Newbie needs help

[Sithllama]

I'm very new both to making AMVs and to Avisynth. I'm trying to work on an AMV of Howl's Moving Castle, but my souce looks like this:


This is actually not the best example, but trust me, it looks much worse in motion.

I have absolutely no idea where to start with this, could I please get some help? Many thanks in advance.

[Kariudo]

I'm assuming that you know how to make a basic script, tell me if I'm wrong

first, the golden rule of avisynth.
Your output quality will only be as good as your input quality (you can make some improvement, but avisynth isn't a cure-all miracle potion for video)

no matter what source you have, you'll want to do some smoothing.
removegrain, fluxsmoothst, deen and vaguedenoiser are some smoothers that I use often
If you don't have them, google the filter you want and put "avisynth" after it
once you download the filter, place it in avisynth's plugins folder (usually C:\Program Files\Avisynth2.5\Plugins)

deblock() might get rid of that blockyness that you're seeing (looks like an xvid .avi file, amirite?)

It depends on your tastes, but I like to add a sharpener at the very end to make everything look nice and crisp.
Vmtoon(), Toon() and limitedsharpen() or limitedsharpenfaster() are the common ones

at the end, you'll have something like...

Code: Select all

deblock()
vaguedenoiser()
fluxsmoothST(temporal_threshold=8, spatial_threshold=8)
limitedsharpenfaster(edgemode=1,wide=true,strength=100)

(in general, it's a good idea to do your smoothing before your sharpening)

[JaddziaDax]

hmmmn my dvd didn't seem that bad O.o

I'd start by getting a better source, and/or fixing the aspect ratio.

[Sithllama]

Kariudo:

Yes, I do know how to make a script. Thanks for the suggestions, I'm working with various combinations of them right now.

JaddziaDax:

I've been trying to get a better source, but I'm not having much luck. I want to try to do everything I can to this one first, then see if I still need to get a better source.

[JaddziaDax]

Well if you really want better quality the only thing you can do is start with the better quality source... the better quality your imput is the better quality your output will be... but if you don't mind having lower quality then that is fine as well..

My suggestion: keep playing around with avisynth, and obviously take Kariudo's advice, but if you are still concerned then post "before and after" pictures.

beforeafterline(1,"""filter01.filter02.filter03""")

just don't encode with this filter in effect because the line will show up in the encode.


And just so you know my version is the Disney licensed DVD O.o

[Vax]

Well if you really want better quality the only thing you can do is start with the better quality source... the better quality your imput is the better quality your output will be... but if you don't mind having lower quality then that is fine as well..

My suggestion: keep playing around with avisynth, and obviously take Kariudo's advice, but if you are still concerned then post "before and after" pictures.

beforeafterline(1,"""filter01.filter02.filter03""")

just don't encode with this filter in effect because the line will show up in the encode.


And just so you know my version is the Disney licensed DVD O.o

Where do you get the beforeandafterline plug in? I can't find it.

[JaddziaDax]

i must have gotten it in one of the versions of the amvapp... O.o i didn't hunt it down or anything...

[Vax]

i must have gotten it in one of the versions of the amvapp... O.o i didn't hunt it down or anything...

I just downloaded AMVapp 3.0 in the general amv forum. If I'm not mistaken, isn't it the latest version?

[Scintilla]

i must have gotten it in one of the versions of the amvapp... O.o i didn't hunt it down or anything...

I just downloaded AMVapp 3.0 in the general amv forum. If I'm not mistaken, isn't it the latest version?

So, look through the .AVSI files that get installed to your AVISynth plugins directory, until you find the function BeforeAfterLine(). (It doesn't have to be in the filename of the .AVSI file.)

And if you don't find it, you can always use this, which is the same thing but just without the white line separating the two sections:

Code: Select all

##################################################################
# BeforeAfter by Absolute Destiny and Corran (Eric Parsons) #
# e.g. #
# beforeafter(clip, placement, filters) #
# #
# 1 for vertical splitscreen, 0 for horizontal splitscreen #
##################################################################

function beforeafter(clip a, int "placement", string "filters"){

placement = Default(placement, 1)

Assert((Float(Width(a))/16)==Round(Width(a)/16), "Source image width must be a multiple of 16")

b = Eval("a."+filters)
c = (placement==1) ? StackHorizontal(a.Crop(0,0,-((Ceil(Float(Width(a))/32))*16),0).\
Subtitle("before"),b.Crop(((Floor(Float(Width(a))/32))*16),0,0,0).\
Subtitle("after")) :StackVertical(a.Crop(0,0,0,-Height(a)/2).Subtitle("Before"),b.\
Crop(0,Height(a)/2,0,0).Subtitle("After"))

Return c
}