ALIEN and ALIENS Thread...

[gdb]

That space suit Ripley has Hot Toys written all over it. Only wish they had a hot-chick rubber suit to hide her joints so we could get the panty Ripley.

 

[dekadentdave]

Batty, the problem is not with interlaced fields but rather the compression settings you are using when you dither the image down. Those are compression artifacts. I re-captured the exact frame from the DVD and dithered the image down as a jpeg (I noticed you saved yours as a PNG) and set my settings at maximum progressive. I also de-interlaced the fields. There isn't as much jaggedness on the edges although some is naturally inherrent to the pixel resolution of the DVD resolution itself. What capture program are you using? Just make sure you capture at the highest settings possible, then import the image into photoshop or imageready and dither it down to a smaller file size with maximum quality settings. My uncompressed file was 2.3 megabytes but after optimizing it in imageready got it down to a sizeable 375 kilobytes with no visible loss of picture quality. Here's a comparison between yours and mine:

 

[figuremaster_les]

OK, so what grab program are you using DD?
Your's looks GREAT!

 

[dekadentdave]

DVD Capture. I save at maximum resolution. I imported into photoshop, de-interlaced the fields. and then I scaled the image down to 1371x763 (same size as Batty's) then optimized in Imageready to jpeg maximum compression which reduced the file from 2.5 megs down to 375k.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Is there any free DVD capture software?

 

[galactiboy]

Is there any free DVD capture software?

What he said

 

[Batty]

Thanks for all the info, Dave. I use Screenshot Plus for Mac. I think one of the problems is that I'm not downloading right to Photoshop. I'll have to play around with it as soon as I have some time.

 

[Batty]

So, I did a quick test by downloading a shot right into Photoshop. I probably could sharpen the image some more, but I just wanted to try it out. No more jagged pics! Dave, thanks again for the help.

 

[dekadentdave]

Glad it worked for ya!

 

[pjam]

Indeed, even Jonesy would approve!

 

[Wor-Gar]

I want to capture too...

 

[Batty]

I want to capture too...

Sorry, WG, I only know Mac software.

 

[Wor-Gar]

 

[gdb]

I want to capture too...

InterVideo WinDVD has a one click down and dirty screen capture for PCs but it's not the quality of Batty's or decadantdave's efforts...



Unfortunately, this shot of the ETs impeaching General Zod is the closest in my DVD collection to Aliens.

 

[pjam]

Sorry, WG, I only know Mac software.

Pretty cool stuff, what's the program/software which allows you to "insert" a figure into a background screen cap?

 

[dekadentdave]

It's called Photoshop, pjam. It's made by Adobe.

 

[pjam]

Should have known that, thanks Dave

but can you use it for screen caps/grabs off a DVD too?

 

[dekadentdave]

No. You will need an image capture program that can unlock CSS encryption. Do a search. There are dozens of freeware/shareware apps out there that will do screen caps on a pc.

 

[pjam]

Cool beans. Thanks man.

 

[figuremaster_les]

No. You will need an image capture program that can unlock CSS encryption. Do a search. There are dozens of freeware/shareware apps out there that will do screen caps on a pc.

So, DVD Capture, that is the name of the software? Sounds too simple.
Who makes it? Is it at Tucows or some such downloads type place? Can you make a suggestion to a dummy like me?

Sorry, just can't believe it's so simple. Half the reason I got this system (a put together PC system, no brand..) is to get a framegrab capability. I am still using an earier version of Power DVD. It isn't that great, but I am familiar with it. It won't open some DVDs though. Some won't even play in my system. I need shots from Blade Trinity, and some other movies, and no luck at all on them. Newer DVD version stuff mostly.

This gets frustrating for a customizer that must have refs.

But, thanks a lot for the leads so far DD...