fixing pixel issues

T

telebay

Well-known member
Okay... take it easy on me guys... I am very new to this...

I just finished editing my very first project (ever!) for a friend (their wedding). Happily... everything has gone smoothly... I guess all that FCP reading and watching Lynda tutorials really helped!

Problem: In just ONE frame of my footage, I notice that there are like 4 or 5 square spots -- maybe the right term is dropped pixels, I'm not sure. Honestly, I didn't notice them when I first imported into final cut to watch it -- it almost seems like they got worse, but that just may be me. I can't watch that clip now without noticing them flash on the screen.

My question is, how do I go about fixing this? If I took out that frame, would that screw everything up? Besides, I don't even know how to take out an individual frame?

Just wondering if there is some kind of FCP tool that can help me do a touch up... of course, the data in those spots is gone, but if I could just fill it will color that is close, then it probably wouldn't even be noticeable to most people.

Thanks!
 
If you can clearly see these 'squares'. I'm assuming they are kinda big, not just '1' pixel or you wouldn't notice them. In that case, you're dealing with a bad section of the tape; the digital data at that point in time hiccupped or had a micro tear/scratch, ect. There really isn't a way to fix that buy coloring it in. What might work best is removing that frame and seeing if it's a noticeable jump cut.

Zoom in as close as you can on the sequence; you'll get to the point where you can see the scrub bar moving frame by frame; navigate to the frame with the spots and the use your 'blade' tool to cut and remove that frame. Play back and see what it looks like. It's either that, cutting that shot out completely, re-editing it, or leaving it alone.
 
Sounds like what we sometimes call a "sparkly" dropout.

Excising a whole frame is the quickest way to "fix" it, but it may cause an unpleasant jarring effect when that section of the video is played.

You can usually fix it by going in and cloning bits from the previous frame to cover up the garbled spots, and nobody would ever notice. Takes some effort though.
 
I figured there was probably some way to "clone" from the previous frame... like you mention... but any idea where to begin telling me how to do it?

Also, with the "remove the frame" option -- does this effect the underlying sound? Seems like it would either: throw off the timing or cut out a snippet. The sound I am using though was recorded from a seperate source, onto a cd, and is on a seperate track in FCP.
 
Could you just export two frames, one before, and the current one with the problem to photoshop. Just add in the missing pixels using clone tool?
 
Matty_g -- to answer your questions, yes, it is a moving shot, but these "sparkys" are only found in one isolated frame. About 4 or 5 of them. Mostly background.

abzeleney -- I was thinking there might be a solution like this. When finished in Photoshop would you just import it back in as a photoshop format file and render?

Also, I just found this plug-in... has anyone here used it?:

http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/fcplugins/dh_reincarnation.php
 
telebay said:
abzeleney -- I was thinking there might be a solution like this. When finished in Photoshop would you just import it back in as a photoshop format file and render?
Click to expand...

That's what i'm thinking yes. I know when I worked in Premiere I was able to export the timeline into folder with every frame there, and then you could add stuff in using whatever program you wanted (ie. photoshop). Not sure on FCP...my computer is arriving Aug.3rd :> so my knowledge in fcp isn't great.

let me know if this works...it may help me when or if I run into the same issues.


Good Luck
Andrei
 
Are they white? You could also create a mask on an upper layer that was black just in those problem spots, even if they were only 1 pixel each, let the rest of the mast be transparent. That would at least change the pixels to black or a solid color. Another thought might be to copy the video to a layer above, shifting it a few frames forward/backward, then make a mask on that upper layer that just lets that one area get replaced with the upper layer video (which is a little ahead or behind), while the rest of the frame is from the lower layer original video. Just a few ideas...
 
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