Image stabilization in Final Cut Studio besides SmoothCam?

[Alucardx03]

Hi all. I just received my new copy of Final Cut Studio 2. I've never used the suite before, but decided it was time to learn. I'm a hands-on kind of guy, so I just dove in. I'm researching things on the fly, but I have a question I couldn't find a quick answer for.

I have some footage I shot at a beach. The image is shaky, however. I played around with the SmoothCam filter in Final Cut, but I wasn't very impressed with the results. There seems to be some strange distortion and warping at the top of the screen. I experimented with the individual parameters, but to no avail.

I was just wondering, is there a different form of image stabilization anywhere else in the suite?

Thanks guys.

[cpcarrot]

You will get some amount of strange looking distortion when you stabilize footage that is shaky due to motion blur. Basically if the image has any motion blur due to the moving around of the camera this won't go away when you stabilize the footage, so while the footage will be stable and move around less you will get the odd looking distortion you are probably seeing (motion blur but no motion).

[Alucardx03]

Originally Posted by cpcarrot

You will get some amount of strange looking distortion when you stabilize footage that is shaky due to motion blur. Basically if the image has any motion blur due to the moving around of the camera this won't go away when you stabilize the footage, so while the footage will be stable and move around less you will get the odd looking distortion you are probably seeing (motion blur but no motion).

The distortion almost looks as if the distant mountains are reaching out and drawing back. Does this sound like the motion blur issue?

[cpcarrot]

Sounds like. I would describe the effect as the image looking almost like waves. Not a lot you can really do about it in post but you can minimise it if you know in advance by shooting with a fast shutter speed to reduce the amount of blur you get in the first place.

[DPA]

Since you have Final Cut Studio, you have Motion. In Motion, there is a great stabilizer. In Final Cut Pro, secondary click on the clip you want to stabilize. Go down to Send To>Motion. When you are in Motion, click the Add Behavior button at the top of the viewer. Go down to Motion Tracking>Stabilize. In the Inspector, click Behaviors and Stabilize should appear there. Under Movement, click analyze and Motion will do the rest! You can then do a RAM Preview of your newly stabilized footage. Save your work and then import it back into Final Cut Pro.

David

[Alucardx03]

Originally Posted by FCP.guru.guy

Since you have Final Cut Studio, you have Motion. In Motion, there is a great stabilizer. In Final Cut Pro, secondary click on the clip you want to stabilize. Go down to Send To>Motion. When you are in Motion, click the Add Behavior button at the top of the viewer. Go down to Motion Tracking>Stabilize. In the Inspector, click Behaviors and Stabilize should appear there. Under Movement, click analyze and Motion will do the rest! You can then do a RAM Preview of your newly stabilized footage. Save your work and then import it back into Final Cut Pro.

David

Thanks a lot, David. Worked perfectly.

[Mmichael]

Originally Posted by FCP.guru.guy

Since you have Final Cut Studio, you have Motion. In Motion, there is a great stabilizer. In Final Cut Pro, secondary click on the clip you want to stabilize. Go down to Send To>Motion. When you are in Motion, click the Add Behavior button at the top of the viewer. Go down to Motion Tracking>Stabilize. In the Inspector, click Behaviors and Stabilize should appear there. Under Movement, click analyze and Motion will do the rest! You can then do a RAM Preview of your newly stabilized footage. Save your work and then import it back into Final Cut Pro.

David

Hi -- I'm wondering if Motion would stabilize video shot on a tripod, when the optical image stabilizer on the camera (Vixia HV 30) is on? At this early stage in my video career I'm quite happy with iMovie 09, but I have valuable footage that's a somewhat jerky for the above reason. I'd probably get Final Cut Studio to solve this one problem, for these 10 minutes of video.

Thanks very much for your thoughts!

-- Michael

[Macinposh]

Originally Posted by FCP.guru.guy

Since you have Final Cut Studio, you have Motion. In Motion, there is a great stabilizer. In Final Cut Pro, secondary click on the clip you want to stabilize. Go down to Send To>Motion. When you are in Motion, click the Add Behavior button at the top of the viewer. Go down to Motion Tracking>Stabilize. In the Inspector, click Behaviors and Stabilize should appear there. Under Movement, click analyze and Motion will do the rest! You can then do a RAM Preview of your newly stabilized footage. Save your work and then import it back into Final Cut Pro.

David

You recon that there is a big difference between Shakes and Motions stabilizers? Many editors still swear by the shakes. Any takes?