Removing Shimmering/Flickering?

[meeshu]

I upscaled a video using Topaz Video AI. The resulting video was quite good!! However, there is very slight shimmering/flickering appearing on part of a persons face (on right side).

How to remove this shimmering/flickering?

Processed video size is 15.6 GB. Sample clip size is 323 MB. Processed video is in mov format. Sample clip is in avi format and taken from processed video using VirtualDub editor.

Thank you.

LR_apo8_prob3_shimmer_2.avi

[poisondeathray]

These are temporal inconsistencies , probably from single image algorithm upscaling

One option is to use a video algorithm or play with the settings in VEIA.

Otherwise you can try a temporal denoiser such as smdegrain , or temporal smoothing filter such as vsTTempSmooth, temporalsoften. The side effect of temporal denoising and smoothing filters is blurring, detail loss and possible ghosting

This side by side comparison uses a SMDegrain (dogways' modified version), compressed with lagarith in vdub2. Audio is removed for the comparison

AVISource("LR_apo8_prob3_shimmer_2.avi")
Crop(160,0,-160,0,true)
ConvertToPlanarRGB()
Z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="YUV444P10", colorspace_op="rgb:709:709:f=>709:709:709:f")
SMDegrainD(thsad=650, prefilter="DFTTEST")
Z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="RGBP", colorspace_op="709:709:709:f=>rgb:709:709:f")

The file you uploaded is uncompressed RGB. In the future, you can use lossless compression to reduce the filesize, such as lagarith

[Selur]

"SMDegrain(dct=1)" works fine too, faster than that (but not as stable) would be to use ReduceFlicker and/or Small_Deflicker

Cu Selur

[meeshu]

Thanks for the detailed replies!

Now I have to experiment with my video clip.

[meeshu]

I presume the plugins and scripts are run under AviSynth?

It has been quite awhile since I've used AviSynth, so I've forgotten how to "install" and run the application.

Should I use AviSynth, or AviSynth+, or some other application; VapourSynth? Or something else?

I downloaded and ïnstalled AviSynth+ (V 3.7.2), but apart from the uninstallation executable within the AviSynth directory, there was no other executable!? So how on earth do you run AviSynth+?

[poisondeathray]

I presume the plugins and scripts are run under AviSynth?

It has been quite awhile since I've used AviSynth, so I've forgotten how to "install" and run the application.

Should I use AviSynth, or AviSynth+, or some other application; VapourSynth? Or something else?

I downloaded and ïnstalled AviSynth+ (V 3.7.2), but apart from the uninstallation executable within the AviSynth directory, there was no other executable!? So how on earth do you run AviSynth+?

avisynth+ or vapoursynth.

It's script driven. You can use avspmod or vdub2 to preview scripts.

Usually you need to pre-process and post-process to get ideal VEIA results.

[meeshu]

Thanks for the reminder!

I now have Avisynth+ installed as well as VirtualDub2.

I'm attempting to run the script -

AVISource("E:\Liver Run_apo8_prob3.avi")
ConvertToPlanarRGB()
Z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="YUV444P10", colorspace_op="rgb:709:709:f=>709:709:709:f")
SMDegrainD(thsad=650, prefilter="DFTTEST")
Z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="RGBP", colorspace_op="709:709:709:f=>rgb:709:709:f")

Note that I converted the original video Liver Run_aop8_prob3.mov to Liver Run_aop8_prob3.avi using VirtualDub and the lagarith codec.

On running the script via VirtualDub, the processing stops with the error -


[Attachment 70568 - Click to enlarge]

So presumably the appropriate codec is missing to decode the avi video?

On searching for solutions to this issue, I thought the appropriate codec to install could be "Cedocida DV codec", I downloaded this codec and tried to run the accompanying ".inf" file to install this codec but got the error -


[Attachment 70569 - Click to enlarge]

Tried several times to install this codec but continued to receive this same error message with the codec not being installed I believe.

Is this Cedocida codec the right codec to use here? If not, then which codec should be used instead?

If this Cedocida codec is the correct codec to use, then why won't it install? I'm running under Windows 10 Pro 64 bit.

Thank you.

[poisondeathray]

fourcc LAGS is for lagarith. Install lagarith

[meeshu]

Thanks for clarifying that!

Lagarith downloaded and installed.

Problem now is that the script can't find "SMDegrainD" ?

Where can I download this plugin?

[poisondeathray]

SMDegrainD is dogway's version of SMDegrain . I renamed the function with "D" to differentiate it between other versions.

https://github.com/Dogway/Avisynth-Scripts/tree/master/SMDegrain
https://github.com/Dogway/Avisynth-Scripts/blob/master/SMDegrain/SMDegrain.avsi

[meeshu]

Thanks for clarifying!

I didn't find a direct download of SMDegrain.avsi at the Github website. I copied the code, opened Notepad and created a file named SMDegrainD.avsi, and copied the code contents to this file.

The file SMDegrainD.avsi was placed within Avisynth Plugins+ sub folder.

Tried running the script named "video_shimmer_removal.avs" which contains the code as mentioned previously, ie

AVISource("E:\Liver Run_apo8_prob3.avi")
ConvertToPlanarRGB()
Z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="YUV444P10", colorspace_op="rgb:709:709:f=>709:709:709:f")
SMDegrainD(thsad=650, prefilter="DFTTEST")
Z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="RGBP", colorspace_op="709:709:709:f=>rgb:709:709:f")

But again got an error message about there is no function SMDegrainD !?


[Attachment 70582 - Click to enlarge]

What is wrong now?

[jagabo]

plugins+ is for 32 bit filters. plugins64+ is for 64 bit filters.

[poisondeathray]

I edited the avsi function name to "SMDegrainD" on line 93 . If you don't edit it, you can call it SMDegrain (no D)

SMDegrain(thsad=650, prefilter="DFTTEST")

[meeshu]

Still having problems here.

Edited the script "video_shimmer_removal.avs" (SMDegrainD is now SMDegrain) so that the code is now -

AVISource("E:\Liver Run_apo8_prob3.avi")
ConvertToPlanarRGB()
Z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="YUV444P10", colorspace_op="rgb:709:709:f=>709:709:709:f")
SMDegrain(thsad=650, prefilter="DFTTEST")
Z_ConvertFormat(pixel_type="RGBP", colorspace_op="709:709:709:f=>rgb:709:709:f")

And renamed SMDegrainD.avsi (which is located in the plugins+ sub folder as mentioned previously) to SMDegrain.avsi.

Getting error message again -


[Attachment 70583 - Click to enlarge]

As far as I'm aware all plugins (I've added) are 32 bit(?)

[poisondeathray]

Update AviSynth+ version means your avs version is too old

I'm using r3961 (3.7.3 test 9) x64 . All plugins x64
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=181351


Or you can try using a different SMDegrain version .

[meeshu]

Thanks for the comments.

Unfortunately things seem to have gone from so so to worse!

Uninstalled AviSynth+ V 3.7.2 using third party uninstaller.
Downloaded AviSynth+ V 3.7.3 test 9.
Unzipped AviSynth+ V 3.7.3 test 9 directly to C: drive.
Directory structure looks like this under C: drive -


[Attachment 70592 - Click to enlarge]

Then tried running Version() script (in version.avs) under VirtualDub using VirtualDub 32 bit executable (VirtualDub.exe) and then the 64 bit executable (VirtualDub64.exe).

Both VirtualDub executables returned the same error message after running the version.avs script -


[Attachment 70594 - Click to enlarge]

I believe that suggests that AviSynth+ has not been "installed" correctly!?

What to do now?

[poisondeathray]

If you have a valid avisynth+ install, all you need to do is replace avisynth.dll in Windows\System32 directory for x64 ; or Windows\SysWOW64 for x86 . A previous install is required for that method of upgrading, because of registry entries.

So re-install this old 3.7.2 version first, then copy/paste the new avisynth.dll to "upgrade"
https://github.com/AviSynth/AviSynthPlus/releases

[meeshu]

Thanks again for clarifying!

Reinstalled AviSynth+ V 3.7.2.

Ran VirtualDub2 again with the script Version(), this time AviSynth is recognized once again.

Now the upgrade file (Avisynth_3.7.3_20230316_test9.7z) contains three folders - x64, x64_xp, and x86_xp. There is a file named AviSynth.dll within each of the three folders. But each AviSynth.dll is different in size.

Which AviSynth.dll file goes into C:\Windows\System32 directory (possibly the AviSynth.dll from x86_xp directory?), and which AviSynth.dll file goes into C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory (maybe the AviSynth.dll from x64_xp directory?)?

EDIT: I tried various combinations of the latest AviSynth.dll files by overwriting the existing AviSynth.dll files. But on checking to see if AviSynth+ was still available to VirtualDub2 for script processing by running the Version() script under VirtualDub2, again got error messages as indicated in previous post #16!

So just overwriting the existing AviSynth.dll files with the latest downloaded AviSynth.dll files doesn't seem to work (for me)!

What is wrong now?

EDIT2: Still running AviSynth+ V 3.7.2. I managed to get the video_shimmer_removal.avs script sort of running under VirtualDub2 64 bit executable.

But now get this error -


[Attachment 70597 - Click to enlarge]

What is wrong now?

[poisondeathray]

Use x64 for x64, "xp" is just for legacy OS (it refers to windows xp), but it's the only one provided for x86

For the SMDegrain.avsi script, make sure you download it correctly, not an .html file . Open it in notepad to check

[meeshu]

OK. Copied the AviSynth.dll file from the x64 sub-directory of the latest AviSynth release (v 3.7.3 test9) to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory which replaced the existing old version of AviSynth.dll. But on running Version() script via VirtualDub2, I still get the message that AviSynth+ is still at V 3.7.2. So the 64 bit replacement of file AviSynth.dll didn't seem to upgrade AviSynth+ to V 3.7.3 test9!?

I copied the script for SMDegrain directly from here using copy raw content. So the content shouldn't have any html nor anything else that might cause issues, I believe(?)

Below is attached the SMDegrain,avsi file that I have.

SMDegrain.7z

[poisondeathray]

OK. Copied the AviSynth.dll file from the x64 sub-directory of the latest AviSynth release (v 3.7.3 test9) to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory which replaced the existing old version of AviSynth.dll. But on running Version() script via VirtualDub2, I still get the message that AviSynth+ is still at V 3.7.2. So the 64 bit replacement of file AviSynth.dll didn't seem to upgrade AviSynth+ to V 3.7.3 test9!?

Wrong directory

x64 goes in System32
x86 goes in SysWOW64

Below is attached the SMDegrain,avsi file that I have.

Looks ok

[meeshu]

Thanks!

AviSynth+ is now at version 3.7.3 test9 according to result of running Version() script!

However, the video_shimmer_removal.avs script still produces an error when run. The error message is the same as in my post #18. The error suggests there is a problem with the SMDegrain.avsi script as detailed within the error message.

[poisondeathray]

I think something was wrong with your SMDegrain download. It's a different version.

[meeshu]

Thanks for the zip file!

Replaced my version of SMDegrain.avsi with your version.

Ran the shimmering script again, but this time received another error message as below -


[Attachment 70604 - Click to enlarge]

[poisondeathray]

ExTools.avsi is a prerequisite for that version

https://github.com/Dogway/Avisynth-Scripts/blob/master/ExTools.avsi

[meeshu]

Thank you.

Downloaded the raw file content and created file ExTools.avsi.

Tried running the shimmering script again, but once again got this error message -


[Attachment 70608 - Click to enlarge]

[poisondeathray]

The error message tells you what the problem is. Search google for "avisynth DFTTest"

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Dfttest
https://github.com/pinterf/dfttest/releases

[meeshu]

Thanks for the links.

Downloaded appropriate file and installed.

Ran shimmer script again, made some progress, but got this error in the end -


[Attachment 70609 - Click to enlarge]

I used Google to search for file libfftw3f-3.dll, which seems to be a system file and which should be installed in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and/or in C:\Windows\Sytem32 directories, I understand.

Google search turned up a fair number of results for this file, but it is not clear if these files are 32 bit or 64 bit. Plus there is contradictory advice as to how to install this file. Usually the advice is to copy the same file to both system directories (regardless if the file is 32 or 64 bit!?)? Restart computer and/or run regsvr32 on the file to register the file on the system.

Downloaded this file a few times from different sites. I tried several times to run regsvr32, but this resulted in an error message to the effect that the libfftw3f-3.dll file may be the wrong version for my system. Tried running the shimmer script again anyway, but again got this same error message.

One site in particular here, has literally dozens of 32 bit and 64 bit versions of file libfftw3f-3.dll! So how do I know which version of this file to download?

EDIT: Never mind! I finally found the libfftw3f-3.dll files (32 bit and 64 bit) from here! Hell of a job finding these files!

Another error was found after running shimmer script, "MSuper" was missing. I found this in MVTools which was downloaded and installed.

As of now, the shimmering script seems to be working at last!!

[meeshu]

Otherwise you can try a temporal denoiser such as smdegrain , or temporal smoothing filter such as vsTTempSmooth, temporalsoften. The side effect of temporal denoising and smoothing filters is blurring, detail loss and possible ghosting

Is/are there any (other) filters that do not cause blurring/detail loss?

If so, what are they and what would be suitable settings for them?

Thank you.

[jagabo]

SMDegrain is probably the temporal noise reduction filter that causes the least blurring and detail loss.