Timestamp a timelapse

[zedolfblack]

I originally posted this to rec.video.desktop but so far have had not a single reply....

I have made some animated timelapse video's of lunar eclipses with Starry
Night Backyard and it's built in movie capture function.

The original movie clips are .MOV format which i convert to huffyuv format
.AVI with EOVideo.
For further editing and re-compression i have been using VirtualDub.

Now i want to add a date and time stamp to the movie clips and found a
VirtualDub plugin which i thought would do the job.
However the plugin creates a timestamp which increments with the movie's
playtime - not the actual time that the timelapse represents.

I need to be able to set a start date and time and also an end date and time
which represents the period that the movie captures, then the subsequent
date and timestamps created in the movie are relative to this period and not
the movie's playtime length.

Can someone follow my logic?
And of course can anyone suggest a way to acheive my aim?

The VirtualDub plugin that i've tried using is the latest version from this
page http://toonarchive.com/addframenumbers/

Thanks for any useful comments.

Martin.

[Tommyknocker]

Well, I suggest you use Sub Station Alpha to make subtitles for your animation. Then your time stamp appears where you want it, when you want it. Try this guide, (he said, and blew his own horn).

[ImaWeTodd]

Here is a thread on using avisynth for frame numbers.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=3d7de1376e7c25f6b282d27476960030&threadid=6313...=subtitle+time

Because you can change the script functions, you can change the starting point, the format, etc.

Basically, The time is a function of Frames and Play rate.

Hope this helps.


Edit: I doooo like the SSA option. That way if your Times don't follow a smooth function, you can just make them come and go when ever you want. Assuming your not looking for a fast rolling counter.

[zedolfblack]

Thanks for the suggestions - i've now got AVIsynth installed and am looking at the guides.

Will post again with results.

Martin.

[Ejoc]

LOL, I was going to talk about that thread, which I started

You could tweak the script alot and basicly set a start time and end time, and let it calculate how much time passes each frame, or add a scaling factor to multiply it by.

[Tommyknocker]

Man, talk about reinventing the wheel. SSA made subtitling so much easier for me, I cannot imagine giving it all up just to break out the calculator and write a script. I still use AviSynth for a lot if functions, but with SSA and Video Studio around, subtitling will never be one of them.

[Ejoc]

Man, talk about reinventing the wheel.

Yea, but my wheel has a cup holder

[Ejoc]

colorbars(352,240).trim(0,99)
#AVISource("")

return TimeStamp("Oct 20, 2003 - Uranus: ",20,20,HMStoS(9,30,0),HMStoS(12,00,00))

function HMStoS(int h, int m, int s)
{
	return (h*3600) + (m*60) + s
}

function TimeStamp(clip c,string s,int x,int y,int start_sec, int stop_sec)
{
	CR = chr(13)
	QUOTES = chr(34)
	
	ScriptClip(c,"cf = current_frame" + CR + \
		"s1 = _MyFrameTimeNumberCalc(cf,last.Framecount," + string(start_sec) + "," + string(stop_sec) + ")" +CR + \
		"s3 = " + QUOTES + s + QUOTES + " + s1 " + CR + \
		"subtitle(s3," + string(x) + "," + string(y) + ")")

}

function _MyFrameTimeNumberCalc(int cf,int fc,int start_sec,int stop_sec)
{
	f = float(stop_sec - start_sec)  / float(fc-1) 
	tot_sec = int(f * cf) + start_sec
	hrs = (tot_sec / 3600) % 24
	min = (tot_sec % 3600) / 60
	sec = tot_sec % 60

	return	((hrs<10)?"0"+string(hrs):string(hrs)) + ":" + \
		((min<10)?"0"+string(min):string(min)) + ":" + \
		((sec<10)?"0"+string(sec):string(sec))
}

comment out:
#colorbars(352,240).trim(0,99)

and uncomment
AVISource("")
and give it the file name

[zedolfblack]

I've tried the above AVIsynth script but get two errors - both the same.

Script error: there is no function named "chr"

I have the latest version of AVIsynth installed.
Obviously the chr function is like the BASIC CHR$(x) function.

Have i missed something here?

Thanks.

Martin.

[ImaWeTodd]

The doco says it's built in from version 2.51.

Chr(int) v2.51
Returns the ASCII character.
Example:

Chr(34) returns the quote character

You can also get the plugin.

http://www.avisynth.org/~warpenterprises/

You can fake the CR with something like this: (

CR = "
"

But you'd have to rewrite the ScriptClip call to deal with the quotes. I mean move the s1 = , s3= and subtitle all into a function.

[Tommyknocker]

If the file is not too large, you can send it to me, and I will title it for you if you will tell me where. I have never seen such a huge "goat rope" over a simple titled video.

[ImaWeTodd]

If the file is not too large, you can send it to me, and I will title it for you if you will tell me where. I have never seen such a huge "goat rope" over a simple titled video.

Quick guide for me:

I've only used SSA very little, and I am too poor for Video Studio.

How does one create SMPTE time codes (hours:minutseconds:frame). Using SSA?

Edit: Had to add this def I found for "Goat Rope"

This is US military slang meaning a chaotic or out-of-control situation ... similar to "cluster f*ck" or "dog f*ck"/"pooch screw" or "SNAFU". The basic form is "goat f*ck" in the sense of "a goat-f*cking event", thence "goat rape" and the euphemistic "goat rope". The participants in a "goat f*ck" are pictured as engaged in useless pointless activities (such as copulation with animals) rather than in purposeful activity, I suppose.

------------------
What would Captain Jack Aubry RN have to say?

[Tommyknocker]

If you only need to do this for one or two projects, you should use the Video Studio anyway. It's trailware, so you can use it for thiry days for free.

[zedolfblack]

My mistake - i downloaded and installed AVIsynth2 not the later AVIsynth2.52

I'm now uninstalling the old and installing the new.

Will post back with some good results hopefully.

Thanks.

Martin.

[zedolfblack]

Excellent!!

The script works exactly as i need it to.
Had a problem with the times spanning midnight - but got around that by adding 24 hours to the end time.
So an animation covering from 19:10 to 6:47 the next day needs the script to read:

return TimeStamp("Nov 8, 2003 - Lunar Eclipse: ",20,20,HMStoS(19,10,0),HMStoS(30,47,00))

note the end time of 30:47 and NOT 6:47!

A very compressed 160x120 example (318KB) for anyone interested can be found here:

http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~warwound/Eclipse.avi

Thanks to all.

Martin