Attn: Rehan; PIP+ Plug-In

[Al Stu]

Just finished a video in which I placed a couple of PIP's, about 10-20 seconds long. A couple of things I noticed that could use some refinement.



1) The audio cross fades from the main picture to the PIP. This may be fine if actually transitioning from the main video to the PIP video.



2) Some times there is a straggling frame at the end of the PIP. This causes the PIP video to go full screen for one frame before going to the next clip.



It's possible to manually work around these 2 issues, but it would be much nicer for the PIP+ plug-in to take care of this so it's not a manual process every time.



You can see the video here if you like (corrected of course):

http://www.supermotors.org/vehicles/registry/showmedia.php?id=226825

 

[Rehan]

Its good to see that the plugin was of some use to you. Crticism and
suggestions are always welcome.

1) The audio cross fades from the main picture to the PIP. This
may be fine if actually transitioning from the main video to
the PIP video.

This is a limitation of the Movie Maker, I am afraid... Any transition
would behave the same and so does PIP+. The standard workaround is to
copy the section of the sound to the music track.

2) Some times there is a straggling frame at the end of the PIP.
This causes the PIP video to go full screen for one frame before going
to the next clip.

This is new. I will investigate and try to reproduce it.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Al Stu]

"This is a limitation of the Movie Maker, I am afraid... Any transition
would behave the same and so does PIP+."
That's what I figured.

"The standard workaround is to copy the section of the sound to the music
track."
Yup, that's what I did.

"This is new. I will investigate and try to reproduce it."
Reproduction may be difficult as it doesn't occur for every PIP, and in my
case did not reveal its self in MM preview, only in the saved DV-AVI movie.

Here's the transition I used. Bottom right PIP slides in from bottom right
with fade in, and slides out to bottom right with fade out.

<TransitionsAndEffects Version="1.0" SpecialIconFileID="1033"
SpecialIconResourceID="101">
<Transitions>
<TransitionDLL guid="{4EF98DF5-794F-4fd3-8E77-559F82C8D10C}">
<Transition name="PIP+ Bottom Right, slide in/out from/to bottom right
with fade in/out" iconid="0">
<Param name="RectA" value=" 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0,
0.0;" />
<Param name="RectB" value=" 0.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.3333, 0.3333,
1.0, 0.0;
0.05, 0.6666,
0.6666, 0.3333, 0.3333, 1.0, 1.0;
0.95, 0.6666,
0.6666, 0.3333, 0.3333, 1.0, 1.0;
1.0, 1.0, 1.0,
0.3333, 0.3333, 1.0, 0.0;" />
</Transition>
</TransitionDLL>
</Transitions>
</TransitionsAndEffects>

 

[Rehan]

Thanks for the information. I will keep an eye for it.

 

[Al Stu]

One more item. Ability to specify time in/out, regardless of overall
length, would be very useful.

For instance specifying a 1 second in/out transition rather than percentage
of overall length.
Perhaps it would look something like this, with 's' being time in seconds
(or 'f' for number of frames).

<TransitionsAndEffects Version="1.0" SpecialIconFileID="1033"
SpecialIconResourceID="101">
<Transitions>
<TransitionDLL guid="{4EF98DF5-794F-4fd3-8E77-559F82C8D10C}">
<Transition name="PIP+ Bottom Right, slide from/to bottom right with fade
in/out" iconid="0">
<Param name="RectA" value=" 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0,
0.0;" />
<Param name="RectB" value=" 0.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.3333, 0.3333,
1.0, 0.0;
0.0+1.0s, 0.6666,
0.6666, 0.3333, 0.3333, 1.0, 1.0;
1.0-1.0s, 0.6666,
0.6666, 0.3333, 0.3333, 1.0, 1.0;
1.0, 1.0, 1.0,
0.3333, 0.3333, 1.0, 0.0;" />
</Transition>
</TransitionDLL>
</Transitions>
</TransitionsAndEffects>

 

[Al Stu]

And another thing, the PIP+ plug-in seems to have some flakiness. I can
build a project and create a DV-AVI movie, then without making any other
changes just add a 7 second PIP and can then no longer create a DV-AVI
movie. Even after removing the PIP the project is hosed and has to be
rebuilt in order to save a DV-AVI movie, without the PIP needless to say.
Doesn't always happen but far to frequently.



In my opinion PIP+ is not ready for general public use.



"Windows Movie Maker cannot save the movie to the specified location.
Verify that the original source files used in your movie are still
available, that the saving location is till available, and that there is
enough free disk space available, and then try again."

 

[Al Stu]

Okay think maybe I should retract the previous post. It appears the issue
is with movie maker not being able to handle transitions that are the full
length of clip B. Verified this with the standard workhorse fade
transition, and get the same behavior.

Looks like this means a standard PIP has to be a to step process. Otherwise
the PIP will go full screen for a few frames at the end. Unless someone
knows how to match the clip B and transition length exactly and reliably.

 

[Rehan]

Okay think maybe I should retract the previous post. It appears the issue
is with movie maker not being able to handle transitions that are the full
length of clip B. Verified this with the standard workhorse fade
transition, and get the same behavior.

Looks like this means a standard PIP has to be a to step process.
Otherwise the PIP will go full screen for a few frames at the end. Unless
someone knows how to match the clip B and transition length exactly and
reliably.

Hi Al

I appreciate your efforts in crash testing PIP+... even though I get some
undeserved slack ;-) it still means the software is being tested thoroughly.

I know that you are not very fond of Papajohn's website but it has the info
regarding different reasons why and when one gets problems in saving
movie... Number of transitions and effects have there part in it as does
disk fragmentation and complxity of the project.

--
Rehan
MS MVP -- Digital Media
www.rehanfx.org - get transitions and effects for Windows Movie Maker