

Hi

A couple of thoughts.

After applying the FX filter make sure you select another option, try the top icon for the Media Library, if the FX is still active it may affect audio playback, sometimes, I don’t know why?

Audio, if you have no audio at all (some files do have problems in playing on the timeline). Try changing the volume level from 100%, 99% or 101%, that works for some files, I have no idea why that should be, maybe the audio codec used in the video file.

Mark-in Mark-out, make sure the FX is not selected as above.

There are some edit options that may disable MultiTrim, but my brain fails me at the moment.

Copy and Paste, you can set the first clip to use the FX filter then Copy and Paste to all.
Shift+Click will select multiple adjacent clips.
But if you mean copy one fx to others, retaining their own fx then no ( applying multiple fx filters I think is limited to 5)

Rendering the project

Share – Same as First Video Clip would use your original clips properties, as would Same as Project Properties. Those options should retain your original quality.

[MJS_888]

Thanks for your help again Trevor! You were absolutely right about the FX selection interfering with audio playback in clip mode. I also discovered that opening the Options Panel and clicking on Attributes kills the audio (and also selects FX and applies selected filters to the Preview Window). I'll remember your tip about changing the volume level when audio will not play.

But if you mean copy one fx to others, retaining their own fx then no ( applying multiple fx filters I think is limited to 5)

I think your response agrees with my tentative conclusion. To clarify, it is NOT possible to copy an FX from clip A and paste it to clip B without wiping out the FX that were previously applied to clip B. Correct?

I was pleased to discover that Color Correction settings CAN be copied and pasted to other clips without wiping out their filters. Those tiny sliders are harder to work with than the filters though. Do the Color Correction adjustments enable faster rendering compared to the analogous filters?

Share – Same as First Video Clip would use your original clips properties, as would Same as Project Properties. Those options should retain your original quality.

I thought that every rendering which utilizes "compression" causes some loss of quality. Do you mean that using the original clip properties during rendering would retain the same file size to video duration ratio?

Regards,

MJS

[lata]

Render quality

I did take care to use “should retain quality”
It really depends on the type of video and whether VS can replicate it, a process called Smart Render should help as the unedited sections are not fully rendered but effectively copied, at least that’s the impression I get.

I have just rendered a MTS at 359Mb (Same as first Clip) the resultant file is 358Mb, there was no editing.

Do a test with your original clips or try the SP-V01.mp4 sample.

But yes you are correct any render will change the quality for most types, whether that is noticeable is debatable.
There are some lossless formats, DV- Avi does not degrade when rendering.

[MJS_888]

I did some testing. When I load a mp4 file into a new project, I am prompted to match the Project Settings to the file. This does not happen when I load the wmv sample file or an mpg file or an avi file into a new project, however.

When I render an unedited .mp4 file with settings that match the original clip, Smart Render appears to take over, quickly producing an exact copy of the original file. However, this did not occur with the .wmv sample file or mpg files (even though "Enable Smart Render" was checked). When I try to render an unedited .avi file with the same settings as "first video clip", the program would not even give me that option! [It allowed me to choose settings that were "Same as Project Settings" but I found no easy way to match the project settings to the original video.]

Do the Smart Render feature and the option to match the Project Settings to the first video clip apply only to mp4 files?

[lata]

Hi

Show Messages…. Is active when using a Video file who’s properties can be used to set the Project Properties, From Alt+ Enter we cannot set project properties as WMV
Other formats are not allowed to be used as Project Properties. Lets face it there are a lot of different formats, AVI has about 800 flavours.

The Show Messages when inserting First Video Clip…will not appear once the first video has been used, also new projects will apply the last properties used, so using your MP4 on a second project will not Show Messages as the properties are already set, clear as mud.

Video Studio X7 has allowed us to set Project Properties for a greater range of video settings, earlier versions were limited to AVI and Mpeg2 templates.
For instance using X6 you cannot set your MP4 as project properties.

The Same as First Clip is somehow associated with the Show Messages, that is the video file can be set for Project Properties, if not Same as First Clip is not available.

I guess we can class some video types as being “friendly video”, quoted by another poster.

Matching the project properties somehow affects Smart Render allowing it to work or not.
If you are testing render times then start a new project for each test, Smart Render will improve render times for the second attempt.

Settings Movie Profile Manager

Allows us to create our own templates, either manually or using the Add option, again this is limited in what can be added in the same manner as Same as First Clip

We can also manually create a template from the Share step, using the “+” symbol, that can be useful.

[MJS_888]

My knowledge of different types of avi, mp4, or other video or audio files is very limited. I am surprised to discover in the Share workspace that OGG is offered for Audio encoding but the far more popular MP3 format is missing. Since my AVI files include mp3 audio, I'm guessing this is why VS will not allow me to select "Same as First Video Clip" when rendering AVI files.

I see what you mean about the limited formats that can be used as "project properties." I am confused, though, about the purpose of setting "project properties." I seem to be able to edit different types of files in the same way whether or not I set or match the project properties. [I do understand the significance of being able match file properties for the purpose of rendering.] The settings available in the Share workspace for rendering files seem to provide everything I need...with the exception of mp3 audio. [I have another program that can copy AVI video while converting the audio to mp3.]

Matching the project properties somehow affects Smart Render allowing it to work or not.
If you are testing render times then start a new project for each test, Smart Render will improve render times for the second attempt.
.

It seems to me that Smart Render should work just as well when properties are matched to the "first video clip" as when the "project settings" are matched (when rendering unedited video). I did notice that when I re-edited part of a video WITHOUT starting a new project, Smart Render improved the render time. I think starting a new project may defeat this Smart Render function.

Regards, MJS

[lata]

Hi

MP3 audio “Lame Codec” (do a google search) can cause problems for some editors.
Some MP3 may work ok whilst others have problems, I do not know the reason for that, but if you do have problems using MP3 we can only suggest converting to another format, MP3 is a highly compressed format, reasonable quality with small file sizes.

Matching Project Properties makes sure they are set to the correct aspect ratio, frame resolutions and frame rates which is probably as important as any. Adding a 60fps video to a 30 fps project will look ok but only display half the frames.
Rendering “like for like” should be pretty quick especially when the data rate aka bit rate matches.

I don’t know exactly what Smart Render does in comparing the edited sections to unedited sections, choosing to fully render or do a quick pass? It could compare clip playback to project playback, the difference needs a full render. So a lot of editing needs a lot of rendering. Add the fact that we change the render properties and Smart Render may not work to well.
Render to another type, (MP4 to WMV) I guess that’s a video conversion may take a long time?

And yes the second render should be faster for a given project, I guess that’s why its called Smart?

[MJS_888]

My DVD player has no problem playing mp3 and avi files but has no idea what an oog, m4a, or mp4 file is!

Matching Project Properties makes sure they are set to the correct aspect ratio, frame resolutions and frame rates which is probably as important as any. Adding a 60fps video to a 30 fps project will look ok but only display half the frames.
Rendering “like for like” should be pretty quick especially when the data rate aka bit rate matches.

I don’t know exactly what Smart Render does in comparing the edited sections to unedited sections, choosing to fully render or do a quick pass? It could compare clip playback to project playback, the difference needs a full render. So a lot of editing needs a lot of rendering. Add the fact that we change the render properties and Smart Render may not work to well.
Render to another type, (MP4 to WMV) I guess that’s a video conversion may take a long time?

And yes the second render should be faster for a given project, I guess that’s why its called Smart?

Instead of matching the Project Properties or Movie Profile, can the same things be accomplished by selecting "Save as First Video Clip" in the Share workspace? Unless you are referring to how the project will appear in the preview window of the VS Edit workspace?

Regarding Smart Render, my guess is that it only kicks in when no video clip "attributes" have been changed and all rendering settings match the original file during the first rendering of a project; this would allow the video clips to be copied instead of rendered. During subsequent renderings of the same project, only the portions that had been changed would need to be re-rendered (unless the rendering settings are changed).