Fade in, what is the best?

Cincyfilmgeek wrote on 3/9/2007, 11:18 AM
When I fade from footage to a black screen with words and then fade back into footage it doesn't seem like it is sharp enough. I see wavey lines and it just isn't crisp in the fade from black as it should be. What is the best method here? Do I need to do something to the timeline? Do I need to do something color wise to make it fade better? Any input would be great.

Comments

Jay Gladwell wrote on 3/9/2007, 11:23 AM

Can you provide a sample of what you're talking about so we can see it?

DGates wrote on 3/9/2007, 11:26 AM
While this may not be what you're talking about, you usually see DVD's rendered with VBR that show obvious pixelation going from black to faded up video. Because of this, I always render CBR. But like I said, you're probably not referring to this type of problem.
Grazie wrote on 3/9/2007, 2:27 PM
Have you rendered this yet? Or are you just seeing this via a Preview setting:Draft>Preview>Good>Best? - Had you created a RAM Render?
Chienworks wrote on 3/9/2007, 3:41 PM
I'm guessing this is probably a banding issue, where 8 bits per color isn't enough to accurately represent the darker shades. The colors will change rapidly as the image fades in, and the bands will shimmer as different groups of pixels fall in each brightness range.

There isn't a whole lot you can do about this in digital video. Fade faster so that the effect doesn't last as long, or fade a lot slower so that the shimmer is slow enough to not be noticeable. Maybe fade in a solid color first, then crossfade to the video clip. *shrug* Experiment and see what happens.
riredale wrote on 3/9/2007, 4:04 PM
More info is needed, but I don't think it's an 8-bit issue. In my experience, 8-bit limitations are very hard to see. Instead, I wouldn't be surprised if it was an MPEG2 render issue.

I don't use the MainConcept MPEG2 encoder, but with the CinemaCraft encoder there is a weighting adjustment one can make whether to allocate more bits to this sort or fadein/fadeout or elsewhere; otherwise, this can happen at low VBR values.
Grazie wrote on 3/9/2007, 8:27 PM
Where does it say Cincyfilmgeek has rendereed this section? Please tell me how you know this? MPEG? Where does Cincyfilmgeek say this? What Am I missing something?

I've seen wavy lines on GLOW Fx used in conjunction with a blurred/feathered border, and had to do some remedial work to eradicate it.