How to Make an MPEG Movie NERSC User Training, Berkeley, CA

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How to Make an MPEG Movie NERSC User Training,
Berkeley, CA

• LBNL/NERSC Visualization Group
• November 6, 2009

graphics_at_nersc.gov
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What is MPEG-1

• Standard (ISO) movie compression format for
  storing video and audio.
• Useful for creating movies for CD-ROMs, the Web,
  and playback on a computer.
• Compression is done within a frame (interframe
  encoding) and between frames (intraframe
  encoding).
• MPEG-1 players are available on Mac, Unix, NT,
  and Windows platforms.
• Other Common computer movie formats
• Microsoft's .AVI
• Apples QuickTime
• For more information on making a MPEG movie
  seehttp//www-vis.lbl.gov/software/MPEGmovie.htm
  l

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Before You Make A Movie

• Create your images in the correct size for your
  movie. For example, 640x480 or 320x240.
• To avoid potential problems with some MPEG
  encoders, the x, y dimensions should be divisible
  by 16.
• Your image files should be sequentially numbered
  with the same number of digits. Correct
  filenames are
• file000.jpeg, file001.jpeg,.file999.jpeg
• 01.tiff, 02.tiff,99.tiff
• Acceptable image formats are ppm, pnm, jpeg,
  tiff, etc.
• Keep your frames uncluttered.
• Avoid thin lines, dark blue lines on a black
  background, small objects, highly saturated
  colors, stripes, etc.
• Don't use the GIF format if you have more than
  256 colors.

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Thin Lines Movie
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Blue Lines Movie
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MPEG Movie Making

• Two ways of encoding MPEG movies are available at
  NERSC on escher.nersc.gov
• mpeg_encode from UC Berkeley
• mediaconvert (SGI tool)
• They will produced different movies, try them
  both

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mediaconvert Movie
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mpeg_encode Movie
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Advantages of mediaconvert

• Has a GUI interface - easier to change the
  various parameters.
• Transparently converts most image formats.
• Images can be smoothed before compression.

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mediaconvert - no Smoothing
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mediaconvert - with Smoothing
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Advantages of mpeg_encode

• Freely available on most Unix computer systems.
• Usually creates smaller files.
• Faster?

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Making a Movie with mediaconvert

• Follow steps exactly on escher.nersc.gov
• setenv DISPLAY ltyour X hostgt0
• mediaconvert
• Enter the directory name where your image files
  are stored in the "Video to Convert" box. Press
  ltEntergt to confirm your input.
• Under the "Video to Convert" box, a new selection
  will appear, select "Numbered Images". More
  selection boxes will appear.

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mediaconvert - Initial Settings
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mediaconvert (cont.)

• If your files are named test001.jpg to
  test119.jpg
• Enter test.jpg in the "File Template" box (a
  '' signifies a single digit). Do not press
  ltEntergt.
• Type in 119 in the "End" box and press ltEntergt.
• Type in 000 in "Start" box and press ltEntergt.
• Put the cursor in the "File Template" box and
  press ltEntergt. If everything is correct, a pop-up
  window titled "Video Input Parameters" will
  appear.
• Select "Close".

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mediaconvert Menu- after Image and Video Settings
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Making a Movie with mediaconvert

• Change "File Format" from "QuickTime" to "MPEG-1
  Video".
• Select "Image Size. On the pop-up sub-menu make
  sure that the "Frame Size" is set to "Original
  Size.
• Select "Video Parameters" from the main menu. On
  the pop-up sub-menu change the "Frame Rate" to
  30.
• If needed, modify the "Output File Name"
  (directory and filename) on the main menu.
• Select "Start" from the main menu.
• When finished, try out your movie with mpeg_play,
  SGI's movieplayer (if you have OpenGL installed
  on your workstation), or any other MPEG player.

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mediaconvert Menu - sizing
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Mediaconvert Menu - frame rate
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Making a Movie with mpeg_encode

• module load mpeg_encode.
• The settings for mpeg_encode are controlled by an
  ASCII text parameter file (sample file located in
  MPEG_DIR/sample_params.mpg). Some of the things
  you may want to modify
• Change the "BASE_FILE_FORMAT" line to reflect the
  image file type. For example JPEG.
• Change the "INPUT" line to reflect the name of
  your input image files. For example test.jpg
  000-100.
• Start the movie making process by doing
• mpeg_encode ltname of parameter filegt

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Useful Tools

• Image Conversion Tools
• For information on the below software see
• http//www-vis.lbl.gov/software.html
• Imtools from San Diego Supercomputer Center.
• imconv is useful to converting from one image
  file format to another.
• imscale is good for changing the size of the
  image and changing the image format.
• imstoryboard is useful to change the size, image
  format, and add margins.
• Also check out the pbm and netpbm tools

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Useful Tools (cont)

• To convert your CGM movie file into JPEG files
  (called gmeta in this example)
• module load ncar
• ncgm2jpg gmeta
• xv is very useful for displaying an image,
  converting a single image's format, and for
  checking on the dimensions of x and y.

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Movie Tools

• mpeg_play (module load mpeg_play) will play an
  MPEG-1 movie on a Unix system.
• movieplayer from SGI tool place MPEG-1 and other
  movie formats (QT, AVI) if you have OpenGL
  installed on your system.
• For analyzing your movie (frames, size,
  compression, etc.) see
• mpeg_stat (module load mpeg_tools)
• dminfo (available on escher.nersc.gov)