Author Topic: (Mainly text-based) movies  (Read 4087 times)

xynixme

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(Mainly text-based) movies
« on: July 06, 2019, 03:40:48 pm »
What are weapons of choice to, in the end, quickly produce an animated GIF with mainly text-based frames? The format (size, grid, colors, font, lay-out, ...) has to be about the same, so you cannot start PBRUSH.EXE, aim, type text, save and convert.

YouTube videos with just audio and lyrics, and perhaps showing a static image while there are no lyrics, may be a well-known example. GLE? An utility which almost works like a text editor?

I can create my own image files, with a text file as input and automatic processing to create the whole movie, but unfortunately using any font is more than a bit of a stretch.

Having to type is no problem, as long as you can edit and re-use text you've saved as the previous image. Edit as text, not as pixels.

In theory GLE seems to be a candidate for fully automated processing, including variable delays and non-text images which can be inserted later. In pseudo-code:

[blank] // blank initial frame, default delay
The Pope // First text frame (title), matching default delay
Is the Pope catholic? // Second text frame, variable delay based on the text
No, a Pope is the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. // Second text frame, variable delay based on the text
[ALEXPOPE.GIF] // insert image, default delay
Thank you for being bored! No fun intended. // Final text frame, variable delay based on the text
[end] // The end

But having to type, save, edit, save, edit, save, ... and compile a video manually is no big deal. It ain't books. A lyrics videos is a good example, albeit such a video is already quite long (and requires almost perfect delays).

Mentore

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Re: (Mainly text-based) movies
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2019, 08:17:18 am »
What are weapons of choice to, in the end, quickly produce an animated GIF with mainly text-based frames? The format (size, grid, colors, font, lay-out, ...) has to be about the same, so you cannot start PBRUSH.EXE, aim, type text, save and convert.

YouTube videos with just audio and lyrics, and perhaps showing a static image while there are no lyrics, may be a well-known example. GLE? An utility which almost works like a text editor?

While in OS/2 I can think about Embellish and PGPro. Being these object-based (albeit a little cumbersome to use) these are IMHO the most useful ones.

Quote
I can create my own image files, with a text file as input and automatic processing to create the whole movie, but unfortunately using any font is more than a bit of a stretch.

Having to type is no problem, as long as you can edit and re-use text you've saved as the previous image. Edit as text, not as pixels.

In theory GLE seems to be a candidate for fully automated processing, including variable delays and non-text images which can be inserted later. In pseudo-code:

[blank] // blank initial frame, default delay
The Pope // First text frame (title), matching default delay
Is the Pope catholic? // Second text frame, variable delay based on the text
No, a Pope is the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. // Second text frame, variable delay based on the text
[ALEXPOPE.GIF] // insert image, default delay
Thank you for being bored! No fun intended. // Final text frame, variable delay based on the text
[end] // The end

But having to type, save, edit, save, edit, save, ... and compile a video manually is no big deal. It ain't books. A lyrics videos is a good example, albeit such a video is already quite long (and requires almost perfect delays).

If you don't mind doing some scripting (maybe also REXX and similar) you can try and use ffmpeg and maybe better mencoder with subtitles. Even if they are called "subtitles" they can be put in almost any position and use any font you like: you can synchronize them with the audio you're using.

I used ffmpeg to make some videos in the past (going to use it again soon) and this is one of my best works: it's the title page for a DVD I made of the movie "Final Fantasy" (I had the original in VHS and copied it to DVD. Needed a title and menu, so I worked a bit).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUNhw5HVe8c

Mentore

xynixme

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Re: (Mainly text-based) movies
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2019, 11:05:24 am »
I can think about Embellish and PGPro. Being these object-based (albeit a little cumbersome to use) these are IMHO the most useful ones.

If you don't mind doing some scripting (maybe also REXX and similar) you can try and use ffmpeg and maybe better mencoder with subtitles. Even if they are called "subtitles" they can be put in almost any position and use any font you like: you can synchronize them with the audio you're using.

I used ffmpeg to make some videos in the past (going to use it again soon) and this is one of my best works: it's the title page for a DVD I made of the movie "Final Fantasy" (I had the original in VHS and copied it to DVD. Needed a title and menu, so I worked a bit).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUNhw5HVe8c
In this case experience has an added value. "Subtitles" sounds like a winner!

FFmpeg was already a part of the plan, after a simple test with animated GIFs. Scripts would help, if you basicly want to convert text to video.

I'm considering to replace written text, let's say a webpage with a few images, by video. A virtual example is installing eCS 2.x on modern hardware. Sometimes people cannot find 5 minutes to read the manual, but 14 minutes of video and 6 minutes of "like this video and subscribe" and a lack of quality are fine. No virtual page with printed lyrics, but a video with the whole song and lyrics.

GLE is probably more complicated to setup and to use than bleedin' obvious "subtitles", for one because it requires Ghostscript and cannot produce GIF files directly. That long Unix'ish route, in theory: GLE -> Ghostscript -> JPG -> GIF -> animated GIF -> FFmpeg.