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Messages - Nod5 [ switch to compact view ]

Pages: prev1 ... 42 43 44 45 46 [47]
1151
Nighted & lanux128, No and No. Perry, Yes!  :D

We could separate:
1. Photo panorama maker: tool that takes several photos of the same motif from partly different angles and stiches them together to a large, borderless panorama photo. (PhotoShop can do this and so can the various standalone tools in the threaed lanux128 mentions)

2. contact sheet creator: tool that takes several images of different motifs and creates a large image with row and column separated thumbnails of the input images. (several mentioned in this DC thread )

3. "non-resizing input separating image appender": tool that takes several images, like partial area screenshots, and creates a large image with row and column separated non-resized copies of the input images.

I'm looking for a screen capture tool that does 3 automatically.

Here's a quick example of what I thought the output of 3 might look like when used to capture parts of a site (ideally background color, distance between images and so on should be customizable):
[attachthumb=#1][/attachthumb]

Some uses this would have:
- create an overview image of various parts of a site/application for use in a review
- create a photo mosaic by screencapping parts of your photos (when viewing them) to send to friends/family

1152
mouser,
Such a general purpose program sounds very useful too! I haven't switched to ScreenshotCaptor mainly because I haven't had a need for its more powerful features but this kind of thing would win me over. Was it something like this you had in mind: when a user drags an image from explorer over the "stitcher application" window the image is automatically read into the program and displayed like a dragged image object. Releasing the mouse button automatically pastes it onto the canvas.

I still think that a program that autostitches images would be faster in some cases though. For example, imagine taking 20+ partial area screencaps from various parts of a site. That means a whole lot of dragging and dropping after capturing compared to some autoappending solution.

Perry,
"SnagIt (which we're given at work) has a not-too-disimilar feature where you can add multiple objects from the one screen to one image (via multi-click), which means you can "composit" your base image more easily if it requires more than one window... but that's not what Nod5 was wanting anyway "

Thanks. I'll check it out, it might be close enough.

1153
I currently use FastStone Screen Capture since it is simple and lightweigth and since I most often do not need the more advanced features that other screen capture programs offer.

But today I did need a feature that FastStone lacks. I needed to take a sequence of (partial area) screencaps and append/stitch them into one single image.

So I'm ideally looking for a tool that: makes a screen capture each time the user presses a hotkey/button and draws an area with the mouse (many tools do that already) AND automatically appends/stitches the capture to a single image (this is the critical feature I'm after). At the end of the sequence, the user presses another hotkey/button and the image is then saved somewhere.

A plus would be if parameters like maximum width/height and background color could be set in advance. So for example, after stitching two screencaptures together horizontally, if appending a third capture on the same "row" would exceed the set maximum width then the program "linebreaks" and continues appending at the start of the next "row". If both maximum width and height is reached the image is saved and a new appendable image is started.

Is there any screen capture tool that can do something like that? (Note that I want each capture to retain it's size, so a tool that makes thumbnail image sheets out of a set of images would not be a solution here)

I suppose this is a feature that only few have use for on a daily basis. But on occasions when it is needed it could be a real timesaver compared to manually saving single screencap images, opening them all in a editor, creating a large canvas and copying and pasting them together.

1154
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: List of disc catalogers
« on: March 16, 2007, 05:50 AM »
Great list. One important feature for these tools is database import/export capabilities so any info on that would be appreciated.

Advanced Disk Catalog hasn't been updated since 2004. It has many good features but lack some basic ones. Like being able to copy the name of a file in the database. I have made a AutoHotKey script to get around that, so if someone else is using ADC and wants to copy filenames then check this out. It puts the name of the selected disc/folder/file in the clipboard when middle mouse button is clicked. The script exits automatically when Advanced Disk Catalog is closed.

SetTimer, ADC, 2000

ADC:
IfWinNotExist, ahk_class ADCCLASS_ELCOM
 exitapp
return

MButton::
IfWinActive, ahk_class ADCCLASS_ELCOM
goto copyselected
return

copyselected:
SendMessage, 0x111, 204, 0, , ahk_class ADCCLASS_ELCOM
winwait, ahk_class #32770
ControlGetText, x, Static4, ahk_class #32770
if x = Comment
ControlGetText, x, Static5, ahk_class #32770
if x = Last scan
ControlGetText, x, Edit1, ahk_class #32770
WinClose, ahk_class #32770, Comment
clipboard = %x%
return

1155
Nah, I don't have time to watch the videos. I'm busy archiving them properly  ;D
More seriously, I've used VLC for a long time and I think I'll stick to that. But Media Player Classic has many of the same qualities it seems (no fancy, bloated GUI, works with almost all files and so on). Thanks again for bringing it up. :Thmbsup:

1156
Nighted,
Thanks a lot! Media Player Classic suits my needs.

Media Player Classic
http://sourceforge.n...projects/guliverkli/
has the image grabbing features I requested (handles many video formats, interval screencaps of the sort "X number of frameshots", timestamps, specification of output file width) and it generates a contact sheet.

Its command line parameters doesn't include commmands for contact sheet creation. But I wrote an AutoHotkey script that allows batch usage.

edit: old code hidden
Spoiler
; AutoHotkey script to generate image contact sheets from a batch of video files


; --- INSTRUCTIONS ----
; 1. get Media Player Classic (MPC).
;    Load a video in MPC, then do File > Save Thumbnails...
;    Then set parameters in the save dialog (row/line, width, file format) and save the file.
;    The entered parameters now become default.
; 2. Put full paths to all target video files in flist.txt (one path on each line)
; 3. Set script parameters
; 4. Run script
;    note: don't use the computer for other purposes while running the script
;    since the script sends keyboard input to the active window



; --- SCRIPT PARAMETERS ----
xmpcpath =
xflistpath =
xoutputfolder =
xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source = 0
xsave_thumb_dialog_win_title =
xoutputfileprefix =
xoutputfilesuffix =

;examples:
; xmpcpath = C:\program\MPC\mplayerc.exe
;xflistpath = C:\some folder\flist.txt
;xoutputfolder = C:\some folder\
;xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source = 1   --> yes
;xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source = 0   --> no
; xsave_thumb_dialog_win_title = Spara som   
; needed since save thumbnail dialog window title varies with install language
;xoutputfileprefix = some_prefix_
;outputfilesuffix = some suffix
;----------------------------


; --- ACTUAL SCRIPT START ----
FileRead, xflist_contents, %xflistpath%

;--------------------------------------------
Loop, parse, xflist_contents,`n
{
If A_LoopField =
 continue   ;skip empty line at end

xfpath = %A_LoopField%
SplitPath, xfpath, xfname ,xffolder,,xfnameNoExt
run %xmpcpath% "%xfpath%"

WinWait,ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW
Sleep, 1000
SendInput {Space}
SendInput !F
SendInput {Up 7}
SendInput {Enter}
WinWaitActive, %xsave_thumb_dialog_win_title%

If xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source = 1
 xoutputfolder = %xffolder%

SendInput %xoutputfolder%\%xoutputfileprefix%%xfnameNoExt%%xoutputfilesuffix%
SendInput {Enter}

Loop
{
IfExist, %xoutputfolder%\%xoutputfileprefix%%xfnameNoExt%%xoutputfilesuffix%.jpg
break
IfExist, %xoutputfolder%\%xoutputfileprefix%%xfnameNoExt%%xoutputfilesuffix%.bmp
break
sleep 1000
}
WinClose, ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW
WinWaitClose, ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW
}
;--------------------------------------------

I did a testrun on a couple of video files without problems. Will try to run it on all my videos later tonight.

edit:
I just ran the script on 30+ video files and all seems to work fine. I also updated the script a bit. I edited this post so that the old script is hidden (above). Here's the new script:

; AutoHotkey script to generate image contact sheets from a batch of video files in Media Player Classic

xinstructions =
(
--- INSTRUCTIONS ----
1. Get Media Player Classic, http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/
   mpplayerc.exe path: C:\program\MPC (or) Scriptfolder (or) specify in script parameters
2. Make flist.txt with list of video file paths (one path per line)
   flist.txt path: Scriptfolder (or) specify in script parameters
3. Set other script parameters (or use defaults)
4. Run script
)

; --- SCRIPT PARAMETERS --------------------------------
IfExist, C:\program\MPC\mplayerc.exe
 xmpcpath = C:\program\MPC\mplayerc.exe
IfExist, %A_ScriptDir%\mplayerc.exe
 xmpcpath = %A_ScriptDir%\mplayerc.exe

; ------------------------ path to media player classic
; xmpcpath =
; ------------------------

If xmpcpath =
{
msgbox, error: mpplayerc.exe not found.
exitapp
}
IfExist, %A_ScriptDir%\flist.txt
 xflistpath = %A_ScriptDir%\flist.txt

; ------------------------ path to flist.txt
; xflistpath =
; ------------------------

If xflistpath =
{
FileSelectFile, xflistpath,3,,Select textfile that contains list of video file paths
if xflistpath =
exitapp
}
; ------------------------ other script parameters
xoutputfolder = %A_Desktop%
xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source = 1
xcreate_even_if_contactsheet_exists = 0
xoutputfileprefix =
xoutputfilesuffix =_cs
xrows = 7
xcols = 3
xwidth = 1000
; ------------------------
;examples:
;xoutputfolder = C:\some folder\
;xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source = 1   --> yes --> no need to set xoutputfolder
;xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source = 0   --> no
;xcreate_even_if_contactsheet_exists = 0 --> don't create if already exists (= file with matching file name exists)
;xcreate_even_if_contactsheet_exists = 1 --> create new (overwrites outputfolder)
;xoutputfileprefix = some_prefix_
;outputfilesuffix = some suffix
;xrows = 7
;xcols = 3
;xwidth = 1000
;----------------------------


; --- ACTUAL SCRIPT START ----
msgbox, 1,,
(
%xinstructions%

current parameters:
xmpcpath = %xmpcpath%
xflistpath = %xflistpath%
xoutputfolder = %xoutputfolder%
xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source = %xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source%
xcreate_even_if_contactsheet_exists = %xcreate_even_if_contactsheet_exists%
xoutputfileprefix = %xoutputfileprefix%
xoutputfilesuffix = %xoutputfilesuffix%

Click OK to run script
)
IfMsgBox, Cancel
exitapp

FileRead, xflist_contents, %xflistpath%

;--------------------------------------------
Loop, parse, xflist_contents,`n
{
If A_LoopField =
 continue   ;skip empty line at end

xfpath = %A_LoopField%
SplitPath, xfpath, xfname ,xffolder,,xfnameNoExt

If xoutput_to_same_folder_as_source = 1
 xoutputfolder = %xffolder%

If xcreate_even_if_contactsheet_exists = 0
{
IfExist, %xoutputfolder%\%xoutputfileprefix%%xfnameNoExt%%xoutputfilesuffix%.jpg
continue
IfExist, %xoutputfolder%\%xoutputfileprefix%%xfnameNoExt%%xoutputfilesuffix%.bmp
continue
}

run %xmpcpath% /open "%xfpath%"
WinWait,ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW
#WinActivateForce
WinActivate, ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW
WinWaitActive, ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW
Sleep, 1000

;0x111=command   wparam 888 lparam 0 = open save thumbs...
SendMessage, 0x111, 808, 0, , ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW

WinWait, ahk_class #32770,Image width:,4
IfWinNotExist, ahk_class #32770,Image width:
{
SendMessage, 0x111, 808, 0, , ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW   ;2nd try
WinWait, ahk_class #32770,Image width:
}

ControlSetText, Edit1,%xoutputfolder%\%xoutputfileprefix%%xfnameNoExt%%xoutputfilesuffix%, ahk_class #32770,Image width:
ControlSetText, Edit2, %xrows%, ahk_class #32770,Image width:
ControlSetText, Edit3, %xcols%, ahk_class #32770,Image width:
ControlSetText, Edit4, %xwidth%, ahk_class #32770,Image width:
ControlClick, Button2, ahk_class #32770,Image width:

Loop
{
IfExist, %xoutputfolder%\%xoutputfileprefix%%xfnameNoExt%%xoutputfilesuffix%.jpg
break
IfExist, %xoutputfolder%\%xoutputfileprefix%%xfnameNoExt%%xoutputfilesuffix%.bmp
break
sleep 1000
}

WinClose, ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW
WinWaitClose, ahk_class MediaPlayerClassicW
}
;--------------------------------------------

1157
mrvampi,
thanks a lot! Image Grabber II.NET seem to have many (most) of the features I was looking for. I'll try it out. Also, since I now have a name of one application in the "genre" I'll do some more searches and see if any similar applications turn up. Will report back here if I do.

apparently there's three programs (or three versions of one program?) by the same author: Image Grabber I, II and II.NET. The first two can still be downloaded through archive.org, http://web.archive.o...nkster.com/antworkz/ .

edit:
I still haven't had time to actually test ImageGrab II.NET yet but here's a follow up anyway...

First, I think I initially had trouble finding what I was looking for because I actually want two distinct things:
1. an image grabber (a.k.a. frameshot/screenshot maker) to output individual frameshot images from a video file
2. a contact sheet creator that operates on the previously generated frameshots

ImageGrab II.NET seems to do both which it great. But as mrvampi mentioned it doesn't seem to handle batch mode.

With the help of some better search phrases I found some alternatives that I'll also try.

IMAGE GRABBERS:
------------------
FrameShots (30$, free trial)
http://www.frame-shots.com/download.htm

Has command-line support so batch execution is possible. Options include: interval (both "frameshot every N seconds" and "X number of frameshots" are possible), timestamps, customizable filenaming, output file size and so on. In short, all image grabbing features I wanted. However, it does not seem to create a "contact sheet". It just creates multiple individual frame shot images. Contact sheet making isn't on the "future features" list either, http://www.frame-shots.com/future.htm

CONTACT SHEET CREATORS:
----------------------
this thread in alt.comp.freeware
http://groups.google...=14#769b541bb47e593b
included a link to a standalone .exe application that generates contact sheets, Image Joiner
http://www.puretna.com/imagejoiner.php (warning: the application page is hosted by an adult video file sharing site of some sort. I haven't tried it yet and so have no idea if it's malware-free)
It seems to have various useful settings but no command line support or batch mode.

the free image editor GIMP
http://gimp.org/downloads/
Accepts command line usage so batch execution is possible. And there's a contact sheet plugin available, http://registry.gimp.org/plugin?id=7544 .

the free image processing tool GraphicsMagick
http://www.graphicsmagick.org/
Accepts command line usage so batch execution is possible. And can "Create a montage of image thumbnails", http://www.graphicsm...org/www/montage.html

At first glance, GraphicsMagick seems most promising for easy automation.

So after trying ImageGrab II.NET I'll check if the combo FrameShots/GraphicsMagick can give an automated workflow.

1158
I have a large amount of TV recordings made with a DVB tv-card. The files are .mpg and in most cases 2+ GB in size. The collection is large enough for me to need a good catalog system. I have a text index but recently got the idea of also making a contact sheet image for each video. By contact sheet I mean one image which contains a mosaic of many small thumbnail images from different parts of the video file. That provides a quick visual overview of the video.

I've recently made a few such contact sheets through a many-steps-process: I manually make screenshots in the application I use to also trim the video (commercial breaks and so on) before archiving it. After that, I use ACDSee to create a contact sheet out of the images.

Now I'm searching for a way to automate contact sheet creation from videos into a simple batch process.

So I want an application with these features:

1. read a video file and make screencaps
 - formats to handle: .mpg and ideally other formats like xvid .avi, .wmv ...
 - interval screencaps: I want a coherent contact sheet format and so want a sure way to get at least X number of screencaps (let's say 30) from any video regardless of it's length. So a "screencap every N seconds" setting might need to be complemented by a "screencap at every 1/N time segment of video".
 - timestamped screencaps: add a (customizable) timestamp to each screencap
(I understand that many automatic screenshots will be less useful than those taken manually but if I make many screencaps some of them will probably still give a good overview of the video.)

2. make contact sheet from screencaps
 - add a user customizable title/header for the contact sheet. Allow variables in header. Example: "$filename -- $year-$month-$day"
 - customizability for the amount of thumbnails, number os rows/lines, size of thumbnails, borders, background ...

3. saving
 - automatically save the generated contact sheet to some preset folder. Allow variables in filename just like for header/title above.
 
4. batch capabilities
 - run 1-3 over a set files/folders.
 - Or at the very least, allow complete command line control so that users can make external scripts to get such batch capabilities.
4 is important for me since I don't have the time to manually or even semi-manually make contact sheets for all older videos.

Can anyone recommend a tool that does all that? Or something that comes close? All suggestions are welcome!

I googled some before writing this post, but didn't find much. One problem is that I'm unsure what the definite keyword for such software is. I write "contact sheet" only because ACDSee call it that. So suggestions for what terms to search for might be useful for me too.

1159
Great, detailed review! Will read it more carefully later. For now, I want to comment one thing that I don't think is mentioned in the review: an additional plus with OpenOffice.org is that it can be made portable.

Portableapps.com keeps a portable version updated. Just download, unpack and you're ready to go. I always carry around the portable version on my USB memory stick.

OpenOffice.org Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable

1160
I primarily use Magnifyer that comes Windows XP. It's primitive but suits my need to navigate the file system and so on when using tv-out.

Another small, free tool is ZoomIt from Sysinternals (now a part of Microsoft). It's "kind 2". However, it's primarily made for presentations and you can't click on files while in zoom mode. You can however point and draw on the screen to emphasize a point during a presentation.

1161
Living Room / Re: Downloadable Game for the Weekend: Bloodmasters
« on: January 28, 2007, 11:56 AM »
This is a great game. Really addictive. The public servers that are available does not seem to be full very often so maybe it's better if people join those until the game gains more users. But sure, if someone sets up another server I'll happily tag along and play some rounds!  :Thmbsup:

1162
ShortPopUp didn't do what I wanted. It does not display a folder tree. I could get it to display a menu with links to folders. Clicking the links pops up an explorer window. But that's no good solution.

TrueLaunchBar (TLB) did just what I requested however (after fiddling around with the settings) -- see screenshots. One small drawback is that TLB displays hidden files within the folders which the built in taskbar folder system does not (even though I have explorer set to display hidden files). But that's no big problem.
edit: Never mind, it IS possible to not show hidden files: TLB settings > general options > show hidden files > never


The only other downside with TrueLaunchBar so far is that it "feels" too complex for this simple task even though I have nothing specific to complain about. I'll run the "demo version" for a while and see if it uses up a lot of system resources, causes the menu loading to lag or something like that. If not, then I'll go for it. It's only 10$ after the Donation Coder discount!

tlb1.png   tlb2.png

1163
I use FinePrint a lot at work. It's perfect for printing journal articles with two pages on each sheet of paper (or actually four since I print on both sides of the paper).

One thing I miss in FinePrint: being able to print three (partly overlapping) pages on one sheet of paper! That would be very useful when printing much web content, since the rows are often shorter for articles on the web. Printing such content with the two pages option in FinePrint results in a lot of unneccessary white borders. Since three full pages on one row would not fit on the sheet, FinePrint should add an option to overlap the pages horizontally by some user customizable measure. The user could then tune the overlap setting so that only the white borders, not the actual text, overlap.

Another thing I miss: I'd like an option to get the header tool in FinePrint to behave like the watermark tool. That is, stamp headers onto the page image and not above it. The latter means that the page gets shrunk and moved down a bit even in cases where there's enough white border space on the printed page image to fit the header.

Does anyone know if Clickbook or any other software can do these two things?

1164
Thanks for the feedback!

I wasn't aware of Free Launch Bar or True Launch Bar.

From the comparison table on http://www.freelaunchbar.com/ it seems that only True Launch Bar supports the feature I want: "Virtual Folders (This is menus that show the content of any folder from My Computer (Control Panel, Printers any file system folder etc.)".

I'll test True Launch Bar later this week. However, my first impression from browsing the site is that it's very complex compared to what I need. (It's smallest installation pack is 1.86 MB)

I did some more searching and found what looks like a more minimal app ShortPopUp, http://www.digitalli...co.uk/pc/ShortPopUp/ . I'll test that too and report back here afterwards.

I also found this resource on creating "Desk Bands", http://msdn.microsof.../shell_adv/bands.asp . However, that guide is way over my head so I can't implement it myself.

1165
In Win XP it is possible to add menus to the taskbar that displays any folder and all its subfolders and -files.
I use that feature a lot for very quick access to C:.

The only downside with the built in feature is that it wastes taskbar space for no good reason:
- the "arrow" that opens the menu is 1cm to the right of the label (could be above it)
- for root drives, XP forces the text "(C:)" to the right of the drive's name.

a.png

I have three harddrives and would ideally like to have a menu for each drive's root folder plus one more folder but refrain because it wastes too much taskbar space.

So my idea is this:

A tool that retains all the built in features for taskbar menus but that decreases the taskbar space for each menu.

Here's how I imagine it:

b.png



Clarification 1: there are several small apps that allow customizable menus from a tray icon. LaunchBarCommander , https://www.donation...Commander/index.html is one example. But I very much prefer a menu on the taskbar area to the left of the tray, since the tray icons tend to rearrange themselves as new applications start and close.

Clarification 2: my idea was to only find a way to decrease the taskbar space usage. The idea does not involve any added functionality on top of the built in folder menu feature. Again, there are several apps (again, like LaunchBarCommander) with a very rich set of features. I emphasize this because more features tend to come with larger file size and slower operation. Since I use the menu feature a lot even a small delay between a click and folder display would be annoying in the long run.

Any ideas how this idea could be implemented? I know that some applications add a search field, drop spot and so on to the taskbar so it is clearly possible, but I have no idea how complicated it is.

1166
Great!  :)

1167
I've recently tried to follow the many great GOE-threads in the forum. In the process of doing that I've made many bookmarks, but bookmarking is slowed down by the fact that the page title for forum threads does not include the string "DonationCoder.com" like all non-forum page titles does. Manually adding such a string to the title of each bookmark is time-consuming (in the long run at least).

So I request such a string for forum page titles. It's a good thing to consistently include some such string in all page titles since it makes searching and managing all and only bookmarks to the site much easier.

Also, a better system, IMO, would be to reverse the current page title phrases for regular pages, like this:

"DonationCoder.com - Software - Mouser - PopUp Wisdom"

With that order, all bookmarks from the site can be grouped simply by sorting a bookmarks folder alphabetically.

These are minor problems, I grant that.  But also perhaps minor tasks to fix?

1168
Two more disc cataloging apps:
Broken Cross Disk Manager  -- http://bcdm.broken-cross.com/
Argentum MyFiles -- http://www.argentuma.com/myfiles.html



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