I am looking at my video files from my new short right now, and there is heavy moire and color banding. Any plug-ins or programs that can get rid of moire and color banding?
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Moire reduction
- Thread starter ChimpPhobiaFilms
- Start date
For the future, are there any camera settings I should have on besides sharpness down?
These are two different issues. The moire pattern comes from remarkably low resolving power of DSLRs, the colour banding comes from the intense compression that happens when a surface is a similar colour.
Turning the sharpness down helps with the moire issues, but it won't help with the colour banding.
Lighting the background to prevent large areas of the same colour will help hide the banding. Not having tight patterns in the image is really all you can do to prevent moire.
CraigL
)Yep. H.264 culprit for the color banding.
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consu...os_rebel_t3i_18_55mm_is_ii_kit#Specifications
Goto "Video Shooting"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264
Useful article I just found (thanks to your query on this issue I also endure): http://www.vueplus.com/blog/2012/09/how-to-avoid-gradient-banding/
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consu...os_rebel_t3i_18_55mm_is_ii_kit#Specifications
Goto "Video Shooting"
File Format
MOV (image data: H.264; audio: Linear PCM (monaural))
MOV (image data: H.264; audio: Linear PCM (monaural))
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264
Useful article I just found (thanks to your query on this issue I also endure): http://www.vueplus.com/blog/2012/09/how-to-avoid-gradient-banding/
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After viewing Rayw's example, I thought I should explain this a bit more. I don't mean shining more light on the background wall (for example). I mean using a gobo or something to create some shadow and break up the consistency of the colour, much like the noise to background does in that article. Not only will that make the background less flat, it also means the compression doesn't have that large area to compress anymore.
It's not the perfect solution, but it's an option. I can't wait to get away from the heavy compression of DSLRs...
CraigL
It would really be great if more camera and camcorder manufacturers would allow consumers to switch back and forth between compressed and uncompressed images, much like we can chose resolution.
I understand the files will blossom into computer bogging monster files, but I'd like the option.
I understand the files will blossom into computer bogging monster files, but I'd like the option.
It's not just an issue with the filesizes on the computer, but they data rates are enormous for uncompressed video. The electronics inside the camera just cannot transfer the data fast enough. Having a custom built hardware compressor turns a ~600Mbps 2K stream into a manageable ~45Mbps, something that a $10 SD card can handle, as well as the SD controller inside the cheaper cameras. Even if it could transfer the data, it would melt down trying to do it.
In the more expensive cameras, you do have that option. The BMCC for example, can do the uncompressed RAW or ProRes/DNxHD compressed. But again, you're recording on much more expensive SSDs that have data transfer interfaces capable of handling the extremely large data rates. I imagine most of the other guys have similar options for when you don't want to deal with the hassles that RAW requires.
CraigL
This won't help with your present footage but will hopefully help with future footage:
My Observations on Reducing Moiré Pattern for DSLR Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmc2nJDKilA
Reduce moire, Canon 650D
[ 650D, Tokina 11-16mm lens. People say just turn down your sharpening and contrast to zero, but I did that and still had moire. Then I read someone said to just back off the focus ring a tad, which does work. ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVXns1R8ACc
Defeating Moire on the Canon EOS 600D/T3i
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AixwZupTyeA
My Observations on Reducing Moiré Pattern for DSLR Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmc2nJDKilA
Reduce moire, Canon 650D
[ 650D, Tokina 11-16mm lens. People say just turn down your sharpening and contrast to zero, but I did that and still had moire. Then I read someone said to just back off the focus ring a tad, which does work. ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVXns1R8ACc
Defeating Moire on the Canon EOS 600D/T3i
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AixwZupTyeA
Like others have said, the best thing is to avoid the problem. The following are some things that sometimes help.
The most common "fix" is roto the area and blur it a little. Sometimes a noise reduction filter can reduce the moire and banding.
For some footage you may want to try working in a higher bit depth such as 16 0r 32. Sometimes the footage may be fine, but you are working in a lesser color space and that could be causing some banding. If that is the case work in the proper color space.
You may need to add some noise or grain to break up banding when rendering out the video, depending on the crompression used.
For moire you may also want to check to see if it is only occuring on a single color channel. If so you may be able to just soften that channel.
In AE you would use Channel Blur to blur a individual channels. You might want to use Channel Converter to convert RGB to YUV, use Channel Blur to blur the the U or V, then apply Channel Converter again choosing YUV to RGB. In some instances this will reduce or remove some moire and banding. Sometimes, not always.
You may also try isolating colors in the moire or banding and adjusting them to match a nearby color. That doesn't work very often on its own, but sometimes when combined with bluring or roto it helps a little.
Depending on the pattern, a directional blur may actually give slightly better results than a fast or gausian blur.
The last ditch option, only do this if you are desperate and crazy, is to go an repaint each frame pixel by pixel.