Stabilization Settings?

[LBobRife 0]

Hey guys,

New to the forums & to video editing. Having trouble figuring out the ideal settings to stabilize shaky GoPro footage in Premiere and/or After Effects. There's plenty of info online about the Warp Stabilizer effect, but nothing I've tried works, and the tweaking/rendering/tweaking/rendering process takes forever. Anyone have settings they use that work well?

Bonus Question: Is there a way to take an effect like Warp Stabilizer with custom settings and export it to Media Encoder to do batch edits?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Coreeece 2]

LBobRife

Hey guys,

New to the forums & to video editing. Having trouble figuring out the ideal settings to stabilize shaky GoPro footage in Premiere and/or After Effects. There's plenty of info online about the Warp Stabilizer effect, but nothing I've tried works, and the tweaking/rendering/tweaking/rendering process takes forever. Anyone have settings they use that work well?

It's been my experience that once this plugin has analyzed the video and applied the stabilization, it's doubtful that any "tweaking" is going to dramatically improve the footage any further - you might be able to correct some subtle imperfections, but that's about it.

Stabilization plugins are typically designed for a relatively low to moderate level of undesired movement. Is it possible that the shakiness of the footage is just too jarring in some areas and beyond the threshold of that which is salvageable - there are limits.

Another issue could be with the tracking points. If there are no highly contrasted static images that stay in frame long enough, then there may not be enough reference information that the program can use to determine the amount of compensation necessary.

LBobRife

Bonus Question: Is there a way to take an effect like Warp Stabilizer with custom settings and export it to Media Encoder to do batch edits?

I found a script from a guy named Tyler Hurd that will automate the process in After Effects. It had a little bug that caused an error in newer versions of AE, so I modified it just a bit and attached it below.

Basically, after you've imported your files into AE, select all your footage and goto: File >Scripts>Run Script File - and then select the attached script.

Once you run it, it will place all of your footage into individual comps with the warp stabilizer applied and send it to the render que automatically. Don't hit render until all the footage has finished being analyzed - which you already know takes awhile.


IMPORTANT
1 - The output module template is set to "lossless" so if you want a different setting, you'll have to create your own output template in AE and then update the script with the new name of your custom template in the following section of the script:

Quote

var renderTemplate = "Lossless"; // <---------Change "Lossless" to a render template of your choice

2 - This script will allow AE to basically analyze all of your footage at once, so it's takes up a lot of RAM and is very heavy on the processors. If you put too many videos in there at once, it could suck up all of your RAM - AE will crash and you'll have to start all over. Since I don't know the specs of your system, I would recommend starting at 5 or 10 videos and see how it handles. I know more powerful computers can do around 50 videos at once and still maintain stability.

3 - Right now the script has the warp stabilizer settings set at the following:
Smoothness - 100%
Method - subspace warp
Detailed analysis - On

If you eventually find settings that work better with your footage and want to change the ones above - or even add more - you'll have to update the "stabilize settings" section of the script that looks like the following:

Quote

// stabilize settings
stabilize.property("Smoothness").setValue(100); // <-------------Settings for warp stabilizer
stabilize.property("Method").setValue(4);
stabilize.property("Detailed Analysis").setValue(1);

If you have any questions, I could walk you through it.

If you don't feeling like bothering with script, then this plugin may work better you:
http://www.prodad.com/home/products/video_optimization/300391667,l-us.html

Never was there an answer....not without listening, without seeing - Gilmour

[Coreeece 2]

Just a quick clarification. The Prodad link above is for Mercalli V2, but if you want to batch process you'll need Mercalli V3 or V4.

Never was there an answer....not without listening, without seeing - Gilmour