Help: Need Slo-Mo from 60i in 24p Project

[Steven Reid]

Most of my footage is shot in 24f (Canon XH-A1) and edited on a 24p timeline in Vegas. However, I shot some footage in 60i at very high shutter speed (1/600) to get relatively clean slow motion when I deinterlace and slow it down in Vegas (say, by 50-60%). Destination is 24p DVD or Blu-Ray.

My question: what is the best workflow to get the 60i material slowed down and into the 24p project?

Yes, I know I can dump mixed frame rate footage onto the same timeline, but I need to deinterlace and slow down the 60i material (separately? first?). How is this best done? This is my first attempt at mixing frame rates and throwing slo-mo into the same project, but feel free to slap my upside the head with an obvious answer (that seems to elude me).

Thanks for suggestions.

Steve

[Steven Reid]

Was this too esoteric of a question? ;)

In the meantime: in a 60i template in one open instance of Vegas, I set to "progressive," forced resample on clips, and set a velocity envelope to, say, 40% original speed. Slo-mo looks pretty good, so I rendered out to 'uncompressed' format.

In a separate open instance of Vegas, this time in my main 24p project, I dropped the slo-mo clip onto the timeline. It looks pretty good once rendered out to MPEG2 (for DVD delivery). At that speed and the judder that becomes increasingly apparent the more I slow a clip from the 60i-derived material, I can't tell if I'm having additional problems from the mis-match in frame rates.

Anyone have a better work flow suggestion?

Thanks,
Steve

[Ian Newland]

Have a read of this this, helped me out. Use method 2 for Vegas.

Eugenia’s Rants and Thoughts Blog Archive Butter-smooth slow motion

[James Binder]

I wouldn’t render out your slow-mo footage beforehand. Throw everything onto your main timeline together and then render only once at the end -- and let Vegas do its thing. It’s very good at slow-mo (within reason -- over cranking in-camera is still best however IMO).

Set up your timeline however you wish and then render out to whatever format you choose. No need to deinterlace beforehand -- again, Vegas will take care of that on render (depending on your render settings).

And - don’t get hung up about your project settings. Vegas will only render out the parameters you set under ‘render as.’ Having said that, most will say that yes, it’s best to match your footage to your project settings for proper viewing and accurate timecode.

In my experiences, I make sure to match framerate and don’t worry about resolution. Whether I view as an HDV 1080-24p project or a NTSC 24p project doesn’t matter. It will ultimately be rendered to whatever I setup in the end.

I’ve shot music videos with sections slowed down to 75% of normal speed and had great results. For these projects I also shot XHA1, 60i, 24p and used a high shutter speed.

Good luck --

[Steven Reid]

Thanks very much for the suggestions. I tried Eugenia's "Method 2" this evening and got very crisp looking results (slowed to about 20%, some judder [naturally]). James, I didn't try your method (yet). I do know that the preview looked horrible when I dropped and slowed down 60i clips onto a 24p timeline. It didn't inspire much confidence in me for trying the "one timeline fits all" approach.

Thanks again.

Steve

[Robert M Wright]

I like the YADIF plugin for AviSynth better than the Smooth Deinterlace filter:

Yadif deinterlace

I would think 1/600th shutter will wind up giving you a serious strobbing effect.

[Steven Reid]

Originally Posted by Robert M Wright

I like the YADIF plugin for AviSynth better than the Smooth Deinterlace filter:

Yadif deinterlace

I would think 1/600th shutter will wind up giving you a serious strobbing effect.

No strobing at all at any speed I've tried. Played at normal speed, the clips, especially those with high motion, have that 'caffeinated' or nervous feel to them, similar to the look in Saving Private Ryan when soldiers are racing up Normandy Beach.

Thanks for suggestion above.

Steve