Is there a way to convert grayscale video to color

[ussmillerco]

Have an old forward looking infared camera (flir) that outputs black and white composite video. Want to convert the heat images to basic rudimentary color output. black to say blue (cooler images) grey to yellow (warm) and white to red( hot images) is there a device or program that can accomplish this. any ideas or direction appreciated thx sean

[guns1inger]

Don't know of a way to automate it. It can be done with something like Vegas and colour replacement/correction tools. You will end up with something that is more akin to Predator Vision than anything realistic.

[redwudz]

You could also try the freeware ColorMill filter and VirtualDub. ColorMill has quite a bit of control over color. Your video would need to be compatible with VD, and VD only outputs AVI type video.

ColorMill: colormill2.1.1.zip I've used the filter for colorizing or tinting old B&W video and you can control the color tints individually, along with the color for each brightness level. I find it has better control that just a colorizer filter.

A few other VD filters here. : http://www.thedeemon.com/VirtualDubFilters/

And welcome to our forums.

[ussmillerco]

thank you both for the reply and the welcome. predator vision would be fine since the flir output is only seeing heat so it doesnt lend itself to being very defined output. I like the possibilities that vd and added filter as described sound. Now redwudz just a few questions to clarify your info. My flir unit outputs from a bnc (/w/ bnc to rca adapter) a ntsc type output. I can plug this directly into a tv's composite input and see the image. Is that compatible with vd. Im assuming that my computer(actually a laptop) with a video capture device could then take in this video and running your described program i could set up the greyscale image to be colorized. Am i correct in this and can this program do this on the fly. Or would i need to capture this video and then process with vd and filter later. I dont need to save this to disc but Again much appreciatedyou fast response

[guns1inger]

Virtualdub can capture from some devices. Without knowing what yours is it is difficult to say. I get the impression that this is something you want to do on the fly, rather than capture, process and encode. Is this correct ?

[redwudz]

If by 'On the fly', you mean in realtime, no way. Filtering takes a bit of time. But you can capture it and process it through VD, and depending on the speed of your computer and your filter settings, and the length of the video, it may not take too long.

Once you arrive at the filter settings you want, you should be able to save the setup and use it again on a different video without having to adjust the filtering each time. (Save/Load processing settings.)

There's no real guide for ColorMill that I am aware of, so just play around with the filter settings till you get an idea of how they work. It has a preview, and you can also use "Preview filtered' to see the whole video before you save it. Make sure you chose a output codec or the file will be HUGE.

[JohnnyMalaria]

If I were to do this, I would use a custom DirectShow filter whose sole purpose in life is to map gray levels to specific RGB values. It would be much, much faster than trying to use a catch-all general purpose color correction tool and need far less (if any) configuration. I would expect that on a decent (<3 yr old) system it could be done on the fly.

If I didn't have to go to work in about 5 minutes, I could probably have something functional by lunch time. The coding is surprisingly/refreshingly straightforward.

[jagabo]

VirtualDub and Gradation Curves.

I first used HSV to reduce to grayscale and Levels to brighten the image a bit:


then Gradation Curves to convert luma to colors, retaining some luma:



with less luma:



with no luma left:

[ussmillerco]

You guys rock!!!!!! Gunslinger you are correct I would like to have it do it without the time to process if possible (I know Im gettin greedy here). Jagabo thats awesome and looks like exactly what Id like to achieve as far as output. Now I know it can be done with what im assuming is a bit of processing time. I like the way JohnnyM describes how it could be done with say a newer laptop I own. Johnny M. Id love for you to try to figure how i can do this as my flir brings in the live video.Take your time im not on any pressing time constraints. I just love when indivduals pool their huge brains to tackle stuff like this. Again thank you all Sean

[ussmillerco]

Just to let you know about the flir unit im using. Its a surplus infared battery operated camera that attached to a firemans helmet that allowed fireman to enter a smoky burning building and look for survivors through heat signatures (or look for fire hotspots, or missing persons etc.) It was the first model ("cairns iris" look em up on ebay) I believe that was produced to do this. They sold new for north of $28k back in the day. Me being the surplus hey thats cool and I want one cheap king bought 4 without knowing if they even worked. Well all they needed was a common 15 dollar video cam battery and walla instant cheap(in the 100s of dollar range) forward looking infa-red. The whole unit including the headsup display fits on the fire helmet. They arent as sharp as the newer color units so I figured that it may be possible to at least colorize the output from this unit. If i could do this in real time that would be ideal. So here i am picking your brains for a solution. And Again thanks for all your help so far Sean