Video Stabilisation

jonboy834 wrote on 4/27/2020, 12:55 PM

The 2020 Movie Edit Pro Plus I use has two functions which are skimpily treated in turorials, Manual, and Context advice:

(1) Vegas Stabilisation - no information at all? Useless.

(2) Mercalli v2.0 - very brief info - no guidance on effect of various settings?

Also, a websearch shows only very old Version 2.0 Manual from 2010 (Mercalli is now at Version 5!)

(3) Please explain where Magix guidance can be found for these two items??

MEPP 2020 Dell 3668 (2018) PC Intel i5-7400 Quad @3GHz 12GB DDR Untel UHD Graphics

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 4/27/2020, 1:23 PM

@jonboy834

I have to ask: exactly what information are you seeking? They are both, essentially, plugins which are designed to "stabilize" otherwise "shaky" footage (e.g. the camera-operator held the camera not as tightly as might be desired, and the picture "wobbles").

Mercalli v. 2 is still "built-in" to MEP/VPX; Vegas Stabilisation was added as a standard feature quite recently. Mercalli might now be at version 5 but I would suspect that Magix view the Vegas offering as being pretty much the equivalent. (There is nothing to stop you buying Mercalli 5 if you wish but whether it integrates with MEP/VPX as "seamlessly" as v2 or the Vegas version do is, perhaps debatable.)

Some of us were able to acquire Mercalli v4 as an add-on to an earlier version of VPX and, for me at least, it still works in the current version.

For either of the stabilisers you have to select the footage you wish to have stabilised, select whichever of the two you wish to "experiment with" (there's actually no "harm", other than time taken, in actually testing the output of both in order to compare them), allow the app to "analyse" the footage (you will need to make certain choices about the level and degree of stabilisation to be applied) and then view the suggested output. If you don't like the result, "reset" the effect and either try different settings or the other app, until you arrive at an output that pleases you.

For something like this, there really is no alternative to "try it and see", IMO.

Jeff

Win 11 Pro 64 bit, Intel i7 14700, 32 GB RAM, NVidia RTX 4060 and Intel UHD770 Graphics, Audient EVO 16 audio interface, VPX, MEP, Music Maker, Vegas Pro, PhotoStory Deluxe, Xara 3D Maker 7, Samplitude Pro X7 Suite, Reaper, Adobe Audition CC, 2 x Canon HG10 cameras, 1 x Canon EOS 600D, Akaso EK7000 Pro Action Cam

jonboy834 wrote on 4/27/2020, 1:49 PM

Jeff: Re information seeking: Of course either option will require some experimentation - once the ground-rules are explained BUT:

(1) Vegas Stabilisation - "added quite recently" with NO Manual for guidance? No context tips etc? Useless.

(2) Mercalli v2.0: Here is the 2010 V2.0 Manual https://www.evertz.nl/pdf/proDAD-Mercalli-20_en.pdf It helps a bit - though the names of stabi-cams (cameras) and other tuning functions do NOT match V2.0 included in Magix 2020?

Here is v3.0 - I think?: https://www.evertz.nl/pdf/mercalli_plus_v4_plugin_en.pdf

Both of these BTW are from a Dutch distributor!!! So far I have found nothing for V5 from Mercalli or from Magix.

Why no up-to-date Magix Manual?? If the user does not know what each function is supposed to achieve - the number of combinations and permutations on which you might waste your time is almost infinite . . .

It looks like Magix gained access to Vegas tools on recent purchase, and to "old" Mercalli v2.0 since both are in Germany - so Magix threw in some Vegas and some Mercalli as a come-on - but minus Operating Instructions???