Re: MAGIX - MEP Titles

"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"Terry Pinnell" <terrypin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Terry Pinnell" <terrypin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The ones I've saved from the Title Editor seem to keep
the separate fonts and colors, in the few I've just tried. This
is a new approach for me, remember.

That's surprised me! I'll have to take another hard look. Mine
definitely came back up all on colour and size. I'm wondering if it
has something to do with what was selected at the time you used save
As Template? If it *is* possible to capture these multiple elements,
that's great! Hmm - do hope that's not a newly added feature in
MEP-12, that I don't have in MEP-11...



I checked the data in my last multi-font, multi-color .tfx
file, using Hexplorer and see the same basic data structure
you posted earlier. In mine there is mention of the font
names and there are more color sets listed. The way they
look to have tagged the text for font and text color, is a
little less than I would expect, and I may not be looking at
it correctly. Still, both your post and what I see in my .tfx
files, suggests that the mechanisms to express the separate
settings are there and probably function the same. You
might want to try again.

Luck;
Ken



Another thing; since the text definition parts of the .tfx files
are the same as used in .rtf files. (In fact you can load an .rtf
file on track 3 and it will be seen as a title.)

You could find it easier to get an understanding of how the
Font \f#, Font Size \fs##, Font Color \cf# entries and the
color table work to define the text, in both .rtf and .tfx files;
by working with .rtf files. You can use workpad to create
and make changes to an .rtf, then use notepad to view it in
ascii. (You might note that the color listing in Wordpad
looks the same as the color listing you get in the Font
selection area of the Title Editor.)

Thanks Ken. I'm still having great difficulty getting consistent
results though! I had it just right, with a yellow header and white
detail below. But then at my next attempt, repeating what seemed the
identical procedure, the text disappeared. In fact it hadn't, it had
just become black against a black background (or white against white -
it's all a bit blurred now after several hours!). Then I fixed that -
but now the header is light grey! I'll come back to it tomorrow, but
for now I just can't figure out what's happening.

Using Advanced and switching to a white background changed my white
text to black. (BTW, does it matter what is selected at the time you
click Advanced?)


Actually changing your text to white should change the
"Advanced" background setting to black. According to
the help, MEP will automatically select the "Background
Color" setting based on the text color. While you may
be able to override the setting, MEP is trying to provide
what is needed to display the text normally. Making
these changes should also effect the "Black-Box"/"White-
Box" selection and label on the object description for
the title object(s) on the timeline track(s).

If it is working the way I expect, this "Background"
setting is really just to define how the title editor separates
and defines the transparent portions of the "text" that is to
be overlaid over your video. (It appears the black
"Background" setting works best for the most colors,
[except pure black of course]. )

OK, thanks, understood. But even with Advanced | Background = Black, I
get a very unsatisfactory result: some invisible, the rest too faint.


Earlier, before reading your post, I had in fact been experimenting
with using RTF files. Today I made a couple, with multi-coloured text.
They are called
TestRTFforMEP-1.rtf and TestRTFforMEP-2double.rtf
I've posted them here:
http://www.speedyshare.com/756800331.html

The second is just a '2 column' version of the first, to make it more
compact when viewed.

Obviously, these are test files, and I wouldn't in practice expect to
use more than 2 or maybe 3 colours in a single title, not 40! But I
get some odd results there too. I'd like to report exactly what, but
here again I seem to get inconsistent behaviour. I'm beginning to
think there are several variables involved, including conceivably the
*order* in which you do things!

I haven't returned to the template aspect yet.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

I noticed that you have a number of extra fonts
delineated in your .rtf files. You are only using one
set and the default, so the others are unnecessary.

Well-spotted. A piece of TestRTFforMEP-1.rtf got left at Courier New
10, although I intended it all to be Arial 8. I didn't spot it because
I've been working exclusively with the more compact version,
TestRTFforMEP-2double.rtf, which is all in Courier New 10.


When I placed your .rtf file on track3 it had it's
background set as White, (probably because the .rtf
has the default assumption that the background will
be white paper or video display). To have all the
colors display (not be transparent) I changed the
advanced setting to a black background. Then all
the colors were ok except Black, but the "black"
description text next to the colored text displayed
fine as well (again except for that which would have
been next to the Black. The "All Ariel 8" at the end
did not display either.) Switching to White
background gets the black color line and the All Ariel
8 displayed, but drops a number of the colors.

WARNING: DIGRESSION!

I spent a few hours preparing to capture a set of screenshots,
possibly also a short movie, to illustrate to you unambiguously what I
am seeing here. This was after learning from an experienced Magix
user, Andre Sasiuk how he achieves it. In case you didn't know, here
is a paste of the notes I made after getting his email this morning:
====================
"If you want to make a screen capture from MEP-11 (video with
CamStudio) or a picture you must change the video mode display under
MEP.
By default the video mode settings are in Overlay mode.

For the changes proceed as follows.
The explanations are for VDL2008, they must be the same for MEP-11 but
directly translated from the French version.

Menu bar -> Files -> Programm settings -> Window Tab "Display mode" or
may be "Options".
In the area "Arranger Reading" or something like that, the video mode
must be on "Standard Mode" (Overlay mixer).
Change for Mode of compatibility (VideoForWindows).
Made a test of capture, you should see your captured picture or video.
When you finished your captures, return to the default settings
unnecessarily not to slow down the dispaly of the video monitor during
your video editing work."
Andre

My summary
----------
1) File | Program Settings (or keyboard shortcut 'Y')
2) Tab 'Display Options'
3) Under 'Playback in Arranger', under 'Video mode', there are 5
options

- Standard method (VideoForWindows) <--- CHANGE TO THIS FOR CAPTURING
- DirectDraw (Blitting)
- DirectDraw (Overlay)
- DirectDraw (Overlay Mixer) <--- DEFAULT
- DirectShow (VideoMixingRenderer9)

4) Change to first option for capturing.
5) Return to 'DirectDraw (Overlay Mixer)' for normal use.
====================
However, it looks like a case of 2 steps forward and 1 back. The text
appearance in the first screenshot example I tried was very different
to how it looked in DirectDraw (Overlay Mixer) mode. Here's a
screenshot:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/MEP-Capturing-1.JPG

As you see, for a start I've now lost the yellow header. I assume
that's the same unidentified cause that I've described before,
unrelated to the video mode issue. But the white body text now looks a
blurred shadow of what it should be like! I assume that *is* down to
the mode?

I'm sure there must be a reliable way of capturing the entire Magix
screen, so that our discussion can be precise, but so far it seems to
be thwarting me!

One other thing you might want to check, if you are
using one of the more complex titles; is if there is an
"extra" "empty" white-box provided in a track above
the .tfx that could be there to display whatever the
black "background" would ignore.

I'm not using any presets at this stage, until I work out what's
happening with the colours!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
.

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