Smart Smoother Filter for VirtualDub

This filter performs structure-preserving smoothing (blurring). It is ideal for removing video noise as well as MPG/JPG blocking artifacts. The really exceptional feature is that far from blurring image structure (edges, corners, etc.), it actually sharpens them somewhat! I think you will agree that this is a really awesome smoothing filter. Filter preview is supported.

The following images show the before and after frames for a cartoon clip. The before image exhibits severe MPEG blocking artifacts. The after image is made with diameter 11 and threshold 65. The blocking is totally gone and the image structure is almost perfectly retained.

    

The following options are provided:

Diameter: This option determines the size of the area over which blurring is possible. The bigger it is the slower the filter runs. Use large diameters for blocking artifacts and smaller ones for graininess.

Strength: This option determines how much blurring is done. Use the lowest amount that removes your noise/artifacts.

Interlaced source video: Check this if your source video is interlaced.

Thanks to Avery Lee and Gunnar Thalin for program optimizations. Thanks to Narendra Verma for suggesting that we needed a better smoother.

Version 1.1 [Source code]

Version 1.1 is the first release version and fixes a problem with cropping. Version 1.0 Beta 4 allowed larger thresholds. Beta 3 brought two changes. First, MMX optimization was added, resulting in a large speedup. Second the threshold compare was changed to better retain structure. Beta 2 was a speed improvement.

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