Repair Frame Node

Repair Frame replaces damaged or missing frames or portions of frames with scratches or other temporally transient artifacts. It requires three frames: the repair frame and two neighboring frames. An Optical Flow node is not required for generating motion vectors since the Repair Frame node computes the optical flow. However, this can make it slow to process.

Repair Frame will not pass through, but rather destroys, any aux channels after the computation is done.

See the Optical Flow node for controls and settings information.

Repair Frame Node Inputs

There are two inputs on the Repair Frame node. One is used to connect a 2D image that will be repaired and the other is for an effect mask.

• Input: The orange input is used for the primary 2D image that will be repaired.
• Effect Mask: The blue input is for a mask shape created by polylines, basic primitive shapes, paint strokes, or bitmaps from other tools. Connecting a mask to this input limits the repairs to certain areas.

Repair Frame Node Setup

The Repair Frame node analyzes the incoming MediaIn node and repairs single frame issues like dust or scratches.

Repair Frame Node Controls Tab

The Controls tab includes options for how to repair the frames. It also includes controls for adjusting the optical flow analysis, identical to those controls in the Optical Flow node.

Depth Ordering
The Depth Ordering determines which parts of the image should be rendered on top by selecting either Fastest On Top or Slowest On Top. The examples below best explain these options.

In a locked-off camera shot where a car is moving through the frame, the background does not move, so it produces small, or slow, vectors, while the car produces larger, or faster, vectors.

The depth ordering in this case is Fastest On Top since the car draws over the background.

In a shot where the camera pans to follow the car, the background has faster vectors, and the car has slower vectors, so the Depth Ordering method is Slowest On Top.

Clamp Edges
Under certain circumstances, this option can remove the transparent gaps that may appear on the edges of interpolated frames. Clamp Edges causes a stretching artifact near the edges of the frame that is especially visible with objects moving through it or when the camera is moving.

Because of these artifacts, it is a good idea to use clamp edges only to correct small gaps around the edges of an interpolated frame.

Edge Softness
This slider is displayed only when Clamp Edges is enabled. The slider helps to reduce the stretchy artifacts that might be introduced by Clamp Edges.

If you have more than one of the Source Frame and Warp Direction checkboxes turned on, this can lead to doubling up of the stretching effect near the edges. In this case, you’ll want to keep the softness rather small at around 0.01. If you have only one checkbox enabled, you can use a larger softness at around 0.03.

Source Frame and Warp Direction
These checkboxes allow you to choose which frames and vectors create the in-between frames. Each method ticked on will be blended into the result.

• Prev Forward: Takes the previous frame and uses the Forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
• Next Forward: Takes the next frame in the sequence and uses the Forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
• Prev Backward: Takes the previous frame and uses the Back Forward vector to interpolate the new frame.
• Next Backward: Takes the next frame in the sequence and uses the Back vector to interpolate the new frame.

Optical Flow Options
These settings tweak the optical flow analysis. See the Classic and Advanced Controls section for the Optical Flow node.

Repair Frame Node Settings Tab

The Settings tab in the Inspector is also duplicated in other Optical Flow nodes. These common controls are described in detail in the Optical Flow Nodes Settings Tab.

About the Author

Justin Robinson is a Certified DaVinci Resolve, Fusion & Fairlight instructor who is known for simplifying concepts and techniques for anyone looking to learn any aspect of the video post-production workflow. Justin is the founder of JayAreTV, a training and premade asset website offering affordable and accessible video post-production education. You can follow Justin on Twitter at @JayAreTV YouTube at JayAreTV or Facebook at MrJayAreTV