New software to fix shaky videos

If you shot a shaky video while cycling or climbing, a new software can fix that.

If you shot a shaky video while cycling or climbing, a new software can fix that.

The software analyses footage and creates new frames to smooth out camera jumps.

First-person videos shot on wearable cameras such as the GoPro are popular, said Microsoft researchers, but could be 'dead boring' to watch at normal speed and almost unwatchable when sped up, because of the exaggerated camera-shake that caused.

While image-stabilisation software is already available, such programmes typically do a poor job of coping with sped-up footage of any significant length, the scientists said in a webpage documenting their work.

To solve the problem, the 'hyperlapse' software, developed by Johannes Kopf, Michael Cohen and Richard Szeliski, subjects footage to a three-stage process.

First, a video is analysed to spot significant features in each scene and create a very approximate reconstruction of the part of the world the camera travelled through, 'BBC News' reported.

The second stage works out the smoothest path the camera could take through this virtual reconstruction.

Lastly, a film is rendered in which the camera travels this smoother path.

Extra frames are generated and added to remove jumps in the original footage and to fill in around the smooth path of the camera.