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batch create image contact sheet from videofiles?
Nod5:
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.
mrvampi:
Not sure about batch capabilities.
Best program I found for the job was Image Grabber II.NET
Not been able to get onto the official website for a while, google gives a few pages with download links like this
There are some older versions of the program but they are not as good.
Options
Main Screen (thumbnail)
batch create image contact sheet from videofiles?
Final Output Sample (thumbnail)
batch create image contact sheet from videofiles?
There is also ImageGrab but I never had much success with that.
Hope that helps.
nudone:
that's kind of a cool program - Image Grabber II.
Nod5:
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.org/web/20060527192354/www45.brinkster.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.se/group/alt.comp.freeware/browse_thread/thread/294c532e13371c97/769b541bb47e593b?lnk=st&q=frameshots&rnum=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.graphicsmagick.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.
Nighted:
Nod5, you can also do this with Media Player Classic. However, it doesn't give you the precise control over which frames are grabbed, but it's very easy and fast. I hear VideoCharge Pro does contact sheets too but I haven't had time to try it out.
Media Player Classic:
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