VapourWiki — Audion VS Engine preset reference (EN)

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.

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)