how to make a video "stickin" to a certain view (frame)?

[Srivas]

Hi all!

I have a video taken on a tripod, a lecture, but the problem is that the camera is focusing all the time, so picture zooming in and out throughout the video. It's a little annoying and I would like to get rid of that, stabilize the video, I guess zoom it in a little and just keep it on that frame size. Now, I know that can be done with keyframes, but that's a whole lot of keyframes and time and energy, which I don't have for that kind of job.

I've heard that some motion tracking software can actually do it, like Boris match move. Is that so? Should I go for this one or is there some other way around it?

Thanks.

[hech54]

I somehow doubt the camera is actually "zooming"....it's just getting confused as to what to focus on. It is changing it's focus point between the speaker and the background.....or something in the foreground. Tracking software will not keep the speaker "in focus".
On a still camera you can focus correctly once....then turn off the autofocus.....maybe you can do that with your video camera as well....but that is for "next time".

[Srivas]

Yes, that's the thing, I'm not familiar with the terminology, but you got the point.

So no use of tracking software? Is there something that I can do about it? (except manually keyframing it?)

[poisondeathray]

So is shot locked off, but the only thing changing is zooming in /out ? No x,y translation (camera is not moving up/down/left right/panning/rotation)? What about subject movement ? e.g. is speaker moving around ?

It depends how "out of focus" the shot is, because motion trackers search for points to lock on to. So blurry, out of focus points are very traditionally difficult to track, at least for point trackers . It also depends if there are other suitable points to lock onto e.g. maybe an object in the background.

There are different types of trackers, planar , 3d, point - they all work slightly differently with different pros/cons

In your case, "scale" is the parameter that is adjusted for, but corrected zooms often leave undesireable effects. When it's corrected, the subject and shot will look stable (ie. no movement) - but the subject will blur in and out. It's a very unnatural looking effect

Maybe if you upload a small sample, we can get a better idea of what you are describing

[Khaver]

I believe the Virtualdub Deshaker plugin can compensate for zoom (but it won't compensate for in/out focus). So it might make the framing more stationary but the changing focus will still be distracting.

[Srivas]

Ok, here's the clip. As you can see, only problem is in and out focusing, otherwise camera is stable throughout the whole interview. And yes, blurring effect will be there, but it's quite small, therefore I would like to try to stabilize it. If you think that it's worth trying, what software should I be looking for? It doesn't have to be freeware, it should be a quality product.

[hech54]

All this confusing techno-talk in this thread isn't helping you. This is not and never was a "tracking" issue. Tracking software is NOT going to fix the problem. Once something is recorded "out of focus" to the card or tape or disc....there is nothing you can do about it.

[jagabo]

DeShaker in VirtualDub (with zoom detection) will help a bit.

[poisondeathray]

All this confusing techno-talk in this thread isn't helping you. This is not and never was a "tracking" issue. Tracking software is NOT going to fix the problem. Once something is recorded "out of focus" to the card or tape or disc....there is nothing you can do about it.

Well, you'd be wrong then. The techno bable above says depends on the shot composition, and the extent of out of focus . The OP is lucky that the focus isn't bad. But even if it was out of focus because of zoom overshoots / undershoots it can improved with deconvolution algorithms - because the focus is linear motion , linear motion vectors can be used to improve that type of situation.

For this type of shot , a point tracker would work, because you have elements with high contrast in the background to track (the patterned ?curtains on the sides). I don't think deshaker is meant for this type of stablization - it will smooth the zoom, but won't lock it. You need effects software dedicated to locking shots off (they're meant to track rigidly, so you can composite effects into the scene, whereas software like deshaker is meant to smooth out hand held pans) .

The problem with this shot is the subject's hand waves in the air, and that can displace track points. If you notice there is a "blip" at that point in the sample video attached. So you would need to manually reposition some track points on a few frames, but it's better than keyframing the whole thing manually. If this shot was unobscured, then the whole thing could be pretty much automatic

[jagabo]

I don't think deshaker is meant for this type of stablization - it will smooth the zoom, but won't lock it.

You're right. But if you crank the zoom setting up really high it will reduce it significantly.

[hech54]

....and he is still going in and out of focus....something NO software can fix(unless you wanna wait for the next Photoshop and turn the entire video into still images).

[poisondeathray]

....and he is still going in and out of focus....something NO software can fix(unless you wanna wait for the next Photoshop and turn the entire video into still images).

You don't have to wait. You can do deconvolution with nuke, but it's very pricey . But it's always better to shot it properly in the first place

[Cornucopia]

And for goodness sake, Srivas, switch OFF the autofocus on the camera (if you CAN'T switch it off, you probably need a better camcorder) for all future endeavors!

Scott

[Srivas]

Wow, actually it's pretty good! Some little shake is still there, but that's hardly noticeable (especially for people who are not tuned in to look for it). First try by poisondeathray is slightly better, no shaking after this one jog in the beginning, but as he said it can be worked out by track points. Great!

But what did you use to accomplish that? I'll try Boris, this is what I have and I use Vegas Pro, let's see what I can do. Would be nice to know what did you use though.

Originally Posted by hech54
....and he is still going in and out of focus....something NO software can fix(unless you wanna wait for the next Photoshop and turn the entire video into still images).
You don't have to wait. You can do deconvolution with nuke, but it's very pricey . But it's always better to shot it properly in the first place

You mean it's actually possible to even fix out of focus, bring it back into focus? That would be amazing.

And for goodness sake, Srivas, switch OFF the autofocus on the camera (if you CAN'T switch it off, you probably need a better camcorder) for all future endeavors!

Scott, that's funny! This was shot in 1993, I was going to elementary school and playing computer games on a 386 or 486 at that time.

I was given a project to restore those files, an archive of VHS tapes. If you like, I can post a clip of what I could get out of it with all the effects added to it. Looks pretty nice.

[hech54]

The sky is blue, the pope is catholic, bears shit in the woods, and he is still going in and out of focus.

[poisondeathray]

Wow, actually it's pretty good! Some little shake is still there, but that's hardly noticeable (especially for people who are not tuned in to look for it). First try by poisondeathray is slightly better, no shaking after this one jog in the beginning, but as he said it can be worked out by track points. Great!

But what did you use to accomplish that? I'll try Boris, this is what I have and I use Vegas Pro, let's see what I can do. Would be nice to know what did you use though.

After Effects . It's bundled with a planar tracker , mocha, which works by tracking planar surfaces instead of points. Because the wall is flat, you can just get away with just tracking the subjects' left side (so his right arm won't knock any points off)

You mean it's actually possible to even fix out of focus, bring it back into focus? That would be amazing.

Yes, to an extent. A time machine and better camera would be better. Your clip's focus isn't that bad and could be improved

Products using deconvolution exist right now , but they work better if the blur is caused by a uniform vector direction because predictive vector calculation is more accurate (e.g. blur when you pan left to right) . e.g. focus magic , topaz infocus
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/339775-New-Adobe-Photoshop-image-deblurring-algorithm

[Srivas]

After Effects . It's bundled with a planar tracker , mocha, which works by tracking planar surfaces instead of points. Because the wall is flat, you can just get away with just tracking the subjects' left side (so his right arm won't knock any points off)

Hey, I can use that! We have it here also, and there's an update available to export tracking information and then import it to Boris in Vegas! So looks like I can just process the file in AE and then continue with the project in Vegas. Great!

But... Could you also mention which settings are you using? It will take time for me to figure this thing out, that would be really helpful.

Btw. This clip looks really nice, that's just what I want to achieve.

[poisondeathray]

Yes you can export the tracking data to many programs, which is handy

There are a bunch of video tutorials on their website, it will help you get started
http://www.imagineersystems.com/

But a brief summary - you just make an x-spline over the wall to the subject's left (where the detailed curtains are). It doesn't matter how perfect it is, because the planar tracker can go out of the frame / into the frame, so just a really rough shape is good enough. Then push track forwards. That's it. Once it's done you push export tracking data and select the program (Boris in your case)

Good luck