Gradation Curves VirtualDub filter v1.45

[BBugsBunny]

I'm not sure where to post this (could fit in Editing, cutting and joining or news as well)
I made an open source VirtualDub filter similar to the curves function in painting programs. It allows some simple corrections like brightness, contrast and gamma as well as some advanced color corrections and manipulations. It supports other color spaces than RGB as well (YUV/CMYK/HSV/Lab). I've released a new version (1.45) recently that has got a much improved curve editor.
I thought maybe this filter could be of interest to some in this forum as well.
Filter:

Color correction/manipulation example using Lab space:


My site & download:
https://neosol.at/vdub/index.html

For those who are not familiar with gradation curves I've made a tutorial about how to use different curves with a lot of sample images here:
https://neosol.at/vdub/tutorial/tutorial.html

[Soopafresh]

Thanks! I've used your plugin before to emulate the "film look". I'd like to find a central repository for .amp files.

[redwudz]

Thanks for the information and the filter. The Restoration Forum is probably a good place for introducing the latest version of your filter. I've used similar curve filters in PhotoShop and they do help to make multiple adjustments much easier. I'm big fan of VirtualDub and it's variants and always like to experiment with new methods for improving or correcting video.

That's also an excellent tutorial for the use of the filter on your site.

And welcome to our forums.

[BBugsBunny]

@Soopafresh: About the repository - do I understand it correctly, do you want a webspace to store, up- and download .amp files?
Note that with version v1.45 you can export and import .acv also (stores points/coordinates rather than the raw curve data)

@redwudz: nice to get feedback to the turorial and to hear that you like it!

[tin2tin]

@ BBugsBunny

Great work! Do you/anyone have any experinces with loading the amp files into avisynth with the GiCoCU.dll plugin? Ex. your 'Lessblue.amp' comes out very blue with that plugin?

[jagabo]

Thanks for this update. I've used the filter in the past and always wished it had spline curves.

[racer-x]

Great filter! Thanks, it will be put to good use..............

[Soopafresh]

@Soopafresh: About the repository - do I understand it correctly, do you want a webspace to store, up- and download .amp files?
Note that with version v1.45 you can export and import .acv also (stores points/coordinates rather than the raw curve data)

Sure.

[BBugsBunny]

@tin2tin:
Back in 2005 I had contact with e-male the autor of gicocu in the doom9 forum. We shared some ideas and code. Basically I think gicocu should work with amp files.
This post shows the gicocu config:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=607115#post607115
alpha and hsv should be set to false
the option photoshop should be set to true
I tried to contact e-male recently since I made a lot of updates (and so that he could incorporate these) but I got no response from him.

@Soopafresh:
The webspace I use is not intendend for professional use (no php/asp and so on) so I can offer no professional hosting of .amp/.acv files. Maybe in some kind of forum amp files could be stored? The only thing I can offer is storing some .amp/.acv files manually in my webspace. Maybe someone else can come up with a good idea for that?

Does anyone know what qualifications a software/filter/plugin must meet to be added to the tools section of videohelp?
I tired to suggest it but it seems that my filter does not meet the qualifications.

[vhelp]

Does anyone know what qualifications a software/filter/plugin must meet to be added to the tools section of videohelp?
I tired to suggest it but it seems that my filter does not meet the qualifications.

I think it works like this..

1) - you copy the url address of the webpage your plugin is at, into the link, below
2) - Then you go to the --> Submit new tools here
3) - it may take several days or so to be reviewed by the mods, and finally gets added to the list

-vhelp 4607

[BBugsBunny]

That's what I did over a week ago...
Either maybe something did not work with my browser (Opera) or the filter did not pass the review or it's still pending.
There are some very good and useful filters for VirtualDub (eg. Deshaker) that would fit very well into the Virtualdub tools section in my opinion.

[vhelp]

You might have to create an acrynum (ie, bugsplugins or something) for your plugins and
then request the site's admin, Baldrick to add it. So the acrynum will re-direct to your plugins webpage.

-vhelp 4609

[Soopafresh]

Here's some .amp files which I've collected. Props to the people who created them:



ampfiles.zip

[SatStorm]

@BBugsBunny: Contact Baldrick regarding your request. He's a very busy man and the one that decides what to add or not on videohelp. Occasionally, he mirrors some tools too.

BTW, your filter is great, especially for those that knows how to operate some similar filters on photoshop!

[themaster1]

Nice filter right here:
Easy to use + preview plus various colors space you can work on.. so congrats.

It helps me a lot to get the most quality from a vhs.

[tin2tin]

Would it be possible for you to make a VDub filter whch takes one parameter of the path of an amp file and loads it?

That way it may be possible to load this into avisynth with the vdub plugin loader and it could be used as an alternative to gicacu(it's not working properly).

[Bergen]

Amazing! This plugin is just what I needed for correcting a VHS tape I'm currently working on. Thanks a lot for this.

Only 1 thing (a bug?), nothing changes in the preview screen if I change the curves in RGB mode.

[BBugsBunny]

@Bergen: Under Processing you have to select RGB + R/G/B or RGB weighted + R/G/B.
When RGB Processing is selected (default) only the combined RGB curve is applied and not the individual color curves. I decided to split that up because sometimes only the use of the combined RGB curve is needed and then there is a little speed improvement over RGB + R/G/B.

@tint2tin: your request would probably be possible but I think it would be easier and better to adapt/update the gicocu avisynth filter. Besides I'm taking a developmet break and probably only will continue work on my filter by the end of the year. The Lab space took quite some time and integrating the new editor modes (spline...) took me even more time and so I need a break from developing.
Maybe if more people try to contact (PM) E-Male, the author of gicocu, over at the doom9 forums, he'll update the filter. With the sourcecode of my filter it should not take that much time to udpate gicocu.

[tin2tin]

I would just like to mention that in this thread there is a way to use this plugin in avisynth: here

This way the color manipulations are working without any problems at all in Avisynth.

You did a great job with this plugin!!

Came across this link for looks inspiration: here

[duster1234]

@bugsbunny

Thanks for the filter. I have been playing around with this tool a lot lately. Im using a gradientgrabber that can determine the gradient curves while opening a image in the program. It allows me to save that file as a .acv file. I read in one of your postings that the new version supports import and export of .acv files. I tried to do so but this is what i get.



I have uploaded the file as well which can be downloaded here

http://rapidshare.com/files/154852997/image013.acv.html

Just wondering if im doing something wrong. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[BBugsBunny]

@duster1234:
Are you sure that you are using the latest version of my plugin? Your screenshot seems to be of a filter version <=1.36 that has no spline editor mode and also no acv support.
I've imported the file into the gradation curves filter without any problem.

[duster1234]

@BBugsBunny

Thanks for the fast reply. Thumbs up! I just found out that i had a old version in my plugin folder which was overwritting the newer version. Just deleted it and now its working like a charme.

[M Bruner]

Could you please post a before and after pic so we may see the difference?

[Undead Sega]

it would be nice as well if there was already made presets, like 'Film' 'Sepia' etc.

[BBugsBunny]

Hi Undead Sega,

you can find my sepia/300 like preset in the tutorial (end):
https://neosol.at/vdub/tutorial/tutorial.html

Some more presets can be found under:
https://neosol.at/vdub/downloads.html

If someone has got some more good presets I can put them online as well.

[Undead Sega]

Very ncie stuff there, but for now i would want the settings for the film gamma curve. how do i do this precisely?

[BBugsBunny]

You will probably need some other filters as well (add grain - eg. with fxNoise.vdf)

Here's a very long thread about the subject:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=87791&highlight=filmlook

I have currently no curve for that, but I probably would work in the Lab colorspace to do it. I think this color space is very "powerful" for such things. I used it for some white balance ajustments with success. (White balance in Lab can be corrected by ajusting the a and b curve around the middle/center.

Maybe you can experiment a bit and share your results here.

[themaster1]

I'd just like to point out the new version 1.46 beta solve a big issue in Win7 (impossible to set points with older versions in win7), it's an old release (2008) but in case you have an older version download it from here:
http://members.chello.at/nagiller/vdub/gradationbeta.zip

Tested on Win7 x64