Dirt removal in Virtual Dub

[timsky]

Can anyone help me with a plug-in for removing dirt from video taken from film, which works in Virtual Dub?

[manono]

I use AviSynth dirt removal filters in VDub all the time. One such good one is RemoveDirtMC but there are others. But I don't guess that's what you want. You're looking for a VDub-specific filter. Temporal filters do some dirt removal but the VDub ones aren't all that good, I don't believe. Your best bet is to learn enough AviSynth to be able to use the AviSynth ones.

Maybe if you posted a short sample from your source we could provide more informed help.

[johnmeyer]

If you are looking for a native VirtualDub filter, I am unaware of anything that works as well as what manono has suggested. AVISynth is a much better tool for this sort of thing. You can still use VirtualDub to read the output of the AVISynth dirt removal script.

[jagabo]

One thing you need to be aware of: dirt removal removes spots that appear for only a single frame. Since the video frame rate is usually higher than the film frame rate you typically have to remove duplicate frames before you can remove dirt. For Hollywood movies that's usually pretty easy, a standard inverse telecine. But for home movies, with unknown frame rates, duplicate frames, blended frames, etc. it can be difficult. You'll probably need to use AviSynth with those.

[PuzZLeR]

Again, use AviSynth for this. Yes, you can run it through VirtualDub.

I too would like to see a sample, but maybe some blind advice would be to also check out RemoveSpotsMC3x(), from this Forum. I outline it here, with all auxilliary files you'd need:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/342111-RemoveDirtMC?p=2409705&viewfull=1#post2409705

[timsky]

This is a clip. I've already removed most of the dirt and scratches by hand which took months. I just want to clear up the remainder. The video is in 24 fps progressive so there should be no need for frame duplication.

[johnmeyer]

Here is the result of using the motion-compensated RemoveDirtMC, which depends on the AVISynth RemoveDirt filter. I have interleaved each original frame with the resulting cleaned frame. I actually did some additional processing, using my version of VideoFred's AVISynth script. This also reduces grain and removes gate weave, among other things. I toned down all the other settings, and then used moderate dirt removal. All of the removal of your film negatives spots were done entirely by the RemoveDirtMC filter and not the other things.

Here is a link to that file, saved using the Lagarith codec, the same codec you used for your original. I have no idea why your original was so large: this is about 1/10 the size.

tal 32 cor masked dirt removal interleaved before & after.avi

The best way to view this file is to load it into VirtualDub, or something similar, and then rock back and forth between each pair of "before/after" frames.

[jagabo]

AviSynth script with very moderate dirt removal:

import("C:\Program Files (x86)\AviSynth\plugins\RemoveDirtMC.avs") 

AviSource("tal 32 cor masked dirt.avi") 
ConvertToYV12(matrix="rec709")
RemoveDirtMC(20, false)

A few scratches are left but detail isn't harmed much.

[jagabo]

It would be interesting to see the video before the manual dirt removal. To compare your manual results to fully automated results.

By the way, I think there's a frame missing between frames 64 and 65, and the lower 2/3 of frame 67 is a duplicate of frame 65. Maybe that was some of your earlier cleanup.

[johnmeyer]

By the way, I think there's a frame missing between frames 64 and 65, and the lower 2/3 of frame 67 is a duplicate of frame 65. Maybe that was some of your earlier cleanup.

Wow, you are correct. Sharp eyes.

[timsky]

Thanks to all. I've lost the uncleaned version of that clip, but here's another clip, uncleaned and manualy cleaned. It seems I definitely need RemoveDirtMC. Yes the missing frame etc was the result of my manual cleaning. I've already done Deshaker on it, and I will later do degraining and sharpen. I'l have to do tests to see if its best to sharpen then degrain, or degrain then sharpen.

[timsky]

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[timsky]

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[timsky]

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[timsky]

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[jagabo]

None of the links is working. Try removing the percent sign from the name before uploading.

[timsky]

dirty clip

[timsky]

manually cleaned clip

[jagabo]

A few of the blemishes are left but this cleans it up pretty well without damaging the picture.

AviSource("tal M h200 v1000 cropped.avi") 
ConvertToYV12(matrix="rec709")
Crop(238,0,-242,-0)
BilinearResize(width/2, height/2)
RemoveDirtMC(25, false)
UnsharpMask(strength=50, radius=2, threshold=0)
nnedi3_rpow2(2, cshift="Spline36Resize")

Since the underlying sharpness of the video is barely half the pixel resolution I downscaled before removing dirt, then sharpened and upscaled back to the original frame size. One can crank the dirt removal up but then you start getting other motion artifacts and you lose more detail. Already some of the dots in the glass are disappearing.

[timsky]

Looks good to me. I've downloaded AVISYNTH and put the AVISYNTH plugin into Virtual Dub. What do I do now?

[manono]

That's not how it's done. Read up:

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/First_script

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Getting_started

Several of the filters jagabo used aren't built into AviSynth and they'll also have to be tracked down. These include RemoveDirtMC (which itself needs another filter to work), UnsharpMask, and NNEDI3.

[timsky]

I'm trying to learn avisynth. If I make a document with "version()" typed in it, it works fine. But if I make a document with "AviSource(C:\Users\Tim 2\Desktop\Tal stabilised clips\tal 31 test.avi)" then Virtual dub says Unknown or unsupported file type. This is the same whether the clip is Lagarith avi or microsoft uncompressed avi.

The same clip plays fine if you just drop it into VD.

What is wrong?

[El Heggunte]

"AviSource(C:\Users\Tim 2\Desktop\Tal stabilised clips\tal 31 test.avi)"

Should be AviSource("C:\Users\Tim 2\Desktop\Tal stabilised clips\tal 31 test.avi").

[timsky]

OK I've just tried that (adding the quotation marks) but it still says Unknown or unsupported file type.

I'm typing

AviSource("C:\Users\Tim 2\Desktop\Tal stabilised clips\tal 31 test.avi")

[El Heggunte]

That's weird, to say the least

Just a wild guess... what do you mean by

.....

put the AVISYNTH plugin into Virtual Dub.

I don't remember whether there exists a 'VirtualDub plugin' option during the Avisynth setup, but I'm pretty sure I've never used it.
Perhaps that's what's interfering with your Avisynth environment?

[poisondeathray]

By "document", did you mean a plain text file e.g. in notepad ?

Did you save it? Did you rename the extension to .avs from .txt ?

eg.

file.txt

becomes

file.avs

[timsky]

I typed and saved the document in Wordpad and it's stored in Documents library. In Documents library it's listed as

myclip.avs 22/06/2016 01:29 TXT File 1KB

[El Heggunte]

I typed and saved the document in Wordpad and it's stored in Documents library. In Documents library it's listed as

myclip.avs 22/06/2016 01:29 TXT File 1KB

If that's true, then the ACTUAL name of that file is "myclip.avs.TXT"

Is your Windows Explorer configured to hide file extensions

[timsky]

Is your Windows Explorer configured to hide file extensions [/QUOTE]


I have no idea. How would I fix that?

[El Heggunte]

I have no idea.

Then it is.

How would I fix that?

Hold the Windows key, press "E", then in the menu bar goto "Tools", then select "Folder options".