A number of us are getting extremely good results with a very comfortable workflow using the excellent http://www.lawrence-arnold.com/Vegas/DeshakerScript.htmJohn Meyers Deshaker script[/link].

I find working with VDub and Deshaker without the script to be cumbersome, but the Deshaker script from the Vegas timeline fills my needs quite well. Have you tried this or have you just used Deshaker with VDub away from Vegas?

And yes, it IS "Grazie-Proof"! A standard much sort after. If I can use it then . . .

Get it. Use it, BE amazed!!

THANK YOU JOHN MEYER! ! !

Grazie

Guess I should try the script and have now downloaded it. Till now I've worked DeShaker in standalone mode to process clips in the background elsewhere on my network, and this works well. I suppose setting the parameters does need a bit of study, but that seemed to me to be well covered in John's tutorial. The quality of output is astonishingly satisfactory, notably so in stuff I've shot from a crash boat at medium focal length (which otherwise is quite useless footage). I'm waiting for questions about using a dolly on water! As John says in his tutorial, one needs to use higher shutter speed to reduce bump blurred frames. So when people say they can't get good results, I'm curious to understand their problems. Obviously they may have higher standards than I, but I doubt that is so. I daresay we may be talking about the difference in expectations between tracking action and dollying in an art gallery.

I've tried editing the script by using Deshaker in vDub standalone, using the parameters from that session and applying them to the Deshaker script - I have yet to get my changes to work. It crashes the Deshaker script - if I can get away from the funky edges I would be content using the Deshaker script in Vegas as I do like the workflow it gives me. It really is the only thing missing for me in what I need.

Anyone know how to make the changes and not have the script crash??? All I want is a fixed zoom so I don't get those funky edges.

Cliff Etzel
bluprojekt

Why not use the deshaken footage and then use pan/crop to do away with the "funky edges"?

I found the script to be most helpful and it saves me time from having to reread the tutorial every time I want to use deshaker.

j razz

I try to never zoom in to eliminate the edge activity, since it adds an extra layer of resolution loss (DeShaker by its very nature will cut the vertical resolution). I use the ability of DeShaker to try to match 30 frames before and after to minimize the edge errors.

As a final step I also put in a 4% cookie cutter black edge on the final output. It's never seen on a TV set, and on a PC viewer the amount of black edge is pretty small. Even the modest 4% mask really hides nearly all of the DeShaker edge activity.

If you don’t want the “funky” edges try setting the Deshaker edge compensation to Fixed Zoom and the Zoom Motion Smoothness to zero. As riredale points out you will loose some resolution but if it's a case of loosing resolution or the entire footage it may be justified.

John left instruction in his script’s Readme file on how to make changes in the script to reflect your changes in Deshaker:

“Finally, if you want to change the Deshaker settings, you will need to modify the "OverrideDeshakerParams" variable below. The simplest way to get what you want is to open VirtualDub, load Deshaker, make the settings you wish, and then
Save Processing Settings, open the VCF file (as explained above) and look for
the long string for the video.filters parameter. Copy that string below."

It takes a while to build your own set of Deshaker scripts for various situations but it’s time well spent. John did all the hard work and left instructions for the rest of us in the Readme file.

SpeedEDIT (NewTek) does a nice job of stablizing. Easy to use too.

Mark

I have spent days changing the parameters of Deshaker and have never come up with anything better than the defaults in the JohnMeyer script.
JJK

Steadyhand does a good job too.

I have actually found some settings that meet my needs in the standalone Vdub/Deshasker app, but when I apply those changes within the Deshaker script, it crashes hard.

I'm still looking into it when I have the time.

Cliff Etzel
bluprojekt

Steadyhand does a good job too.

Yes it does, I have it. But, 'cos it slightly ZOOMS in you loose definition - well I do on SD. AND, there is perceptible wobble on background readjusts. Also, SH ain't a plugin, therefore neither is it a neato lil Icon up there on the Toolbar.

Part apart from that . . Oh yeah it wont automatically bring back 16:9 - I have to reset for 16:9 . . but apart from that . .

But what SH will do is allow me to set a render folder separate from the VEG's home folder. Yeah, that's good.

Grazie

After all this time, I finally decided to try making changes one step at a time and running the script - come to find out, it was the first two numerical settings I had changed that was causing the crash of the Deshaker script. My custom default for standalone Deshaker was 11|2, while the Deshaker scripts is 9|1 - as a result, that was the cause of the crash - not sure what those first two numbers represent, but leaving them at the scrpts default and making the other changes from my custom settings works and I'm now very satisfied with the results.

Customized my toolbar to put the scripts button at the top and all is right with the world... :-)

Cliff Etzel
bluprojekt

Thank you everyone here.
I will try the script but it does seem tough to get a good steady motion. The footage is simple left ight moves that are very slight and deshaker just didn't make it better at all. It was going in and out at times like it was trying to zoom in.
Weird. I wil look a little better this time.
Thank you.
David : )

I have a minor variation of the Deshaker script which checks to see if the original footage is SD or HDV and then returns either Main Concept DV codec or Cineform Neo HDV codec compression depending upon what resolution the original footage is at. This requires two paid external codecs but it uses a whole lot less disc space. I rarely edit any other format of video so this works out nicely. Whenever I get edge artifacts I just zoom in slightly until they are gone. Whenever the deshaken footage isn't an improvement, I can easily go back to the original take. It all seems to work quite well.

I try it and on the second pass I get the right screen saying pass not used and stays black.
Then The only thing that shows up after the fact is the words and a blank screen for the avi.
?
David

Laurence - do you find the MainConcept DV codec provides as good a quality render as uncompressed or the Huffyuv codec? I wouldn't mind using less HD space if that is the case.

I thought the MainConcept DV codec was installed with Vegas Pro 8 - is that not the case???

Cliff Etzel
bluprojekt

I typically do a zoom but I do like a small border surrounding the entire project idea. It definitely would help with not reducing the final quality. Some of my stuff is from old VHS tapes.

Mark (pathlight), you said: ”SpeedEDIT (NewTek) does a nice job of stablizing. Easy to use too.” I have searched the SpeedEdit web-site and downloaded the user manual without finding any references to stabilizing video. Can you tell me more about this feature?

Thank you,
Jøran Toresen

>>>>I try it and on the second pass I get the right screen saying pass not used and stays black.
Then The only thing that shows up after the fact is the words and a blank screen for the avi.<<<<

This occurs when your log file (the analysis of corrections needed for pass 2) is written out into space, such as to a disk you don't have. Unfortunately DeShaker doesn't mention this to you at the time, so examine the script to see where the log file is being written (and change as needed). You can locate the log file (explorer) and check that it has been updated. Always good to use a short clip while you get all the parameters to your liking (just cut about 150 frames out of the clip of interest, which will include the needed 30 frame head and tail).

Avid Steadyglide = amazing

In SD, the Vegas DV codec is still the best but it is available only to Vegas. The MainConcept DV codec is the best SD DV codec that you can buy that is available to outside programs like VirtualDub, You would only use this for SD resolution projects. For HD projects you need something that can do HD resolution.