Sean Meighan

Welcome => What new effects you would like to see => Topic started by: Steve Gase on July 29, 2015, 12:12:57 AM

Title: procedure to import a movie as an effect
Post by: Steve Gase on July 29, 2015, 12:12:57 AM
I believe that this feature exists, but after looking through the xl4 interface I'm lost looking for it.
I'd like to use a mp4 file that I captured from a music visualizer (winamp) and apply that movie to my whole house model.

similarly, i have a video file that I want to play on my P10 panel...

i recall sean talking about ffmpeg or a program to extract frames from a video file that could be used in xl...  is this capability now integrated in xl?   

is the procedure described anywhere?

thanks!
Title: Re: procedure to import a movie as an effect
Post by: flyinverted on July 29, 2015, 12:17:37 AM
https://vimeo.com/nutcracker123/videos/search:movie/sort:date (https://vimeo.com/nutcracker123/videos/search:movie/sort:date)
Title: Re: procedure to import a movie as an effect
Post by: gerry on July 29, 2015, 12:21:19 AM
Hi,

Create a temporary directory , and copy the movie file there .
then use the ffmpeg utility to break it up into frames. Example:

ffmpeg -s 30x50 yourmovie.mp4 f-%d.png

This will create frames f-1.png, f-2.png .etc. Your original movie has been resized to 30x50 pixels. (so u need to change this value based on your matrix size)

Note: ffmpeg is run from the DOS command line .
Example:

C:\
cd \tempdir

ffmpeg -i yourmovie.mp4 -s 30x50 f-%d.png

This will create a number of files 'f1-' onwards

now , drop the picture effect and browse and point to the first file ie
"f-1.png", using the pictures effect

The picture effect will then pick all the frames.

Try with a small movie segment ie 10 secs long

Note: Only 'something-1' will work ie the application looks for the '-1' and then only picks the others.


Title: Re: procedure to import a movie as an effect
Post by: RGBNoob on July 29, 2015, 12:30:48 PM
Gerry,

I just tried this today and wanted to test it on my megatree.  Is there anything special I need to do in Xlights as my megatree is not showing anything on it?

I have verified that I have all of the jpg files starting from 1.  The first hundred or so are blank as was the case of the source video.  I made sure to put no movement in the Picture effect but still no output to the megatree.  I have hit Render a million times.

Is there a limit to the number of frames Xlights can handle or could I be missing any obvious settings?
Title: Re: procedure to import a movie as an effect
Post by: JonB256 on July 29, 2015, 01:13:05 PM
Gerry,

I just tried this today and wanted to test it on my megatree.  Is there anything special I need to do in Xlights as my megatree is not showing anything on it?

I have verified that I have all of the jpg files starting from 1.  The first hundred or so are blank as was the case of the source video.  I made sure to put no movement in the Picture effect but still no output to the megatree.  I have hit Render a million times.

Is there a limit to the number of frames Xlights can handle or could I be missing any obvious settings?

I'll assume you are sending this from the Sequencing window by clicking Play?
What does your Setup screen have?  (E1.31 - what range of Universes?)
Have you clicked the "Light Bulb" icon at the top of the screen to actually "output" data?

Seriously, there are a lot of little steps that you could be missing. Screen shots or setup descriptions will go a long way for help.
Title: Re: procedure to import a movie as an effect
Post by: RGBNoob on July 29, 2015, 02:38:16 PM
Gerry,

I just tried this today and wanted to test it on my megatree.  Is there anything special I need to do in Xlights as my megatree is not showing anything on it?

I have verified that I have all of the jpg files starting from 1.  The first hundred or so are blank as was the case of the source video.  I made sure to put no movement in the Picture effect but still no output to the megatree.  I have hit Render a million times.

Is there a limit to the number of frames Xlights can handle or could I be missing any obvious settings?

I'll assume you are sending this from the Sequencing window by clicking Play?
What does your Setup screen have?  (E1.31 - what range of Universes?)
Have you clicked the "Light Bulb" icon at the top of the screen to actually "output" data?

Seriously, there are a lot of little steps that you could be missing. Screen shots or setup descriptions will go a long way for help.

Sorry if this was confusing, I'm not trying to physically send to the megatree at this time, just view it in the sequencer.  All other effects I have applied to my megatree in this and other sequences have worked so I'm pretty sure it's not a setup issue.  I have clicked play to play the sequence and see the other elements playing, just not this specific effect.
Title: Re: procedure to import a movie as an effect
Post by: Gilrock on July 29, 2015, 03:15:58 PM
Why did you use an "_1" format when we said to use a "-1" format?
Title: Re: procedure to import a movie as an effect
Post by: RGBNoob on July 29, 2015, 03:40:20 PM
Why did you use an "_1" format when we said to use a "-1" format?
Because I didn't pay close attention to the instructions! I think I was glancing at a screenshot of one of Sean's videos and didn't look close enough. Thanks Gil.