Prodad MERCALLI 1.0 User Manual

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Mercalli

Video Shaker

Autor : Uwe Wenz

Table of contents

Welcome

General information

What is Mercalli? Why the name "Mercalli"? Why choose Mercalli rather than another stabilisation program? Innovation unseen What Mercalli can do and what it can't do? Mercalli Light / Mercalli Expert Video-Shaker Video-Energy ?

Installing, Registration & starting Mercalli

Installing & starting Mercalli Registration / licence key Help function

Using Mercalli with different video editing programs / plugin support

Adobe Premiere Pro, CS und Elements Avid Liquid Canopus Edius Pinnacle Studio

Getting to know Mercalli Settings dialog

Profiles

Mercalli Light for first tests and quick results

Running a quick test Advanced settings (in Standard mode)

Expert mode for manual optimisation Movement detection

Slider control Important picture area Special video analysis Detectable features

Camera stabilisation

Slider control Camera balance Camera Motion Border settings

Profiles for specific tasks

Versatile Handheld camera Shoulder-mounted camera (Shoulder Cam) Tripod

5 5 6 6 7 7 9 9

10 11 13

13 14 15 16

17 17

18 19

21 22

22 23 23 24

25 26 26 27

29 29 29 30

Rescue In Practice

Tips & tricks & more Mobile/HD/SD/HDV/HDTV

Sensitivity Rendering speed

What can interfere with stabilisation?

Image noise Compressed video Unused image areas

Application to individual clip sections Video-Shaker / add camera shake!

List of Video-Shaker profiles

List of versions

30 31

32 32

33 33 33

33 34

Welcome

Welcome to proDAD Mercalli !

Mercalli lets you remove the effects of camera shake, jolts and trembling from r ecorded video sequences, to enhance the quality of important footage. Mercalli also improves your material by smoothing irregular pan or zoom shots.

This makes Mercalli a highly valuable tool that'll rescue and optimise crucial video clips. We hope you enjoy Vitascene and always produce results that are full of effects!

Please read these licensing conditions carefully before installing the software. Licensing agreement

When setup starts, a licensing agreement is shown, whic h you should read carefully. By installing the software, you stale that you accept the copyright conditions, the licensing agreement and the licensing procedure.

License Guarantee proDAD GmbH grants the user the right to use this product for its proper and permitted purpose. The present product may only be installed on one computer. proDAD hereby guarantees to provide a license key free of charge. If the software needs to be installed on more than one computer, you are required to purchase multiple license keys. It is forbidden to copy the software or the instructions, in whole or in part, unless expressly permitted in writing by proDAD GmbH. The program temporarily runs in the full version mode for 30 days when installation is complete. This time must be used to apply for an unlimited license key. This will usually be sent electronically free of charge within 8 working days. Packaging and postage must be paid if a hard copy on a floppy disk is required. By installing the product you accept the registration procedure.

Trademarks All products and trademarks mentioned in association with this product are trademarks that belong to the respective owners. All trademarks are used without any guarantee that they may be used freely, and they may be registered trademarks.

Limitation of Liability The extent of liability for any one claim is limited to a replacement of the product. This applies to proDAD GmbH, all licensees and retailers. Claims shall only be recognized if the software is returned in an orderly manner, together with the returned goods number that has to be previously arranged with proDAD GmbH. The goods must also be accompanied by proof of purchase. This guarantee becomes void if a malfunction of this product is due to improper use, mistreatment, an accident or improper handling. proDAD GmbH, its sales partners and licensees, sh all not be held liable for damages or subsequent damages arising from the impossible usage of this product. Liability is limited in all cases to the purchase price of the product.

Documentation The greatest of care has been taken in compiling and translating the handbook. However, the possibility of errors cannot be fully excluded. proDAD GmbH shall assume no responsibility or

liability whatsoever for the consequences of any incorrect statements or information which the documentation or translation may contain. Subject to technical and optical modifications. Information regarding any inaccuracies is always welcome.

Copyright The software and the individual components of this product are the property of proDAD GmbH. By installing this product, the licensee agrees to refrain from unauthorized use and duplication.

proDAD GmbH does not accept any responsibility for the usage of this program and the publication of its contents and data that has been created with this program.

ProDAD GmbH * Gauertstr. 2 * 78194 Immendingen * Deutschland * HRB 1077

General information

What is Mercalli?

Whenever a tripod is not to hand or would be impractical to use, an unwanted effect of agitation results. This is usually the case with unexpected events, which you have to film quickly and without any preparation, to capture a unique situation. Or whenever you can't use the full range of video equipment, because it would be impractical.

Where such footage is generally well shot but contains some camera shake, and it is of quite some value to the whole video, Mercalli can save the day. Mercalli can rescue and optimise this footage – almost fully automatically!

This makes Mercalli a highly valuable tool that'll rescue and optimise crucial video clips.

Why the name "Mercalli"?

The Italian volcanologist Giuseppe Mercalli created the Mercalli scale, which is used to ass e ss and categorise the intensity of an earthquake, ranging from "instrumental" to "catastrophic". Mercalli created this scale based on an assessment of the degree of damage that results from a quake.

That's exactly what it has in common with our program Mercalli: Mercalli also assesses shocks, shakes and distortions. Using very complex mathematical operations, it detects irregularities and removes them from a video clip. In a very intricate procedure, it assesses which movements are intended (e.g. zoom, panning), and which ones are not (e.g. shakes, shocks to the tr ipod, vibrations). You are then prompted to remove the unwanted movements.

Why choose Mercalli rather than another stabilisation program?

What is certainly special about Mercalli is its fully automatic analysis feature. You don't have to do anything such as configure complex parameter settings, which makes Mercalli extremely easy to use. What's more, Mercalli completes its complex analyses so quickly and efficiently that DV material is "scanned", i.e. analysed, o n a Pentium 4 in real time. Mercalli manages this thanks to its state-of-the art design and approach, which gives it an edge over older solutions and applications. And last but not least, the optimised images are far superior to the results achieved with other solutions – which are often much more expensive.

In addition to the fully automatic movement detection feature, you have a number of options for optimising footage, based on your subjective assessment. Ranging from easy-to-use profiles to very detailed options, these will allow you to make the most out of any shaky clip.

Innovation unseen

Compared to many ot her solutions, Mer c alli is a state-of-the-art, innovative product that boasts the following features:

• Multicore support for maximum rendering speed with the latest processor systems

• Clearly structured user interface

• Direct plugin support for major video editing programs

• Fully automatic movement and object tracing

• Complex mathematical procedures for maximum quality stabilisation

• Rendering for all resolutions (Mercalli Expert)

• Pioneering and extensible technology

What Mercalli can do and what it can't do?

Mercalli will improve any shaky original. It can produce ama zing – and even perfect – res ults. However, you should n 't expect miracles! A vide o sequence that has been filme d fr om a veh i cle wildly lurching over rough terrain cannot be transformed into one that looks as though it was shot using a tripod. But Mercalli can further enhance footage that was smoothed during filming using mechanical tools such as a dolly or steadicam – by "simply" balancing out tilt movements or smoothing even the slightest interference, e.g. by harmonising the effect of large camera zoom steps. But although Mercalli is an all-rounder, its most important area of application is definitely the smoothing of footage taken with a handheld camera or even a tripod. Here, you will always notice an improvement.

Differences between the Mercalli Light and Mercalli Expert user interfaces

Mercalli Light offers the common capabilities for quick stabilisation. Mercalli Expert offers the same, plus many detailed settings options to achieve perfect image

stabilisation during video editing. Differences between the Mercalli Light and Mercalli Expert user interfaces:

1. Mercalli Light

2. Mercalli Expert

Video-Shaker

There have been requests, especi ally from professional Mercalli test users, for a tool that can quickly and easily shake relatively calm sequences, e.g. to create an earthquake atmosphere.

Cue Video-Shaker – Mercalli's counterpart, which creates a shake effect in videos at the editing stage. Sounds odd, but the effects are quite interesting…

Video-Energy ?

Mercalli and Video-Shaker are the first two plugins in the Video-Energy range of tools for improving and optimising your video footage. We will continuously expand and further develop this range. More plugins are to follow. For details, please visit www.prodad.com .

Installing, Registration & starting Mercalli

Installing & starting Mercalli

To start the installation, double-click the setup file. By installing the program, you agree to the terms and conditions in the "Legal notice" section above and to the licence terms. If you have downloaded Mercalli, the archive file will first be decompressed and then the installation will start.

You can only use Mercalli as a plugin. Please refer to the section "Using Mercalli with different video editing programs / plugin support" for information.

Registration / licence key

Please note: the registration function is available in purchased and not yet registered full versions only, not in demo versions.

Click "Register". In the next dialog, enter your data. You can find the registration numb er on the second cover

page of your user guide. If you have purchased the product from the proDAD online shop, you will find the number in the order confirmation e-mail.

Click "Next" to choose the type of data transfer. Data transfer via e-mail is the easiest and quickest option. However, if you don't have e-mail

access, use the print option to print out your data and send them to us. Please do NOT send us manually created or handwritten letters or fax messages.

What to do when you receiv e the licence key: You should normally be sent an e-mail containing a link for downloading your key. Download the licence key file and save it to a directory of your choice. Double-click this .exe file to execute it. This activates the key in Mercalli and you can now use Mercalli without a time limit.

If you make changes to your system, you may need to contact proDAD and request a new licence key. Please use one of the above contact options and s end your new PID code to proDAD.

The PID code contains no informa tion about your system. A licence key is simply a technical way of protecting software against illegal use. This helps avoid costs that would result from illegal copying, which would affect upgrade prices in future. It benefits all users who have paid to use the software legally, as well as retailers and the makers of the software.

Help function

Pressing the F1 key opens the Help function.

The user guide is also available in PDF format directly from the Programs menu. Go to

Windows Start menu

Programs proDAD Manual-Mercalli

You can also use the Search function to quickly find specific terms or topics in the user guide.

Using Mercalli with different video editing programs / plugin support

Adobe Premiere Pro, CS und Elements

When you install Mercalli, the Premiere plugin is automatically installed. In Premiere, you can find the plugin in the video effects:

This is what you do:

1. Go to the video filters and double-c lick the proDAD directory to open it.

2. Click the item "Mercalli" and drag it onto the required clip in the timeline.

3. To start Mercalli, click the item "Mercalli" in the Premiere effect settings.

4. Configure the settings in Mercalli (e.g. choose a suitable profile) and click OK to return to Premiere.

Please refer to the introduction to working with Mercalli in the next section for more information.

Avid Liquid

When you install Mercalli, the Avid Liquid plugin is automatically installed. In Avid Liquid, you can find the plugin in the video effects:

This is what you do:

1. Go to the Lib folder for video effects.

2. Click the proDAD folder, then the Filter subfolder.

3. Click the item "Mercalli" and drag it onto the required clip in the timeline.

4. To start Mercalli, click the icon that now appears in the clip. Please refer to the introduction to working with Mercalli in the next section for more information.

Canopus Edius

When you install Mercalli, the Canopus plugin is automatically installed. In Canopus EDIUS, you can find the plugin in the video effects:

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This is what you do:

1. Go to the video filters and double-c lick the "proDAD" folder.

2. Click the item "Mercalli" in the folder and drag it onto the required clip in the EDIUS timeline.

4. To start Mercalli, double-click the item "Mercalli" in the information panel. Please refer to the introduction to working with Mercalli in the next section for more information.

Pinnacle Studio

When you install Mercalli, the Studio plugin is automatically installed. In Pinnacle Studio, you can find the plugin in the video effects:

This is what you do:

1. Open the video toolbox in Studio.

2. Open the list of video effects.

3. Click the item "proDAD".

4. Click Mercalli.

5. To assign the plugin, click OK. The following button appears:

To start Mercalli, click "Edit Mercalli". Please refer to the introduction to working with Mercalli in the next section for more information.

Getting to know Mercalli

Simple mode for first tests and quick results using Mercalli Light. When you assign Mercalli to a scene, its user interface appears. With some video editing programs, you have to manually sta rt Mercalli (see "Plugin support").

Settings dialog

This is where you configure the settings for general removal of camera shake.

The Mercalli Expert version provides more advanced effects to remove camera shake (-> Expert mode).

For a quick start and for a first test editing of your video footage, we recommend using profiles.

Profiles

What are profiles?

A profile comprises suitable settings for specific tasks. Put differently, the settings needed to complete a specific task are combined in a profile. The name of each profile in the drop-down list describes its use.

Working with profiles

To keep things simple, you should start any process of removing camera shake with a suitable profile. Example: to quickly and efficiently edit footage of a flying eagle, use the profile "Special

application: track a flying object in the sky". Once you have applied a profile, you can configure additional settings. Depending on the video footage, the default settings may be entirely suitable, or not quite suitable. A profile is therefore always a first step towards the perfect result.

Please refer to the section "Profiles for specific tasks" for a detailed description of the individual profiles.

Mercalli Light for first tests and quick results

Even the Mercalli Light version offers efficient mechanisms to remove camera shake. The Mercalli Expert version in Expert mode offers additional capabilities. First read here how you to significantly improve your footage in no time at all.

Running a quick test

1. Assign a plugin and start the program

1.1 Assign Mercalli as a video filter or video effect in your video editing software. (Please refer to the section "Using Mercalli with different video editing programs" for information about how to do this in your specific program.)

1.2 Start Mercalli (some programs will start it automatically).

2. Select a profile

1. Select a profile from the drop-down list.

If your system has a fast processor unit (CPU), select "Versatile: precise image stabilisation (intensive rendering)". As the profile name says, the settings in this profile allow very precise movement detection, but this is a compute-intensive process. However, it ensures unwanted movements are detected and removed with great accuracy.

If your system has an older processor unit (CPU), select the profile "Versatile: fastest image stabilisation" or "Versatile: reliable image stabilisation".

This will smooth the vid eo considerably, but not as precisely as the previous profile. This is all you need to do in the first step towards optimising your video by removing unwanted

movement. To return to the video editing program, click "Close". Mercalli automatically starts the video analysis.

Once this is complete, you can preview the result in your video editing program. To make further changes, restart Mercalli from your video editing program. The advanced settings

options are listed below.

Advanced settings (in Standard mode)

1. Compare view

Select the split screen to directly compare the original with the stabilised image. You can also display an evaluation grid, which gives you additional checkpoints for visual analysis.

2. Camera stabilisation

Lets you specify whether the stabilised image should rather look "static", i.e. as though filmed using a tripod, or if the shakes in the original should only be reduced so that abrupt movements are changed to soft movements. This is a decision only a person can take, based on the video footage being edited, which is why you have this control option.

3. Camera balance Lets you specify whether the camera should be held "in balance", or whether effects such as a certain inertia as is achieved with use of a steadicam should be simulated. This option also lets you smooth tilt movements that may or may not be unintended.

4. Border area

When unwanted movements are compensated, t he frame is shifted. This will result in borders, which can be compensated in different ways. Borders that are thick throughout the orig inal sequence due to strong shakes are undesirable. You can either change the setting to "Static border (upscaled)", or colour in the border, a good option when the border colours are largely uniform.

Expert mode for manual optimisation

The Mercalli Expert version offers the so-called expert mode. Clicking "Expert mode" expands the dialog to provide settings options that go far beyond those of the Light version – not necessarily their number, but certainly their effect…

With Expert mode active, the Mercalli interface has three sections:

Left – This is where you find the com pare view. Centre – This section contains the movement detection parameters.

It's where you set the properties to be included or ignored during movement detection. Right – The camera stabilisation section lets you specify the type and extent of stabilisation you

require. Bottom right – This is where you specify how to fill the frame border. Image stabilisation thus comprises four tasks: Compare view (split screen) + movement detection + camera stabilisation + border compensation The purpose of the compare view is just for you to visually assess the stabilised footage. The

border area settings can be specified according to taste or application. The key stages of stabilisation are

movement detection (= basis for stabilisation) and camera stabilisation (= what stabilisation should involve). The basics are explained below.

Movement detection

Slider control

Lets you specify how accurate movement detection should generally be. You may wonder what this setting is for – after all, precise detection is always the goal. However, very precise detection also requires maximum processing capacity. And maximum detail is necessary in only up to 50% of all cases, because of the way in which Mercalli works. Consequently, you should only increase this effect (= detail precision) whenever the result of the previous stabilisation attempt is not yet satisfactory.

Important picture area

Lets you specify where in an image movement should b e detected. Or at least it lets you shift the focus from the edge of an image to its centre. Imagine a beam of light illuminating an entire image area. This would correspond to the setting "neutral". Now imagine a spotlight illuminating only the centre of the image area. This would correspond to the setting "centre". Any movement in the area th at is not illuminated would be ignored. With the setting "b orde r", on the other hand, only the border area would be illuminated. Any movement in the centre of the image would be ignored. Are you wondering what this is for? You might think that movement detection should always include all available information to achieve the best possible result. That is how many other stabilisation solutions work. Mercalli offers a small but significant difference. Imagine that the filmed object you want the viewer to focus on is a duck, swimming in the centre of the screen. This duck would therefore be the object that needs to be stabilised. However, the waves around the duck also create movement, which would interfere with the stabilisation of the duck. If movement analysis focuses on the duck (and therefore ignores the waves), the stabilisation result will simply be much better!

Special video analysis

Detect shapeless contents

Mercalli generally tries to include the high-contrast contents of an image in the movement analysis. But what if there is no high-contrast content? In such a case, you could include, for instance, clouds in the analysis, which would serve as fixed points for detection of movement. To do that, select this checkbox.

Detect fast motions

In action-filled video sequences, certain fast movements during filming may be unavoidable. Such movements are not generally included in the analysis. Depending on the effect you are aiming for, you may wish to select this checkbox to compensate fast movements.

Detect micro motions

Again, you may wonder why this is not selected by default. Here's the simple answer: because the detection of slight movements may sometimes be useful, but at other times distracting.

Example: Imagine you have filmed a scene with low lighting.

The camera has been relatively steady, but the footage is a little grainy. This image noise could be misinterpreted during the movement detection. To ignore such minimal movement, you could select this checkbox. By contrast, with super slow motion sequences, selecting the checkbox could even further improve the result. Please note that selecting this option considerably increases the render ing time!

Detectable features

Detect silhouette only

With this mode selected, the movement detection feature uses all the rough structures of an object to detect movement.

Also detect object contours

With this mode selected, object outlines are also detected and included in the movement analysis.

Also detect details

With this mode selected, not only silhouettes and contours, but also the details of an object are included in the movement analysis.

Summary:

This section is where you decide how to optimi se movement detection, depending on the video footage and your personal criteria (which only you can choose). Luckily you need no mathematical skills for this – which is why you'll probably prefer Mercalli to other stabilisation programs.

Camera stabilisation

Slider control

Lets you set the camera movement, ranging from "soft" to "steady" and static". In lively scenes, you remove shake from a handheld camera by choosing soft camera movement; in portrait takes or object filming, you should rather aim for a static camera movement, which is comparable to scenes filmed using a tripod. In some cases, y o u may wish to redu ce rather than com p l etely remove camera movement, for instance, to retain the character of a live report, but you'll still want to remove extreme camera shake. This is one of the uses of the setting "steady".

Other video stabilisation programs only provide a blanket approach, whereas Mercalli allows you to fine-tune your images.

Camera balance

Lets you specify the camera effect you wish to achieve as a result of stabilisation. This setting also depends on both the dynamics of your subject and the atmosphere you want to create.

And again Mercalli provides a suitable, easy-to-use tool for fine-tuning that requires no definition of mathematical settings.

Similar to the different tilt settings offered by different hardware stab ilisation systems, the Mercalli settings range from a perfectly balanced camera to a camera with a tilting tendency:

Balanced

This is the best camera setting for full shots, film reports, product presentations etc.

With lighter delay

The slight delay in the camera movement can help achieve a significant harmonisation, particularly when combined with slow, slightly tilted camera movements. Could be used for footage filmed from a moving motorcycle.

With slugginess effect

Lets you combine irregular movements contained in a scene, such as pan shots with rotations, with an inertia effect, to balance the whole sequence of movements. Could be used for footage filmed from a small boat.

Tending to tilt

This setting balances footage as described for the inertia effect, but is more intensive and can result in a strong tilt effect. It also lets you noticeably compensate very slow luffing camera movements. Could be used for a panorama shot filmed from a slowly swaying cruise liner.

Camera Motion

Lets you select and reduce distracting camera movements from the original footage. Selecting individual movements makes sense, because you may no t want zoom or tilt movements to be reduced. The options listed here are affected by the settings you have configured for camera stabilisation and camera balance.

allow for inclination compensation only

Reduces only unwanted camera movements ("camera shake") in the original footage.

also tilt compensation

Reduces both unwanted camera movements ("camera shake") and distracting camera tilt.

also tilt and zoom compensation

Reduces unwanted camera movements, distracting camera tilt and unwanted zoom effects.

Border settings

The compensation of movements in an image resu lts in borders. For instance, when an image is repositioned 10 pixels to the left to compensate for camera shake to the right, a border or rather a gap in the data will appear on the right of the image. This will generally be shown as no content, or a black image area. In this section of the Mercalli dialog, you can decide how to deal with the border data, so you can optimise the stabilised video footage for further use.

Without border (upscaled)

With this setting selected, Mercalli will first stabilise the image and then upscale it as much as is required by all the stabilisation movements and the resulting borders, to generally avoid the border effect. Advantage: the border is still, without any movement. Disadvantage: depending on the level of stabilisation, you may have to upscale the image a lot, which will result in a loss of focus.

Static border

With this setting selected, Mercalli will create a static border ar ound the image. The border width is as large as required by all the stabilisation movements to avoid a flickering border. Advantage: very still border, no scaling (you can add scaling later in your video editing program) Disadvantage: if a lot of movement has to be compensated, the border may be quite wide.

Dynamic border

With this setting selected, Mercalli adapts the border for each frame of a video sequence. Advantage: the border can be generally less wide, only strong movement compensation will require wider borders. Disadvantage: the border may appear to flicker, particularly with more intense stabilisation.

Additional parameters

Level of scaling

Use the slider control to set a level of scaling for a

- "static border"

- "dynamic border" This lets you slightly reduce the border effect (optional).

Fill up border area

With this checkbox selected, the black borders are coloured in. The colour used depends on the image content of the original video signal. To reduce strong

image noise in the border area, the image is blurred towards the video border area. You should select this option whenever the pixels closest to the border area have a relatively uniform colouring, such as in footage of water or the sky (e.g. when filming animals in water or planes in the sky; these would generally be in the centre of an image).

Profiles for specific tasks

The profiles included with Mercalli quickly get you started with an initial image stabilisation. Once you have selected a profile and assessed the result, you can configure additional settings to optimise it. The profiles are divided into the following categories:

Versatile : universal image stabilisation Handheld camera (Handy Cam) : stabilisation of images filmed using a handheld camera Shoulder-mounted camera (Shoulder Cam) : stabilisation of images filmed using a shoulder- mounted camera Tripod : optimisation of images filmed using a tripod or simulation of tripod use Rescue : stabilisation of sequences with a lot of camera shake, generally spontaneously filmed

footage

In Practice (Special application)

Please note:

More than one profile may be suitable for a scene you have filmed. The effect of a profile depends on many different factors in your original video footage. If you are not happy with the stabilisation result of one profile, simply try another one that might be suitable. The profile names and descriptions should help you with your selection. If necessary, optimise the result further using the advanced settings (particularly the settings in the Expert version).

: stabilisation of sequences filmed in specific situations

Versatile

Versatile: fastest image stabilisation

Use this profile for general, not very detailed image stabilisa tion that is rendered very quickly.

Versatile: precise image stabilisation (intensive rendering)

Use this profile, as its name suggests, for general, quite detailed im age stabilisation, which requires intensive rendering and may therefore take some time.

Handheld camera

Handheld camera: smooth watched scenery

Use this profile to smooth footage of moving objects.

Examples: animals, or people at an event, filmed using a handheld camera

Handheld camera: harmonise watched scenery (intensive rendering)

Use this profile to significantly smooth footage containing moving objects. This profile has the same effect as the previous one, but also detects and compensates quick, distracting movements.

Examples: animals, or people at an event, filmed using a handheld camera

Handheld camera: harmonise watched action scenery (intensive rendering)

Use this profile to optimise the camera movement and image stability of a video action sequence containing fast movements.

Examples: footage of a car race filmed using a handheld camera and with a high zoom factor, children playing

Shoulder-mounted camera (Shoulder Cam)

Shoulder-mounted camera: improve camera zoom

Use this profile to optimise any footage sequence with soft camera shake.

Examples: objects filmed using a shoulder-mounted camera and a relatively high zoom factor.

Shoulder-mounted camera: improve camera panning (with tilt correction) ****profile name*Tilt*********

Use this profile to optimise any footage with soft camera shake. It also reduces camera tilting movements.

Examples: objects filmed using a shoulder-mounted camera and a relatively high zoom factor.

Shoulder-mounted camera: improve camera panning (without tilt correction) ****profile name*Tilt*********

Shoulder-mounted camera: reduce walking movement

Use this profile to optimise footage filmed using a shoulder-mounted camera by reducing the movement resulting from the cameraman walking.

Examples: chase sequences filmed using a shoulder-mounted camera, or tracking animals using a handheld camera

Tripod

Tripod: harmonise camera zoom (intensive render ing)

Use this profile to smooth footage containing shaky or irregular zoom movements.

Examples: irregular use of zoom, or footage filmed using cameras with large zoom steps

Tripod: harmonise camera pan shot (intensive rendering)

Use this profile to smooth footage containing shaky or irregular pan movements.

Examples: irregular panning speed, or footage filmed using a tripod with poor-quality bearings

Tripod: simulate almost stationary camera (intensive rendering)

Use this profile to create footage containing almost no camera shake.

Examples: all types of footage that should appear much calmer, almost as though filmed using a tripod

Tripod: simulate Tripod (possible tilt effect) (intensive rendering)

Use this profile to completely stabilise footage. It will then look as though it had been filmed using a tripod. Important: this may result in a complete tilt effect. If this occurs, reduce the camera stabilisation setting from "static" towards "steady", or change the camera balance setting from "Tending to tilt" to "Inertia effect". Any panning or zooming may also result in an exaggerated border effect. If this is the case, choose either of these profiles: "Tripod: harm onise pan shot (intensive rendering)" or "Tripod: harmonise camera zoom (intensive rendering)".

Rescue

Rescue: improve highly shook or jittery record

Use this profile to be able to use footage filmed spontaneously and with very shaky or nervous camera movements.

Examples: footage of unique moments, e.g., sudden events, which can only be captured with great haste.

Rescue: smooth highly shook or jittery record

Use this profile to smooth footage filmed with shaky or nervous camera movements, to create a calm effect.

Examples: footage of unique moments, e.g., sudden events, which can only be captured with great haste.

Rescue: improve low-contrast or lack of detail shook record

Use this profile to optimise shaky footage with image content that is relatively uniform in colour or lacks clear outlines. With this profile, content that lacks contrast is also used for movement detection, which can result in a vast im provement.

Examples: a slightly overcast sky or a foggy landscape

Rescue: smooth low-contrast or lack of detail shook record

Use this profile to smooth the effect of camera movements in shaky footage with image content that is relatively uniform in colour or lacks clear outlines. With this profile, content that lacks

contrast is also used for movement detection, which can result in a vast improvement.

Examples: a slightly overcast sky or a foggy landscape

In Practice

In Practice : Tracking a flying object in the sky

Use this profile to stabilise objects filmed with a high zoom factor against a neutral background. This profile tracks and stabilises the object, while filling in the border area. You could use this profile, e.g., to stabilise a macro shot of a small insect against a neutral background.

Examples: planes, birds

In Practice : Tracking a flying object on a background

Use this profile to smooth footage of a flying object against a background scenery. With this profile, the setting "Important image area" (Expert version only) is particularly useful, as it can significantly improve object tracking.

Examples: eagle flying across a mountain landscape, air show, animal shots filmed during a safari

In Practice : Capture a slow object in the sky

Use this profile to optimise footage of an object moving slowly against a neutral background, where the camera work is not perfect.

Examples: helicopter, macro shots

In Practice : Smooth tracking shot from a car drive

Use this profile for footage filmed from a moving object.

Examples: helmet cam for a skier or cyclist, camera mounted on a remote-controlled model aeroplane

In Practice : Smooth a tracking shot from a bumpy car drive

Use this profile for extremely shaky moving footage.

Examples: footage taken during an off-road ride, helmet cam for a mountain biker

In Practice : Improve helmetcam while unhurried drive

Use this profile for slow-moving footage filmed with a helmet cam or similar camera.

Examples: helmet cam for cyclist, camera mounted on vehicle, underwater footage

In Practice : Improve helmetcam while racy drive

Use this profile for high-speed footage or sequences containing fast movements, filmed with a helmet cam or another mounted camera.

Examples: helmet cam for sports, camera mounted on a remote-controlled model aeroplane

In Practice : Improve record from a wavering ship

Use this profile for footage you have filmed standin g on moving ground. This profile reduces general camera shake.

In Practice : Smooth record from a wavering ship

Use this profile for footage you have filmed standin g on moving ground.

This profile reduces general camera shake and smoothes the camera movement.

In Practice : Harmonise record from a wavering ship

Use this profile for footage you have filmed standin g on moving ground. This profile smoothes all movements, creating a calmer overall effect.

Tips & tricks & more Mobile/HD/SD/HDV/HDTV

Mercalli is designed for easy editi ng of HD/HDTV material – certainly the Mercalli Expert version. Here is some basic information about sensitivity and rendering speed:

Sensitivity

Resolution: theory and practice

Compared to HD/SD material, HDTV footage has a much higher resolution and therefore contains far more data. These finer nuances in movement allow much greater precision in stabilisation. Consequently, it should theoretically not be possible to stabilise a VGA sequence with a resolution of 640x480 px as well as an HDTV sequence. Moreover, a clip in progressive mode can always be analysed better than an interlaced clip. This means that HD not only provides the best possible image; its potential regarding the removal of camera shake is also better. This can be measured and formally shown. However, in practice a stabilised standard DV clip shown in interlaced mode on a TV screen may subjectively appear to be much calmer than a DV clip viewed on a computer monitor.

To sum up: although theoretically there may be factors that enhance movement analysis, the subjective impression of a result is ultimately what counts. Which is why Mercalli lets you set some options according to your personal tastes…

Rendering speed

The rendering speed depends on a number of factors. The design of a video editing program's plugin interface may either allow high-speed processing by Mercalli, or it may restrict the speed. For instance, you can currently render/analyse a DV sequence (720x576) on a Pentium4 (Duocore) processor at 120 frames per second – provided you are using Canopus Edius. Other video editing programs m ay allow the processing of a maximum of 35 frames per second, even though only a small part of the processor capacity is used. Such an interface has clearly not been optimised to perfection.

The dimensions of a video signal are also crucial in assessing the rendering speed. For instance, an SD/DV signal with a resolution of 720x576 can be rendered about five times faster than a comparable HDTV signal with 1920x1080 pixels. This is to be expected, because HDTV simply contains five times as much data that need to be taken into account. Another factor can be use of a codec, which is always a "bottleneck" for data flows and subsequent processing.

For the sake of completeness, other factors that affect rendering should also be mentioned: the CPU used, the available RAM (the more there is, the better), and the bus system, which must be not be too small for the other hardware components. But this concerns all processing-intensive programs that also move large amounts of data within the memory – which includes the video editing program itself.

What can interfere with stabilisation?

Image noise

The more image noise a video sequence contains, the harder it is for Mercalli to distinguish between intended and unintended movements. As for any other video editing work, the footage should therefore be as free from image noise as possible. However, Mercalli can ignore image noise up to a certain level.

Compressed video

Compressing video generally results in digital artifacts, which can interfere with movement analysis. You should therefore aim for maximum-quality compression.

Unused image areas

For instance, black bars at the top and bottom of a video clip will be included in the rendering process. This also happens, e.g. if you are using HD material in SD projects, and the video editing program passes video data to the Mercalli plugin that are not based on the original HD footage but on the downscaled version. Such a clip will also have black bars at the top and bottom.

An easy solution: simply slide the "Important image area" control (for assessing camera shake) from the "neutral" setting towards "centre". The border areas will then be ignored and stabilisation will focus on the actual important image areas, which, however, will also be reduced on the left and right.

Application to individual clip sections

In some cases you may wish to stabilise only parts of a scene, rather than the complete video clip. Simply partition a clip in the timeline of your video editing program:

| untouched area | area for stabilisation | untouched area | The area for stabilisation is then stabilised using the Mercalli plugin. This ultimately cuts rendering

time.

Video-Shaker / add camera shake!

While we were developing Mercalli, our enthusiastic test users sent us an increasing number of requests for a product that would have the opposite effect. This may initially sound odd, but the request was voiced (independently) mainly by our professional users, and is therefore clearly founded in practice.

Our users' wishes were remarkably similar: "Although it is useful to stabilise footage during post processing, in some cases it would also be good to add a bit more life, or even an action atmosphere, to computer-generated scenes or footage that's just "too smooth."" This is why Mercalli now includes the "Video-Shaker", which lets you add camera shake to your footage. Use of the product is exactly the same as with Mercalli itself. Simply assign the "Video-Shaker" to a video clip, select a parameter or profile, and start the analysis.

1. Video-Shaker

2. Video-Shaker Expert-Version

The GUI is generally the same as the Mercalli GUI. Only the camera shake section is completely different.

The upper slider control determines the level of shake, ranging from reduced to extreme. The lower slider control lets you define the type of shake, ranging from jittery to vibrating. These settings let you achieve the effect you require.

Important: the effect depends very much on the movements in the original footage and will thus vary from case to case. You can include or exclude detection of these movements in the "Camera movements" and "Movement detection" sections.

List of Video-Shaker profiles

Quick amplification of exis ting movements

Slightly amplifies unsteady camera movements in a video clip.

Accurate amplification of existing movements

Considerably amplifies unsteady camera movements in a video clip.

Moods: slightly liveli er scenery

Slightly emphasises movements in a video clip.

Moods: much livelier scenery

Considerably emphasises movements in a video clip.

Moods: panic

Considerably emphasises all movements in a video clip to create an impression of panic.

Moods: anxiety

Heavily emphasises all movements in a video clip to create an impression of agitation.

Moods: nervousness

Emphasises the movements in a video clip with a slight delay to create an impression of nervousness.

Simulation: earthquake

Creates – as the name suggests – an atmosphere of disaster.

Simulation: live cam

Creates camera shake-type movements.

Extra: add uncoordinated movements

Adds tilt and creates camera shake. Extra: add vibrations

Adds continuous vibrations.

Extra: add twitching

Adds nervous twitching to the tilt effect.

Extra: dancing screen

The image is reduced in size and floats on a black background.

Important: to fine-tune all profiles, you should use particularly the camera shake slider controls.

Please note:

Video-Shaker Expert offers the same functionality as Video-Shaker Light, plus advanced settings and the rendering of results in HD/HDTV quality.

List of versions

Mercalli Demo

Offers the same features as Mercalli Expert. All rendering is for test use only and the results are marked with a red cross.

Mercalli Light includes:

All plugins (except Pinnacle Studio)* Standard program window Video-Shaker Light Rendering in SD/DV

Mercalli Expert includes:

All plugins (except Pinnacle Studio)* Standard program window Extended Mercalli Expert mode wi th advan ced settings for Movement detection Detection area Special video analysis modes Special camera movement modes

Extended Video-Shaker Expert mode with advanced settings Movement detection Detection area Special video analysis modes Special camera movement modes Format-independent rendering, incl. SD/DV, HD/HDTV etc.

*Please note: the optional "Mercalli for Studio" version offers the same features as Mercalli Light, but it does not include any plugins for additional video editing programs. This version has to be activated by Pinnacle. You can upgrade to Mercalli Expert in the proDAD online shop at any time. This will not require a new activation by Pinnacle.

www.proDAD.com

Prodad MERCALLI 1.0 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual