Optical flow estimates how each pixel moved from one frame to the next, producing a dense map of motion. Products use it to smooth shaky video, generate in-between frames, compress smartly, and feed motion cues into higher-level analysis.
The book · Volume 6 of 7
AI for Video: A Complete Guide to Intelligence in Video Products: From Models and Inference to Computer Vision, Speech, Search, and Generative Video
Optical flow feeds stabilization, frame interpolation and motion analysis, and the choice between a classic method and a neural model sets both accuracy and GPU cost. Volume 6 covers computer vision in detail, with detection, tracking and segmentation, plus deployment topologies and model artifacts, so you can pick an optical flow method that fits your pipeline. Written by Nikolay Sapunov, CEO at Fora Soft.
Choosing between RAFT and classic optical flow for stabilization or interpolation?
We will benchmark optical flow options on your footage and send a recommendation with accuracy, speed and GPU cost per hour of video. 250+ video products shipped since 2005.
