Slow motion with the GL1 at DVinfo.net

Bruce Findleton · February 20th, 2002, 08:32 PM

I'm using the Matrox RT2500 with Premiere 6 and want to do some slow motion. Anybody have experience with either product trying to do a nice smooth slow motion effect? I've just tried setting the speed and am not impressed. Any hints?

Bruce

Ed Smith · February 21st, 2002, 01:18 PM

I use the system at college, and the only way I knew how to do it was via the speed control in Premiere - and yes I would agree that sometimes it can look very jerky - I think the reason for this is that it skips frames/ adds frames in order to reduce or increase the length or speed.

I would be interested to know if there is another way of doing this.

All the best,

Ed Smith

Ed Smith · February 22nd, 2002, 01:15 PM

I had a look in the Matrox manual today - they said that it can look jerky and suggested to:

- Always Deinterlace

- Flicker Removal

This is done by clicking right mouse button on the video clip > Video Option >> Field Options >>> and then click desired effect.

Word of warning you will have to render when this is applied.

It sometimes pays to read. hehehehe ;+)

Hope this helps,

Ed Smith

Bruce Findleton · February 22nd, 2002, 05:15 PM

Thanks Ed.

Tried it and still think it looks cheesy. Someone on another forum suggested taking a look at the AE Twixtor plug-in from RE: Vision Effects (http://www.revisionfx.com). I'll give the demo a try this weekend and let you know how it looks.

Bruce

Ed Smith · February 23rd, 2002, 01:24 PM

No problem. It would be interesting to know how the plugin works and whether it would do a good job.

Keep me updated.

All the best,

Ed

Bruce Findleton · February 23rd, 2002, 06:38 PM

Ed,

The Twixtor plug-in worked great on the clips I tried. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and get this puppy. Thanks for your input.

Bruce

Casey Visco · February 24th, 2002, 06:48 PM

bruce, this looks like an interesting option, do you (or anybody) have any cuts of the output of this plugin?

Bill Ravens · February 24th, 2002, 07:17 PM

If you are on a PC, you have access to TMPGENc. Using this program, you can start with a 30(29.97) FPS interlaced DV and convert it to 60 FPS by making each field(A and B) an independent frame. Some vertical resolution is lost, but, you can recover a little of this with a sharpening filter(unsharp mask). When played back at 30 FPS, the motion is extremely smooth. A very good way to do slomo. If you'd like the TMPGENc templates for the conversion process, go to:
people.freenet.de/codecpage

Bruce Findleton · February 26th, 2002, 01:01 PM

Casey,

Even the 8 sec clip is prohibitively large, so, no. BUT...

Got a tip on another forum that works very nicely:

1) Change speed of clip
2) Apply Video->Adjust->Brightness and Contrast filter

That's it. It seems to work fine down to a speed of 50%. The difference between this and Twixtor was negligible. Of course I'm by no means a Twixtor pro so take this with the proverbial salt grains. But for a no-cost, easy, FAST rendering alterative it can be very viable depending on your final audience.

For speeds below 50% Twixtor was the hands down winner. Very pretty, smooth and clear in most intances.

The best option is to download the demo version of Twixtor (free) and do your own comparisons with your own clips. Be warned though: render times are pretty long in most cases so keep your clips short. Just a suggestion.

Cheers,

Bruce

Marius Svendsen · May 27th, 2002, 11:40 AM

Try ramped slow-motion oin after effects...works great.VEry smooth image.....

Casey Visco · May 27th, 2002, 12:03 PM

I had forgotten about this thread for a while...Since my last post I had invested in the full version of Twixtor and have used it quite a bit. One shot in particular comes to mind while editing a project for a local political group.

They had handed me some DV footage that they shot with a zr-10. There was one shot of a building here in Plymouth on the coast with this large area of golden brown grass in front of it. The wind was such that the grass was blowing around pretty hard and pretty quickly. I used twixtor to slow it down to 25% of its original speed, and the result looked incredible, it was near perfectly interpolated, even something as complex as all the individual blades of grass were handle with an incredible degree of accuracy.

Unfortunately i dont have the clip available, i did grab one still shot of an interpolated frame, however:

http://fat-dog.net/kc/cliffs_after.jpg

Marius Svendsen · May 27th, 2002, 03:45 PM

Really looks great!
How much did u pay for the program?
Hard to use?

Casey Visco · May 27th, 2002, 05:56 PM

You can find info on Twixtor pricing at

http://www.revisionfx.com/rstwixtorprice.html

As far as usability goes, I use it solely with combustion...and find it fairly easy to use, often you'll need to experiment a little with the settings to get what you want. Or, if you're like me and really don't mind the render times, you can max out the interpolation quality settings and just read a book. =D

c

Casey Visco · May 27th, 2002, 06:12 PM

I should also add too. that twixtor does an excellent job with speed ramping in After Effects. Combustion doesn't support this feature in the plug-in, however.

February 20th, 2002, 08:32 PM	#1
Bruce Findleton Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Lafayette, CA Posts: 42	Slow motion with the GL1 I'm using the Matrox RT2500 with Premiere 6 and want to do some slow motion. Anybody have experience with either product trying to do a nice smooth slow motion effect? I've just tried setting the speed and am not impressed. Any hints? Bruce

February 24th, 2002, 06:48 PM	#7
Casey Visco Major Player Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 280	bruce, this looks like an interesting option, do you (or anybody) have any cuts of the output of this plugin? __________________ Casey Visco Glidecam Industries, Inc.

May 27th, 2002, 11:40 AM	#10
Marius Svendsen Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Oslo, Norway Posts: 79	Try ramped slow-motion oin after effects...works great.VEry smooth image..... __________________ Marius Svendsen Interlaced Media svendsen_ms@hotmail.com

May 27th, 2002, 12:03 PM	#11
Casey Visco Major Player Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 280	I had forgotten about this thread for a while...Since my last post I had invested in the full version of Twixtor and have used it quite a bit. One shot in particular comes to mind while editing a project for a local political group. They had handed me some DV footage that they shot with a zr-10. There was one shot of a building here in Plymouth on the coast with this large area of golden brown grass in front of it. The wind was such that the grass was blowing around pretty hard and pretty quickly. I used twixtor to slow it down to 25% of its original speed, and the result looked incredible, it was near perfectly interpolated, even something as complex as all the individual blades of grass were handle with an incredible degree of accuracy. Unfortunately i dont have the clip available, i did grab one still shot of an interpolated frame, however: http://fat-dog.net/kc/cliffs_after.jpg __________________ Casey Visco Glidecam Industries, Inc.

May 27th, 2002, 03:45 PM	#12
Marius Svendsen Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Oslo, Norway Posts: 79	Really looks great! How much did u pay for the program? Hard to use? __________________ Marius Svendsen Interlaced Media svendsen_ms@hotmail.com

February 21st, 2002, 01:18 PM	#2
Ed Smith Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 1,545	I use the system at college, and the only way I knew how to do it was via the speed control in Premiere - and yes I would agree that sometimes it can look very jerky - I think the reason for this is that it skips frames/ adds frames in order to reduce or increase the length or speed. I would be interested to know if there is another way of doing this. All the best, Ed Smith

February 22nd, 2002, 01:15 PM	#3
Ed Smith Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 1,545	I had a look in the Matrox manual today - they said that it can look jerky and suggested to: - Always Deinterlace - Flicker Removal This is done by clicking right mouse button on the video clip > Video Option >> Field Options >>> and then click desired effect. Word of warning you will have to render when this is applied. It sometimes pays to read. hehehehe ;+) Hope this helps, Ed Smith

February 22nd, 2002, 05:15 PM	#4
Bruce Findleton Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Lafayette, CA Posts: 42	Thanks Ed. Tried it and still think it looks cheesy. Someone on another forum suggested taking a look at the AE Twixtor plug-in from RE: Vision Effects (http://www.revisionfx.com). I'll give the demo a try this weekend and let you know how it looks. Bruce

February 23rd, 2002, 01:24 PM	#5
Ed Smith Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 1,545	No problem. It would be interesting to know how the plugin works and whether it would do a good job. Keep me updated. All the best, Ed

February 23rd, 2002, 06:38 PM	#6
Bruce Findleton Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Lafayette, CA Posts: 42	Ed, The Twixtor plug-in worked great on the clips I tried. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and get this puppy. Thanks for your input. Bruce

February 24th, 2002, 07:17 PM	#8
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	If you are on a PC, you have access to TMPGENc. Using this program, you can start with a 30(29.97) FPS interlaced DV and convert it to 60 FPS by making each field(A and B) an independent frame. Some vertical resolution is lost, but, you can recover a little of this with a sharpening filter(unsharp mask). When played back at 30 FPS, the motion is extremely smooth. A very good way to do slomo. If you'd like the TMPGENc templates for the conversion process, go to: people.freenet.de/codecpage

February 26th, 2002, 01:01 PM	#9
Bruce Findleton Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Lafayette, CA Posts: 42	Casey, Even the 8 sec clip is prohibitively large, so, no. BUT... Got a tip on another forum that works very nicely: 1) Change speed of clip 2) Apply Video->Adjust->Brightness and Contrast filter That's it. It seems to work fine down to a speed of 50%. The difference between this and Twixtor was negligible. Of course I'm by no means a Twixtor pro so take this with the proverbial salt grains. But for a no-cost, easy, FAST rendering alterative it can be very viable depending on your final audience. For speeds below 50% Twixtor was the hands down winner. Very pretty, smooth and clear in most intances. The best option is to download the demo version of Twixtor (free) and do your own comparisons with your own clips. Be warned though: render times are pretty long in most cases so keep your clips short. Just a suggestion. Cheers, Bruce

May 27th, 2002, 05:56 PM	#13
Casey Visco Major Player Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 280	You can find info on Twixtor pricing at http://www.revisionfx.com/rstwixtorprice.html As far as usability goes, I use it solely with combustion...and find it fairly easy to use, often you'll need to experiment a little with the settings to get what you want. Or, if you're like me and really don't mind the render times, you can max out the interpolation quality settings and just read a book. =D c __________________ Casey Visco Glidecam Industries, Inc.

May 27th, 2002, 06:12 PM	#14
Casey Visco Major Player Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 280	I should also add too. that twixtor does an excellent job with speed ramping in After Effects. Combustion doesn't support this feature in the plug-in, however. __________________ Casey Visco Glidecam Industries, Inc.