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Track Motion Reduces Quality of Photos
I have been using the Event Pan/Crop tool almost exclusively to add motion to my photo slideshows in Vegas Pro 8. Recently, I’ve added track motion to some of the photos to enable me to rotate them around the x and y axis for a nice 3D motion effect.
However, I’ve noticed that a photo has a lower quality to it using track motion that is especially noticeable when I zoom in to a photo as compared to using the same zoom level with Event Pan/Crop. I don’t mix the two tools on the same photo but do use only one track for all photos and use the keyframes to control the motion from each tool. I’ve attacked a photo as an example. In this case I had to use two separate tracks to get the split screen. The track motion photo has a blur to it that reduces the clarity.
Is there a setting or technique that I can use to obtain the same photo quality with track motion that I get with Event Pan/Crop?
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14 Replies
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Nope, AFAIK
use Pan/Crop for zooming, and track motion for the movement. Is the way it is.
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Just to expand on what Adam said…
Track Motion converts the source media to the project settings BEFORE it manipulates it. That means that a 3000×2000 photo in a 720×480 project is converted to 720×480 before track motion will use it. When you zoom in… you are zooming on a 720×480 photo regardless of it’s original resolution.
Pan/Crop uses the full resolution of the media when it does it’s cropping which is why you can zoom in and still have excellent results if there is enough resolution in the media.
This is just how the two tools work. Use Pan/Crop for zooming and Track Motion for adding motion. There is nothing wrong with using both at the same time.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
> As Vegas has been upgraded to handle HD, these traditional tools have old hardwired code that assumes DVD resolution is the goal, and that hasn’t been revamped.
What makes you think that? If your project is HD then TrackMotion will resize to HD before manipulating the media. Likewise if you set your project to 4K (4096×2304) then Track Motion will resize to 4K. It purposefully matches whatever your project is. This is how the tool works (i.e., it conforms the media to the track dimensions)
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Why do you want to use track motion. Use TM for movinng and P/C for zooming.
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> Hahaha, this topic started with somebody asking advice and being suggested to use track motion instead of pan/crop.
No, it did not. The first post started with someone using Track Motion and noticing a quality reduction when zooming. No one suggested using Track Motion to zoom. It’s the wrong tool for zooming.
> Then someone else commented that track motion changed the source resolution to match the project automatically, and without notice, and only after they rendered to DVD did they find out.
I was simply explaining the behavior that the original poster was seeing. Sometimes understanding why something works the way it does is helpful. Understanding how a tool works is important for using it correctly.
> MY comments are that Vegas does things behind the scenes, like downsampling, and these things are done to benefit Vegas’s performance, not so much because of disparity.
Track Motion manipulates a track in 2D or 3D space therefore it must conform the media to the tracks dimensions (which are the project dimensions) in order for everything to scale correctly. It has nothing to do with performance. It has to do with the track media not exceeding the bounds of the frame while in motion.
> I start all my projects as HD and no particular output selected to safeguard against some of this. Basically I leave all my options open because once Vegas narrows you down, you get pigeon-holed.
There is no need to do this. Vegas does not “narrow you down”. You can change project properties at any time. There are times when it makes sense to work in the resolution of your source and other times when it makes sense to work in the resolution of your target. Working in larger resolutions than you need will only get you in trouble later with surprises in rendering because what you see is not when you are rendering.
> My point is that most of the issues discussed here are either a missing codec or content disparity SNAFU. The experts know how to get around this by starting with a big enough canvas, or perhaps changing the advanced settings.
I would add that many problems encountered here is because people change the advanced settings without knowing what they are doing. They feel that somehow the basic templates won’t get them good quality when, in fact, the templates that ship with Vegas are already optimized for the task.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
[Jay Gilhart] “…but I know for a fact that the render options narrow depending on the project settings.”
Sorry Jay but you’re wrong.
Project settings are set to match your source footage as this makes it easier to edit.“If you start a new project for DVD, the Sony mp4 codecs will not be there. This is what I mean by pigeon-holed”
Maybe it works that way in Movie Studio (I highly doubt it but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise) but it sure doesn’t work like that in Vegas Pro.
The bulk of my footage is still SD NTSC DV-AVI from miniDV tape and this is what I have my Project Settings set to.
When it comes time to render, I can choose ANY codec or size option I want, including MP4.“Yes, changing the project settings DOES correct this, but it’s confusing.”
See my first reply on what Project Settings actually does.
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Ahhhhhhh! “Maybe it works that way in Movie Studio”.
That explains quite a bit. Some folks really do set their cameras on the green “auto” option. Others want a lot more capability under their control, but that creates the obligation to understand what is really happening and why it is happening. Also, to understand what the options are, and how to properly exercise them. Thanks for laying that out.
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[Jay Gilhart] “Mike, I know from reading your posts that you are a master of Vegas…”
Thanks for the compliment Jay but I don’t consider myself a master, just a long-time user who’s learned a lot of tricks and shortcuts over the years and am willing to share them with the Vegas community.
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My thanks to everyone for their suggestions and comments. I was sorry to here that my photos are restricted to the project properties resolution when I choose to use track motion even though I get full photo resolution when I use Event Pan/Crop. That doesn’t make sense to me. I really like some of the interesting motions I can get with my photos when I use Track Motion but then the quality suffers.
Some of you said to use Track Motion for rotation and Event Pan/Crop for zooming. Well, that doesn’t work for me. I’ve included a video below that first shows the photo in motion with the rotation and zooming done with Track Motion only. The second video is an attempt to duplicate the same motion but using Track Motion for rotation only and Event Pan/Crop for zooming only. As you can see in the second video the top left side of the video gets cut off as the rotation starts and then as the motion completes the entire right side of the photo is cut off. If there is a workaround to this I’d love to hear it because this is not a solution.
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[Jim Prisby] “As you can see in the second video the top left side of the video gets cut off as the rotation starts and then as the motion completes the entire right side of the photo is cut off. If there is a workaround to this I’d love to hear it because this is not a solution.”
Open the image in Pan/Crop, right-click in the middle of the screen and select “Match Output Aspect”.
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