NeverarGreat

Williarob said:

NeverarGreat said:

UnitéD2 said:

Thanks to you Neverar and another question : when you recruit color from another source, does it mean you combine luminance information from the BR and chrominance from the source ?

That’s it exactly. I usually replace 50-90% of the chroma with the improved source, sometimes just a few gradients or a small part of the frame, but sometimes the entire frame gets the chroma replaced. In the first 4 reels, I’ve probably replaced the entire color of just 5 or 6 shots, but reel 6 in particular has such horrible color problems that during the dogfight it’s used on probably 1/3 of the shots. It’s surprisingly effective, but it’s essential to make sure everything is registered throughout the shot or you get worse problems like color fringing.

What tools do you use for image registration? Or do you do it manually? I’ve tried Elastix, some ImageJ plugins, and Photoshop’s Auto align layers usually works pretty well.

I’ve done it manually so far, the same process that I used for registering the lightsabers in the Obi/Vader battle. I’ve tried Auto Align Layers on some warped sources and it didn’t improve things, so I didn’t even consider it for this purpose. I suppose that would work though. It would need to be individual images run through as a batch process, right?

The legendary double post, it would seem.

Some colorists say that you should grade everything for consistent skin tones, since out of all the elements in the scene, this is the most important for the audience. The argument goes that if skin tones look correct, the rest of the frame can be hot pink or neon green and nobody will bat an eye. Yet skin reflects the environment, and people photographed in a bright desert will look different than people photographed under studio lights surrounded by dark blue/green walls. So I get them consistent for the location, but I don’t worry too much about consistency over the entire film. And besides, as you said, makeup can be inconsistent.

UnitéD2 said:

Thanks to you Neverar and another question : when you recruit color from another source, does it mean you combine luminance information from the BR and chrominance from the source ?

That’s it exactly. I usually replace 50-90% of the chroma with the improved source, sometimes just a few gradients or a small part of the frame, but sometimes the entire frame gets the chroma replaced. In the first 4 reels, I’ve probably replaced the entire color of just 5 or 6 shots, but reel 6 in particular has such horrible color problems that during the dogfight it’s used on probably 1/3 of the shots. It’s surprisingly effective, but it’s essential to make sure everything is registered throughout the shot or you get worse problems like color fringing.

Frinkenverter

So many questions with this one.

TV’s Frink said:

NeverarGreat said:

TV’s Frink said:

moviefreakedmind said:

EDIT: Then again, I think that this entire forum is overly concerned with color correction. I think I might be in the minority there, though.

I’m with you.

Yeah, what kind of loser obsesses over the exact hue of the Death Star control panel lights?
I mean really, nobody cares!

I care about obvious shit like Hoth being blue or Vader’s lightsaber being pink, but half the time I see before and after pics here and they look nearly identical.

The sky being 0.02% too blue in one shot does not bother me in the slightest.

On topic, I’ll believe that the OUT is on Blu-ray when I see it. There are a hundred and one things that could go wrong with it, not least of which is excessive DVNR, erased blaster shots and other effects, or getting yet another special edition to add to the pile.

TV’s Frink said:

moviefreakedmind said:

EDIT: Then again, I think that this entire forum is overly concerned with color correction. I think I might be in the minority there, though.

I’m with you.

Yeah, what kind of loser obsesses over the exact hue of the Death Star control panel lights?
I mean really, nobody cares!

Dreamaster said:

Just to keep things clear… (SO MANY VARIATIONS NOW!) this is Dr. Dre’s version:

The top one in Neverargreat’s comparison was from my single pass regrade of SSE 1.5, before 1.6 was released.

Something interesting about this shot is how much of the “sky color” is reflected in the “sand color”. Getting a nice, deep blue sky nets an unusually blue sand, probably showing the sky shouldn’t be quite that blue in the shot?

Thanks for posting that shot, it’s great… in fact… it’s kind of NeverarGREAT! 😃

The sky was certainly intended to be quite gray, but in the actual photography it was probably on the blue side, like a normal sunny day. You can see the green tones in the sky of the SSE example reflected in C-3PO’s head, and on the oversaturated Blu-ray this turns him into a multicolored mess. However, it may be more true to the photography to have that blue sky reflection, it’s just that in the Tech references he’s quite monochrome in the desert because of the desolate look. I’m still not entirely happy with how red the sky is in my version, but it’s phenomenally difficult to change while retaining the proper blue of R2’s panels.

JEDIT: Reduced the reds! Updated images above.

UnitéD2 said:

Wow ! How did you manage to make 3PO’s color that uniform ? He’s almost multicolor in the Blu Ray…

Plus, the result of the correct encoding on the clipped highlights is very impressive in those two frames. Good job ! 😃

Thanks!

How did I get the colors uniform? RGB curves, Channel Mixer, multiple layers of individual color addition and subtraction…a long process. I was about to recruit color from another source for a while, but decided to keep adding adjustment layers and tinkering with it. This shot was borderline unsalvageable (and some gradients are still missing), but sometimes it just takes another hour of work to fix.

Here’s probably my final grade of that shot, from the Blu-ray:

And one showing R5:

Comparison with the Blu-ray:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/195809/picture:1
So it’s quite a bit warmer than Dre’s version, with the sky staying almost gray.

JEDIT: I’ve reduced the reds in the sky, and the imbedded images have been updated. New comparison:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/195878/picture:1

There are a few new contributors that have elevated the site.

It is also said by Kylo that the part of the map in R2’s memory was from the records of the Empire, presumably downloaded while on board the Death Star. This would mean that either the piece held by Sydow was charted later, or the yellow line marking the path to the temple was the only information yet to be discovered at that time. Perhaps Luke copied that small section of map from R2 then deleted it so that nobody in the Resistance could even start looking for him, then when he discovered the route to the temple, he gave the route to Sydow.

I look forward to reading it!

Someone in the Birth-Movies-Death comments pointed out the similarities between this theme and a certain theme from Return of the Jedi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkWd0azv3fQ

JEDIT: Incidentally, if you mute The Force Awakens Blu-ray and substitute this at precisely 02:03:49, it makes for a wonderful alternate ending theme.

darthrush said:

suspiciouscoffee said:

I was going to write something here. In fact, I did, I typed a lot. I deleted it all because it was pretentious, whiny, asinine, and pathetic (just like me).

Self-reflection leads to me quite a self-loathing rabbit hole.

Omg same here.

It’s the self reflection part that matters, not so much the posting of it, but I understand not discussing these things in public. I’ve only recently gotten to the point that I’m able to publicly admit even these problems with my life.

I think that would have been a great idea. Red Letter Media suggested something similar in that the Starkiller Base should have been a New Republic weapon that Leia was leery of and wanted nothing to do with. For the New Republic to also have the technology of the Empire, such as TIE Fighters and Star Destroyers would have been realistic and also rather ironic, seeing how the Disney empire has taken over the Star Wars IP. Of course, this being Disney, they would never have taken that risk.

Maybe you are, and maybe you aren’t. The White Wizard will know.

In all seriousness, you seem like a decent fellow. I think there are some interesting concepts in this book, from what you’ve described.

Welcome to the forums!

This isn’t the most uplifting forum on the internet, but it’s better than some I’ve participated in. I explore the internet to be challenged in my beliefs and be exposed to other attitudes, and certainly this forum can be challenging.

I’ve made some mistakes and bad decisions in my life, but who hasn’t? I know that other people are dealing with their own problems and sometimes that spills out in forum posts, but that’s just human nature. I try not to meet anger with anger, since I believe that you receive what you give. I try to see the best in another person, since I would hope that they do the same, and if they don’t, then I try to move on. Sometimes these tendencies get me in trouble. Sometimes I do get angry with opinions online, so much so that I have to get up and walk away from the computer for a time. It’s not a particularly healthy response, but I’m working on it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about human nature this past year, especially considering our new political reality. I think that a whole lot of people have learned the wrong lesson from this political upheaval, which is that people are ultimately tribalistic, irrational, and can be fooled by anything. While this is a seductive and depressing interpretation, I don’t think it’s true. I believe that people are ultimately unified, imaginative, and reasonable, but our institutions are so fundamentally flawed that we are incentivized to behave far below our potential. Perhaps that’s my idealism showing again.

I have a dream for a better world. In comparison, my life is in such disarray that I feel like I need to start over in order to begin building this world, beginning with myself. I’ve been struggling with feelings of apathy, seeing the far horizon of the road I must walk, but there are moments of fierce determination as well. I fear that some of my choices have permanently damaged me physically, but in some strange way that also hardens my resolve. Similarly to the political trouble on the horizon, the path can become clearer when there is an obvious obstacle to overcome, something to focus my energy. I’ve had some serious anxiety issues over the past year, as well as one full blown panic attack, but since November these feelings have been fading with my newfound resolve, replaced with a refreshing calm.

I’m working on a book of philosophy now. It’s unabashedly autobiographical, about me and for me alone. Nobody else will read it, but I’m starting from the beginning, from first principles. Perhaps from that I will be able to write something good, something persuasive, something that I believe could change the world. The philosophy isn’t new, yet the way I approach the subject hasn’t been done before, at least as far as I know. Perhaps I will persuade no one, for who would listen to someone who has not even ordered their life? Yet there’s a part of me that believes that it could revolutionize both my life and the world of philosophical thought, and that is why I write.

Is that enough self reflection?

About CGI characters:

CGI characters in live action movies has always been a dicey proposition, and one metaphor for this is a pre-recorded magic act. The audience at home wants to be fooled by a variety of magician’s tricks, but they usually don’t want to be fooled by deceptive video editing or people who have been ‘planted’ in the crowd specifically for the trick. In other words, people want to be fooled in some ways but not in others. CGI for me too often feels like a trick of the latter category. Some computer generated elements are acceptable, even expected in movies now, just as flashy lights and graphics in a magic show serve to embellish the theatricality of the act, but when the act itself is a deception, this breaks the unspoken agreement between audience and movie.

That’s just a long winded way of saying that Tarkin and Leia in Rogue One felt like a deception rather than a magic trick. Furthermore, in the case of Tarkin, he distracted from the primary villain: Krennick. Vader is a special case, since he has always been played by multiple actors. As long as James Earl Jones provides the voice, I have no problem with him being a secondary villain.

As far as Leia in Episode IX, I think there are far better ways to complete the trilogy than turning her into a CGI puppet. I would rather watch the movie magic of our new generation of leads than the deception of a corporation with too much money and too little sense.

http://www.forcematerial.com/home/2017/1/1/should-auld-acquaintances-be-forgot

Some historical perspective on resurrecting deceased actors.

I just want to tell you both good luck. We’re all counting on you.

I’m sure he’s compartmentalized the knowledge of his Sith overlord. As long as he gets a planet destroying weapon, he’s happy.

I for one fear the coming of the Great White Lucasfilm Handkerchief to the OT forums.

I need the shots of the lightsabers in these scenes degrained to match the blu-ray footage, and stabilized so that I don’t have to manually align the SSE frames to the Blu-ray frames. The goal is to rotoscope the SSE sabers into the Blu-ray, since those are so degraded.

As for how much degraining would be required, I’ve gotten good results with Google’s Nik Dfine 2 Photoshop plugin, with degrain settings of 70% contrast strength and 20% color strength:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/195506

However, I don’t know how to automate this process, so I have to do this frame by frame. If someone had an automated degrain process that produced these results, that would be fantastic.

Specifically, every lightsaber shot in the Falcon except for this first one needs to be done, and the last part of the Obi-wan/Vader battle (after ‘Is the ship alright?’).