Sharing UFOs through UFOID

If you wish to study UFOs seriously, and share what you learn, you might find the UFOID website quite useful. After you register with the UFOID community, you can do you can either, or both, of the following:

• Download the free UFO Detector software through which your computer can record possible UFOs automatically through a webcam as shown in Figure 1, which is the UFOID logo. If your computer records a UFO video clip (typically 10 seconds), you can submit it to the UFOID community for collective analysis. Essentially, you computer can serve as a skywatch camera. For more information, please see UFO Detector - How it works.
• Help the UFOID community analyze videos submitted by other participants. To analyze a specific video on the UFOID website, you need only indicate whether you think the video shows a UFO, and then write a comment.

  

  Figure 1 - The UFOID logo cleverly shows how a computer
  and webcam can capture UFO videos through a window.

This document explains how to analyze UFO videos that UFO Detector users submit to the UFOID community. To participate in the community, you need not record any UFO videos; you can simply analyze videos submitted by others. The sections below contain procedures through which you can:

1. Select a UFOID video to analyze. 
2. Download the UFOID video.
3. Find a usable frame.
4. Extract a closeup.
5. Submit your opinion.

Selecting a UFOID video to analyze
After you register with (sign up to) UFOID, you can help the community analyze videos submitted by participants who use the UFO Detector software. To select a video for analysis, do the following:

1. Log into UFOID.net.
2. Click Videos to display a page similar to Figure 2.
3. Click any video, such as TWO FAST OBJECTS, to display its page.
4. Start the video by clicking it right-arrow button. Note: In this example, the objects are hard to see, which is typical.
5. Proceed according to the section below, Downloading the UFOID video.

Figure 2 - The Videos page lets you select any video
that any participant has submitted to UFOID.

Downloading the UFOID video
Videos download from UFOID as AVI files. To download a UFOID video, do the following:

1. Select a video according to the section above, Selecting a UFOID video to analyze.
2. Click Download source video to display a Save File window.
3. Rename the file as something meaningful, such as TwoFastObjects.avi.
4. Choose a target folder, such as Desktop, and then click Save.
5. Find a frame that is usable for analysis according the section below, Finding a usable frame. 

Finding a usable frame
To find a frame usable for analysis, do the following:

1. Download an AVI file according to the section above, Downloading a UFOID video.
2. Open the AVI video with a VLC media player, start the video, and then pause it at any frame that shows a good view of the UFO.
3. Click Tools, and then click Effects and Filters to display a dialog.
4. Click Video Effects, select Sharpen, and then adjust the Sigma level until you see a clear image. IMPORTANT: This step is vital for the best possible image resolution.
5. Toggle the play-and-pause button to find an interesting video segment, and then, as shown in Figure 3, click the Frame by frame icon repeatedly until you find the exact frame you want to copy. Note: You might need to restart your downloaded AVI video several times before it behaves correctly. (I don't know whether this is a VLC bug or a compatibility issue; I'm running VLC through Linux Mint.) If any particular AVI file gives you too much trouble, simply convert it to an MP4 file. You can use a free, online tool, such as ONLINE-CONVERT.

   

   Figure 3 - In VLC, click the frame-by-frame icon to advance by one frame.

6. When you find a video frame that best shows the UFO, take a screenshot of that frame.

   

   Figure 4 - So that the two example UFOs are large enough to be visible here,
   this figure shows only the lower-left corner of the screenshot.
   The two unknown objects are at the upper-left corner of this figure.

7. Continue according to the section below, Extracting a closeup.

Extracting a closeup

To look more closely at the UFO you can extract a closeup from the screenshot. To extract a closeup, do the following:

1. Find a usable frame and then take a screenshot of it according to the section above, Finding a usable frame.
2. Use image-editing software, such as GIMP, to zoom into the screenshot as closely as possible, typically 800%.
3. Crop the UFO screenshot to approximately 50 pixels wide. (In this example, I cropped the screenshot to 100 pixels wide because it has two unknown objects.)
4. Scale the image; resize it to 400 pixels wide, and use the best possible interpolation, such as Sinc (Lanczos3). This exhibits only the center portion of the image.
5. To see the entire image, zoom out to 100%.
6. Save (export) the interpolated UFO closeup into a separate working folder. Note: For each each interpolated closeup, you can use a filename associated with its screenshot. For example, I stored the interpolated UFO closeup in Figure 6 as filename fastObjectsCloseup.jpg in a working folder.
7. Help the UFOID community determine whether video shows a UFO or an ordinary object, continue according to the section below, Submitting your opinion.

Figure 6 - Interpolated closeup of the two unknown objects.
For reference, I've included the left edge of the screenshot.

Note: An uninterpolated UFO closeup has relatively few pixels, typically between 200 and 2500. Therefore, you cannot see details as clearly as you might prefer because each pixel appears as a relatively-large square. However, when you use graphics software, such as GIMP, to scale (resize) the closeup to a larger size, that software also uses interpolation to calculate many new pixels that smooth out the differences among the original pixels. Interpolation enhances the closeup and helps us see general shapes and features. While not perfect, an interpolated closeup shows more than it did prior to interpolation.

Submitting your opinion

To submit your opinion about a UFOID video, do the following:

1. Log into UFOID.net.
2. Click Videos to display a page similar to Figure 2 above.
3. Find the video, such as TWO FAST OBJECTS, that you have analyzed according to the sections above, and then click on it to display its page.
4. Scroll down to the question, Does the video show a UFO?, and then click either Yes or No.
5. Write a few words or sentences to explain why you think the object is an identified flying object (IFO); such as bird, balloon, plane, or swamp gas; or an unidentified flying object (UFO), such an object of unknown origin.
6. Click Add your opinion to submit it.