STABILIZE VIDEO

Steady your footage after the fact

NOT ALL VIDEOS ARE CREATED EQUALLY. You only have to sit through SuicideSquad to figure that much out, but we’re not taking dire scripting to task now. Instead, we’re focusing on stabilizing shaky video files. We don’t carry tripods everywhere we go, and last time we looked around, nor does anyone else. As a result, much of the smartphone and GoPro video we create contains juddering images due to our shaky hands or uneven terrain, and that can be fairly unpleasant to watch for more than a few seconds, daughter’s first steps or not. Camera hardware itself can help with this problem to an extent, but good stabilization lenses are expensive, and not applicable to GoPro recording. So, instead, we’re turning to our trusty PCs, loading some absolutely cost-free software up, and taking the shakiness out ourselves.

It’s worth noting at this point that it’s more than possible to go too far when using any stabilization plugin or software, leaving the stabilized video looking worse. Like much of video editing, it requires something of a deft touch. If you don’t possess such a thing, a long evening of trial and error, and a handy magazine guide will get you there, too. 1 CONVERT YOUR VIDEO FILE TO AVI We’re using VirtualDub to achieve our goal, because although Premiere Pro is fantastic (see boxout opposite), it’s also quite expensive and definitely overkill for a task like this. VirtualDub has been around since 2004, and although it’s compatible with 64-bit systems and Windows 10, it can be a little fussy in some respects. One of them is the video file types it reads: AVI is the safest bet, so if you have an MP4, a WMV, or (god help you) an MKV sitting on your desktop, ready for attention, you need to run it though a converter first. Browser-based converters such as Online Video Converter ( www.onlinevideoconverter.com/cloud-converter) will do the trick nicely [ Image A]. Just ignore the advertisements asking you to “Come play, my lord….”

2 OPEN IT IN VIRTUALDUB Now you have a freshly baked AVI waiting to be stabilized, open up VirtualDub, and either drag the video file anywhere within the window, or to go “File,” and “Open Video File” [ Image B]. If your video has a variable bit rate (VBR), you get a warning message at this point, but it’s nothing to worry about. If you don’t have a codec pack installed on your PC, you may also get an error message telling you VirtualDub can’t load the file. That’s nothing to lose sleep over either—just download the codec you need, install it to the default directory, and you’re set. Yet another possibility at this stage is that you get an error message about loading audio when you try to play the file. There are several solutions to this, but the easiest is to disable audio and pair it up later in a separate program. 3 APPLY THE DESHAKER 3.1 FILTER Deshaker is a powerful stabilization tool, which uses tracking pixels to make sense of the direction of movement in a video file, and even enables you to guide it manually if you’re feeling brave. For this guide, we’re letting the plugin itself do the legwork. Download Deshaker 3.1 from www.guthspot.se/video/deshaker.htm, making sure to download the 64-bit version if you’re running a 64bit OS installation, and 32-bit if you’re not. Place the file in the “Plugins” directory within your VirtualDub install folder. Now, in VirtualDub itself, with the video you want to stabilize loaded, click “Video” on the top bar, and then “Filters,” then “Add” in the window that appears. Find

“Deshaker” on the list, and hit “OK.” You’ll see a big window full of options appear [ Image C], which we’re about to make sense of.

4 RUN A VIDEO ANALYSIS PASS The tweaks you make in this window depend on what kind of camera you used to capture the video. GoPro footage, for example, benefits from selecting “Camcorder has a rolling shutter” on the left, and changing the value to around 85. If your video isn’t from a GoPro, or you’re not sure about shutter speed, leave this unchecked. Under “Pass 1 parameters,” however, any footage benefits from choose the “Full” scale option in the dropdown menu. It works your system harder and takes longer, but it offers more precise results. We also had better results with “Detect zoom” left unchecked. Hit “OK,” and back in the main VirtualDub window, head to “File” and “Run video analysis pass” [ Image D].

5 RUN A SECOND PASS That pass takes a while, so let VirtualDub do its thing, then repeat the previous step to bring the Deshaker menu up once more. Now it’s time to run a second pass, to improve results further. Leave the Pass 1 parameters as you set them before, and focus on Pass 2. This is where we eliminate the black border that often arises as a result of stabilization. Select “Use previous and future frames to fill in borders,” then check the “Soft borders” box below, using a value of 10. Our GoPro trail riding footage features lots of changes in speed, so setting zoom to 0 in the motion smoothness values helps to avoid any noticeable changes in zoom. These are the results we found to be effective, but your footage might work better with different values, so experimenting is key. Now hit “OK” again, and you’re all set [ Image E].

6 RENDER THE STABILIZED VIDEO OUT All that’s left is to save the newly stabilized file out. VirtualDub lets you save as an AVI in old or new formats, or in segments, the latter proving handy if you’re working with a big, space-consuming file. Take a look at your new file [ Image F], and compare it with the original. Check for a noticeable improvement, and for any odd frame pacing or zoom issues. And that’s that: smoother, less headache-inducing vids for free.