Hey RecoveredVet
Okay so the process is something that I'm going to have to do in multiple stages. However the first step is to attain the background artworks. And as you say, that means all of them.
I've not just left a message requesting background scans here, I have also done so at Fans United For SatAM, I've done so in one of the Facebook SatAM communities and I've contacted several private collectors I was able to find personally. I've had a couple of positive replies, but it's all going to take some time - and the biggest struggle is the SatAM community is really very quiet at the moment so the collectors may not have seen the posts or emails yet. I'm contactable at
contact@roryjoscelyne.co.uk if you know of any collectors though.
So the process can sort of answer your followup questions. Let's talk on a single episode basis for now as it makes it easier to explain.
I make a DVD rip of the SatAM episode (Let's just use Sonic Boom as the example).
STAGE 1 - With all the high resolution background scans, I use the original episode footage as a guide to animate, zoom in, zoom out, pan etc the new background scans to match the original DVD footage.
STAGE 2 - Once the backgrounds have been animated, I then take the character animation cels and animate those over the top. With the character animation cels spread so far and wide, locating them all may be an impossibility. If I can find them, I'll use them.
STAGE 2a - However if the character cels are not attainable, I can use a professional upscaling algorithm to break down the episode into still images at 4K resolution, use Photoshop to cut the characters out of the backgrounds. This is not my preference, but it is a solid backup. Because the character cels are single or dual shaded flat colours, the loss of detail will be almost impossible to see. This may require a mild application of smoothing but it's also possible that a professional upscale (A software I have that's not photoshop) mixed with a very mild film grain application will also cover the upscale process and also lend the animation a more cinematic feel.
STAGE 3 - Once background animations and character animations are complete, it'd be a look into any potential audio fixes (there may not be any, but I'd rather not miss them if they're there) and hey presto.
16:9 RATIO - This was something I was going to ask the fans once I was closer to the background section of the project. A 16:9 Aspect Ratio IS possible. In fact it would take no real additional effort. There is a caveat, however. The original show was designed for 4:3 aspect ratio, and my concern is if some of the art boards are designed solely with 4:3 in mind. If the fans want a 16:9 version, then it is doable, but it will rely on the backgrounds supporting the extra screen width.
If the paintings don't support 16:9 in certain scenes then it would mean one of two things would need to be done. Either I can zoom in, which might lose information in the original show (not my preference), OR I can shift the frame so if Sonic was centre-frame to a shot he would now be to one side of the screen with more background visible on the other side (to cover up the edge of the artwork from Sonic's side etc).
Overall the answer is yes, 16:9 is more than doable, the question is in it's execution. I won't have an answer to how much impact the ratio change would make until I have some more backgrounds to play with.
To say this is ambitious is an understatement, but thank you for your words of support
I will say the only block to this project is the lack of attaining the backgrounds. The upscale techniques for the character cels won't work on the painted backgrounds, they'd lose all their detail, which is why I'm so keen to get hold of them. Anything else can be worked around.
I've got a page for the restoration on my website now. It's a little lacking in high resolution art (which is why the bits I have are reused a lot) but as I said earlier, I already have more on the way. I just need as much help as possible to get the full set of backgrounds scanned.
https://www.roryjoscelyne.co.uk/satam-2020
