Windows IFF conversion or ANIM conversion?

[leirbag28]

Does anyone here know where I can download some Software for Windows, that allows one to convert JPG frames or gif frames into IFF frames but with one palette for all the frames?

or even something that converst JPG frames or Quicktime Movies into Anim5?

 I already have InfraView............but I dont think it can convert to IFF, it only loads it.........on top of that it does convert to GIF which I can easily convert to IFF, but it doesnt sem to convert all the frames to one single palette!

Brilliance 2.0 sems unable to read Animations that have different palettes per frame........and I need to use Brilliance so it's important.

I know SCALA can make all the frames to one palete, but it makes it look ugly.


I need this fast, as I have a project due next week.

[cecilia]

obviously you want to convert jpgs to cmap images. the question is why do this in windows? wouldn't making an amiga anim be easier with an amiga? even using WinUAE?

I use ACDSee to view iff's (and everything else) in windows, but i've never used it to convert to iff. i suppose it could. with plugins Photoshop and AfterEffects also load and save iff's.

[leirbag28]

Well not exactly............I need to convert every frame of a DV stream I filmed with my DV cam..... I loaded it into Quicktime Pro to convert the Video into individual frames (JPG). So now I have to convert those frames into 256 color or 32 color IFFs, so that I can recompile the Animation on the Amiga So that it would look like I am running Video on the Amiga (even though its an animation)  Converting a single JPG from 16 Million colors to a 256  Floyd Steinberg dithered IFF image on a 68030 Amiga takes about 1 minute...............this same process takes 1 SECOND on my Pentium 4.......as a matter of fact, the P4 proceses 250 JPGs to IFF in the same time it takes My Amiga to do just ONE!   so this is truly a time saver.

But anyway thats why I want to proces them on the PC.......there is no question about that.......but I need software on the PC side that can do all the things you can do to an IFF image on an Amiga.  
Things like choose the amount of color, Dithering, Frame size, and most importantly Palettes!  I need the palette to be the same throught the entire animation.........as this drastically improves the speed of the animation.

 I can sort of do this entire Process with ImageStudio 2.3 but I forget how to tell it to use the same palette on all the frames its procesing.........on top of that it would take hours.

 I sort of just resolved the issue with JASC Paint Shop Pro as it has  options for Amiga IFF (24 bit I guess)  and Deluxe Paint ilbm (THis is 256 color option only)  so from there I guess its easier to lower the colors..........

But I still prefer some software to do this on the PC side..............

Also I am looking for some good DV importing software thats FREE on the PC side, that lets one convert the DV film into individual frames.

Anyone know of any?

[jmbattle]

VirtualDub will probably achieve what you are hoping to do.  With the correct DV VFW codecs, one should be able to import the original video, perform any filtering/resizing/colour reduction, then spit out individual frames as uncompressed bmp/tiff.

From here, it should just be a case of using a batch file conversion tool (you have already mentioned irfanview...) to produce 8bit iff images (hey, but don't forget the wonderfully hacky HAM8!) from which an ANIM file can be built on the AmigaOS side (check Aminet for cli/shell tools).

I hope this helps; good luck!
James

[cecilia]

I would also suggest not converting to jpgs from the camera. you'll just make artifacts that will end up in your animation. and that will not only make it look bad but will increase the size of the anim.
use an uncompressed format

[AmigaPete]

leirbag,
You might want to try XnView. It's freeware, supports loads of filetypes (including iff, icon) and has batch conversion capability. I'm just not sure about the palette thing. Check it out at www.xnview.com.

Pete

[leirbag28]

@jmbattle

I think I already have VirtualDub and it didnt seem to do good for me.

Right now I am using a free Version of Avid, but this thing seems to ruin the Frame rate and also saves in 640 x 480 rather than 720 x 480 which is DV original resolution...........so I have to reconvert the frames back to 720 x 480........what a hassle like White Castle, when I threw away my tassle!

By the way, jmbattle, are you really in Japan?  are you Japanese? very few Japanese Amiga users in the World.

@Cecilia

About the JPEGS.........you know....I never really gave it much thought, as I was saving it in jpg 100% which gave me the impression there would be no artifacts............but now I have taken what you said into consideration, and will save my images in TIFF or something equivalent.


@AmigaPete

Thanks for that That Software!  seems cool, I will check it out

[jmbattle]

What difficulties did you experience with VirtualDub?  It is an essential tool for any video batch processing tasks, is opensource, and even developed by an ex-Amiga junky!

As I suggested, it will happily open your DV files, perform the colour reduction process (along with any other filtering tweaks) and save out individual frames in an uncompressed format.

It is a powerful that takes a little time to get to grips with, yet will save you a considerable amount of time.

Regarding Japan, yes, this I have been here for over two years now, recently moving to the crazy hustle and bustle of Tokyo.  I doubt I would really class myself as an Amiga user anymore though, just the occasional pottering around with WinUAE to update AIAB every so often.

Cheers,
James

[DonnyEMU]

have you tried Hijaack and doing it on the pc?

[whabang]

Jasc's Paint shop Pro can do batch conversions to and from IFF and loads of other formats. I don't think that it's animation part supports IFF's tho'.

[leirbag28]

@DonnyEMU

Hijaaack is not free

@jmbattle

I will give VirtualDUb another try as I think I found what I needed as far as converting to frames is concerned......XnView is pretty good although InfraView is a litle faster, but XnView allows me to convert to IFF and add effects at the same time.

So I guess what I need now is just some Free software that imports and exports DV in its native 720 x 480 resolution, Yes I will try out VirtualDUB but anyone else have any recommendations?



By the way, I converted a few anims to 384 x 241 and let me Tell you..........it is a complete lie that the Amiga can't do Full Motion Video without an FMV card!  It can! I even had the MASPlayer going (which slows down my machne) and the video is still capable of running smooth...........take these anims and make them into SSA (ClariSSA) format, and they will run even smoother.  THis is a 68030 AMiga with no Gfx card or anything special. The video looks slightly better than VideoCD and VHS, and I think I can improve it alot too.

 

[Animagic]

Do the following:

Use scala to convert frames into anim. Use DITHERING and the best algorithm for pallete (has 3 options iirc...)

Then:

option 1) take the final product on dpaint and re-compress it. it will get at least 30% smaller in size! (i honestly dont know why.... but it does happen!)

option 2) take the final product and recompress it with ClariSSA pro. You will be able to see 720x576 ham8 animation with 8svx sound on an AGA amiga with 040 and 16MB ram! That is almost DVD quality on classic amiga! Quarranteed  :-D

I have converted a movie (asterix - mission cleopatre) in anim8 (SSA). Sound is terrible but picture is better than divx! almost like the DVD! :-o
And in case somebody is asking : the size of the movie ended in 690 MB... fits on a cd rom

[leirbag28]

@Animagic

That sounds Awesome!  690MB is just about right, as VideoCD actually takes up 2 650MB CD's, so the method you used is better. This is ultimately my goal, to put an entire music Video or Movie on my HD.

I do use Scala, but honestly the dithering sucks...........the reaon is because SCALA does this for speed purposes. The best dithering is done by PPaint. Deluxe Paint probably makes it smaller, but I am sure the animation will run slower on an 030, as SCALAs formats are meant for speed.  I do have ClariSSA, but it is massivly dificult to use....I despise the interface..........not sure what these people were thinking........just like that wacko AdPro interface.

I will give it another shot though if I can get it to run.it wont run anymore because of the RAMLIB problem.

As for sound being bad on your end...was it because the original sound was bad?  or did you digitize at a low rate?  You can get pretty darn decent sounds at 19khz in DSS8, the files will be the same size as MP3..........if worse comes to worse.....get a MASPlayer and convert the whole audio to MP3 :-)

If you get the original footage of the Movie from DVD or DivX, the quality should look almost identical.

[motrucker]

I see some one has already suggested HiJaack. That would be my bet if it has to done on the pc. It's not freeware, but it is cheap (maybe inexpensive would a better way to put it).
Good luck with the project.