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andrea
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« on: January 14, 2009, 02:23:07 AM » |
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Hi,
I've tried to save a movie to have a ".avi" file to visualize the evacuation calculation results.
Sometimes, the compressor tool not work.
Does this depend on what?
thanks
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Charlie Thornton
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« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2009, 09:31:10 AM » |
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Movie making can be a bit touchy. The trick is choosing the right compressor (codec). Pathfinder gets the list of compressors (see image) from your system. Some of them only work for watching movies and they will not work to create a movie. The trick is to find one you know works and gives you pretty good compression, then stick to it.
I use the Xvid codec when I make movies. I had to download xvid from here:
http://www.xvid.org/Downloads.15.0.html
It gives performance similar to the DivX codec (good picture, small files), and it's free. Once you install Xvid on your system, Pathfinder will start listing it as a compressor and it'll be ready to go.
I suppose we should probably use some obvious defaults, or just bundle a particular compressor. I've had my share of frustrations with compressor selection and configuration so I imagine it's pretty annoying in it's current state...
- Charlie
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andrea
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« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2009, 03:02:13 AM » |
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In fact I've tried all the Pathfinder default list of compressors, and I've found problems from time to time, selecting a different compressor at every turn, up to find the right compressor (or up to start the movie creation without compressiojn).
I'll try to download and to use the Xvid codec.
Many thanks,
andrea
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liu_zhen
New Member
Posts: 11
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« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2009, 01:24:02 AM » |
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I got similiar problems.
And following Charlie's advice, I downloaded the xvid codec and tried again. It still does not work.
Any idea for this?
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Charlie Thornton
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« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2009, 08:59:25 AM » |
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What exactly is happening? Are you getting a crash, is it claiming that codec can't compress, or is it something else?
Also, to use a particular codec (xvid in this case) you have to click Configure... and select Xvid from the list.
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liu_zhen
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Posts: 11
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« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2009, 08:48:33 PM » |
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I attached an screenshot showing the error message.
I am pretty sure that Xvid was selected from the list...
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Charlie Thornton
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« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2009, 09:49:13 AM » |
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I see what you mean. Mine doesn't work with xvid any more and it crashes every time I try to create a movie. I did have more luck with ffmpeg...
We're going to try to figure out what's going on with the movie creator. It's kind of a fiddly bit of programming getting the video encoder interface to work, but we should be able to come up with something a bit better.
I also notice that our big digital clock is gone from the 3D results view. This has been a productive testing release.
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liu_zhen
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Posts: 11
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« Reply #7 on: February 20, 2009, 02:31:01 AM » |
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And another question: suppose the create movie thing works, does it support users to zoom in, zoom out or choose different camera angles while recording the animation? Can users navigate through the domain while recording the movie?
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Charlie Thornton
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« Reply #8 on: February 20, 2009, 09:11:49 AM » |
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No, it just records from beginning to end with the camera staying where it's at when you tell it to create the movie. Screen recording software (like camstudio) might be your best best if you want to move things around.
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Richard O'Konski
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« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2009, 11:42:13 AM » |
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We've looked into the problem with codecs a little further, and we've found the following:
1) Xvid doesn't play fairly with some resolutions (e.g. 640x480, 1280x720, etc.). We've modified our code, however, to make it work. This change will make it into our next Pathfinder release.
2) The ffdshow codec (which is free) seems to work reliably.
3) Some codecs require you to specify a video resolution that is a multiple of 4 for both width and height. Many codecs require that it at least be a multiple of 2. This is most likely the problem that liu_zhen was experiencing, since his height was 585. The current release of Pathfinder warns you if the width does not match this criteria, but it does not warn about the height. Our next release will warn about both.
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ininjuly
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« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2009, 08:41:46 AM » |
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A screen recording software might be your best if you want to move things around... _________________ Call Center Software |
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Charlie Thornton
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« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2009, 09:13:07 AM » |
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The current release of Pathfinder lets you record to WMV. That'll play on any windows machine. You can also "live" record (i.e. you can move around the camera and turn visualizations on/off during the recording).
- Charlie
PS: ininjuly, you appear to be a bot advertising call center software. If you aren't, let me know what 1+3 is and I will be proven wrong. Bots are crafty these days.
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