Create a video of images using Blink

[joecoyle]

Hi

I'm trying to create a video of several (15) sub frames using the Blink module.

I would like a pause of 0.5 seconds between frames, so that my viewer can see the movement of my target across the frame.

I have tried several times to create this using ffmpeg but cannot seem to create the video. Either the quality drops and is poor, or the video lasts about 1 second.

What options do I need to pass to ffmpeg to create this?

I have tried: -r 0.5 -i Blink%05.png -r 25 video.avi

And variations on this But with no success.

Thank you

Joe

[msmythers]

Joe

First you have the -r parameter twice. Remove the -r 25. Now as far as quality i prefer using FFMPEG as the outside video encoding system for Blink using the libx264 codec for mp4 videos. It's fairly simple to use you just need the ffmpeg.exe file if your using Windows. I just place ffmpeg.exe in my Pixinsight bin directory "c:\Program Files\PixInsight\bin\". I use the latest 64-bit version of ffmpeg from the Static download. http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ . For more information on the different settings for ffmpeg they can be found here https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html.

This is the Blink arguments that you would use for your need.  "-r .5 -i Blink%05d.png -c:v libx264 Blink.mp4"

I attached a screen shot showing Blink using FFMPEG.

Here are links to 2 videos I did using Blink. The first is a 15 image video, .5 secomd delay video of Orion. I also used ffmpeg to rescale the video to 1920x1280. Here is the Blink arguments.  "-r .5 -i Blink%05d.png -vf scale=1920:-1 -c:v libx264 OrionTest.mp4"   They are first the -r .5 which is framerate of .5 seconds. -vf scale is video filter scale of 1920 width with a correct aspect ratio rounding the vertical scale to the nearest even pixel count.   -c:v libx264 is video codec libx264

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B13r3kYqTf8NZUR1b2ZzTkpaOVk/view?usp=sharing

The second is a video I did of the Perseid Metor Shower. This was 864 frames. Each frame was a 6 second exposure and a 14 second delay between exposures. Because of the quality and the size of the video I reduced the resolution to 640x426. This video is a little over 1 minute in length and covers several hours of images.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B13r3kYqTf8NVGR1X0xCNG83QVE/view?usp=sharing



Mike

[jkmorse]

Mike,

I am assuming with the .exe file that this is exclusively a Windows solution?  Just wondering since I am in Linux.

Thanks,

Jim

[dzso.bacsi]

Jim,

Have a look at https://ffmpeg.org/download.html

Cheers

[msmythers]

Hi Jim

Yes on the exe. I have no idea on the Linux side but I would would assume that you would need to do a full install of Linux FFMPEG and in the Blink video section where you call out program you would need to put the full path to the ffmpeg binary. Don't know if you can just place it in the PI/bin folder like in Windows.


Mike

[jkmorse]

Thanks guys!

[steinplanet]

Hello everybody,
I also used this argument "-r .5 -i Blink%05d.png -c:v libx264 Blink.mp4" as I wanted to have 0.5 seconds between images. The vcl player plays mp4 video, but other than a black surface is nothing to see. The generated PNG files are ok.
What could that be?

Enclosed a Scrennshot of the settings
Greetings Willi

[msmythers]

Willi

It's hard to say without having the actual files. Have you tried playing the mp4 file with some other video player like PotPlayer? You might also try specifying a different encoding codec. Here is a link to the official FFmpeg documentation. https://www.ffmpeg.org/documentation.html   


Mike

[niteman1946]

Hi Willi,
Mike gives good advice.  Per his suggestion I downloaded Potplayer and it works like a charm.
Mark

[Alejandro Tombolini]

Hi Willi, your ffmpeg is located as Mike mentioned before?
Saludos, Alejandro.

[steinplanet]

Hi Mark, Mike and Alejandro,

Thanks for the advice. By PotPlayer it runs now.
I have one more question.
Between the images is now 2-second pause. For the 18 Png Images / Mp4 player needs 36 seconds. (See picture attached)
Where do I change (in the argument row) the time between the images?
I wanted to 0.5 seconds.