Fixing video stuttering

[Steve Roberts]

If it’s really missing frames, you might be able to use Twixtor for that. You’d be on your own, since I’ve never used it to replace missing frames due to an error — only to create regular intermediate frames when slowing down footage.

You could also try importing into AE and removing pulldown. However, I’m concerned that some moron down the line messed up the footage. You should get the exact history of the footage, what it was shot on (film? video?) and what was done to it at each step. Try to talk to the people in the process, and try to get the original footage out of the camera, or the edited master at least. If too much was done to the footage, you may be in trouble.

You should also search the COW for “judder”. On finished footage (not an AE project in progress), it can’t be fixed, only ignored.

[Walter Soyka]

I’m a Twixtor user, too, but you might be able to get good results without getting a plugin. I have satisfactorily re-created missing frames with Time Remapping with pixel motion frame blending. The results will depend on your footage and the nature of the problem.

If you have two frames and need to generate an intermediate, enable Time Remapping for the layer, keyframe the first frame and the second frame, then pull the second frame’s keyframe forward in time by one frame.

Just be careful if you use it on the entire clip; you must slide ALL the keyframes down one frame from where you insert the new intermediate, otherwise you will remap time across the entire clip.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
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