LUTDeCrawl(), new dot crawl removal script function for AVS

[Scintilla]

Once again, my apologies to dial-up users, but I wanted lossless PNGs to portray the problem as accurately as possible.

New! From the makers of <s>HeadOn</s> <a href="http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/v ... Rainbow</a>!

Dot crawl: you know it, you hate it. (And if you don't, <a href="http://www.aquilinestudios.org/bygodthisisugly.jpg">it looks like this</a> (ENLARGED TO SHOW TEXTURE).) And if you've ever tried to deal with it with just smoothers, you know that the usual methods don't work.

Enter <a href="http://www.aquilinestudios.org/scripts/ ... awl</b></a>...
It's a purely temporal dot crawl removal filter, which means NO softening of edges!

And it's got LOOK-UP TABLES! Lots of them!
For those of you who've never played with MaskTools, look-up tables are there to make your scripts run ABNORMALLY FAST!*
Maybe not as fast as <s>KENYANS</s> ASSEMBLER, but you get the idea.

Plus, it's based on the same tried and true design philosophy that spawned <a href="http://www.aquilinestudios.org/scripts/ ... Rainbow</a> (now new and slightly improved! see changelog) -- but even BETTER.
You may ask yourself, "<s>Where IS that large automobile</s> How is this possible?" I'm glad you asked, because LUTDeCrawl introduces not one, but TWO, yes I said TWO new safety checks that weren't present in LUTDeRainbow!

<u>Safety check #1:</u> The <b>maxdiff</b> variable, a threshold above which fluctuations between a pixel and its temporal neighbours are ignored. You can use this to control artifacts! But if you choose to waive that right, you can set <b>usemaxdiff=false</b> for a 30% SPEED BOOST!

<u>Safety check #2:</u> Introducing scene change detection, a feature that was so relatively simple to include (two additional lines) that I don't know why I didn't think of it three years ago! No, you CAN'T turn this off (it doesn't produce a noticeable speed boost anyway), but setting <b>scnchg=255</b> effectively does.

But why take MY word for it? Just look at what the power of the LUT was able to do for Chiyo-chan -- note especially her hair, but also, more obviously, the Azumanga Daioh speech bubble:

BEFORE

<img src="http://www.aquilinestudios.org/lutdecrawl2.png">

AFTER

<img src="http://www.aquilinestudios.org/lutdecrawl3.png">

The <s>Sixth Platoon</s> crosstalk is mostly GONE! <s>HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?!</s> A-MA-zing!
And this was all at DEFAULT SETTINGS -- just imagine what you could do with a little tweaking!

One more comparison shot to drive the point home (links only this time):
BEFORE -- http://www.aquilinestudios.org/lutdecrawl0.png
AFTER -- http://www.aquilinestudios.org/lutdecrawl1.png

And the best part: LUTDeCrawl will retail for... ZERO HUNDRED AND ZEROTY-ZERO US DOLLARS!
And you only need ONE plugin to run it!... which, by the way, is MaskTools 2.0 (MT MaskTools), and if you don't have it already, it can be downloaded from <a href="http://manao4.free.fr/masktools-v2.0a35.zip">here</a>.


<b><a href="http://www.aquilinestudios.org/scripts/ ... awl</a></b>: Apply directly where it flickers!™
_________________________

* Speed tests showed LUTDeCrawl to be significantly faster than Checkmate and VagueDenosier, and about on par with TComb in luma-only mode, but not as fast as HQDN3D (all filters speed tested at default settings). This filter has not been tested with multithreading.

Disclaimers: Not effective on edges with significant motion (non-moving edges in the same image will still be good though). Please place BEFORE any IVTC operations. The contents of the required plugin are the sole responsibility of the plugin's creators. You use this function at your own risk: we accept no responsibility for adverse effects to your footage. If it wrecks it, then just comment it out, you lazy bastard.

[LivingFlame]

:O

Nifty.

[EvaFan]

Nice, I'm gonna be using this for all my crawl filtering from now on. It's very efficient.

[Autraya]

I've been using this on my vampire knight Raws and I've got to say it's F@CKING awesome!

The dot crawl was annoying the crap out of me, so thanks for posting this, even though it was a while ago