How film restoration process works

[ingoldie]

May I know the process and softwares used to restore film?

[johnmeyer]

May I know the process and softwares used to restore film?You really do need to learn how to search these forums:

The power of Avisynth: restoring old 8mm films (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=144271)

Capturing and restoring old 8mm films (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=165975)

[Mounir]

Have a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbbGPOmHwV4
This is a software used by profesionals (cost $$$)

[ingoldie]

You really do need to learn how to search these forums:

The power of Avisynth: restoring old 8mm films (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=144271)

Capturing and restoring old 8mm films (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=165975)

I'm talking about professional film restoration.

such as:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PUKwzTWX8s

[johnmeyer]

I'm talking about professional film restoration.

such as:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PUKwzTWX8sThere isn't much difference between the software in the two links I gave you and the software used by the pros, although I suspect they may have motion tracking built into their software, something that could be very useful for certain improvements.

However, they do have access to two additional things that you or I don't have, both of which make a huge difference: multiple prints of the same movie, and lots of hands to do the work. It would be really nifty to be able to fill in burned frames, splices, projectionist marks (on prints), etc. by using a frame from a different source.

I've only done one restoration project for Hollywood, when I provided some of the film Sony Pictures used at the start of "Concussion." Since I was being paid, I restored each frame by hand. This is still required in some cases, even with commercial versions of the software I linked to.

Bottom line, unless you need colorization, you can get 90% of what you see in these restoration featurettes simply by using the software VideoFred developed. However, you do need skill, and some things will require some artistry. There is no such thing as "push button restoration."

[18fps]

Many European archives use Diamant, which has many tools for manual retouching, along with a very good deflicker and a not so bad de-warp tool.

[johnmeyer]

Many European archives use Diamant, which has many tools for manual retouching, along with a very good deflicker and a not so bad de-warp tool."De-warp tool??" What is that, and what is it used for?

The VideoFred script has a deflicker function that works pretty well, and if you have lots of time, you can also enable the dct=1 option in the MDegrain section of that script and get even further flicker reduction.

Here's my latest "before/after" video which I've queued up to a section which shows film which contained flicker (and lots of other problems). As you can see, the Deflicker function works well. I did not use the DCT=1 option on this particular reel:

Film Restoration (Before/After) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBAHzO7rJS0&t=1m06s)

[raffriff42]

> "De-warp tool??" What is that, and what is it used for?
I'm guessing to correct for film warp?

http://www.paulivester.com/films/preserve.htm
Vinegar Syndrome causes the film to warp, shrink and become brittle.
http://www.hs-art.com/index.php/solutions/diamant-film
With the DIAMANT-Film Restoration Software you can handle almost any kind of film defects... bad splices, tears, burned frames, warped images, dead pixels, punch holes, ...

[EHarlen]

Here is a thread about film restoration softwares

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=152498

[GillesH]

And this : www.film9.org

[StainlessS]

Film9 link posted by GillesH is Vista SP2 +, so XP is out. (Requires Dot Net 4.6).

EDIT: Uses Avisynth.

[ingoldie]

Is it possible to remove all these artifacts:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb1-Ky20J60 with AviSynth?

[poisondeathray]

Is it possible to remove all these artifacts:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb1-Ky20J60 with AviSynth?

Probably not perfectly, alone. Avisynth isn't selective enough with masks or roto. Filters can be too damaging. Avisynth is just a tool, used in combination with other tools

Dedicated restoration software suites can cost $10K - $50K per seat . (e.g pfclean, davinci revival, hs-art diamant, digital vision phoenix, drs nova ). Most restoration studios have a few seats (not just 1 guy/gal doing work; usually a few people doing the restoration work along with a few other specialists like a colorist, compressionist)

The more expensive the software, the more manual work (roto / masks / painting) is involved. It might sound counter intuitive, but that's how it works. Very labour intensive for high quality repairs

The "automatic" filters actually aren't that much different that what avisynth has to offer. The main difference is in the metadata & clip handling, and the GUI functionality with masks/ tracking /roto /paint. It's the manual repair tools that set them apart.

[johnmeyer]

Is it possible to remove all these artifacts:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb1-Ky20J60 with AviSynth?You obviously did not look at my before/after link. That is very aggravating. Instead, you keep posting the same exact question without acknowledging anything that anyone has said.

Why should anyone bother to respond to you in the future??

<Sigh>

Well, here is the link again:

Film Restoration (Before/After) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBAHzO7rJS0&t=1m06s)

You can decide how close this comes to what is shown in the Hollywood restoration clips you linked to. As I already noted, they have several advantage over me (or you) because they have direct access to the negative (usually) and multiple prints (always). They can therefore do repairs by finding better versions of each scene.