Solved Pan/Crop irregular pixels

Hello

I am experiencing an issue with a 1920x1080 screen recording of a low resolution/pixelated game.
When I use Pan/Crop to crop the video, the pixels appear stretched and out of shape.

Here is an image of the problem: imgur.com/a/wHihJpz

What I was trying to do was place a 1920x1080 PNG image of a skeleton from the game over a 1920x1080 screen recording of a character in the game.
This is an image of them both: imgur.com/a/vcYfdcx

In GIMP, they line up without a problem. But in Vegas, it appears like this after cropping them and placing the
skeleton over the character: imgur.com/a/fWXP7ni
Some pixels look bigger than others, and they do not line up because of this.

This problem still occurs if I use two PNG images or two screen recordings and try to place one over the other.

Hi MostlyGhostly - welcome to the MSZ forum

To make sense of what you are describing, I need to see a full copy of your source media and the settings you have used in Vegas.
In the future you can also upload any screen shots directly to the forum (press Attachments), instead of using external links to imgur.

Without seeing your original source video, I think I can guess as to what the problem may be.
If you accidentally turned OFF Lock Aspect Ratio in the Event Pan/Crop controls, it is going to stretch the image instead of scaling it equally on the x and y planes. If this is what you have done, you first need to right-click and Restore the Event Pan/Crop window. Then turn Lock Aspect Ratio back on and finally re-do your zoom/crop. If this is not the problem, please do the following...



1. Please upload a copy of your .veg Vegas project file
2. To comment on your Pan/Cropped stretched image, I need to see a full copy of the video/still image before you applied Pan/Crop.
You don't have to share all of your project, but can you at least share the parts that are effected.
You can upload your video to Google Drive and share a link, so I can download it and put it in your project.
Instructions for how to upload files to Google Drive here:
www.moviestudiozen.com/forum/vegas-pro/2396-project-in-vegas-pro-17-not-responding#12191

Regards
Derek

Hello

Here is a folder containing the .veg file, video and image:

drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OBvCx8bWCGTnvjUnJlKbNL9pewZGGXGN?usp=sharing

Thanks for the files, but I can't open the .avi file file.
Your .avi video is using a non-standard video codec called ULY4.
I am not going to install this codec on my computer, just so that I can view this video.

I'm still trying to understand your problem in a very simple way.
Can you tell me if this is what you mean ?
Are you simply saying that when you zoom in on your .avi video (using Event Pan/Crop), that is when you see the distorted pixels ?

If this is what you mean, I think all your problems are being caused by this non-standard video codec you have used.

What I recommend you try is to use a different Video Screen Capture program to record your video.
I would recommend something like OBS Studio.
OBS Studio videos are fully supported by Vegas.

I can't see/imagine how Vegas would be responsible for your problem.
It would be impossible for Vegas to be changing the shape/size of only "some" pixels in a video.

Hello

I forgot about the codec, I apologise.
The video was recorded with OBS Studio using that codec, but the problem still occurs in Vegas when using the NVIDIA NVENC H.264 codec.
I know it is definitely due to Vegas because in the Pan/Crop window, the video appears fine.
It's only when I zoom in using Pan/Crop that this problem occurs.

It is a little difficult to explain, hopefully this video will show you what I mean. The video that I am editing in this YouTube video
was using the NVIDIA NVENC H.264 codec.
(I had to upload it to YouTube because the file size of the video was too large to be uploaded here)

I don't know what I'm meant to be looking at in the YT video you uploaded.
All I can see is you moving the Pan/Crop window around from side to side and up and down.

In the first message you sent to me, you said this:
"When I use Pan/Crop to crop the video, the pixels appear stretched and out of shape"

In your last message, you are now saying this:
"I know it is definitely due to Vegas because in the Pan/Crop window, the video appears fine"

You have just said the complete opposite this time.
I'm trying to understand exactly what the actual problem is.

Is the video moving around in the Preview Window what you intended it to be doing ???
OR
Are you saying you don't know what is causing the video to be moving around ?

Is this problem visible in the Vegas Preview Window before you render the video ?
OR
Are you saying that the pixels go wrong after the video is rendered ?

If you would like me to help, I need to be able to replicate in Vegas exactly what you are doing.
Please upload a "full copy" the .veg project file you are working on - I have to see the actual project you are working with and not just a sample .veg project file.
The .veg project file contains no media files, but it will show me all your settings.
Then tell me the exact time stamp on the Vegas timeline where the problem is visible, so I know where to look.

In the 1 second video sample you uploaded to Google Drive for me (which I can't open), I did inspect the metadata and it showed the video was recorded at 250 MB/s. That Bit Rate is completely insane - way, way too high. For a video screen capture, there should be no need to go any higher than 50000 Kbps (50 MB/s).

Can you please re-capture with OBS a 5 second sample of the part of the video that has the problem in Vegas.
This time use NVENC or x264 to record the video with.
Then upload the 5 second video to Google Drive, so I can then import it into your .veg Vegas project.

In Vegas, the Pan/Crop window shows the video or screenshot without affecting it (or any material you are using).
This is how I know that the problem is not the video I took, because the problem of the pixels being stretched only occurs in the preview window
or in the rendered video.

It isn't just the video I took, or the game itself. If you take a screenshot of your desktop and crop it in Vegas, you will see that the pixels stretch.
That is what I tried in a new Vegas project, I cropped a 1920x1080 screenshot (in Vegas) of some text on Google and the problem was there.

You can see what I mean in this video, especially at the end:

In the video, I am deliberately moving the crop selection with the arrow keys so that you can see how the pixels stretch.


Ultimately, the problem is that when a video or image in Vegas is cropped, the pixels appear to be stretching out in order to fill the screen.


As the game I am trying to make a video of is low resolution, I have to crop it, but cannot do that without the pixels stretching.


Though the problem can be replicated using a screenshot of anything, here is a short screen recording of the game using the NVENC codec:
drive.google.com/open?id=1-xeNW2jfr7DnRXQtAKnU0I9aVkyuaiwC

I wonder if part of your problem is that you don't realise the Pan/Crop window does NOT show how the video will look. It shows you the cropped area. The Preview window shows how it will look. Depending on what you are doing they may look different.

You need to alter settings in Pan/Crop to get it looking correct. Try playing with the two settings indicated below . Changing one or both from the Default 'Yes' may solve your problem.

I understand that the preview window indicates how the rendered video will look, it's just that it does not look how I would like it to.

I tried changing the settings you suggested, and I got this result:

Unless you provide us with a copy of the exact video you are showing and a copy of the same .veg file with the same settings, it is pointless to continue.
No one can help you unless we can replicate the problem ourselves.

My gut feeling is that you are zooming in on the video at such an extreme level, that this is what is causing the problem.