Open Photoshop PSD file with Avisynth

[DarrellS]

OK, I finally found out how to open .psd files in Virtualdub, using Avisynth v.2.60 and 1.7.8 DevIL.dll placed in the system folder...

ImageSourceAnim("F:\TestPics\animated.psd")

The only problem is that it only shows the first frame (or layer). What do I need to do to the command to get it to show all of the layers in the PSD file?

If I can get this figured out, I would be able to use Virtualdub to create my animations without first, having to convert to lossless avi using Gif Movie Gear.

[poisondeathray]

I don't think you can access individual layers in a multilayered psd with avisynth

Another option - You can export video (AVI or MOV) or image sequence directly in photoshop, instead of a psd

EDIT: deja vu, I think you were using an older photoshop is that correct ? which version ?

[racer-x]

I'm using old version PhotoShop 7 and have QTAlternative installed. I can import psd into ImageReady and export "Original" as a QuickTime Movie with optional codecs.

[DarrellS]

OK, that's why I couldn't save as avi. Still can't create animated gif. Not that I'd want to. Animated png would be nice.

My avi's timing isn't great. I believe it's the same issue I had with Virtualdub trying to load images. That's why I use GMG. I'm able to create an avi with .333 frame rate from the psd file that plays perfectly in Virtualdub which I then convert to 23.976 and save as x264 or x265 with the external encoder.

I could just do everything in GMG with frame editing in Photoshop but Photoshop 12 doesn't seem to respect the 24 bit imaging like Photoshop 5.5 did. I don't think it supports x264 either. I'm interested in getting Virtualdub to work by itself so everyone could just use freeware. The Gimp and Xnview both read and write psd files. Everyone asks why I don't just use images but other than the timing issues, I don't want working folders full of millions of png images when I can have psd files containing up to 100 images each, depending on resolution.

Back to avisynth. It sounds like Avisynth is supposed to open psd as an animation like gif and png. It shows this...

ImageSourceAnim("F:\TestPics\8bit_animated.gif")

ImageSourceAnim(string file, float fps = 24, bool info = false, string pixel_type = "RGB32")

...on the wiki page but Virtualdub and MPC-HC both show an error. I'm not sure how it wants me to write everything in the avs file. I know the plugin works since I get the one frame. I just don't know how get it to read all the layers. Not sure if I need to use the other reader also and the writer to create the other frames.

I know that there has to be a way to see all the frames because both GMG and Xnview see all the layers as separate frames.

[DarrellS]

There is something wrong with Avisynth v.2.60 and ImageSourceAnim. I created animated png and tif that work in Irfanview and Firefox but will only show the first frame in Virtualdub and MPC-HC using Avisynth v.2.60 and ImageSourceAnim.

I was excited because I thought this was something new but these files have been around since 2012. Nobody has got them working by now so everyone can just ignore this thread.

[Cornucopia]

Maybe you need to specify start= and end= frame#'s...

Scott

[DarrellS]

No. That didn't work. Although if I change the layer that is highlighted in Photoshop, that is the frame that shows up in Virtualdub and MPC-HC.

[racer-x]

Why not save animation as "Original" ( not optimized ) in a .gif format? Full quality and you should be able to import into virtualdub or whatever.

[poisondeathray]

Why not save animation as "Original" ( not optimized ) in a .gif format? Full quality and you should be able to import into virtualdub or whatever.

Full quality gif, as in 256 colors - not 16.7M colors as in 8bpc RGB like you'd get with uncompressed AVI or MOV

[Wilbert]

Sorry for the late reply, but i don't read this forum very often.

There is something wrong with Avisynth v.2.60 and ImageSourceAnim. I created animated png and tif that work in Irfanview and Firefox but will only show the first frame in Virtualdub and MPC-HC using Avisynth v.2.60 and ImageSourceAnim.

Loading multipage tif should work. I tested that with plenty of examples. So if you have one where the rest of the pages aren't loaded, please upload it somewhere for me.

Animated png is not supported (see documentation). I thought animated psd (guess i need to call it multilayer psd) was supported, but after trying several examples from the web i see it's not. Must be a bug in the library DevIL 178 which is used the load them. The problem is that DevIL is not developed anymore so this won't be fixed.

However, i noticed that there is a fork from of DevIL called RevIL. I will post a bug report over there, and if we got it to work someday we will replace DevIL.

edit: with respect to this multilayer stuff (psd), i see that we need to use IL_NUM_LAYERS instead of IL_NUM_IMAGES. I will get back to you in a few days. Btw, are there other formats which are multilayer formats?