Wgy does shrinking from 16x9 to 4x3 expand picture vertically, not compress horizontally?

[tripletopper]

I noticed that every time I try to find an easy way to convert a window reserved for my video from 16x9 to 4x3, instead of working within the constraints of my window the window expands vertically which is covering up my cameras below them on the layout.

I was looking for an easy way to just alternate between 4x3 and 16x9 but every time I do that I got to resize the window to make it fit in my layout.

My suggestion is there should be a feature that says fixed layout space so it knows the camera has a fixed last space and puts black bars on the side if you're trying to put 4x3 in a place reserved for 16x9 instead of expanding the picture out and covering cameras.

By the way the way I adjusted is by going into filters and changing the resolution from 16 by 9 to 4 by 3

And then when I go back to 16 x 9 it shrinks the window vertically instead of stretching it horizontally.

Why this tendency to expand the film instead of contract when it has to fit in certain cookie cutter layouts a video editing software like obs?

 

[AaronD]

This would be a lot easier to understand with pictures.

 

[tripletopper]

This would be a lot easier to understand with pictures.

While playing around with OBS I found the answer.

If you define your video capture as a 4x3 format like 640x480, when you switch it to 16 by 9 it takes the same 640x480 and squishes the format to fit in that frame giving black bars on the top and bottom.

However if you have a 16x9 format like the format, like 1280x720 converting to a 4x3 extends the coverage area of the screen to drop below the cookie cutter template space reserved for it.

I don't know what rules governed whether the ad space on the cookie cutter or subtract it but apparently it looks like horizontal space is a constant that is always kept and the vertical space adjusts. It's never the opposite where the vertical space is constant and the horizontal space adjusts. That just seems to be the nature of how OBS programmed.

That's the way around it that I found to keep the same constant vertical and horizontal space with a find a way to compress 4x3 into 16x9.

It's kind of important when you're working in 3D to make sure those spaces are well defined and programmed to overlay each other well.

By the way I was using the aspect ratio manipulation in the filter section.

 

[AaronD]

If you define your video capture as a 4x3 format like 640x480, when you switch it to 16 by 9 it takes the same 640x480 and squishes the format to fit in that frame giving black bars on the top and bottom.

However if you have a 16x9 format like the format, like 1280x720 converting to a 4x3 extends the coverage area of the screen to drop below the cookie cutter template space reserved for it.

That still doesn't make much sense to me. Whatever works for you, I guess.

I come at it from a perspective that the absolute size doesn't matter. Only the ratio. (kinda like mathematical topologists not telling the difference between a donut and a coffee mug) So saying that it adds or removes space doesn't mean anything.

If you're making one ratio fit into another without distorting, then you're going to have bars. The difference is not adding or removing, but whether the bars are above and below, or on either side.

Squishing and stretching are also equivalent, for the same reason.

 

[tripletopper]

The problem when you're doing 3D is that these templates are fixed rigid guides that line up the stereoscopy. If I'm off it'll give a weird 3D image that looks kind of unnatural.

I want to be able to rely on that if a 4x3 picture is going to take up this much space in terms of outbound broadcast geography then I'll take up the exact same footprints when I switch to 16x9 and vice versa.

I don't want to have to manually play with the resolutions and border guides every time I switch between 16x9 and 4x3 because the cameras are set perfectly for perfect stereoscopy.

Since I've tried to film in real pixels I use a smaller 640 by 480 resolution to make the numbers easier to work with and to avoid scaling pictures.