news:499fab6d@news.povray.org...
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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> Zeger Knaepen wrote:
>> "Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote in message
>> news:web.499cf56640230f63f50167bc0@news.povray.org...
>>> Does MegaPOV actually blur the motion *during* a single-frame render?
>>
>> if you ask it to :)
>> in MegaPOV you have a camera_view pigment, which gives you, with some
>> scripting, the possibility to have multiple camera's in your scene and
>> average the result of all of them.  There are two ways of doing this. 
>> The
>> first is simply using an average pattern:
>> --- START CODE ---
>> snip...
>> --- END CODE ---
>>
>> hope this helps :)
>>
> By the way, you *do* know about the "motion_blur" keyword don't
> you? It's not quite as flexible as averaging multiple images, but it
> can be much faster if only a few objects move...

yes, but that doesn't work for camera motion AFAIK

cu!
-- 
#macro G(b,e)b+(e-b)*C/50#end#macro _(b,e,k,l)#local C=0;#while(C<50)
sphere{G(b,e)+3*z.1pigment{rgb G(k,l)}finish{ambient 1}}#local C=C+1;
#end#end _(y-x,y,x,x+y)_(y,-x-y,x+y,y)_(-x-y,-y,y,y+z)_(-y,y,y+z,x+y)
_(0x+y.5+y/2x)_(0x-y.5+y/2x)            // ZK http://www.povplace.com

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"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote in message 
news:web.499f80b940230f63f50167bc0@news.povray.org...
> BTW, my overall methodology of turning my final POV 'blur' renders into 
> MPEG
> animation is to use monkeyjam to gather all the frames together (and to
> temporarily see the animation), then use that along with the nice xvid 
> MPEG
> codec to generate the animation file, which I then view in Windows Media
> Player.  But *somewhere* in this chain, something isn't exactly 
> 'right'--the
> final animation viewed in WMP has what looks like slightly increased 
> contrast.
> (Or a gamma shift, I'm not sure which.)  I'm betting it's solely the fault 
> of
> WMP. (Or else MPEG encoding itself introduces this as a by-product--but I 
> don't
> really believe that.) The animation pre-viewed in monkeyjam looks exactly 
> right
> (that is, discounting the 'averaging' problem you described.) Right now, 
> I'm
> just living with this 'shift', but it's irritating. I've been all through 
> the
> xvid app, to make sure I haven't set something wrong there. (It's actually 
> a
> menu-driven app where you set up and tweak the codec, which is nice.) Yet 
> I
> can't say that I'm an expert with it; I'm surely not!

I suppose your gamma-settings for overlay video are wrong.  You should be 
able to adjust them at Display Properties -> Settings -> Advanced -> [name 
(of the brand) of your graphics card] -> [something with overlay and/or 
color/gamma settings]

cu!
-- 
#macro G(b,e)b+(e-b)*C/50#end#macro _(b,e,k,l)#local C=0;#while(C<50)
sphere{G(b,e)+3*z.1pigment{rgb G(k,l)}finish{ambient 1}}#local C=C+1;
#end#end _(y-x,y,x,x+y)_(y,-x-y,x+y,y)_(-x-y,-y,y,y+z)_(-y,y,y+z,x+y)
_(0x+y.5+y/2x)_(0x-y.5+y/2x)            // ZK http://www.povplace.com

Post a reply to this message

"Zeger Knaepen" <zeg### [at] povplacecom> wrote:
> "Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote in message
> But *somewhere* in this chain, something isn't exactly 'right'--the
> > final animation viewed in WMP has what looks like slightly increased
> > contrast. (Or a gamma shift, I'm not sure which.)
>
> I suppose your gamma-settings for overlay video are wrong.  You should be
> able to adjust them at Display Properties -> Settings -> Advanced -> [name
> (of the brand) of your graphics card] -> [something with overlay and/or
> color/gamma settings]
>

Ah yes, the video card--another link in the chain. Mine is an ATI Radeon 200
series (it came with my machine.) Following your advice, I looked at the
'Overlay' tab, and it tells me that the settings there are automatically
applied "to any video file type that supports overlay adjustments"--five slider
settings including gamma. But the sliders are ALL dimmed out (even the 'Set to
defaults' button) so I can't adjust them. I don't understand why; but they are
all at their good default 'mid-points' anyway, with gamma at 1.0. Then I looked
under the 'Color' tab, which has three sliders--contrast, brightness and gamma--
that *can* be adjusted, but they affect *everything* on my system, instantly, so
I'll leave them as-is (again, set to their defaults, with gamma at 1.0.)

I took a closer look at the other videos I've created (all made with monkeyjam)
and they ALL have the slight contrast/gamma problem, regardless of
the video codec I used at the time--CINEPAK, Sorenson, etc. So I'm pretty sure
it isn't the xvid codec.

I have no real way of knowing if video from ALL sources (DVDs, etc.) show this
problem when played back on my system; I guess so. Never thought about it until
now.

BTW, I'm running Windows XP SP3.

Ken W.

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"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote in message 
news:web.49a0333340230f63f50167bc0@news.povray.org...
> Ah yes, the video card--another link in the chain. Mine is an ATI Radeon 200
> series (it came with my machine.) Following your advice, I looked at the
> 'Overlay' tab, and it tells me that the settings there are automatically
> applied "to any video file type that supports overlay adjustments"--five 
> slider
> settings including gamma. But the sliders are ALL dimmed out (even the 'Set to
> defaults' button) so I can't adjust them. I don't understand why; but they are
> all at their good default 'mid-points' anyway, with gamma at 1.0.

You should be able to adjust them while a video is playing

> Then I looked
> under the 'Color' tab, which has three sliders--contrast, brightness and 
> gamma--
> that *can* be adjusted, but they affect *everything* on my system, instantly, 
> so
> I'll leave them as-is (again, set to their defaults, with gamma at 1.0.)

They actually affect everything except overlay-video :)

> I took a closer look at the other videos I've created (all made with 
> monkeyjam)
> and they ALL have the slight contrast/gamma problem, regardless of
> the video codec I used at the time--CINEPAK, Sorenson, etc. So I'm pretty sure
> it isn't the xvid codec.

has nothing to do with the codec, only with the way you play them, which most 
probably is with overlay

cu!
-- 
#macro G(b,e)b+(e-b)*C/50#end#macro _(b,e,k,l)#local C=0;#while(C<50)
sphere{G(b,e)+3*z.1pigment{rgb G(k,l)}finish{ambient 1}}#local C=C+1;
#end#end _(y-x,y,x,x+y)_(y,-x-y,x+y,y)_(-x-y,-y,y,y+z)_(-y,y,y+z,x+y)
_(0x+y.5+y/2x)_(0x-y.5+y/2x)            // ZK http://www.povplace.com

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"Zeger Knaepen" <zeg### [at] povplacecom> wrote:
> "Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote in message
> ...But the sliders are ALL dimmed out (even the 'Set to
> > defaults' button) so I can't adjust them. I don't understand why; but they > > are
all at their good default 'mid-p
oints' anyway, with gamma at 1.0.
>
> You should be able to adjust them while a video is playing
>

Of course, fiddling with the 'playback appearance' on my own machine brings up a
larger problem, now that I think of it. Since I don't yet know where the
'increased contrast' is coming from in the chain, I'm wondering what my
animation will look like on others' systems if I post it to the newsgroups.
Will others see the animation the way I intended, or will it show the contrast
problem? I have no clue.

BTW, the only trick I can use at present--to *try* and correct this slight shift
on my own system--is to tell the xvid codec to decode (play back) the animation
with a very slight increase in brightness, using its 'brightness' slider
(which may be a gamma adjustment instead, I can't yet tell.) Not such a great
work-around, because it doesn't *really* restore the exact look of the
animation.

KW

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"Zeger Knaepen" <zeg### [at] povplacecom> wrote:
> "Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote in message
> > Following your advice, I looked at the
> > 'Overlay' tab, and it tells me that the settings there are automatically
> > applied "to any video file type that supports overlay adjustments"--five
> > slider
> > settings including gamma. But the sliders are ALL dimmed out...

> You should be able to adjust them while a video is playing

Hey, this DOES work!  I never through to try; I figured since they were dimmed
out (when a video *isn't* playing), that was the way they would be no matter
what. Thanks for the tip! I'm still fiddling with the controls to see how well
I can 'match' the original animation look.

This kind of Windows behavior *really* bugs me--the programmers could easily
have added "And BTW, these controls are only dimmed when a video isn't playing"
to the 'Overlay' menu. Or some other clue. But no. After all, most computer menu
commands are chosen *before* the command needs to be used, not *during* an
operation.

Anyway, thanks!

KW

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> I'm wondering what my
> animation will look like on others' systems if I post it to the newsgroups.
> Will others see the animation the way I intended, or will it show the contrast
> problem? I have no clue.

Have you tried using a different media player?
I personally find media player classic very good because of the light system
load, but in my eyes VLC ( http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ ) does a better job at
decoding some videos. It often just have prettier, more accurat colors overall,
imho.

-Peter

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