R6 Vignette / effect order problem

[Mesec]

Hi all,

I am having an issue with the vignette effect / order of effects in R6. The goal is to have a layer with a vignette effect, using image size to set vignette size, not composition size.

In R5 I could set up a layer which contained a series of images with different sizes. On that layer I could then drop a vignette effect, and if I changed the order of effects on the layer, setting vignette to be first and transform second, the vignette would acquire size from the image, so vignette would correctly fadeout the image on all 4 sides (left, top, right, bottom).

If I do this in R6 it doesn't work. The vignette still uses the comp size being 1920x1080 in my case, so the vignette doesn't fade out the left and right side of the image since the image is only 1000px wide.

The point being is, I could set up a layer with vignette and just drop in 50 images and the vignette would work correctly.

Now in R6 I have to drop a vignette on every image separately, and also change the order of effects separately for each image. Also if I later want to change a parameter of vignette, for example size of softness, I now have to change it on all of the 50 images.

I work a lot with images and this really simplified my process of blending them in with videos, so I would be extremely grateful If you could fix this.

Thank you very much!

[Joris]

This is a long story, so bear with me

Back in the days of Resolume 3, the layer and clip levels were actually the same level. Resolume would figure out what you're doing on the clip tab and on the layer tab, calculate all those together and render out the final result. So you could for instance apply a rotation Y on the clip, then use Rotation Y on the layer to bring it back to normal.

This would let you do power user things like what you're describing, decide on the layer level that you want to access the clip texture 'pre-transform'. Pre-transform would even be the default state for applied effects.

But it also gave wildly unintuitive and unexpected results. A simple thing like using a Mirror effect pre-transform when clip and layer were different sizes was already problematic. It got really crazy when on Resolume 4 and 5, we started throwing layer blend modes and transitions into the mix. Technically, these results would be 'computationally' correct, but for a normal person, they would be wrong and make Resolume unusable.

On Resolume 6, this rabbit hole would only get deeper by adding a group level, as well as layers that could have a fixed resolution, different from both comp and clip level. The render pipeline would become one big exception statement, which makes it extremely difficult to maintain and very prone to mistakes.

So we decided to use a single behaviour that would give expected results at every level: flatten down to a texture at the end of each pass. GPUs are insanely powerful now compared to 2008, so the extra passes don't matter that much. And the result is intuitive and expected for everyone.

The downside is that a few power user workflows like the one you're describing, are no longer possible. This, unfortunately, is the cost of progress.

[Mesec]

Thank you very much for your detailed explanation. I understand the need for this completely.

In light of this, have you perhaps considered a "global dashboard" panel, where one could link any parameter from any clip, layer or comp to one of its controls? Then we could set up the effect on one clip (link all the parameters from the effect we want to the global dashboard controls we want) and just copy and "paste effects" on the rest of those other 50, 100 or whatever clips/images. I would still need to manually change the order of vignette and transform in my case, but we could then control the effects on all of the clips with one move, and on screen, with a mouse. Because this can all be done with MIDI or OSC also, but you need an external device for this and its not "handy". If the controls on the "global dashboard" could also support time, bpm and external audio input - with envelopes, that could turn this into a powerhouse programmable environment.

[Joris]

I'd love that! Or even an "expression-like" language for Resolume! I'd also love one or two dozen extra programmers

[dwk983]

I've just run into this issue too. Would it be possible to add independent control over width and height of the Vignette effect's inner transparent section? This would make the effect usable again for most non-layer-size content.

Thanks,

[drazkers]

I'd love that! Or even an "expression-like" language for Resolume!

Things i can dream about.