Hi-quality Color Conversion

[Dragoneer]

Since my previous post has a lot of information and explanation, some of which may not seem pertinent, I will point out that there are three questions that were being asked.

1. I still couldn't get wmv to run in Playback mode and want to know if it's because I don't have the correct codec(s) installed. I already had the Windows 9 Encoder Series installed as recommended.

2. When using a avi file, moving the sliders in Picture Properties had no effect-no video is present to see a change, and even when they were moved there was no correction. So, I want to know if it is because I'm doing something incorrectly, or it's a because I still haven't found the correct codec(s). This is related to question 1 because if finding the correct codec is the solution to question 1, I want to be able to make the slider option work.

3. Will the XVID codec make a difference between the "After" result (which doesn't use it) for quality, speed and file size, and having the XVID codec installed? I kept reading in my research on numerous sites that it is a MAC codec.

EDIT: I did end up installing it and ran several tests and could not see a difference between having it installed, and not installed.

[Southstorm]

Do you have ffdshow set to play wmv files? Goto ffdshow video decoder, codecs, look down the list for windows media video. Does it say disabled, or wmv9? Click on those words to change them.

[Guest]

3. Will the XVID codec make a difference between the "After" result (which doesn't use it) for quality, speed and file size, and having the XVID codec installed? I kept reading in my research on numerous sites that it is a MAC codec.

EDIT: I did end up installing it and ran several tests and could not see a difference between having it installed, and not installed. XviD is obviously not MAC only. Where in heaven did you get that idea?

Suppose you start with raw video. It is huge because it is not compressed. You now apply XviD. XviD is a codec; it compresses. It cannot increase quality, only reduce it. It will reduce the size of the video file, however; that's what it is for. Regarding speed, it will take some CPU time to decode XviD, but it is not a practical problem for modern CPUs; you'll have no problem playing your file at its frame rate.

If you really meant what is the difference when using XviD instead of WMV, I believe you've already been told that WMV compresses better. So, if you choose the same compressed file size, it may look better than XviD. Again, you shouldn't have any speed issues with modern CPUs.

And just in case you weren't aware of this, just *installing* XviD won't change anything. You have to choose it as your output codec and thereby use it to encode your video. :)

[Dragoneer]

Southstorm, thanks for the info. I enabled all of the wmv9 settings in ffdshow but I still couldn’t get the Playback mode to work. I then decided to open WMP>Tools>Options>File Types tab, and unchecked Windows Media File, Windows Media Audio File, Windows Media Video, to force it to use ffdshow. (I tried this earlier before being instructed to enable in ffdshow). Still no luck.

Then, I used MPC (which I also tried earlier before enabling ffdshow) to play the wmv file and finally it showed the ffdshow icon in the System Tray. I proceeded with the instructions and was able to use Picture Properties etc. Disabling the items in WMP somehow forced MPC to use ffdshow but still not WMP. That’s ok, as long as one works. I must add that I rechecked the settings in WMP and now the icon is still available. Strange.

I was under the impression that the Playback Mode would allow me to compress & save while keeping it as a wmv once the correction was made, but it appears that this is ONLY for watching the file in its corrected state and that I’ll have to use the http://teek.info/guides/video/x264encode.html link as suggested.

Even if I can‘t use it to save and correct, it’s still a valuable technique to know, and will still use it for viewing other files. Thanks Neuron2!

Next item. I used the Xvid codec (thanks Neuron2 for the info about having to enable it) and found that it didn’t perform as well as the “After” configuration I posted.

Lastly, I will answer a question that I didn’t get around to fully answering asked of me in an earlier post by Neuron2: Are you sure you need WMV? Because this is not an easy thing and you've already demonstrated that you are at an early phase of the encoding learning curve. Can you live with DivX? If not, what exactly is your end goal and why?

Answer: I have several files that need to be color corrected and plan on making some compilation DVD’s by joining the files, making chapters etc. using the various programs I have. I wasn’t sure if an avi file would work, but I finished testing and I’m pleased with the result.

I hope that this thread has been a help to other Newbies like myself and didn’t cause them too much confusion in the process.

And, in closing, to the guys that helped out, I hope you haven’t pulled out all of your hair (if you had any to begin with- I’m bald ) from some of the confusion caused by my ignorance.

Take care & if I have anymore issues…in the immortal words of Arnold, I’LL BE BOCK!!

[Guest]

Answer: I have several files that need to be color corrected and plan on making some compilation DVD’s by joining the files, making chapters etc. using the various programs I have. I wasn’t sure if an avi file would work, but I finished testing and I’m pleased with the result. You need to encode in MPEG2 to make DVDs. You should go straight from your Avisynth script to your MPEG2 encoder. Do the color correction in your script. Don't make an intermediate AVI or WMV file, as you will lose quality.

[Dragoneer]

I tried, but can’t figure out how to do that. I used the command line given to me for Notepad, DirectShowSource("TPT 6.wmv") TPT 6 is the file name of course, which is saved as a .avs extension. The only option I see to save a file via VirtualDub is File>Save as AVI...and a few other options under the same heading that have nothing to do with MPEG2.

I even went into ffdshow and enabled all the MPEG2 settings-first to libavcodec, then libmpeg and then tried to do it the way I've been all along, File>Save as AVI.... I got an error: MPEG ½ does not support 21845/911 fps. I clicked ok then got the error message: Cannot start video compression: An unknown error occurred (may be corrupt data) (error code-100).

[Southstorm]

Feed your avs script into HCEnc for DVD compliant mpeg2.

[Dragoneer]

I tried finding HCEnc for DVD compliant mpeg2 and couldn't find anything. I'm sorry, but I haven't a clue about how to do that.

[Guest]

I tried finding HCEnc for DVD compliant mpeg2 and couldn't find anything. I'm sorry, but I haven't a clue about how to do that. This "I'm clueless, help me" act is getting a little old. Put "HCEnc" into Google and the first link is the one you want. Ever heard of Google? :)

[Dragoneer]

I looked into the link you gave, but it is quite an in-depth solution for someone like me that has a limited amount of time to devote to learning and applying it. I've already spent a considerable amount of hours with the previous discussions in this thread.
Recently my built-in microphone stopped working due to some unknown software issue. Since the computer shop used a different hard drive & it worked fine, the only solution was to do a System Recovery.
My problem is that now for some reason I can't get Vdub/AviSynth to compress any files. I assume there must be something I'm overlooking, something I haven't enabled, or maybe a codec I haven't re-installed since the recovery.
I'm using exactly the same settings I painstakingly outlined earlier in this thread. After trying to save as Avi I get an error message. The error message reads:

Virtual Dub Error-THIS IS THE HEADING OF THE BOX

Cannot start video compression
An unknown error occurred (may be corrupt data)
(error code-100)

[jeffy]

Adding to what was already posted by Southstorm:

ffdshow -> Video decoder configuratation -> on the left Codecs
there are three lines:
WMV1/7
WMV2/8
WMV3/9
VC-1

Color correction in Picture properies works for me only when libavcodec is selected. You have to put the checkmark next to "Picture Properties". And yes, it for watching/playback only, in real time.

In order to have the WMV9 codecs working in VirtualDub you have to install this WMV9 VCM package:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0C99C648-5800-4AA3-A2FE-3DE948689DB8&displaylang=en
or get it here (mirror at free-codecs.com):
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/WMV9_VCM

BEWARE, as neuron2 said, you can't play WMV videos on a standard DVD player.

Regarding your -100 error, try reinstalling AviSynth. If still no joy, reinstall DivX codec.

Steep learning curve for MPEG-2 conversion with some color tweaking:
add one line to your text file something.avs:
Tweak(sat=0.75)

and save it under a new name, eg. corrected.avs and play it in Media Player Classic.

More info and examples:
http://avisynth.org/oldwiki/index.php?page=Tweak

Get DVD Flick, which is able to create the compliant DVD video files and is free:
http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?groupname=dvdflick&filename=dvdflick_setup_1.2.2.1.exe&use_mirror=kent

Install it, run it, click Add title, select corrected.avs file, click Open, then click Edit title, select the tab Audio tracks, click the button Add, select your original WMV file and then its audio track, click Accept, select the tab General, confirm your settings and click Accept. The line at the bottom says where on the hard drive the DVD video will be stored. Click Create DVD. The resulting files can be burned eg. with ImgBurn
http://imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

[Dragoneer]

jeffy, thanks a lot! You give excellent instructions and a great direct link to the WMV9 VCM codec which I installed. Now, about getting my problem taken care of. I re-installed AviSynth & DivX codec but still no luck. I decided to reinstall ffdshow & then noticed I had a different older version (ffdshow-rev866_20070202) installed than before the System Recovery. I reinstalled the newer version (ffdshow-rev1860_20080215) & enabled all of the AVIS settings (something I don't think I did before the Sys. Rec.) at the beginning of the installation. So thankfully it now compresses again and I worked on numerous small files and a few large ones.
My next task is to continue with the other part of your instructions, MPEG-2 conversion-something I was very interested in doing, but figured it was going to cause too much grief and wear out my welcome, so I left it alone.
I will get back with my results.

Thanks a lot for your help, it is greatly appreciated!

Dragoneer

[Southstorm]

You're certainly not wearing out your welcome. It's not alway easy to diagnose problems thru the forum, we all just do the best we can.

[Dragoneer]

Thanks Southstorm, I'm glad to hear that. I've been busy all week, but I'll try to finish the task this weekend that jeffy outlined for me.

[Dragoneer]

Steep learning curve is right! I'm still trying to make some progress with the little time I have with figuring out the MPEG-2 conversion. For now, I would like to know what the script is for working on a MPEG-2 file since at this point I'm still using WinDVD Creator (see first post) to join files which converts it to MPEG-2, & Super DVD Creator for making chapters and the DVD. The main reason I want to do this is to save space by using VDub to compress it.
For example, a new issue I have now is a huge amount of small wmv 1 min clips totaling about 300MB for each complete scene. They don't need color correction, but need to be compressed after being converted to MPEG-2 to save space because once joined they're about 2.75 GB. I've tried finding the script to import MPEG-2, but no such luck! If the quality is reduced noticeably after compressing, instead I'll just join them, make the DVD, and then delete the uncompressed file before doing the others. However, I would prefer to have 1 joined file as a backup for re-editing in the future, and in case something happened to the DVD I can do it again, saving time in both cases.

By the way, I'm also having trouble with the DVD compliant script. I tried what I found, but it didn't work. I haven't installed DVD Flick, or ImgBurn yet because I don't think I've reached the stage yet to apply any of it. Would the programs I already have installed do the same thing? Again, please see the first post for a list of pertinent programs I have installed.

[Southstorm]

Dragoneer,

Now that you are starting to get a workflow figured out, can you outline the steps you're taking, 1 by 1, then perhaps we can be of more assistance. For example:

1. Input file type...
2. convert to...using "this" program with "these" settings.
and so on.

[Dragoneer]

I'm using DirectShowSource("c:\folder\myclip.mpg", fps=25) as the script template to import the MPEG-2 file generated from WinDVD Creator. I found this template from the link

http://avisynth.org/oldwiki/index.php?page=Tweak given by jeffy. I made several 3 min. trial runs changing the fps rate in the script because at first the video played back too fast and the audio was off.

I tinkered around until I got it really close by changing it to 10. I put the file in Super to get the framerate and it showed it as 29.970. I'm assuming that the correct video to audio synch must be a multiple of 3 since the audio is off only by a millisecond.

The codec setting I'm using to compress the file is the ffdshow setting Video>Compression>ffdshow Video Codec>.MPEG-4/XVID/One pass quantizer. That is the one I've been using since the settings I posted some time ago.

For some reason the video compression isn't as low as I hoped for. The time estimated to complete the compression is 30 min. not worth the 1.2GB result. Unless someone points out a step I missed or different codec to use, I won't be using this method to compress the MPEG-2 files.

The files were originally MPEG 1 (as shown by Super) before being joined. I even installed the DGMPGDec package as suggested. but it doesn't appear that it can compress the file. I'm still learning how to use it. It also appears that it is geared more toward VOB files than MPEG-2 files which I'll be delving into later.

[Southstorm]

First: Use MediaInfo (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en) on your ORIGINAL clip to verify framerate.

If I understand correctly, your original files are Mpeg1, and you are using WinDVD to join them in mpeg2 format?

You can join these in an AviSynth script, for example:

DirectshowSource(clip1.mpg) + DirectshowSource(clip2.mpg) + DirectshowSource(clip3.mpg)

[Dragoneer]

Southstorm, the answer is yes to your understanding of the MPEG 1 files and WinDVD Creator. Sadly though, I can't get the script to work. I installed MediaInfo and this is what the reading states:

General : G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME.mpg
Format : MPEG-PS at 961 Kbps
Length : 7 MiB for 59s 993ms

Video #0 : MPEG Video at 767 Kbps
Aspect : 352 x 240 (1.467) at 29.970 fps

Audio #0 : MPEG Audio at 128 Kbps
Infos : 2 channels, 44.1 KHz

This is what I did. I used your template as follows:

DirectshowSource(NAME OF FILE.mpg) + DirectshowSource(NAME OF FILE.mpg) + DirectshowSource(NAME OF FILE.mpg) and got the following error message:

VirtualDub Error

Avisynth open failure:
Script error: expected a , or)
(G:\NAME OF FOLDER\NAME OF FILE.avs, Line 1, column 29)

What's wrong? :confused:


P.S. Please let me know if I am correct in assuming there is no limit to the amount of clips that can be joined. Most of these clips that need to made into one file have over 50 clips.

[Southstorm]

AviSynth doesn't do word wrap, so if your script lines span more than 1 line, make sure to put a \ at the end of each line.

For example:
AVISource("d:\capture.00.avi") + \
AVISource("d:\capture.01.avi") + \
AVISource("d:\capture.02.avi")

[Dragoneer]

Is it possible to join MPEG files using VDub/Avisynth? Am I doing something wrong? I tried to add / at the end of the MPEG script but I still get the error message. It appears the last example given is for AVI

files and I haven't tried it on AVI files since at the moment I'm dealing with MPEG files. By the way, is "capture" just an example, or is this something that needs to be in the script for some reason?

I even tried to add + to the template, DirectShowSource("c:\folder\myclip.mpg", fps=25)

This is the script I used: DirectShowSource("G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME.mpg", fps=29.970) + DirectShowSource("G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME.mpg", fps=29.970)+\
DirectShowSource("G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME.mpg", fps=29.970)

It only imported the first clip.

[Southstorm]

Syntax is very important in AviSynth. Make sure you check out the manual for other syntax rules

For your application, your script should look like this:

DirectShowSource("G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME.mpg", fps=29.970) + \
DirectShowSource("G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME.mpg", fps=29.970) + \
DirectShowSource("G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME.mpg", fps=29.970)

[Southstorm]

As far as your Xvid encoding goes, here is a very helpful thread: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=16935

[Dragoneer]

Thanks Southstorm, the script works. I will check out the info on the XVID link you gave.

A word to the other Newbies like myself:

IF YOU TRY TO EDIT/COMPRESS A FILE(S) VIA AVISYNTH/VDUB, MAKE SURE IT IS THE ORIGINAL AND NOT ONE YOU'VE RUN THROUGH ANOTHER PROGRAM AS I DID

TO APPEND/JOIN THE FILES WITH WINDVD CREATOR.

The odds are that the video and audio will be out of synch, and the possiblity the video may not run at the exact speed of the original even though it may appear

that it is.


P.S. Wish there were a magical program that can repeat the 50+ script lines for the files while adding the following number automatically as each file name does

have a sequential number. Now that would be cool! :)

[J_Darnley]

Everyone has that program. It is called cmd.exe Run something like:

for /L %A in (0,1,49) do echo DirectShowSource^("G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME_%A.mpg", fps=29.970^) + \>> avisynth.avs

And then just remove the final + \ and all will be fine. It would be better to use DGIndex and DGDecode for MPEG-1/2 files.

[Dragoneer]

Not sure exctly how to do that. Am I supposed to type cmd.exe in Run located in the Start Menu? Where am I supposed to enter the script? I entered cmd.exe into Run and it

opened the black box. I didn't want to type anything in there until I make sure if anything is supposed to be entered in there, and if so, EXACTLY how it is to be entered for fear it
might screw up my computer.

[Southstorm]

To be more specific, you would create a text file with the extension "BAT" and you then run that file from the CMD.EXE window. You are creating whats called a Batch file. Another side topic to research in your spare time...

[J_Darnley]

No, you don't need a batch file to run this. If you do want a batch file then you need to change % to %%.

You almost had it. Open up a command prompt window by Start -> Run -> cmd -> OK, you can also just press Win Key + R. Now you can just type in the command above replacing the numbers above with the correct ones. It goes (start,increment,end). If the files with numbers less then 10 have a leading zero then you will need to do it in two stages. E.g.
for /L %A in (0,1,9) do echo DirectShowSource^("G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME_0%A.mpg", fps=29.970^) + \>> avisynth.avs
for /L %A in (10,1,49) do echo DirectShowSource^("G:\FOLDER NAME\FILE NAME_%A.mpg", fps=29.970^) + \>> avisynth.avs

Don't forget the ^ before the brackets, if you leave them out it won't work. (Technically, they are used to escape the brackets which are used to run multiple commands) Use the correct paths to the files and then use the correct path for the script you want to put it in. If you want spaces in the script file name the you need to quote it like: "X:\Path to folder\avisynth.avs" the quotation marks are needed so that it treats it as a whole file name.

If you still can't work it out, tell me the exact paths and the first and last file names you need and I will give you the command which you can then copy and then paste in the cmd window by right clicking.

You can screw your computer up using the command line but it is a lot harder than with the graphical interface because if you don't know what you're doing, you can't do anything.

[Dragoneer]

This is the script template for appending mpeg1 files with sequential numbers, for example Dog-01, Dog-02, as provided by J_Darnley who helped me figure out this process.

for /L %A in (1,1,9) do echo DirectShowSource^("G:\Bear\Dog-0%A.mpg", fps=29.970^) + \>> "G:\Bear\Cat.avs"

for /L %A in (10,1,56) do echo DirectShowSource^("G:\Bear\Dog-%A.mpg", fps=29.970^) + \>> "G:\Bear\Cat.avs"

The script must have a space between each line of script or else it won’t work automatically. You must Copy & Paste both (not one at a time, or without a space) the lines with the space into Run. This is done by: Click on Start on Windows Task Bar>Run>type cmd.exe>Ok>right-click and Paste script in black area where cursor is flashing.

If you Paste the lines one at a time, you will have to press Enter for each one. If you Paste the lines without a space between each line of script, you will have to press Enter for it to work.

The generated script will be in the location you specify shown in Red. If you don’t use a folder, simply delete the folder name and \ so there is only one \ between each segment. I send mine to my external hard drive G. If you don’t have one, send it to your C: drive. If you try to send it your Desktop, it just makes the path more complicated.

Once you locate the script, open it and delete + \ at the very end, or it will not work. Close script and then Open VirtualDub and run the script.

Below is a color coded version to make it easier to explain the script.

for /L %A in (1,1,9) do echo DirectShowSource^("G:\Bear\Dog-0%A.mpg", fps=29.970^) + \>> "G:\Bear\Cat.avs"

for /L %A in (10,1,56) do echo DirectShowSource^("G:\Bear\Dog-%A.mpg", fps=29.970^) + \>> "G:\Bear\Cat.avs"

The first line of the script was designed for files that have a zero in front of the single numbers 1-9.

J_Darnley explained it this way: "The numbers in the brackets control what number are produced. They are (start,increment,end). So (1,1,10) produces 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 and (1,2,10) produces 1 3 5 7 9 and (10,-1,1) produces 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1."
If the first file has 00 instead of 01, just change the first number to 0 in line 1.

If you notice the second line of the script, the 0 in the red portion is omitted before the % after file name Dog-, and the number entered near the beginning of the script in the green portion is 10. No zero in front. This is for 10-whatever you want.

Everything in the red portion signifies the actual location of the file that will be processed. G is the drive, Bear is folder, and Dog- is the file. Of course, fps is the frame rate of the files which you need to know beforehand. You can use Super for all of the info. It can also be used to convert a file to a different type and change the frame rate, sampling frequency etc., to match the other files.
I had to do this because one of the files was a wmv at fps 25.000 with a different audio sampling rate. By placing one of the mpeg1 files in Super, I was able to get the info to match it. This came up because I was getting error messages and the script wouldn’t load even after I converted it to mpeg1 because the fps & sampling rate didn’t match the other original mpeg1 files.

Everything in the blue portion signifies where you want the processed file to go. Again, G is the drive, Bear is the folder, and Cat (which can be named anything you want) will be the name of the processed file.

Anything not colored is off limits! The following in the colored area that are off limits are:

(" : %A.mpg", fps= ^) " : .avs" THESE MUST NOT BE CHANGED OR ELSE IT WILL RUIN THE SCRIPT!

Special thanks goes to J_Darnley for being very patient and helpful in making the script, but mostly for explaining areas that I couldn't understand.

Southstorm, I haven't forgotten you either!

[Dragoneer]

I'm having trouble figuring out how to color correct some files that are saturated with red. The specific issue is that when I correct for the skin tone the clothes are fine, but the

rest of it changes to the wrong color, especially the reddish colors.

Is there a way to keep certain areas/sectors the default color while correcting the area you choose & and then be able to go back & change just that part later if need be?

For example, if a person is sitting on a bed with red pillows and red spread, and you want the pillows and spread to stay red, but you also want the skin tone to lose the red

saturation & be corrected, is this possible?

[minaust]

Here are a few tips - points to remember:

You want speed, quality, small file size. Those three are mutually incompatable. Amy optimization for one results in sacrifices in the other two. That’s the nature of the beast. A codec is a computer program that you're running once per frame. You created a video file that didn't use a codec at all, and it took 45 minutes, and was 19.8 gig in size. Therefore 45 minutes is about the cellar. You can't go below that.

What you did, converting that video from WMV to AVI is called "transcoding". Transcoding is almost always a loss-inducing process - a copy of a copy (lossy). There are "lossless" codecs, but they produce massive files - witness the 19.8 gb file you inadvertently produced - raw video, which is indeed lossless.

On WMV files - Microsoft had a lust for patented proprietary file formats. You couldn't publish a program to read or write those file formats without paying a license fee to Microsoft. VirtualDub could once upon a time read ASF (grandfather to WMV) files. Avery Lee (author of VirtualDub) received a lawyer letter from Microsoft, and had to remove the ASF support. WMV is a Microsoft file format.

This practice (monopolizing file formats) is one of the many reasons Microsoft has had to pay literally billions in fines and settlements, and Bill Gates had to leave the company. Although they've slacked off somewhat, I don't know how much, but I can pretty safely say one of three things about the author of any app that writes WMV files:

1) The author IS Microsoft.
2) The author has paid licensing fees to Microsoft.
3) The author will receive a lawyer letter from Microsoft.

Therefore, WMV support is pretty slim. Plus, in going out of the WMV format then BACK to WMV involves two transcodes, with a quality loss each time. Learn AviSynth! A really good manual comes with it! It assumes you know nothing and starts from there. plus every function is documented and indexed two ways - by function name, and by type.

So: Learn AviSynth. write a script, test it in VirtualDub. When it's to your liking, feed the same script to HCEnc.

You couldn't find HCenc. Go to the download page right here on Doom9 and you'll see under the category, "MPEG1/2 Encoders":

"HC 0.23 - free high quality .AVS to MPEG-1/2 encoder." With a link to the website. Problem solved?

Lastly, I'm blind. Not totally, but close to it. My computer has to be really tricked out for me to use it, and even then, I've got to be about four inches from the screen to see it. Despite that, I downloaded tons of guides and read them to learn how to do this. And I read everything neuron2 posts. If there's anyone here who knows more than he does on the subject, I dunno who it would be. Plus he's the author of a number of apps I can't do without. I'm not brown-nosing, just stating fact.

Lastly, you've had an awful lot of help and good advice. Here's one more tip - AVStoDVD can take a finished AviSynth script and turn it into the finished product, ready to burn to a DVD. Notice I said, “Finished AviSynth script”? Learn AviSynth.

You're at the bottom of a real steep learning curve. If all the good advice here can't help, then you need to go out and buy a "one-click solution".

[minaust]

I'm having trouble figuring out how to color correct some files that are saturated with red. The specific issue is that when I correct for the skin tone the clothes are fine, but the

rest of it changes to the wrong color, especially the reddish colors.

Is there a way to keep certain areas/sectors the default color while correcting the area you choose & and then be able to go back & change just that part later if need be?

For example, if a person is sitting on a bed with red pillows and red spread, and you want the pillows and spread to stay red, but you also want the skin tone to lose the red

saturation & be corrected, is this possible?

Avisynth has a function that'll help, called RGBAdjust.

RGBAdjust(0.5, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0)

Is the line to add to your script. The numbers are: red, green, blue, and the alpha channel. Each pixel's color channel is multiplied by the number you specify. The example above is extreme, however. Experiment with numbers approaching but not reaching 1.0 just to cut the red slightly. The right effect will be obvious on skin tones, but minimal on solid surfaces.

On the other hand, if your subject looks like a ‘ol Lucifer himself, then maybe the pillows never were red!:D

But color correcting just certain areas of a clip - I've done it, and it was so labor intensive I'll never do it again - my wife and I had an argument, and as a result I took a 10-second cliip of her in the kitchen and gave her skin satanic colors. It took a week, and is probably one of the reasons I'm again single.:devil:

[Dragoneer]

The script doesn't work. I get the following error message:

Avisynth open failure:
RGBAdjust requires RGB input
(G:\Sub folder name\Folder name\File name.avs, line 2)

This is the way I entered the script.:

DirectShowSource("File name.wmv")
RGBAdjust(0.5, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0)

I even tried to change the number values, putting a space between lines 1 & 2, but of course none of those things worked.

What's wrong? :confused:

P.S. Almost forgot. Specifically, if it's not too complex to explain, what does Alpha Channel do in relationship to the other colors when using Vdub/Avis. In other words, is it another color, or a way to control the colors in relationship with each other, or something else? I need to know precisely what I'm doing if I need to change that value.

[Guest]

The error message told you exactly what is wrong.

Try this:

DirectShowSource("File name.wmv")
ConvertToRGB()
RGBAdjust(0.5, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0)

[foxyshadis]

P.S. Almost forgot. Specifically, if it's not too complex to explain, what does Alpha Channel do in relationship to the other colors when using Vdub/Avis. In other words, is it another color, or a way to control the colors in relationship with each other, or something else? I need to know precisely what I'm doing if I need to change that value.

Alpha controls blending, although it can technically be used for anything you want. If you're not blending clips you can totally ignore it. If you are, it's generally better done in YV12 with masktools than RGB32 with Layer unless you're already in RGB.