Topaz Labs LLC

A Video Enhancement Company

 

 

Topaz Moment V3.4 PE

      (Production Edition)

User’s Guide

 

November 2007

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2006,2007 Topaz Labs LLC.  All rights reserved.

www.topazlabs.com


Contents

 

1 Introduction.................................................................................................................... - 1 -

2 Getting Started............................................................................................................. - 2 -

3 Keyboard short-cuts.................................................................................................. - 5 -

4 Enhancement Options.................................................................................................. - 6 -

5 Save Options..................................................................................................................... - 8 -

6 Capturing From DVD DISK.......................................................................................... - 10 -

7 Thumbnails...................................................................................................................... - 11 -

8 Batch Capturing.......................................................................................................... - 13 -

9 Other Settings.............................................................................................................. - 14 -

10 cmdline Options.......................................................................................................... - 18 -

11 TM Batch......................................................................................................................... - 20 -

12 More Information...................................................................................................... - 22 -

 

 

 


1 Introduction

 

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 

 


2 Getting Started

 

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.

Text Box: ^ Open File                                      Quick Open File >.

With Open File, you can select multiple files to open by pressing Browse, then holding Shift or Ctrl while selecting different videos.

 

                                                                                                                                                          

            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.

 

 


3 Keyboard short-cuts

 

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.

4 Enhancement Options

 

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.


5 Save Options

 

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).

 


 

6 Capturing From DVD DISK

 

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.


 

7 Thumbnails

 

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…”

 

 


8 Batch Capturing

 

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.


9 Other Settings

 

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.


10 cmdline Options

 

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.

 

 


11 TM Batch

 

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:

  1. 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.
  2. Add videos into the job list: Three ways:
    1. Use button "Add a Video File...", which allows you to select one video.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

12  More Information

 

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.