A short stabilization demo
 

I am currently doing some post work for a small indie film, and several scenes needed to be stabilized. The director was adamant on set about not wanting the feel of a tripod and banned them from the production. However, a few shots came out a bit too rough.

I put together this demo today to show what post stabilization could look like while keeping a somewhat organic and non-static feel...

Particulars:

Shoot offhand
Canon 5D
Lens is unknown

Software: Virtualdub
Filter: DeShaker v2.4
Params: Available upon request
(this filter is also notable because it deskews cameras with rolling shutters.)

YouTube - Stabilization Demo

HI PERRONE, do you think this stabilyzer would work with helicopter shaky footage?

Thx man

What kind of movie are u shooting?

I have never seen raw footage from a copter. If you have some, I could give it a try.

I got hired on in October to AD a twilight zone type of movie, but we lost the gaffer the week before production. So I filled in for him, did a little DP work, and tried to maintain my AD responsibilities. Let's just say I was BUSY!

Now, I am acting as colorist in post, and doing some cleanup of the footage as we go along (like stabilizing some of the handheld work).

It's a challenge, that's for sure. But I'm enjoying it tremendously.

So, does VD output a reduced resolution file to compensate?

I am a bit familiar with VirtualDub but never thought to use it for pro work. Does it support XDCAM EX?

How long does it take to render using the DeShaker?

Thanks

No, it does not output a reduced resolution file. However, since I knew I'd be doing the post, I asked for a 10% overscan when we were handheld so I'd have room to maneuver in post. Virtualdub has numerous filters that are up to spec for pro-work, and some things work better than my pro apps, including pulldown removal, resizing of footage (it has Lanczos resampling which is better than any NLE has natively), denoising is on par with NEAT Video but free, and the deskew/deshaker program is better than anything I've seen in any NLE. I've seen what AE has, and I think this is better.

Virtualdub supports .AVI files ONLY. Input and output. There is a hack to support .R3D files, but only with limited color space.

Deshaker takes a LOOOOOOONG time. There are numerous parameters to tweak the output and some of them make things really slow. Whereas most deshaker programs allow you to pick a couple of points for reference, I am able to pick as many as I like in a grid pattern. If I want pro level results, I do my 1920x1080 scan in a 10x10 pixel grid. Believe me, it's REALLY accurate.

Do you use this deshaker with Vegas?How much does it cost?

thx a lot

Vegas has nothing to do with the Deshaker. The program I use is called VirtualDub. Many people make "filters" for VirtualDub. Think of them like plug-ins for Vegas or Final Cut. Except, Virtualdub is free, and most of the plug-ins are free also.

Thx Perrone, so does Virtualdub handle HDV (m2t) files?
Is this deshaker free also?

thx a lot Perrone

Yes, Deshaker is free. No Virtualdub does not ingest mpeg files. It's .AVI or nothing.

You can get an MPEG-2 plugin for Virtualdub at MPEG-2 plugin for VirtualDub

You know I forget about that thing. Thanks for reminding me... Not that I plan on bringing in any mpeg2 files, but it's good to know anyway. Actually, I wonder if it can read native XDCamEX files... THAT might be worth some investigation!

[Update]

Nope, can't read XDCamEX... would have been SUCH a win.

Perrone:

I have done some DeShaker with my 5D footage, but would love more info on the parameters you are using to get there with this DSLR footage.

Can you post some screen grabs of the setting screen ?

Easier said than done. While Pass 1 params are fairly fixed, pass 2 is where the meat of the matter comes in. And those setting change drastically depending on what you are trying to do with the footage.

So for Pass 1 this is what I do:

Video Output: Motion Vectors

Block size: 10 pixels
Scale: Full
Use Pixels: All
Color: RGB

Everything else is default except the last option which I change from from 15% to between 3 and 5% depending on the video. In a very dark scene where there is detail in the shadows just uncheck it.

On Pass 2 I set my edge compensation to none. I do this because I want to control the framing back in the NLE. The software will center the image for me, but I get to control where I want to position my frame, and the choices I make might be different than what the software wants to do.

If I am correcting VERY small movements, I will use the previous frame info to fill in the black frames. Usually I don't do this because I want them to be black so its easier to correct in the NLE

Extra Zoom factor I leave at 1. I don't want the program zooming in my frame for me.

The Motion Smoothness is where things get interesting. The larger the numbers, the more smooth the video. I generally use smoothness setting around 1000 for all but zoom, which is kept a 1. If you zoom during your shooting, this would have to be changed.

The max correction limit is where you make tradeoffs. The larger the numbers, the smoother your video will be. But if there are large corrections (like you fell down while filming) then your screen will go black while it tries to compensate for that radical motion. Small numbers tend to only allow small corrections.

There are three axis represented here. Actually 4 if you count the zoom. Since I don't zoom, I only deal with three. And you need to look at how your unstability comes about. If you are pushing a wagon down the street with the camera on it, changes are you aren't going to need much horizontal correction. But you will need quite a bit of vertical, and maybe a hair of rotational. If you are holding the camera in your palm, you will need correction in all 3 axis.

The first pass takes a LONG time. Especially if you change the block size to 10 like I do. I find that doing that allows for much finer control and gives less jello effect to the video.

The stabilizer works best of small organic movements. Quite like a steadicam. Heavy footfalls will jar the video and be hard to correct. Swimming motions are also problematic. But overall, the program does a marvelous job. Stabilizing something with a soft background REALLY looks filmic. The more detail you hold onto in the background, the more it tells on you.

Perrone:

Thanks for the in depth explanation. That gives me a feel of where to work on things. I was definitely dealing with some jelloish results....

One other thing. Over on the left where it asks if your camera has a rolling shutter. It asks you to put in the amount of correction. I experimented a while with this and came to conclude that 68% looks very nice for the EX1 and 75% looks nice on the 5D. You'll have to play around a bit to find good settings if you have a different camera.

>> denoising is on par with NEAT Video but free

Slightly OT, but which denoiser(s) do you recommend, Perrone? I presently use the VDub version of Neat Video but am always interested in alternatives....

I typically use the MSU Denoiser. It's slow but extremely effective.

Wanted to update this thread a bit...

Since fooling around with the settings, I've now settled on a default of 3000 for the smoothness settings. I've experimented up to 5000 for things I wanted very steady, and I understand some folks have gone up to 15k and above. So experiment and see what works for you.

Deshaker
 

I installed the Deshaker plugin then I imported an AVI, set my parameters, made two passes and saved as an AVI. But my finished video still has the white motion tracking dots all over it and the numbers reading out in the lower left of the screen.

What'd I do wrong?

Ah yes....

When you make the first pass through the video, make sure the filter is set to PASS 1. When it finishes that pass, you have to bring the video back to the beginning (just hit the rewind key at the bottom) and go back into the filter and change it to pass 2. Otherwise it just redoes Pass 1 again.

I click PASS 1 and then click the >0, the motion tracking dots appear and the clip plays to the end. Back to filters, Deshaker, click PASS 2, rewind then another >0 and again it plays with the white tracking dots. Save As AVI, it renders out and the new file appears on the desktop. That file still has the white motion dots when I play it as well as the ticker in the bottom left with zoom, pan Y and rotate info. And NO motion smoothing has occurred.

If I look at Virtualdub, in the B window, the original file says "This frame was not processed in pass 1. And nothing will play. Black screen There's also a yellow box in the right corner of the B window saying "No previous frame to match on".

You are definitely doing something wrong... The Second pass should show no white dots in the output screen. So when you click "OK" on pass 2, it should take you back to the filters menu. Does it say (pass 2) at the end of the line for the deshaker filter?

It take me a small dialog box showing input, output, and filter. the boxes are both checked.
1280x720 (rgb32) (?) (24fps) Deshaker v2.4 (pass 1)
1280x730 (rgb32) (?) (24fps) Deshaker v2.4 (pass 2)

Yes, the second one shows 730, not 720,

I click OK and the dialog box disappears. Then I click the <0 and it plays out and the resulting file is a snow storm of motion dots. Red dots too.

SAVE AS results in another snow storm.

You're KILLING me smalls!

Wait a second. You have TWO filters there in that dialog box?? There should only be one.

It shows the first pass and second pass.

I even tried reinstalling vdub. It does make a nice snowstorm, easier than using AE.

Put up a screen shot of the filter settings, and the little dialog when get when you click OK on the filter settings.

Here's some grabs, hope the text isn't too small. Getting really good at the snow storm effect.

You have two copies of the filter running. Delete one of them and your problems will go away.

In a couple of the grabs, yes, I had two windows of Vdub open, but I've tried it every which way, and cannot get it to work. I deleted the zip folder DeShaker came in, didn't change anything either, snowstorm on the West Coast.

Question: it's the >0 button that applies the deshaker filter? And you literally make two runs on the file, pass one and pass two? Then save as. Why isn't this working!

Brian, listen to me....

Open VDub
Open your unstabilized video
Add a SINGLE COPY OF THE DESHAKER FILTER (you have two of them loaded)
Enter your setting for both pass 1 and pass two IN THE SINGLE COPY of the filter
Click the big pass 1 button at the top, and do the >0
Rewind the video
Open the filter and click on the pass 2 button. Click ok
Click the >0 again

Save the new AVI....

You are not seeing the results you want because you have two separate copies of the filter loaded and the top one is always doing Pass 1.

Okay I got it, you're right, two filters were being applied against each other, here's the part I was missing, after configuring for the second pass, on my version you have UNCHECK the pass one box, they'll both appear and the default has them both checked.

You are configuring for the second pass incorrectly. When the first pass is done, give me the EXACT steps you are taking to do the second pass.

menu>video>filters>add>deshaker>ok>click Pass 2>ok>uncheck pass 1>ok(>0)>save as

Yep,

That's where the error is.

Menu> Double-click Deshaker > Click Pass 2 button > Ok > ">0"

You are adding a second filter to do the second pass, and that is unnecesary. You use the same filter to do both passes.

Thanks so much for the help Perrone, you're a true asset to DVinfo.

I am testing out a very small file, 78.1MB video file, deshaked and save the output to larith AVI codec resulting a 1.18GB that is a huge file. I am thinking, hack, it better just try to shoot good video to start with. Avoid this insane huge file and take a long time to deshake it.

Yep, and yet people still shook shaky video. And camera manufacturers still install image stabilizers in lenses, and people still refuse to use a tripod or other camera support.

So...


BTW, if you think Lagarith makes large files, try uncompresed HD. When you encode uncompressed HD, you get a good sense of how much data your camera codec is throwing away so that you can fit an hour onto a little card.

I feel stupid asking this question, but I have scoured the net and just want this stated to me in black and white. Is Vdub Deshaker available for Mac platforms or not? If not I suppose this could be a reason to install Windows?

It is not. There are numerous free utilities like this on the PC platform that are not available on Mac. Some cost money, others are simply not available.

OK, thanks. So is it compatible with Win 7 or do I need to go Vista?