Flicker Removal - but maybe you already know this one

Out of desperation - and after trying every trick in the book, found a new magical way to get rid of flicker on a picture

Yes - I previously tried

Photoshop -blur and deflicker
Flicker Filter
De interlace
Voodoo dolls - nothign worked

Then out of desperation (see above) I just nested the offending flickering image -- and applied the flicker filter to that

Voila! Ficker be gone! Not sure why this worked but it did - worth a try if you've run out of other options (and this is Flicker on an NTSC Monitor - doesn't show up on canvas)

-- Andy

Thanks for the tip. Nesting sometimes does strange unexplainable wonders. But hmm... photoshop reading an mov file... I wonder if it will do an uncompressed to animation conversion better than final cut.



www.strypesinpost.com

I think he's talking about treating a photo scan or digital image brought into FCP. Photos don't really flicker-- they exhibit moiré (more-ay), line twitter, or shimmering dots, as fine detail collides with NTSC or PAL scanlines, usually during a zoom but if you hit the position just right, it'll vibrate even when motionless. JPEG's are especially vulnerable to this, as opposed to TIFF and native PSD files. Another reason for odd display is illegal luma or chroma spikes.

The Flicker filter is a kind of blur, which usually solves the problem by spreading the detail wide enough to be resolved by more than one scanline.

Or it could be something else.

- Loren
Photo scan rates demystified!
ScanGuide? Pro compact reference now at
www.neotrondesign.com

the only times i see flicker is when the file is not png or tiff. jpegs often flicker, but the flicker filter at max often does the trick.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Photoshop CS3 opens mov files! I just realized that this afternoon! (god! where have i been all these years!) and you can render it out in Animation too. But he has got to be on CS3 for that. I've actually never tried touching up videos with Photoshop..



www.strypesinpost.com

>the flicker filter at max often does the trick.

O.o I've seen it at max before, horrendously blurred! I'd go with a vertical blur.



www.strypesinpost.com

i have flicker filter tattooed on my left arm nearly. It hasn't blurred much ever. If you ever see a video of mine every single text element has the flicker filter at medium or max.

however nattress has a filter called cool blur that works pretty good too.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

actually it was two problems -- one a photo supered over a pre-done animation (took the photo into photoshop - but yes I tried taking it frame by frame in CS3 and fixing the animation too)

But that nesting trck was pure sorcery!

There's also an excellent PHOTOSHOP ACTION that does a number of things beside bluring that helps

The biggest problem is small or repetive lines (even shiny parts of a picture) that get caught inbetween scan lines on NTSC monitores that flicker -- bluring helps sometimes Andy

My bad on the flicker filter. Just tried it... It looks pretty good on stills, actually... I rarely have issues with stills, as I have it prepped by my graphics guy... But I tried the flicker filter a long time ago on a freeze frame and it was horrendous, so i stick to deinterlacing on freezes.



www.strypesinpost.com

Andy Field Wrote:
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> But that nesting trck was pure sorcery!

It's totally NOT sorcery. It's called "Nesting to change the order of the render pipeline" which is explained thoroughly on pg. 297 in my book, "Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro" (only 3 copies left at Amazon.com).

FCP has a certain order in which it processes effects. When you wish a filter to take precedence over a motion effect or transition, you can nest it and add the filter to the nest. By switching the render order, you can often make wholly new compositions using the same filters. The technique is also useful for fixing flicker and deinterlacing clips or graphics which would not be fixed otherwise.

Bet ya didn't know that!