Need Help

AesthetiX · Post by **AesthetiX** » Sun May 13, 2007 3:57 pm

What is filtering? Wait now I know you're just going to give me the link to the org's how to guides,...I've read it 13 times and don't understand a thing! X-[ someone help me. is it like an effect or how do you use it because i heard it likes en-hances your quality?

someone get me on the right track here please because I can't contemplate shit on the org's how to guides it's tooooo complicated X-[
seriously I'm serious, this would help me out alot!

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Sun May 13, 2007 4:19 pm

filtering is the process of using special functions or aspects of a program to alter the video quality.

most people here do their filtering using avisynth and vitrualdub(or vdubmod)
vitrualdub and virtualdubmod both have thier own filters that can be applied, but I find that avisynth affords more control (therfore having the potential to produce a better result)

avisynth isn't like most other programs. To see the results, you need to open the avisynth script (avs script) in another program (like vdub/mod, but AvsP is becoming more popular)

it helps if you have some programming experience, because writing an avs script is a lot like programming. this will help you create avs scripts

a very important part of being able to use avisynth is also knowing about how to find the filepath to what you want to use.

Kariudo wrote:Finding the filepath in WinXP:

navigate to your wmv file

in this example, I will use legacy.wmv.
the filepath is made form the two parts underlined in red
for this example, your script would look like this
Code: Select all
DirectShowSource("C:\Documents and Settings\Use\My Documents\amvs\Legacy.wmv")
notice how it is surounded in double quotes, and has another '\' between "amvs" and "Legacy.wmv" these are both vital.

in notepad, once your script resembles my example, go to file, save as.
name your file, and add .avs to the end (ex. myScript.avs)
do not mess with the filetype box, make sure the encoding box is set to ANSI

that should get you started

AesthetiX · Post by **AesthetiX** » Sun May 13, 2007 4:27 pm

get started?

man, how long did it take you to learn how to filter?

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Sun May 13, 2007 4:52 pm

It took about a year or so, mainly because I didn't really have anyone to help me. I got "yelled" at a few times and then started to figure things out.
my scripting isn't perfect, I'm sure someone could come around and look at my scripts and point out a few things, but it turns out alright.

AesthetiX · Post by **AesthetiX** » Sun May 13, 2007 5:15 pm

Kariudo wrote:It took about a year or so, mainly because I didn't really have anyone to help me. I got "yelled" at a few times and then started to figure things out.
my scripting isn't perfect, I'm sure someone could come around and look at my scripts and point out a few things, but it turns out alright.

a year?

(once again) I'm like not a patient person xD
I wish I knew someone who I could just send my vids to and they could filter them for me xD too bad I don't X-(
is 'cleaning' your footage the same as filtering?

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Sun May 13, 2007 5:28 pm

cleaning = filtering (AFAIK)
notice I said that it took me that long because I had no sensei
good quality takes time

AesthetiX · Post by **AesthetiX** » Sun May 13, 2007 5:35 pm

alright thanks for your help! xD

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Mon May 14, 2007 1:26 am

The hard part is recognizing the video issue you have and figuring out which filters would work best. Since some anime have different video issues, there is never an "always fits" solution. IMO, it's always better to under-filter than to over-filter. Especially if you are working with a single anime source since you won't need to adjust multiple anime to get more consistent looking video.

Unfortunately, I'll have to point you to the guides, but here's what you need to get started:
AviSynth - What it is, how it works and why you need it
VirtualDubMod - What it is and how to use it

and from the version 3 beta EADFAG:
Improving Visual Quality and Compressibility

Depending on how old your sources are and what they are, you may not need to do much of this. Most newer anime don't need much processing beyond de-interlacing or IVTC. Some cleaning may be useful for improving compression and resizing is almost a must.

Older anime need a little more filtering, but don't go overboard. Then there are certain exceptions where the companies involved messed up in producing the DVDs (ADV's Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, for example has rampant dot crawl), or were working with older analog master tapes and exhibit many classical analog picture issues (AnimEigo's original Oh, My Goddess! DVDs were produced from their older production masters which were copies of the Japanese original production tapes and show rainbowing and washed-out colors among other issues).

Most downloaded sources should already be cleaned and processed, so in a way, they may be easier to work with. Major downsides are that they are compressed for easier/faster downloading so video quality may not be as good as DVDs. Not to mention that most of these videos are TV captures which may not be of the highest quality in the first place. Using fansubs also have the issue of having subtitles to deal with (and the appearance of subs in an AMV are almost never a plus in most people's opinions). You'll also probably have to deal with various codecs (DivX, WMV, H.264, etc.), containers (MKV, MP4, OGM, etc.), and some software incompatibilities along the way that make it work in your editing program.

It may help to read the guides as you are doing your video prepping. Even today, I find it useful sometimes to have EADFAG open to reference as I'm processing footage.