Blackmagic Cintel Scanner User Manual  Dead Pixel Fixer

If your scanner has one or more ‘dead’ or ‘stuck’ pixels in the sensor, you may have black or white spots that are not moving in the image. This filter is designed to let you place patches on each dead or stuck pixel, identifying them so you can use different methods of fixing the problem.

In many respects, the Dead Pixel Fixer is similar to the Dust Buster, however the Dust Buster effect is designed to repair transient bits of dust and dirt that only last for a frame or two, whereas the Dead Pixel Fixer is designed to work on blemishes that are fixed in place for the duration of a clip.

To fix dead or stuck pixels, apply the Dead Pixel Fixer filter, make sure the OFX onscreen controls are enabled in the viewer, and then click on each pixel you need to fix with the mouse to place a patch on it. You can click anywhere on the image to place as many patches as you like, there’s no limit. You can also Option-click to delete patches you no longer need. To move any patches, simply drag it to another location.

Multiple dead pixel removal patches

When you place multiple patches, you can click to select whichever patches you want to adjust the controls for. Each patch can have different control settings.

General

These top level controls let you choose how to draw patches with which to repair blemishes in the frame, whether or not to show their on-screen controls, and how.

• Patch Style: There are three different kinds of patches you can draw to deal with different kinds of blemishes in the frame.

  • Draw Rect: Click and drag to place a rectangular patch of any size from one corner to the opposite corner. Once drawn, you can click on any edge of the overlay and drag to reposition it.

  • Draw Ellipse: Click and drag to place an elliptical patch of any size from one corner to the opposite corner. Once drawn, you can click on any edge of the overlay and drag to reposition it.

  • Place Patch: Lets you place small patches specifically for tiny details such as dead pixels. When you choose this option, a ‘new patch size’ slider appears that lets you adjust the size of the patches you’re about to place prior to placing them. Once drawn, you can click on the edge of any patch and drag to reposition it.

• New Patch Size: (only when ‘place patch’ is selected) Lets you choose how large of a patch to place using the place patch tool.

• Show Patches: This checkbox lets you show or hide the onscreen outline of every patch in the viewer.

• Hide During Interaction: Hides the onscreen outline of every patch in the viewer while you’re moving a patch; this makes it easier to see the effect of moving the patch on the image, without the outline getting in the way.

Patch Type

There are three methods you can use to attempt to fix the contents of a selected patch. When drawing new patches, the currently selected patch type will determine what the next patch will be. When you’ve selected an existing patch, changing the patch type will change how that patch works.

• Spatial: Automatically fills the interior of the selected patch with pixels drawn from the surroundings of the patch, using the fill method. This works well for small blemishes, but for large blemishes a pattern might be discernible, which gives away the effect.

• Clone: Clone mode copies part of the image to fill a shape or patch placed over the thing you want to remove. In this mode, clicking and dragging to place a rect or ellipse over an imperfection is followed by a second click to place the sample region you want to clone. Clicking once to place a patch will be followed by a second click to place the sample region. Selecting an existing shape or patch and choosing Clone lets you click on the shape to position the clone region. The sample region is indicated by a dotted shape that’s connected to the original shape.

• Blend Clone: Operates similarly to clone mode, except the copied part of the image that fills the rect, ellipse, or patch is blended with the image to integrate it more softly.

• Fill Method: When using the ‘spatial patch type’, the fill method determines how the blemish in the image is repaired.

  • Grid: Samples the pixels surrounding the rect, ellipse, or patch, and blurs them inward both horizontally and vertically. Extremely effective for tiny blemishes. For larger blemishes, a grid-like pattern may emerge.

  • Horizontal: Samples the pixels to the left and right of the rect, ellipse, or patch, and blurs them inward.

  • Vertical: Samples the pixels to the top and bottom of the rect, ellipse, or patch, and blurs them inward.

  • Patchy: Samples pixels from all around the rect, ellipse, or patch, and expands and blurs them together to create a soft, non-uniform region with which to repair the blemish. Doesn’t have the patterning of the grid methods of fill, but produces an extremely smooth result.

  • Smooth: Simply uses a gaussian blur to repair the blemish.

Patch Options

These options let you customize the effect of a patch filling over a blemish.

• Mute: Lets you turn a particular patch on or off via keyframing. Useful for blemishes that only show up for a few pixels of a shot.

• Variability: (Spatial patches only) Raising this parameter lets you make the fill method less uniform.

• Soft Edges: Lets you soften the edges of the patch.

• Size Adjust: Lets you change the size of a patch after its creation.

Advanced Controls

These controls let you customize the UI of this effect.

• Clone Sticks to Mouse: When enabled, drawing or placing a rect, ellipse, or patch in clone or blend clone mode immediately switches to positioning the sample region, making it faster to use.

• New Patches Stay Selected: When enabled, patches stay selected after you draw them, in preparation for further customization.

• UI Line Thickness: Lets you choose how thick the on-screen outlines should be.

• Patches Stick to: This parameter lets you deal with fixing dead pixels or blemishes on clips that have been stabilized.

  • Source: Patches remain in place unless you apply motion stabilization to the shot. In this case, patches move along with the image so they remain associated with the feature selected in the source clip.

  • Scene: If you’re eliminating a blemish on a moving subject, you can use the FX tracker to track the thing you’re fixing, so the patch follows along with it.

• Output Mode: This lets you see different representations of the patched effect you’re creating. There are four options.

  • Patched Result: The final result, with each patch repairing the blemish it’s covering.

  • Patch Locations: Shows a key where each placed patch is white against black.

  • Differences: Shows the difference of each patch against the original image.

  • Difference Magnitude: Shows a more pronounced differences representation.