Marco Solorio reviews: RE:Vision Effects, ReelSmart Twixtor with FieldsKit Deinterlacer

Marco Solorio reviews: RE:Vision Effects, ReelSmart Twixtor with FieldsKit Deinterlacer

Marco Solorio July 30, 2023

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Originally published December, 2002

Not even Einstein could have made a time machine as good as this one!

Looking at traditional methods of time-remapping, frame-rate conversions and other spatial continuum methods, we'll see how the popular Twixtor plugin compares to the task at hand. The results are interesting with some surprising results. We'll also look at the ways Twixtor works well with its sister plugin, ReelSmart FieldsKit . Those looking into film-look conversion techniques will especially benefit from this review.

Developer Spotlight: It's safe to say that Pete Litwinowicz and Pierre Jasmin, the creators of the ReelSmart plugins, are a couple of pretty smart guys. They've developed a process in which their plugins look at pixel information and interpolates new data based on morphing algorithms as opposed to traditional frame-blending methods. And best of all, the new data that is created is formulated from areas of the image that need it, leaving the areas that don't need it untouched, thus preserving the integrity of the shot with as less interpolation loss as possible. Now that's Reel Smart !

About Twixtor Let's first look at the basics surrounding the Twixtor plugin. You'll be hard pressed to find an application that won't run Twixtor. Supported applications include Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Shake, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Discreet Combustion, Discreet Flame, Avid, Pinnacle Commotion, Quantel generationQ and Eyeon Digital Fusion. Supported operating systems include Mac OS 7.5 to OSX, Windows 95 to XP and Irix 6.5 and up. Now that's compatibility! For the full low-down on product support, visit the RE:vision compatibility page. The process of this review will be using Twixtor in Adobe After Effects 5.5 on OSX.

Twixtor comes in two flavors: a standard version ($329.00 USD) and a Pro version ($495.00 USD). Note that some applications (e.g., Shake and Avid) only offer a Pro version with slight price reconfiguration. Some applications also support Render Node support ($165.00 to 198.00 USD). There are also upgrade offers from the Standard version to the Pro version ($165.00) for applications that support the Standard version.

The Pro version adds 16-bit rendering support (for applications that support it, like Adobe After Effects), which to me is the biggest reason to go for the Pro version since I work with nothing but 10-bit uncompressed files in 16-bit After Effects projects in Trillions mode . Also in the Pro version is the ability for Twixtor to assign the foreground/background setting with a matte so Twixtor knows which portion of the image comprise a foreground object(s) and which areas comprise a background object(s) that move in dissimilar directions (including the possibility of one object(s) staying static). This function can prove vital for those really tough clips with intricate motion circumstances.

The prime cut to this beefy plugin is it's ability to change the speed of a clip (either constant or keyframed) and to change frame-rate speeds. As noted from the RE:Vision Effects website:

ReelSmart Twixtor enables you to speed up, slow down or frame rate convert your image sequences with visually stunning results. In order to achieve its unparalleled image quality, Twixtor synthesizes unique new frames by warping and interpolating frames of the original sequence employing RE:Vision's proprietary tracking technology that calculates motion for each individual pixel.

This is very important to understand because Twixtor doesn't merely frame-blend the motion together like traditional methods (although the option to do that is there).

Getting started with the plugin The first thing you'll encounter when using Twixtor for the first time is its inherently high learning curve. Even seasoned compositing pros might find the plugin a little daunting at first. But rest assured that given the time and patience, you'll soon grasp the concepts, functions and power of Twixtor. It's really a matter of getting familiar with the plugin terms and function relationships/differences. Download all the Twixtor tutorials, study and fiddle around with them. I found this the best way to get accustomed to the plugin as my initial ideas of controlling the parameters were way off target. Don't waste time trying to figure it out on your own like I first did download the tutorials, read the manual and you'll be much happier in the end!

The biggest thing to understand when using Twixtor is how to initially treat the footage you import in. For example, when you import a clip into After Effects, the default settings for the clip will most likely be set to either Upper Field First or Lower Fields First . You must change the Separate Fields setting to Off for Twixtor so it can fully use both fields of information from the clip. My initial lack of desire to read the manual and play with the tutorials (but over ambitious desire and excitement to just start playing with the plugin ) transcended into results that I referred to as, ewww why does this look so bad?!! In fact, failure in going through the manuals and tutorials may make you utter words like, man, this plugin sucks! In reality, proper education will result in words like, man, this plugin rocks my world!

Next on the to-do list of items is deinterlacing the footage. Even if you're bringing interlaced footage in and spit it back out to the same exact frame-rate with interlacing, Twixtor still deinterlaces the footage in order for it to properly work its magic. This can be done in two ways. The easy way is to have Twixtor deinterlace the footage using its own simple deinterlacing function. The be

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