Hopefully my illustration describes what has me puzzled:
I suspect it's that same 'Gotcha!' we've discussed before. Resulting from editing an image outside MEP, which sometimes (not aways) disrupts MEP's data and necessitates a change of filename before order is restored?
what will happen if you change aspect ratio to 16/9 ?
Hi Walter,
The image then fills the preview monitor. And the drop down then includes ratios like 4:3 and 2.2:1.
I'll upload the file when I get back to my PC in case you'd like to play with it.
I think it's for the reason I described. Basically I regard it as a long term bug. The work around is to rename it after editing it externally (e.g. cropping it) and then dragging that back into MEP to replace the troublesome one.
EDIT: OK, this is the image (one I downloaded from web).
Hi Terry
Greetings from a sunny Whitby
No problem with the aspect ratio on my laptop
IIRC you have had other small bugs in some of the other dialogs with MEP's maths calculations giving odd results.
John EB
Hi John, Hi Walter,
Sorry, I uploaded the wrong image. I have an ongoing problem with Win 10 File Explorer thumbnails frequently not refreshing after changes. Falcon-12 is a 16:9, despite its apparent wider thumb.
Falcon-12bu is 2:1, which is the one I should have uploaded:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/Falcon-12bu.jpg
To test, open it on timeline, then change it independently of MEP (I used IrfanView, which I like for very easy cropping) and re-import under same name. My work-around is to rename it after editing, before reimporting.
Any thoughts on that thumbnail problem? After much googling still found no reliable solution.
John,
My only visit to Whitby was 10th August 2012, an extra day after Janet and I finished the Coast-to-Coast, before catching the train back to London. Unfortunately grey and drizzly - but we enjoyed our fish 'n chips in the renowned Magpie and a fun ride on the steam tram.
Hi Terry
. . . . Win 10 File Explorer thumbnails frequently not refreshing after changes . . . . Any thoughts on that thumbnail problem? . . . .
There should be a file called Thumbs.db in the image folder - delete it and it will be recreated and should then refresh properly.
. . . . To test, open it on timeline, then change it independently of MEP . . . .
That is the problem - MEP has already cached the image for preview, however when you export it will use the modified image.
. . . . My work-around is to rename it after editing, before reimporting . . . .
That is one option - my method uses PSP, X7 64bit on my laptop or X9 64bit on my PC, as the default image editor for MEP.
I then right click the image on the timeline, select Edit in external editor, PSP opens with the image, edit it, save and then close PSP.
MEP will refresh the image, however it will remember that the previous version is 2:1 - right click and change its aspect ratio then all is well.
HTH
John EB
At which point does the image refresh?
In the following images, I exported from VPX to PSP, adjusted perspective and gave it a Perfectly Clear treatment.
After saving in PSP and returning to VPX, here is what I get.
Nothing changed in the Preview monitor, but the Source shows up distorted - wider than it should be.
I then imported the same file (after PSP treatment) and now the treated image shows up in the Preview but the Source is still distorted.
Scrubbing back to the previous image, it still had not been refreshed.
Strangely, the first one that I did was a crop. When I imported it, it was now distorted, so I fixed it with Size/Position. The proportions were non-standard. This appeared to fix the Source image as well.
But, re-importing the image showed it to import correctly. So I am a bit lost as to what happened.
For Terry, I think that your image should show up correctly either by re-loading the project or re-importing the image with the same name. Unless MEP somehow correctly refreshes without re-loading the project.
BTW, for me, Perfectly Clear is simply amazing. I took up the discounted discount offer to buy V2 with free upgrade to V3 next week (plugin for PSP). Nathalie was amazed by the automatic makeup work on her face, to the extent of going from crop me out of the image to leave me in, and the colours in the painting were vivid.
Hi John CB
. . . . At which point does the image refresh? . . . .
Virtually immediately as seen below
Note - I normally leave PSP open you do not have to close it, just save and close the image.
Important: do make sure you have the Auto preserve turned on in PSP, or you are using a copy of the original image.
. . . . When I imported it, it was now distorted . . . .
As I said above MEP and VPX remembers the original settings of the image.
John EB
Hi John CB,
Deleting the original, saving and re-opening the project and then re-importing the edited image will do it, of course. But otherwise the only way I can get a change properly recognised by MEP after any 'significant' edit (such as a crop), that's been made in anything other than a supported integrated editor, is to change its name before re-importing. I'm sure it's the same 'gotcha!' I first reported many years ago. MEP somehow refuses to refresh its fond memory of the original image in such cases.
Hi Terry
Which version of PSP are you using?
The external editor must be MX (Media Exchange) compatible for MEP to update itself.
HTH
John EB
Hi John,
We've discussed this a few times over the years! Here's a couple of examples from 2012 and 2014 respectively:
https://www.magix.info/us/forum/editing-dvd-menus-with-alternative-image-editors--557880/
I'm still with my trusty PSP 8 (not X8!) for the main reason that I not only have many macros but also scripts for it (some hybrids too!) so it would be a major hassle to update to a modern version.
My work around is no major hardship, once I remember MEP is in its annoying memory-loss mode. And it allows me to copy duration and any effects from the original before deleting it.
I still regard it as poor design. MEP should immediately use the latest material on its timeline IMO.
Victor Meldrew, East Grinstead, UK
Note - I normally leave PSP open you do not have to close it, just save and close the image.
Important: do make sure you have the Auto preserve turned on in PSP, or you are using a copy of the original image.
Hi John EB,
Thanks for the info about leaving PSP open. I kept closing it as I have to do when using Xara. Obviously not the same process.
Thanks,
John
Hi all,
I had come across this before but never tried it out. Xara Photo&Graphics Designer or Designer Pro X has a video showing the "Content Aware" feature. This allows you to stretch a photo but at the same time, protect part of the image from being expanded. This could help resolve the 4:3 to 16:9 issue when you do not want to crop part from the top or bottom to get a full width image.
Here is a test that I did. Maybe not the best image to work with, but you can see that the gentleman did not get any fatter in the upper image by the width expansion (however, fattening would be more realistic as I no longer fit in those pants). I used 3 quick masks, one on me, and one on each of the horses, the two that are facing the camera.
Of course, I could easily have cropped the bottom of this image, but the goal was to show what can be done with Xara's Content Aware feature.
to the video tutorial.
There was a special on Xara P&GD recently, that looked very interesting. Of course, the best feature of using Xara with MEP/VPX is creating graphic overlays and mask, animated if desired. The two products are a good fit.