The power of Avisynth: restoring old 8mm films.

[videoFred]

Originally Posted by Gargamel

That question about a "new" script was just referring a future update Fred mentioned in a post, on 10th November, maybe with the last Autolevels plugin.

Ah yes, now I see. Well.. you can do it yourself. Just replace the old autolevels.dll with the new one, and add some of the new parameters if you need them. But Frustum is still working on it, there's a thread about it:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=128585&page=4


Fred.

[Gargamel]

Sorry, my english was (is) not very clear... ;-)
I'll do as you say. Thank you for the link.

One thing more: In the first times, I intended to use the script, only to cure a few Super 8 footages (those which were a little too unstable and/or "dirty"). But I quickly saw the obvious improvement, and now ALL the family films I transfer to burn DVD, even the best ones, are cleaned and stabilized, trying to set the corrections "just as I have to do" for each reel, sometimes each take, for as John said "no two reels are the same, and each is going to require custom tweaking".

[Logar]

I need help. I would like to improve the quality of my Super 8 films. I followed the "film restoration script by videoFred". Intalled Avisynth
and other programs for it. Changed only two parameters in -> play speed=20 and numerator=30 because I record my films in NTSC with 1/60, I can
run my .avi file in VirtualDub. Unfortunatelly when I want to run the restoration script I got the following: Avisynth open failure: I don't
know what "stab_reference" means.
MT command commented out with # because my CPU is AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3500+ 2.2GHZ
Please advice me how can I run this Avisynth script without error. BTW is it any chache to improve on this film: http://www.youtube.com/svaradi#p/a/u/1/w740GzJYO1c ?
Thanks.

[johnmeyer]

Originally Posted by Logar

I got the following: Avisynth open failure: ... BTW is it any chache to improve on this film:

I can't help you with the AVISynth error. Someone else will have to do that.

However, if you want to use the script, you won't get good results with the film you linked to. I downloaded your video from YouTube, and it looks like you used a 100 fps camera to capture the film from your projector. There are many, many duplicate frames where no motion occurs. These must be eliminated using an inverse telecine script (IVTC using TFM and TDecimate). In addition, even after you eliminate the duplicates, you still have some ghost frames that result from using the video camera to capture film from a projector. You may still be able to get results from Fred's script, but these ghost frames will probably reduce the ability to get good sharpness, and may fool the motion estimation algorithms.

[Logar]

Originally Posted by johnmeyer

These must be eliminated using an inverse telecine script (IVTC using TFM and TDecimate).

I see an IVTC filter in VirtualDub this will working for me? I do not know what is TFM and TDecimate. Sorry, I just start to learn this film restoration process.
Thanks for the advice.

[Logar]

I forget to explain how I captured this film. I used my videocamera setting exposure 1/60 sec. in NTSC system. Projector set on 20fsp. After I edit this film in iMovie: slow it down 15%,flipped, crop, rotate. Maybe the ghost frames came from the slowing down the film?? BTW in VirtualDub I see 7127 frames playing time 3:57:804 this is 29.97 fps as standard NTSC. Should I change something in this workflow order??
What program determine: "used a 100 fps camera" ?
Thanks.

[johnmeyer]

The 100 fps is what GSpot reported on the MP4 that I downloaded from YouTube. From what you say, you just used a normal video camera, so I don't know how the file got set to 100 fps. That actually isn't important. What IS important is that there are a LOT of duplicated fields and frames. If you want to use Videofred's script, you have to remove these. The IVTC in VD isn't useful: you have to use the TIVTC.dll plugin for AVISynth and then use these two functions:

tfm(display=false)
tdecimate(mode=0)

However, for your video, you will have to use settings other than the defaults, because you have a very non-standard cadence.

[videoFred]

Originally Posted by Logar

Unfortunatelly when I want to run the restoration script I got the following: Avisynth open failure: I don't
know what "stab_reference" means.

This means you have disabled or perhaps deleted the first line of the stabilisation code. Why have you done this?

Fred.

[Logar]

I have to command out this line because it contain MT_binarize also. I do not have multi core CPU Ok I break the line before MT_binarize. Now the next error: Avisynth open failure: I don't know what "result5" means
Is it possible to run this script with single core CPU computer? How?
Thanks.

[Logar]

I comment out. Sorry for my mistake.

[um3k]

MT_binarize isn't for multithreading, it is part of MaskTools. Leave it enabled.

[Logar]

Thank you very much! Finaly Avisynth is running without error. The result is not satisfy me yet, but at least some progress. Now come the "fine tuning".
Thanks again.

[Logar]

One more question: I see now in the VirtualDub right panel "Result3: autolevels, manual color correction" What happened with Result4 and Result5?? Maybe my script is working only partially?? Any idea how can I get more details from the "dark" exposure parts?
Thanks

[johnmeyer]

Originally Posted by Logar

One more question: I see now in the VirtualDub right panel "Result3: autolevels, manual color correction" What happened with Result4 and Result5?? Maybe my script is working only partially?? Any idea how can I get more details from the "dark" exposure parts?
Thanks

You get different results by changing the Results parameter.

result="result3"

will give you #RESULT3: AUTOLEVELS, MANUAL COLOR CORRECTIONS

If you put an "S" in front of the number, you can see both the original and the corrected version side-by-side.

Result5 is a special test clip. Don't use it.

To get a brighter clip, use Results1 or Results3, since they both have Autolevels. You can then brighten the image further by setting the "gamma" parameter to something other than 1.0. If you use manual levels, you will probably find settings in the 1.05 - 1.20 are all you'll need. With Autolevels, you may need to use larger amounts.

[videoFred]

@ Johnmeyer: thank you for the support John.

Originally Posted by Logar

One more question: I see now in the VirtualDub right panel "Result3: autolevels, manual color correction"

It's not the VirtualDub right panel. It's the left panel. The split screen is done by the script.

What happened with Result4 and Result5??

I have added a manual, Logar. Please read it.

Fred.

[Logar]

[QUOTE=videoFred;

I have added a manual, Logar. Please read it.

Fred.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for your support. I was so eager to start the project I forget to read BOTH files. I read only the installation help.
Now I read Film_restoring_help.txt also.

I still do not know how to save .avi file with the result ONLY panel in it?
Do you know any similar program for Mac OS X?? My MacBook Pro is much faster than my windows computers.

[johnmeyer]

Originally Posted by Logar

I still do not know how to save .avi file with the result ONLY panel in it?

Please read my last post. I already answered that question! Repeating myself: remove the "S" from the result:

result="resultS1"

gives you both the before and after video in the same frame;

result="result1"

gives you the "result ONLY panel," as you described it.

[Undead Sega]

Originally Posted by johnmeyer

It is a telephoto lens, designed for projecting to a screen a long way away, like in an auditorium. There is no such thing, I don't think, as a "macro" lens for a projector.

You put the video camera about four inches from the lens, which is prior to the focal point. This means that the image is upside down (it becomes right side up after it crosses the focal point). If you get the correct lens, you can fill the video frame, and will get a sharp image edge-to-edge. I contacted Roger Evans (inventor of the Workprinter) after I accidentally discovered this when trying to adapt his Workprinter aerial lens to my home-made setup. I just happened to have purchased a projector on eBay that had been used for projection in a school auditorium, so it had a telephoto lens, rather than the shorter lens used for projection in a classrooom.

Hi again, sorry for bringing this up but I am still liking to restore my 16mm animated film reel that's faded red, but from re-reading our past posts I believe there was a misunderstanding.

What I was trying to say regarding the lens, I was merely talking about the lens on the camera and not the projector, thus wouldnt one remove the projector's lens so one can directly see the film plane, and use a macro lens on the camera itself to record the film that's projecting in the film plane. Not a macro lens on the projector which lead you to say that there isnt one to your knowlege, this is where I think the confusion was.

And once again, would an Elmo 16-CL projector be a good choice for a project like this or similar to yours?

Anyways I hope that clears some things up, and I hope to hear back.

[johnmeyer]

There is no way to focus on the 16mm frame without using a lens in the projector. Just put a frame of 16mm film on a table and see if you can get it to fill the entire frame on your video camera. I don't think you can do it.

I don't know anything about the Elmo 16-CL, so I can't help you there.

[Pieter8mm]

Hello everyone, first time posting and a little scared to join the 8mm-grandfathers. It all started by Fred vimeo example's for me, and I was blowing away seeing the results by the script from Freddy!!

A few questions
Wy are the output avi files so big?
input file avi 3Gb and the output file from the script is around 30Gb.

Pieter