NextPreviousHomeExport Issues in version 7

michiel | 16 years ago | 9 comments | 5,931 views

The export quality of BluffTitler has dramatically been improved in version 7: the output is always super sharp and the HD resolutions look amazing.

However the new software antialiasing system has also some drawbacks: it is slow, it requires lots of memory and some users have reported that it doesn't work at all, creating (partly) black, blank or crap output.

To solve these issues we have added an ANTIALIASING QUALITY dropdown listbox in the FILE / EXPORT AS PICTURE and FILE / EXPORT AS MOVIE dialogs. This listbox has the following 5 options:
-Software Antialiasing: Low Quality
-Software Antialiasing: Medium Quality
-Software Antialiasing: High Quality
-Software Antialiasing: Super High Quality
-Hardware Antialiasing: Make Screengrabs

The 4 Software Antialiasing options allows you to choose between quality and speed. Low Quality is very fast, but its output isn't very good. Super High Quality looks amazing, but takes more time to render.

Super High Quality also requires lots of video memory. Some reckless video drivers happily claim that they have such memory while in fact they don't, resulting in crap output. If this happens to you, choose MEDIUM or LOW QUALITY and the problem is solved.

The last option simply grabs your screen and is exactly how previous versions of BluffTitler worked. When using this option you have to keep the render window completely visible when exporting and your can't create resolutions bigger than your desktop, but it is very fast, doesn't require lots of memory and is thanks to its low-tech nature less sensitive to video driver bugs.

So if none of the software antialiasing options work, try hardware antialiasing.

Thanks for your feedback, version 7.06 is now ready for download!




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The new version 7.06 works faster then 7.05 and now low quality is working good on my system, any other quality go's wrong, due to videocard I suppose (In 7.05 only no antialising was working)

Goofy4A, 16 years ago

One user has reported that he has managed to fix the output problem by updating his Radeon video driver from Cat. 6.6 to Cat 7.7 which supports our theory that it's a driver bug.

michiel, 16 years ago


The maximum antialiasing quality not only depends on the amount of available video memory, but also on the maximum possible texture size, which on most current
video cards is 4096 x 4096.

This means that the maximum antialiasing quality for the highest HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 is (4096/1920) x (4096/1080) = 2x3 = 6 samples per pixel.

It also means that the maximum output resolution is 4096 x 4096 with an antialiasing quality of just 1 sample per pixel.

To give you an idea of the huge amount of memory this requires: a resolution of 4096 x 4096 pixels in 32 bits colour (RGBA) with a 32 bits depth/stencil buffer requires (4096x4096x(32+32)/8)/(1024x1024) = 128 MB. And this comes on top of all the memory required for the picture layers, text layers, particle layers, 3D model layers and other texture and mesh media you're using in BluffTitler, the memory required to display the output in the render window and not to forget the part that Vista eats up for its fancy display effects!!!

So now you know why some older graphics cards have a hard time creating HD resolutions in maximum antialiasing quality. So please be gentle with them.

michiel, 16 years ago


With the two new versions (7.05 & 7.06), I'm having an issue with the export as movie (both uncompressed avi or numbered frames, not interlaced, 720x480 resolution, NTSC, high or super high quality software antialiasing).

It only exports about 1/3 of the screen size of the actual movie. I'm using an ATI Mobility Radeon 1400 w/ latest drivers.

Example at members.cox.net...

WarfareXtreme, 16 years ago

If HIGH or SUPER HIGH QUALITY doesn't work you have to use MEDIUM or LOW quality.

If this happens your video driver is reckless: it says "yes I have enough memory to handle high quality" when it should say "no, I can't handle that". Which is clearly a driver bug.

michiel, 16 years ago


Practical tip: if you want to create HD resolutions with super high software antialiasing quality make sure you have a graphics card with at least 256 MB

michiel, 16 years ago


Installing a graphics card with more memory can result in slower export speed. Here's why:

If you double the resolution, the number of pixels quadruples. And when using super high quality antialiasing the resolution gets multiplied by 8 which means 8 x 8 = 64 times more pixels which means that rendering is 64 times slower.

What can happen is that your old graphics card doesn't have that much memory, so BT automatically switches back to a lower resolution. But your new card DOES have that amount of memory which means that it renders much more pixels and as a result renders much slower (but with higher quality).

If this happens to you and you're interested in speed, rather than quality I advise you to switch to medium or high quality mode.

michiel, 16 years ago


More info about how to update your system and how to save precious video memory can be found here:

outerspace-software.com...

michiel, 15 years ago


The only way we have managed to reproduce this issue is by running BT and Pinnacle Studio at the same time and exporting in the highest HD resolution. Exporting works fine when we close down Studio.

Even with the latest DirectX and video drivers, no out of memory error is produced so BT happily concludes that everything is fine and continues exporting.

Since it's impossible for BT the detect the problem (because no error is produced) you have to fix the problem yourself by using less video memory. Tips for freeing precious video memory can be found here:

outerspace-software.com...

michiel, 15 years ago


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About michiel

Michiel den Outer is the founder and lead coder of Outerspace Software. He lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

If he isn't busy improving BluffTitler, he is playing the piano or rides the Dutch dikes on his bikes.

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Contact michiel by using the comment form on this page or at info@outerspace-software.com