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_David_Zeno_
Participant
October 1, 2008
Question

Adding dust and scratches - can't figure it out

  • October 1, 2008
  • 11 replies
  • 38109 views
Hello gentlemen,

I've tried using the dust and scratches filter on a piece of video,
and I just don't know what settings to use, to get it to look like
dust and scratches.

In Windows Movie Maker, you add the filter on, and right away you see the effect, and it is very pronounced, it looks like an old film.

Now in PP, I just don't get this effect at all, no matter how much I play with the "radius" and "threshold" settings I don't see anything like dust and scratches giving it that old kind of feel.

Any help much appreciated.

Dave.

    11 replies

    Steven L. Gotz
    Steven L. Gotz
    Inspiring
    October 2, 2008
    Take a look here:

    http://www.stevengotz.com/filmgrain.htm
    artofzootography.com
    E
    excited_Genie16B8
    Legend
    October 2, 2008
    I've never used it, so the question never came up. But like David I assumed it was for adding "old film" effects to your footage. (Probably an assumption left over from my Matrox days, which had an effect which did just that.)
    Curt Wrigley
    Curt Wrigley
    Inspiring
    October 2, 2008
    > Seriously, yes, I should read more. For those who are interested here is the official answer: ( so the effect in fact does exactly the opposite of what you think it would do, - it does not -add- dust and scratches, it tries to eliminate them.

    It doesnt do the opposite if what I assumed it did. Most folk want to clean up their video, so it is logical to me. And it does the same thing as it's PS cousin filter.
    Eddie Lotter
    Eddie Lotter
    Participating Frequently
    October 2, 2008
    :P
    _
    _David_Zeno_Author
    Participant
    October 2, 2008
    I guess this is one of those instances, where I was supposed to go to Eddie's wiki site and read the 16 questions, and then report back :-P

    Seriously, yes, I should read more. For those who are interested here is the official answer: ( so the effect in fact does exactly the opposite of what you think it would do, - it does not -add- dust and scratches, it tries to eliminate them.

    Dust & Scratches effect
    The Dust & Scratches effect reduces noise and defects by changing dissimilar pixels within a specified radius to be more like their neighboring pixels. To achieve a balance between sharpness of the image and hiding defects, try various combinations of radius and threshold settings.
    Jeff Bellune
    Jeff Bellune
    Legend
    October 2, 2008
    Curt, Thanks for noticing.
    _
    _Gareth_Pierre_
    Participant
    October 2, 2008
    Hey David,

    If you have after effects and you are looking for that old film effect, video copilot has an excellent tutorial.

    http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/old_film_look/
    Curt Wrigley
    Curt Wrigley
    Inspiring
    October 2, 2008
    Jeff; You're getting slow in your old age.
    Jeff Bellune
    Jeff Bellune
    Legend
    October 2, 2008
    It took me about 38 seconds in the help files to find what the effect is supposed to do. I didn't even have to look beyond the table of contents.
    martind93695170
    martind93695170
    Participant
    April 24, 2017

    Is there a "super unhelpful" button? 'Cause that's what this is. Thanks for nothing!

      H
      HarleyTDavis
      Inspiring
      July 26, 2017

      Dust and Scratches in Premiere is not an additive style effect.  It's a noise or grain REDUCTION algorithm.  I'd wager it works much like the noise reduction filter in photoshop.  For those using this for adding noise, here's your woops moment.  This is meant to FIX the noise and scratches problem, not create one.

      For this effect use the Noise filters in the effects list.  These actually add noise.  There's also a film grain filter now.  You can use it in premiere, but usually I prefer After effects, as I can pre-render a comp using render farming, and then see the results immediately in premiere.

      Put your sequence in After effects (check the documentation for how), then create a comp from the sequence, and add your filter effects.  You might have to do some reading on that one too.  Once you finish, you can set up a render queue, locate it to a drive, create the job, and go to each machine to render it out.  As long as your effects are all loaded on each machine (some third party plugs require more licensing for this), you can have them render out together, then use your folder of images to create a compressed proxy in premiere.  Anytime you make changes to the folder of images, just create a new proxy.  For 1hour of 1080 video, two machines took about 4 hours to create full jpeg images, and then about 10s to create a proxy.  Afterward, I just worked with the proxy, but when it came time to render, I was able to attach the higher quality images, and render out the compressed final a lot faster.

      Whenever I start a composition, I balance and correct using after effects first.  Then I use an H264 proxy in Premiere to cut.  It's faster that way, and when I finish I reattach the main files, and render out.  For most effects I use after effects, attach the full again, then create a new proxy.  I can see the effect in after effects in full quality, then I drop it out to premiere in a proxy to preview the compressed quality, and I know what I'm getting.  It's as simple as that.  If the effect is small enough, there's no need for AE--simple transitions, split screens, or custom views are easy in premiere, and in H.264 are fast enough.  For fine detail, There's no sub for the capability of AE.

        _
        _David_Zeno_Author
        Participant
        October 2, 2008
        Anyone know why dust and scratches is included in PP CS3 ? what then does this filter accomplish ?

        thanks,
        Dave.
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