A New Plugin to Handle Blown Out Areas

[James_H]

I had an idea for a plugin that would make highlights and blown out areas more natural.  I’ve coded a draft of this plugin and I’d like to know if anyone’s interested in using it.

 

I recorded a quick screencast of how it works and posted below.  The password is ‘plugin’.

 

https://vimeo.com/61775136

 

Basically, when footage blows out, the pixels around the blown out area usually suffer from a shift in hue.  For example, when skin blows out, it turns yellow.  The plugin I’ve written attempts to bring back the original hue and allow the area to blow out more naturally / less digitally.

 

Please let me know if this is something you think you might use or you’re interested in testing out, and whether you think I should take the time to polish and optimize it.

 

If you have any questions about the plugin and how it works, please let me know.

[jgharding]

Yes I'd definitely like to beta test in a commercial environment and also on some freelance bits. We use Premiere. I have a lot of footage to deal with from Red to 5D to C300 (lots of the latter) and use Premiere almost daily when I'm not out shooting or in Adobe Audition. Lots of talking heads. I'm sure I can give you constructive and technical feedback on practical everyday use from my POV.

 

It seems like a brilliant idea to me, as I often don't have control of the camera or footage, and some people are pretty poor with a histogram...  Please inbox me if you get a moment,

 

JG

[Leang]

interesting stuff.  keep up the good work.

[Bruno]

Looks very promising, great job!

[kabuto1138]

Awesome!! keep us posted!! 

[James_H]

Thanks for the words of encouragement.  I think I'll fully develop this plugin when I get the time.  I imagine I won't get too much work done this weekend, we'll see.

 

So far, I've only tested it on OS X (10.8), but I've given a copy of a potential Windows build to @JGHarding to see if it is easily ported.  I've also made another quick demo video, this time in a controlled environment (applied to a coloured solid).  Again, the password is 'plugin'.

 

https://vimeo.com/61836960

[jgharding]

Cheers for the link, I'll give the a blast tomorrow on some current projects and report back!

[James_H]

From what I understand, there are quite a large portion of Premiere users on Windows, so getting a Windows-compatible version will be important.  For now though, I'm only able to develop it for Mac OS X since I don't have access to a Windows machine with Premiere/AE installed.  Once I have a release version ready for Mac, I'll consider bootcamping Windows and getting a working build so that everyone can access it.

 

For now, if there are any Mac users who are interested in giving it a try, please let me know.  I'll inbox you a link to the download.  This will help me uncover any issues relating to it.  At the time of this writing, I only have one Mac tester.

[jgharding]

All the After Effects fellows here use Mac, does it work in AE at all?

[Ernesto Mantaras]

Hey, I'm on a Windows PC! And this looks to be a great plug-in. So please put me in the waiting list if you happen to need a beta tester in this platform in the future.

[James_H]

At this time, the plugin does not work in After Effects because it does not follow the "Smart Render" requirements.  This is a feature that is used to speed up rendering, and I could possibly implement it in the future.  As of right now, it's limited to:

• Premiere only;
• 8bit colour only;
• OS X only;

However, I plan on addressing each of these issues.  I have also come up with an idea of how to improve its performance.  Right now, my priority is to get it working with 32 bit colour.  That way, if there are any professionals out there who want to give it a try, they can let me know how good/useful it really is.

 

@charlie_orozco I'll make a public post when I have a Windows version up and running so stay tuned.

[uli]

Hi James,

 

Great idea and useful plugin.

I would like to test your plugin. I´m running Premiere Pro CS6 on OSX-

BR Uli

[Tim]

Great idea. Keep up the awesome work :D

[James_H]

I've discovered an issue with the plugin that renders it useless when you use it after effects that manipulate the colour in RGB space.  This includes effects such as "RGB Curves" and certain functions of Magic Bullet's "Colorista II".  This is not something that can be corrected on my end since these effects can create irreparable damage.  Fortunately, there is a workaround, but it's a bit of a hack.  It relies on the use of two instances of the "Fast Color Corrector" to prevent clipping.

 

I've recorded the screencast of how it's accomplished.  Once again, the password is 'plugin'.

 

https://vimeo.com/62388301

 

As far as I can tell, this is the only effective way to use the plugin with any effect.  Alternatively, I could make this plugin a two-part deal.  The two parts could accomplish the same thing as the FCCs.  Any thoughts?  Too cumbersome?  Worth it?

 

*EDIT*:

I just realized that this won't work for effects that require the entire luma range.  I'm afraid that this is the kind of problem that Adobe will really have to address.  I'll release a public version of the plugin soon, but I think its use is limited.