Harmy said:

OK, so I accepted the challenge and put my sources together and came up with this:

1. A frame of the 35mm scan I got.

2. GOUT

3. v1.0

4. v2.0 (unless I get my hands on a better source)

I actually prefer your 2.0 version, but I really think it could be improved in the starfield and in the black crush (most obvious in the shadows on the right half of the frame).  Maybe ease up on the black a touch, and copy in the GOUT starfield with boosted contrast to match the blacks?

OK, guys, I've spent a better part of the afternoon working on this:

What do you think?

Well, I like it.

Harmy said:

What do you think?

I like it.  I'm sure there's room for improvement still, but it's now clearly the best option so far IMO.

I don't know how much more improvement one can get.  I think it looks pretty good.

timdiggerm said:

Hmm. I prefer Jaitea's latest SE-based version...

+ 1.  I find the contrast too exaggerated in your recent attempts Harmy, whereas Jaitea's example looks more natural.  Personally, my money's on either using something similar to Jaitea's sample or sticking with v.1.

Should it though? We're back to the same thing as with the celebration matte - the fact that it is bright enough to be seen clearly in the GOUT definitely doesn't mean that it should be.

Funny, I'm just rendering it. I've actually been working on it all day.

Looking at Jaitea's picture, I thought it may be the way to go but then I compared it to the original and it's just too different, I could almost just use the SE shot that way.

Anyway, here's the video comparison:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HTG83CZG

Harmy said:

Looking at Jaitea's picture, I thought it may be the way to go but then I compared it to the original and it's just too different, I could almost just use the SE shot that way.

Anyway, here's the video comparison:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HTG83CZG

I think you did an amazing job there. I definitely prefer the newer version, since it seems to have more detail and the matte also seems to be more stable or something (but I may be really wrong). It still doesn't look the best, but hey, it was a painting, I bet even the original had its sweet faults.

Well, that's the thing, almost everything is different in direct comparison. I'm sorry, you've done a great job here, but I just can't use it.

Sorry, guys but I decided to try and see what it'd look like and I'm totally going with this one:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=50C4VAYS

Can't blame you. It does look kinda amazing.

So does anyone else here want to watch this whole movie or is it just me?

What movie? I just came for the free hat.