Matt Silverman was recently asked a question regarding unsatisfactory results with deinterlacing in After Effects. The customer's footage had the following workflow

1. Shot at 35mm
2. Telecine color correct transfered to NTSC Digibeta
3. Digitized to Avid Nitris DX at 1:1 MXF
4. Exported to 29.97 NTSC TIFF sequence
5. Imported into After Effects
6. Deinterlaced with interpret fields or with BCC Deinterlace

The customer complained about soft results with loss of detail, most apparent in hair, teeth and clothing textures. What would Matt Silverman do?

Matt: Sounds like he does not want to de-interlace, but rather remove pulldown (assuming film was shot 24fps). So, he should bring the footage into AE, go to interpret footage, and click "guess pulldown". This should find the correct pulldown cadence for the first shot and make the clip 23.976fps progressive. If he has edited the show in Avid, more than likely the pulldown cadences will vary from shot to shot, which is a huge pain in the ass to deal with. Here is how I have dealt with this.... I have only done this on TV spots, so there aren't many cuts... a longer show could take a while...

1. Import the footage five times into AE, rename the clips in the project window A,B,C,D,E
2. Go to interpret footage on each shot and choose a different pulldown cadence for each (this makes each clip 23.976fps).
3. Drop the "A" clip into a new 23.976fps comp.
4. Use the Magnum Script from aescripts.com to find the cut points and split the clip into individual layers per shot.
5. Drag through the clips in the timeline to see if there are any random interlaced frames. When you find an interlaced frame, it means that it is using the wrong pulldown cadence. Select this bad clip in the timeline, then grab the B version from the project window and option-drag it into the timeline to replace the bad one. Scrub through to see if there is still an interlaced frame. If so, repeat the option drag with the other versions in the project window until the interlacing disappears.
6. Check all of your cut points to make sure there are no half fields showing on the first or last frame.

If I did not understand and he truly wants to de-interlace, then Red Giant Magic Bullet Frames or RE:Vision Effects FieldsKit are the tickets. I usually go to FieldsKit first... they now have a motion estimation option. Sometimes it might produce a weird artifact and Bullet works better.

Matt Silverman is a Toolfarm Forum Expert and Creative Director of Design and Digital Effects at Phoneix Editorial in San Francisco.

Labels: Ask Matt Silverman, Avid, FieldsKit, Magic Bullet Frames

Tuesday, November 18, 2008 Only - 12am PST - 11:59pm PST

When you order Magic Bullet Suite, you will receive a serial number that will work with multiple hosts, including Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and Avid*.

*Due to technical barriers, Steady and Frames do not support Avid.

In addition to the Red Giant and Trapcode Bundles, we're offering Complete training for Trapcode Particular from Class on Demand. (DVD | Download) Learn more about the sale here.

Labels: Colorista, Instant HD Pro, Magic Bullet, Magic Bullet Frames, Magic Bullet Looks, Magic Bullet Steady, One Day Sale, Red Giant

Powerful finishing tools for every editor in one package.

Magic Bullet Suite 2008 is a completely revamped product. Magic Bullet Suite now supports After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere Pro, and Avid. The full suite of tools includes Magic Bullet Looks (including Misfire), Magic Bullet Frames, Magic Bullet Colorista, Magic Bullet Steady, and Instant HD for high-quality up-conversion.

Labels: Colorista, Instant HD Pro, Magic Bullet, Magic Bullet Frames, Magic Bullet Looks, Magic Bullet Steady, Red Giant

John Dickinson of Motionworks has put together this 17 minute Red Giant Magic Bullet Frames video tutorial.

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Labels: John Dickinson, Magic Bullet Frames, Red Giant, Tutorial

Try the Mac or Windows demo of Magic Bullet Frames, which was just released on January 31. Magic Bullet Frames will take interlaced video and get the 24p look of film, right from within your editor -- at high speed and high quality. It works in Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro and Motion.

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Labels: After Effects, Demo, Magic Bullet Frames, Red Giant

Red Giant Magic Bullet Frames is now available. Take interlaced video and get the 24p look of film, right from within your editor -- at high speed and high quality.

We're still adding and receiving details about Frames and we'll have a press release up soon. Stay tuned.


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Labels: Magic Bullet Frames, Red Giant