Optical Flow Slow Motion Q

[David Bogie]

Now we’re getting someplace, buddy, welcome to the family.
Twixtor is a possibility but it’s just another expensive hack in terms of post processing.
Cheaper and more efficient to get a different video camera than to keep trying to hack this in post.
You UAV has mass/payload limitations and I suppose you have bandwidth issues for your control channels.
I am not familiar with the state of the craft in aerial platforms and image stability options. My company has entertained several vendors hawking an array of remote controlled flying objects designed for river and riparian zone surveys.

We have the NIFC here in Boise and I attended a demo of one of their aerial photo platforms. Pretty cool, big helicopter, but I would call it “big iron” and I’m sure they’ve replaced it with more current technologies.

Aerial photography and UAV are huge markets. There must be a BUNCH of forums devoted to the special needs for both hobbyists and professionals.

bogiesan

[Jamie Hamlin]

Yes, Twixtor does a great job with 24p. About the only option I have found.

Not to change the subject but there are alot of people attempting to get good video off UAVs. Honestly there are only a couple in the US that are capable of actually putting out production quality video…. me being one of them. You probably have seen some at shows. Bet they didnt lift off and show you some footage. Alot of folks have paperweights. I am working with a company who designs UAVs just for this purpose. Gimbal stabed by a KS-2. Footage looks like a boom or crane shot that just keeps going. We do dolly shots but no worries about track. Its just amazing!! I am flying a pre-production helicopter that is WAY ahead of the curve. Hum, might need to post an ad in here.

Thanks to everyone for their help! Let me know if someone wants some amazing footage! Will travel!

Jamie

[Jeffrey Di lullo]

Check out Kronos from the Foundry

https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/pkg_overview.aspx?ui=FA1927C8-65AB-4463-8997-4F10921B66DA

It does a fantastic job. I have both Twixtor and Kronos and feel that Kronos does a little better job on busy footage. Though they are both excellent plug-ins. Also the Foundry is running a sale till the end of the month only $150 for the whole furnace plug-in set. GREAT deal.

Truly

Jeffrey Di Lullo

Jeffrey Di Lullo
Jeffedits.com

[Albert Oconnor]

I just posted on FCP a 1080 24p (23.976fps) project shot with a Canon EOS still camera where the DP recommended shooting the slo mo scenes at 1080 60p (59.94fps) to be made slo mo in post using FCP.
I trusted what he was telling me but a little voice in the back of my head was screaming at me but I ignored “him”.

The scenes shot at 60p are where an actor threw objects into the air, these objects were blurry frame to frame due to the shutter speed the DP used; I have no idea what shutter speed he used, he was relying on frames per second and not shutter speed to create smoother slo mo.

Optical Flow Retiming made slo mo shots smoother but the blurred objects still looked blurred because that’s how they were recorded at a moderate shutter speed. So his suggestion of shooting them at 60p sounded good in theory but in practice wasn’t what I had hoped for due to whatever shutter angle/speed he used.

So what I’m saying is shooting at 59.94fps isn’t going to do it.
I agree with another post that stated shooting at high fps is your best bet for really good slo mo.
But if you’re stuck with the camera you have, sure shoot at 59.94fps but use a faster shutter speed to get sharp images on each frame.

Bob

[Stephen Smith]

This is called Over Cranking. If you log and transfer the footage in FCP it will not play in slow mo like you really want it to. To achieve the effect you need to use Cinema Tools to “conform” you 60p footage to 23.98. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials

[Albert Oconnor]

Stephen,
Thanks for the tip! I gave it a whirl and it works but like I said earlier, the moving objects were blurred from the get-go and even Cinema Tools conform couldn’t de-blur the thrown objects. One other thing with the Cinema Tools Conform then Optical Flow process, the objects that were thrown cast shadows on the actor’s face which caused some really funky morphing pattern/effect on the actor’s face! Hmmmm, keep in mind for future video projects!