IRIX and Software

Hi Everyone,

Just a bump to let you know I've uploaded a new release, 0.7.2. Lots of changes in this one; hopefully I fixed more than I broke.

Highlights:

* Save movies and images from the viewing application.
* New customizable keyboard shortcuts.
* Expanded file sequence options.

Plus, specific to this thread:

* The new version should be a little more aggressive about choosing a GLX visual; so if you got an error last time about the frame buffer configuration, you might give it another try.
* Compressed Targa and SGI images should be faster at loading.
* You can zoom with the mouse by pressing Ctrl + Middle (zoom in), or Ctrl + Right (zoom out).
* No more cryptic messages from the QuickTime plugin.

Homepage: http://djv.sourceforge.net/
Downloads: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... _id=118244

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Darby

I grabbed the lastest version (Linux RPM) and it installed just fine. I feed it a number sequence of .RGB file and it read and played them back very nicely.

If you are looking for feedback on what would be nice to see feature wise, I would look toward's Apple Motion software (part of FinalCut Pro), since that seems to be an analogous product. It would be nice to be able to manipulate the image sequence with some 2D effects such as motion blur, fade-in/out, etc. Perhaps they are already there and I just didn't see them.

Lastly, you could very easily (via ffmpeg) export to mp4--although for some reason it's SGI .rgb converter seems broken in the lastest snapshot of the source code.

Anyway, very nice!

squeen wrote: I grabbed the lastest version (Linux RPM) and it installed just fine. I feed it a number sequence of .RGB file and it read and played them back very nicely.

Good to hear, thanks. Do you mostly use SGI image files?

squeen wrote: If you are looking for feedback on what would be nice to see feature wise, I would look toward's Apple Motion software (part of FinalCut Pro), since that seems to be an analogous product. It would be nice to be able to manipulate the image sequence with some 2D effects such as motion blur, fade-in/out, etc. Perhaps they are already there and I just didn't see them.

I would very much like to add compositing and editing features, the work involved is a bit daunting though...

squeen wrote: Lastly, you could very easily (via ffmpeg) export to mp4--

I'm currently using libquicktime for movie support on IRIX and Linux, but for a number of reasons am thinking about changing that; I'll definitely take a closer look at ffmpeg.

squeen wrote: although for some reason it's SGI .rgb converter seems broken in the lastest snapshot of the source code.

The SGI image file format is pretty well documented, it should be an easy fix?


Thanks, Darby

dj wrote: Good to hear, thanks. Do you mostly use SGI image files?

Yes. As you said it's simple to code into your project.

I'm currently using libquicktime for movie support on IRIX and Linux, but for a number of reasons am thinking about changing that; I'll definitely take a closer look at ffmpeg.

I hadn't seen libquicktime before. Looks like a nice API. How do I get djv to export my sequence as a quicktime mov? Can I control the compression settings?

squeen wrote:

dj wrote: Good to hear, thanks. Do you mostly use SGI image files?

Yes. As you said it's simple to code into your project.

The only caveat I was going to mention is that it's a bit slower than my TGA reader (from having to interleave the image data). But as a file format, I do prefer SGI to TGA.

squeen wrote: I hadn't seen libquicktime before. Looks like a nice API.

I'll just say it's not my favorite, and would like to change to something else.

squeen wrote: How do I get djv to export my sequence as a quicktime mov? Can I control the compression settings?

You can create a QuickTime movie either from the command line, or from the viewer:

Command line:

> djv_convert input.1-1000.sgi output.mov

You can select the codec, but there aren't controls yet for fine-tuning compression options:

> djv_convert input.1-1000.sgi output.mov -quicktime_save_codec jpeg

(Note, I haven't tested many of the libquicktime codecs...)

From the viewer, open your file sequence or movie, and select the File->Save menu option. You can change the codec in the preferences dialog, under the Image I/O tab.


Darby

Nice QT export. (DJV_view works fine on IRIX as well here.) As for codec, H.264 encoding seems to be supported in libquicktime. My experience with it in FinalCut is that is kicks serious ass--but you'd want to add separate field in the GUI for setting the bit rate (I usually go high for HD ~18-21 MBs)

BTW compositing and simple motion blur is easy, just shove your frames into the OpenGL accumulation buffer.

Even if you only added one other clip "timeline" then it would be very nice for simple video editing--a simple 1-2 sec cross-fade transition between clips would do the trick.

You have in/out mark points, but is there a way to trim at marks?

All-in-all very neat. We have in-house simulation visualization back-end that spits of number RBG images. I've been doing one of the following.

1) coverting first to jpeg and making mp4 using ffmpeg in a script
2) tar'ing up the images, sending them to a Mac, renaming the .rgb to .sgi and bringing them into Apples' Motion and then into FinalCut.

Both are too limited or cumbersome. It'd be nice to have a native IRIX/Linux option. Rewriting FinalCut is impossible, but with a couple of small tweaks, you'd have everything we need!

squeen wrote: Nice QT export.

Thanks! Definitely consider this beta software though; I haven't put too much time into testing the QuickTime stuff yet.

squeen wrote: (DJV_view works fine on IRIX as well here.)

That's good news; I've only tried it so far on VPro and O2. Do you mind if I ask what type of GFX you're using?

squeen wrote: As for codec, H.264 encoding seems to be supported in libquicktime. My experience with it in FinalCut is that is kicks serious ass--but you'd want to add separate field in the GUI for setting the bit rate (I usually go high for HD ~18-21 MBs)

Unfortunately the open-source H264 code is GPL, and I'm not entirely sure what legal ramifications that has (DJV is BSD licensed). One option I guess would be for me to supply a package that linked with the user's version of libquicktime, which they could then install with the X264 code.

squeen wrote: BTW compositing and simple motion blur is easy, just shove your frames into the OpenGL accumulation buffer.

Even if you only added one other clip "timeline" then it would be very nice for simple video editing--a simple 1-2 sec cross-fade transition between clips would do the trick.

Do you use any titling for your videos? Or simple compositing, like adding a logo?

squeen wrote: You have in/out mark points, but is there a way to trim at marks?

It's been awhile since I've used a video-editing app, do you mean adjust the in/out points after they are set?


Thanks, Darby

dj wrote:
That's good news; I've only tried it so far on VPro and O2. Do you mind if I ask what type of GFX you're using?

I tried a Tzero with V12. I can also try an Onyx with IR4.

Unfortunately the open-source H264 code is GPL, and I'm not entirely sure what legal ramifications that has (DJV is BSD licensed). One option I guess would be for me to supply a package that linked with the user's version of libquicktime, which they could then install with the X264 code.

You could just try dlopen() of the quicktime lib and mapping the functions it uses. If it fails, report to the user that it can't find libquicktime and then wash your hands of it.

Do you use any titling for your videos? Or simple compositing, like adding a logo?

Yes titles are very nice, but that means AA fonts and fades etc. Right now I plan to add it to our backend and bake them in the video.

squeen wrote: You have in/out mark points, but is there a way to trim at marks?

It's been awhile since I've used a video-editing app, do you mean adjust the in/out points after they are set?

I just meant that once I have the video loaded into djv_view, can I select a section for cut-and-paste (or just cut) somehow.

squeen wrote: I tried a Tzero with V12. I can also try an Onyx with IR4.

I was just curious; if it's useful to run it on the Onyx that would be cool to know it works, but otherwise don't worry about it.

You could just try dlopen() of the quicktime lib and mapping the functions it uses. If it fails, report to the user that it can't find libquicktime and then wash your hands of it.

That's basically what I'm doing now, but I have the libquicktime API wrapped in my own plugin which I then dlopen. I currently bundle libquicktime (and most of the other libraries I use) with my packages because I'm worried about incompatibilities between shared objects; I got burned on a previous release where my GCC compiled binaries would dump core when trying to load a MipsPro binary.

squeen wrote: I just meant that once I have the video loaded into djv_view, can I select a section for cut-and-paste (or just cut) somehow.

There's no general cut and paste yet, but if you mark in/out points the save function will use them when exporting a movie.


Darby

Hi Darby,

Have been extremely busy but I finally found the time to try your latest release.

I tried the 0.7.2 version and its great !!!!
It plays back compressed targa sequences in real time ( 720 x 576 - 25 fps ) even when scaled up to 16x9 .... !)

This is better then the performance I get with Blender or even shake ........

Your the Man !