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Alan,

Life priorities and health issues have shelved all of my vid work indefinitely, but of course I can’t resist updating libraries for future use.

I particularly liked the “New Tunnel one” which stood out from all the other ones for me due to my particular signature style: elegant and simple, yet visually full. Only two very complimentary levels which lend themselves well to customizing inspiration, be it in tandem or even separately as individual particles.

Short version: Nice work! Thanks.

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From what you describe, it sounds like a compression and/or codec issue — if the “raw” .mov footage that works for you is full/uncompressed. PI can only import certain specific vid files (and compression codecs).

I used to work on Macs but have PC now, hopefully others with Mac experience will give you a more Mac-ish whuzzup on this 🙂

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Ahem, maybe I was overshooting a bit on competing with Lucas hardware. According to recent BBC article:
“LucasFilm is powered by a data centre equivalent to 10,000 home PCs with 250 terabytes of storage.”

But I’ll keep working at it – lol

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You’re probably right about the scaling regarding so-called fuzziness. It also most likely depends on the type of emitters used: I tend to go for the more misty, subtle and sparky types.

There is also the element of perhaps expecting ILM production level stuff due to the excitement of being able to create such magic “at home” on one’s computer.

PI-3 is really great, but it’s one application, not 100 workstations pumping out fx on Lucas’s ranch 🙂 It offers the little people like me and any creative one-man-production endeavor the chance to do some amazing things.

As with any situation, one works with both the limitations and the advantages. I’m thrilled to have PI-3 and will just learn to adapt and fine-tune.

… So watch out, George Lucas. We PI people may not have your fancy digs. But we’ve got our own magical wizardry up our sleeves — and may just surprise and blow you with what we can do 🙂

NRN.

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Do you check the bottom box in Vegas Media import to read the whole sequence? When unchecked, only one frame will play (the second you mentioned 🙂 This also applies to PNG files.

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Thanks, Alan. I did as you suggested and the non-black background showed through fine in PI.

Solving The Non-Issue (Stay with PNG)?

But as stated in an annotation on the temp page, Vegas shows the same “masked” TGA in a track as Gimp does. I could make and upload screenshots of one track with the PNG, the other with the TGA to show this but it’s pretty self-explanatory.

I’m going to probably post a Q about this at the Vegas forum. However…

Maybe it’s not necessary and I can just continue to use PNG — if you can put this issue to rest:

— Having given you actual frames in each version to check out (both versions show exact same 1280 x 786 pixels) — is it not this file info the matters — and not the accurate or inaccurate dpi ones since this isn’t for hard copy printing)?

Meaning that the PNG are OK as-is (pixel info does reflect export stage and percentage size) and I’ve been freaking out over irrelevant file data.
If so, my apologies for this much-to-do-about-nothing, but it’s part of the learning curve of working in multimedia.

That said…

Improving Image Quality of PNGs For/In an NLE

As far as the at times fuzzy look of PNGs in Vegas that prompted this Q, doubling up isn’t so bad for I can adjust the composite levels and get a decent feel and look.

What I do in PI to maximize quality/resolution:

— I switch to the largest screen resolution my system can handle and let the stage take up as much desk real estate as possible when exporting from PI. (The exception was the files I rendered for this Q since I want to save disk space — I used regular non-editing screen res.)

The only problem is that I usually have to add a bit of sharpen in Vegas post: this has the downside of making them a bit edgy or crackly, especially when rendered as .WMV or other highly compressed format.

Suggestions welcomed on any other improvement tips, be it in PI or post in Vegas. Thanks.

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As you may have noticed, something went wrong with the link to the temp page in my posting above.
Please use this one. Thanks.

https://www.compassionsensuality.net/PI_TEMP.html

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OK, thanks for reply. I tried TGA (a format I never worked with so far, but it isn’t working out even though I exported with non-intense alpha and remove-black from alpha.

To illustrate the results, I have created a generic temporary page for this issue with brief annotation at my website with screenshots of the identical frame of a test export sequence:

— In PI-3 (minus background image to show what the particles should look like).
— As PNG – with Gimp* image info
— AS TGA – with Gimp* image info.

I have also included the actual 1024×768 PNG and TGA frames (see why below).

Please note that this temp page will not be up indefinitely (so as not to clutter up the website’s directories).
It shows that:

— The PNG came out accurate, but still in seemingly disproportionate 64.9986 by 24.003 dpi resolution. The TGA looks terrible (like an alpha-masked PNG but seemingly without the mask) but the resolution is OK.

Resolutions info is according to Gimp stats which is Windows based. But if the PNG res info is gibberish according to what you said, then…

… What is its actual resolution (and that of all PNGs exported from PI-3)?

Which is the reason I have included save-links to the actual PNG and TGA frame versions at the bottom of the page for you to copy/save and inspect for yourself (and tell me what res you get).

The TGA one is uncompressed, which may be best for this support Q situation since it looks odd/mask-like even in uncompressed format.

_______________________

Last, before posting this, I double-checked that the Project Settings and Preferences matched in frame rate and size (640×480, NTSC 29.97). One was at 30 fps and res was too low on the other, so I corrected and re-rendered new PNG and TGA.

The results were identical, as were each file’s info stats, and so I left the first set of exported files at said page. I don’t see it as a project settings problem.

All that said, I’m probably missing something pretty obvious here. Thanks for any assistance/suggestions regarding this issue.

https://www.compassionsensuality.net/PI_TEMP.html

* (I can’t open TGA in PhotoPaint 12 which is my core stills/digital image app, so used Gimp. I studied PhotoShop in school, I can’t afford it, but PP has served me well 99% of the time.)

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… When you PI wizard guys settle back in from NAB and/or this weekend, etc. Thanks 🙂

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From my understanding and observation:

— Zoom affects the entire particle field (or all particles). Everything is magnified or reduced together proportionally, including space between particles.

— Size affects the individual dimensions of each particle, but the space between the center of each particle or particles remains the same; but since the particles are now smaller, there is actually more “empty space” between the edge or surface of all the particles.

To use a solar system analogy:

Zoom down would shrink the entire solar system as one entity, Sun and all planets and all space between them.

Size down would shrink the Sun and all planets but leave the space between the center-point of each one the same. However, since the masses of the planets and Sun are now smaller, there is now actually more empty space between the now-smaller surfaces of each one and all the others.

A bit convoluted, but hopefully useful 🙂