vegas snapshots degrade image quality soo much

dimipapa wrote on 2/28/2013, 9:47 AM
In previous versions I used to have to set it to full/best to save something in the best quality possible and to the actual dimensions of the video properties which would still be pretty bad. With vegas 12 it seems to do it without having to set it on best full. However it's still really bad looking. I like to use vegas to edit images, and it's actually pretty good for making banners and headers but it can't seem to save a snapshot to save it's life. I will often save a screen shot, edit out the banner portion in paint and then save it to another file with paint. Is there anyway to reduce the image degradation?

Comments

altarvic wrote on 2/28/2013, 12:25 PM
For best results, you need to set Preview quality to Best/Full, Deinterlace method to Interpolate, Field Order to Progressive, Rendering Quality to Best. Then save your snapshot. (if you use Vegasaur's Snapshots tool, you do not need to complete these steps, just click the button)

Vegas supports only JPEG and PNG.
You can set JPEG quality in Internal settings (by default 95%)
videoITguy wrote on 2/28/2013, 12:25 PM
Timeline snapshots since Version 9 VegasPro do not need tweaking of the best/full setting for viewing to establish the capture.

That established, timeline snapshots are what they are, copies of the source frame - and most sources and most frames of sources are soft and undesirable for best stills. If you are working with a long GOP source , you really have to work at finding the I-frame within the GOP sequence. If you have true 30 frames (absolutely rare situation) per second with a high-quality camera imaging - you could get a poor mans still camera shot - but think of it not so hot either.
dimipapa wrote on 2/28/2013, 1:19 PM
Thanks that helps a lot.
rmack350 wrote on 2/28/2013, 5:56 PM
Last I checked, Vegas was automatically deinterlacing snapshots from interlaced projects and there was NOTHING you could do about it. The deinterlace method settings had no effect.

Setting the project to a progressive mode makes all the difference, but if you're working in an interlaced project then the stills capture tool in Vegasaur defeats Vegas' deinterlacer/image wrecker.

Rob
Lou van Wijhe wrote on 3/1/2013, 8:15 AM
I use Vegasaur for taking snapshots and the resulting images can't be discerned from the original footage. However, I shoot in progressive mode and that may play a role.

Lou
jerald wrote on 5/27/2013, 6:57 PM
I thought this was true, too.
However, I just took two snapshots of the same frame, one at best/full the other at preview/half. There was a definite difference in quality.

Update:

So far, it seems that differences show up when preview is set to */half vs */full. The snapshot seems to match the resolution of the preview setting. My understanding before today was that, since Vegas Pro 9 or so, that snapshots were ALWAYS saved at Best/Full. That does not seem to be true.



Have things changed? Based on my quick test, it seems so. From now on I'll make sure that my preview quality is set to best/full.
J
farss wrote on 5/27/2013, 7:08 PM
If you're shooting interlaced snapshots are always going to look worse than the video at speed. Our eyes do a great job of integrating the two fields and expect the motion blur. Both of those tricks the brain pulls don't work with a still image.

Try this though, at least it will improve the vertical resolution.
Add the YADIF de-interlacer plugin. Find the frame you want and jog the playhead back and forth a few frames so the plugin has some data to work with. Now take your snapshot.

Bob.