get rid of checkeredbackground

touchrs

Please tell me how to get rid of checkered background on photos in video. I have tried everything. At one point they were all gone and suddenly they were all back.

[deleted]

The chequered background you see is the area in the video frame that does not contain any of the image/clip. It appears when your image/clip is either smaller than the VP frame size or, more commonly when your image/clip has a different aspect ratio to the 16:9 ratio of the VP frame.

e.g if your clip/image has a 4:3 ratio like a lot of camera images, then there will be a chequered area to each side of the clip when you preview it. It's a similar case if you have used a portrait orientated image. VP will shrink it to fit into the height of the frame leaving a space on each side. It will not "stretch" or crop it to fill from side to side......that is somethig you must do yourself..see below

Note, the chequered areas will only appear in the preview pane and will be replaced by black bars in the sequence preview window. If you have used a small overlay image or a text image, they will also be present in the thumbnails for these.

The simplest way to ensure you don't have this effect (remember, there are no chequered area is the outputed video) is to only use images and video having the 16:9 horizontal aspect ratio. They will all then fill the normal frame.

If this can't be done and you don't want the black bars, (a lot of digital cameras produce images of a different AR), the normal workaround is to apply the CROP effect to your clip/image, forcing a 16:9 AR and then altering the crop box to suit your requirements, and then clicking the "Zoom to cropped area" box.

Inevitably you will lose some of your image at top and bottom if you do this but you can move the CROP area about so it contains as much of the image as you can get in, and it will, at least fill the frame now.

You can also use the SCALE effect to stretch one (or both) of the axes of your image and so cover up the chequered area. Again, inevitably, the trade-off is that your image will now be distorted.

But..In short...If all your clips/images are 16:9 is aspect ratio at the outset there should not be any chequered areas.

Nat

c_major_2

Hi,

Addition to Nat's explanation:

Checker background indicates a complete transparent area in the video frame.

When playing the sequence, the area will be filled with the visible portion on lower tracks or pure black if nothing underneath.

Best regards.

borate

In the text editor choose the FULL BACKGROUND option, at least temporarily. That may help to better visualize text.

[deleted]

Further to that...

You can have ANY colour for the FULL BACKGROUND option. Just click the colour box below the text Outline colour box - you will be presented with the Windows shade pane with the option to make up ANY shade to contrast with your text.

If the FULL BACKGROUND option is chosen then the whole text image (if placed on the overlay track) will cover the underlying video. There will be no chequered area.

If the option changed to TEXT BACKGROUND then your coloured area will just become a rectangle slightly larger than your text. (Not to be confused with Text outline) In this case the area outside that smaller coloured rectangle will be transparent and show the chequered pattern

If the option EDITOR ONLY is selected then only the editor will show the coloured background. In this case the text, when placed on the timeline will have the normal complete transparent (chequered) background.

Nat

[deleted]

Obviously if you overlay a picture/clip on Track 2, it will only cover all the underlying frame if it has the same aspect ratio AND/OR it has been enlarged (using SCALE) to do just that. (Usually 16:9)

If the aspect ratio is 16:9 it will cover the underlying Video Track 1 clip as it will automatically fill the VP frame. If it has a different aspect ratio, e.g. 4:3 you will need to CROP or ZOOM the overlay, restraining the AR to 16:9. This, with the obvious drawback of losing some of the frame will cover the main track clip.

A lot depends of the clips. Instead of trying to cover the clip on Video Track 1 you could for example reduce the overlay clip to play in one corner or the right or left hand half of the screen using SCALE and POSITION.

If cropping or scaling the overlay is not possible then the excess visible border of Video Track 1(which might only be bars at either side) could be covered with a colour..e.g. Black. To do this simply add a blank black image to Video Track 2 and drag it out to completely cover the duration of the clip on VideoTrack 1. The clip on Video Track 1 will now appear black as it is covered by the blank frame. (In the latest version of VP -5.20 use the "Add Objects" tab to do this. Now add your overlay clip/image to Video Track 3. This will be centred over the black image frame which will only be seen as a black border (or bars depending on the AR of the clip/image). Obviously you main track clip will play beneath this with its sound but will not be seen.

Nat