Restoration tools

[Thomas Singh]

Anyone know what happened to the restoration tool that once came bundled with DaVinci? Or at least I think it was an option to integrate it with with the first version for some extra bucks. What are the most used tools for restoration today?

[Margus Voll]

Some use the DVS tools with Nucoda for that here.

[Andy Minuth]

Most people use dedicated restoration software.

Digital Vision Phoenix 

PFClean

MTI DRS NOVA

HS-ART DIAMANT

These are the main players as far as I know. Some people use compositing tools like Nuke.

[Thomas Singh]

Revival it was, couldn't remember the name at the moment. Never had the chance to use it, I think it was only an optional add on on the absolute first versions. I will look into the dust-busting feature, sounds interesting. 

Thank you for the great list of softwares Andy, will check those out as well. 

[Frank Wylie]

Thomas,

I spoke to BM about Revival about 3 years ago and they said they will not be retooling it for general release;  just using some of the code for integration into the DR suite.

As to the dustbusting feature, as Remco notes, it only works on files in .DPX format, and I have found it to have a very real limitation on the size of the repair that can be made without introducing artifacts.  You have a limited number of options to choose from which frame to steal pixels for the repair (prior to or after the target frame) and the frames you correct are permanently altered once you save your project.  Undo is only available between saves and undo tends to undo ALL repairs prior to the last save, so you have to be careful when and where you do save the project.

I tend to make up to 3 repair before I save a project.  I once made the mistake of making about 20 repairs and then hit undo (which is NOT the typical undo for DR, but a separate undo in the drop down menu) and was a very unhappy camper!

Also, be aware that if you are working with optimized media or proxies, the dustbusing repair is NOT shown on the active frame buffer, as you will be looking at a proxy that does not reflect changes in the original file!  So, you will find yourself trying to repeatedly remove the same spec of dirt until you turn off the proxies, and then magically, it will disappear and show you the artifacts of multiple dust removal attempts!

You could, of course, re-generate proxies on a shot by shot basis as you go through the project to reflect the repairs in the active color grading buffer, but you'll need to keep careful notes as to which shots have been re-generated.

Hope this helps (and makes sense,  only had one cup of coffee so far...)

Frank