chrono-photo

Preparing video material

Previous tutorial: Recording material for chrono-photo.

Next tutorial: Creating chrono-photos


Currently, chrono-photo does not yet support direct processing of video files. Therefore, videos have to be converted to image sequences using a 3rd party tool.

In this tutorial, video pre-processing to images is described for FFmpeg, Shortcut, VLC media player and Blender, which are all open source software.

Actually, this tutorial helps to decide for a tool, and links to respective 3rd party tutorials.

Content

General considerations

It is recommended to provide chrono-photo with only the required frames of the recorded video. In most cases, this requires to either cut the video before conversion, or to use a tool that allows for conversion of only parts of a video.

However, when working with very few images/frames (< 10), it may be necessary to provide some additional frames without the moving subject, from before or after “the action happened”.

Tools

FFmpeg

FFmpeg is a command line application for video processing. As such, it is easy to use while offering no graphical user interface.

Download FFmpeg from here.

A short but sufficient tutorial for converting a video to an image sequence using FFmpeg.

Shortcut

Shortcut is an open source video editing and cutting software. Among the altenatives described here, it probably offers the best trade-off between convenience, control, and a flat learning curve.

Download FFmpeg from here.

A short video tutorial for converting a video to an image sequence using Shortcut.

VLC media player

VLC media player offers very basic video to image conversion via the user interface, and some more control via the command line. If even more control is required, it is recommended to use Blender or a dedicated video editing software of your choice (e.g. Shortcut).

Download VLC media player from here.

A complete tutorial for converting a video to an image sequence using VLC’s GUI.

Section 3 of this post explains how to do it using VLC via the command line.

Blender

Blender is a full-featured 3D creation software, but it also has a powerful “Video Sequencer”, which we will use here. However, Blender is so powerful and feature-rich that it may be overwhelming for people new to it.

Download Blender from here.

A short video tutorial for converting a video to an image sequence using Blender.

Summary

This tutorial gave an overview over a few open source tools that allow for the conversion of videos to image sequences. This step is required, as long as chrono-photo does not yet support direct video processing.


Next tutorial: Creating chrono-photos