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Mercalli SAL V3 – Video Stabilisation
I’ve just bought Mercalli SAL V3 to stabilise some rather shaky footage. Hoping someone with more experience with the software or video stabilisation in general can help.
My main goal is to maintain the highest quality possible.
Video is: 2704 x 1524 and output will be 2560 x 1440.
My Questions:
1. Video stabilisation results in borders being cropped and then upscaled to original resolution. If input video is 2704×1524 and desired output is 2560×1440 can I choose for the video to be cropped down to the lower resolution to prevent upscaling, thus maintaining highest quality?
2. What is the advantage of applying stabilisation to raw video from camera in comparison to final rendered video from Vegas?
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10 Replies
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Applying stabilisation to raw video from camera is the proper workflow to
follow. But im not a fan of the Mercalli standalone versions, too much
work… the plugin is so much easier and streamlined, i still use Mercalli 2
Vegas plugin and it delivers awesome results.Cant for the life of me understand why they are constantly ditching
plugin integration.Steve Rhoden (Cow Leader)
Film Maker & VFX Artist.
Owner of Filmex Creative Media.
Samples of my Work and Company can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/FilmexCreativeMedia -
I much prefer plugins myself, however Mercalli V2 lacks 2.7k and 4k support which is kind of a deal breaker for me.
Any thoughts on Q1?
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Well Mercalli 4 plugin for Sony Vegas is on the way, that you can grab when it
is made available…Steve Rhoden (Cow Leader)
Film Maker & VFX Artist.
Owner of Filmex Creative Media.
Samples of my Work and Company can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/FilmexCreativeMedia -
[Simon Graham] “1. Video stabilisation results in borders being cropped and then upscaled to original resolution. If input video is 2704×1524 and desired output is 2560×1440 can I choose for the video to be cropped down to the lower resolution to prevent upscaling, thus maintaining highest quality?”
What you may be able to do is have it stabilize but not zoom. This would leave you with black borders than you can then crop in Vegas Pro and not loose any resolution. If after cropping you still see black border you would need to go back to Mercalli and tell it to stabilize less so that you get smaller black borders.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
[Simon Graham]
I much prefer plugins myself, however Mercalli V2 lacks 2.7k and 4k support which is kind of a deal breaker for me.
Wrong. It works just fine for both 2.7K and 4K–just tried it. The plug-in is so much easier to work with than the SAL version. In most instances, you waste a lot of time and space applying stabilization to the entire raw file. Usually, you want to stabilize only the parts on your edited timeline. You can batch render events to a lossless format from the Vegas timeline and then import into Mercalli, being careful you’re using a codec Mercalli likes. However, you’re pretty limited in what Mercalli exports, especially in V3.0. Moreover, if you’re a stickler for color accuracy, you’ll find that the colors coming out of Mercalli are slightly different from those going in. If color accuracy is important, stick with V2.1 SAL which also provides a lot more export options. OTOH if your footage has a lot of movement and CMOS distortion, the V4.0 SAL works extremely well, although its pretty slow.
IMHO, stick with the V2 plug-in unless your footage has a lot of CMOS distortion and then use V4.0 only for those problem clips. For anyone interested, there is also a way to apply the V2 plug-in in a batch fashion.
wwaag
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You have or use a batch script Wayne?
Steve Rhoden (Cow Leader)
Film Maker & VFX Artist.
Owner of Filmex Creative Media.
Samples of my Work and Company can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/FilmexCreativeMedia -
[Steve]
You have or use a batch script Wayne?
Yes. Here is the YT tutorial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLJ-r4jxZro
All necessary scripts are available on Dropbox.
wwaag
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[John Rofrano]
Nice idea, will give this ago. Thanks.
[Wayne Waag] “Wrong. It works just fine for both 2.7K and 4K–just tried it.”
Really? On the proDAD website comparison between v2 and v3 it says the opposite, look at bottom of page – https://www.prodad.com/home/products/video_optimization/300580322,l-us.html
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[Simon Graham]
Really?
No, I’m just making it up. Lol. Despite what they say on their website, it does work–at least for me. Here is a screen shot showing both the media properties and project properties to be 4K, along with the Mercalli Fx window.
I don’t blame you for questioning the veracity of postings on this or any other forum. If you’re interested, suggest you download a trial and evaluate it for yourself. That’s really the best way. It may or may not work on your system. It does work on mine though, for 2.7K as well as 4K. In any case, good luck.
wwaag
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[Wayne Waag]
Sorry, didn’t mean to accuse you of anything, thanks for the screenshot and for your advice.
Downloading Mercalli V2 Trial now, thanks.
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