Video Loops – Various 21-30

Just recently I received some very hot preview tunes off the soon to be released “The Great Anything“ by Paolo Apollo Negri. They came courtesy of my very good friends over at “Hammondbeat” records.

So what has this got to do with this non music blog ?
The answer to that is simple. I love this kind of music and I wanted to lend my support with a spot of promotion. The trick however was in making the big up for the new album not seem out of place with what I normally post. To that end Kahlil from Hammondbeat very kindly let me include a sample from “Bolly Funk” to act as soundtrack to the video above. It demonstrates some new texture loops I am making available. I get a great soundtrack to play with, and Paulo and the album get to reach a few extra ears – To quote Hot Chocolate: “Everyone’s a winner baby”.
I also had a little bit of fun when creating the above video. The sliding window effects are custom xml effects I’d created for the now very aged Movie Maker 2 on windows XP. This was made possible by the PIP+ plug-in that was developed by RehanFX.org. A development peak was reached back in October 2008 for the plug-in. Sadly for reasons unknown to myself the plug-in never did make it to a final general release. The sliding windows therefore give just a hint at what might have been possible.
So please feel free to download the full resolution loops and use them in your own non commercial projects. They are WMV9 encoded AVI files so should work just fine within Windows Movie Maker. And if you like the sizzling groove of “Bolly Funk” be sure to visit www.hammondbeat.com for the very latest info

IMPORTANT- PLEASE READ
Video loops made available for download may only be used in non commercial video projects. Read herefor more information

Dropshadow Effect With Avisynth

Following on from my previous post Basic PIP FX Avisynth scripts I’ve taken the same scripts and tweaked them slightly to display a drop shadow – sort of!

The shadow is little more than an Avisynth generated semi-transparent black rectangle layered underneath the pip video. With a slight offset applied to the rectangle, the shadow illusion is complete.

The position and transparency of the script is easily adjusted under the scripts USER SETTINGS :

• Shadowoffset=3
• ShadowOpacity=100

Further notes are made within the scripts. The scripts are included with a couple of short video clips to provide a working example straight out of the box for test purposes. Here is the download link:

Once extracted the project folder should contain the following:

• PIPshadowBL.avs (Aviscript)
• PIPshadowBL.avs (Aviscript)
• PIPshadowBR.avs(Aviscript)
• PIPshadowTL.avs(Aviscript)
• PIPshadowTR.avs(Aviscript)
• mainvideo.wmv(video clip)
• pipvideo.wmv(video clip)

Searchlight Effect With Avisynth

Once extracted the project folder should contain the following

• searchlightsSOUNDTRACK.avs (Aviscript )
• s searchlights.avs(Aviscript)
• movie.wmv (Example source video)
• siren.wav (Example audio file)
• Dont_Touch Folder (Contains jpg images for the mask sequence)

The project folder is a fully working example. Loading either of the two scripts in to an encoder such as virtualdub should produce results straight away (assuming of course that Avisynth has first been installed!)

The searchlights.avs script uses audio from the movie.wmv source video. The searchlightsSOUNDTRACK.avs script uses the external siren.wav audio clip after first muting the video clip. The siren/audio clip will loop to match the duration of the final video.

The movie.wmv and siren.wav clips are part of the demonstration and meant only for test purposes. They should be replaced by a users own video/audio clips .
In my example video, I took a brickwall jpg texture and modified it in photoshop by adding a graffiti type text. I then took the pic and rendered it in Movie Maker 2 as a short video clip (movie.wmv) The source image is available to download and modify for non-commercial purposes by clicking on the thumbnail below

:

EXPERIMENT AND HAVE FUN !
Notes – The scripts were tested on windows XP home edition with Avisynth version 2.57 installed. I’ve tested and rendered the scripts within Virtualdub-MPEG2 and Nics WM9 Encoder to good effect

More of my Avisynth stuff may be found here

Videowall_01.avsVideowall_02.avsVideowall_03.avsVideowall_04.avsVideowall_05.avs

Following on from my Brady Bunch Revisited – Again post I’ve modified the scripts slightly so that a 3×3 videowall can be produced from a single video with an opening and closing animation sequence. The project folder I’ve made available for download includes the five scripts featured in the video player above and script variations that will mute the source video replacing it with a soundtrack mp3. Two video clips including a short texture loop and a single mp3 are also included for test purposes. Once a user is happy that the scripts work with the included media, they should replace the video and audio clips with ones of their own.

Project Folder Download

Note – I would advise unzipping the download in to an empty folder Unless the scripts are altered it is important that the source media is named as follows:

• texture.wmv
• 01.wmv
• music.mp3

It is possible that source videos other than wmv’s may work depending on the codecs installed on a users system. Please be aware however that the name of these source videos should be reflected within the scripts if they differ. For example, if a video source called mymovieclip.avi is intended to be used as a replacement for 01.wmv, then 01.wmv within the aviscript must be altered to become mymovieclip.avi . (Renaming “mymovieclip.avi” as “01.wmv” also seems to work as an alternative method to that of altering the script.)

The resolution of the final project will match that of 01.wmv, so for good quality results ensure that 01.wmv is a high resolution clip.

The texture loop should only be a few seconds long and is set to loop within the scripts. More texture loops are available here
The mp3 soundtrack is set to be trimmed and faded within the scripts to match the length of the final video.

To get the most out of the scripts I would expect a user to alter and probably improve them to their own requirements. If deciding to alter the scripts I would recommend using AVSP as the scripts have been formatted to look neat and tidy within it. Displaying the scripts in something like notepad does not appear to preserve the tab information resulting in a messy look.
I have attempted to try and make certain key features of the project easy to alter within the scripts under the following headings within the scripts (I’ll leave it to the user to explore these)

• SOURCE VIDEOS AND AUDIO SOUNDTRACK
• USER DEFINED SETTINGS

Ultimately a user will need to go in at a much deeper level to make more exacting alterations. It can be tricky ! These scripts are really just intended as examples to show some of the things that are possible and to provide a small measure of quick customisation

EXPERIMENT AND HAVE FUN !

Notes – The scripts were tested on windows XP home edition with Avisynth version 2.57 installed. I’ve tested and rendered the scripts within Virtualdub-MPEG2 and Nics WM9 Encoder to good effect
More of my Avisynth stuff may be found here

Nines_01.avsNines_02.avsNines_03.avsNines_04.avsNines_05.avsNines_06.avsNines_07.avsNines_08.avsNines_09.avsNines_10.avs

New to Avisynth ? Read my Avisynth introduction here to help get you started

Here we go again!
A while back I wrote some custom scripts that explored the choreography of multiple video inputs using Avisynth. While the scripts worked, it has to be said that they were messy as my understanding of Avisynth scripting was that of a struggling novice. Now that I’ve learnt a little bit more I’ve attempted to clean up and simplify the scripts. I’ve also added some enhancements that were the result of some of the suggestions raised in this forum post . Namely these are adding an external soundtrack source, and creating scripts that allow a full screen zoom of a single video after the initial display of all nine videos (See Nines_06.avs thru to Nines_10.avs in the video examples above)

If all this sounds confusing so far and you are new to Avisynth , I would recommend reading my Avisynth introduction to help get you started

A zipped folder containing the scripts can be downloaded from here, but in keeping with previous posts I have also made available a project folder containing all the scripts and example source media. It is a fully working example and intended for test purposes. Once a user is satisfied that the scripts work, they will need to replace the test media with that of their own

PROJECT FOLDER DOWNLOAD
Note – I would advise unzipping the download in to an empty folder

The project folder contains 10 wmv videos of the type created in Windows Movie Maker. Nine of these are videos we wish to fly in and out of the screen while the tenth is a short texture loop video of just a few seconds long that will provide the background animation. A soundtrack mp3 is also included. Unless the scripts are altered it is important that the source media is named as follows:

• 01.wmv
• 02.wmv
• 03.wmv
• 04.wmv
• 05.wmv
• 06.wmv
• 07.wmv
• 08.wmv
• 09.wmv
• texture.wmv
• music.mp3

It is possible that source videos other than wmv’s may work depending on the codecs installed on a users system. Please be aware however that the name of these source videos should be reflected within the scripts if they differ. For example, if a video source called mymovieclip.avi is intended to be used as a replacement for 01.wmv, then 01.wmv within the aviscript must be altered to become mymovieclip.avi . (Renaming "mymovieclip.avi" as "01.wmv" also seems to work as an alternative method to that of altering the script.)

The videos may be of any length and all will be either looped or trimmed to match the length of the centre video which is 01.wmv . In this respect 01.wmv acts as a control video and should also be considered the main feature video. The framerate of all the other videos will be converted if necessary to match that of 01.wmv . The resolution of the final project will match that of 01.wmv, so for good quality results ensure that 01.wmv is a high resolution clip.

The texture loop should only be a few seconds long and is set to loop within the scripts. More texture loops are available here

The mp3 soundtrack is set to be trimmed and faded within the scripts to match the length of the final video.

To get the most out of the scripts I would expect a user to alter and probably improve them to their own requirements. If deciding to alter the scripts I would recommend using AVSP as the scripts have been formatted to look neat and tidy within it. Displaying the scripts in something like notepad does not appear to preserve the tab information resulting in a messy look.
I have attempted to try and make certain key features of the project easy to alter within the scripts under the following headings within the scripts (I’ll leave it to the user to explore these)

• SOURCE VIDEOS AND AUDIO SOUNDTRACK
• USER DEFINED SETTINGS

Ultimately a user will need to go in at a much deeper level to make more exacting alterations. It can be tricky ! These scripts are really just intended as examples to show some of the things that are possible and to provide a small measure of quick customisation

EXPERIMENT AND HAVE FUN !

Notes – The scripts were tested on windows XP home edition with Avisynth version 2.57 installed. I’ve tested and rendered the scripts within Virtualdub-MPEG2 and Nics WM9 Encoder to good effect

More of my Avisynth stuff may be found here

Basic PIP FX With Avisynth

###USER SETTINGS##############

MainVideo= “mainvideo.wmv”

PipVideo= “pipvideo.wmv”

PipWidthPercentage=40

PipHeightPercentage=40

PipTopPercentage=55

PipLeftPercentage=5

BorderThickness=10

BorderColour=$FFFFFF

###END OF USER SETTINGS########

Updated 25 APR 2008 - scripts altered to display correct border thickness of pip video

The above four videos were created with 4 slightly different avisynth scripts.

• Script1 – Utilises a short videoloop background with a slowly revealing movie clip. The audio is provided by the movie clip

• Script2 – Same as script 1 but an external soundtrack mp3 is utilised instead

• Script3 & 4 - respectively the same as script 1 & 2 except that a jpg image is used for the background

For those that are new to avisynth I would recommend reading my Introduction guide.

Essentially the scripts take a short video loop or image source and sets this as the background canvas. The main feature video clip is then revealed piece by piece by exploiting avisynths overlay functions. Mask and overlay images are called up by the scripts to help achieve the effect.

For download I have included a project folder that contains all four scripts with media to provide a fully working example for test purposes. When satisfied that the test project works OK the test media should be replaced with a users own. The media consists of:

• mainclip.wmv – This is the main movie and may be of any length.
• background.wmv – This is the background video loop – ideally it should be just a few seconds long. For lots of free loops checkout my Texture Loops section.
• background.jpg - Instead of a looping background video, a graphic image may be used instead
• soundtrack.mp3 – If a soundtrack is required, this will replace the audio of the main vid

The download is a 3.66mb zip file. I would strongly recommend extracting the file in to an empty folder

As usual I make no promise that the scripts will work for everyone – I am simply showing what works for me !

Additional Info

The script makes extensive use of the DirectShow parameter which means that many different types of video files can be utilised PROVIDING a users system is equipped with the appropriate DirectShow filters. In my script examples I have based the source videos on wmv files like the type saved by Windows Movie Maker. I have chosen wmv files as I would assume that most windows machines are fully equipped by default with the appropriate filters. For better quality results a user may wish to utilise different file types such as high quality DV encoded AVI files of the type that Movie Maker can again save to. If doing so “someclip.avi” would be placed in the project folder alongside the “mainclip.wmv” file. The reference to “mainclip.wmv” in the aviscript would then need to be replaced with “someclip.avi”

I have also included some variables that can easily be altered in the top section of the script that effects things like how quickly the puzzle pieces are placed and withdrawn.

Each script will attempt to optimise the output characteristics of the final rendered video based on the “mainclip.wmv” source video. This includes framerate and resolution.