BCC Optical Stabilizer
Category: BCC Image Restoration
Effect Name: BCC Optical Stabilizer
The BCC Optical Stabilizer filter, part of the BCC Image Restoration category, enables you to quickly and easily stabilize shaky video footage, such as clips that were shot with a hand-held camera. The Optical Stabilizer uses optical flow technology to analyze every frame in the source clip to determine the movement of the camera and then adjusts the position, rotation and scale of the clip to compensate for the unwanted camera movement. Depending upon filter parameter settings the motion in the clip will either be smoothed or completely locked down. Unlike many image stabilization tools, the BCC Optical Stabilizer does not require you to set and keyframe user-defined tracking points, which is very useful for images where point tracking data is unreliable.
Working with the Filter
Presets and Common Controls
- BCC filters come with a library of factory installed presets plus the ability to create your own custom presets and preview them with the BCC FX Browserโข.
- BCC filters also include common controls that configure global effect preferences and other host-specific effect settings.
For more information about working with presets and other common controls, Click Here.
Effect Controls
Compare Mode
The Compare Mode is used to view the filtered result alongside the original source layer. Several split-screen and side-by-side display options are available.
For more information, see Compare Mode.
- Analyze:Analyzes the clip motion for use with the filter.
- Mode:Determines the method for stabilizing the clip.
- Stabilize: Removes all camera movement and is the default selection.
- Smooth: Smoothes but does not eliminate camera movement.
- Setup Region: Sets up the target area. This region should be as large as possible while excluding large untrackable areas of uniform texture such as sky or water.
- Show Vectors: Displays red lines and dots over the image that show where the optical flow algorithm has detected moving pixels in the image and provides useful feedback when making changes to parameters in the optical flow group.
- Show Samples: Displays red dots over the image that show pixels have been sampled by the optical flow algorithm and provides useful feedback when making changes to parameters in the optical flow group.
- Reference Frame:Determines the reference frame around which the source clip is stabilized. Changing this value does not require re-analysis of the clip and depending on the amount of movement in the source, a value other than the default first frame can sometimes generate a more pleasing result. Available when in Stabilize mode only.
- Smoothing Range:Determines the number of frames over which the camera motion is smoothed. Experimentation is key as depending on the level of camera movement in the source clip, changing this value will result in a more or less smooth result. Available when in Smooth mode only.
- Corner 1 and Corner 2:Determines the target region. The target region indicates the area in the media to track. The points set the location of the upper left and lower right corners of a rectangular target region. However, in general it is easier to use the onscreen point controls to set this up. Then use the position controls for fine tuning. Before adjusting these controls, set the Mode to Setup Region.
Note:A good target region contains a high-contrast object with good vertical and horizontal edge definition as well as large areas of non-uniform detail, especially edges in various directions. Ideally, you should find a pattern that is visible in every frame. The area you define should contain an object that should be stationary in every frame. For example, you want to stabilize some footage shot off the railing of a moving boat. The pier is visible from the boat. A high contrast mooring on the pier would make a good target.
Warning: Not all imagery is appropriate for optical stabilization. For example, images with large uniform textures, like fields of grain, sky, water, or blank walls will not work well with this filter. Images with lots of motion blur or low contrast images may also cause problems. In addition, perspective shifts (for example, a forward dolly shot) or moving foreground objects that dominate the image will not generate optimum results. For best results, your target region should include a fair amount of contrast with good vertical and horizontal edge definition as well as large areas of non-uniform detail, especially edges in various directions. The motion of the clip should only include panning, zooming and rotation. Large background areas with objects moving independent of the background are also suitable.
- Stabilize:Selects the method of stabilization.
- Translation: Default setting and locks down the camera along the XY axis.
- Translation + Rotation: Select this option to remove any rotation in the result.
- Translation + Rotation + Zoom: Select this option to correct for rotation and zoom โ this provides a total camera lock-down result.
- Mixed Media:Select if the clip being stabilized is progressive media in an interlaced project.
Edge Handling Group
This group contains controls to handle the edges around the stabilize image.
- Clip Top: Crops the image along the top horizontal edge.
- Clip Left: Crops the image along the left vertical edge.
- Clip Bottom: Crops the image along the bottom horizontal edge.
- Clip Right: Crop the image along the right vertical edge.
- Edge Handling: Contains options for handling the outer edges of stabilized result.
- Color: Fills the outer edges with solid color pixels. Use the edge color parameter to set the color used.
- Transparent: Fills the outer edges with alpha transparency.
- Repeat: Repeats the last row of pixels, producing a smeared effect.
- Reflect: Mirrors the image.
- Tile: Tiles the image.
- Edge Color: Sets the color of the pixels for the color fill
Post Processing Group
This group contains post image stabilization options for controlling the transform scale and image sharpness.
- Auto Scale: When enabled, automatically transform scales the image to fill the frame.
- X Translation: Use to manually reposition the image along the horizontal axis
- Y Translation: Use to manually reposition the image along the horizontal axis
- Rotation: Use to manually rotate the image along the Z axis
- Scaling: Use to manually transform scale the image
- Transform Center Offset: Use to set the x/y pivot point around which manual rotation and scaling are centered.
- Quality: Sets the level of scaling quality.
- Draft: Minimum level of post transform image sharpness
- Fast: Default sharpness setting
- Sharp: Generates a significantly sharper result than default
- Standard: Generates a significantly sharper result than default
- Smooth: Smooths instead of sharpens
- Magic Smooth: Generates the smoothest result
- Magic Sharp: Generates the sharpest result
Optical Flow Group
This group contains parameters that can be manipulated to alter Optical Flow analysis.
- Vector View Spacing: Used to adjust the number of on-screen vector lines.
- Vector View Scale: Used to increase the scale of the on-screen vector lines.
- Stabilization Samples: Used to set the number of pixel samples that the optical flow algorithm uses for image analysis. Higher values pay produce a more accurate result but will increase render times.
- Span: Sets the percentage of samples that are considered to be representative of the background. If the image is nearly all background, increasing the value in this parameter can increase the accuracy of the stabilization.
- Edge Contrast: Sets a threshold for the minimum amount of detail in a region. Regions containing less detail than the threshold are treated as having no detail. If the images includes a lot of motion in areas that are very detailed, or small objects, decrease the value in this parameter. Min Edge Contrast does no depend on motion, only texture and detail.
- Resolution: Used to set the quality of image analysis. Higher values will result in longer image analysis items but, depending on the clip, may yield a higher quality result.
- Full: Full High-resolution image is analyzed
- Half: Image is halved in size and then analyzed
- Quarter: Image is shrunk to quarter size and then analyzed
- Eighth: Image is shrunk to quarter size and then analyzed
- Sixteenth: Image is shrunk to quarter size and then analyzed
- 32nd: Image is shrunk to quarter size and then analyzed
- 64th: Image is shrunk to quarter size and then analyzed
- Velocity Limit: Constrains the magnitude of motion estimation. This value corresponds to a percentage of the size and resolution of the Source Later. For example, when working with a D1 image, the value of 100 corresponds to approximately 100 pixels.
- Low Velocity Correction: Sets a threshold for detecting motion in a region. If the Optical Flow shows vectors in a area that is not moving, adjust the Low Velocity Correction value.
