what is the most time/cost effective way to reduce noise/grain in ppcc 2014?

[Wolf Lawrence]

I have access to adobe suite i.e. speedgrade and after effects but have never used either tool.

I just got additional steps from Lynda.com which starts in PP and includes ‘right click on clip’ and choose ‘replace with after effects composition’. once fixed, the AE clip will appear in timeline as a new clip but isnt yet rendered. Will rendering take place in AE or PP?

[Walter Soyka]

I like Neat Video for noise removal:
https://library.creativecow.net/devis_andrew/Neat-Video/1

But Ae’s Remove Grain is also quite good, and of course is bundled with Ae, so it carries no extra cost:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/noise-grain-effects.html#remove_grain_effect

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Walter Soyka]

[Wolf Lawrence] “I just got additional steps from Lynda.com which starts in PP and includes ‘right click on clip’ and choose ‘replace with after effects composition’. once fixed, the AE clip will appear in timeline as a new clip but isnt yet rendered. Will rendering take place in AE or PP?”

Here’s how dynamic link works: Premiere asks the dynamic link server for a specific frame of video. The dynamic link server tells a background process of Ae to render the frame, then it passes the finished frame to Premiere.

Dynamic link is cool because it keeps things very fluid — no intermediate render files, and it’s very easy to make changes — but I don’t like this workflow for noise removal.

Noise removal is extremely computationally-expensive; that is, it’s a slow render. I’d recommend you bring your footage into Ae, do your noise removal, and render out an intermediate file to import into Premiere.

If you keep the “Project Link” option in the Ae output module checked, you can still right-click and “Edit in Original” from Premiere to open the AEP and re-render the media.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Jeff Pulera]

I agree with Walter – do the DeNoise in AE on the raw clips, export using intermediate codec, edit in Premiere.

Adding DeNoise in Premiere really bogs down the performance to a crawl since DeNoise is so processor-intensive.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Wolf Lawrence]

i’m sold on doing the processor-efficient workflow vs bog down PPCC14 and just hope i can eventually decode/grasp the steps. i read the best workflow was to edit first, color-correct/degrain later so i’m now done with my nested multicam edit. does that change anything?

presuming it does not conflict with what you all suggest, then i just need to clarify my absolute simplest first step to get the camera 1 clips i need into AE. do i highlight all cam-1 tracks in the nested sequence to export only those or do i ignore PP and just load all cam-1 files directly into AE? that’s my question.

my assumption is that after i de-noise, render and export an intermediate file/codec with ‘Project Link’ option checked, and import back into PP, that PP is smart enough to recognize all these maneuvers to where the edited multicam sequence informs the PP renderer where to find all the pre-rendered AE files and know what to do with them (all invisible to me).

[Wolf Lawrence]

i was done with my nested multicam edit prior to getting your good advise. can i assume you knew that and all the steps you outlined take that into account?

can i safely assume that after i import, de-noise, render and export an intermediate file/codec with ‘Project Link’ option checked, and import them into PP, that PP will recognize all these maneuvers, that pp will find all the pre-rendered files and know what to do with them? please confirm.

[Walter Soyka]

[Wolf Lawrence] “can i safely assume that after i import, de-noise, render and export an intermediate file/codec with ‘Project Link’ option checked, and import them into PP, that PP will recognize all these maneuvers, that pp will find all the pre-rendered files and know what to do with them? please confirm.”

No, you should not assume that. You will have to replace or relink the footage. I’d be sure to back up my Premiere Pro project file before starting this out of an abundance of caution.

What are you importing and de-noising, exactly? All your source footage?

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Wolf Lawrence]

thanks for that walter. and thanks to you all so far. i’m starting to get a rough idea of what to do in what order etc. to answer your question, cam1 is super noisy in low light during a show and i need to denoise and color correct to better match to cam2.

instead of highlight cam-1 tracks in the nested sequence and export only those, it seems the easiest/best way advised is to just import ALL noisy raw footage directly into AE, de-noise, render and export an intermediate file/codec with ‘Project Link’ option checked then go to PP and backup the PP project file.

here are my questions:
– any specifics to consider when i import the AE-rendered files into PP?
– to replace/relink the footage is it as simple as right clicking > ‘relink’ or ‘replace with AE composition’ for the selected tracks in nested sequence)?

[Walter Soyka]

[Wolf Lawrence] “instead of highlight cam-1 tracks in the nested sequence and export only those, it seems the easiest/best way advised is to just import ALL noisy raw footage directly into AE, de-noise, render and export an intermediate file/codec with ‘Project Link’ option checked then go to PP and backup the PP project file.”

There are two workflows you might consider.

The first is as you describe — essentially a global, source-side correction. This gives you a lot of flexibility to change your edit, but you will ultimately spend a lot of time working over footage that you may never use.

The other option is to lock your cut, then deal with noise reduction after you edit. This is a little less flexible for re-edits, as you’ll have to re-do the noise reduction if you adjust editorial, but you’ll avoid spending time trying to rescue footage you’ll never use.

I don’t do multicam, so you probably want to do at least a small-scale test of the process before you take my advice.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Wolf Lawrence]

i have only 2 cams so worst case i render 2x what i need if i denoise all of it, but retain flexibility to re-edit anytime. presuming the machine can render all night and i have the hdd space i’ll try raw this time.

on the import of AE-rendered files back into PPro, do i do the last step of ‘replacing’ in the project pane by right clicking ‘replace footage…’ on each track? is that how easy it will be? thanks again.