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Finally, video stabilization software that actually works!

Posted by robert mcintosh on August 21, 2015 at 8:00am

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share with you all the news that our video stabilization software is now live and ready for download! 


We set out a few years ago to transform the very time-consuming and difficult stabilization technique that I was developing into an automated piece of software.  To say it's been a lot of work would be a huge understatement.  But I must say I think it's been worth it.  

We feel that this will open up a huge range of possibilities for drones, as you'll no longer need to carry the weight of a brushless gimbal, the beefier motors to lift that heavy gimbal, and the heavy higher-voltage li-po to power those motors in order to get solid, smooth footage. 

Who knows, we might even see a renaissance of the servo gimbal!  If you take a look at our gallery page you can see the full before and after clips of many servo gimbal flights.

And we've got no doubt this is going to make drone races look that much more amazing.

Check it out at ReelSteady.com.  We are super-excited to see all the imaginative uses people will find for this new tool.

Hope you like it!



-R

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Comments

  • robert mcintosh August 21, 2015 at 2:41pm

    That's a good question.  We are hoping that every after effects artist will have this in their arsenal someday soon. 

  • Thomas Stanley-Jones August 21, 2015 at 2:39pm

    That's super.  Where would you go to find guys to do this on one or two videos as the need comes up?

  • robert mcintosh August 21, 2015 at 2:07pm

    Thanks John.  The thing is with this new method of stabilization, the more fisheye your lens has, the less resolution you lose.  It's hard to explain but it makes it perfect for shooting with GoPro because you can shoot in the widest/most fisheye 1440p mode which goes all the way up to 80fps on the hero Black.  That gives the plugin tons on info and pixel real estate to work with.  That comes in really handy if you are one of these new mini quad racers that are going 70mph 6 inches off the ground.   the above clip was shot in 1440p 48fps with protune turned on. 

  • John Dennings August 21, 2015 at 1:24pm

    Man, this is really exciting.  And the accelerated portions of your videos are something else. 'Course, this would also have to be tested with flyers that don't have your FPV skills  :)

    How much more do you have to crop compared to warp stabilizer? It's got to be more, no?

    > Who knows, we might even see a renaissance of the servo gimbal!

    Ha! I've got an old 3 axis cinestar one that's been gathering dust for god knows how long ...

  • robert mcintosh August 21, 2015 at 1:10pm

    Thanks for the feedback.   Pritam, I can't really comment on the gyro thing as that's not really my area.  I'm a computer graphics artist/ former animator. 

    Joe,  I hope you are right.  I can tell you that it is a very liberating feeling to zip around on a light, nimble, high performance quad and know that footage is going to look great. 

    It's almost got like an old school photography vibe.  You go out and shoot, then take it back to the dark room to see what you REALLY got.

    Mini Test from Robert McIntosh on Vimeo.

  • Joe Renteria August 21, 2015 at 12:59pm
    This is fantastic. I hate the concept of a gimbal, and will never use one. The correct way to stabilize video is through software. Gimbals will be collecting dust in garages soon. Fantastic work.
  • Pritam Ghanghas August 21, 2015 at 12:30pm

    I will definitely try it. Not a big fan of gimbals. I am thinking about "what if a accelerometer is attached to the camera and its output is stored along with the video recorded:. Will that be helpful while later stabilizing the video in software? I know this is difficult to to the like of gopro but it is definitely an option for the raspberry pi cam module. Where we have access to camera code and accelerometer data can be easily embedded in the video file itself to give cues to post processing software. But I don't have any experience with video stabilization algorithms to actually think about it critically. May be you can provide some critical insight into it.

  • robert mcintosh August 21, 2015 at 12:23pm

    Thanks for the feedback John.  It's just so happens there IS a free demo version.  Head over to reelsteady.com to grab it now.  We'd love to know what you think of it. 

  • Jonathan Hair August 21, 2015 at 12:15pm

    would you have any interest in making a demo version to try? Maybe have it with a big watermark over the footage?

    It would be interesting to compare some of my footage to the built in adobe stabilizer.

  • robert mcintosh August 21, 2015 at 12:00pm

    Thanks John!  Believe it or not that's actually a very competitive price for After Effects plugins. https://www.redgiant.com/products/

    Especially ones that have no comparable competitors

    If you think about it, it's less pricey than a GoPro 4 and you will never crash it into a tree

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