Script for deflickering and ramping ACR (.xmp) settings in Bridge

Started by dmilligan, October 17, 2013, 12:32:09 AM

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Audionut

Finally got around to trying this out today.  Learnt some things I probably should have already known.
deflick doesn't work with silent pics, and silent pics doesn't work with dual_iso.  With LCD powersave OFF, I don't think it was turning back on quick enough for AETTR with silent pics, but I'm not 100% sure, as I gave up, and just wanted to get the timelapse running.

Boring timelapse, but serves the purpose of testing.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34113196/timelapse.mkv

With plenty of light, the deflickering worked extremely well.  As things got darker, the flicker increases.  Do you have any suggestions?

As it moves through twilight, the area in the center of the frame loses color resolution from allowing green channel overexposure.  2 questions. 

Can I apply some highlight recovery to these frames, before running through the deflicker?  This way, the deflicker compensates for the highlight adjustments.

Is it feasible to ramp the overexposure settings in AETTR?  This is mainly to compensate for question 1.  Nill overexposure during bright conditions, ramping to some overexposure during dark scenes, to intentionally blow specular highlights.

edit:  On the first question, I can process and export to tif.  Then run the tifs through the deflicker.  Still think it would be useful to ramp the overexposure settings.

dmilligan

Quote from: Audionut on May 24, 2014, 03:59:53 PM
With plenty of light, the deflickering worked extremely well.  As things got darker, the flicker increases.  Do you have any suggestions?
Deflicker the dark sections separately maybe using a different percentile. Select a darker sequence and use the "percentile" preview to help.

QuoteCan I apply some highlight recovery to these frames, before running through the deflicker?  This way, the deflicker compensates for the highlight adjustments.
Yes I do this frequently. Just simply add some, it should be taken into account when the deflicker runs. You don't have to export to tiff and then deflicker those. I have found about -20 to -30 is the farthest I can go before it's too much for the deflicker to handle.

Quote from: Audionut on May 24, 2014, 03:59:53 PM
Is it feasible to ramp the overexposure settings in AETTR?
Yes, I was considering adding ramping AETTR parameters to adv_int. I'll look into that soon.

garry23

dmilligan/all

I have been trying to get silent picture timelapse working with A-ETTR, ie with a fixed exposure (no-ETTR) things are 'easy', ie I ingest dngs into LR, correct blank dng EXIF date with LensTagger and process in LRTimelapse.

The problems start when trying holy grail A-ETTR silent picture timelapse captures, ie no EXIF and no sidecars; and, of course, the exposure is 'jumping' all over the place at sunset or sunrise, say.

My question is: if I use the Bridge script with silent DNGs, do they require 'accurate' sidecar files, ie does the script access the EXIF exposure data, or does the deflicker script, say, 'just' access the embedded DNG histogram, ie no need to worry about EXIF exposure data in the sidecar files. In other words just put in dummy EXIF data or leave blank.

dmilligan

it shouldn't need any metadata at all, it uses the actual histogram of the image data to do the deflicker

garry23

Just tried it, ie without .xmps, and it appears to work well.

Many thanks I will send you a PM re your paypal address :-)

Cheers

Garry

Audionut

Quote from: dmilligan on May 24, 2014, 05:12:31 PM
Deflicker the dark sections separately maybe using a different percentile. Select a darker sequence and use the "percentile" preview to help.

I tried some different options, and only doing sections of the timelapse, but if anything, I think I subjectively made it worse.  At this stage, I'll write the problem off as dumb user, and try some different shot settings for the next timelapse.

What sort of percentage of the sky is best for the deflicker?  Or is the idea, to only have selected an area of the scene that ramps consistently?


Quote from: dmilligan on May 24, 2014, 05:12:31 PM
Yes I do this frequently. Just simply add some, it should be taken into account when the deflicker runs. You don't have to export to tiff and then deflicker those. I have found about -20 to -30 is the farthest I can go before it's too much for the deflicker to handle.

I can accomplish this by simply processing the files through ACR, and then running deflicker when the previews in bridge have been updated?  Or do I need to update the default settings used by ACR?


Quote from: dmilligan on May 24, 2014, 05:12:31 PM
Yes, I was considering adding ramping AETTR parameters to adv_int. I'll look into that soon.

Thanks.
Off-topic:  Not interested in putting that module in the nightlies?

dmilligan

Quote from: Audionut on May 29, 2014, 06:27:44 AM
What sort of percentage of the sky is best for the deflicker?  Or is the idea, to only have selected an area of the scene that ramps consistently?
Good question, I'm not totally sure. I don't really see much difference myself. Probably just experiment with different values and see what works best.

Quote from: Audionut on May 29, 2014, 06:27:44 AM
I can accomplish this by simply processing the files through ACR, and then running deflicker when the previews in bridge have been updated? 
Yep, in fact you don't even need to wait (or at least theoretically you shouldn't) for the previews, the script clears the preview cache and forces Bridge to regenerate the previews.

Quote from: Audionut on May 29, 2014, 06:27:44 AM
Off-topic:  Not interested in putting that module in the nightlies?
Well there was all that module stuff that got talked about a while back and I was just going to wait and see where things went.  There was also talk of letting modules exist in their own repos. Nothing has really changed though, so perhaps I should go ahead and submit it.

a1ex

QuoteNothing has really changed though

Nanomad did some good progress with building modules outside the main tree, but it was kinda silent and not yet in a "just works" state. I still like this idea of regarding modules as user apps, so each module author can work on it without restrictions. For visibility, at least the good ones do deserve a place on the nightly builds page though.

Proposals are welcome (in the original thread, to keep things organazized), for example, about how they should appear on the download page.

Danne

I just made a little "lazylapse" using only one picture created out of three exposures enfused to one. Then duplicated to 13 virtual copies that I used as keyframes later in adobe bridge when doing all kinds of ramping with the script :)

Of course it is outside my balcony again ;)

Original pic




NickZee

I might have missed it, but in the Deflicker Menu can someone explain what the Analysis Crop (%) is, what it does or how it's used?  By default, X and Y are set to 0 and Height and Width is 100.   If it's already been spoken about, the link to that thread would suffice.

I love the info in the tool tips when hovering over the values.  Very helpful!  Thank you!
Architectural Photography
NickZimmerman.com
5D MK3 & 600D | 24-70mm USMII L 2.8 | Nikon 14-24mm 2.8 | Nikon Nikkor 24mm 2.8 AIS & 50mm 1.4 AIS ** Windows 8.1 Pro | 32GB Ram | i7-4770 @ 3.4GHz

Danne

You can select a portion of the picture in those settings. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I mostly don,t use it but go straight with 3 iterations.

NickZee

Quote from: dmilligan on March 31, 2014, 01:00:06 PM
thanks!

Open a tiff and change WB/tint, and then look and see what gets written to the xmp sidecar, it might actually be a different tag name for non-raw data (in which case I'll have to update the script), otherwise you should just be able to set what you want in the first and last frame and do ramp multiple with WB and Tint check boxes checked and it will ramp from the first frame to the last.

I'll have a look in a bit.

Thank you.


This is what I discovered.

First I copied a tiff.   Ie; IMG_00001 and IMG_0001_Copy
Synced all of the develop settings from 0001 to the copy.
Opened the Copy in ACR and only changed Temp and Tint.
CRTL+I in Bridge to reveal Raw Data Tab.
Copy and pasted XMP data into Notepadd++. One tab for 0001 and one tab for the Copy.
Used Compare plug in to find differences. 

Line 89 and 90

0001
         <crs:IncrementalTemperature>-8</crs:IncrementalTemperature>
         <crs:IncrementalTint>+2</crs:IncrementalTint>

0001_Copy
         <crs:IncrementalTemperature>+33</crs:IncrementalTemperature>
         <crs:IncrementalTint>+37</crs:IncrementalTint>


Performing a Temp or Tint Ramp from 0001 to 0500 (excluding the Copy) has NaN in both value boxes.

I Selected Ramp Temp and put in -8 and -13.  Then selected Ramp Tint and put +2 and +7.  When the Tiff is opened in ACR, the resulting Temp Ramp was -100 on all Tiff.  The Tint Ramp was -9 in the first Tiff of the sequence and -5 in the last tiff.   In the XMP I cannot see -100 anywhere in the XMP, especially in line 89 <crs:IncrementalTemperature>-8</crs:IncrementalTemperature>.

Going further, leaving 0001 with it's -100 value, I opened 0002 in ACR and put the Temp and tint back to -8 and +2.  Then coping the XMP data back into Notepad++ and comparing, I found this.

Line 89 and 90
0001
         <crs:IncrementalTemperature>-8</crs:IncrementalTemperature>
         <crs:IncrementalTint>+2</crs:IncrementalTint>

0002 (Corrected Temp and Tint in ACR)
         <crs:IncrementalTemperature>-8</crs:IncrementalTemperature>
         <crs:IncrementalTint>+2</crs:IncrementalTint>

Line 185 and 186 0001 ONLY (-100 Temp Value in ARC)
         <crs:Temperature>-8</crs:Temperature>
         <crs:Tint>2</crs:Tint>

0002 does not have Temp and Tint in lines 185 and  186.

I can only guess that because Ramp is adding another Temp and Tint line, ACR doesn't know what value to assign. 

Does it matter if I put the plus sign in for a positive value?  +2 compared to 2? 

Hope this helps.
Architectural Photography
NickZimmerman.com
5D MK3 & 600D | 24-70mm USMII L 2.8 | Nikon 14-24mm 2.8 | Nikon Nikkor 24mm 2.8 AIS & 50mm 1.4 AIS ** Windows 8.1 Pro | 32GB Ram | i7-4770 @ 3.4GHz

dmilligan

Thanks, apparently ACR calls it "IncrementalTemperature" instead of "Temperature" (and the same for tint) when dealing with non-raw data. I've added the tags to the script, so you should be able to ramp them now (they will default to unchecked so you need to check them).

blainesuque

when i am deflickering or ramping, is there a chart i can look up for the percent of start and end. I have trouble figureing out how much the numbers i enter are going to affect the sequence. Maybe the minimum and maximum for starts and ends for the Deflicker and ramps? Anything you guys can refer me to, so i can learn the right numbers to enter. Thanks!

dmilligan

I have no idea what you mean by "percent of start and end" or "minimum and maximum for starts and ends".

The settings of the first and last frames are not touched at all. All the frames in between are conformed to a line drawn from the first frame to the last (or keyframe to keyframe if there are keyframes). There are no numbers to calculate. Simply make the first frame look like you want, and the last frame look like you want, and then run the ramp or deflicker.

Danne

The best way to get good results deflickering going day to night I lowered contrast and blacks to get a much flatter picture. I this expected? When deflickering contrasty series I get inconsistencies that wont deflicker. Thought I should share my little tip.
Thanks
/D

sletts02

Is it possible to run more than one instance of Deflicker?

When I run it Bridge seems to become unresponsive until it's finished. Ideally I'd like to have 3 or 4 clips processing at once - is this possible?

So far the results on one clip have been nothing short of remarkable, cudos!

dmilligan

Unfortunately, no it's not possible to do more than one at the same time, and there's no way to prevent it from locking up Bridge until the script is finished either. That's just how Adobe chose to implement their scripting engine.

sletts02

Bummer, no worries!

Would it work if I added two separate clips in to the same folder and ran it? Or would it produce some crazy results? I would test but I'm not in front of my production rig.

dmilligan

Yeah, you could do it like that and use the keyframes (mark with 1 star rating to set a keyframe), put a keyframe on the last image of one sequence and the first image of the next, then select all of them and run, that should essentially cause them to be totally independent.

NickZee

Quote from: dmilligan on June 02, 2014, 03:12:56 AM
Thanks, apparently ACR calls it "IncrementalTemperature" instead of "Temperature" (and the same for tint) when dealing with non-raw data. I've added the tags to the script, so you should be able to ramp them now (they will default to unchecked so you need to check them).

Great!  Thank you David, I appreciate it!  Just bought you a steak dinner or a nice bottle of wine.

If anyone else wants to chip in for this great script, go here and find the donate button at the bottom,
http://davidmilligan.github.io/BridgeRamp/
Architectural Photography
NickZimmerman.com
5D MK3 & 600D | 24-70mm USMII L 2.8 | Nikon 14-24mm 2.8 | Nikon Nikkor 24mm 2.8 AIS & 50mm 1.4 AIS ** Windows 8.1 Pro | 32GB Ram | i7-4770 @ 3.4GHz

dmilligan


NickZee

Welcome!

A little while back (http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=8850.msg105733#msg105733) I was getting the scripts preview menu and not Windows Photo Viewer for the Deflicker option. 

Since then, I have seen the Windows Photo Viewer image preview, but only a couple times.  It calculated the percentile, and off I went Deflickering.   But after that the one time, the preview button stopped working.   I was able to "rejuvenate" it buy removing the script from the folder, restarting Windows, adding the script back and opening bridge, but only once.

Now, with the newest script version, CS6, Windows 8.1 64 bit, ACR 8.5 the Preview button is unresponsive.  This time, I have tried several combos of removing the script and rebooting, to disabling the script first in Preferences, then removing and rebooting to disabling and removing, then double clicking the script from my desktop.  As well as, trying to change the default program for JPEG to PS and back to Windows Photo Viewer.  None of which will work.   The deflicker Preview button simple doesn't work for me.

Because I can't Preview it, the percentile doesn't calculate and if I click "OK" anyway I get this error "TyepError: unidentified is not an object."  When I close the Error, the Progress bar appears, but doesn't move.

Any ideas or suggestion I should try?

Thank you!
Architectural Photography
NickZimmerman.com
5D MK3 & 600D | 24-70mm USMII L 2.8 | Nikon 14-24mm 2.8 | Nikon Nikkor 24mm 2.8 AIS & 50mm 1.4 AIS ** Windows 8.1 Pro | 32GB Ram | i7-4770 @ 3.4GHz

NickZee

Of course!  After I post, I figure it out.  I was setting the Analysis Size to 1200.  It can only go to a max of 1000 (for me). Preview button works just fine at 1000. 

Architectural Photography
NickZimmerman.com
5D MK3 & 600D | 24-70mm USMII L 2.8 | Nikon 14-24mm 2.8 | Nikon Nikkor 24mm 2.8 AIS & 50mm 1.4 AIS ** Windows 8.1 Pro | 32GB Ram | i7-4770 @ 3.4GHz