You_Too

TServo2049 said:

I will warn you, I was looking at You_Too's Blu-ray screenshots, and I did notice something unsettling. The screenshot of Vader's first entrance looks to have that waxy, Photoshop-watercolor-filter look of an image that has been too heavily degrained.

You're right. I didn't think about that before you mentioned it but they sure have used noise reduction of some kind there. It might exist in the HDTV source too though, but the broadcast-compression plus the fact that Harmy's source was a downscaled one is maybe the reason it can't be seen there.

Thanks! Yes, 100% correct would be very hard to achieve, and would of course require a shot-by-shot correction. I was just aiming for an overall correction.

Though I'm not sure about cyan yet, until I've checked how it affects the death star's walls.

Actually, the HTML option didn't work for some reason. But today I managed to use another method, so now the thumbnails are up.

Also, here's my settings: http://www.multiupload.com/CBAS7KQS9O

It's the curve file and selective color file. The curve file can be opened in both photoshop and after effects, but the selective color file can only be used in photoshop, at least I think so.

So here comes the selective color settings. (Important: Use selective color BEFORE curves. At least that's what I did.)

Reds: Cyan +50%, Yellow +7%
Yellows: Cyan -25%, Yellow +15%
Greens: Magenta +100%
Cyans: Cyan -25%
Blues: Yellow +75%
Magentas: Cyan -25%, Magenta -75%, Black +100%

Some will notice that the curve file will push blacks down from 1 to 0. That's because in the end I found it looked better this way. It was like the blacks on the Blu-ray was all at 1 instead of 0.

(THIS POST WILL BE EDITED WHEN SETTINGS ARE IMPROVED)

Avisynth version!

For you who like me prefer avisynth to render your movies, I've got good news. I managed to change the magenta setting so it didn't need "black +100%", so we're now able to use the selective color plugin for avisynth.

HUGE thanks to Darth Editous for the plugin. Or well, the author who by a strange coincidence have never been seen in the same room as Darth Editous at the same time...

For convenience, I've packed the plugins you need (Gicocu, selective color) as well as the curve (modified to GIMP format for Gicocu) and a script example.

Download link: http://www.multiupload.com/93LYOPT7C8

For those new to this, a good example of a program that can render movies using avisynth is Megui. Avisynth is installed with Megui and usually ends up in C:\Program Files (x86)\AviSynth 2.5\ and in there you can find a folder named plugins, that's where Gicocu and selective color should be. The movie and curve file should be in the same folder when using the script.

Script example:

DirectShowSource("Starwars.mkv")

ConvertToRGB32(matrix="rec709")

selectivecolour(last,\
0.5,0,0.07,\
-0.25,0,0.15,\
0,1,0,\
-0.25,0,0,\
0,0,0.75,\
1,-0.5,1,\
false)

GiCoCu("sw13.cur")

ConvertToYV12()

Change Starwars.mkv to whatever your movie file is named. Myself I remuxed the crawl and rest of the movie together in an mkv file and that's why it's named like that.

If you want to remove the black borders from the movie when rendering, add the line:

crop( 0, 131, 0, -131)

If you want to render the movie without audio to remux it afterwards, change the first line to this for example:

DirectShowSource("Starwars.mkv", fps=23.976, audio=false, convertfps=true).AssumeFPS(24000,1001)

And to those really into color correcting: The last line should be "ConvertToYV12()" and not have "(matrix="rec709")" added. I tried this first but the colors were messed up. It was enough to have it at the first color conversion line.

NEW EXPERIMENTAL ADD-ON SCRIPT:

Add this at the bottom of the script. Reduces dark blue colors in the shadow details. (Requires Masktools plugin for avisynth)

Function SelSah_v3 (clip clp, float "Sat", float "Hue", int "Luma_Low", int "Luma_High", int "Low_OS", int "High_OS",
\                    Float "minSat", float "maxSat", float "startHue", float "endHue", float "interp", clip "clp2", 
\                    bool "Exclude", bool "Preview") 
{

#  Extends Tweak to allow selective control of saturation and hue over a defined luma range. 
#  Assembled by WorBry. MaskTools computations kindly provided by Didee. Thanks to Gavino for advice on script syntax.   
#  Requires YV12 clp input and assumes full (pc) luma range 0-255.
#  Requires MaskTools v2. Tweak should be v2.58 or higher.
#
#  Parameters:
#  Clp       - Is the input clip that will be processed.
#  Clp2      - Provides option to use a second clip with different luma curve for the saturation/hue control.
#  Sat       - Saturation. Desaturation 0.0 =< 1.0 > Increased saturation. See Tweak 2.58 doc 
#  Hue       - Hue. Range -180 to +180. Default 0.0. See Tweak 2.58 doc 
#  startHue  - See Tweak 2.58 doc for details. Range 0 - <360. Default 0 
#  endHue    - See Tweak 2.58 doc for details. Range >0 - 360. Default 360
#  minSat    - See Tweak 2.58 doc for details. Range 0 - <150 ; must be < MaxSat. Default 0
#  maxSat    - See Tweak 2.58 doc for details. Range >0 -150. Default 150
#  interp    - See Tweak 2.58 doc for details. Range 0 - 32. Default 16
#  Luma_Low  - Lower luma range point. Range 0 - 255*  Default 0
#  Luma_High - Upper luma range point. Range 0 - 255*  Default 255
#  Low_OS    - Lower over-shoot point. Provides soft roll-off at lower range boundary. Range 0 - 255*
#              Default is Luma_Low+20 for normal (inclusive) range mode and Luma_low-20 for Exclude mode. 
#  High_OS   - Upper over-shoot point. Provides soft roll-off at upper range boundary. Range 0 - 255*
#              Default is Luma_High-20 for normal (inclusive) mode and Luma_High+20 for Exclude mode.
#  Exclude     True/False. True excludes the range selected by the luma set points. False (default) includes the selected range.  
#  Preview   - True/False. True gives preview of input clip, output and luma masks with original and output chroma.
#              Default is false
# 
#  *Note: the luma set points are limited with respect to each other to ensure correct orientation and avoid overlap.   
#
#Defaults:
Sat       = default(Sat, 1.0)
Hue       = default(Hue, 0.0)
startHue  = default(startHue, 0)
endHue    = default(endHue, 360)
minSat    = default(minSat, 0)
maxSat    = default(maxSat, 150)
interp    = default(interp, 16) 
Exclude   = default(Exclude, False)
Luma_Low  = default(Luma_Low, 0.0)
Luma_High = default(Luma_High, 255) 
Low_OS    = Exclude ? default(Low_OS,  Luma_Low + 20)
\         : default(Low_OS,  Luma_Low - 20)   
High_OS   = Exclude ? default(High_OS, Luma_High - 20)
\         : default(High_OS, Luma_High + 20)
clp2      = default(clp2, clp)
Preview   = default(Preview, False)        
#
#Limits: 
Sat       = Sat <0.0 ? 0.0 : Sat
Hue       = Hue <-180 ? -180 : Hue > 180 ? 180 : Hue
Luma_Low  = Luma_Low  <0.0 ? 0.0 : Luma_Low  >255 ? 255 : Luma_Low
Luma_High = Luma_High <0.0 ? 0.0 : Luma_High >255 ? 255 : Luma_High
Low_OS    = Exclude &&  Low_OS \         : Exclude &&  Low_OS > High_OS ? ((Luma_Low + Luma_High)/2)                 
\         : Low_OS  <0.0 ? 0.0 : Low_OS >Luma_Low ? Luma_Low : Low_OS      
High_OS   = Exclude &&  High_OS >Luma_High ? Luma_High
\         : Exclude && High_OS < Low_OS ? ((Luma_Low + Luma_High + 2)/2)
\         : High_OS 255 ? 255 : High_OS
#
#Limits for startHue, endHue, minSat and maxSat set by Tweak 
#
#Create Saturation and Hue control clip:
twclp = clp2.tweak(sat=Sat, hue=Hue, startHue=startHue, endHue=endHue,
\       minSat=minSat, maxSat=maxSat, interp=interp, coring=false)
#
#Create luma mask with low/high range points and roll-off gradient at boundaries:  
#"Include" [0]<-black->[Low_OS]<-gradient->[Luma_Low]<-white->[Luma_High]<-gradient->[High_OS]<-black->[255]
#"Exclude" [0]<-white->[Luma_Low]<-gradient->[Low_OS]<-black->[High_OS]<-gradient->[Luma_High]<-white->[255]
#
Low_OS    = string(Low_OS) Luma_Low  = String(Luma_Low)
Luma_High = String(Luma_High) High_OS = String(High_OS)
#Create "Include" range expression for mask:
blkI      = "x "+Low_OS+" < x "+High_OS+" > | 0 "
whtI      = "x "+Luma_Low+" >= x "+Luma_High+" <= & 255 "
grLI      = "x "+Luma_Low+" < 255 x "+Low_OS+" - "+Luma_Low+" "+Low_OS+" - / * "
grHI      = "x "+Luma_High+" > 255 1 x "+Luma_High+" - "+High_OS+" "+Luma_High+" - / - * "
exprI     = blkI + whtI + grLI + grHI + "x ? ? ? ?"
#Create "Exclude" range expression for mask:
blkE      = "x "+Low_OS+" >= x "+High_OS+" <= & 0 "
whtE      = "x "+Luma_Low+" < x "+Luma_High+" > | 255 "
grLE      = "x "+Low_OS+" <= 255 x "+Low_OS+" - "+Luma_Low+" "+Low_OS+" - / * "
grHE      = "x "+Luma_High+" < 255 x "+High_OS+" - "+Luma_High+" "+High_OS+" - / * "   
exprE     = blkE + whtE + grLE + grHE +  "x ? ? ? ?"
#Luma Mask (greyscale for output):
lmask     = twclp.mt_lut(expr = (Exclude ? ExprE : ExprI))
lmaskg    = lmask.Greyscale()
# Apply luma mask:
Output    = mt_merge(clp,twclp,lmaskg,luma=true,Y=2,U=3,V=3)
#
#PREVIEW set-up
clps      =clp.Subtitle("Original Clip").LanczosResize(640,360)
outs      =output.Subtitle("Final Output").LanczosResize(640,360)
#Luma Mask with chroma from tweaked clp
lmcts     = lmask.Subtitle("Luma mask + Tweaked Chroma").LanczosResize(640,360)
#Luma Mask with chroma from original clp
lmcc      = Exclude ? clp2.mt_lut(expr=ExprE) : clp2.mt_lut(expr=exprI) 
lmccs     = lmcc.Subtitle("Luma Mask + Original Chroma").LanczosResize(640,360)
#Create composite view
Clpout    = StackVertical(clps,outs)
Masks     = StackVertical(lmccs, lmcts)
Prev      = StackHorizontal(Clpout,Masks)
#
Final     = Preview ? Prev : Output
#
Return(Final)

}

SelSah_v3(Luma_Low=0, Luma_High=25, startHue=310, endHue=80, Sat=0.75)

 

Hey guys, I’m a sort of new guy here in a sense, though I’ve posted here and there for some time and been reading the forum since years ago.

The recent years I’ve become interested in home cinema calibration and related things, which brought me into color correction. I’m not at all anything close to professional in these things though, but I have many years of photoshop experience.

When I rediscovered this forum a couple months ago, I was instantly amazed at the work many people here are doing to preserve the original trilogy. I saw that since there’s no high-res source of the movies with intact shadow details, people have been forced to base a lot of stuff on the HDTV versions. I’ve been fiddling around myself in photoshop with some raw screenshots of the HDTV versions but since they’re compressed by broadcast, the shadow detail has suffered.

Now that the Blu-ray set was released, I thought I’d do that again and this time, since there was not much compression, there was also slightly more shadow detail. I went into photoshop and made a curve file and some settings using “selective color”, to try and dig up some shadow detail and make like “one setting for the whole movie” to remove the largest color inaccuracies and tints etc. I also tried to correct the underexposed look of the SE’s. (Only tried with SW so far)

Now, I know that at least Harmy has gone through this kind of thing, using the HDTV version as a base. (Totally love your DE versions Harmy) I found out that Adobe after effects could use both curves and selective color, so I took the raw Blu-ray file of SW and did a render using my settings.

The reason for this thread is not that I want to make an own preservation, but maybe “help” others by posting my settings.

Note that my monitor is not displaying 100% correct colors, and that I, like everyone else, get a bit colorblind after looking at these things for a while. That said, skin tones might not be all correct, but at least it’s not as much “lobster-man” now. After I post the settings, maybe others with better eyes can improve them even more.

Finally, sorry in case my grammatics is not perfect, I’m swedish after all…

EDIT: New screenshots! These shots represent the latest avisynth settings which you can find in post 3. They are the exact same shots as the ones in the screenshot thread. They were rendered using the built in imagewriter plugin in avisynth.

Stinky-Dinkins said:

In keeping with the spirit of this project I think he should make his forum only accessible to himself while occasionally releasing small snippets of random forum posts to the general public.

No matter what you might think of Mike, the screenshots he's posting are valuable as a reference for people like Harmy for example. And whatever spirit this project has, I'd say even if we won't see it in many years, somebody is actually restoring the original, something Lucas might never do.

I also wanna say that I'm not choosing sides here, I'm just pointing out the positive things about it.

I don't know if it's a looped "dirt & scratches" effect but about the resolution: the cantina scene, aunt Beru, old woman on tatooine, and Luke meeting Biggs before the battle is all in HD for real.

Strange thing I noticed about "the search for R2-D2" scene is that it looks like it was upscaled from DVD resolution without being deinterlaced or something, as can be seen in this frame: http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/9518/swdeleted02m2tssnapshot.png

EDIT: Check this frame from the ROTJ deleted scene also: http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8915/rotjdeleted02m2tssnapsh.png

Looks like they forgot deinterlacing again.

Another non-newsgroup user who is very interested in seeing this! At least SW.

Zero said:

Since all of these deleted scenes are presented in high-definition 1080p video, it is possible to edit these scenes back into their respective movies.

Very nice cleanup you did, but I'm sorry to say that the particular video you're cleaning up is actually upscaled from DVD.

I suspected it when I watched it, so I did a test: Grabbed some frames, downscaled them to 720x480 and upscaled them back. They look identical except for some added sharpening, which was maybe done to disguise the fact that the clip wasn't presented in it's full resolution.

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/8458/01original.png
http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/7070/01resized.png
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9613/02original.png
http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/9718/02resized.png

Considering this, maybe it's better to downscale the whole video before cleaning it up?

jasmorru said:

So that's safer?  I thought just doing it would be suspect to George's evil eye.  He seems pretty keen on keeping the originals away from the public. 

Have you noticed how wisely Mike is choosing his words when talking about sources and his plans?

I think he of all people knows the danger and makes sure that there's no way anyone could even prove he's doing the restoration.

Great improvement!

Maybe it's time to say sorry for the long post I made some time ago. (post 1475)
Now that I've read through more of the older pages in this thread, I know those things had already been mentioned.

And also, I watched the SE blu-ray some days ago just to get a perspective, and compared to that your version is every Star Wars fan's dream come true. Can't wait to see v1.2!

Even though I'm quite new here, I would be happy for an invite to that site and see the reference shots you're talking about.

Oh, and if there's ever a need for help on fixing old stills, I have quite a few years of photoshop experience and I'll be glad to help.

mverta said:

As for your absolute sense of color: don't trust it.  Humans have an absolutely terrible memory for absolute color, and our perception system auto white-balances.  This is why it's so dangerous to go "by eye" though we often have little choice.

Very true. I know this also since I've been calibrating TVs and monitors using a colorimeter. The human eye does not have much accuracy compared to that.

Anyway, I've been reading through this thread and it's nice to see that there's a restoration like this going on. Even though this won't be shared it will be nice to know that Star Wars is preserved in as good quality as possible. Maybe one day if George Lucas could "wake up", or when he is not alive anymore, things like this could surface for everyone to enjoy.

Angel said:

That quality and image ups and downs cant offer a nice viewing pleasure within result the movie be a rough cut and paste job.

Do you consider to take this project to a next level of care and be more precise about fixing(restore) the errors and finally the image has some better continuity? :)

To call this a "rough cut and paste job" is an insult in my opinion, considering how much time Harmy probably spent working on this project. Just look at the quality of the custom mattes for example.

Instead of saying his whole project has bad continuity, why not post suggestions to him about what to fix and change in next version like I did?

Hi! A new user here, though I've been visiting this website from time to time. This time I came across it when googling on info about the blu-ray release. I've been a fan of the original Star Wars movies since I was a kid, and thus I was very happy when I found your edits. (and dark_jedi's, not to mention everyone who has worked on the audio too.)

First off, I want to thank you SO much for doing this. I have made similar projects myself, so I know how insanely time-consuming and exhausting it can be. I've watched SW despecialized so far, and I'll put it like this: From now on I'll deny ever seeing a so called Special Edition of any SW movie. This is the definitive versions. This is what they should look like!

Now, I haven't been reading through all pages of this thread yet, but I read you're currently working on a v1.2 so I would just like to give you some suggestions on a couple things to change in the new version. (Of course with all respect for you and the time it takes to do these things.)

I recently read about the Senator Theatre screening of the original SW, on this site: http://savestarwars.com/technicoloribscreening.html
I thought maybe you used these photos as a reference to some scenes? Either way, one photo in particular caught my interest and it was Luke watching the sunset.

This is a screenshot from your currently available version:

Edited to look more like in the cinema it would be something like this:

So that's the first idea. Then I have some ideas on color correction "issues" I noticed when watching the movie.

A death star corridor scene:

Same corridor later in the movie:

Compared, the second screenshot looks yellow-tinted. Here's another example, where it's even more apparent:

The stormtrooper armors looks yellow here yet just a moment later, white:

Last but not least, I thought about this thing too. In this scene, the shadows are blue-colored while everything around them is not:

Once again, thank you so much for all your work and effort.