Star Wars Prequels 35mm 4K Filmized Editions by Emanswfan (a WIP) — Page 42

I’ve been waiting for this product, Photon, for a long while now, and it seems it is finally in beta form for the public.

https://www.color.io/

I’ll be trying to learn it in addition to continue learning Davinci Resolve. I think this has the potential to put my film emulations to the next level.

Just started trying out the latest update to Video Enhance AI. Finally, they’ve added an AI model that allows you to adjust settings for compression detail restoration, sharpening, and noise reduction. This greatly improves the usabiity of this, as it was inferior to Gigapixel AI due to missing those options. AI models could still be improved but looks promising. Still takes about 20 seconds per frame to upscale to 4K on my macbook pro, which is frustrating when trying to make adjustments, hence the need for a new PC desktop.

Likely I will be evenutally enhancing at least Attack of the Clones through the AI to enhance the sharpness and clarity of that film, as it is quite soft compared to the other two. And as you know, all SD deleted scenes will be upscaled through this program.

Sadly, not really. I feel guilty every time I’m on here and I’m not showing progress, but like my mental health has been bad since the lockdowns and losing my job. At first I was happy that I had all the extra free time to work on this project, but now I’m just ready to be done with all the shit going on in the world.

But as soon as I’m feeling better and have more stability in my personal life, more samples of TPM will be available for feedback and soon after a Beta release.

And also I really need a new PC to be able to even think about doing a proper high quality HEVC 4K 10 bit render.

I feel you man. Always remember, though, this is your project. If you aren’t spending as much time, or any time, on this, you have that right to do that.

emanswfan said:

Sadly, not really. I feel guilty every time I’m on here and I’m not showing progress, but like my mental health has been bad since the lockdowns and losing my job. At first I was happy that I had all the extra free time to work on this project, but now I’m just ready to be done with all the shit going on in the world.

But as soon as I’m feeling better and have more stability in my personal life, more samples of TPM will be available for feedback and soon after a Beta release.

And also I really need a new PC to be able to even think about doing a proper high quality HEVC 4K 10 bit render.

I Emanswfan,
I know exactly how you feel, I also go through there…

Be sure that lots of people like you, including on this forum, and that your work is admired by many.
Don’t put the pressure on yourself, these are difficult times to go through but that it will be better afterwards.

Quick little AOTC grading test. It’s basically just a detail enhancement and grade I did of a screencap in photoshop. I utilized the same print emulation grade from my TPM grade which is on top of an experimental negative emulation. I tried to bring more shadow detail in, and the grain is just basic photoshop settings and not the actual grain I will use as I make a proper video clip in Premiere.

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/7ZLGLNNX

Hi emanswfan,
Happy to see you in better shape!

As you know, TPM and AOTC have a lot issues in their official releases related to the colors, but ROTS is pretty much correct to the original digital intermediate. I’ve been looking more at color references from the prints. I have a finished grade ready for ROTS, I just need to figure out the grain. Will render out a clip soon to get some feedback. If all goes well, we can have what I’d consider a Beta filmized ROTS. It will essentially just be a recreation of the look of a theatrical print for the most part with minimal creative license in terms of making it look shot on film, and will be more representative purely of a film projection of the movie.

Terrific news, emanswfan. I’m incredibly excited for the beta.

Here’s a shot with the heavy grain preset I made for a previous TPM clip, which is how I prefer it, though I understand many here don’t like that much grain as have previously discussed. Full clip tomorrow.

I made some more changes today that I think improve it, although less purist to a theatrical print from 2005. Mainly I messed around with the contrast and curves to remove the dated digital look and give it a more modern digital look before adjusting colors to be closer to the 5207 stock the sequels were shot on. Hopefully that comes across in this image.

Also still having issues tonemapping the HDR highlights down correctly, but it should be acceptable for a Beta.

emanswfan said:

Here’s a shot with the heavy grain preset I made for a previous TPM clip, which is how I prefer it, though I understand many here don’t like that much grain as have previously discussed. Full clip tomorrow.

I made some more changes today that I think improve it, although less purist to a theatrical print from 2005. Mainly I messed around with the contrast and curves to remove the dated digital look and give it a more modern digital look before adjusting colors to be closer to the 5207 stock the sequels were shot on. Hopefully that comes across in this image.

Also still having issues tonemapping the HDR highlights down correctly, but it should be acceptable for a Beta.

Hey that looks awesome!!! What program are you using to get the film grain effect?

This looks amazing, very impressive.

Here’s the clip, apologies for the messed up audio.

https://mega.nz/file/rKpyFAhT#eprt0hVr9PcbomnJxGjFS8XA3nCBzZ4ONC4kLya8qws

As usual, a work in progress. This is only one of several different grade builds I currently have each with their own flavors. In this one I tried to match my TPM grades.

JEDIT: Seems the black levels are too raised on the final render after looking at it on my OLED. I’ll fix this for the next clip.

Wow, I loved the grade, looks phenomenal! It’s slightly too grainy for my taste, but other than that, it’s… perfect. It’s absolutely the best ROTS has ever looked.

I love it! I am a fan of the heavy grain as well.

Looks amazing! Very film print like. I found the grain distracting. Maybe if it was toned down a bit, would be perfect. Also, the grain is too small?

I will definitely adjust the grain, I want something that’s closer to what an actual print would look like with larger, more saturated, and more translucent grain. I haven’t really ever created grain I like, and when I do it too subtle, it seems to look like compression artifacts after it’s rendered, which is why I tend to overdo it.

I’ll render a new preview with modified grain sometime next week assuming the holidays don’t get in the way.

Well, holidays did get in the way, but ultimately the issue remains that I need a new computer at least for the rendering portion. Ever since my Windows desktop died a few years back, I’ve all been on my Macbook Pro from 2015. It actually handles even 4K editing and grading fine in the moment, but final render times are ludicrously long unless I sacrifice quality, not to mention it only being possible to render clips when I don’t need to use it for work, which hasn’t been a problem because of COVID, but it will be once I get back to work sometime this next year.

Currently, working on saving up for both a new Windows machine and a new Mac.

Until then, I can mostly just post screenshots for feedback from all of you.

How ludicrously long are these rendering times? Out of curiosity.

Emanswfan, is there possibility of a lower bitrate, 1080p render with the colors and the grain? It wouldn’t be nearly as taxing, and I’m betting it’d still look wonderful.