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Home ? Tech Help ? Banging my head against a wall...

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31/05/2012 09:33:10

DyllyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dylly
Posts: 555 		I was unsure which section on the new site to place this post...now let me lie down on the Trick Cyclists couch...

I had an uneventful childhood... adolescence...{sound effect of tape machine fast forwarding}...Marriages ...{sound effect of tape machine fast forwarding...for a long time...a really long time} and then last night...

I ran into a number of problems whilst making a Muvizu clip last night. Problems I could only partially resolve or totally failed to resolve and have me frustrated & banging my head against the wall. I can totally empathize with some of the problem's that new users have been having of late.

Codecs....

Could someone from the team please take a look at this area. It's like wading through a quagmire. Dreeko bravely tried to address the subject & ended up nearly trashing his system. The only codec I can get to work is the Xvid codec. Which is OK until you come to try and edit the clips. Most of the video editing software I have cannot handle this codec for some reason. Even Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 (now that's a gob full) struggled. Whenever I edited a clip with Sony the resulting edit was so pixelated it was unusable. (thanks clamtom and gimmick for helping out there). On top of this Sony is ghosting the scenes, like its adding extra frames into a clip...very messy.

In desperation I checked my codecs were up to date and downloaded the latest versions. A new problem...
EEF's greying out of clip thumbnails...it happened to me! Whenever a clip is rendered from Muvizu using the Xvid codec the thumbnail of the resulting clip just shows a grey area and not a frame of the clip it represents...annoying! This must be something to do with the latest codecs I presume.

As a last desperate attempt to get my film made I used the Muvizu clip editor thingy...it crashed everytime. But then like a pillock I didn't take a screen shot for the testers...it was 3am and my temper was a little frayed.

Now I wouldn't class myself as a new user but in some respects I'm...oh look I have a brain like a computer in that you have to 'punch information into me'...I'm a bit thick in other words.

Please guys could someone have a look at this area of using Muvizu, if I'm finding it frustrating then new users must be too.

Thanks for listening.
My name is Tim and I'm a Muvizuholic!

I'm using 64bit Muvizu
Have 32bit and 64 bit K-lite codec packs installed
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31/05/2012 10:05:14

gimmick
gimmick
Posts: 179 		For Muvizu 64 bits & Sony vegas, I use "ffdshow video codec"

settings:
MJPEG 1 pass quality
quality 100
min quantizer 2
max quantizer 4
edited by gimmick on 31/05/2012
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31/05/2012 11:08:57

DyllyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dylly
Posts: 555 		Gimmick you are a genius....cured it! Its the quantizer settings needed dropping to 4. Now have perfect Vid from Muvizu!Woo Hoo!
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31/05/2012 11:20:50

DreekoMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dreeko
Posts: 1257 		gimmick wrote:
For Muvizu 64 bits & Sony vegas, I use "ffdshow video codec"

settings:
MJPEG 1 pass quality
quality 100
min quantizer 2
max quantizer 4
edited by gimmick on 31/05/2012


I too use the above, but as Dylly pointed out, the path to codec nirvana is one fraught with angst.

I've been down that horrible path and somehow managed to get my system back to where it was before I started.
I was not a happy sock puppet at the time. If I had met a codec creator in a dark alley that week, I would still be on the run just now!

My advice is - If you have things working nicely don't change a thing!

Dylly - I feel your pain. I tried, I really did but codecs are not my bag!

..I do images and videos I do!

Hope someone out there can put together a simple solution for this.

Cheers
D
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31/05/2012 11:23:15

DreekoMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dreeko
Posts: 1257 		Dylly wrote:
Gimmick you are a genius....cured it! Its the quantizer settings needed dropping to 4. Now have perfect Vid from Muvizu!Woo Hoo!



Wow! great!

Sticky required for this I feel!
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31/05/2012 12:13:37

DyllyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dylly
Posts: 555 		Dreeko wrote:


Dylly - I feel your pain. I tried, I really did but codecs are not my bag!

..I do images and videos I do!


D

The effort and what it cost you was much appreciated!

Just found what I think is another glitch with regard to codecs. After installing the latest codecs both 32 and 64 bit...Muvizu will no longer accept MP3 sound files. Wav's...not a problem but MP3's come out all distorted and the pitch sounds like a 78 played at 331/3 .
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31/05/2012 13:25:38

DyllyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dylly
Posts: 555 		Add another bug type thing...just received this error message before Muvizu shut down

This application requested the runtime be shut down in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team fro more information.

What I was doing at the time was unchecking the antaliace as I had another dodgy render.
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31/05/2012 14:49:45

DreekoMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dreeko
Posts: 1257 		Today is not your day is it Dylly!
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14/06/2012 06:18:50

chucklesExperimental user
chuckles
Posts: 126 		I have had the same problem as Dylly (31-5-2012) for over a year now! I can no longer import mp3s without them being severely distorted and slowed down as well. Wav files are fine, but they take up so much memory it makes it very difficult to do much. This happens with All mp3s, whatever the codec, whether mono / stereo or whatever. Of course they all play fine in other programs. I have all the latest codecs and 64bit version of Muvizu.
With my recent "John and Jon" efforts, I was unable to add any special effects (Low fog). When I tried, my whole screen blacked out a few times then Muvizu crashed.
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15/06/2012 15:05:57

bigwallyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
bigwally
Posts: 399 		Dylly wrote:
Dreeko wrote:


Dylly - I feel your pain. I tried, I really did but codecs are not my bag!

..I do images and videos I do!


D

The effort and what it cost you was much appreciated!

Just found what I think is another glitch with regard to codecs. After installing the latest codecs both 32 and 64 bit...Muvizu will no longer accept MP3 sound files. Wav's...not a problem but MP3's come out all distorted and the pitch sounds like a 78 played at 331/3 .


I have *never* been able to use MP3s with Muvizu without getting the same problems. I believe that I one time saw this being addressed, but with no resolution. As far as codecs are concerned, I like the sharpest image possible. I use an uncompressed codec (sp?) that I need to (slooooowly) convert in able to load it into my editor. None of the codecs available produce a video that is usable on Pinnacle Studio. Something to do with AVI-1 versus AVI-2 standards, with Pinnacle only able to use the less popular one.
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17/06/2012 12:46:19

JamieMuvizu staff
Jamie
(Account inactive)
Posts: 609 		bigwally wrote:
I have *never* been able to use MP3s with Muvizu without getting the same problems. I believe that I one time saw this being addressed, but with no resolution. As far as codecs are concerned, I like the sharpest image possible. I use an uncompressed codec (sp?) that I need to (slooooowly) convert in able to load it into my editor. None of the codecs available produce a video that is usable on Pinnacle Studio. Something to do with AVI-1 versus AVI-2 standards, with Pinnacle only able to use the less popular one.



Hmm... Could you email in some example mp3 files bigwally? I'll take a look at them and see if I can track down the problems cause.

--
Direct, don't animate!
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17/06/2012 19:26:27

chucklesExperimental user
chuckles
Posts: 126 		Hi It won't make any difference if Big Wally or anybody sends you an mp3 file. I went through all this a year ago, and sent in many files. Nobody then could help, so I gave up.
It happens with ALL mp3 files. Once those files are converted to WAV files they import fine, but when converted back to mp3 using Audacity, they won't.
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17/06/2012 20:37:04

DyllyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dylly
Posts: 555 		Here's a bit of additional information regarding this problem Jamie. During the last round of testing I noticed that after a fresh install of Muvizu it would allow a single instance of an MP3 import and play that file correctly, just the once. The MP3 would then revert to distorting, and from that point on Muvizu would only play a wav file.
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18/06/2012 12:02:23

JamieMuvizu staff
Jamie
(Account inactive)
Posts: 609 		I'm not giving up on this Chuckles, I remember luscan looking into it about a year ago.

I've had a quick look at this and loading existing mp3s (the music I listen to during the day) I've no problems except for the mp3s that have a bit rate of 225kbps, those give an error saying it can't be imported though. Anything lower works fine.

In audacity, I've opened some of the WAV files used in the community review videos and converted them to MP3 files.

I've used these settings:

Bitrate mode = constant, quality = 128kbps, variable speed = fast (greyed out, can't change this), channel mode = joint stero - mp3 files loads and plays back perfectly.

Also tried quality = 256kbps - again it works fine.

Tried changing bitrate mode to average, but it still works fine.

I've saved all these mp3s into a set file, restarted muvizu and loaded the set file, again no issues with audio.

When I did this I didn't have anything in the scene, only the mp3 files that I've imported.

Could you let me know the settings you are using for exporting from audacity? (There is an option button when you go to export an mp3 that will tell you this info). Secondly, what else are you doing in the scene? Are you loading a set them importing audio? Importing audio then creating a character?

Lastly, if you create a new empty blank scene and import audio - does it work then?

--
Direct, don't animate!
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18/06/2012 16:45:38

chucklesExperimental user
chuckles
Posts: 126 		Hi Jamie
I did everything you suggested - used these settings:Bitrate mode = constant, quality = 128kbps, variable speed = fast (greyed out, can't change this), channel mode = joint stereo
It made no difference. It makes no difference whatever settings I use. I've sent, to the other email address
a small mp3, which contains part of the mp3 before importing, followed by the distorted version, recorded through the Mic using audacity.
Maybe we are all using the same laptop? Mine's a Dell XP5.
Cheers
Paul
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18/06/2012 18:06:40

clamtom
clamtom
Posts: 15 		Just a shot in the dark here, but often antivirus software will interfere with sound files.You might try defeating your AV software while playing the mp3 in Muvizu

Tom
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14/07/2012 05:59:19

EEFilmzExperimental user
EEFilmz
Posts: 397 		Ok here's the dilemma, I think I pushed Muvizu or my newish pc to the render edge..not sure, my test render just to get an idea of the result (not quite finished yet) was choppy to say the least, quality yes, but it would speed up real fast, then slow down all throughout the
4ish minute video which when I rendered it took about
1.5-2 hours and it was
1.5 gigs in size using xvid hd...wihch media player wont even choke on that, so i put it through videopad and that shrunk it to 220mb in size.
please note, when i was actually creating this in muvizu, muvizu kept crashing, not responding etc but I trudged my way through all the actions and etc...it took forever! BUT there is a ton of lights, animated backdrops, effects, characters, Everything is in this vid and it looks spectacular otherwise, if only the result would turn out as planned. also the timeline seemed to be the root of the crashes, and when I saw the rendered version alot of the timing was off from my timeline cue points and such. I rendered it with a single pass xvid 720x1280 hd. i'm using dx9 even though my system came with dx11 64bit.

Is it a Muvizu? settings issue? or do I just have way too much stuff going on in this video? whatever it is it seems the timing was choking during production and during the render and i just don't know of a better way to go about it. So sorry for the long explaination but I'd like to see if I can do this right and why everything was choking on all the bits and pieces...Thanks! - EEF

UPDATE: I figured out what works, if you ever have this issue, hereis how I solved it: I rendered JUST the video silent xvid hd 720x1280 out of Muvizu, then after I impoorted into VideoPad, THEN I imported the KISS music, and added creds etc and saved movie using H264 codec (native); mp3 and that worked very well and the result was smooth animation and a decent file size.
p.s. @ Marco - WHAT is the Starts Effect you mentioned in your last reply to me? and does that have anything to do with this possibly?
edited by EEFilmz on 08/07/2012
edited by EEFilmz on 09/07/2012
edited by EEFilmz on 09/07/2012

OKAY HERE'S an UPDATE to THAT UPDATE - DILEMMA NOT SOLVED!! - PLEASE HELP!!: My Method (above) worked when I didn't need to do any lip synching!, now I tried to use models that needed Lipsynching, and I had to record the lipsyching characters on-set in UNLIT mode otherwise everything moved like the second hand on a watch tic-tic-tic Very SLOW (as before making this vid)...then after I recorded all the lipsynching(unlit), I rendered everything in (lit mode) WITH the audio track of the kiss song and watched everything tic by for over an hour only to achieve the above resullt once again where everything speeds up/slows down like crazy, and the lipsynching is mostly off pace too....I rendered in 720hd xvid...any help will be greatly appreciated as now I have no idea what to do next!?!? Is Muvizu not running at full optimization on my system or is it a windows 7 thing? or what? I'm about to give up here...
edited by EEFilmz on 13/07/2012
p.s. - I have a lot of effects and lights etc in this set and the audio file is an MP3 file - so is one of THOSE the issue? because I'm reading alot of the same here?...

Please Help because I'm not sure if it's a win7 issue, or Muvizu or what - my pc is new and my specs are on yours site...
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14/07/2012 19:30:22

ziggy72Muvizu mogulExperimental user
ziggy72
Posts: 1988 		Me again - no actual solution I can think of, but 2 thoughts struck me -
1 Your system is much faster than mine, and should handle what you're doing okay.
2 You list your Muvizu version as MZASS-v0.20b - build: 2012.05.10.01R - that's what I'm using too.

HOWEVER... when making my 12 stages video, I could not direct my main character while the theatre was full of people because the audio would not play properly. Then I notice that Muvizu can only use one core - and modern processors are all about cores over clockspeed, so all that i7 power you've got (like my i5) is pretty redundant as far as the Unreal engine is concerned. Hmm...

Try this - save a copy of the main set. Delete all the effects, and then try to Make the video, sound and all, and see what happens. If it's the same result, try it again but without sound. You can't solve a problem if you can't identify it first, so you'll have to do some detective work I'm afraid. You could also post the set on the Gallery, for other people to try and see what results they get.

Good luck! Damn Computer..
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14/07/2012 21:39:31

EEFilmzExperimental user
EEFilmz
Posts: 397 		ziggy72 wrote:
Me again - no actual solution I can think of, but 2 thoughts struck me -
1 Your system is much faster than mine, and should handle what you're doing okay.
2 You list your Muvizu version as MZASS-v0.20b - build: 2012.05.10.01R - that's what I'm using too.

HOWEVER... when making my 12 stages video, I could not direct my main character while the theatre was full of people because the audio would not play properly. Then I notice that Muvizu can only use one core - and modern processors are all about cores over clockspeed, so all that i7 power you've got (like my i5) is pretty redundant as far as the Unreal engine is concerned. Hmm...

Try this - save a copy of the main set. Delete all the effects, and then try to Make the video, sound and all, and see what happens. If it's the same result, try it again but without sound. You can't solve a problem if you can't identify it first, so you'll have to do some detective work I'm afraid. You could also post the set on the Gallery, for other people to try and see what results they get.

Good luck! Damn Computer..




Thanks for the advice Ziggy,
After 2 days and a full night/morning of more research on Muvizu's website (somewhere I read - Marco wrote to someone else about hitting F12 and then shooting the scene in Unlit mode, then turn lighting back on and render); I tried that, well that made muvizu "function better for shooting" the LipSync scene(in lit mode), but the end result still sucked!(due to either lit mode, the instrumental audio in the song in the MP3, or that it wsa an MP3?, or the fact that, I had a gazillion things on-set. It was NOT my timing, that was pretty good!
Originally I was using an MP3 Track, but then decided to use Audacity and convert it to a .WAV, and use that in Muvizu; I noticed if you remove the audio (in Muvizu) the lipsync'd animation goes with it!...and for some reason I shot the lipsync'd animations using my wideshots set!
So next, I decided to revamp my set design, and Improved it Big Time! set up my cameras for the close-up shots (saved that as another set!), and shoot new camera cuts. Plus, I deleted everything you could NOT see in the close-up shots, which I shot COMPLETELY in unlit F12 mode, kinda tight, so you couldn't tell the lighting difference from the wideshots. It worked very well, BUT I unfortunately, kept the shoddy lit-mode lipsynced wideshot animations, which was an MP3 track! Again, due to either lit mode or the fact that I had a gazillion things on-set?? I'm not sure?...
to use This is a "Temporary" fix I hope?... From Muvizu I rendered in xvid hd720x1280, then imported my (Lit Mode) Wideshots, and (UnLit Mode) Close-Up Shots into VideoPad, where I removed the audio tracks from Muvizu. Then dice, Chop, Mince everything together for hours...
I was able to "Somewhat" successfully I complete 2 versions of the vids (1 "edited pitch" for Muvizu, and one "original track" for me/youtube) but most of the LipSync Sucks...
After I completed my new and "somewhat" improved Kiss (soon to be uploaded) Animations, THEN I see you posted for me to try basically the same idea! LOL wow great minds think alike I guess eh?)...Final thoughts are this: I think it's definitely something to do with MP3's in Muvizu, Also I've noticed whenever I render using a Copyrighted MP3 Track something wigs out at the END of Make Video, and I get these Pink Renders with huge annoying buzzing sounds? Anyone else get this?
Thanks for ALL your hepl Ziggy you have a cred as well as some other Muvizuers in this revamped KISS Vid. Hope whatever I wrote here helps someone too, and THANK GOD you guys all write little Tips I can't believe what I pick up here and there at 3am!
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14/07/2012 22:08:37

DyllyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dylly
Posts: 555 		EEFilmz wrote:
I can't believe what I pick up here and there at 3am!


This and other similar thoughts are why I stopped going to pubs!
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