It's beyond terrible. Ironic that the addition of CGI to "update" the look of the film has dated it even more.
@snicker: I do understand what you mean about the highlights! I have my monitor calibrated to reference so I can see the difference very clearly.
It's just that from what I've seen the original had more "blended-together" highlights like the 2.1 there. The noticeable edge in the specular highlights that you mention is something I think Lucasfilm created by balancing the highlights very badly for the 2004/2001 SE. In every single scene on the blu-ray those brightest highlights are too separated from their surroundings.
You're absolutely right that the specular highlights are too prominent in this transfer but, where they exist, they should have a definite edge and stand out as separate from surrounding diffuse highlights.
Well, all I know is, that on the IB print scan, there's no trace of those specular highlights in this shot.
Thanks, Harmy.
So what is the most current/best release of this?
I have gotten confused, it looks awesome and I'd love to watch it. Just not sure which is which anymore.
Donations welcome: paypal.me/poit
bitcoin:13QDjXjt7w7BFiQc4Q7wpRGPtYKYchnm8x
Help get The Original Trilogy preserved!
Harmy, I still don't know your goals 100%, so please bear with me.
Did you always plan to leave in the new wipes done by Pacific Titles? If not, then was something holding you back from recreating the old wipes; e.g., picture quality?
A picture is worth a thousand words. Post 102 is worth more.
I’m late to the party, but I think this is the best song. Enjoy!
—Teams Jetrell Fo 1, Jetrell Fo 2, and Jetrell Fo 3
I'm not sure what exactly you mean. I always said I'd leave the wipes, because they don't really change anything and recreating them faithfully would require an original source, which at this point would mean the GOUT and from what I can tell, there isn't really any significant drop in quality during wipes on the IB print, except maybe a little more dirt, which would get cleaned up in a digital restoration anyway.
@poita: The most current version to date is v2.0 but v 2.1 will be coming out soon, although I'd advice those who wanted to use it as x-mas presents to reconsider - it's still the plan to have it out before x-mas but I'm not 100% sure I'll be able to hold to it - I have a lot of schoolwork to do before the end of semester, so I'm finding it hard to find the time to work on this.
Harmy said:
I'm not sure what exactly you mean. I always said I'd leave the wipes, because they don't really change anything and recreating them faithfully would require an original source, which at this point would mean the GOUT and from what I can tell, there isn't really any significant drop in quality during wipes on the IB print, except maybe a little more dirt, which would get cleaned up in a digital restoration anyway.
You answered my question. :-) Thanks!
A picture is worth a thousand words. Post 102 is worth more.
I’m late to the party, but I think this is the best song. Enjoy!
—Teams Jetrell Fo 1, Jetrell Fo 2, and Jetrell Fo 3
And as far as presents go, at least, with a potential release date so close to Christmas, sufficient time for burning and testing of enough copies might not be very realistic. Still, an on (or just before or after) Christmas release would be a heck of a present for fans everywhere.
Just how does Santa Harmy visit so many houses, with his generous Star Wars gifts, in just one night?
Are we expecting the currently available cover artwork to be the "final" released before Christmas? If so, we can go ahead and get the cover sleeves printed, the disc burners warmed up, the eggnog Bantha-flavored, etc. in preparation for a last-minute release.
Keeping in mind, of course, that Harmy may not get 2.1 done before Christmas - everyone should probably have 2.0 discs ready to give instead.
For what it's worth... I say do it right and don't rush for an artificial deadline.
Ben
Reading it over, I'm not sure if what I wrote will come off the way I meant, that being: while it may not be in time to be turned into physical presents, it will be a great present to the world regardless of when this season it is released. Take exactly as much time as you need, and know we appreciate your efforts every step of the way.
Harmy said:
In the video, on the left, it constantly wipes back and forth between v2.0 to v2.1, on the right you can see v2.0 above v2.1.
And here's a picture of one of the changes I've just done in reel 3:
View at full res and look to the sky :-)
Looks good, but I can't help notice that the dome behind the Bantha seems to be missing one of the two [lines, antenna, whatever] protruding into the sky on its left side. Also, the remaining one seems a bit more blurred...
Also, Harmy, have you considered using the following software? http://grubbasoftware.com/index.html
A picture is worth a thousand words. Post 102 is worth more.
I’m late to the party, but I think this is the best song. Enjoy!
—Teams Jetrell Fo 1, Jetrell Fo 2, and Jetrell Fo 3
That's an interesting piece of software but After Effects already generates filmgrain very faithfully. It even has different presets that simulate the most common kinds of film stock.
Check this out:
Harmy said:
That's an interesting piece of software but After Effects already generates filmgrain very faithfully. It even has different presets that simulate the most common kinds of film stock.
That's awesome! I didn't know that...
Which version of AE are you using?
A picture is worth a thousand words. Post 102 is worth more.
I’m late to the party, but I think this is the best song. Enjoy!
—Teams Jetrell Fo 1, Jetrell Fo 2, and Jetrell Fo 3
Currently CS5.5, but the older versions could do it as well.
Harmy said:
I'd advice those who wanted to use it as x-mas presents to reconsider - it's still the plan to have it out before x-mas but I'm not 100% sure I'll be able to hold to it - I have a lot of schoolwork to do before the end of semester, so I'm finding it hard to find the time to work on this.
Thanks for the heads up! It's still gonna be gifted to several people... even if Christmas comes a little late!
If this is ready for Christmas... best Christmas ever!
If not... that's okay too! Take your time Harmy.
I agree that After effects has some of the best grain plugins ever made. Me and DJ were restoring a very badly treated blu-ray release of Night of the living dead 1990 remake, which had crushed blacks in most scenes. The original had grain constantly moving in the picture all through the film, but in almost all scenes the grain had been removed along with the shadow detail. After effects could copy grain from less destroyed scenes and put it back in the rest. Awesome stuff.
Here's another thingy for you guys to check out:
http://uloz.to/xNSv6PJ/robot-v2-1-new-sample-mp4
I've warred with this shot for like ever and I've redone it at least six time and it's still not 100% but it's pretty damn close :-)
It's actually kind of funny that this seemingly not as invasive change gave me such hell to undo but when you look at the shot, it was probably shot with a handheld camera, so there's constant minute camera movement and there are a lot of things constantly moving through the frame. Plus it has a lot of gate weave on the GOUT DVD.
Looks great, Harmy.
I honestly never noticed any of that, but now that I'll be looking for it, it won't be there!
Keep Circulating the Tapes.
END OF LINE
(It hasn’t happened yet)
Here's another little peak at v2.1. I'm hoping I might be able to do the same with Obi-Wan's sabre but I can't be sure until I try and I'm too tired to do it now.
That's some super detailed work, Harmy.
I can't wait to see you do that to RotJ.
