Using VirtualDub - Removing Logos

[jmet]

In this guide I will show you how to remove logos and other watermark images (such as the Fox logo on TV) with VirtualDub and the De-logo Filter.

Software you will need:

1. <a href="http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/showsoftware_virtualdub_346.html">VirtualDub</a>
2. <a href="http://files.digital-digest.com/downloads/files/virtualdub/delogo132.zip">De-logo Filter</a> (to install, extract the delogo.vdf to your VirtualDub "plugins" directory, eg. "c:\program Files\VirtualDub\plugins")
3. <a href="http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Trials/Login&pid=1047025487586&cid=1047025490241&trkid=go oglepsp">Paint Shop Pro</a> or similar photo editing program

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Start up VirtualDub and load your avi file that has the logo you wish to remove. After you have loaded it, click "File", then "File Information...". Write down the size of the video (red box). Then click "OK". (Screen Shot Below)



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You will need 3 good images of the video.

The first one is very simple, just open your photo imaging program (I used Paint Shop Pro but, almost any will do such as "Paint"). Create a new image the exact same size as what you wrote down earlier (red). Make it all white (blue). Name it "frame1" and save it as a .BMP file. (Screen Shot Below)

[jmet]

Using VirtualDub - Removing Logos

Now its time to create the second image you will need. For the second image we just need a good clean shot of the logo on a black background. In the VirtualDub window, move the slider until you see a good image of the logo on a black background. Once you find one, click "Video", then click "Copy source frame to clipboard". (Screen Shot Below)



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After that open your imaging program and click "Edit", then click "Paste" or "Paste as a New Image". Then name it "frame2" and save it as a .BMP file. (Screen Shot Below)

[jmet]

Using VirtualDub - Removing Logos

Now we need to make our third and final image needed to remove the logo. Here we are going to take the last image made and color in the logo "red". What I did was open the image in Paint Shop Pro and I zoomed in at %1500. That way I could replace just the logo pixels with a "red" pixel and not get in to the movie frame but, a red box over the logo will also work. It just won't look as good. (Screen Shot Below)



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After you finish, your image should look like this or similar. Be sure to save it with this filename "analysisframe" and save as .BMP . (Screen Shot Below)

[jmet]

Using VirtualDub - Removing Logos

Now go back to your VirtualDub screen, click "File", then click "Close video file". (Screen Shot Below)



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[jmet]

Using VirtualDub - Removing Logos

After you click "Close video file" it will return you back to the main VirtualDub screen. From here, click "File" again, then click "Open video file..." and select the first frame you created (red) then click "OK" (blue). (Screen Shot Below)



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Now click "Video" at the top, then click "Filters...". The "Filters" screen will now pop up (red), from here click the "Add" button (blue) and select "DeLogo 1.3.2" (green), then click "OK" (gold) . (Screen Shot Below)

[jmet]

Using VirtualDub - Removing Logos

The DeLogo filter screen should now pop up. There is a few things we need to do here. First is load the "analysisframe.bmp" you made earlier in the "Analyse" box via the "Load" button (red). After that, click the "Show Preview" (The button will say "Hide Preview" when Show Preview is activated) button at the bottom left (blue). After that, click the "Sample frame" button (green). After that, use the preview browse window to move one frame forward (you can press this key to automatically move forward one frame - black) (gold), then press sample frame again (green). (Screen Shot Below)



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After you get done with the previous step, make sure you "Save" each "Mask Property" before you do anything else! Just click the "Save as..." button and save it somewhere on your hard drive. (red). *Important* Next slide the "Alpha to repair" slider to the left until it says "0" (blue). Now with the preview window still showing, slide the "DeBlend shift" & "DeBlend falloff" until the logo disappears (green). When you get finished, click the "Close" button (gold), then click the "OK" button on the next screen. (Screen Shot Below)

[jmet]

Using VirtualDub - Removing Logos

Well, we only took the logo off 1 frame. We need to do the whole video now. Go ahead and click "File", then "Open video file" and open up your file that you are removing the logo from. When you first open it up, it may appear the logo is already gone but, its not gone from all the frames. To get rid of the logo in all frames, we need to scan through the video and make note of where the logo appears and when it disappears for a commercial or whatever if your video has commercials etc.

The logo in my video started at frame 29 and ended at frame 4220. So I clicked "Video" at the top, then "Filters", then I clicked on "DeLogo" , then the "Configure" button. Here I set the frames I wanted to remove the logo from, (ie. 29-4220) (red). Then I clicked "Close" (blue). (Screen Shot Below)




If the video file has commercials or the logo appears then disappears at certain spots, just write down where the logo appears and at what frame it disappears and enter it in accordingly. If the logo starts at frame 400 and is on the screen until frame 10000 we will note this as 400-10000. Now say it comes back from commercial and the logo re-appears at 13500 and stays there until 22356 when there is another commercial break. Note this as well and keep going until you've covered the whole video. Now go to "video" again, choose "filters" click on Delogo (it's already applied) and where it says "on frames" we will type in the frames we want processed. In our example the logo began on frame 400 to 10000. Enter it as 400-1000, then a comma, and the next set. Our example would look like this: 400-10000,13500-22356, etc etc.

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DO NOT modify anything!! Do not click any button before you click the "Close" button. Don't reload the analyze frame or ANY other of the masks we saved earlier. DO NOT preview the video and press the "sample frame" button, if you do, it will mess up all the work we have done and you will have to start over!

Ok, now press "close", then press "OK" and check out your logo less video. You may now cut out your commercials or whatever else you may need to do.

DONE! Enjoy your logo less video! (Screen Shot Below)

[anonymez]

jmet, i apologize if i'm not supposed to post in this thread (in that case, please delete this post )

but could you post links to larger before-after images?

[jmet]

I don't have the orginial image anymore. I will try to create another one.

(posting in this thread is fine)

[anonymez]

here's some from another method, using 'X-logo' with virtualdub. in aus we get translucent watermarks, makes for almost perfectly clean removal. don't know much about foreign networks and their logos though














this uses bitmap on pure black

[ajp]

awsome thread, I will give this a try later tonight.

[South]

Is it ok to ask questions here about this topic/thread?

[LT. Columbo]

.

(posting in this thread is fine)

[South]

Sorry i´ve missed what "jmet" wrote about posting.

I´ve tried to follow the guide to the end,but i must have done something wrong.So if someone could help me through this guide step by step,i would be glad.

First i can say that i have captured this original flash video and i have saved it as (avi).

My problem is that i would like to remove some logos/marks,take a look at it and tell me what you think about my thoughts.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8670/visning13nm.png

[anonymez]

the logo at the bottom-right can be improved, the other two don't stand much of a chance, unless you're happy with a big blurry, colourful mess in place of them.

if this is a one-off thing, ie you won't need to remove the same logo again, imho it's not worth the effort preparing a logo bmp for it, but:

first question: is there a scene in the video where the logo is on uniform black?