[Jared Peace]

Thanks for the reply.

Generally you don’t need the 59.94 step when you’re just applying effects, but when you’re compositing different elements into a shot with all sorts of precise keyframed masks moving in time around various foreground, middle ground, and background layers, then working on interlaced footage doesn’t provide accurate results.

Jared
https://www.jaredpeace.com

[Jared Peace]

Thanks David – I was hoping you might respond; your answers on the forum are always clearly explained, well-informed, and patient.

I described my objectives in another reply in this thread though, and don’t want to double-post.

I’ve spent the last few days experimenting with different conversion methods, and it seems to me that the best way to convert from nonsquare to square is to do it in the up-res process from 480p to 720p. That looks pretty good.

Jared
https://www.jaredpeace.com

[Jared Peace]

Ha ha, yeah I kind of specialize in doing things the convoluted way. But here’s the goal. I need to convert 29.97 (60i) to 23.976p. I need to upres from 720×480 DV to 1280×720 HDV. And eventually I need to convert from non-square pixels to square pixels for the web. So those are three very different processes and there are a number of different ways to do them.

I’ve run many, MANY tests on all of these conversions, and the reason I’m converting to 24p first is because interlaced footage produces a better, smoother result when changing the frame rate and interpolating new frames. Then I’m up-rezing with Magic Bullet’s Instant HD Advanced plug-in, which does quite well with progressive frames on input.

But converting from 720×480 nonsquare pixels to 640×480 square pixels is EXTREMELY destructive to the image. It’s not totally noticeable at 100% scale, but if you zoom in to 400% or especially 800%, the degradation in the image is… basically so bad it boggles me. Totally unacceptable. I’ll maybe post some pictures, if the forum has that option.

I wasn’t aware that HDV is nonsquare pixels. I suppose I’m not so much converting to HDV specifically as I am an HDTV format. I’m under the impression that HDTVs and HD projectors all use square pixels, and that if I upres to 720p for HD display, then I want to switch to square pixels. Not so?

Jared
https://www.jaredpeace.com

[Jared Peace]

Thanks for the response.

Motion blur is off. Fields are properly interpreted and I’ve also tried running the Wiggler effect on a 59.94fps comp with fields fully separated. No change. The shot itself is static so the blur is definitely being added by Wiggler. Also the footage is uncompressed 8-bit, so this isn’t a problem of recompression.

It really just appears to me that the Wiggler effect adds a slight amount of blur as part of its functioning. It’s fairly subtle so it could be that most people just accept it/don’t notice it, but it is there.

Thinking about how fields are processed, I actually can’t imagine how horizontal position could be adjusted by any program or effect WITHOUT creating blur. Magic, maybe. I was kind of hoping someone on the COW could send some magic my way.

Jared
https://www.jaredpeace.com