A few months back we took a look at Dain app, and how it was able to use AI and machine learning to create in between frames from almost any source footage and create something that looked and felt like real footage taken with higher fps cameras.  The algorithm was so revolutionary that it took the world by storm, making older software that used re-timing from Adobe and others look antiquated and underpowered.  The Dain-App was great and it was a pay what you want App but had an Achilles heel. The software required a powerful Nvidia GPU with as much VRAM as you could muster to be able to convert footage and re-time it.  

The new Rife-App which is the direct successor of Dain App by the creator GRisk is up to 25x faster than the original, improves the algorithm, and by many examples betters it by creating more seamless transitions. The flow of frames is frankly jaw-droppingly beautiful, especially on low frame rate animation.   We estimate that Animation studios in 2D will eat this app up immediately, and even 3D animation studios could reduce their render times by calculating fewer frames and using Rife-App to increase them to 24p, 30p or 60p from a lower source like 20fps or 12fps.  

Rife App, more fps on any footage is now a reality:

• Model can run at 30+FPS for 2X 720p interpolation on a 2080Ti GPU
• The method supports 2X,4X,8X… interpolation, and multi-frame interpolation between a pair of images.
• input mp4/gif/webm/etc and interpolate the frames to make it 2X/4X/8X slower
• Can run on CPU (Slower) or faster on Nvidia GPUs.

The software changes are massive in speed and results, it can now run on the CPU in a slower mode which means the software should be able to use regular RAM instead of only VRAM on the GPU which is limited.  It is still recommended to use an Nvidia RTX GPU is you can find one.  We considered the RTX 3060 12GB starting at $399 to be an ideal card for this App as the Video Memory is 12GB instead of the usual 6 or 8GB found on even higher priced GPUs.  If money is no object however you can opt for an RTX 3080 12GB or a 3090 24GB for a massive speed and memory depth boost.

Comparing Dain-App and Rife-App foi AI interpolation on Animations by GRisk A.I. Sandbox:

Comparing Dain-App and Rife-App AI interpolation on Chika Dance by GRisk A.I. Sandbox:

So as you can see above, the quality difference from Dain to Rife is hard to perceive but it is there. We do still have some morphing artifacts where not enough data can be extracted from the source like objects disappearing in weird ways when they are occluded behind the subject or other elements of the footage. The AI still does miracles that look as fluid as real life in some instances even when we are talking about 12fps or 14fps animation.

What about Slow Motion Video?

After all, what HSC is all about, is high-speed cameras so naturally, we are interested in the ability of Rife App to turn a camera output into super slow motion without the huge investment in camera gear.  We explored interpolation in a post before and we are no fans of it as a substitute for the real thing but we have changed our tune since Dain and Rife Apps as they change the paradigm to express lower frame rates into higher ones that can be slowed done to create impressive high-speed footage that really can look in some instances like the source footage was captured at that speed. We were able to turn a 2000fps real captured footage into a 6000fps final video that looks so amazing that it could fool most of the public into thinking this is a true 6000fps slow motion hardware camera. 

Is an ai “fps booster” really worth your time?(DAIN tech demo) by thebrax2000:

We believe that you can purchase a 1000fps slow motion camera and do interpolation up to 8x slower for an 8000fps result.  For non-scientific applications, this could yield impressive results that could be used in video production and film visual effects.  While there is no replacement for real captured frames, if your source is already quite good but want an even slower result, we feel Rife-App could deliver the holy grail of getting something for free that is excellent.

Pricing and availability:

Rife-App is available now at the official site here – v1.75 now!

The software license is $24.90 USD as a starting price but you can pay more to support the developer and help their quest to continue improvements.

The app is constantly updated and should get more stable and accurate as things are improved.  

The code algorithm can be found here if you are a programmer and want to build a custom implementation.

As a side-note you can also support the Developer GRisk at Patreon here for new projects. It is always good to reward advancement and brilliance, this is a great example of a worthy cause.