Vegas Pro 8c and Mercalli
 

Hi,

Does anyone know if Mercalli works with the new 8c version? I have it on 8b and it's fine but I just want to make sure before I download 8c.

Many thanks,

Richard

yes, it works fine

Vegas Pro 8c and Mercalli
 

Many thanks Bill.

Richard

Yup. I used it last nite.

Vegas Pro 8c and Mercalli
 

I'm very grateful Sean.

Richard

I'm considering buying Mercalli for a big project. Those of you that have used it with Vegas Pro, are you satisfied and does it integrate well? I really haven't found anything comparable that works in Vegas Pro. Thanks.

It integrates well, but overall I'm not that impressed. Do a search for Mercalli in this forum for a few threads on it.

I got it during a half price promo. It's worked well enough for anything I've used it on. I'm sure there are better products out there, but for the price I'm not unhappy with it. It does indeed make handheld shots less seasickness inducing.

I'd give it an "OK"

Getting it authorized is a real pain

Vegas Pro 8c and Mercalli
 

Rick,

I did buy it and it works fine in 8c. It doesn't cure all faults but it's a very useful tool for most situations.

Richard Jones

Yeah, I heard about the registration issues. That's another fear I have since the company is in Italy. Any other recommendations for a similar plug-in or standalone that works with Vegas? I have a lot of shaky video to fix. ;)

I had zero problems with registration. By the way proDad is in Germany not Italy. I own 3 proDad products and I have never had any issues with any of them. The only real problem I have with Mercalli is that it doesn't play well with Neat Video.

This link is to a video that I used Mercalli on. I intentionally left the border so you can see how Mercalli is stabilizing it. You just need to watch the first minute.
http://www.bhagavideo.com/CProjects.html

The free Deshaker (from John Meyer) is worth a try.
Here's the link to the page where you can get it.

Vegas Pro 8c and Mercalli
 

Yes, the John Meyer deshaker is an excellent product. The only problem is that it involves an extra step outside Vegas but if you can live with that it is certainly worth looking at (especially as it is free!).

Richard

Thanks, Mike, but I have no desire to work with VirtualDub. Just another layer of complexity my workflow on this project doesn't need. Guess I'm stuck with Mercalli, but at least I can bill the client for it. ;)

Vegas Pro 8c and Mercalli
 

I don't think you'll be disappointed as I have been pleased with the results far more often than not - a lot depends on choosing the best correction profile for the shot in question and this can sometimes involve a bit of trial and error although this can be quickly done. Good luck.

Richard

Once installed Deshaker is no more work than Mercalli.

Vegas Pro 8c and Mercalli
 

Harold,

I'm not sure that's right.

Mercalli is a proper FX within Vegas itself which you drop directly on the clip. This then opens a diaogue box in which you make your selections from the various alternatives on offer with these then being applied by Mercalli very quickly indeed. With DeShaker you have to render out the selected clip, import, apply DeShaker, export and then input into Vegas which is a cumbersome process even though the results are usually excellent (and it's an even more time consuming process if you're unlucky enough to have quite a few clips to be treated in this way).

Of course, ideally we should ensure that everything is right at the taking stage but it's not always possible as we all know!

Richard

Richard, the script he's talking about automates the process of rendering out the clip, automatically starting VirtualDub and running the deshaker script on the exported clip, and then bringing the adjusted clip back in. So while the steps are correct, they have been automated so you don't have to manually do them all.

Vegas Pro 8c and Mercalli
 

Many thanks Edward. I hadn't realised that and it certainly makes a difference to what I said. But I should guess its still a longer process

Richard

I'm done. Do what you want.

I have hundreds of clips to deal with and would prefer to remain in Vegas Pro rather than bouncing back and forth between programs.

And Harold, no need to get all bothered. ;)

Try the automated DeShaker
 

Rick, I faced the same issue last year on a documentary project. In the past, I've used DeShaker manually, which involves a lot of steps for each and every clip. It worked great, but was a pain to deal with.

John Meyer's script now resides on my toolbar. In my last project, I decided it would be nice to have dozens of clips DeShaken. All I had to do was (a) highlight the specific clips on the timeline, (b) click once on the John Meyer script icon, and (c) walk away from the PC and go to bed. In the morning, the dozens of clips had been replaced by their DeShaken versions as new takes. I could go back to an original clip by just highlighting it and hitting the "T" key. Sweet.

John's script makes working with DeShaker a no-brainer. I had looked at the Mercalli product last year, but concluded that it was a poor competitor to DeShaker in how it dealt with black frame boundaries (as you probably know, DeShaker has the option to fill in the black frames edges with close-matching succeeding or prior frames, and most of the time this trick works very well). I should also mention that I throw on a 3% or 4% coocke-cutter black border on all my work. The border hides any leftover edge artifacts and is still small enough to be unnoticeable to the viewer.

Vegas Pro 8c and Mercalli
 

Richard,

I've found the "Border Settings" Tab in Mercalli to be effective in dealing with the black frame boundaries - normally i would use 'Without Border (Upscaled)" or occasionally "Dynamic Border." Apart from this, the thought of having to wait overnight or even for a couple of hours for the outcome doesn't appeal too much no matter how excellent the result (and I do know that DeShaker is very good).

Jist a passing observation.

Richard