Hi John,

Many thanks, understood. Colour change is no problem in this case, so I'll use MEP's no-brainer extreme gamma reduction on similar objects in future.

But I'd still like to hear from a NewBlue user. That grossly incorrect preview looks like a bug to me.

Hi Terry

. . . . That grossly incorrect preview looks like a bug to me . . . .

I do not get the NB interface dialog that you do - this is what I see in MEP premium - and the preview is correct.

This may be related to the fact I am currently having to use my laptop, however it is an i5 processor with HD4600 GPU so there should not be a difference - cannot try my PC as its powerpack has died and I am awaiting a replacement due any time today.

John EB

Hi Terry.

Bad news, it looks good in MEP2016 on my desktop. I can't try it on my Surface Pro as I don't have NB Auto Contrast installed.

Just tried in VPX on my desktop - same result.

Hi

To complete the picture this is what I get on my laptop for:

MEP2016

Note - I get the full interface and the 'wrong preview' compared to the Preview monitor !!!!!

VPX

No interface !!!

Note these are with GPU acceleration enabled.

@ John CB

Are you using GPU acceleration for NB Essentials?

@ Terry

Further testing shows that if you disable GPU acceleration for NB Essentials - the effect then works OK however I prefer the colours obtained when using MEP's Gamma.

John EB

Hi

@ Terry and John CB

Scrub what I said about no interface - I have just noticed I have 2 versions of Essentials installed as shown below

The blue highlighted is the older version with no interface, the circled one the newer version with interface.

The results are still the same with GPU acceleration turned on, but OK with GPU acceleration turned off.

Hi,

Here are the parameters for VPX:

And the Preview and Source (Comparison mode):

John EB,

Thanks for the feedback. Look forward to reply from John CB re GPU accel. Also maybe Peter and Jeff can test too.

Ideally I'd prefer not have to turn off GPU accel just for this. (I'd no doubt forget to turn it back on.) Although my usage of NB Essentials is likely to be very low, and MEP handles it well itself, so no big deal.

John CB,

I don't have VPX but I'm curious about the preview you've shown, which doesnt look like the Big Boost I saw.

Re MEP 2016, can you let us know about the behaviour with and without GPU accel please?

Hi John CB

The New Blue GPU options are separate from MEP or VPX.

Click the Info button arrowed below and the options circled should appear

John EB

Hi Terry,

I used Big Boost. You are right, the preview in NB itself is more blue, darker, more contrast than the final product, but I like the result better. FYI, VPX has 2 monitors - Preview (left) and Source (right). The source monitor can have different settings, including the measuring instruments.

Here is the same thing in MEP2016 with different Video Modes but with the NB interface opened so that you can see the difference. The effect was already applied and the result is what you see in the Preview monitor; I just reopened the effect.

Standard mode (direct 3D, hardware acceleration)

Compatibility mode:

Alternate mode 2:

I don't see any differences.

Hi Terry

My tests with MEP2017 and VPX confirm that the Big Boost NB FX does give a more contrasty preview in the NB interface monitor than in the Magix Preview and export, but the result is still much more contrasty and vibrant than in your preview in MEP.

By far the easiest way to improve that map image is use the Auto exposure button in MEP Brightness / Contrast window where it pushes the whites to 255 and the blacks to 0 for a look that is even stronger than the Big Boost in NB, although the NB FX increases the saturation more. If the look is too strong then I would just decrease the Contrast slider in MEP. This gives far more control than taking the Gamma down which is more about pushing around the Brightness in the mid tones and only gives you about half the contrast even at -100%. This can be confirmed in the "Scopes" in VPX.

@johnEB

The blue highlighted is the older version with no interface, the circled one the newer version with interface.

I believe it is the other way around or in fact they are the same version, the first one is newer because it is now integrated into the MEP Effects windows as an OFX, whereas the NB window is the way all the NB plugins have always worked.

An important thing to realise is that the NB Auto Contrast, as with some of their other FX, is actually truly "Auto" in the sense that the effect adjust for variations in each frame without having to resort to tedious keyframing in MEP's colour correction. This is very useful with the poor Automatic White Balance in some camcorders like my Panasonic, where the white Balance adjusts in the course of a Pan when the scene content changes from predominantly red to say, blue.

Peter

@johnebaker

Hi,

I did what you said, turned off GPU for NB for Essentials under the NB interface and the result was quite different.

Here is the result in VPX:

Hi Terry

My tests with MEP2017 and VPX confirm that the Big Boost NB FX does give a more contrasty preview in the NB interface monitor than in the Magix Preview and export, but the result is still much more contrasty and vibrant than in your preview in MEP.

By far the easiest way to improve that map image is use the Auto exposure button in MEP Brightness / Contrast window where it pushes the whites to 255 and the blacks to 0 for a look that is even stronger than the Big Boost in NB, although the NB FX increases the saturation more. If the look is too strong then I would just decrease the Contrast slider in MEP. This gives far more control than taking the Gamma down which is more about pushing around the Brightness in the mid tones and only gives you about half the contrast even at -100%. This can be confirmed in the "Scopes" in VPX.

Hi Peter,

On that map I can detect no difference after clicking Auto exposure! Even on landscape photos like this one the difference seems rather small.

Original

Auto exposure applied

Hi @ peter

. . . . I believe it is the other way around or in fact they are the same version, the first one is newer because it is now integrated into the MEP Effects windows as an OFX, whereas the NB window is the way all the NB plugins have always worked. . . . .

I think you are correct - I can only find 1 version of NB Auto contrast on my PC, previous comments referred to my laptop.

The question then is, why are there 2 entries under NB Essentials?

. . . . Auto exposure button in MEP Brightness / Contrast window . . . . for a look that is even stronger than the Big Boost in NB, although the NB FX increases the saturation more. If the look is too strong then I would just decrease the Contrast slider in MEP . . .

The problem I see is that I get no significant reduction in the intensity especially in the blue river until the contrast setting goes below 40, at which point the image starts to looks worse, going flat and grey the more you lower the contrast, this is more apparent in VPX when you have the source and program monitors side by side.

John EB

Hi Terry

. . . . Even on landscape photos like this one the difference seems rather small. . . . .

That is to be expected - if you look at the histogram in PSP you will see the image is well balanced in the range of tones from black to white, so there is very little adjustment available - mainly the white car is brightened up a little.

Perhaps one day the Histogram and several other similar functions will migrate down from VPX to MEP.

John EB

Hi all,

In MEP2016, here is what I get on the map with Auto exposure:

@terrypin

Hi Terry,

I took your photo and tried Auto Exposure and got what you did. I was looking for Vivid

I also tried some presets using FilmTouch 2Pro. Here is one.

Hi John,

Re the map, that's really strange, such a difference. Much greater contrast and saturation, as I wanted. Viewing on iPad but will try again shortly on PC. In case it matters, what was your GPU setting for that result?

Thanks for exploring this stuff with me.

Hi Terry

Is the project you are working on mainly still images?

John EB

@terrypin

GPU in NB was on as I left it that way before reopening MEP, and in Standard Mode (3D Hardware acceleration.

@johnebaker

In VPX, have you tried modifying a photo to get the look that you want in PSP and then using shot match on a video taken at the same location? Effective?

I think that we have many more tools for fixing photos than video, but I suppose if I noted all of the settings that fixed a photo, I could apply them to manually in VPX/MEP. Have you done this.

Hi Terry

Is the project you are working on mainly still images?

John EB

About 60/40, images/video.

Hi

@ John CB

. . . . In VPX, have you tried modifying a photo to get the look that you want in PSP and then using shot match on a video taken at the same location? Effective? . . . .

Tried it in both VPX and MEP Premium with a PSP enhanced image and the original image - I would not call the shot match particularly effective with this as the image to match to.

There sky does go slightly more contrasty as in the above image, however it does not deliver the more punchy sky as above.

@ Terry

Thanks for the info, the above image was a result of using Histogram Equalise in PSP, however trying to match it in MEP 2016 is virtually impossible.

Also in PSP using the One step photo fix I get this

Will try to match this using the available effects in MEP 2016.

John EB