VirtualDub questions about cropping and "blurring"

[SignedupGuest]

ok here is how I do some vid editing, if you notice anything that is dont wrong and/or could be done better, please tell me.

Simple croping: When ever I do some video editing in VirtualDub and want to crop something out I simple add a null transformation and then click on the cropping button. One thing I noticed is this sometimes fail unless its an even multiple of the divided number (example if res is 480, 384 will work but 385 wont).

Scene by Scene Cropping: Then if there is only one scene in a video I want to crop then I need to split up the video. Then the scene I want I simple apply the cropping and then apply the re-size so I can marge the video after. This is takes a while, is there a better faster way of donig this?

So the big question: Is there a way to add in dynamic blur/cropout? Using the scene cropping method takes me a long time and the cropping is also fixed (so it does not look that good). Is there a way I can kind of create "black boxes" that can be moved from frame to frame? Kind of like how the police (or whatever) create the blur box (expect I want it all removed)?

[redwudz]

The last part about 'blurring' you may be able to do a bit easier with a logo tool. DeLogo or others. Or use a program that can do 'tracking' if the object is moving.

There is a conditional execution filter setup that can just filter what you want by inputing frame numbers.
http://wwwtcs.inf.tu-dresden.de/~dc1/conditional/

Other than that AVISynth scripts may be a better way to go.

[guns1inger]

Most encoders are optimised for even numbers, and usually in multiple of 2, 4, 8 or 16. Depending on the encoder you are using, you will be limited to these number ranges. There are ways around this, including adding borders after cropping, or resizing before encoding.

If you really need to apply scene by scene effects on a regular basic then you have outgrown virtualdub. You either need to learn avisynth (better in the long run anyway) or move up to a real non-linear editor.

The same goes for more dynamic cropping. A decent non-linear editor will allow you to key frame effects and movement, so you can apply a single crop, but then move the frame within that crop area to keep the correct content in the focus. While this can be done in something like avisynth, it requires a lot of effort and is far less accurate and more difficult to adjust. I do similar things to this in Vegas on a semi-regular basis, and would not bother to try to do it in virtualdub or avisynth because I simply do not have the time it takes.

[SignedupGuest]

The last part about 'blurring' you may be able to do a bit easier with a logo tool. DeLogo or others. Or use a program that can do 'tracking' if the object is moving.

I heard of that tool before and took a quick look at it again... it kind of seems outdated and takes extra work... maybe ill look at it a little more when I got time...

If you really need to apply scene by scene effects on a regular basic then you have outgrown virtualdub. You either need to learn avisynth (better in the long run anyway) or move up to a real non-linear editor.

Isnt avisync just commands in notepad? Wouldn't that take an extremely insane amount of work to get the blur just right over hundreds (or thousands) of scenes?

Also what is a "real non-linear editor", back when i was a kid I used to play around with premiere, problem is 95% of my videos could not be opened by it... :\ Anyway I am dl'ing Vegas, will take a look at it...

[guns1inger]

Yes, avisynth is scripted, and yes, it would take a lot of work.

However, unless you are planning on using a compositing tool like after effects or combustion, that can do automatic tracking, it is going to be time consuming anyway. While Premiere and Vegas allow you to control these things manually, you still have to keyframe through a lot of footage.

[SignedupGuest]

any recommendation on good tutorials for Vegas Pro?

btw another VERY long way of doing this is exporting the clip into BMP, then editing EVERY BMP... but that looks shoppy.

[guns1inger]

Sony have some good online video tutorials for Vegas 7. The basics haven't changed much, so they are still valid.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/trainingvids.asp?prod=vegaspro

[SignedupGuest]

hmm, looks promising...

Also my guess is that Ill need to throw my vids in Vdub then save them as uncompressed avi and trow that into Vagas...

Anyway... although I am sure ill need to take a close look at it before I start using it, how would I go about doing this dynamic chanfing smooth "edit"...

Like I said... I could go into paint and crop out all I want, then do that times the "number of frames"... but that takes lots of work and looks jumpy (every frame the cropwas re-done not at the same place so it looks kind of odd)

[guns1inger]

You could use Cedocida DV codec in vdub and save them as DV avi, or use a lossless compression, such as Lagarith or Huffyuv

[SignedupGuest]

either way, how do I do the edits?

[guns1inger]

I need to see an example of what you are trying to do. By the sounds of it you will need a combination of event pan and crop, track motion and keyframes.

For blurring it will be a combination of masks/blurring even FX and keyframes.

[SignedupGuest]

well there are some videos I would like to 100% remove someone form it (but he might be in mid of video)... Then there are also videos id like to only have one person be visible and everyone else removed.

[guns1inger]

As in completely removed and you can still see the background ?

No going to happen.

OK. Let me rephrase - not going to happen unless you

a) have a lot of time on your hands or a team of effects artists at your disposal

b) like to hand rotoscope

c) have after effects or fusion

d) have shot clean background plates of all the locations using computer motion tracked cameras so the shots match the originals

[SignedupGuest]

I dont care what the background is (can be black for all I care)... The main goal is to remove whatever object I want to be removed (kind of like a blur)

[guns1inger]

A blur doesn't remove, just messes it up. if that is what you want to do, then you have already been given enough information to get started in Vegas. However there is no package that will allow you to simply open your clip, hit the Blur Now button, then come back after tea to see it all done. You now have to sit down, experiment, read the help files, play and learn.

[Serguei]

I am currently finalizing a patch for VirtualDub that will add the "dynamic cropping" feature. It will add some new controls to the filter cropping interface, as well as some code to FilterInstance.cpp and scripting module. I could already run the code with a video, here is an example:

Original video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A23SPewFZhU
Dynamically cropped video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlUCC5bH5kc

The final version will produce videos of better quality, as I expect.

The patch will be submitted to VirtualDub project as soon as it is ready!

[guns1inger]

Very nice indeed.

[Serguei]

I finalized the dynamic cropping patch for VirtualDub.

Details here - http://forums.virtualdub.org/index.php?act=ST&f=11&t=18965&

Cheers!