MEP loses colouration-changes when adding a distorting blur to footage

CubeAce wrote on 8/21/2022, 3:35 PM

Does even the first segment lose these settings of just the subsequent cut clips?

Apollo89x wrote on 8/21/2022, 3:43 PM

Hello, it's only the segment of clip which has had the effects-mask added onto it | The rest of the segments are unchanged.

Moreover the colour / saturation levels for the segment with the effects-mask added still show as being the adjusted-levels...
However the actual footage has all those changes removed in the preview-pane (+when exported).

CubeAce wrote on 8/21/2022, 6:26 PM

@Apollo89x

I think you may be working back to front.

Try cutting your clips up into the required lengths first and then while holding down the control key select each clip you want to add the effect to with your mouse which should highlight each clip and then add the effect which should then be applied to all the selected clips.

Former user wrote on 8/21/2022, 6:54 PM

@Apollo89x Hi, I don't know if i'm reading your post correctly

I added a B/W clip, coloured it green, cut it half, then on the right half i added a blur & an effects mask, the mask 'masks' all effects including the colour, if you're only doing subtle adjustments to the colour it would look like the changes you'd made had gone away

If you want to only mask the blur, export the clip with colour then reimport & add the blur with a mask, unless someone can explain otherwise.

PS, can VPX allow you to just mask one effect?

Apollo89x wrote on 8/23/2022, 8:36 AM

Hello, to show exactly what the fault/bug is, I have attached 2 screenshots.

First shows the footage (without the colour changes added) / 2nd shows the exact same footage :: but simply with an effects-mask shape added too.

As you can see, as soon as the effects-mask shape is added, all the colour-changes cease to show in the footage!

Former user wrote on 8/23/2022, 9:03 AM

@Apollo89x As i said when you add the mask it masks All the effects on that clip, so every effect is going to disappear apart from where the mask is, increase the size of your timeline so the mask on track 2 is bigger & hover over it, on the left you;ll see a little white arrow, click on that will reverse the mask, your colours should show but the Mosaic will also reverse,

Former user wrote on 8/23/2022, 9:23 AM

@Apollo89x Instead of using a mask, duplicate your clip with the colour adjustment but not mosaic or masks, so one is above the other,

Apply Mosaic to one below & use Cookie cutter to select the area you want

Here i've increased the blur to make the cookie cut obvious

Apollo89x wrote on 8/23/2022, 10:12 AM

Thankyou for the info.

It's bizzare why Magix have created this software in such a foolish way that simply adding a blur-shape will cancel-out all colour-adjustments to the rest of the footage in that scene (*as theres literally no scenario I can imagine when anyone would want to do that!)

I need the blur to track the faces in footage, so not sure if that 'cookie-cutter' function would offer that.

#

Ultimately the only solution is to add the colour-adjustments | Export the video | Then re-add that video to MEP a 2nd time to add facial-blurring.
(Ofcourse this reduces the video-quality though due to it being exported twice :: Thus losing qualuty each time)

johnebaker wrote on 8/23/2022, 10:39 AM

@Apollo89x

Hi

There is nothing bizarre at all - this is the way masks work when you use them - their purpose to remove the parts you dont want leaving behind what you do. When it removes a part it removes everything including any effects applied.

. . . . Ultimately the only solution is to add the colour-adjustments | Export the video | Then re-add that video to MEP a 2nd time to add facial-blurring.. . . .

@Former user has given you an easier solution for what you are trying to do which requires little effort and works for hiding one face.

However if you are wanting to 'hide' more than one face, then the procedure is different and you will have to export the colour adjusted clip as a MXV file and use this as shown in this tutorial and ignore the references to Keyframing if it is not required to move the masks.

John EB
Forum Moderator

Apollo89x wrote on 8/23/2022, 10:47 AM

No... The purpose of the mask is to cover certain areas of the footage.

But so why would anyone want all colour-changes + other effects to ALSO be removed, merely due to the addition of a mask-shape?

CubeAce wrote on 8/23/2022, 11:15 AM

@johnebaker @Former user @Apollo89x

Isn't this exactly what my forum Challenge No 2 was about?

Ray.

johnebaker wrote on 8/23/2022, 1:36 PM

@Apollo89x

Hi

Taking a step back and using some reductionism and ignoring the title of the topic which does not match the issue as described in the original post, with my emboldening of the salient points:-

. . . . However when I now add a colour-change (saved as a video-effect) to the entire footage | Then split the footage into segments ~ Add a distortion-blur to one segment ~ And then add an effects-mask to use as the pixelation-mask | The colouration of that segment shows as being reverted to the original... (despite all the levels in the colour-tab still showing as the changed properties). . . . .

the question reduces down to 'why do applied effects get removed when a mask is used?'.

This is the question @Gid and I have been answering with the reason why and a method to achieve what is desired.

. . . . The purpose of the mask is to cover certain areas of the footage. . . . .

IMHO there is a misunderstanding of what a mask does.

In the context of the masks used in video editing the reverse is that action you get - the Alpha mask removes areas of the effect or when placed between 2 video clips removes part of the foreground clip to reveal the background depending its direction and location with respect to the video clips.

This is an example of how the mask removes part of the effect when applied as shown:

For what you are trying to achieve the method is different as described by @Former user and is demonstrated below:

The steps are:

Add effects to clip that will be the background
Duplicate the clip - Ctrl + drag with mouse - leaving a gap for the mask.
Remove the gaussian blur from the duplicate clip
Add in the mask by browsing to it in from Windows File explorer or the explorer in the program using drag and drop.

HTH

John EB