SGI movie Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
The SGI FAQ group
Last-modified: Wed Oct 20 1:00:04 CDT 1999
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SGI movie Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
This is one of the Silicon Graphics FAQ series, which consists of:
SGI admin FAQ - IRIX system administration
SGI apps FAQ - Applications and miscellaneous programming
SGI audio FAQ - Audio applications and programming
SGI diffs FAQ - Changes to the other FAQs since the last posting
SGI graphics FAQ - Graphics and user environment customization
SGI hardware FAQ - Hardware
SGI impressario FAQ - IRIS Impressario
SGI inventor FAQ - IRIS Inventor
SGI misc FAQ - Introduction & miscellaneous information
SGI movie FAQ - Movies
SGI performer FAQ - IRIS Performer
SGI pointer FAQ - Pointer to the other FAQs
SGI security FAQ - IRIX security
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Topics covered in this FAQ:
---------------------------
-1- Is there a QuickTime movieplayer available for SGI?
-2- I cannot play a QuickTime movie on my Silicon Graphics computer.
How can I make it work?
-3- I cannot play a QuickTime movie created on a Silicon Graphics
computer on my Macintosh. How can I make it work?
-4- What version of QuickTime does Silicon Graphics support?
-5- How can I create a QuickTime file on an SGI?
-6- I need to play MPEG movies. Does SGI offer MPEG support?
-7- I created a movie with Capture, but now I can't edit it with
Movie Maker or play it with Movie Player.
-8- How can I write a program to create, edit, convert, or play
movies? Where can I get a copy of the SGI Movie Library?
-9- I can't use images exported with Moviemaker in any of my
applications. What image format does Moviemaker use?
-10- Can anyone provide details on the SGI movie format?
-11- Can anyone provide details on the QuickTime movie format?
-12- How can I convert from SGI movie format to MPEG?
-13- How can I convert from Microsoft AVI movie format to SGI movie
format?
-14- Is there a way to bring up a movie (using movieplayer) within
Showcase using a button click...and having it place itself
automatically in a certain location and start?
-15- I am using Mosaic. When I try to view a movie, movieplayer
starts, but then shows a message: no movie. How can I make it
work?
-16- I have the Galileo (or Indy Video/Indigo2 Video) option, but I
can't get Capture to use it. When I run it, the IndyCam shows
up. What do I do?
-17- I cannot get the right video to show in the Capture tool! I get a
video source other than the one I want or the screen is black.
What do I do?
-18- Why does Capture tell me to "Please Stand By", instead of
capturing video?
-19- Capture just grabbed a file for me, but now I can't find it.
Where did Capture hide it?
-20- Under IRIX 5.3, my system has a video board and/or IndyCam, but
Capture won't let me use it. It just greys out the video options
on its menu. How can I make it work?
-21- I created a movie with audio using makemovie, but the soundtrack
plays back really garbled and choppy. What do I do?
-22- Does anyone know the maximum size a movie file that MovieMaker or
MoviePlayer can handle? Is it limited by free memory, or will it
play from the hard drive?
-23- How do I write a program to access the pixels of a video frame in
a movie file for image processing purposes?
-24- How do I write a program which can write individual frames from a
movie file out to a still image file?
-25- I'm using the Movie Library to create QuickTime movies using
Apple's Video compression. When are default key-frames placed in
a QuickTime movie made with the SGI movie library?
-26- The Movie Library has calls to play a movie in a file, memory or
a file descriptor. But all of them seem to assume that the
complete movie is available locally. How can I play a movie all
of which is not available locally?
-27- When programming with the Movie Library, can we insert and delete
frames from a playing movie?
-28- When writing frames to a movie with the Movie Library, if we fix
the image track parameters, does the byte size of the frame
remain constant across frames?
-29- How do I write a program to play a movie entirely from memory?
-30- How do I capture movies from live video within my application?
-31- How do I write a program to read and write compressed data to a
movie file?
-32- I want to write a program which creates a JPEG-compressed movie
file, but I need to control the compression quality. How do I do
this with the Movie Library?
-33- I want to write a program which can create a JPEG-compressed
movie file compatible with the Cosmo Compress board, SGI's
hardware JPEG accelerator. How do I do this?
-34- I simply want to create a JPEG-compressed movie which is
compatible with the Cosmo Compress board. I don't want to write
my own program. How do I do this?
-35- I want to capture a still image from video using a shell script.
The Capture tool doesn't seem to be appropriate because it waits
for the user to click the mouse button. How can I accomplish
this?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: -1- Is there a QuickTime movieplayer available for SGI?
Date: Fri May 3 10:23:53 PDT 1996
SGI provides QuickTime movie support as part of Movieplayer in IRIX
5.1 and later. If you can't or don't wish to upgrade, you may wish
to investigate a public domain program called Xanim which offers
QuickTime capability.
The XAnim Home Page is:
http://www.portal.com/~podlipec/home.html
and it's available for anonymous ftp from:
ftp.portal.com /pub/podlipec/xanim2703.tar.?
/pub/podlipec/cinepak.readme
/pub/podlipec/indeo.readme
If you are running IRIX 4.0.5 (any variant) or earlier, please
consider upgrading to IRIX 5.3 (if you have an R3000-based system)
or best of all, to IRIX 6.2. Both releases contain a more
full-featured set of movie tools bundled with the system.
If you upgrade to IRIX 5.3, you should download the Digital Media
Tools 5.5 product from SGI. They can be found at the following
URL:
http://www.sgi.com/Products/Evaluation/dmedia/
This is an enhanced set of digital media tools for IRIX 5.3 systems.
It provides additional support for QuickTime features and MPEG.
You do not need to download the Digital Media Tools 5.5 product
if you have IRIX 6.2.
IRIX 6.2 contains all of the enhancements in Digital Media Tools
5.5, as well as additional features and updated applications.
(Note: if you need to create content in MPEG-1 or CinePak format,
you will still need to purchase codec licenses).
------------------------------
Subject: -2- I cannot play a QuickTime movie on my Silicon Graphics
computer. How can I make it work?
Date: Thu May 2 16:33:54 PDT 1996
Here is a checklist of things to try:
- You should be using the 5.1 MR version of the OS or later. Later
versions, in particular Irix 6.2 support more QuickTime files.
- The QT movie must be "flattened". Use the Apple Movie Converter
program and choose BOTH "Make playable on non-Apple systems" and
"Make self-contained" in the Save As dialog. The file must
also be compressed with an algorithm we support. For example,
do not choose "Cinepak" or "Compact Video".
- Try changing the compression to something else, say "none" to see
if that may be the problem.
SGI has licensed the QuickTime movie file format and three
compressors from Apple. In IRIX releases 5.1 through 5.3, you can
display QuickTime movies compressed with the RLE or RPZA algorithms
(Apple Graphics and Apple Video) with the bundled SGI movieplayer.
If you have IRIX 5.3, you can download the Digital Media Tools 5.5
product. This will allow you to create and view QuickTime movies
using Cinepak compression, and it can also read QuickTime movies on
Macintosh filesystems which have not been "flattened". See the first
question in this FAQ for information on downloading the tools.
If you have IRIX 6.2, CinePak and Indeo3.2 decompressors are included.
The CinePak compressor requires a license which is included with SGI's
WebForce software product.
Prior to OS release 6.2, the SGI movie tools did not support QuickTime
movies which contain an edit list; version 6.2 and beyond supports
QuickTime movies with edit lists, and with multiple image tracks.
Typically, a QuickTime file on the Macintosh stores all of the movie
parameters and header information in the resource fork, and the
actual media (sound + video) in the data fork. To be used on a
computer which has a conventional file system (such as the Indigo),
you must first "flatten" the movie on the Macintosh before
transferring it to the Indigo. This is what the "Make playable on
non-Apple systems" option in the Apple Movie Converter does.
The Apple Movie Converter is part of the QuickTime Starter Kit, a
software package sold by Apple Computer for Macintosh systems. It is
available from retail software distributors.
------------------------------
Subject: -3- I cannot play a QuickTime movie created on a Silicon
Graphics computer on my Macintosh. How can I make it
work?
Date: Thu Feb 16 15:37:32 PST 1995
When going from an SGI to a Mac, the file must have a creator and
file type. This can be done in "ResEdit".
To move a file to the Mac...
1. Save the file in a QuickTime format. See elsewhere in this FAQ
for more details on how to create QuickTime files.
2. Move the file to a Mac (using the floptical, or ftp).
NOTE: If using ftp, make sure the mode is binary, *not* macbinary
3. Open the Mac program "ResEdit".
4. Select "Get File info..." from File menu.
5. Type "MooV" into file type field, and "TVOD" into creator field.
6. Close dialog (Choose Yes to save changes).
7. Quit "ResEdit".
It should just work from here.
------------------------------
Subject: -4- What version of QuickTime does Silicon Graphics support?
Date: Thu May 2 16:26:48 PDT 1996
Silicon Graphics does not provide support for the QuickTime
programming library, but only for the QuickTime file format.
The definition of the QuickTime file format has not changed since its
original release. Apple's enhancements have mostly been in the form
of performance improvements and new features to QuickTime which have
not changed the basic file format. So, in some sense SGI supports
every version of QuickTime. But to answer the question practically,
we do not support every features which Apple has introduced in later
releases of QuickTime, such as MIDI tracks in QuickTime files,
or QuickTime VR.
SGI is working very hard to enhance its QuickTime support over time.
In the Digital Media 5.5 tools software product for IRIX 5.3, SGI
provides support for reading and writing QuickTime movies with
Cinepak compression, as well as support for reading "non-flattened"
movies which contain separate resource and data forks.
To download the Digital Media 5.5 tools, see the first question in
this FAQ.
In IRIX 6.2, SGI also provides support for reading QuickTime files
stored with Indeo3.2 compression, and also other features of QuickTime
which were not previously recognized.
------------------------------
Subject: -5- How can I create a QuickTime file on an SGI?
Date: Wed Sep 22 13:01:17 CDT 1999
The answer to this question depends upon the IRIX system
release you have:
- If you are using IRIX 5.2 or earlier, you must obtain
quicktime_dev, SGI's QuickTime development option, or else
find or purchase a tool which supports QuickTime output.
SGI does not provide a method to create QuickTime movie
files in the 5.2 release of the Movie Tools. If you
obtain the Digital Media Development Option, together
with the QuickTime Development option, you can obtain a
tool which will create QuickTime files on an SGI system.
See elsewhere in this FAQ for more information on both
the Digital Media Development Option and the QuickTime
Developer's Option.
- If you are using IRIX 5.3 or later, you can use the
Movie Maker or Movie Convert applications to write a
QuickTime file.
- If you use IRIX 5.3 with any of the following:
- WebFORCE software product,
- Desktop Special Edition 1.1,
- the Digital Media 5.5 Tools
or if you use IRIX 6.2 or later, you can also use the
Movie Master/mediaconvert, dmconvert, and makemovie
utilities to create the QuickTime file. You can also
record a QuickTime movie using the Capture Tool. See
the first question in this FAQ for information on obtaining
the Digital Media 5.5 tools, or IRIX 6.2.
- If you use IRIX 6.2, note that the QuickTime Development
option has been incorporated into the Digital Media
Development option, and is no longer needed; additionally,
it supports the features found in Digital Media Tools
5.5.
There is a commercially available tool called Image Independence
which will allow creation of both SGI and QuickTime movies
under IRIX 5.2 and later. It is a batch image converter with A
GUI and command-line versions. It can also convert movies from
one type to another, or split movies into separate frames. It
comes with over 20 image formats, is fast and flexible. It lists
for $495, and it can be purchased from Elastic Reality, Inc.
http://www.elasticreality.com/.
------------------------------
Subject: -6- I need to play MPEG movies. Does SGI offer MPEG
support?
Date: 4 Nov 1998 00:00:01 MST
Again, the answer to this depends on the IRIX system release
that you have.
- In all releases of IRIX up to and including IRIX 5.3,
the SGI movieplayer does not support MPEG movies.
- If you use IRIX 5.3 with the Digital Media Tools 5.5
software product or IRIX 6.2, the SGI movieplayer
supports MPEG-1 movies.
You can also create MPEG movies using the dmconvert or
Movie Master (mediaconvert) tools. See the first question
in this FAQ for information on downloading the Digital
Media Tools 5.5 software product from SGI.
For free, you have several options:
1) You can use the Berkeley mpeg_play. You can get the file
mpeg_play.Z by anonymous ftp from
ftp://sgigate.sgi.com/pub/Mosaic/mpeg_play.Z
2) A Motif-based MPEG player is available via these URLs:
http://www.geom.umn.edu/software/download/mpeg_play.html
ftp://geom.umn.edu/priv/daeron/src/mpeg_play-src.tar.Z
3) An MPEG player from Greg Ward <gr...@bic.mni.mcgill.ca>, who
writes:
glmpeg_play is a feature-rich, GUI-poor player for MPEG-1 video
streams for SGI workstations. It supports memory or disk buffering,
zooming by pixel doubling/tripling/ whatever, pause, single step
forward or backward, continuous play, continuous back-and-forth play,
and a few other obscure features. It is entirely controllable
through the keyboard, and most features are also accessible via
pop-up menu. No pretty buttons, though. Playback status is
available through a rather ugly (but informative) text window.
glmpeg_play is available from
ftp://ftp.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/pub/mpeg
------------------------------
Subject: -7- I created a movie with Capture, but now I can't edit it
with Movie Maker or play it with Movie Player.
Date: Mon Mar 25 10:04:18 PST 1996
Check to see that you are using compatible versions of the tools.
Odds are that you created the movie with Capture (an application in
IRIX 5.1 and later), but are trying to use the tools from an IRIX
4.0.5 to view and manipulate them.
The IRIX 5.x and 6,x versions of the movie tools can read files
created by the 4.0.5 tools, but the reverse is not true.
Also, in order to edit a movie, be sure to check that you have write
permission to the file.
------------------------------
Subject: -8- How can I write a program to create, edit, convert, or
play movies? Where can I get a copy of the SGI Movie
Library?
Date: Thu May 2 16:33:54 PDT 1996
The Digital Media Development Option contains the Video,
Audio, Audio File, MIDI, CD, DAT, Movie, and Compression
Libraries. It allows you to perform tasks like these
inside your application:
- perform audio, video, MIDI I/O on SGI machines (including
programming the IndyCam)
- convert audio/video data between different formats
(this includes software and hardware
compression/decompression for audio and video)
- read/write digital media file formats (SGI movie,
QuickTime, AIFF/AIFF-C sound files)
- read/write DAT audio tapes using SGI SCSI DAT drive, read
CD audio disks using SGI SCSI CD drive.
The part number for the Digital Media Development Option is
SC4-DMDEV-2.0. For releases prior to IRIX 6.2, if you would
like to develop applications which manipulate QuickTime files,
you must also order the companion product, QuickTime 1.0 Compressor
Library, part number SC4-QTCL-1.0. The Digital Media Development
Option requires IRIX 5.2 or later (both part numbers above are
for the IRIX 5.2 versions).
In order to use the Digital Media Development Option, you
also need to have IDO 5.2. This is the basic IRIS
developer option, including compilers, basic C library
headers, graphics libraries, etc.
In the United States, you can order these products by
calling Silicon Graphics toll-free at 1-800-800-SGI1
(1-800-800-7441). If you live in a country other than the
United States, contact your nearest Silicon Graphics
office, or call one of these regional telephone numbers:
Europe (41) 22-798.75.25 (Geneva, CH)
North Pacific (81) 3-5420.71.10
South Pacific (61) 2-879.95.00
Latin America 1(415) 390.46.37
Canada 1(416) 625-4747
Starting with IRIX 5.3, the Digital Media Development
Environment has been included as a standard piece of IDO,
and you no longer need to order it separately. However,
the QuickTime 1.0 Compressor Library remains a separate
product in IRIX 5.3.
Starting with WebForce 1.1 (and including IRIX 6.2), the
QuickTime codecs have been moved into the CL, so the
QuickTime 1.0 Compressor Library option is no longer needed.
------------------------------
Subject: -9- I can't use images exported with Moviemaker in any of my
applications. What image format does Moviemaker use?
Date: Thu May 2 16:33:54 PDT 1996
In IRIX 5.2 and earlier, Moviemaker exports images using the
ImageVision FIT file format. This library is supported by the
SGI ImageVision Library and its assorted tools.
To convert FIT files to another file format, such as SGI rgb or TIFF,
use the imgcopy(1) program, part of the ImageVision Tools (imgtools)
product. The ImageVision Tools are bundled with the basic IRIX
distribution.
The following shell script will convert a batch of image files to SGI
format, using imgcopy:
#----------------------- cut here ---------------------------
#!/bin/csh
#
# iv2sgi - convert a batch of imagevision-supported files to SGI
# .rgb format using imgcopy
#
# usage: iv2sgi <filenames>
#
foreach image ($argv)
imgcopy -fSGI $image $image.rgb
end
#----------------------- cut here ---------------------------
Moviemaker 2.1, which is available in the IRIX 5.3 release,
supports image export in SGI and TIFF, as well as FIT formats.
NOTE: the IRIX 5.3 version of Moviemaker contains a bug which
prevents it from exporting images to TIFF format. Exported images
will look all black or all white. If this is important to you,
you can download the Digital Media Tools 5.5 software product,
which contains a version of Moviemaker which corrects the bug.
See the first question in this FAQ for details on downloading
the Digital Media Tools 5.5 software product.
If you have IRIX 5.3 or later, you can also use Movie Convert to
extract image frames from movie files. Moviemaster converts between
movies and images. 32 different image formats are currently
supported. All sgi movie formats are supported. Moviemaster can
extract frames from a movie, build a movie from frames, or image
convert from one format to another.
In IRIX 6.2, moviemaker allows you to choose an image file format
to output to (TIFF, RGB, etc); choose "Collection of Images" from the
pop-up menu in the dialog box, and then choose the appropriate format
from the pop-up menu in the Image Settings dialog.
------------------------------
Subject: -10- Can anyone provide details on the SGI movie format?
Date: Thu May 2 16:33:54 PDT 1996
The contents of the SGI movie file format are not documented. To
create and manipulate SGI movie files in your own application, we
recommend that you use the SGI Movie Library, part of the Digital
Media Development environment. This will not only save you work in
your application, but will ensure that your program remains
compatible with any revisions SGI makes to its movie file format.
If you need to manipulate movie files for cross-platform purposes, we
recommend that you obtain the QuickTime Developer's Option to create
QuickTime movies which can be used cross-platform. Additionally,
if you have the WebFORCE software product, or Digital Media Tools 5.5
software product for IRIX 5.3, you can create MPEG movies which can
be used cross-platform.
See elsewhere in this FAQ for more information on both the Digital
Media Development Environment and the QuickTime Developer's Option.
------------------------------
Subject: -11- Can anyone provide details on the QuickTime movie
format?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST
For more details on the Apple implementation of QuickTime and its
file format, see "Inside Macintosh: QuickTime" (ISBN 0-201-62201-7)
and "Inside Macintosh: QuickTime Components", both by Apple Computer
and published by Addison-Wesley. The former book contains a detailed
description of the QuickTime file format.
------------------------------
Subject: -12- How can I convert from SGI movie format to MPEG?
Date: Fri May 3 11:12:41 PDT 1996
- If you are using IRIX 5.3 with the Digital Media Tools 5.5
software product, or IRIX 6.2, you can use the Movie Master
or dmconvert utilities to create MPEG movies. See the first
question in this FAQ for information on downloading the
Digital Media Tools 5.5 software product from SGI.
- If you are using IRIX 5.3 or earlier, SGI provides no bundled
tools to convert SGI movies to MPEG.
There is a publically available program which can convert SGI
movie files to MPEG. It was developed by Andreas Paul
<pa...@informatik.tu-muenchen.de>. It can be obtained from:
ftp://ftp.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/systems/sgi/animation/mv2mpeg_final.tar.gz
It is for IRIX 5.x systems, and supports all versions of the SGI
movie file format.
If you are using IRIX 4.0.x, then get mov2mpeg from
ftp://ftp.gvu.gatech.edu/pub/people/kooper/mov2mpeg.tar.gz
Finally, another way to convert to MPEG is to export all of
the images and audio track from the SGI movie file by using
moviemaker or makemovie, and feed the result (a sequence of
still frames) into one of the public domain MPEG encoders
available on the net.
There is yet another freely available tool, mv2mpeg, for creating
MPEG files. Here is a quote from its README file:
mv2mpeg is a tool to convert a SGI-movie-file into a mpeg-movie.
It consists of a shell-script ('mv2mpeg') and two binaries:
mpeg_encode
mv2frames
mpeg_encode has been compiled with the '-mips2' switch, so if
you are using a R3000 machine get the mpeg_encode package and
compile it yourself. (shouldn't be much of a problem)
It can be found at:
qiclab.scn.rain.com:/pub/graphics/mpeg_encode-1.2.tar.Z
liasun3.epfl.ch:/pub/graphics/mpeg/mpeg_encode-1.2.tar.gz
If you don't find it there use 'archie' to locate the nearest
site that has it.
Regardless of IRIX software release, there is at least one
commercial product which can create MPEG files, called MpegExpert:
MpegExpert is the highest performance and most featured MPEG
playback solution for SGI platforms. It plays compressed MPEG-1
audio, video or system level multiplexed audio+video bitstreams in
realtime with stereo CD quality sound. With the integrated
CAPTURE_TOOL it lets the user cut and save pictures or sequences
from an MPEG source, allowing a simple form of editing. And with
the CD_TOOL user can play Video_CD and CD-I digital movies from a
CDROM player. Its specially designed data input architecture
enables smooth MPEG playback from video servers over networks.
MpegExpert can be integrated into other applications or it can be
used interactively through its motif based user interface.
MpegExpert software, documentation, and demo version are available
on line via anonymous ftp from ftp.portal.com:/pub/apvision or
ftp.netcom.com:/pub/ap/apvision. Any further inquiry if required,
can be sent to apvi...@netcom.com
For more information on MPEG, and a list of places where you can
obtain MPEG encoder software, consult the MPEG Frequently Asked
Questions document. You can FTP it from
ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/msdos/dos/graphics/mpegfa11.zip
ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/msdos/dos/graphics/mpegfa20.zip
ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/msdos/dos/graphics/mpegfa30.zip
ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/msdos/dos/graphics/mpegfa31.zip
These documents are versions 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, and 3.1 of the MPEG FAQ
document.
------------------------------
Subject: -13- How can I convert from Microsoft AVI movie format to SGI
movie format?
Date: Mon Mar 25 10:04:18 PST 1996
Starting with IRIX release 6.2, we can read Microsoft AVI files
compressed with CinePak or Indeo3.2. (We do not have the rights
to CRAM or ULTI, which are Microsoft proprietary algorithms.) All
of our tools support reading the supported AVI files, and writing
them out to other formats.
------------------------------
Subject: -14- Is there a way to bring up a movie (using movieplayer)
within Showcase using a button click...and having it
place itself automatically in a certain location and
start?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST
Not that I know of. When we want to play a movie, we usually
hyperscript the object to run a script, and in the script we place
the movie where we want to. Here is an example of the script. Call
it with the movie name as an argument.
/usr/sbin/movieplayer -fNv -S$X1,$Y1,360,243 -l 1 -z $ZOOM $1
Define your zoom factor ($ZOOM) and position ( X1 Y1 ) in front of
this.
------------------------------
Subject: -15- I am using Mosaic. When I try to view a movie,
movieplayer starts, but then shows a message: no movie.
How can I make it work?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST
Check the following:
- Is your system running IRIX 4.0.5? The movieplayer in IRIX 4.0.5
does not support QuickTime movies. You will need to upgrade to
IRIX 5.2 in order to receive QuickTime support in movieplayer.
- Check to see that the movie file was copied over completely by
Mosaic. Sometimes Mosaic will fail to transfer the file completely
if the network load is very high.
- Finally, the following information submitted by Dave Babcock
(da...@merlin.mti.sgi.com) may prove helpful:
xmosaic includes the capability to automatically play SGI movie files
referenced by a html document. Unfortunately, there is a "bug" which
keeps it from actually working.
Fortunately, there is an easy fix. Just edit the
/usr/local/lib/mosaic/mailcap file and change the following line:
video/x-sgi-movie; movieplayer -l 1 %s; compose=moviemaker %s; \
to be:
video/x-sgi-movie; movieplayer -f -l 1 %s; compose=moviemaker %s; \
that is just add the -f.
For those who care, the problem is: mosaic copies the movie file to a
local temp file; spawns movieplayer passing it the name of the temp
file; when it sees movieplayer "terminate" mosaic nicely deletes the
temp file. But by default movieplayer runs in background mode which
mosaic interprets as it being done and deletes the temp file just
before the background task trys to open the temp file. The symptom
is that you get the error message:
Could not open: /usr/tmp/gaaa000-0.mv: No such file or directory
could not open movie file
and nothing happens.
------------------------------
Subject: -16- I have the Galileo (or Indy Video/Indigo2 Video) option,
but I can't get Capture to use it. When I run it, the
IndyCam shows up. What do I do?
Date: Fri May 3 10:23:53 PDT 1996
When run on a system with more than one video device (for example,
an Indy with both Indy Video and the built-in IndyCam support),
Capture will use the IndyCam by default.
To force Capture to run using Galileo or Indy Video, enter the
following command line at a shell prompt:
capture -ev1
Make sure that you are using Capture with IRIX 5.2 or later.
If you are using IRIX 6.2, there are two new icons in the Icon Book
called capture_cosmo and capture_galileo. They invoke Capture such
that it is recording from the Cosmo Compression board, or from
Galileo Video (or Indy/Indigo2 Video).
------------------------------
Subject: -17- I cannot get the right video to show in the Capture
tool! I get a video source other than the one I want or
the screen is black. What do I do?
Date: Tue Nov 15 15:39:30 PST 1994
Capture does not allow you to choose a signal source. It uses the
system video settings.
To change the system settings for signal source (and hence the signal
source for Capture), do the following:
Run vcp or videopanel.
Choose the device (VINO or Galileo/Indy Video) you are using.
VINO is for the Indy's built-in video (both the IndyCam and
its analog video input port). Galileo/Indy Video is available
only if you have those optional hardware products installed.
Then choose the input. For VINO, this control is labeled
"Default In". For Galileo/Indy Video, this control is labeled
"Input Source". You may need to close other video apps
(including Capture) to do this.
Don't forget to make sure that your camera or VCR is plugged
in correctly, and that your camera can see video. Look into
the camera's viewfinder to make sure it is working.
Choose "Live Video Input" off the Utilities menu to check.
The video you see here is what Capture will use. Close this
window when you are satisfied.
If you closed Capture, start it again (don't forget -ev1 on
the command line if you are using Galileo/Indy Video; see
above). You should get the video you want.
------------------------------
Subject: -18- Why does Capture tell me to "Please Stand By", instead
of capturing video?
Date: Tue Nov 15 15:39:30 PST 1994
Capture presents the "Please Stand By" message in two circumstances:
1) It is processing video that you just captured.
2) Your system has video support, but Capture for some
reason cannot use it.
Symptom 1) is normal operation for the program, and is nothing
you should worry about.
Symptom 2) can happen for several reasons. Check the following:
- Make sure to close down all other applications which use
video.
- If you are using the IndyCam, make sure it is plugged in
to the back of the machine. Perhaps the connector may have
worked itself loose.
- If you still get the "Please Stand By" message, reboot the
system. It might be possible that the system video services
had become wedged for some reason; a reboot fixes this
problem.
- Make sure that you have the signal source set correctly,
and that video shows up onscreen from the Video Control
Panel. See above question, "I cannot get the right
video to show in the Capture tool!" for details on how
to do this.
------------------------------
Subject: -19- Capture just grabbed a file for me, but now I can't find
it. Where did Capture hide it?
Date: Thu Nov 17 09:08:40 PST 1994
Capture always places its file in the directory it was run
from. If you ran it from the Indigo Magic desktop, odds are
that it placed the file in your home directory.
To find out the name of the file, look in the title bar, or
choose "Settings" from the "Actions" menu and look in the
first typein blank.
------------------------------
Subject: -20- Under IRIX 5.3, my system has a video board and/or
IndyCam, but Capture won't let me use it. It just greys
out the video options on its menu. How can I make it
work?
Date: Thu Nov 17 09:08:40 PST 1994
Odds are that you do not have video support installed on your system.
Here is what you need to have installed, at a bare minimum:
I dmedia_eoe.sw.common 11/07/94 Common Execution Environment Components
I dmedia_eoe.sw.compression 11/07/94 Compression Execution Environment
I dmedia_eoe.sw.video 11/07/94 Video Execution Environment
For IndyCam users, you also need the following:
I vino.sw.eoe 11/07/94 Indy Video-In Execution Software
For Galileo/Indy Video users, you also need the following:
I galileo.sw.eoe 11/07/94 Galileo Video Execution Software
For users with the Cosmo Compress option, you also need these
systems installed:
I cosmo.sw.eoe 11/07/94 Cosmo Compress Execution Software
I dmedia_eoe.sw.utilities 11/07/94 Media Record, Playback, Convert Commands
------------------------------
Subject: -21- I created a movie with audio using makemovie, but the
soundtrack plays back really garbled and choppy. What
do I do?
Date: Thu Nov 17 09:08:40 PST 1994
You created a movie with image and audio tracks of unequal length.
This probably happened because you chose a frame rate for the
movie which caused the image track to not match the length of the
audio track.
There are a few solutions for this problem. The easiest is to
choose a frame rate which makes the image track match the audio
track in length, and then use makemovie to create a new movie file
with the correct frame rate. Another way is to pad the shorter
track (image or audio) out with additional content to match the
longer one.
In IRIX 5.3, Moviemaker will automatically detect movies like these
and offer to correct them for you. You can choose either of the
above methods of correction. If you choose to pad out the shorter
track, Moviemaker adds blank material, which you can later edit.
In IRIX 6.2, the restriction that image tracks and audio tracks must
be the same length has been removed, so this should no longer be a
problem.
------------------------------
Subject: -22- Does anyone know the maximum size a movie file that
MovieMaker or MoviePlayer can handle? Is it limited by
free memory, or will it play from the hard drive?
Date: Mon Mar 25 10:04:18 PST 1996
Movieplayer plays movies from the hard drive. In general,
Moviemaker edits movies directly on disk, although in 6.2,
some types of edits are made in memory (to be written to
disk later).
It is entirely possible to write an application which plays
movies entirely from memory (see below for details), but
Movieplayer does not support that.
We can read a movie up to 2 gigabytes long off the hard drive.
Please note, however, that some file formats may impose smaller
maximum file sizes.
------------------------------
Subject: -23- How do I write a program to access the pixels of a video
frame in a movie file for image processing purposes?
Date: Mon Mar 25 10:04:18 PST 1996
Basic overview:
You need to write the program using the Movie Library.
Open the file using mvOpenFile(3mv), get a handle to the
image track using mvFindTrackByMedium(3mv), then read the
individual image frames using mvReadFrames(3mv).
Details on the format of image data:
The following libmovie calls return information to describe
the format of the data returned by mvReadFrames():
int mvGetImageWidth ( MVid imageTrack );
int mvGetImageHeight ( MVid imageTrack );
double mvGetImageRate ( MVid imageTrack );
const char* mvGetImageCompression( MVid imageTrack );
DMinterlacing mvGetImageInterlacing( MVid imageTrack );
DMpacking mvGetImagePacking ( MVid imageTrack );
DMorientation mvGetImageOrientation( MVid imageTrack );
For interlacing, packing and orientation, the types of
formats can be found in <dm_image.h>.
Once you have the description of format for the data in the
image track, you can treat the buffer of untyped data
returned by mvReadFrames() as an array of pixels. If you
need the data in a different format for your image
processing or file I/O, you will need to perform the
conversion yourself.
For writing movies, the process works similarly. Create a
DMparams structure that describes the format of the data
you will be writing, and pass that to mvAddTrack(). This
creates an image track with the data format you want. Then
pass pixel data in that format to mvInsertFrames().
Note that the Movie Library uses the MVid data type to
represent both movies, and tracks within the movies. So
when you write a program to read or write image frames,
you will have two MVid variables - one for the movie as
a whole, and one for the image track embedded within the
movie.
Check the Digital Media Programmer's Guide and the Movie
Library Manual pages for more details, as well as detailed
instructions on how to use these calls.
As of IRIX 6.2, since movies with multiple image tracks are
supported, we recommend the use of mvRenderMovieToImageBuffer
instead of mvReadFrames. Please see the man page for
this function.
------------------------------
Subject: -24- How do I write a program which can write individual
frames from a movie file out to a still image file?
Date: Wed Nov 16 13:04:20 PST 1994
Once you have managed to read individual frames from a
movie file (see above), you have several options for
writing the still frames to an image file.
There is an image library, libimage.a, which supports
reading and writing the Silicon Graphics RGB file format.
Sample programs for using this library appear in the
4Dgifts subsystem.
Also, you can purchase the optional SGI ImageVision
Library. ImageVision supports output to several image file
formats, including SGI, TIFF, JFIF, and its own proprietary
FIT format. C++ developers can add their own file
formats. ImageVision also provides several powerful
operators for converting, procesing, and displaying image
data, and also provides hardware acceleration on SGI
platforms which support it. Contact your SGI sales office
for more details (see above for details about where to
call).
Finally, make sure you've installed the Movie Library
example programs. They contain a program called
editmovie.c which writes still frames to image files, using
ImageVision to write the data to disk.
------------------------------
Subject: -25- I'm using the Movie Library to create QuickTime movies
using Apple's Video compression. When are default key-
frames placed in a QuickTime movie made with the SGI
movie library?
Date: Mon Mar 25 10:04:18 PST 1996
For releases prior to Irix 6.2, key frames are placed by
default every fifth frame.
Beginning with WebForce1.1 and IRIX 6.2, it is possible to
control the keyframe distance.
To do so in a program, set the parameter
DM_IMAGE_KEYFRAME_DISTANCE parameter when you create an
image track.
The tools (dmconvert/makemovie/movieconvert) also have
options to allow you to control keyframe rate.
------------------------------
Subject: -26- The Movie Library has calls to play a movie in a file,
memory or a file descriptor. But all of them seem to
assume that the complete movie is available locally.
How can I play a movie all of which is not available
locally?
Date: Wed Nov 16 13:04:20 PST 1994
It's really not possible at the moment. The Movie Library
needs access to both the header/indexing information stored
in the movie file, as well as the media data itself in
order to play the movie.
It may be possible to do this by passing a socket
descriptor instead of a file descriptor. There definitely
is a problem of seeking to a particular frame. If the whole
movie is streamed in with no mvSetCurrentFrame() kind of
calls, it may work.
------------------------------
Subject: -27- When programming with the Movie Library, can we insert
and delete frames from a playing movie?
Date: Mon Mar 25 10:04:18 PST 1996
For versions of IRIX prior to 6.2, absolutely not.
As of 6.2, editing a movie is supported while a movie is
bound for playback, and the playback instance will update
as the movie is edited, but it is NOT possible to edit a
movie that is currently playing--you must call mvStop first.
------------------------------
Subject: -28- When writing frames to a movie with the Movie Library,
if we fix the image track parameters, does the byte size
of the frame remain constant across frames?
Date: Mon Mar 25 10:04:18 PST 1996
In general, no. The compression codecs return variable size byte
counts for the frames they compress.
However, in later versions of the movie library (eg, IRIX 6.2),
some codecs support generation of a constant bitrate. Use the
parameter DM_IMAGE_BITRATE when creating an image track. (Note
that this is not supported by all codecs; CinePak is the only
one currently supporting this feature.)
------------------------------
Subject: -29- How do I write a program to play a movie entirely from
memory?
Date: Wed Nov 16 13:04:20 PST 1994
Typically, you open the movie file using the Unix open() system
call. You then allocate a memory buffer as large as you need, and
use the read() system call to read the entire movie into the memory
buffer. Then pass the pointer to this memory region to mvOpenMem()
and you're set.
If you want to get more fancy, you can use the mpin() system call
to attempt to lock your memory buffer in physical memory, so
it does not get swapped out. Or, you can use the mmap() system
call to associate your disk file with a memory pointer, and pass
the memory-mapped region to mvOpenMem(). This has certain advantages
which are outside the scope of this FAQ; consult the manual pages
and a good book on Unix system-call level programming for details.
------------------------------
Subject: -30- How do I capture movies from live video within my
application?
Date: Wed Nov 16 13:04:20 PST 1994
In IRIX 5.2, your only choice is to write your own code using
the Audio, Video, and Movie Libraries to capture live video
and audio and save it to disk - not an easy task.
In IRIX 5.3, your program can use the Capture Tool to do this
work. You can invoke the Capture tool, passing it a file name
and a set of options telling it what media to capture and what
compression to use. When the user exits the Capture Tool, you
simply open the movie file it recorded for you. Check the
5.3 manual page for Capture for more details.
------------------------------
Subject: -31- How do I write a program to read and write compressed
data to a movie file?
Date: Wed Nov 16 13:04:20 PST 1994
Check out the manual pages for the mvGetCompressedImageSize(),
mvReadCompressedImage() and mvInsertCompressedImage() calls.
They should do what you need.
------------------------------
Subject: -32- I want to write a program which creates a JPEG-
compressed movie file, but I need to control the
compression quality. How do I do this with the Movie
Library?
Date: Fri May 3 11:05:05 PDT 1996
As of IRIX 6.2, there are additional parameters that you can pass
in to mvAddTrack to control the compression quality:
DM_IMAGE_QUALITY_SPATIAL, DM_IMAGE_QUALITY_TEMPORAL, DM_IMAGE_BITRATE.
Note that not all codecs support all of these parameters.
JPEG in particular, supports only the SPATIAL setting.
(Certain Apple codecs support both TEMPORAL and SPATIAL quality
settings; CinePak also supports the BITRATE setting.)
Additionally, you can do the compression yourself (as could be
done prior to IRIX 6.2): create a movie file with all the appropriate
image track parameters (see above), But instead of simply writing
frames to the movie and letting the Movie Library automatically
compress the frames for you, you handle the compression yourself.
To do the compression yourself, you open a Compression Library JPEG
compressor, set the quality factor, and use it to compress each
frame. Then you write the *compressed* data to the movie file
(see above for instructions on how to do this).
The tools (dmconvert/makemovie/movieconvert) support these settings
in Digital Media Tools 5.5 (see the first question in this FAQ) and
IRIX 6.2.
------------------------------
Subject: -33- I want to write a program which can create a JPEG-
compressed movie file compatible with the Cosmo Compress
board, SGI's hardware JPEG accelerator. How do I do
this?
Date: Fri May 3 10:23:53 PDT 1996
Movies which are compatible with the Cosmo Compress board
have the following characteristics:
- Image compression must be JPEG.
- Width must be video (NTSC or PAL) sized,
and an even multiple of 8.
- Height must be video sized, and an even multiple of 8.
- Image frames must be interlaced (odd interlacing for NTSC,
even interlacing for PAL).
- Image frames must be oriented top to bottom.
- Image packing must be RGB.
- Image track frame rate must be 29.97 for NTSC,
25.0 for PAL.
Here is a piece of code which will check an existing image
track for you. C programmers will hopefully forgive the use
of C++ style comments:
///////////////
//
// Check to see if the video track is one of the subset of
// JPEG-encoded tracks that the cosmo board can play.
//
///////////////
static DMboolean isCosmoCompatible( MVid videotrack )
{
//
// must be JPEG.
//
if ( mvGetCompression(videotrack) != IMAGE_COMP_JPEG ) {
return DM_FALSE;
}
//
// width must be video sized, even multiple of 8.
//
int width = mvGetImageWidth(videotrack);
if ( width < 16 || width > 768 || width % 8 ) {
return DM_FALSE;
}
//
// height must be video sized, even multiple of 8.
//
int height = mvGetImageHeight(videotrack);
if ( height < 16 || height > 2*296 || height % 8 ) {
return DM_FALSE;
}
//
// image frames must be interlaced.
//
if ( mvGetImageInterlacing(videotrack) == DM_IMAGE_NONINTERLACED) {
return DM_FALSE;
}
//
// image frames must be oriented top to bottom.
//
if ( mvGetImageOrientation(videotrack) != DM_TOP_TO_BOTTOM ) {
return DM_FALSE;
}
//
// image packing must be RGB.
//
if ( mvGetImagePacking(videotrack) != DM_PACKING_RGB ) {
return DM_FALSE;
}
//
// we've run the gauntlet. dmplay can play this movie.
//
return DM_TRUE;
}
------------------------------
Subject: -34- I simply want to create a JPEG-compressed movie which is
compatible with the Cosmo Compress board. I don't want
to write my own program. How do I do this?
Date: Thu May 2 16:47:44 PDT 1996
In IRIX 5.3, there are three ways to do this:
1) Use the dmrecord utility to record live video from the Galileo
or Indy Video options.
2) Use the Capture tool to record live video from the Galileo
or Indy Video options.
3) Use the makemovie utility to generate a cosmo-compatible movie
from a collection of still images. Here is an excerpt from the
manual page:
To make an odd interlaced, 640x480, JPEG compressed movie with
top-to- bottom orientation (of the sort that can be played back on
the Cosmo compression board) from image files img1.rgb, img2.rgb,
and img3.rgb:
makemovie -o movie3.mv -c jpeg -s 640,480 -i odd -t \
img1.rgb img2.rgb img3.rgb
In IRIX 6.2, you should use the dmconvert utility to accomplish this
task. (makemovie has been retained as a compatibility layer atop
dmconvert). See the manual page for dmconvert.
------------------------------
Subject: -35- I want to capture a still image from video using a shell
script. The Capture tool doesn't seem to be appropriate
because it waits for the user to click the mouse button.
How can I accomplish this?
Date: Thu May 2 16:47:44 PDT 1996
Check out the vidtomem program. It will do just what you want.
------------------------------
End of sgi/faq/movie Digest
******************************
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