VapourWiki — Audion VS Engine preset reference (EN)

Contents

• Before you start: install the engine
• Decision tree — which preset for which task
• PRECISION palette — technical pipeline (8 presets)
• FILM_LOOKS palette — film emulations (5 presets)
• RETRO palette — analog character (2 presets)
• RESTORATION palette — heavy guns (7 presets, Phase 18.B + NNEDI3 2x)
• Smoke / bench status
• Encoders — my patterns
• More — full reference

Full English reference for all 22 presets across 4 palettes. Starts with a decision tree ("which preset for which task"). Followed by detailed per-preset description: what it does, on what footage, key parameters, recommended encoder.

Per-preset docstrings live inside each .vpy file in system_core/presets/<palette>/. This document is the navigation-friendly companion.

Before you start: install the engine

The build ships without VapourSynth and its plugins — some seventy modules, each under its own licence. The program installs them itself, from their authors.

Until that is done, not one of the presets described below will run.

Run builder_main.cmd and pick, in order: VAPOURSYNTH (10), VS PLUGINS (11). The order matters: plugins need the engine already in place.

Decision tree — which preset for which task

Read top to bottom: the first matching case is your preset.

Pipeline scenarios (multiple presets chained via apply-profile-batch or manually):

PRECISION palette — technical pipeline (8 presets)

Menu order = pipeline order: Stage 1 (denoise) → Stage 2 (deband) → Stage 3 (compositions).

Stage 1 — denoise

mild_denoise — gentle universal denoise

DFTTest spectral denoiser. Pure CPU, hardware-agnostic — works the same on any processor. Recommended as a first pick when you don't know much about the footage: light noise, small touch-up, low risk.

• Parameters: strength = light (sigma=4.0) / medium (8.0) / strong (14.0)
• Encoder: h264_crf17 or h264_crf14 for archival quality
• Adobe/DaVinci equivalent: only Temporal NR / Noise Reduction, much coarser result

shadow_denoise_sota ⭐ — flagship shadow denoiser

BM3D with float32 pipeline + smooth luma-mask "shadows only". Noise is suppressed only in zones below shadow_threshold, the rest of the image is untouched. Chroma planes are always denoised (chroma noise is ugly everywhere). Optional micro-grain return via grain_back so shadows don't look "plastic".

• Parameters: sigma=2.5 (BM3D luma), use_cuda=0/1, grain_back=0.6, shadow_threshold=0.20, transition=0.10
• On NVIDIA: --use-cuda 1 gives 25–35% wall-time gain on 4K
• Encoder: h264_crf17 / prores_lt
• Not in NLE: zone-targeted denoise with smooth blend, no cheap "threshold mask"

chroma_cleanup — chroma-only cleanup

DFTTest on planes=[1,2]. Luma untouched. Use when "blue channel is dirty" (typical issue of old compact cameras, low-bitrate AVCHD).

• Parameters: strength = light / medium / strong
• Encoder: h264_crf17
• Not in NLE: pure chroma-only DFTTest with no luma side-effects

Stage 2 — deband

deband_safe — safe deband

neo_f3kdb with light settings, no grain. Removes banding in gradients (sky, walls, night lighting) without losing sharpness.

• Parameters: range=15, y=64, cb=64, cr=64
• Encoder: h264_crf17 / h265_crf17

deband_fine_grain — deband + fine grain restore

Same neo_f3kdb + AddGrain. After debanding a thin monotonic grain is added — prevents the "too clean" look (signature of cheap compression).

• Parameters: range=15, grain_var=1.5
• Encoder: prores_lt (for downstream grading)

Stage 3 — compositions

filmic_rebuild ⭐ — flagship composition

Full chain: BM3D denoise → neo_f3kdb deband → 3-zone luma grain (shadows / midtones / highlights). Grain is zoned — heavier in shadows (like real film), lighter in highlights. Recommended as a "one preset for everything" on filmic material.

• Parameters: sigma=2.0, use_cuda=0/1, deband_range=14, grain_shadow=1.5, grain_mid=0.9, grain_high=0.4, shadow_threshold=0.30, high_threshold=0.65
• Encoder: prores_lt / h265_crf17

archive_clean — neutral archival master

DFTTest + neo_f3kdb. No grain. Goal — maximally clean "flat" picture for archival. Don't use if grading is planned (grading works better on grainy material).

• Parameters: denoise=medium, range=15
• Encoder: prores_422hq / prores_422hq_mxf

pregrade_prep — DaVinci handoff

Minimum touch: only light DFTTest. No deband, no grain. Goal — give Resolve the cleanest source so the colorist doesn't grade on top of compression artefacts.

• Parameters: strength=light
• Encoder: prores_lt_mxf (for Adobe / Avid round-trip)

FILM_LOOKS palette — film emulations (5 presets)

Each look uses the shared audion_lib library (MTF softening, halation bloom, zone grain, gamma curve, black-lift, desaturation).

cinematic — universal subtle filmic

Safe default. Light MTF softening + halation + micro-grain. Not tied to any specific stock. Works on any modern digital footage.

• Parameters: intensity=1.0 (range 0..2)
• Encoder: prores_lt / h264_crf17

film_35mm — Kodak 35mm with stock variants

Emulates real Kodak stocks: 250D (daylight), 500T (tungsten), 50D (fine grain). Each stock has its own gamma curve, balance, grain density.

• Parameters: stock=250D|500T|50D, intensity=1.0
• Encoder: prores_lt / prores_lt_mxf

film_16mm — organic, more grainy

Lifted blacks, more pronounced grain, softer than 35mm. Suits documentary / arthouse aesthetic.

• Parameters: intensity=1.0
• Encoder: prores_lt

super8 — strongest look

Heaviest grain, softest optics, faded 70s. For music video / stylized inserts.

• Parameters: intensity=1.0
• Encoder: h264_crf17 (grain already baked in, aggressive compression OK)

bleach_bypass — high contrast desaturated

"Se7en" / "Saving Private Ryan" look. High contrast, silver greys, hot highlights. Strong stylistic choice.

• Parameters: intensity=1.0
• Encoder: prores_lt

RETRO palette — analog character (2 presets)

vhs_crt — VHS / CRT

Chroma bleed (horizontal color spread), soft optics, analog noise. Emulates VHS tape playback on a CRT TV.

• Parameters: intensity=1.2
• Encoder: h264_crf17

camcorder_90s — amateur camcorder

Softer than VHS, slight overexposure, minimal chroma bleed. 90s home video aesthetic.

• Parameters: intensity=1.0
• Encoder: h264_crf17

RESTORATION palette — heavy guns (7 presets, Phase 18.B + NNEDI3 2x)

The set that is missing or poorly implemented in Adobe Premiere / DaVinci Resolve.

qtgmc_deinterlace — reference deinterlace

havsfunc.QTGMC (NNEDI3 + MVTools motion estimation). Reconstructs progressive frames from interlaced source via neural-network upscaling of each field + motion-compensated temporal smoothing. Better than any NLE out-of-the-box.

• Parameters: field_order=tff|bff, qtgmc-preset=Faster|Fast|Medium|Slow|Slower|Placebo, output_fps=single|double
• When to pick: DV, HDV, VHS digitization, broadcast TS, S-VHS / U-matic transfers
• Encoder: prores_lt (for downstream work) or h264_crf17 (final master)

tivtc_ivtc — inverse telecine

TIVTC.TFM (field matching) + TIVTC.TDecimate (drop duplicate). Reference-quality 3:2 pulldown removal: NTSC 29.97i → 23.976p. Restores the original 24p film master from a telecined source.

• Parameters: pp=6 (TFM post-processor), cycle=5, rdrop=1 (standard NTSC pattern)
• When to pick: NTSC DVD, broadcast prints, digitized film transfers
• Encoder: prores_422 / prores_422hq_mxf

mvtools_mcdegrain — motion-compensated denoise

MVTools motion estimation → MDeGrain temporal averaging along motion vectors. Removes noise WITHOUT detail loss — what Topaz Video Enhance AI and Neat Video do internally. DaVinci Temporal NR is a coarse implementation of the same; this is reference-grade.

• Parameters: radius=2 (5-frame window), thsad=200, blksize=16 (HD) / 8 (4K detail)
• When to pick: high-ISO low-light footage, preserving skin texture / fabric detail
• Encoder: prores_lt / h265_crf17

derainbow_decross — NTSC composite cleanup

MVTools-based motion-compensated chroma-only smoothing. Removes rainbow / dot crawl / cross-color on composite-captured footage (VHS-rip, U-matic, BetaSP, S-Video → SDI). Luma untouched.

• Parameters: strength=0.6, blksize=16
• When to pick: digitized VHS, color "running" on thin lines, mosquito noise on B&W edges
• Encoder: prores_lt / h264_crf17

deblock_h264_artefacts — over-compressed rescue

havsfunc.Deblock_QED — edge-aware deblocker for H.264 / MPEG-2 / MPEG-4. Smooths 8x8 block boundaries, ringing around edges, mosquito noise. Edge-aware — does not touch real detail.

• Parameters: quant1=24, quant2=26, aoffset=1, boffset=1
• When to pick: old YouTube-rips, WhatsApp/Telegram re-encodes, low-bitrate SD broadcast TS
• Encoder: h264_crf17 (after deblock the material is cleaner, can re-encode at higher CRF)

dehaze_local_contrast — clarity without halos

Luma-only local contrast via high-pass + zone-weighted MaskedMerge. Zone-mask (parabolic, peaks in midtones) prevents highlight burnout and crushed shadows. No color shift (luma-only). 16-bit math.

• Parameters: strength=1.0, radius=8 (clarity) / 12-16 (haze removal)
• When to pick: hazy footage, flat low-contrast material, want to "wake up" the picture without destroying highlights
• Not in NLE: Resolve "Dehaze" burns highlights and shifts color; this one has no halos
• Encoder: prores_lt (handoff to colorist) or h264_crf17 (final)

nnedi3_upscale_2x — deterministic non-ML 2x upscale

ZNEDI3/NNEDI3-based enlargement through nnedi3_resample. This is the Lite answer for clean, predictable upscaling without MLRT or ONNX models.

• Parameters: quality=fast|balanced|best, chroma=spline36|nnedi3
• When to pick: SD/HD archive material that needs a clean 2x resize without hallucinated ML texture
• Encoder: prores_lt for handoff or h264_crf14 / h265_crf14 for final

Smoke / bench status

install\Bench-AllPresets.{cmd,ps1} walks every .vpy preset through vspipe -c y4m --end <Frames-1> | ffmpeg -f null without writing output files. It checks preset parsing, plugin namespaces, frame delivery, and the CPU/CUDA BM3D path when requested.

Current local references for Lite:

• CPU fallback: 22/22 PASS with Frames=1, Cuda=off (2026-05-16).
• RTX 5070 validation: 30/30 PASS with Frames=1, Cuda=sweep (2026-05-27). The 30 rows are 22 presets plus the extra CPU/CUDA Precision sweep.

copysystem_core\powershell\pwsh.exe -NoLogo -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install\Bench-AllPresets.ps1 -ProjectRoot . -InputFile <video> -Frames 1 -Cuda sweep

Encoders — my patterns

(Audion default workflow per discussion 2026-04-28)

Quality ladder (same 14 / 17 / 21 tiers across software, NVENC, QuickSync, and AMF): 14 → 17 → 21, three distinguishable steps without overlap.

Rule: for any non-final processing → prores_lt / prores_lt_mxf or DNxHR if the receiver prefers it. For final delivery → h264_crf14 / h264_crf17 (software, best density per bit) OR the matching hardware ladder for the host (nvenc, qsv, amf) when wall-time matters.

When to use hardware encode vs software

NVENC requires: NVIDIA driver R525+. Quality: NVENC on Ada/Blackwell (RTX 40/50) is comparable to libx264 medium at the same CQ; on older generations (Pascal/Turing) software CRF wins slightly on bitrate efficiency at the same quality, but NVENC is still many times faster.

More — full reference

• English per-preset reference: docstring in system_core/presets/<palette>/<preset>.vpy
• CLI flags: runtime\python.exe system_core\main.py run --help
• Profiles (cross-palette combinations): runtime\python.exe system_core\main.py list-profiles
• Recursive batch with mirror folder structure: apply-profile-batch --recursive
• Stack health check: runtime\python.exe system_core\doctor.py

Last updated: 2026-05-27 (Phase 18.B + NNEDI3 2x — 22 presets across 4 palettes; CPU fallback smoke 22/22 PASS, Frames=1, Cuda=off; RTX 5070 CUDA smoke 30/30 PASS, Frames=1, Cuda=sweep)