Video Creation & Playback: Similar (Scrolled) Images

[raywood]

I have about 10,000 4K PNG screenshots that I would like to convert into a single video. These screenshots capture the experience of scrolling through a few hundred webpages. For example, I could start at the beginning of this discussion; I could take a screenshot; I could scroll an inch or two; I could take another screenshot; and I could continue in that vein, with overlapping screenshots, until I have captured the entire discussion.

I can't invest the time to sort those images into separate productions for each of those hundreds of webpages. For instance, I don't want a separate output file for the screenshots that I could capture from this discussion. I just want one output file to contain the whole set of ~10K screenshots.

Within that set of ~10K screenshots, some scrolling sequences are quite long. For instance, it could take a thousand screenshots to capture the full extent of a single webpage, scrolled from top to bottom. Given the overlap among screenshots, the right panorama software could convert each such sequence into a single, sometimes very long TIFF. I welcome suggestions for panorama software capable of handling something like that. But, as I say, I won't be dividing these screenshots into hundreds of different panoramas.

Since many of those screenshots contain material that overlaps with the screenshots that come immediately before or after them, there should be an opportunity for deduplication, significantly reducing output filesize. For instance, a single, very long TIFF would presumably take much less disk space than the set of a thousand PNGs that went into it.

I am interested in producing a video because I assume a video editor would deduplicate. Slideshows (e.g., PowerPoint, IrfanView) don't seem to deduplicate. Their output filesize is large, approaching the 4GB size of the input screenshots.

I was thinking that the output video could allow one frame per screenshot. For playback, I would find the desired spot within the video, and would then advance playback manually, one frame (i.e., one screenshot) at a time. This would reproduce the relatively jerky transitions among the input screenshots. It would not provide the continuous scrolling experience of a single panoramic TIFF. But at least (assuming deduplication) it would reduce filesize.

So that's the plan. Assuming it makes sense, what I don't know is which (preferably free) video editor can handle 10,000 4K input PNGs, one frame per image, and which video player would let me advance one frame at a time. I've run into difficulties on both counts with the software I've tried so far.

[Swedaniel]

So that's the plan. Assuming it makes sense, what I don't know is which (preferably free) video editor can handle 10,000 4K input PNGs, one frame per image, and which video player would let me advance one frame at a time. I've run into difficulties on both counts with the software I've tried so far.

Hi, for this maybe the QuickTime Player is of interest, from within the Player Preferences there is an setting "Presentation: Play as Slideshow", the player can allso open the PNG files, alltough if you cant see the PNG files when browsing simply select "All files" in the file type section!

And since you are allready installing the QuickTime player (if you choose) you might be interested in the MPEG Streamclip v.1.1(which require quicktime components to function) which can import .png images and create an video from it, however same thing here when browsing for the files select "All files" in the file type section, and when importing the png files it might say the format is not supported and here you can click "Import/Open anyway".. I tested all of this myself just now and it was working to encode png images into videos, however i did not test with 10,000 png images, you'll have to run that test yourself! If it can deliver and satisfy all your demands im not sure it was a bit much to read thru so you'll have to check on the rest!

Edit: And i see now the images is 4k source, im not sure if the output can give 4k resolution since i have just an small laptop over here!

[raywood]

Thanks. You're right - this turned out to be quite a project. I wound up trying IrfanView and Shotcut to create the video, and PotPlayer for playback.

[_Al_]

Is it an ongoing process? I'd use "Save Page As", to copy the whole web page to a local storage. Maybe that is not what you are looking for, but just mentioning it.