Fast Strobe FX at DVinfo.net

Marc Martin · January 22nd, 2003, 10:51 PM

Hi,

I'm looking for an effect that gives a fast strobe effect (at frame resolution if possible, 25fps PAL). I know it is possible (I think it's a freeze of some frames in interlaced mode).

Is there any software or plugin for that? I'm using a PC.

Thank in advance.

Rob Lohman · January 23rd, 2003, 02:42 PM

Perhaps an idea might be to insert a couple of pure white frames
every so much frames? This ofcourse would not be doable if you
need to do this for a long time then a few seconds...

Marc Martin · January 23rd, 2003, 04:06 PM

Rob Lohman wrote:
>This ofcourse would not be doable if you
>need to do this for a long time then a few seconds...

Yes, this is why I need a software or a plugin to do that, or maybe a good trick to emulate this in a software.

Rob Lohman · January 24th, 2003, 05:19 AM

If you are good in programming this should not be to difficult
to program as a plugin I think.

Julian Luttrell · January 24th, 2003, 07:56 AM

What exactly do you mean by strobe effect?

If you mean that the motion seems to jerk a few times a second, you can quickly do this in Premiere (or any other NLE I guess), by first speeding the clip up by a factor x, saving the result, importing the faster clip and slowing it down by the same factor. This should give every x'th frame repeated x times.

If you mean that there seem to be flashes every few frames, then it's a bit trickier to do quickly. The flash should just make everything brighter, not pure white, so I'd adjust gamma up for a couple of frames a few times a second, but making this repeat may be laborious. It's easy with Digital Fusion (say), but I haven't found a way of doing it in After Effects. Any ideas?

Julian

Rick Spilman · January 24th, 2003, 10:11 AM

There are a number of ways to do this. In Premiere there is a filter - "posterize time" which can do what I think you are talking about. You can do the same thing in Vegas by undersampling the frame rate, though I haven't tried it.

You can also just grab stills from the footage and add black or white flashes between, depending on exactly what look you are going for.

Rick

Marc Martin · January 24th, 2003, 10:59 PM

thank to all replies, but what I want to do is not to add black or white frames. It's a sort of strobe effect but not a real strobe, it's like you have a video at 18 or 20fps by second, but it's really 25fps, and more fluid than 18 or 20fps. This effect was done in 1994 in a French TV show called TARATATA. From the infos that I have, somebody who has worked on the show told me that it's a freeze of a half field. I don't know if he really wants to say half field or one field of two. I just know the effect was done on analog and not digital.

January 22nd, 2003, 10:51 PM	#1
Marc Martin Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Paris, France Posts: 80	Fast Strobe FX Hi, I'm looking for an effect that gives a fast strobe effect (at frame resolution if possible, 25fps PAL). I know it is possible (I think it's a freeze of some frames in interlaced mode). Is there any software or plugin for that? I'm using a PC. Thank in advance.

January 23rd, 2003, 02:42 PM	#2
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Perhaps an idea might be to insert a couple of pure white frames every so much frames? This ofcourse would not be doable if you need to do this for a long time then a few seconds... __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 24th, 2003, 05:19 AM	#4
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	If you are good in programming this should not be to difficult to program as a plugin I think. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 23rd, 2003, 04:06 PM	#3
Marc Martin Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Paris, France Posts: 80	Rob Lohman wrote: >This ofcourse would not be doable if you >need to do this for a long time then a few seconds... Yes, this is why I need a software or a plugin to do that, or maybe a good trick to emulate this in a software.

January 24th, 2003, 07:56 AM	#5
Julian Luttrell Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 164	What exactly do you mean by strobe effect? If you mean that the motion seems to jerk a few times a second, you can quickly do this in Premiere (or any other NLE I guess), by first speeding the clip up by a factor x, saving the result, importing the faster clip and slowing it down by the same factor. This should give every x'th frame repeated x times. If you mean that there seem to be flashes every few frames, then it's a bit trickier to do quickly. The flash should just make everything brighter, not pure white, so I'd adjust gamma up for a couple of frames a few times a second, but making this repeat may be laborious. It's easy with Digital Fusion (say), but I haven't found a way of doing it in After Effects. Any ideas? Julian

January 24th, 2003, 10:11 AM	#6
Rick Spilman Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Jersey City, NJ Posts: 366	There are a number of ways to do this. In Premiere there is a filter - "posterize time" which can do what I think you are talking about. You can do the same thing in Vegas by undersampling the frame rate, though I haven't tried it. You can also just grab stills from the footage and add black or white flashes between, depending on exactly what look you are going for. Rick

January 24th, 2003, 10:59 PM	#7
Marc Martin Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Paris, France Posts: 80	thank to all replies, but what I want to do is not to add black or white frames. It's a sort of strobe effect but not a real strobe, it's like you have a video at 18 or 20fps by second, but it's really 25fps, and more fluid than 18 or 20fps. This effect was done in 1994 in a French TV show called TARATATA. From the infos that I have, somebody who has worked on the show told me that it's a freeze of a half field. I don't know if he really wants to say half field or one field of two. I just know the effect was done on analog and not digital.