Exporting a movie with the settings "nearest neighbor"

[petersundberg]

Hello everybody!

I am trying to upscale a movie from an old video game. The resolution is 320x240 and should be upscaled to 1440x1080. The problem is that I don't want Adobe Premiere Pro 6 to upscale it using a chroma subsampling method (http://ingomar.wesp.name/2011/04/dosbox-gameplay-video-capture.html), instead I want to use something similar to the option "nearest neigbor" (the one you have in Adobe Photoshop when you resize images). Why I want this is because I want to keep the pixels from the video game sharp. Is this possible to do?

[Jim_Simon]

You can't get from A to B and keep it sharp in this case.  It's just too much.  Follwoing are the scaling method's PP uses.

https://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2010/10/scaling-in-premiere-pro-cs5.html

[petersundberg]

Any suggestions how I will solve this problem?

[Ann Bens]

Its like trying to make a postage stamp into a newspaper.

[Keith_Clark]

petersundberg wrote:

Any suggestions how I will solve this problem?

i use Red Giant Magic Bullet Instant HD when i have to uprez, and they only recommend going up to the next step if possible (320 to 480, 480 to 720, 720 to 1080, 1080 to 2k, etc) to go from 320 to 1080... would just be insane to look at. i would recommend to do it like how they did the old sega cd games, leave it in a smaller box in the middle of the larger screen?

or you could open up a screen cap of the original 320 sequenece in photoshop, uprez that the 1080, and click "view actual pixels" if you can stand it at that point, then go for it. but thats roughly how it would look on the hdtv. in 1080i/p

[petersundberg]

Perhaps I can be a little more specific. I am using recorded material from an emulator (the Super Nintendo game Super Mario World). This is in the resoltution 320x240. Now, I aiming for upscaling this by a factor 4 so it will become 1280x960. And I want to keep the pixels, both to their look and the ratio between them, to be as close to the original footage as possible.

And if you take a screen cap, import it into Photoshop and upscale by a factor 4 (with Nearest Neighbour) the result is amazing! The ratio, the nice hard edges are kept! This is what I aim for!

[Harm_Millaard]

So effectively increasing 320 x 240 to 1280 x 920 is increasing by a factor 16, not 4. Like trying to get 16 glasses of orange juice for a single orange. Good luck.

[petersundberg]

Factor 16 when it comes to total amount of pixels (area) but I was talking about lenght of width and height (lenght). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utIHzOlXekE

Still, if you look at this clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdVsXAA3g6I&hd=1) from 0:44 and forward you will understand. I am not talking about trying to get more effective pixels, I am talking about just scaling the pixels (1 px => 2x2 px)

[G.Shemesh]

Hi petersundberg,

This is a quite an old thread but I'm replying to it anyway as maybe it may be of use to others too, or to me as well.

Me too, just like you, edit a lot of Pixel Art material in Premiere and always willed to maintain the sharp pixels of my content. Not only when scaling up and down, but also when I move the pixeled content in the X & Y axis.

I found that unlike Photoshop that supports Nearest Neighbor while transforming layers, Premiere doesn't include this feature (God knows why). I found this very frustrating too. Did you try Red Giant's Magic Bullet Instant HD as someone mentioned here? If so, does it worked for you? I'd really like to hear from your experience.

Anyway I wish to share some workaround of mine to achieve what you're looking for. You can use VirtualDub to scale your captured video while maintaining the Nearer Neighbor feel. There are plenty of VirtualDub versions and each has its pros and cons. One that might be good for one thing might not be for another (like VirtualDub-MPEG2, which with proper plugin could open MKV files). For screen-captured videos I'd recommend VirtualDub-1.9.11. Here are step-by-step instructions:

1. Import your video file in VirtualDub. If you receive an error message while importing then it may be due to a specific codec that you used while capturing you video, which needs to be installed manually in the 'Plugins' folder of VirtualDub.

2. From the menu bar go to Video -> Filters.

3. Hit Add, scroll down to the 'resize' filter, select it and hit OK.

4. Under the 'Size options' section look for 'Filter mode'. By default it uses 'Precise bicubic'. Open the dropdown list and at the top you will find 'Nearest neighbor'. Select it and then adjust the video either by pixels or percentage. Hit OK when done.

5. To export the video with your adjustments, make sure that under 'Video' from the menu bar the 'Full processing mode' is selected. Then go to Compression (CTRL+P).

6. Note about codecs before you proceed: If you wish to maintain the original quality of your video, don't use any codecs! Instead, use the '(Uncompressed RGB/YCbCr)' from the top of the list. Your output files would be saved in full quality, but would also weight a lot on the hard drive. That said, after playing around with plenty of video codecs I came across the BEST free codec that you can find out there! It calls 'Lagarith Lossless Codec'. You may download it from here: http://lags.leetcode.net/codec.html. I use this codec for both capturing with Camtasia Recorder (as I capture in AVI format) and for re-rendering with scale filters in VirtualDub. This codec is SO GREAT because it doesn't affect the content with ugly artifacts like in JPEGs. Think of it as clean PNG images - just in video. You won't be able to tell the difference between Lagarith and Uncompressed format, and the files size would be much smaller. So go grab it as long as it's still available!

7. Once you selected the desired codec, hit OK.

8. In case you wish to compress your Audio too, make sure that under 'Audio' from the menu bar the 'Full processing mode' is selected, and from the same place select Compression. Pick the desired codec and adjust its settings if needed and hit OK. If you wish to maintain the original Audio from the source file without compressing it then you don't have to do this step. Just make sure that under 'Audio' from the menu bar the 'Direct stream copy' is selected.

9. Go to File -> Save as AVI and hit Save.

Import the Nearest Neighbor resized rendered file to Premiere and enjoy the pixels!

When exporting your final video from Premiere, note the Export Settings. I tried many and found that the best results were by using Quicktime format with the H.264 codec. The rest of the parameters should be identical to your clip's properties, i.e Width & Height, Frame Rate, Field Order as 'Progressive' and Aspect Ratio as 'Square Pixels (1.0)'. Attached a screenshot from a pixel-art 640x480 project of mine:

I'd recommend saving the settings as a Preset for future projects.

One more IMPORTANT note to add about Clip & Sequence properties:

If you wish that the borders of your clip would be the borders of your exported video from Premiere, your Sequence should be in an exact size to your captured video. If you created a new project with a wrong Sequence settings don't worry, there are 2 ways to fix this: Short way and Long way:

Short way:

Creates a Sequence automatically according to your clip's properties.

Long way:

Requires a manual creation of a Sequence and manual settings adjustment - In this way you'll be more involved and also have more control on the Sequence settings you create.

The short way - step-by-step:

If you have an EMPTY sequence created in by default (i.e when creating a new project), import your video clip to the Project window and drag it into the Timeline. As long as you don't have ANYTHING on your Timeline, you'd be prompt with a Clip Mismatch Warning box where you can choose to keep the existing sequence settings, or to change it according to the your clip properties.

Hit 'Change sequence settings' and your sequence will be changed according to your clip's properties.

Alternatively, you can right-click on your video clip from the Project window and choose 'New Sequence From Clip'. That will create a new sequence at the same properties of your clip with the clip already inside it. Once done you can delete the empty sequence.

The long way - step-by-step:

Create a new Sequence from the File menu (CTRL+N). When the dialog box appears go to the Settings tab and adjust the settings accordingly:

1. Editing mode: Should be set to Custom.

2. Timebase: According to the frame-rate of your clip. If you captured in 30fps then select '30.00 frames/second'.

3. Video\Frame Size: According to the resolution of your clip. If you captured a 320x240 resolution and want to maintain it then your sequence should also be set to 320x240.

4. Video\Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0) - As pixels are exact squares. Note the aspect ratio indicator located right to the resolution line while changing this value. A 320x240 resolution is 4:3 while the aspect ratio is set to Square Pixels (1.0). But if you pick a wrong ratio value then the ratio of your entire clip will display wrong (stretched).

5. Video\Fields: No Fields (Progressive Scan). As computer games frames are equal to Progressive Scan images (not 2 interlaced images that complete 1 as appear in DV format and old televisions), make sure that it's set to 'No Fields (Progressive Scan)'. If you're not familiar with what Interlaced fields and Progressive Scan are, attached an illustration. Progressive Scan are full frames all the way without any fields (the result on the right):

6. Video\Display Format: (xx)fps - Should be identical to the frame rate is step 2. If you captured in 30fps select '30fps Timecode'.

7. Audio/Sample Rate: According to your clip. Although you can change it if you like to mix multiple and high sample rates. Any sample rate you'll import will be re-sampled in the final file to whatever you choose here.

8. Video Previews/Preview File Format: I-Format Only MPEG (never touched this one and I don't think it much matters as it's only for previews).

Hit OK and you're done.

Attached a screenshot from a pixel-art 640x480 project of mine that I used for double-sized 320x240 video (which I captured double-sized in advanced):

Hope I helped.

Best regards,

Gal Shemesh

[Ann Bens]

Have you tried Detail-preserving Upscale in AE?

After Effects Help | Detail-preserving Upscale effect 

[G.Shemesh]

Hi Ann,

The new feature in CC is interesting. Thanks for your input.

However as long as I can remember AE (even in previous versions) can handle Nearest Neighbor. But it's way to complicated to work than in Premiere. AE mostly used to achieve the desired effect of a specific scene. Premiere was designed to edit an entire movie where everything is happening at the same timeline. So the problem is to achieve the Nearest Neighbor effect in Premiere where all of your work is being made. For instance if you have plenty of layers of let's say characters, objects etc and you manipulate them all around the timeline, having them as separated clips that were imported and exported from AE and into Premiere would be time consuming which isn't worth it if you need to make them changes. Your work would be much slow and not effective. Unless you have an effective method to integrate your work between AE and Premiere that you would like to share?

Best regards,

Gal Shemesh

[Ann Bens]

Unless you have an effective method to integrate your work between AE and Premiere that you would like to share?

Dynamic Link.

Right click on clip or group of clips or nest and Replace by AE composition.

Adobe Premiere Pro Help | Adobe Dynamic Link 

[Heller23]

There is a way in Premiere - it only takes unnecessary long rendertime - just use "Mosaik" (I have the german version) - it is found unter "stilisieren" probably "stylize" in english.
- for example 320x240 and choose "Farben schärfen" probably something like "sharp colors" or "sharp pixels" in english. This way you get perfectly sharp pixels even in UHD. I am just confused how so many apperently misunderstood this question...

[Keith_Clark]

well, premieres under hood upscaling is atrocious (imho). go to red giant's website download a trial for  Instant HD and see how it works for you...

[the_wine_snob]

Andy,

While I have not used it, many around here have. It seems that the jury is hung with about 50-50. I think that much will depend on the exact Source Footage, the eye of the beholder and probably the delivery scheme. Still, 50-50 ain't all bad.

With the trial, the OP should be able to test, and decide. If Nearest Neighbor interpolation is working in PS, for a 4 x 4 increase, then Instant HD just might be the ticket?

To the OP, good luck, and please let us know if Instant HD does what you want.

Hunt

[the_wine_snob]

And if you take a screen cap, import it into Photoshop and upscale by a factor 4 (with Nearest Neighbour) the result is amazing!

Actually, I find that up-rezzing with the Nearest Neighbor algorithm to be about the lowest quality of any of the algorithms. It came first, and is basically a holdover from about PS version 2.5. Bicubic interpolation was added later, and then Bicubic Smoother and Bicubic Sharper.

However, I am always working with continuous tone, high-rez digital photographs, and not screen-caps, so perhaps my material is not the ultimate to judge Nearest Neighbor?

Still, for a 16x increase, about the only thing that I can suggest (and this is for Stills, and not Video) would be Genuine Fractals (once Human Softaware, but acquired by another company). Still, that is beyond the max limit that I would be comfortable with.

Others have mentioned Red Giant's Magic Bullet Instant HD, and I would download the trial, then test. That might be "as good as it get."

Good luck,

Hunt

[TaranVH]

I must point out that many respondents (the_wine_snob, Harm Millaard, and Ann Bens) simply did not take the time to understand the original question.

However, Ann is half-correct that dynamic-linking to After Effects is one way to solve this. But the "Detail-preserving Upscale" looks like the wrong effect to use. Again, the question is about specifically using Nearest Neighbor upscaling.

Nearest neighbor is essential for upscaling pixel art and old video games, so that the pixels retain their sharp edges, and are not blended into one another.

There is another thread on this topic, but I don't think Fabrazz's answer is correct:

Resizing pixel art video without affecting the pixels with blur.

Maybe the option is now gone in Premiere 2017.1.2, but I can't find ANYTHING that I can right click on to get the menu option "quality," and then "set to draft" inside of that. It would have been extremely helpful if Fabrazz had included a screenshot.

In this thread, the mosaic effect is mentioned as a potential workaround. Heller23 has also mentioned it.

And in fact, it DOES work... but only to a point.

Below, I have footage of a tree in a video game, with the Mosaic Effect applied (using the clip's dimensions, 1920 horizontal blocks by 1080 vertical blocks).  This is scaled up to 600% and it definitely looks better with the mosaic effect.

The Link sprites are scaled to 3000%, but the mosaic effect in this case seems to have done nothing. Link is just as blurry.

Looking at the same image in Photoshop, you can see the result I wanted.

So, here are some answers to this issue:

Option 1: For still images, Photoshop's Nearest Neighbor upscaling can be used.

Option 2: For scaling up to about 500, the Mosaic Effect can be used. Use the same numbers as the clip's resolution.

Option 3: Otherwise, use a dynamic link to After Effects, which (I believe) does have Nearest Neighbor upscaling. But, I'm fairly sure that it's actually called "DRAFT" mode. This is categorized under "quality and sampling," and can be done by clicking a few times on this icon on the desired layer:

(Video explanation here:  Adobe After Effects CC Tutorial | Setting Scaling Quality Using Bicubic Or Bilinear Sampling - YouTu... )
Then, you might still need to pre-comp that layer, or even render and re-import, depending on what you're doing.

Lastly, please submit a wishform to adobe and ask to get Nearest Neighbor upscaling into Premiere itself.

[jimt18832954]

It's 2023 and Premiere still doesn't have a Nearest Neighbour scaling option and half the people on this forum still don't understand why one is needed. Anyone who edits game trailers for a living has had this millstone around their necks for years.