stabilizing/smoothing a heli shot in post?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mc
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mc

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i shot a few scenics from a heli recently, and since it wasn't a planned shot, didn't have a gyro. Handheld in a small chopper left the shot a bit bumpy.

Is there a good plugin that can help me stabilize this in post a bit? slo mo looks a bit shite after 70% slowdown.

Thanks!

mike
 
Most pro effects packages have motion trackign stabilizers. I'm sure there's some plugins since I've seen one even for iMovie.
Note that stabilizers can't work miracles. Most of them try to work by locking motion, not to smooth it. That means if you have a large camera move you may have to break it up or reprocess the data in excel. It also means you'll need to blowup your footage since stabilizing will move the frame, creating black on some edges in doing so. The other problem, especially with helicopter footage, is even if it's locked you may get moving blur/smearing. This may look like the focus is flickering. This is because during a bump the image is motion blurred and once it becomes 'static' the motion blur will not look right since it's no longer moving.
 
thanks. I have tried the motion stabilizer in FCP's effects, but I can't get it looking right.

so much for "fix it in post", haha.
 
Have you thought of trying a compositing program? This is one of the main functions of them, and they are very good at it. I use Shake myself, and you can download a 30 day trial if you'd like. I find it very easy to use and understand, and the trackers are sub-pixel accurate. If you need a quick run through on basic use of Shake, watch the quick tours on apple's page (apple->software->shake->quick tours). Watch the first few so you understand the workfolw, and then watch the ones on the tracking options.

Again, 30 day trial should be enough to get you through the project, right?

If you need any help with Shake, pm me :)

There are many other programs out as well - combustion, etc... so a little research would be worth it to see if there are trial versions of them and how you use them.

Just a thought...

~MK
 
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