Making a movie - I have these images, now what?
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:37 pm
I'm making a movie - I rendered my animation and I have all these numbered images, now what?
Now you have to piece them together and save them in a movie file format that can play on the machine you want to use to play them back.
If you do not have a video editing program, many users have found Virtual Dub direct link to download v.1.9.7 for Windows (v1.9.4 works best for some on Vista 64bit)
a very handy, quick, free, no-hassle program for piecing together .jpg files into an animation.
To piece your .jpgs together into a movie (video) using Virtual Dub:
When all animation frames are rendered, open VirtualDub.exe
If you are unable to get your .avi to play, it may be due to the compression codec you've chosen
not being read correctly by the player you are using. Try saving the .avi uncompressed.
Uncompressed .avi files save much faster than compressed, but the files can be HUGE.
Some users save uncompressed .avi files, and use the free Microsoft encoder .wmv codec to shrink their file. It's fast and can be any quality you decide. It will save your video in .wmv format and play for anyone with Windows Media Player on their computer.
Now you have to piece them together and save them in a movie file format that can play on the machine you want to use to play them back.
If you do not have a video editing program, many users have found Virtual Dub direct link to download v.1.9.7 for Windows (v1.9.4 works best for some on Vista 64bit)
a very handy, quick, free, no-hassle program for piecing together .jpg files into an animation.
To piece your .jpgs together into a movie (video) using Virtual Dub:
When all animation frames are rendered, open VirtualDub.exe
- Go to File>Open Video file
- Select the FIRST image "000.jpg">OPEN
- All images will be loaded automaticaly in sequential order (this is actually more difficult to accomplish in more 'professional' video editors)
- Go to Video>Frame Rate - to set the frame rate at which Vdub should interpret your video.
NOTE: It should be the same frame rate you selected in Twilight when you exported the animation!
If it is lower, it will slow down your animation, but may make it 'choppy', if higher, it will make it run faster. - You can now preview your video by pressing the Play1 button at bottom left
- Press the "|<" button to reset your video to the beginning and watch again.
- Go to Video>Compression and select a codec. If you do not have it, download and install the Xvid codec on your computer before using VirtualDub. The "Xvid" compression is high quality and free.
- Compressing the video is not necessary, and can increase the video export processing time a little... or a lot.
- Compression makes the video small in memory size, but may effect video quality. Experimentation is important/encouraged.
- Go to Video>Full proccessing mode (probably already selected)
- Go to File>Save as AVI and name your file.
If you are unable to get your .avi to play, it may be due to the compression codec you've chosen
not being read correctly by the player you are using. Try saving the .avi uncompressed.
Uncompressed .avi files save much faster than compressed, but the files can be HUGE.
Some users save uncompressed .avi files, and use the free Microsoft encoder .wmv codec to shrink their file. It's fast and can be any quality you decide. It will save your video in .wmv format and play for anyone with Windows Media Player on their computer.