How can I achieve a Technicolor effect in Virtualdub or Debugmode Wax?

[hbenthow]

I have some MPEG2 and MKV footage to which I want to add a Technicolor effect, similar to the one shown in this video:

Is there any way I can achieve a similar look in MPEG2 or MKV footage (it doesn't have to do both formats, one or the other is fine, although it would be nice to be able to apply it to both), using Virtualdub, Debugmode Wax, or some other similar free software?

[jagabo]

Red/Green/Blu Adjust in VirtualDub.

[edDV]

The color mask sequence shown could be done in Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, Vegas Pro, etc.

[poisondeathray]

avisynth has a filter called psuedotechnicolor ; but it doesn't quite achieve the exact same results in the video

(check on page 2 for the script and screenshots)
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=139059

[jagabo]

This will show the primaries in color:

Mpeg2Source("whatever.d2v")
ConvertToRGB()
R=RGBAdjust(g=-255, b=-255) #remove green and blue
G=RGBAdjust(r=-255, b=-255) #remove red and blue
B=RGBAdjust(r=-255, g=-255) #remove red and green
StackVertical(last,R,G,B)

This will show the primaries as grayscale:

Mpeg2Source("whatever.d2v")
ConvertToRGB()
R=ShowRed()
G=ShowGreen()
B=ShowBlue()
StackVertical(last,R,G,B)

[poisondeathray]

But can you achieve those results just with adjusting RGB?

I think they did more than that, increased saturation, non linear contrast adjustments, maybe used some blending modes

[edDV]

By use of opposite color linear masks to modulate each primary intensity, it has the effect of underemphasis of mid tones in favor of high saturation.

[jagabo]

I see. I thought he just wanted color separation into three clips.

[intracube]

More info here:
http://aviatorvfx.com/?cmd=frontendOverview&id=color
http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/aviator-technicolour-process-t3515.html
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3x99f_aviator-vfx-2strip-technicolor-proc_shortfilms

The process could also be done using Blender's composite node system.

IMO, the results approximate the Technicolor 'look', but don't look completely convincing.

EDIT: I can't remember any Technicolor film that had greens and blues as and saturated as in the Youtube clip. Here's some stills from various Techicolor films (according to Wikipedia/IMDB) from the 40s, 50s and 60s:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews9/leave-her-to-heaven.htm
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare6/singinintherain.htm
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews52/chitty_chitty_bang_bang_blu-ray.htm
- the colours will have been altered to some degree when producing the DVDs/Blurays, so it's difficult to determine what the original film would have looked like.

[hbenthow]

More info here:
http://aviatorvfx.com/?cmd=frontendOverview&id=color
http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/aviator-technicolour-process-t3515.html
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3x99f_aviator-vfx-2strip-technicolor-proc_shortfilms

The process could also be done using Blender's composite node system.

IMO, the results approximate the Technicolor 'look', but don't look completely convincing.

Is there anyway to create a more convincing Technicolor effect?

[hbenthow]

The color mask sequence shown could be done in Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, Vegas Pro, etc.

I have Sony Vegas Pro, but I am a novice with it. How could go about creating such an effect with it?

[jagabo]

You can come close just by increasing the saturation. Well, not really close but you can make the colors "pop", if that's what you're looking for.

[hbenthow]

You can come close just by increasing the saturation. Well, not really close but you can make the colors "pop", if that's what you're looking for.

I've tried turning the color up. It doesn't really achieve a Technicolor effect, though. Although making the colors pop is part of the look I want to achieve, it's just that: part of it.

[poisondeathray]

Are you more interested in the process or the end result?

If you know what you want to do, you can "eyeball" it and achieve similar results with levels, curves, saturation, maybe some blending modes. You can find these filters in avisynth, vdub, and vegas. Avisynth, vegas and wax all have blend modes , but they are more limited than those in after effects

I have various 3-strip filters in after effects from plugins, and I can tell you it doesn't emulate what you see in those videos - You still have to make adjustments beyond the filter . The benefit from using a plugin would be it saves you some time - ie. it gives you a better rough starting point, and you can tweak the final result

The left screenshot is just a rough approximation . Luma levels were adjusted in avisynth, then converted to RGB so curves could be used (curves are non linear adjustments, and it's more difficult to do in avisynth), saturation increased. The key in this shot is to adjust the levels while you are still in YCbCr space (or convert to RGB using full range), because the cloud detail will clip otherwise . You could do a better job if you spent time tweaked it more ; for example I didn't pull down the lower part of the red curve enough (the red leaves on the path are "more red" than the final result, and the "greys" of the roof on the house have a different hue

[intracube]

Is there anyway to create a more convincing Technicolor effect?

It depends on how much work you want to do to achieve the look. If I can broaden the discussion for a moment, there's a number of important things to do when trying to recreate a Technicolor/film look before post-production.

Shooting the footage
When filming with a modern digital camcorder, minimise any video artefacts/limitations that may break the illusion you're trying to create, and which can't be fixed afterwards:
- avoid clipping highlights (a tell-tale sign of video)
- use a modern digital camera - some older analogue camcorders had noticeable colour smearing/lack of resolution
- move the camera slowly and purposefully - Technicolor cameras were particularly heavy (so no Bourne Ultimatum style hand-held shaky camera movements
- lighting & location - pick locations carefully, and consider filming in the morning or late afternoon. See golden hour also, indoor lighting can make a big difference to the look of the footage.
Related info:
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/graham_doug/film_look.php

Colour correction
There are commercial programs/plugins like Magic Bullet:
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/magic-bullet-looks/
It's expensive - I know you requested 'free' options, but it's the sort of program that that can make easy colour adjustments - I don't know if it's got a dedicated Technicolor preset, though.

Blender's node system can also be used. See Issue 17 page 15 of BlenderArt (free online magazine) for an example on how to recreate a basic Aviator Technicolor effect:
http://blenderart.org/issues/
It might be a bit of a learning curve if you're not familiar with node compositors, but it's a pretty comprehensive free program:
http://www.blender.org/

[hbenthow]

Is there anyway to create a more convincing Technicolor effect?

It depends on how much work you want to do to achieve the look. If I can broaden the discussion for a moment, there's a number of important things to do when trying to recreate a Technicolor/film look before post-production.

Shooting the footage
When filming with a modern digital camcorder, minimise any video artefacts/limitations that may break the illusion you're trying to create, and which can't be fixed afterwards:
- avoid clipping highlights (a tell-tale sign of video)
- use a modern digital camera - some older analogue camcorders had noticeable colour smearing/lack of resolution
- move the camera slowly and purposefully - Technicolor cameras were particularly heavy (so no Bourne Ultimatum style hand-held shaky camera movements
- lighting & location - pick locations carefully, and consider filming in the morning or late afternoon. See golden hour also, indoor lighting can make a big difference to the look of the footage.
Related info:
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/graham_doug/film_look.php

Colour correction
There are commercial programs/plugins like Magic Bullet:
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/magic-bullet-looks/
It's expensive - I know you requested 'free' options, but it's the sort of program that that can make easy colour adjustments - I don't know if it's got a dedicated Technicolor preset, though.

Blender's node system can also be used. See Issue 17 page 15 of BlenderArt (free online magazine) for an example on how to recreate a basic Aviator Technicolor effect:
http://blenderart.org/issues/
It might be a bit of a learning curve if you're not familiar with node compositors, but it's a pretty comprehensive free program:
http://www.blender.org/

I have Blender, but I don't really know much about it. If I were to create a Technicolor effect in Blender, how long would it take me to render the edited video? (It's about an hour and a half long.)

[intracube]

I have Blender, but I don't really know much about it. If I were to create a Technicolor effect in Blender, how long would it take me to render the edited video? (It's about an hour and a half long.)

It greatly depends on:
- the resolution of your source video (standard def. or high def.)
- the spec. of your computer (number of cores, etc)

On something like this (in standard definition), you might get 1 to 2fps on a single core. So 37+ hours at best (2fps) for a 1 1/2 hour film. The render time can go up significantly if you have a more complex node setup or are working in HD.

I think Blenders compositor is single threaded. Even so, if you've got a multi-core system, you could start multiple instances of Blender simultaneously and render different sections of the video on different cores. A 4 core system could reduce the time to ~9 hours.

Processing times can vary wildly, though. The best way is to time how long a short section takes to render and do some maths to estimate the total time.

[hbenthow]

I have Blender, but I don't really know much about it. If I were to create a Technicolor effect in Blender, how long would it take me to render the edited video? (It's about an hour and a half long.)

It greatly depends on:
- the resolution of your source video (standard def. or high def.)
- the spec. of your computer (number of cores, etc)

On something like this (in standard definition), you might get 1 to 2fps on a single core. So 37+ hours for a 1 1/2 hour film. The render time can go up significantly if you have a more complex node setup or are working in HD.

I think Blenders compositor is single threaded. Even so, if you've got a multi-core system, you could start multiple instances of Blender simultaneously and render different sections of the video on different cores. A 4 core system could reduce the time to ~9 hours.

Processing times can vary wildly, though. The best way is to time how long a short section takes to render and do some maths to estimate the total time.

My computer is rather slow, so I think it would take a long time to render. So, for my purposes, Blender is useless.

[intracube]

My computer is rather slow, so I think it would take a long time to render. So, for my purposes, Blender is useless.

Patience is a virtue .

There's been discussions in the last week about upgrades to Blender's compositor, including hardware acceleration:
http://www.blendernation.com/2011/02/04/blender-compositor-fund-raiser/

I've just spotted this thread:
http://www.lightworksbeta.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=7&id=4303&Itemid=202
where a lot of ground has already been covered. In future it would be helpful to post related links, to avoid duplicating suggestions.

[poisondeathray]

If you look at that blender pdf, the "look" that blender achieves isn't that close to that youtube video either. You would still need to "massage" the results , especially the saturation and probably play with the curves. I don't think there is anyway around it besides using a few filters.

@intracube - can blender render different sections of video into video simultaneously, or is it limited to exporting still image formats when doing that ?

[intracube]

@intracube - can blender render different sections of video into video simultaneously, or is it limited to exporting still image formats when doing that ?

As an example, if you had a short video (total running time 10 mins - 15,000 frames @ 25fps) in HuffYUV format:
- open the video in the node compositor
- arrange the nodes to produce the desired effect
- on the 'render settings' dialogue, set the start frame to 1 and the end frame to 7,500
- save the entire Blender project, and then kick off the rendering

- simultaneously start a new instance of Blender, and load the file you've just saved
- change the start frame to 7,501 and the end frame to 15,000
- start the rendering project

as long as you've set a suitable output format and codec in the Encoding box, you should end up with two videos that can be joined together.

I've missed out a number of steps in that example - hope it makes sense. I'm also using Blender 2.56a.

The Output/Encoding boxes are quite confusing - I don't think options like GOP size and Bitrate serve any purpose for codecs like HuffYUV. Also, the 'Encoding' options aren't even visible unless H.264, MPEG, OGG Theora or Xvid is selected in the 'Output' settings - and then there's an inconsistency if another codec like HuffYUV is selected (see screenshot). Also ISTR the resolution I've got set (854x480) might cause problems with huffyuv (not mod16?) ...but I digress.

[hbenthow]

My computer is rather slow, so I think it would take a long time to render. So, for my purposes, Blender is useless.

Patience is a virtue .

There's been discussions in the last week about upgrades to Blender's compositor, including hardware acceleration:
http://www.blendernation.com/2011/02/04/blender-compositor-fund-raiser/

I've just spotted this thread:
http://www.lightworksbeta.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=7&id=4303&Itemid=202
where a lot of ground has already been covered. In future it would be helpful to post related links, to avoid duplicating suggestions.

So, Blender might have hardware acceleration soon?

If you look at the username at the top of the thread in the Lightworks forum, you will see that it is I who started it. I started a post here to see if it is possible with other programs, as Lightworks doesn't seem all that well suited to the job.

[poisondeathray]

ok i see, yes it wouldn't matter for huffyuv because it's I-frame only (and lossless if you use RGB +/- A out of blender), and you can join anywhere without issues

now for some reason I thought you meant spawning multiple render engines within blender, even though you clearly said "multiple instances"... duh....

does it's import engine use ffmpeg for video? Do you have much control over the RGB conversion on import?

The problem with other compositors like AE, is that it will use a Rec601 conversion to RGB, so if you used that youtube video and imported directly as is, some of those cloud "superbrights" are clipped

[intracube]

So, Blender might have hardware acceleration soon?

I'm not sure what their plans are, but I would expect it to be a way off.

now for some reason I thought you meant spawning multiple render engines within blender, even though you clearly said "multiple instances"... duh....

For the 3D rendering part of Blender, it is possible to use multiple cores from a single instance of the program - settings are under the 'Performance' tab.

does it's import engine use ffmpeg for video?

I believe it does.

Do you have much control over the RGB conversion on import?

The problem with other compositors like AE, is that it will use a Rec601 conversion to RGB, so if you used that youtube video and imported directly as is, some of those cloud "superbrights" are clipped

I'm not sure. I don't think any conversion takes place, and sRGB is assumed (might be wrong, though).

I think if you import NTSC .dv footage, the black level will look artificially high (pixel value of 16), and whites won't look fully white (235) on a standard computer display. I need to refresh my memory on the Rec. standards/colour spaces and run some tests.

[intracube]

I think if you import NTSC .dv footage, the black level will look artificially high (pixel value of 16), and whites won't look fully white (235) on a standard computer display.

Just to confirm:

The testcard is from DVD Demystified.

Additionally, none of the media players that I tried - ffplay,mplayer,xine (all on Linux), displayed the image correctly - they didn't expand the 16-235 range to 0-255.

I don't know how the players determine if a video follows the Rec.601 spec. By analysing the resolution, framerate, header info?

[poisondeathray]

Is the "test card" an RGB image format, or actual YCbCr video (like .m2v or NTSC dv)?

Most applications will assume Rec601 for YCbCr<=>RGB conversions. But for media players there are many more factors to consider, graphics card settings, overlay settings (if you're using a renderer that uses overlay), different renders have different output levels, monitor calibration. I would say there are dozens of different combinations that can potentially change what you "see"

Some will do Rec601 conversion , but not necessarily clip Y' 0-15 and Y'236-255. They will keep the Y' values "accessible" when you use certain filters even when you work in RGB space. These filters are applied before RGB conversion so you can salvage that data range

[intracube]

Is the "test card" an RGB image format, or actual YCbCr video (like .m2v or NTSC dv)?

It's ripped directly from the DVD:

General
Complete name                    : stream.mpg
Format                           : MPEG-PS
File size                        : 668 KiB
Duration                         : 33ms
Overall bit rate                 : 166 Mbps

Video
ID                               : 224 (0xE0)
Format                           : MPEG Video
Format version                   : Version 2
Format profile                   : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP            : No
Format settings, Matrix          : Default
Format settings, GOP             : N=1
Duration                         : 33ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 8 000 Kbps
Width                            : 720 pixels
Height                           : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 4:3
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Standard                         : NTSC
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Scan order                       : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.772
Stream size                      : 32.2 KiB (5%)

Text
ID                               : 32 (0x20)
Format                           : RLE
Format/Info                      : Run-length encoding

Blender couldn't open the file, so I converted it to .dv with ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -i stream.mpg -target ntsc-dv stream.dv
which worked with Blender.

Most applications will assume Rec601 for YCbCr<=>RGB conversions. But for media players there are many more factors to consider, graphics card settings, overlay settings (if you're using a renderer that uses overlay), different renders have different output levels, monitor calibration. I would say there are dozens of different combinations that can potentially change what you "see"

mplayer uses the XV overlay to display video:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_video_extension
- "Similarly, the X video extension has the video controller perform color space conversions. It can also have the controller change contrast, brightness and hue of a displayed video stream."
Although the XVideo extension is working, ^that doesn't appear to be happening

Some will do Rec601 conversion , but not necessarily clip Y' 0-15 and Y'236-255. They will keep the Y' values "accessible" when you use certain filters even when you work in RGB space. These filters are applied before RGB conversion so you can salvage that data range

That makes sense.

[jagabo]

Totem Movie Player is performing the usual 16-235 -> 0-255 YUV to RGB conversion on my Ubuntu system. I'm not sure about Linux, but under Windows almost all media players send YUV to the graphics card and it's the graphics card's responsibility to convert to RGB for display.

This post has a DV AVI you can use to check levels:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/326496-file-in-Virtualdub-has-strange-colors-when-o...=1#post2022085