wow I think "looks good" doesnt even do it justice.
Considering All variables (base quality, limitations etc etc..) Imo this is absolutely fantastic.
Hope you end up doing all of them in this quality. Please do!
This is awesome! Wow, such qualityWhen Kaiser and Maki are both hype, you're doing something VERY right 8-)
you didn't turn the sound into a distorted mess eitherAudio tracks are from PS1 release. Then compressed to OGG at CBR 320kbps for quality reasons. Most FMVs are pretty short and the size difference between VBR at eg. target 128kbps is not big, so I decided I'll go for the MaximumTM quality.
still a bit too blurry in some spot but that's huge progress for an automatic upscale..I managed to get some sharper results in some cases, but it was a mixed bag. Sometimes the objects/characters became so sharp that they didn't really fit into the background (halo-like artifacts along contours). Like they didn't belong in the scene. I tried to avoid that whenever I could.
I wonder if different upscale methods would give sharper results and that could help using animated mask to blend between different type of upscales.. that would require a lot of roto-masking but it could work maybe..Yes, I actually thought about that. For example, some models give sharper looking characters but destroy the backgrounds by turning them into oversharpened mess. Other models produce great looking backgrounds, but the characters are blurry. So it would be the best to somehow auto-combine them together to achieve the MaximumTM quality ;)
Hope you don't mind I uploaded it to YoutubeNot at all.
Those are pretty sharp looking FMV's, what ESRGAN models are you using?I use a lot of different models, software and techniques on every single frame within a scene (and some FMVs have a lot of different scenes, sometimes I use different models between the scenes, for example, I used completely different methods for upscaling the waves from the intro FMV, different ESRGAN models for Seifer vs Squall fight etc.) Like I said before, it's a trial and error process to figure out what model/technique combination works best for that specific scene. And it's very time and PC resource consuming (I hope my GPU won't die on me, since it's working some crazy hours at 100% every day :-D)
Me and MCINDUS made a custom model. I've done about 98% of FMV's upscaled to 4k, we could work together and achieve a quicker release.
I use models from here:
https://upscale.wiki/wiki/Model_Database
JPG PlusULTRA, DeJpeg Fatality PlusULTRA, ISO denoise v1 among others. Sometimes one of them, sometimes all of them. So one frame of FMV can undergo 3-5 different ESRGAN models. IIRC overall there are about 16k frames for Disc 01 alone. It takes a lot of time for sure. Sometimes I use them directly on source BINK PNGs, sometimes I upscale first and then denoise/deblock to achieve the best quality.
Absolutely incredible. What you're doing to these FMVs is the same level of awesome as Jusete's work on FF7 fields.Thanks, but please, let's not overhype my project to avoid disappointment ;) Still images look great, but remember that in motion and with higher compression rate it might not look as good. So let's just manage our expectations :wink: I think Jusete's work is on another level compared to this little project of mine.
because for now only the psx version have the decent fmvWell, the original PC version overall had better FMV quality than the PS1 release. It was twice the resolution and (I think) it was rendered again for the PC release (some videos have different amount of frames, which I have to take into account when matching the audio from PS1). The only problem is worse macroblocking in motion compared to the PS1 release because BINK wasn't very good at handling fast motion AFAIK.
or better yet. open a patreon. you deserved to be compensated.I don't know the first thing about how to set up a Patreon and I don't think enough people would even be willing to donate anyway. Not to mention the extra pressure. For now passion is going to fuel my efforts :lol:
I encoded the intro FMV at 7mbps (2x upscale) and 14mbps (4x upscale). As usual, audio is from PS1 version encoded at 320kbps. I feel that the files are still a bit too big for the final release, but for now it's ok. 'Movies' directory is about 0,98GB in the remaster, so with the same compression ratio it would be about 3,05 GB for 2x upscale and 6,1 GB for 4x upscale. Seems like too much.Are you saying just the intro movie would be 3GB, or you're estimating the finished pack would be? Obviously your codec choice will play a large role in how big the files end up being, but if you aim for compatibility with FFNx, you've pretty much got the whole world of choices (including x264)
Would be nice if you could give us a download link for the FMVs in the ballroom as well.^^You mean this?
If you can please do the "Rinoa in space" and the ending scene next? I need that detailed view on that ring. A friend of mine is working in a crafting project about that.I haven't extracted FMVs from other discs yet, unfortunately. The entire project takes about 275 GB (yup) on my HDD already and I'm slowly running out of space (I'll probably have to buy a new HDD soon ;D), so I'd rather finish disc_00 FMVs first before ripping and upscaling FMVs from other discs. I'll also have to delete some of the failed attempts, which is a shame (since I could learn from them), but the damn thing just takes way too much space.
Are you saying just the intro movie would be 3GB, or you're estimating the finished pack would be? Obviously your codec choice will play a large role in how big the files end up being, but if you aim for compatibility with FFNx, you've pretty much got the whole world of choices (including x264)The entire thing would be about 3GB at 2x and 6GB at 4x. As for the codec, the game only accepts VP8 which isn't great (VP9 is much better). I tried H264, HEVC, VP9 but the game always crashed. FFNx? Isn't that for the 2013 Steam Release? Unfortunately, I don't own that version of the game.
what about the distortion and transition effect at the start of the bosses battles i mentioned ? is there anyone else who noticed that it doesn't exist in ANY of the pc version?I don't know if anything can be done about that, sorry.
I kinda noticed that faces tends to get blurred/distorted sometimes and that gave me an idea...Like a deepfake?
You're using AI for upscale purpose but would it be possible to use machine-learning face-swapping technologies to fix those faces?
We kinda have a lot of near shots of many character faces and I wonder if a trained model of Rinoa or Squall could help when upscaling a "small face" since we can't pretend miracles when we start from a very few pixels..
It's just an idea but I think it could work.
Like a deepfake?Yeah exactly! I do think it may save some time if it works..I played with one of those tools once just to see how it works and they should be able to "find the faces" and export already masked replacement frames (with transparency) with not too many steps..
The entire thing would be about 3GB at 2x and 6GB at 4x. As for the codec, the game only accepts VP8 which isn't great (VP9 is much better). I tried H264, HEVC, VP9 but the game always crashed. FFNx? Isn't that for the 2013 Steam Release? Unfortunately, I don't own that version of the game.Size - That's not too bad... cmh175's FF7 movie pack weighed in at 3.5GB, though I'm not sure if it's a 2x or 4x. Either way, you're right in the ballpark.
I don't know if anything can be done about that, sorry.
Ok got it from Darziak's version (file name is disc02_20h). Increased gamma levels a bit. Here's the result:I tried some of the models and this is what I got:
https://imgur.com/a/BNZWM4N
I wish I had more detailed pictures and more fmv showing the ring though.