How to create GIF files from your video clips
The world wide web just turned 20. Even older than the www is the GIF file format. The format is flawed in many ways, its limited to 256 colours. The compression isn't very good and it used to be patented. Now the patent has expired and even if the format has some flaws there are still situations when gif is the right format to use.
The two huge advantages of the GIF format is that it supports animations and that it is supported by all versions of all web browsers. Since no plugins or special codecs are required to play the GIF they just simply work. And even if a gif might be a bit larger than for example a short flash file the load time is often offset by the time it takes to load and initialize the flash player.
You can use GIF files where no other format works.
I created a simple tool to convert a video clip to a GIF file including converting it to 256 colours and resizing it. You can also add single images or create the animation from single files.
Download Video-GIF here
söndagen den 7:e augusti 2011
måndagen den 8:e september 2008
Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene
I forgot to write about this a when it appeared a month ago, I am sorry about that.
If you have not seen this already you really owe yourself to check it out, it will blow your mind.
"Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene" is a research project that shows a way to combine high quality photos with videos taken at the same location. The result so far is research and not available in any product but it paints a bright future. Using their method they are able to increase the resolution of the whole video clip, create high dynamic range videos and to enhance exposure. They are even able to remove objects from a scene.
Checkout the project page with the complete paper and an amazing video presentation.
When you watch you can also keep in mind that a lot of companies are working on digital cameras the combine high quality photos and videos recording. There is currently a lot of research going on into computational imaging using image recognition software together with novel hardware. For example there are already digital cameras that combine video and photo to automatically take a group photo when all have their eyes open is closing their eyes.
If you have not seen this already you really owe yourself to check it out, it will blow your mind.
"Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene" is a research project that shows a way to combine high quality photos with videos taken at the same location. The result so far is research and not available in any product but it paints a bright future. Using their method they are able to increase the resolution of the whole video clip, create high dynamic range videos and to enhance exposure. They are even able to remove objects from a scene.
Checkout the project page with the complete paper and an amazing video presentation.
When you watch you can also keep in mind that a lot of companies are working on digital cameras the combine high quality photos and videos recording. There is currently a lot of research going on into computational imaging using image recognition software together with novel hardware. For example there are already digital cameras that combine video and photo to automatically take a group photo when all have their eyes open is closing their eyes.
onsdagen den 30:e juli 2008
Video on your web page
Are you looking to put video on your web page? Then you should take a few seconds and check out Video web wizard 2 that was released today. The program basically does everything for you, ie converting the video to flash, generating the necessary HTML code and so on.
Check out a video about video web wizard 2 here
Check out a video about video web wizard 2 here
söndagen den 25:e maj 2008
Remove motion blur from videos
When you take move the camera while taking a photo you get motion blur. At this years Siggraph conference there are several papers about how to remove motion blur from images. Take a look at this paper High-quality Motion Deblurring from a Single Image that uses a single blurry image as source and makes a virtually perfect photo. The screenshots are quite amazing. As people from Abobe are part of the paper we can hopefully sees this as a filter in future versions of photoshop.
Using this teqnique together with a video frame capture software like fast video indexer could create really awsome screenshots from videos.
The abstract for the paper:
"We present a new algorithm for removing motion blur from a single image. Our method computes a deblurred image using a unified probabilistic model of both blur kernel estimation and unblurred image restoration. We present an analysis of the causes of common artifacts found in current deblurring methods, and then introduce several novel terms within this probabilistic model that are inspired by our analysis. These terms include a model of the spatial randomness of noise in the blurred image, as well a new local smoothness prior that reduces ringing artifacts by constraining contrast in the unblurred image wherever the blurred image exhibits low contrast. Finally, we describe an efficient optimization scheme that alternates between blur kernel estimation and unblurred image restoration until convergence. As a result of these steps, we are able to produce high quality deblurred results in low computation time. We are even able to produce results of comparable quality to techniques that require additional input images beyond a single blurry photograph, and to methods that require additional hardware."
Using this teqnique together with a video frame capture software like fast video indexer could create really awsome screenshots from videos.
The abstract for the paper:
"We present a new algorithm for removing motion blur from a single image. Our method computes a deblurred image using a unified probabilistic model of both blur kernel estimation and unblurred image restoration. We present an analysis of the causes of common artifacts found in current deblurring methods, and then introduce several novel terms within this probabilistic model that are inspired by our analysis. These terms include a model of the spatial randomness of noise in the blurred image, as well a new local smoothness prior that reduces ringing artifacts by constraining contrast in the unblurred image wherever the blurred image exhibits low contrast. Finally, we describe an efficient optimization scheme that alternates between blur kernel estimation and unblurred image restoration until convergence. As a result of these steps, we are able to produce high quality deblurred results in low computation time. We are even able to produce results of comparable quality to techniques that require additional input images beyond a single blurry photograph, and to methods that require additional hardware."
Self animated images
Video - A series of framed images put together, one after another, to simulate motion.
Did you know you can get away with only one image and let the brain to the work of animating the image. If you make an image in the right way your brain will fool you into animating the image yourself in you head.
Siggraph is THE yearly conference on computer graphics. This year, as usual, there are a lot of interesting papers that to be presented and some of them are already beginning to leak out.
The effect is much better if you click the image and view it as large as possible
As I develop a video software that takes videos and generates images from it a paper about Self-Animating Images got my attention. In Self-Animating Images: Illusory Motion Using Repeated Asymmetric Patterns scientists, Ming-Te Chi and Tong-Yee Lee and Yingge Qu and Tien-Tsin Wong, propose a computational method to generate self-animating images.
Even if you are normally not interested in scientific papers take a look at the pictures in it anyway. On the project page there is also a link to a pdf with more example images. Read the instructions on the page for how to best view the images.
Here is the summary from the project page:
"Illusory motion in a still image is a fascinating research topic in the study of human motion perception. Physiologists and psychologists attempted to understand this phenomenon by constructing simple, color repeated asymmetric patterns (RAP) and found several useful rules to enhance the strength of illusory motion. Based on their knowledge, we propose a computational method to generate self-animating images. First, we present an optimized RAP placement on streamlines to generate illusory motion for a given static vector field. Next, a general coloring scheme for RAP is proposed to render streamlines. Furthermore, to enhance the strength of illusion and respect the shape of the region, a smooth vector field with opposite directional flow is automatically generated given an input image. Examples generated by our method are shown to evidence the illusory effect, and the potential applications for entertainment and design purposes."
Siggraph is THE yearly conference on computer graphics. This year, as usual, there are a lot of interesting papers that to be presented and some of them are already beginning to leak out.
The effect is much better if you click the image and view it as large as possible
As I develop a video software that takes videos and generates images from it a paper about Self-Animating Images got my attention. In Self-Animating Images: Illusory Motion Using Repeated Asymmetric Patterns scientists, Ming-Te Chi and Tong-Yee Lee and Yingge Qu and Tien-Tsin Wong, propose a computational method to generate self-animating images.
Even if you are normally not interested in scientific papers take a look at the pictures in it anyway. On the project page there is also a link to a pdf with more example images. Read the instructions on the page for how to best view the images.
Here is the summary from the project page:
"Illusory motion in a still image is a fascinating research topic in the study of human motion perception. Physiologists and psychologists attempted to understand this phenomenon by constructing simple, color repeated asymmetric patterns (RAP) and found several useful rules to enhance the strength of illusory motion. Based on their knowledge, we propose a computational method to generate self-animating images. First, we present an optimized RAP placement on streamlines to generate illusory motion for a given static vector field. Next, a general coloring scheme for RAP is proposed to render streamlines. Furthermore, to enhance the strength of illusion and respect the shape of the region, a smooth vector field with opposite directional flow is automatically generated given an input image. Examples generated by our method are shown to evidence the illusory effect, and the potential applications for entertainment and design purposes."
fredagen den 2:e maj 2008
Flash is now open source
Adobe finally on the 1st of May announced that they will turn Flash and some related technologies into open source. The new open source initiative goes under the name of open screen is backed by a number of really large media and hardware companies like:
ARM, Chunghwa Telecom, Cisco, Intel, LG Electronics Inc., Marvell, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Verizon Wireless, BBC, MTV Networks, and NBC Universal.
The goal of the new open source project is to:
• Remove restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
• Publish the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
• Publish the Adobe Flash® Cast™ protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services
• Remove licensing fees – making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free
What this probably means is that Flash content is going to be more common in handheld devices and perhaps even in TV boxes. Wide adoption of Interactive TV is one step closer.
More specific what has been done today is that:
• The SWF file format specification is published and there is no longer a license requirement to support the Flash media format. This makes it possible to write software that support Flash on any devices without paying royalty to Adobe. You can download the Flash specification today from here
• The FLV/F4v specification is published and you can download it from here. FLV/F4V is the standard in Flash that supports Video and Audio. FLV and F4V are the de facto standard for web video today; over 75% of broadcasters who stream video on the web use these formats.
If you are a developer you can find out more about Open Screen at Adobes development page.
It is a probably a safe bet that the open screen announcement comes as a result of Microsofts huge success with its new Silverlight platform. Silverlight offers about the same functionality as Flash but with support of Microsofts mature Visual Studio tools and the .net language.
Flash as a open format can only mean good things for the future of interactive video and is really interesting in the light of W3Cs work on a video extension for the html standard.
ARM, Chunghwa Telecom, Cisco, Intel, LG Electronics Inc., Marvell, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Verizon Wireless, BBC, MTV Networks, and NBC Universal.
The goal of the new open source project is to:
• Remove restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
• Publish the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
• Publish the Adobe Flash® Cast™ protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services
• Remove licensing fees – making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free
What this probably means is that Flash content is going to be more common in handheld devices and perhaps even in TV boxes. Wide adoption of Interactive TV is one step closer.
More specific what has been done today is that:
• The SWF file format specification is published and there is no longer a license requirement to support the Flash media format. This makes it possible to write software that support Flash on any devices without paying royalty to Adobe. You can download the Flash specification today from here
• The FLV/F4v specification is published and you can download it from here. FLV/F4V is the standard in Flash that supports Video and Audio. FLV and F4V are the de facto standard for web video today; over 75% of broadcasters who stream video on the web use these formats.
If you are a developer you can find out more about Open Screen at Adobes development page.
It is a probably a safe bet that the open screen announcement comes as a result of Microsofts huge success with its new Silverlight platform. Silverlight offers about the same functionality as Flash but with support of Microsofts mature Visual Studio tools and the .net language.
Flash as a open format can only mean good things for the future of interactive video and is really interesting in the light of W3Cs work on a video extension for the html standard.
fredagen den 25:e april 2008
Better looking videos?
Do you want better video quality? Fix my movies is a really interesting new free web service that will help you improve the visual quality of your video files. The service is primary aimed at small video clips, for example the ones you can record with your cell phone. These types of small videos are also the ones that are in most need of improvement.
First you need to email or upload your movie to the service. You can upload directly from your cell phone which is nice. The video file size is limited to 15 Mb and the screen dimension limit is 352x288 pixels. This is less than normal TV resolution and it might sound small, but for videos shot with cell phones it’s usually more than enough.
After you have uploaded a video to the service it will automatically be processed. After a while you can download the new improved video to your computer again as ipod video, flash video or as a windows media file. You can also opt to share your videos directly with others.
The video processing does improve the image quality and reduces the typical blocky artefacts often seen in highly compressed videos.
Fix my movies also allows you to save single video frames from the video as jpeg images. Don’t expect miracles though, you will get images of higher resolution than the video frames but to call it high-res might be to stretch it a bit.
The video processing uses a sequence of images around each frame and can thus interpolate between the frames and even increase the frame-rate. This is good since cell phone videos often are recorded at a painfully low frame-rate and an increased frame-rate makes the video play smoother.
All types of video enhancement does depend on the original video quality, if you have a low quality video as source this type of service will make a huge difference. On the other hand if you start with a high resolution video source all automatic image-processing done on the video might actually reduce the quality or make it look strange. Also remember that after video processing you will in practice need to compress the video again and loose some quality.
If you want to capture video frames from high resolution movies it is better to use desktop software like FastVideoIndexer, then you save time since you don’t have to upload and download large video files. FastVideoIndexers batch video frame extraction will also save you a lot of time.
FixMyMovies is a good free service to improve the visual quality of your cell phone video clips and a good video sharing alternative, especially for small files.
First you need to email or upload your movie to the service. You can upload directly from your cell phone which is nice. The video file size is limited to 15 Mb and the screen dimension limit is 352x288 pixels. This is less than normal TV resolution and it might sound small, but for videos shot with cell phones it’s usually more than enough.
After you have uploaded a video to the service it will automatically be processed. After a while you can download the new improved video to your computer again as ipod video, flash video or as a windows media file. You can also opt to share your videos directly with others.
The video processing does improve the image quality and reduces the typical blocky artefacts often seen in highly compressed videos.
Fix my movies also allows you to save single video frames from the video as jpeg images. Don’t expect miracles though, you will get images of higher resolution than the video frames but to call it high-res might be to stretch it a bit.
The video processing uses a sequence of images around each frame and can thus interpolate between the frames and even increase the frame-rate. This is good since cell phone videos often are recorded at a painfully low frame-rate and an increased frame-rate makes the video play smoother.
All types of video enhancement does depend on the original video quality, if you have a low quality video as source this type of service will make a huge difference. On the other hand if you start with a high resolution video source all automatic image-processing done on the video might actually reduce the quality or make it look strange. Also remember that after video processing you will in practice need to compress the video again and loose some quality.
If you want to capture video frames from high resolution movies it is better to use desktop software like FastVideoIndexer, then you save time since you don’t have to upload and download large video files. FastVideoIndexers batch video frame extraction will also save you a lot of time.
FixMyMovies is a good free service to improve the visual quality of your cell phone video clips and a good video sharing alternative, especially for small files.
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