need help in pulling higher res freeze frames

[Don Bloom]

OK old time version 6 yes folks you heard right version 6 user. I shoot all SD so up to now haven't had any reason to go up in versions.

Anyway, I know with Vegas I can and do pull freeze frames for certain uses and they are 72dpi. I generally bring them into Photoshop, clean them up a bit and bring the resolution up to maybe 150dpi. Since I'm doing small print with them, 4x6 or 5x7 maybe, it works fine. However...I have a client that I need to go up in size to 11X14 or even larger and as I'm sure you all know at that size the low-res just doesn't cut it. Does anyone know of any program that can be had for small money (free is best) that I can use as a plugin to Vegas or stand alone that will allow me to pull a higher res freeze. 300dpi would be great.
I searched cnet downloads but didn't really find anything.
Any help in pointing to the right direction would be appreciated.

[Leslie Wand]

a. presume your doing frame grab at 'best/full' res?

b. ps does a reasonable decent job of uprezzing - try the various methods to see which gives the best result - eg. bicubic smoother

c. faststone resizer does a pretty good job too (not free)

d. so does irfanview so i'm told, and that's free

[Don Bloom]

Thanks Leslie.
Yep always Best/Full. I've tried every way possible in PS 100 maybe 150 is about all I can go then it starts to fall apart. These are the best frames from a sequence, not full action but not perfectly still either and even with deinterlacing it still looks a bit "wonky".
I had forgootten about Infraview. I'll give it a go and see if it helps.

Thanks

[Jeff Harper]

Don, I wonder if you played the image in wmp in full screen, then used Windows snipping tool to capture the image from your desktop?

Actually I just tried it, worked pretty well, but my monitor is 30" which give me a large image.

I opened in WMP, stopped image at desired point, opened window to max by pulling corners rather than going full screen so as not to cover the quick launch bar, then opened snipping tool, select image, and presto.

[R Geoff Baker]

Let's start with a fact -- your stills are not 72dpi.

I know, there are any number of manuals and tutorials that will tell you otherwise -- but they are wrong.

Your stills are whatever dimensions your source are -- so a 1920x1080 source will generate a still that is just that. How you view that still, how you print that still -- those things are up to you. But the term 'dots per inch' is at best meaningless and worse misleading -- the software has no idea how many inches of real estate your monitor has, nor how you are going to print it ... all it knows is the source is 1920x1080.

Working backwards from there, you may suggest you require a delivered resolution of 150dpi -- fair enough! So that means that you can print to something like 11x14 from a 1920 source (1920/150=12.8) -- specifically, you can generate a 150dpi print from a 1920x1080 source to a size of 12.8" x 7.2"

Anything larger than that, and you are using software to 'create' resolution out of calculation -- not necessarily a bad thing. So if you take the source still and uprez it to 3840x2060 you can then make a print that will claim to be 150dpi at a size of 25.6" x 14.4" ... or perhaps more tellingly, claim to be a 300dpi print at 12.8" x 7.2". It isn't really, of course, but maybe it will work for you.

So take your source still at 1920x1080 -- that's as good as it gets, unless you've jumped the gun on some new 4k camcorder -- and use your preferred photo manipulation software to resize to whatever you want. In truth just about every piece of software does the same sort of job -- this isn't rocket science. Results will look pretty good for a doubling or so ... but the fact is your source resolution is fixed, and all the rest is just manipulation.

And honestly, dpi has nothing to do with it.

Cheers,
GB

[Peter Riding]

The "industry standard" is Genuine Fractals or Perfect Resize as it is now known.

But Photoshop can do such a good job I never use my copy.

However for your extreme example you could try the trial and see for yourself if it outperforms Photoshop:

Genuine Fractals is now Perfect Resize 7 - onOne Software

Not free I'm afraid.

I wouldn't bother with all the old homebrew techniques in Photoshop such as uprezzing in 10% steps as the native method is just fine e.g. in CS4 - set to bicubic smoother when going larger and bicubic sharper when going smaller.

Pete

[Don Bloom]

Thanks for the help folks. Yeah they're not really 72dpi but when I bring them into PS the show as 72. Since I'm shoot SD 720X480 it's not a great place to start but I do go thru frame by frame to find the best frame possible, deinterlace it in PS and then try to up the resolution. Going past 150 and it starts to break up.

Jeff I've never tried your solution but I most certainly will.
Worst comes to worst, I may have to bring a still camera trouble is, I never know exactly what the client wants. BTW, this isn't a wedding.

Thanks again everyone.

[Bryan Daugherty]

Originally Posted by R Geoff Baker

Let's start with a fact -- your stills are not 72dpi. I know, there are any number of manuals and tutorials that will tell you otherwise -- but they are wrong.

There may be something new here that I am unfamiliar with because I am not sure where you are getting your source from here. In my experience, monitors and video are interpreted as 72dpi in Photoshop. The monitor resolution is not the basis for the capture in Vegas, the project settings are the basis. DPI is a print term that stands for dots per inch referencing ink on a page. This is not the same as ppi - pixels per inch. Monitor size does play a factor in ppi but is a non-issue with dpi as dpi is an interpreted figure and is independent of monitor size. Print material should be a minimum of 150 dpi, preferably 300dpi, and for large format 450-600dpi is recommended unless the finished substrate is textured.

Originally Posted by Peter Riding

The "industry standard" is Genuine Fractals or Perfect Resize as it is now known.

Peter is on the money with this recommendation. Back in the day when I used to work in print, our graphic artists did amazing things with this software. I once saw web thumbnails of poems rez'ed at about 120x70 px up-rez'ed to poster size and printed legibly. I checked with a former colleague in graphics and they still use and swear by it. My memory is that it is not inexpensive though.

One trick i have found that works well with HDV source is to change the project properties to 4k before outputting the still from Vegas. Vegas does a decent job of uprezing a file that PS can take the rest of the way. Make sure you have preview set to best->full. I have made that mistake several times when in a hurry... Let us know what you find to work for you. I am sure many of us will be interested to hear about your experience.