Magic Bullet-Looks

Jordan Orberg · November 11th, 2008, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Cook

I just rendered an 8 minute video, it took roughly 4 hours.

YouTube - The Cellar short film

Anyone want to take a look.

It was shot on a really crappy JVC Everio (to get a documentary look).

You could have probably just color corrected in your editing program to get that look -- it definitely would have taken less time!

Tripp Woelfel · November 13th, 2008, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordan Orberg

You could have probably just color corrected in your editing program to get that look -- it definitely would have taken less time!

Only if you know how to recreate the MBL setting in your NLE. Without knowing what MBL does it's hard to duplicate. That's why I might actually drop a large chunk of change on it.

It's all a price/prize equation. It's like with plumbers, if I knew how to do it I wouldn't have to hire one. Oh, wait. >Google>What MBL actually does...

Hugh Mobley · December 11th, 2008, 05:50 AM

Could very be the Card, MB utilizes the ram on the card and not the computer, I have 512 ram on my card. don't think its enough for alot of MB on a long clip. Ram cannot refresh unless you reboot or have one of those utilities which refreshes your ram, won't work on card. MB redgiant is helpful when you email or call. In my opinion 2 gigs is not even enough anymore in a computer, need 4, You could render into smaller clips in maybe an avi uncompressed, then put the clips together and render out the movie. it might work because MB should have resolved itself and now its just an avi clip. MB sucks power, I can't even use the stand alone for photos, its crashes my computer.

Howard Churgin · January 13th, 2009, 12:46 PM

According to Magic Bullet manual if you are using a machine with good specs a complex render could take over 3x the project time. An extremely complex render (only need to have a few effects applied) can take much longer than that. That is why I prefer to use Looks in After Effects because it is easier to apply and look at and modify then do your final render upon output. In Premiere Pro I would have to render each clip to play back and see how she looks. Much more time consuming.

Philip Howells · September 9th, 2009, 08:38 PM

Vitascene from ProDad is another similar system that seems to render more quickly than MB.

Brant Gajda · December 29th, 2009, 07:41 AM

I bought Magic Bullet as well and yes the render times are pretty ridiculous. I have a top of the line built PC as well. I had a 20min family Christmas video I did. When I went to output it, it said that it would take 6+hrs to export for 720p. I then downloaded Cineforms Prospect HD trial. I used the First Light program that came with it. I was able to reproduce a style that look similar to the Matrix and Arthur which has a greenish cast to the movie. By using First Light combined with Premiere CS4, I was able to view the change in real time and not have to render out in Premiere. Major plus. When I went to export the 20min movie again in 720p resolution again, it said that it would take about 1hr 20mins. Much less export time. If you are able to recreate the "looks" of MB, in First Light, I highly recommend this method. I now regret purchasing the MB software.

Steve Nelson · January 1st, 2010, 11:00 AM

It's definitely hardware dependent. I'm running a fairly new machine that I built with an Intel i7 920 CPU, 12 Gb RAM and a 1Gb Nvidia Quadro FX 3800 video card. I can render just about anything in 2-3x the video length. The only thing that takes a long time is if you add film grain but I've found that any system that introduces film grain takes a real long time to render. Fortunately I don't do much with film grain though.

John Woo · January 8th, 2010, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Nelson

It's definitely hardware dependent. I'm running a fairly new machine that I built with an Intel i7 920 CPU, 12 Gb RAM and a 1Gb Nvidia Quadro FX 3800 video card. I can render just about anything in 2-3x the video length. The only thing that takes a long time is if you add film grain but I've found that any system that introduces film grain takes a real long time to render. Fortunately I don't do much with film grain though.

I too have the same setup as you; i7 920, 12GB RAM and a 1GB HD4870 ATI. for a 5 mins clips mixed with 5DM2 (after Neoscene) and EX1 (1080i) footage, applying the MB 'bufflao' look, it took me 4 crazy hours to render to 720P. During the render, I observed MB look is not making use of the multi thead, only single core of the CPU was utilized and not even 100%

Kris Koster · February 21st, 2010, 04:59 AM

Mine takes an age too, in CS4. Kept crashing on me too half way through. The way I had to do it in the end was to export pieces of a 4 minute film and re-create the file together afterwards.

Sigmund Reboquio · March 24th, 2010, 02:27 PM

I think it is a graphics processor issue. I was trying to render with magic bullet before when I had a 256mb graphics card - it takes forever. then I bought a 1Gb gp, and it cut the render time to approx 60%.

Ivan Gomez Villafane · April 3rd, 2010, 05:09 PM

I've been having trouble with magic bullet looks as well... I think Windows 7 is the issue.

Clips stop rendering after 30 minutes of rendering time or so...

I have an inminent deadline so I said "screw this", took away the MBL effect and tried to achieve it with the CS4 effects. I was very surprised when I was able to recreate almost exactly the same look using only Levels and Lightning Effects.

Obviously in this case my footage just needed some minor touchs, but it's important to remember that sometimes we get to used to an apparently easy solution, that in some cases might not be the more efficient one...

Andrew Prince · December 1st, 2010, 10:46 AM

Hi all,

I'm using MBL on wedding videos. An 8 minute sequence in Premiere Pro CS5 (Vista 64) will typically take 4 hours to export 1080i to 1080p. That's using the 'warm spot focus' preset on every clip in the timeline for example.

I'm running an Intel i7 950 @ 3.2GHz with 12 Gig RAM and a nVidia 470GTX with 1.5 Gig RAM onboard.

I think that's just the way it is - MBL takes an age. :-( It doesn't take advantage of the nVidia horsepower. It doesn't use all the RAM and it sure doesn't use all the cores. So, you can imagine how long this lot took to render:

Carillon Video: Professional Videographer for wedding videos

Regards,

Andrew.
Professional Wedding Videographer and Wedding Video Production Services in Bolton, Manchester and all over the UK

Marcus Martell · January 6th, 2011, 12:56 PM

Do u guys think like me that the OLD MAGIC BULLET editors were pretty more quicker in render tie that nowadays MB LOOKS?
I think so.....

Perrone Ford · January 6th, 2011, 02:47 PM

Interesting.

MB Looks is a real-time effect for me in Avid. I do my looks, sometimes up to 10 effects, go back to my editor, and hit play. Plays right out. Render times don't seen extended beyond the normal either. I am using Win7 Pro on a Dell 8 core (8GB RAM) with a Quadro FX4800.

December 11th, 2008, 05:50 AM	#18
Hugh Mobley Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Placentia, Calif Posts: 549	Could very be the Card, MB utilizes the ram on the card and not the computer, I have 512 ram on my card. don't think its enough for alot of MB on a long clip. Ram cannot refresh unless you reboot or have one of those utilities which refreshes your ram, won't work on card. MB redgiant is helpful when you email or call. In my opinion 2 gigs is not even enough anymore in a computer, need 4, You could render into smaller clips in maybe an avi uncompressed, then put the clips together and render out the movie. it might work because MB should have resolved itself and now its just an avi clip. MB sucks power, I can't even use the stand alone for photos, its crashes my computer. __________________ Hugh Mobley www.petplanetvideos.com http://exposureroom.com/members/hmobley.aspx/

March 24th, 2010, 02:27 PM	#25
Sigmund Reboquio Major Player Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: San Francisco Posts: 212	I think it is a graphics processor issue. I was trying to render with magic bullet before when I had a 256mb graphics card - it takes forever. then I bought a 1Gb gp, and it cut the render time to approx 60%. __________________ Bay Area Wedding Videographerwww.reb6studios.com

January 6th, 2011, 02:47 PM	#29
Perrone Ford Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 4,100	Interesting. MB Looks is a real-time effect for me in Avid. I do my looks, sometimes up to 10 effects, go back to my editor, and hit play. Plays right out. Render times don't seen extended beyond the normal either. I am using Win7 Pro on a Dell 8 core (8GB RAM) with a Quadro FX4800. __________________ DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels.

January 13th, 2009, 12:46 PM	#19
Howard Churgin Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Marlboro, NJ Posts: 85	According to Magic Bullet manual if you are using a machine with good specs a complex render could take over 3x the project time. An extremely complex render (only need to have a few effects applied) can take much longer than that. That is why I prefer to use Looks in After Effects because it is easier to apply and look at and modify then do your final render upon output. In Premiere Pro I would have to render each clip to play back and see how she looks. Much more time consuming.

September 9th, 2009, 08:38 PM	#20
Philip Howells Trustee Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Manchester UK Posts: 1,212	Vitascene from ProDad is another similar system that seems to render more quickly than MB.

December 29th, 2009, 07:41 AM	#21
Brant Gajda Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 113	I bought Magic Bullet as well and yes the render times are pretty ridiculous. I have a top of the line built PC as well. I had a 20min family Christmas video I did. When I went to output it, it said that it would take 6+hrs to export for 720p. I then downloaded Cineforms Prospect HD trial. I used the First Light program that came with it. I was able to reproduce a style that look similar to the Matrix and Arthur which has a greenish cast to the movie. By using First Light combined with Premiere CS4, I was able to view the change in real time and not have to render out in Premiere. Major plus. When I went to export the 20min movie again in 720p resolution again, it said that it would take about 1hr 20mins. Much less export time. If you are able to recreate the "looks" of MB, in First Light, I highly recommend this method. I now regret purchasing the MB software.

January 1st, 2010, 11:00 AM	#22
Steve Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: May 2009 Location: Monument, CO Posts: 109	It's definitely hardware dependent. I'm running a fairly new machine that I built with an Intel i7 920 CPU, 12 Gb RAM and a 1Gb Nvidia Quadro FX 3800 video card. I can render just about anything in 2-3x the video length. The only thing that takes a long time is if you add film grain but I've found that any system that introduces film grain takes a real long time to render. Fortunately I don't do much with film grain though.

February 21st, 2010, 04:59 AM	#24
Kris Koster Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Gatwick, UK Posts: 185	Mine takes an age too, in CS4. Kept crashing on me too half way through. The way I had to do it in the end was to export pieces of a 4 minute film and re-create the file together afterwards.

April 3rd, 2010, 05:09 PM	#26
Ivan Gomez Villafane Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina Posts: 73	I've been having trouble with magic bullet looks as well... I think Windows 7 is the issue. Clips stop rendering after 30 minutes of rendering time or so... I have an inminent deadline so I said "screw this", took away the MBL effect and tried to achieve it with the CS4 effects. I was very surprised when I was able to recreate almost exactly the same look using only Levels and Lightning Effects. Obviously in this case my footage just needed some minor touchs, but it's important to remember that sometimes we get to used to an apparently easy solution, that in some cases might not be the more efficient one...

December 1st, 2010, 10:46 AM	#27
Andrew Prince Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Bolton, UK Posts: 49	Hi all, I'm using MBL on wedding videos. An 8 minute sequence in Premiere Pro CS5 (Vista 64) will typically take 4 hours to export 1080i to 1080p. That's using the 'warm spot focus' preset on every clip in the timeline for example. I'm running an Intel i7 950 @ 3.2GHz with 12 Gig RAM and a nVidia 470GTX with 1.5 Gig RAM onboard. I think that's just the way it is - MBL takes an age. :-( It doesn't take advantage of the nVidia horsepower. It doesn't use all the RAM and it sure doesn't use all the cores. So, you can imagine how long this lot took to render: Carillon Video: Professional Videographer for wedding videos Regards, Andrew. Professional Wedding Videographer and Wedding Video Production Services in Bolton, Manchester and all over the UK

January 6th, 2011, 12:56 PM	#28
Marcus Martell Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: spain Posts: 1,202	Do u guys think like me that the OLD MAGIC BULLET editors were pretty more quicker in render tie that nowadays MB LOOKS? I think so.....