Congratulations
on your purchase of Topaz Moment, Production Edition!
Topaz
Moment, Production Edition, consists of two programs: Topaz Moment captures and
enhances still images from video. TM Batch enables you to automatically capture
large numbers of still images from multiple video files.
Topaz
Moment V3.x is a big step up from the highly acclaimed Topaz Moment V2.1. It
comes with a completely new user interface based on the open-source Media
Player Classic. This is both more user-friendly and offers better functionality
than the former one. Many codecs are internally built in and therefore with
less need to download codecs. The enhancement engine itself was dramatically
improved, producing even higher quality of pictures with less parameter to
adjust.
Other
upgrades include the new ability to automatically detect whether a video is
interlaced or progressive, removing a bothersome part of the frame capturing
process. The user interface is much more intuitive and easier to use, and is
optimized for maximum efficiency. This means fewer settings to tweak but more
quality image to enjoy.
TM Batch automated the work flow of capturing large
number of video files. It is mostly
useful to turn a collection of video files into still image database.
We hope that the new Topaz Moment will fulfill your
video still capturing needs. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback,
please contact us at: support@topazlabs.com
This section will explain how to get your first
high-resolution still from a video. Instead of explaining the nitty-gritty (and
forgettable) details first, we’ll go over the basics of Topaz Moment.
Before we begin, however, please note that Topaz Moment user
interface is based on one of the best open-source Media Player Classic. The
Media Player Classic features, however, are not explained here. For detailed
help documentation on Media Player Classic, please visit http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=144472
.
Here’s an overview of
the layout of Topaz Moment:
1.
This section is where
the video or DVD is viewed much like any media player. In fact you will find
Topaz Moment becomes your favorite player for any video very soon.
2.
This section contains
commonly-used video navigation buttons such as Start, Stop, Pause, etc. The
Navigate menu, there are many advanced video playback controls to make your view
video and finding the desired frame a snap. Notice there are step one frame
forward and step one frame backward buttons (or use the right arrow or left
arrow keys), which can be used to find the exact frame you wish to capture.
3.
This section contains
the unique Topaz Moment features.
a.
Clicking the camera
button will enhance the frame currently displayed on the screen.
b.
Clicking the other
button will bring up Topaz Moment Option dialog.
It’s extraordinarily easy to capture quality video
stills using Topaz Moment. First, load up a video either using File > Open File… (Ctrl-O) or File > Quick Open File… (Ctrl-Q). Quick Open File is more convenient for opening
single videos, but Open File… is
better for opening multiple videos into a playlist. More on that later.
Now that
we’ve opened up a video file, scroll to the portion that you want captured.
Once at the desired frame, pause the video. Now look to the bottom of the
program at the bar containing the Topaz features (#3).
Click the small icon that looks like a camera to capture a frame.
The video
will step through a few frames as Topaz Moment makes use of neighboring frames
per its default settings. The image file will then be saved and a preview opened
in Windows Picture/Fax Viewer.
Congratulations
on capturing your first high-resolution video still! It’s that easy.
All
operations of Topaz Moment can be achieved using menu commands and
buttons. However you will find commonly
used actions can be done via keys. Some
of the most commonly used keys are:
·
Right Arrow: step one frame forward,
·
Left Arrow: step one frame backward,
·
Space key: play and pause video,
·
Ctrl-Q: Quick open a video file.
·
F5 Function Key: Capture and save an image.
You can get
a complete list of the short-cut keys from the Option Dialog. You can also customize them.
The enhancement settings are all
adjustable. This is where the degrees of enhancement and image processing are
determined by the user.
Save Raw Video Frame: Essentially a frame-grab. The frame
is saved without any processing.
Save Enhanced Video
Frame: Save with
enhancements, most of which are tweakable:
Frame Type: Typically set to “Detect Automatically”. This tells the
program what kind of video it is – interlaced or progressive. If you know for
sure whether your video is interlaced or progressive, adjust this to the
appropriate option. If not, let Topaz Moment do it for you.
Noise Reduction: Level of noise reduction from 0-100. Caution – using an
excessive value for this option may obscure details.
Sharpness: Level of sharpening from 0-100.
Caution – using an excessive value for this option may create unwanted
artifacts. 0 disables sharpness.
Auto Level: Degree of automatic histogram adjustment for brightness and
contrast. Basically determines the extent that Topaz Moment balances the
histogram for the captured image. Recommended to be set around 50. Set it to 0
to disable this function.
Auto Color: Degree of automatic histogram adjustment for color. Determines
the extent that Topaz Moment balances the Color histogram for the captured
image. Recommended to be set around 50. Set it to 0 to disable auto color
adjustment.
Image Size – Zoom: One way to set the factor that Topaz Moment will increase
the image’s resolution by. If Zoom is selected and set to 2.0, e.g., the size of the captured
image will be twice as large, both horizontally and vertically, as the original
video frame size.
Image Size – Resize To: The dimensions (in pixels) that Topaz Moment will resize
the image to.
Cropping: How much Topaz Moment should chop off the original frame. It is used to crop out black/bad border of
DVD movies or some videos.
Save Multiple Frames as
Tiles:
This
option will capture a batch of frames as tiles in a single image. The option
determines the number of tiles on an image. Great for examining the progression
of the video.
Topaz Moment also allows you to have
full control over output. Adjusting the saving options will change the
destination for the resulting image file. The user may also select different
ways to preview the file.
Save Image Options: Contains two options. The first specifies to what directory the
enhanced frame will be saved to. Click Browse…
to choose one.
The second part specifies to what
filename the enhanced frame will be attributed to. “Basename” is the filename
you entered for the first option. The following letters correspond to year,
month, day, hour, minute, and second, respectively. Thus, a still with basename
“enhancedimage” captured on 3/15/2006
at 3:50:34 PM would be
saved as “enhancedimage_20060315155034.”
Batch Save Options: Batch capturing allows the user to capture and enhance a frame every
few seconds.
Start From: adjusts the exact time, in seconds,
into the video that the batch capturing starts from.
Start from current video position: checking this box will start batch capturing at the current
frame.
Capture every ___ sec: Adjusts the interval between which
Topaz Moment captures images.
Capture___ frames in total: how many frames are batch captured.
Image Sent To:
Specifies which program to open the enhanced still in. The default is Windows
Picture/Fax Viewer, but the user can set it to None or choose a custom program for it to open in (such as
Photoshop).
You can use menu "File>open DVD" to play a DVD
disk and capture stills normally. However, the step back button is not working
and you may not capture the frame that you paused on.
If you need to step back and capture
the exact frame you pause on, use menu "File>Open file…" instead. Select the DVD drive\Video_TS
directory. In there are are files such as "VTS_01_xxx.VOB". Each VOB file is usually a chapter of the DVD
movie. Select a .VOB file to open. Now you can step back and forth and select
the exact frame you want to capture, then click the capture button.
Thumbnails essentially are many
images printed thumbnail-style as one image. These allow the user to view
different frames in one image.
To take a thumbnail picture of video,
use menu “File | Save Thumbnails As…”
Batch capturing allows the user to capture,
enhance, and save multiple distinct frames of a video. In order to capture a
batch of images, first click on the Settings button and then the Save Options.
Select the appropriate options (see Chapter 4) and then click
OK.
Then, in order to start your batch
capture, go to File à Batch Save Images.
While not part of the Topaz Moment
code, the following options nevertheless have an important effect upon your
result. Incorrect settings may reduce capture quality or cause other problems.
The following screenshot shows the location
of these settings:
Make sure that each of the following
settings are set correctly for Topaz Moment to operate at maximum efficiency.
Output
The Output
panel takes user-inputted information about your computer and applies it to the
player to allow the user to view the video. When the display area is black or
plays videos with a colored line down the middle, it’s a sign that these
settings are not set correctly.
If you don’t know exactly what
settings your computer has, then just experiment with different settings until
you get a satisfactory video. Make sure
to exit Topaz Moment and re-launch it after change a setting (sometimes, the
new setting only take effect after re-launch Topaz Moment.)
Internal Filter
In the
Internal Filter panel there is only one thing that needs to pay attention. Under
Transform Filters, double-click MPEG-2 Video.
In the MPEG-2 Video properties, make
sure that the Deinterlacing option is set on Weave. Incorrectly setting this may affect the quality of the video
capture. This setting only affects DVD
or other video based on MPEG2 compression.
Topaz Moment V3.101 supports command
line options that allows you to invoke Topaz Moment from other programs. You can use it to integrate video still capturing
process into your workflow. Here is a
complete list of the command line options.
You can get this by using menu “Help|Command Line Switches…” in Topaz
Moment.
Here is an example of using command
line options:
tmntpro.exe
<video> /batch 100,4.5,10.5 /saveto <imagepath> /capparam
2.5,25,50,80,85 /play /close
With above, Topaz Moment will capture
stills from video file <video>, starting at 10.5 second, capturing a
still image every 4.5 seconds and up to 100 images in total, and saving the
captured image as <imagepath>_ssss.jpg.
The captured imaged will be 2.5x of original video resolution, noise
suppression is set at level 25%, sharpening at 50%, auto level adjustment at
80% and auto color adjustment at 80%.
Here is another example:
tmntpro.exe
<video> /batch 100,0,10.5 /saveto <imagepath> /capparam
2.5,25,50,80,85 /play /close
With above, Topaz Moment will capture
stills from video file <video>, starting at 10.5 second, and capture 100
images in total over the whole video.
In Topaz Moment, Production Edition, TM Batch will use these command line
options to invoke Topaz Moment for capturing large number of videos in batch
mode.
TM Batch automatically captures large numbers of
still images from multiple video files. It's used for capturing stills
every few seconds overnight from multiple videos. It is perfect for establish an image database
from a collection of videos.
Usage of TM Batch usually involves the
following steps:
- Set Options: Click the
"Options..." button to open Options dialog. The setting
you selected will be the default setting when you add a video into the job
list. Jobs already in the jobs list will not be affected.
- Add videos into the job list: Three
ways:
- Use
button "Add a Video File...", which allows you to select one
video.
- Use
button "Add All in Folder...", which allows you to select a
folder and at all the videos in that fold into the job list.
- Use
Windows Explorer, select one or multiple video files, and drag and drop
them into the job list. This is usually the most convenient way.
- Change settings for individual video (Optional):
Double click on a video in the job list to open a dialog box
where you can change capture settings for that video.
- Start batch capture: Click the
"START" button, which will start the batch capturing process. TM
Batch invokes Topaz Moment for each video and captures the still according
to the settings.
You may also do the followings:
- Save Batch Jobs:
Click "Save Batch..." to save the current job list into a file
for your later use. We recommend that you do this every time before
you start capturing. This will save you the effort of
adding videos and changing parameters if something goes wrong
during capture.
- Load Batch Jobs:
Click "Load Batch..." to load a saved job list.
Please check out website http://www.topazlabs.com periodically for program
update, FAQ, or articles.
Please also email us at support@topazlabs.com if you have
further questions.
