How to denoise video in Scratch — Quick Start Guide

This guide is for Neat Video v5 plug-in for OFX hosts being used with Scratch 9.

If you use another Neat Video plug-in or another video editing application, please select the corresponding quick start guide.

1. Installing the plug-in

To install the Neat Video OFX plug-in:

Make sure you have started Scratch at least once before installing the plug-in. If you have not done it yet, start Scratch and exit it.
Download the installer of Neat Video for OFX hosts:

If you already purchased the product and have a current license for the Pro (or Studio) plug-in, please download the Pro (Studio) plug-in from My Products page
If you want to try Neat Video before purchase, please download the Demo plug-in from Download page

Start the installer:

For Windows:

Double-click the downloaded EXE file to start the installer

For MacOS:

a. Double-click the downloaded DMG file to mount the disk image
b. In the mounted disk image, double-click the Install file to start it
(you may be prompted to enter the Name / Password of the MacOS administrator account)

Proceed through the steps of the installation. Use the default settings offered by the installer. This should automatically make the plug-in available to Scratch.
Start Scratch and in the Plugins Browser dialog go to NeatVideo5 > Neat Video.

If Neat Video has not become available in Scratch, please contact Neat Video support for assistance.

2. Running Neat Video on a sample video clip

Please download the test-kit prepared to help you start using Neat Video. Having downloaded, please unzip it to a new folder on the hard disk.

The test-kit includes a sample video clip: SampleClip.mp4. This is a typical video clip captured by a digital video camera in high-gain mode. Some technical information about the sample clip is available in the SampleClipInfo.txt file.

Please start Scratch and go through the steps below to clean the clip using Neat Video.

2.1. Add the sample clip to the project

1. Configure a new project in Scratch

In the Project Settings window select HD 1920x1080 25p.

2. Add the sample clip file to the project

Click the Media button, then click Import Clips.. button and navigate to the folder with input clip, select SampleClip.mp4 :

Cursor is now the thumbnail of the clip.

Drag the thumbnail to a slot and click there to drop it in the slot area.
Go to the ColorFX page.

The Scratch preview window will display the sample clip and you will see that there is strong noise in it. The task of Neat Video is to reduce this noise.

2.2. Prepare to add Neat Video to the clip

In the Source tab click the Plug-ins.. button.

Scratch will open the Plug-in Browser dialog.
Click the NeatVideo5 > Neat Video in the list of plug-ins. This will show the Reduce Noise v5 icon in the right panel of the dialog.

2.3. Configure Neat Video

1. Open Neat Video plug-in window

Click the Reduce Noise v5 icon in the right panel of the dialog and then click Apply On Node button. This will close the Plugins Browser dialog and will add the plug-in to the clip.
Select a frame for noise analysis using the timeline selector.
Under Controls, click the Prepare Noise Profile button. This will open the main window of Neat Video plug-in.
(If you run the Demo plug-in, click OK in the popup splash screen of the plug-in to proceed further).

The Neat Video plug-in window will open and display the current frame from the clip.

At this point Neat Video will ask to specify the scan type of the clip. Please select Progressive.
Click the Input Data Type button in the bottom of the Neat Video window and select Linear :

2. Build a noise profile for the clip

To reduce noise in this frame and in the whole clip, Neat Video needs a noise profile describing the noise properties of the clip. You can prepare such a profile using the Auto Profile function:

In the Prepare Noise Profile tab click

Neat Video will automatically find an area without details and will analyze noise in that area to build a new noise profile:

Visually inspect the selected area. It should contain no visible details, only noise; otherwise the noise profile and subsequent noise reduction may be inaccurate.

If the selected area does contain any details, then move the selection to a featureless area or simply draw a new selection in such an area (the selection must be at least 32x32 pixels large). Then click the Build Profile button.

After that the noise profile is ready and Neat Video can reduce noise in the clip.

3. Check Preview

Switch to the Adjust and Preview tab

You will notice that Neat Video has already applied noise reduction based on the default filter settings and the preview shows a clearly visible difference: there is less noise than in the original frame.

You can try to adjust the filter settings and see how that affects the results. For example, try to adjust the Temporal Filter > Radius setting (in the Temporal tab in the Filter Settings box in the right part of the window) from 2 to 1 or to a higher value. This will apply weaker or stronger temporal noise reduction to the frame (see the user guide for more details).

4. Apply the changes

Click in the bottom of the plug-in window.

Neat Video will save the current settings and close its main window.
(If you run the Demo plug-in, it will also describe the limitations of the Demo version at this point).

Once this step is completed and Neat Video window is closed, the filter is ready for work.

The Scratch preview window now shows the clip with noise reduction applied to it:

2.4. Render the video

To apply Neat Video noise reduction

Render the clip in the regular Scratch way.

This will automatically apply Neat Video noise reduction to the sample clip and save the result to a new video file on the hard drive. You will then be able to open this new file, evaluate the filtration results and adjust the filter settings if necessary.

Please see the User Guide for more details about adjusting the filter settings and other aspects of using Neat Video.
These Video Tutorials will also help you to get the most out of Neat Video noise reduction.

Get the full version

Happy with the denoising results provided by Neat Video Demo? Then it is time to get a full license for your current and future projects.

Updated on March 29, 2024