Interpolating an image sequence

[starbase1]

Hi,
A rather unusual problem.
I have a long slow sequence I have rendered, but it's not really slow enough.

I have all the original images that make up the sequence, but lowerng the frame rate looks a bit rough. I was wondering is there is any trick that would let me smooth it out, such as getting a fade between frames between each pair of images.

Is there a way to something like that with an image sequence in Lightwave?

Cheers,
Nick

[Edbittner]

Without knowing the specifics, duration, rez,etc., I would try this.
In the image editor, under the prossesing tab,you've got the texture filter which allows you to even add images to the background, dissolve among them. I've gone against conventional wisdom and dissolved, (with envelopes), from one background image to another and back again. In fact every image you add can have a texture filter added to it. So, it doesn't seem too far a leap, to be able to add a frame at 50% dissolve from time to time to smooth things out. (Maybe).
E.

[starbase1]

Sorry, let be more specific.

I have a sequences of several thousand frames, A0001, A0002, etc.

What I want is to stretch the sequence by adding an extra frame in between each pair, which is a blend. So frame 1 will be followed by a frame that is a 50% blend of frame 1 and 2, then frame 2, then a blendd between 2 & 3, then 3, and so on.

Cheers,
Nick

[Edbittner]

First, I would break the image sequence down into smaller sized blocks. Then try what I said. Re-render the sequence with a 50% dissolve as you described, Frame 1 with 50% of frame 2 and so on. Maybe the persistance of vision won't sustain a 50% opacity between frames. But it may.
E.

[Mylenium]

I'd stay away from this approach - it is >>>very,very,very<<< noticeable and your anims will look pretty crappy (unless of course you are after that psychadelic effect). So LW is out of the discussion here. You will need an extra tool such as a compositing prog or editing app. Even there you can clearly see artifacts on stretched sequences with the built-in frame blending (8 to 32 times oversampling) depending of the amount of change in your motion per frame. Best results can be achieved with dedicated plugins/ tools such as Twixtor or ReTimer.

Mylenium

[Edbittner]

You are of course, correct. What I've done in Video Studio is use their variable playback rate in the editing function. It's actually pretty smooth. They uesd to offer a fully functional trail version for like 30 days. Fairly inexpensive as I recall.(For the full program I mean).
E.

[starbase1]

Thanks - I actually have Ulead studio 8, but it was just repeating frames...

I also tried it as a slideshow, but t would let me make one with 2 frames display per slide and 1 frame cross fade! (fair enough I suppose!)/

To clarify though the motion I wish to stretch is VERY slow indeed. It is a barren landscape, with a big moon that takes 3 minutes to rise and get most of the way across the screen.

It is moving at well under 1 pixel per frame! Which is why I thought I could get away with this! :p :p :p

Cheers,
Nick

Oh, and the reason for this rather stately approach is that I am trying to get the hang of doing music videos for very gentle ambient music, and its really hard to learn to slow it right down!

:cool:

[Revanto]

OK, this is a bit of an experiment for me but take notes.

Right, firstly, you can load up your image sequence in Lightwave. Then to re-number it, change the frame rate of your image sequence to half. I assume that it is NTSC so that would be 15 frames.

Then set the image sequence as your background. Then in render settings, change your frame step to 2 and set your end frame to twice the original length of the image sequence.

Now when you render, you will get an image sequence of every second frame. Don't forget to set a new directory for it just in case you futz things up.

Then create a huge polygon in modeller facing the Z axis. Set it to 100% luminosity 0% diffuse. In layout, copy your image sequence in the image editor and set the sequence to offset by one frame (I can't think right now so I don't know if it's backward or forward one frame). Then map the new image sequence onto the poly with front face mapping instead of planar (make sure that your polygon is bigger than the camera view). Set this polygon to dissolve (50%).

OK, now with the render settings, change it so the start render frame is the missing one IE if you started you last frame skip render on frame 1, start this one on frame two and keep the frame skip to 2 as well.

Now when you render, you will get the missing frames with the 50% dissolve previous frame.

Please do a test with forty or so frame first because most of this has come from a quick test and the rest from my head. Theoretically, it should work, though.

Good luck and tell us if it worked or not. :)

Cheers,
Revanto

[Red_Oddity]

2 words : revision and twixtor (best d**n plugin i ever bought)

http://www.revisionfx.com/rstwixtor.htm