Removing text from an intro

[kingmob]

Hello, i'm new and yes, i used the search ;).
I'm just wondering if it is possible to remove text from a short movie. I have a 60 second intro that i want to use as a background for a dvd-menu, but the text (with actor's names etc.) is really in the way.
Since the text is white and the movie itself doesn't contain any white, i hoped it would be possible to tell Avisynth to somehow replace those whites with some guesswork. Ofcourse quality would be pretty low then, but that's not really a problem, since most of it will be blocked from view.
I looked at logo removers, but because it's changing text, i'm thinking that would be a lot of work, and the fades would cause troubles.

If someone has an idea, pls tell me.

[Didée]

Welcome to the forum, kingmob.

For static text, a logo remover really is the best choice. But doing so, it becomes more work if the text is changing, and insane work if the text is *moving*.

Once I did the following:

- create a mask by using the "white parts" of the clip
- create a 2nd clip overlaying BLACK onto those white parts
- then, use MaskTools:
--- "inpand().inpand()" for the white-text-clip --> (A)
--- "expand().expand()" for the black-text-clip --> (B)
--- average (A) and (B) --> (C)
- overlay (C) onto the original by using the initially created mask

Result was not perfect, but sufficient for my purpose at that time.

Perhaps this is enough for you to build a script. In any case, it's good training ;)
I've currently no time to set it up for you, sorry.


- Didée

[kingmob]

No need to say sorry, every help is welcome, and since i have little time on my hands myself, i fully understand ;).
I've known Avisynth for a while, but only since a short time i've really started using it. I just donwloaded the masktools plugin, so i'll start playing around with it this night.
If anyone else has a suggestion, the offer still stands ;).

[trevlac]

Here is something that might work.

http://neuron2.net/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=477

I have not looked at it, but if it works for you, do please tell us.

[kingmob]

I'm trying it now. It looks like it works pretty good, but it's buggy (the position values don't really work as they should) and most of all, it's extremely slow. For my 60 second clip Vdubmod has already estimated a time of 3 hours, and it's still rising!
But when it's finished, i'll post the results. The preview looked very promising.

[kingmob]

Well it doesn't really work :(. It seems it cannot detect the fade-in and so it removes the text the moment the fade-in stops. This means the text isn't always removed. Funnily enough it does work when i play the movie backwards, but then it has problems with the fade-out :rolleyes:.
Also, the removed text is sometimes almost indetectable and sometimes it's so obvious the text is better left in.
All in all the plugin has some potency, but now it's most of all slow :D. Following that link i noticed this one was released quite some time ago, so i'm guessing it's author hasn't looked at it since sadly. The idea of using the movement to guess the background is pretty good.

[edit] I made a mistake about the posting date. The plugin was just posted, my bad.