Use Virtualdub to deshake your videos. Total software cost: $0. Here is what you need:
VirtualDub
Deshaker plugin
MP3 audio compression
LAME 3.99.5 ACM codec
h.264 video compression
mp4->avi converter
Convert your camera files to avi
mp4->avi converter
Most cameras will generate mp4 (containerformat) files. Usually h.264 video codec and aac audio codec. These must be converted to be able to open them up in VirtualDub.
Luckily the conversion is only to a new container format. Which means we can use the h.264 video directly. I usually convert audio to wav for the simple reason it requires less cpu when editing the video. (Uncompressed video however requires a ton of HDspace).
Check image below for a simple tutorial.
Here is a demo of what the deshaker can do with your clips:
Deshake your video
-
Open your video file.
VirtualDub and Deshaker tutorial - YouTube -
Add the deshaker filter, pass 1, and run a video analysis. This will analyze and generate movement data for your video.
VirtualDub and Deshaker tutorial - YouTube -
Remove the pass 1 filter and add the pass 2 filter. This will make the actual frame movements according to data from the pass 1 filter.
VirtualDub and Deshaker tutorial - YouTube -
Check your video. Make adjustments to settings on pass 2 filter if needed.
VirtualDub and Deshaker tutorial - YouTube -
Save your video.
VirtualDub and Deshaker tutorial - YouTube
Now you have a new clip, hopefully quite steady. The deshaker can not remove motion blurs and distortions caused by the lens. Wideangle lenses can make some weird looking distortions. Anyway it can certainly make bad footage ok, and horrible footage watchable.
A sample video
This was cool stuff!
As I ride with my camera “onboard”, the video become quite “shaky”.
This Deshaker seem to be perfect tool here. This is a tool I really can use!
Thanks neighbour!
Cato
Cato, that deshaker works fine indeed. Now the shaking is virtually moved to your hands.
But I have to ask: what do you use for that fancy overlay with meters and everything?
its kinda nifty. not my cup of tea but ya.
You are right! I didnt actually know that my hands was that shaky. I 'm getting older…
I didnt crop the video, just so that it should be possible to see the amount of shaking which was corrected. My hands is possible to get used to (eventually place the camera a bit further to the front), but the shaking frame should, and could easy, be removed in VirtualDub.
The overlay is generated by ‘DashWare’. Actually not made for unicycling, but I thought it looked fanzy, so I made some adjustments…
Cato
Haha. No but I mean: Deshaker recognised that the world is not shaking. As a result of the correction, your hands do the shake in the output video. Which is actually real because of the wobbling of your handlebar.
Cool. Especially with the “rear view mirror”. I looked up their website.
VirtualDub: deshaking, and making front- and backview
Here is my procedure for making the video, due to some questions:
Obviously, you need a camera pointing forwards, and another backwards, making two, more or less, indepenent videoclips.
Step 1:
Follow the instructions for “Deshaking” with VirtualDub, above.
Deshake all your clips.
They should all be saved in uncompressed .avi format on your large harddrive.
(You might give them names like: “frontvideo_v2.avi” and “backvideo_v2.avi”.)
Make sure you have installed AviSynth, to be used under your VirtualDub:
Write (or copy) the following AviSynth text script in notepad, save it as “video.avs”, making sure it is NOT saved as a .txt document (choose: “all formats”, before saving):
------------------------------------------------------------
Loading the two video clips.
The videoclips have 1) been converted to avi, 2) deshaken, and saved as totally uncompressed avi, hence “v2”.
Syncronizing them by deleting the first 5 frames in the front video, “Trim(5, 0)” (probably another number in your video)
front = AviSource(“frontvideo_v2.avi”).Trim(5, 0)
back = AviSource(“backvideo_v2.avi”)
Reducing the size, and mirroring the back view
back2 = FlipHorizontal(BicubicResize(back, 853, 640, 1/3, 1/3))
Making the overlay, coosing x and y coordinates for the upper left corner
clip = Overlay(front, back2, x=400, y=100, mode=“blend”, opacity=1.0)
Output
clip
--------------------------------------------------------------
Open the “video.avs” in VitualDub (with your videoclips in the same folder). Check that the overlay looks ok, make eventually adjustments in the script, save the script and “reload” in VirtualDub, and finally save your new clip from VirtualDub as “video.avi”.
You now have a deshaken video with front and back view.
Step 2:
“DashWare”?
You will need the software, which have to be bought:
or here:
http://www.chasecam.com/catalog/25/dashwaredataandvideointegrationsoftware
or somewhere else.
The Dashware have some plugins such that they recognize some dataloggers, for GPS and other units. I do not have any of the units which is available within this program. So, I take the data file from my GPS/bike logger, open it in spreadsheet, manipulate the format, and save it as a GPS logged file in the format of a logger which will be recognized by the program. I had to do a little bit trial-and-error there, but now have a standard spreadsheet setup, which make it easy to load-and-convert data from my logger. The software might have a plugin for yours. If not, I might post my spreadsheet here, so you can adjust it to fit your logger too.
Load the video in the DashWare program. Load the datafile in the program, and syncronice logged data with the video.
Save the video with the DashWare gauge-overlay. Make sure you have found an apropriate video output format.
Step 3:
At this moment you have a syncronized, front-back wiew, DashWare-overlay, video.
If you are happy with the whole one-clip video, this is it.
If not, you now have to cut, edit, and so on. You might have your own software for that, or you can write a AviSynth-script and use VirtualDub.
Cato
To remove the black borders from a deshaked clip use setting “Adaptive zoom full” in pass2.
And to remove the zooming effect. Visible in Catos clip when he rides into the tunnel at 0:48. Raise the Motion smoothness/Zoom setting.
And, Awesome riding in those clips, Cato. I’m still struggeling with my mental blocks to go faster than 20km/h on my 29guni. Scary…
Speeding up the process…
Obviously, deshaking both front and back view from a long uni-trip take some time, but it is needed if you want to minimize the amount of work concerning syncronizing.
So, using 2 or 3 pc’s, one for each clip, connected to a common HD, or each to a portable HD (which will be connected to one single pc in the end), will speed it up.
In addition, it is possible to use a bluescreen background when composing a videoclip with the DashWare, so this can bee done parallell to the deshakingprocess (use a dummy .mp4 video as background, a bluescreen image, then your gauges, and produce a blue .avi file with gauges). VirtualDub will then handle the bluescreen clip.
Finally, the virtualdub script, then with several overlays, glues it all together.
The bluescreen solution should improve the final quality, but I guess it is hardly noticeable.
Cato
It looks like the AviSynth link above is out of date.
AviSynth homepage:
http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Main_Page
AviSynth 2.5.8 download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/avisynth2/files/AviSynth%202.5/