Jim Arco
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After Effects Coins
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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I’ve had good results using the new detail-preserving upscale, located under the effects > distort menu.
Jim
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I’m pretty sure that the highlights and shadows sliders accomplish the same things.
Jim
Colorburst Video -
“…Video Level Coding to 0 – 255 instead of 16 – 235….”
I was referring to a Preference > Video System in Color Finesse. You show it in your second image.
I still can’t find for certain any reference about this, but it makes sense that 16-235 would change whatever video that is handled by Finesse.
Additional – the color bars generated inside of FCP are only absolutely accurate inside FCP (assuming that they are generated correctly.) So the idea is that “whatever was created on this system looked good with everything set to those color bars.” When you move the material out of FCP, you would then adjust whatever environment you were in so that the bars are correct.
The sequence of the seven color bars was chosen so that it runs through all seven possible combinations that use at least one of the three basic color components of green, red, and blue, with blue cycling on and off between every bar, red cycling on and off every two bars, and green on for the leftmost four bars and off for the rightmost three. The R, G, and B here are defined as completely saturated (from an NTSC standpoint.) I’m not sure you could ever save the image as any sort of compressed file, for instance, a jpeg, and have it be absolutely accurate when displayed.
BTW – It has been said that NTSC stands for Never Twice the Same Color by those of us who worked with it in analog form on a regular basis.
JIM
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SMPTE color bars is a television test pattern used where the NTSC video standard is common. IIRC, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) refers to this test pattern as Engineering Guideline EG1-1990. Even won an Emmy back in 2000 or so.
It is a very-precisely defined standard “owned” by the SMPTE, which is one reason it may be difficult to find. (Although I did find numerous references in google just now.) Devices to generate precise color bars used to be expensive rack-mounted hardware involving temperature-controlled ovens for the internal reference clock. My guess is that it can be implemented in a small chip these days.
You didn’t say where your color bars originate. AFAIK, neither After Effects nor Finesse has any provision to purposely generate color bars. You do get bars overlaid with the name of any missing footage, but I’ve never been sure how ‘correct’ they are.
So, if you are using a still image to create bars, then you might find that the original is not exact, or that whatever compression scheme used caused some variation from the standard. FYI – Premiere Pro does generate bars that look pretty accurate on my hardware scopes. Many camera manufacturers also create their own version of color bars that are very similar to SMPTE bars, but they are not called “SMPTE Color Bars” and might not exactly match the standard.
To answer you question: I’m not absolutely sure, but you may want to try setting Video Level Coding to 0 – 255 instead of 16 – 235.
Jim
Colorburst Video -
Thanks for the responses, guys.
In the interim, I was experimenting with intensity for each layer using opacity. But Darby’s method of Levels + lowering the Output White works better.
Not quite sure why it works better, but maybe I’ll spend some time with that after I get this project out the door. And maybe send off a feature request off to Adobe.
Jim
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Upper right corner would seem to be a good track point. Also, try tracking backwards from the end of the scene, or forwards and backwards directions from somewhere in the middle.
Sometimes I’ve had better luck tracking something else in the image. In your case, this might be the knuckle of the right thumb.
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As Dave says, Mocha is your friend here.
My understanding is that you are trying to track an 8mm film that has been transferred at 1920×1080. The graininess of the film, or noise of the transfer is compromising the track.
Assuming that you cannot reshoot, you may want to try tracking a noise-reduced version of the footage, then apply that tracking to the original. Alternatively, you could slightly blur a copy of the original when tracking. Another (rather cumbersome) suggestion is to stabilize the shot using AE’s Warp Stabilizer, composite the image into the frame, then reverse the stabilization.
There are several plug-ins (Digieffects, or Magic Bullet comes to mind) that can be used to simulate the look of different types of film stocks. At least one of the various noise-reduction plug-ins has/used-to-have the ability to match grain patterns to existing footage. If this is a no-budget production, there are numerous tutorials that suggest various ways to simulate an “8mm film look.”
Jim
Colorburst Video -
Robert,
Many thanks for the additional details. I had never seen footage that old in such excellent shape – I was quite impressed with the program material and the technical quality.
Congratulations on your excellent programming!
Jim
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Thanks you all for the responses.
I agree that it is likely 16mm, but I would love to have the tools and skills used in post. Remember that, whatever the source material, it is 50 years old. It is newreel film, meaning that it was intended to be quick-and-dirty and was processed as fast as possible in whatever conditions were in the lab when the film came through the door. Even film considered as important as this, stored in perfect conditions for 50 years, would show fading, stains, scratches, grain, and spots. In addition, there are some low-light color scenes in the show that would seriously challenge many of today’s cameras.
If anyone knows the techniques that were actually used for this program, I would really be interested to hear about them.
Jim
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SOME plug-in have been designed to only work in one cpu; the thinking is that a render-farm would need a licen$e for each cpu.
You may want to ask Trapcode if that is the case for Particular.
Jim