View Full Version : What footage stabilization software for Mac ?
Hi folks !
Some time ago, I've read a post in which somebody gave a link to a german company selling a $50 or so software for Os-X which boasted great image stabilization standalone software.
Unfortunately, I've lost the bookmark to that website and I don't remember its name.
I googled for hours without results. Can anyone please point it out ?
I remember, there was some demo footage from a guy riding a bike, first person perspective, which was mindblowingly stabilized.
I tried smoothcam in FCP6 with no satisfying results. I get only heavy sharpness variations - as if somebody was playing on the focus.
thanks !
Edi5
cheezweezl
07-29-2007, 06:10 AM
your sharpness issues may have to do with the zooming that is going on when your footage gets stabilized. this will happen with any software. in order to smooth the footage, the image must be rotated and moved around causing the edges to be compromised. the software enlarges the image to hide the edges and softening occurs. the effect is less damaging the smoother your original clip is.
sorry i can't help with the software you are after. i use the fcp smoothcam and have great results.
nsoltz
07-29-2007, 07:57 AM
I get good results with FCP 6 smoothcam, slightly better results with Motion and even better results with Shake. All three of these are still the same optical flow method. The only differences just lie in the amount of control over various parameters that you have. One important thing about the stabilization in FCP 6. FCP will analyze the entire clip for motion, not just between you i/o points. That could affect the stabilization it decides to apply. Best to export the segment of the clip you want to stabilize as a QT and then reimport. Of course, remember to add sufficient footage for handles if you plan any transitions around the stabilized shot.
Ned Soltz
cheezweezl
07-29-2007, 03:27 PM
http://www.pixlock.com/
i watched the sample videos here and i smell a rat. there are times when the stabilized video on the right has more edge than the shaky one. the two videos are synced frame to frame. watch the man walk out from the right side and you see it happens at the same time. then later i can see stuff on the edges of the stabilized version that is hidden on the shaky side supposedly by camera movement. this is impossible. i believe the footage on the right side was already stable (maybe steadicam) and they shook it in post to create the so-called "original" version. here's the video i am talking about.
http://sampledata.pixlock.com/videostabilization/principalmarket/principalmarket_high.html
cheezweezl
07-29-2007, 03:32 PM
in fact, looking at it again i can see a slight swaying motion in the stable version. i bet anything this was shot with a handheld glidecam or something. plus the shaky version looks like some kind of "earthquake" plugin. too shaky to be holding the frame as well as it does. someone that shaky on the cam would have been all over the place framing-wise.
you make a good point cheez about that video looking almost unnaturally shaky - IMO the only way to make video that shaky naturally is if they had mounted the camera to the handlebars of a bicycle and ridden down that cobblestone street - which i imagine they may have done
- BECAUSE the software DOES WORK. ive used it.
what it does is focuses on a specific pixel area and holds the video as steady as possible relative to that area. the down side is that to do that means moving the video frame around within the field of view. so you have to scale your video up to account for times where the edge comes into view, which results in slight to moderate softening, WHICH then means that you have to sharpen your video, resulting in an unnaturally sharp video.
but come on now, this is a process to make crap footage usable. nobody expects it to be perfect!??!?!?
Arrik
07-29-2007, 10:24 PM
If I know the shot is going to be too shakey, I will increase the shutter speed a bit to minimize motion blur from shakes.
I've tried to smooth cam some shots taken with slower shutter speeds before, and I get that effect you mentioned, as if someone is playing with the focus. But I too have seen some remarkable results from the smooth cam filter. It has saved a couple key shots in recent gigs.
Arson
07-29-2007, 10:56 PM
That footage is a little TOO SHAKY even for a bike on cobblestone. I call shenanigans. It's almost too shaky for a rocky beach
cheezweezl
07-30-2007, 01:38 AM
yeah, i understand how image stabilization works wgzn and that software may in fact do it's job. i just call BS on the demo video. you can't tell me that the software adds information that wasn't there to begin with. if that footage could be stabilized, it would be cropped to hell and wouldn't sway like a glidecam.
case in point. the screen grab below shows the supposed shaky footage on the left and the stabilized on the right. if you look at the area near the oncoming cyclist, you can tell it's the same frame. explain how the software added windows on the right side and space in front of the car where the shaky side had cut this stuff off in the frame. does it pull info from previous frames and magically reconstruct the image? yeah right... :thumbdown
http://www.fisherfilmworks.com/bogus.png
i would be very surprised if this imovie plugin does a better job than fcp, motion, or shake. if it does, i'll buy it.
nsoltz
07-30-2007, 06:22 AM
I think the product in question is iStabilize. I have used it and I think it does a decent job, but with the tools now available in Motion and Shake, I think just as good a job can be achieved.
Ned Soltz
uh, look again - your posted left and right are nowhere near the same frame. there is like a 20 pixel difference???
ok, did they artificially add jitter to the source footage? maybe. but i have no doubt that their product could "stabilize" it back to the look of the clip to the right. again, ive used it. it aint gonna do magic, but it certainly is able to make crap footage less crappy... and at its price, we could have both bought a copy just in the time weve wasted here arguing about it ; )
as a side note, the product we are talking about here is "iStabilize" for FCP - NOT "piStabilize" for imovie.
cheezweezl
07-30-2007, 12:27 PM
uh, look again - your posted left and right are nowhere near the same frame. there is like a 20 pixel difference???
exactly my point. it is the same frame with an impossible difference. if you go to this frame in the video and advance or back up just one frame you will see a difference in the relationship of the objects. look at the relationship between the two cars, the cyclist on the left and the person standing off to the side. it is definitely the same frame which is why i think it's BS. it would be normal for the stabilization software to cut off the left side and top as it has done but impossible to add to the right side and bottom as you see.
does it run within fcp? i thought it was only stand alone or imovie plugin...
yeah, my mistake. it is indeed a standalone app, not an fcp plugin