Need Software to Clean Black Spot in Clip

[leungw]

Hi,

I have a video clip that has a small black spot right in the middle of every frame. It looks like a bug landed right on the lens when the camcorder was running. Is there any software out there that would allow me to edit just one frame and then apply the same edit to every frame?

Thanks in advance.

[toadoftoadhall]

if its in an area that is not moving, then perhaps copy a frame, correct the bit you need, and delete everything else leave that area blank and transparent. Add the frame to your video on another track. It should show everthing below it ok, but keep your edit above it as seen ok.

Is this clear or is it just late in the afternoon?
No idea if this will work, but perhaps.

toad

[leungw]

toad,

Thank you for the quick reply. Is there any software out there that would do what you describe?

The area behind the black spot is sometimes moving and sometimes stationary. When it's moving, the black spot is not as noticeable. So I am only concentrating on the stationary frames. But if someone can recommend a software that could clean the moving frames also, that would be perfect.

Thanks again.

[Mr.D]

After Effects or any half decent compositing package. draw a matte round the problem and composite through the same footage repositioned the minimum amount of distance necessary to clear the "bug" preferably position it to bring in an area of image that best matches the occluded region offsetting the composited footage a frame or two might also help to give you the detail hidden behind the artifact, it will depend how the footage is moving though. Soften the edge of the matte to hide the chop through.

There are lots of other things you can do right up to painting every single frame but that should be your last resort.

Be careful if its field based material that the compositing package can deal with this correctly.

[leungw]

Thank you Keith.

I just looked up After Effects and it's "a little" out of my budget. Is there anything that's more affordable (preferably under $200)?

[Mr.D]

Nothing I'm aware of. AE is about the cheapest. Shake (apple) is way better and was dropped to $500 from $10000 a few months ago however they only do a linux and OSX version.

Compositing software , even AE is comparatively complicated to learn , it might take you a little while to find all the right levers.

Premiere might offer some capablity , been years since I used it though.

If the clip isn't too long/large and you can upload it somewhere online I can take a look if you want.

[redsox_mark]

The full version of Vegas can do this using Bezier curves to draw the mask. But is also expensive (retail price $525 US dollars).
The cheaper versions of Vegas (Movie Studio at $90, and Movie Studio Platinum at $120) don't have the Bezier curves. They do support fixed shaped masks (using the "cookie cutter" effect). So if your spot was pretty much a circle, you could cut out a circle. You can have multiple tracks and can soften the edges as Keith has described. You may not be able to be as precise as you could with AE, but you could do something. I would think that it would be similar with Premiere Elements.