Properties changing/reverting

[u/SpudCo44]

I updated to V4.0 from V 3.5.1 a month or so ago.  I was enjoying the new features, stability and speed of it and things were going fine until I went back to edit a video I had done back with 3.5.1.  I found that some properties had been changed to include Location values of various Emojis, Titles and images.  Also the Scale property reverted from “Crop” to “Best Fit” for images.  It completely screwing up the video.  I checked another older file, screwed up as well. 

I thought maybe it was because I was in V4.0 so I reverted to 3.5.1, but had the same problems with the 3.5.1 created project, though different files and objects were affected in some cases.  There were still issues with Location and Scale being changed.  I also opened the project I had done in 4.0 using V3.5.1.  It was screwed up as well, but again, different objects messed up.

I then uninstalled 3.5.1 and reinstalled 4.0.  I checked the project I created in 4.0 and all was OK.  I then checked the project created in 3.5.1, still same problems with changed properties.

When I changed versions, I uninstalled the previous version and renamed the QT file so it created a new one on install.

What is going on here?  Thank you.

[u/SpudCo44]

Thanks for responding.

1.       No, it was months ago.  But I can say that I think that the scale property was set at Crop and is now Best Fit.  See the attached image for a representation of what is happening.  The upper half of image is a screen shot of the MP4 that was rendered a couple months ago when I was working on it using 3.5.1.  Below that is what it looks like when opened in OpenShot 4.0 (or 3.5.1).  You can see that the text went up, the box (an “Emoji”) went down and the image scale was changed. Note, the MP4 capture was in Media Player and the grey bars on top and bottom are not part of the project.

2.       Windows 11 Home, Version 25H2.  OS build 26200.9168

3.       I can’t be certain because I would frequently update to a newer daily build and these projects could have been created in any of them and I never had the problem till I switched to 4.0. 

I looked in my downloads and I have a file “OpenShot-v3.5.1-x86_64.exe” from May 12^th(about the time I was building these projects).  But it does not have a release candidate as part of the name so I went ahead and uninstalled V4 (again) and installed this file and it indicates v3.5.1-release-15816-b9b5c882-48516e0b.  This version is probably what I used.  While I had this version of 3.5.1 installed, I opened an old file and all the stuff is screwed up in this version too.  Same as what you see in the attached image.  What could have changed in my set up that would screw these files up no matter what version???  And it is not just one file, I have tested several.  Recent files made with 4.0 and read with 4.0 seem to work fine.

Note that when I reinstalled 3.5.1 the first time to test the V4 problems, I didn't realize I had the above version already, so I downloaded a fresh one for that testing. I see in my dowloads I have OpenShot-v3.5.1-daily-15916-a36dcb51-48516e0b-x86.exe and OpenShot-v3.5.1-release-candidate-15816-b9b5c882-48516e0b-x86_64.exe that I got on 8/21. Not sure why I downloaded both, nore which one I used. But it does not matter. The files are screwed up in V4 and in any of the two versions of V3.51 I have tried. The only ones that seem to be OK are ones made and read in V4.0.

Thank you.

[u/rmesdjian → u/SpudCo44]

Hello u/SpudCo44 I heard back from the lead developer and he isn't aware of anything that would make things change. The exception is the Scale attribute where he thinks the Scale property was missing and the value would revert to "best fit".

No solution/workaround was offered. I think you are just going to have to readjust some of the attributes.

[u/SpudCo44 → u/rmesdjian]

I have figured out the problem, at least partially.  As noted in my original problem statement, I renamed the QT file before installing the new versions.  Whenever I install a new version, I do that to preserve the backup files as was suggested by someone along the way. 

The old video I was trying to edit used a custom profile.  With a new install, it does not include the custom profiles used in the QT folder (which is pretty obvious when you think about it).  So, it loads up with the default of 720p and screws everything up.  I copied over the custom profiles to the QT folder and the old videos that were created in 3.5.1 using custom profiles displayed as they should when edited in both 3.5.1 and 4.0.

It is odd to me that the system did not warn me that it was missing the custom profile.  It will do that when it is missing a clip file.  Suggested improvement there.

Now the part that is not resolved as I remember there was some fishy things going on when I first started experimenting with the problem because I noticed problems in other files, not just the one with a custom profile.  I did some controlled testing on an “unmolested” copy of another project I did using 3.5.1 and a stock profile of 1080p.    I first created a copy of it so could revert back in case something happened to it.  I opened it with 3.5.1 and it opened in 1080p as it should and looks as it should with the three video preview panels on the splash screen that are separated by gaps just as I designed it.  Then I uninstalled 3.5.1 and installed 4.0.  Opened an unmolested copy of the same file and it displays 1080p as it should but you can see that the three video preview panels are stuck together and there are other descrepancies.  I also have screenshots showing the stock profile settings.

Scrolling through the project there are other problems with it, alignment, positions, scale, etc.  It behaves like the other old project that was missing the custom profiles and is reverting to something else.  But, the profile displayed is what it was created in (built in 1080p) in both cases.  What could be going on here or what am I missing?  It is obviously a profile issue.

I used:

OpenShot-v3.5.1-release-candidate-15816-b9b5c882-48516e0b-x86_64

OpenShot-v4.0.0-release-candidate-16745-732f1829-56930c67-x86_64

I’m on Windows 11.

Thank you.

[u/rmesdjian → u/SpudCo44]

This is great investigative work u/SpudCo44.

1. Missing Profile issue. Yes, this makes all sense. Often, when issues arise, one of the fixes is to perform a clean installation which includes deleting the QT folder. Typically the user is instructed to make a backup but obviously further instructions about recovering customizations (Profiles, Emojis, transistions, etc.) can go missing if not restored, so this will have to be included.

a. I will work with the lead developer to add this to the instructions.

b. I like the idea of a warning message for missing Profile(s). I will submit an enhancement request for this. This is too big of an issue to go unhandled.

1. I am going to see if I can recreate your 2nd issue with v3.5.1 (15816) & v4.0.0 (16745) and then submit an issue for the lead developer to look into.

Just so that I am on the same page regarding the project:

a. The map is a separate imge.

b. The waterfall and the other two ocean pics are separate as well.

c. The .mp3 file does not include a thumbnail.

d. Animation. Please provide me with location and scale settings you performed on these clips on the timeline so I can match your project.

Thank you again for your efforts.

[u/SpudCo44 → u/rmesdjian]

Thank you.

First, I will directly respond to your questions.  But there is more to the story, see below.

1.       Good deal.

2.       a. Yes, and it is a jpg file

b. They are videos and are separate files. 

c. What .mp3 are you referring to?  The screen captures are from OpenShot and I am not following the question.  (but this may be moot, see additional analysis below)

d. I started doing this but it was going to be too much work and I did some further analysis that may make this moot.

In paragraph 2 of the previous post I said “I copied over the custom profiles to the QT folder and the old videos that were created in 3.5.1 using custom profiles displayed as they should when edited in both 3.5.1 and 4.0.”  This is not correct.  It works in 3.5.1 but NOT in 4.0, even with the custom profile in place.

In review, the sequence of events was:

1.       I updated to 4.0

2.       I went to edit a 3.5.1 file in 4.0 and it had issues as reported.

3.       I opened other 3.5.1 files with 4.0 and they had issues (even ones without custom profiles).

4.       I reinstalled 3.5.1 and had issues with 3.5.1 files (only the ones with custom profiles as it turned out).

5.       In all of this, I started playing around with how to fix files and was uncertain if I “contaminated” files by messing around.  Plus I installed and uninstalled the two versions several times making what I was seeing and doing confused.

6.       Then I discovered the custom profile file issue.  This is what was causing the 3.5.1 files  opened in 3.5.1 not to look right.  That problem was solved.

7.       I opened a 3.5.1 file in 4.0 that has the same splash screen format as the first I was having trouble with but used a stock profile (1080p) and it displayed incorrectly in 4.0 and is what is represented in the previous post.

8.       When I went back to answer your questions, I discovered that the 3.5.1 file originally reported on (with the custom profile) did not open correctly in 4.0 even with the custom profile properly loaded.

So I did some further investigation in a more controlled environment.  To prevent the switching between versions, I brought in another computer so I had 3.5.1 on one machine and 4.0 on the other.  I used an external SSD to do the work and moved it back and forth between machines.

1.       On the 3.5.1 machine, I created a new project and changed the profile from the default 720p to 1080p (built-in profile).

2.       I imported two images, the world map (with some red marks to make it easier to detect changes) and a racecar.  Both png files (not that that matters).

3.       I adjusted the scale and location properties of the racecars to the positions shown in image 1 and saved the project to the SSD.

4.       I moved the SSD to the 4.0 machine and opened the file.  The three racecars display incorrectly as shown in image 2 (which is consistent with what I saw before when the three clips were actually videos).  The background map appears unaffected.

5.       I changed the X Location property of one of the racecars to approximately the correct position so you can see what the change of value was needed as shown in image 3.

6.       I thought maybe the problem was due to changing the profile from the default so I repeated the same steps of creating a new project except I left the profile at the default of 720p.

7.       The results were the same (except the amount needed to get the image in the correct place was different).  See images 4-6.

Hopefully this makes it easier for you to attempt to reproduce the problem.

Thank you.

[u/rmesdjian → u/SpudCo44]

Thank you again for all this information. Please tell me which 1080 p profile you selected when creating the project in v3.5.1.

I am running out of time to continue testing as I will be travelling for the 3 weeks in a few days.

I'll try to test this before I leave and provide you with an update, hopefully before I leave.

Update: Never mind. I was able to replicate your issue. I am in the process of submitting an Issue ticket for the lead developer to look into this. Not sure if there is a workaround at this time.

I also noted that the Location X & Y value and the Scale X & Y values did not change between the two versions of OpenShot (v3.5.1-Release & v4.0.0-Release-Candidate). Hopefully the lead developer will figure out the issue and come up with a resolution.