New upscaling algorithm: waifu2x

[poisondeathray]

Some versions of browsers don't like imgur . You get a resized png or jpg version. You have to go to the site and click "download full resolution" or "view full resolution"

Here is a direct link to the 960p version, notice the name is different (without an "h")

https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/kKIja2a.png

The other link is labelled "png", but it's actually a 480p jpg

https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/kKIja2ah.png

[-Habanero-]

Wtf? I swear I've done that same exact thing and got the 580p image. I clicked on the photo so it enlarges to the original just like I did now. I didn't have javascript disabled either.

Anyway, I see now what the problem is. You denoised the video which is fine but you also used some kind of line thinner which destroyed much of the detail and made the animation look more cartoony than it already was.
Also, upscaling that frame took exactly 2 minutes for me on my i7 without any gpu processing. Is your video card a 300-watt huge energy-guzzling ****** or something? 60 times faster than my i7... god damn.

[foxmlg]

Wtf? I swear I've done that same exact thing and got the 580p image. I clicked on the photo so it enlarges to the original just like I did now. I didn't have javascript disabled either.

Anyway, I see now what the problem is. You denoised the video which is fine but you also used some kind of line thinner which destroyed much of the detail and made the animation look more cartoony than it already was.
Also, upscaling that frame took exactly 2 minutes for me on my i7 without any gpu processing. Is your video card a 300-watt huge energy-guzzling ****** or something? 60 times faster than my i7... god damn.

CUDA acceleration is much faster than a CPU.. Its normal.

"you also used some kind of line thinner"
I did not. All I did was upscale it 2x with level 2 denoise. Using waifu2x- Nothing else. Maybe I should only have used a level 1 denoise.

[paul70078]

I work on translating waifu-2x-coffe (Windows-GUI version with CUDA support)
I think I translated all GUI-stuff. I dont't bother with the comments.
To compile binaries and do the testing I have to wait until I get approved by Nvidia and can download their CUDA-SDK
I forked it to create the changes. See https://github.com/paul70078/waifu2x-caffe

[citroenfan]

I made some test encoding and want to share my findings with this new upscaling algorithm.

input size of video: 704×432 pixels, 25fps, codec Lagarith YUV2, clip duration: 1 minute (1500 frames)
output size of video: 1408×864 pixels, 25fps, codec Lagarith
encoded with AViutil + waifu2x, with GPU

parameters: noise 0, scale 1, block 256 - encoding time 25minutes for 1 minute clip
parameters: noise 0, scale 1, block 128 - encoding time 47minutes for 1 minute clip

I would like to ask, what is the "block" number standing for?
because if I set "block" number at lower values (for example 64) then the encoding time is increasing
and if I set "block" number at higher values (for example 324) encoding time is shorter.

computer:
Windows 7SP1 64bit
Intel Core i7-4790 3800Mhz, 16GB DDR3 2400Mhz, Gygabyte GA-Z97X Gaming 5, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 2GB, Windows disc Intel SSD 240GB sataIII, data disc(s) WD 2TB 7200rpm

[MaverickTse]

Block, means dividing the image into a number of tiles for parallel processing. The optimal value may vary according to different graphics card and image size.

[citroenfan]

Thank you MaverickTse for the answer.

I understand now what the block is. I tried to find difference between file encoded with "block 128" and "block 258"
and they are so small I barely see them.

I would like to ask you, is it possible that the input file is having vertical resolution more than 480 lines?
Because I live in PAL country, and video resolution here is 720x576 pixels@25fps.
And when I tried to encode file with this resolution, I get in AviUtil some "pop-up" window with error and nothing happen?
I tried 3-4 files with vertical resolution greater then 480pixels and could not encode no one of them.
so I suppose that encoding files with vertical resolution greater then 480 lines are not supported in waifu2x?

My goal is to encode full PAL resolution (720×576pixels@25fps) with waifu2x so I will get file with resolution 1440x1152 pixels,
and then resize/crop it to 1080 pixels (vertical resolution) and 1440/1920 pixels (horizontal resolution, depends is it 4:3 or 16:9.)

I usually work this with avisynth script with NNEDI3rpow2, but waifu2x output is sharper then NNEDI3rpow2.

Thank you for your answer and your time and effort with waifu2x

[MaverickTse]

Yes, It upscale sources larger than 640x480. I have tried with 1024x768 source.
However, you may need to adjust the "maximum resolution" allowable in File>Settings>System.

[ankutsa]

That looks amazing. Is there any way it can be used inside Handbrake?

[MaverickTse]

That looks amazing. Is there any way it can be used inside Handbrake?

You have to ask Handbrake developers.
It is possible IMO, since there are already plugins for Avisynth, vaporsynth and AviUtl, commandline converters are also available.
There are also nice DLL and API libraries ready for use.

[davistrife]

I wonder how do I convert multiple images? (My intention is to convert a video to images in sequence, and then do the upscaling of the images)

[foxmlg]

I wonder how do I convert multiple images? (My intention is to convert a video to images in sequence, and then do the upscaling of the images)

The best one for that is the original one: https://github.com/nagadomi/waifu2x

I've already done the first episode of death note using that one. But it still takes a while.

[MaverickTse]

I wonder how do I convert multiple images? (My intention is to convert a video to images in sequence, and then do the upscaling of the images)

The Easiest and Fastest one (on Windows), see post #4:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/372157-New-upscaling-algorithm-waifu2x?p=2393120&vi...=1#post2393120
DL here: https://github.com/lltcggie/waifu2x-caffe/releases/tag/1.0.0
(Needs VS2013 redist)

just poll all your images into a folder, then in the "入力"(Input file path) type in your FOLDER PATH

[MaverickTse]

Finally I made a multilingual GUI for waifu2x-caffe:
https://github.com/MaverickTse/waifu2x_caffe_multilang_gui/releases



This will not works on its own, it depends on the CLI version of waifu2x-caffe.
Currently supports English, Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified and Japanese

If it crashes, please report here or on the GitHub Issue page

[pandy]

Great! Big Thanks MaverickTse!