An issue with adding music

[Tony Wilson]

Im new to this program and im starting to get the hang of it the only issue i have right now is that im having trouble importing my music into the project. I have a screen shot of the message I keep getting because its hard to explain in my own words but this is what i've been getting. Does anyone know what this is or how to help????

[John Dancel]

You see that pop up when the scene you are working on is in one project folder and the file you are trying to load into your scene is in another, so it's asking if you want to load it from there or copy it into your project current folder first.

It should still load regardless which option you choose. It's just a matter of where it loads from.

[Rodney]

What happens when you select Import?

What happens when you select Load?

If you are getting this dialog after you've already imported audio you may just need to save your Scene/Project so that OpenToonz knows where to find your audio file.

[Tony Wilson]

But neither one loads the music, it just loads a box that one goes for one frame.

[Tony Wilson]

It loads a blank box with so sound displayed and it only goes for one frame

[Tony Wilson]

that green box is what i get every time

[Tony Wilson]

[Rodney]

I know this has been discussed but can't find the topic.

There are several things you can do in the meantime.

I *think* your whole audio is there it's just that you've only got one frame 'exposed' so you are only seeing one frame of the audio as well.

You could try to extend your exposure but I'm not sure that will work.  Will have to test tomorrow as I can't today. 

Something to consider: the audio format.

If you are using something other than WAV for instance you might convert your file to WAV format and then open/import.

BUT BEFORE DOING THAT... TRY THIS...

Instead of importing your audio file via a menu or OpenToonz browser try to Drag/Drop the file into the XSheet from wherever it is on your harddrive.

See if that works.

[Tony Wilson]

'ive tried dragging it in, i tried from the browser, i made sure it was a wav and i even tried importing other songs just to make sure it wasn't just that one and i get the same result.

[Rodney]

Aha.  It seems that if I save the audio as a 32bit WAV I get only the one cell/frame.

If I save the WAV as 16bit PCM... I get the whole audio.

I'm still looking into this but that's what I see as of this moment.

Try opening/converting the audio to 16 bit WAV via a program like Audacity and see what results you get.

[TurtleTooth]

Can you share the file so I can test it?

[Tony Wilson]

that actually worked  PERFECTLY!!!!!!!! Thank u for your help its much appreciated.

 

[Jane Eyre]

32 bit aiff files seem to have the same problem.

[Rodney]

Glad it worked for you.

I was under the impression some of the high level audio files were compatible with OpenToonz but I might have imagined that as I haven't been using many audio files.

I WILL SAY THOUGH... that OpenToonz is an awesome audio editor.  Most audio editors can't even do some of what OpenToonz can do.

An example of that is how audio can be edited on a frame by frame basis... just grab a frame of audio and move it to another location on the xsheet.

If the sound isn't syncing quite the way it should we can easily alter the image, the sound... or both.

Impressive.

One thing I like to do is read the dialogue for all the characters, split those into different columns, edit for timing and styling and then use that as a rough pass until more official dialogue can be recorded.

In this way roughing shots and animation can get on the move without unnecessary delay.

The xsheet rules in so many ways.

[Rodney]

For those looking into the discussion I should add also that OpenToonz now has a feature for recording audio directly into the xsheet.

To open the record dialogue go to Window/Record Audio and... away you go.  :)

[Rodney]

And yet another note for others looking in...

The difference between Importing and Loading is:

With Loading the location of the file is pointed to wherever that might be.

This is a near equivalent to having an external file.

The plus here is that the original location of the resource is maintained.  If that original file is altered or replaced it will automatically update in the project.

The down side is that if that original file is moved OpenToonz will not be able to find it.

With Importing, OpenToonz places a copy of the file in a 'safer' known location relative to where the project/scene file is saved.

The file will be more easily be recovered when/if the original is moved.

The downside is that we might think the file in the old location is the one being used in the scene but the copy is being referenced.

The upside, we just need to know where to look for it.

[Herbert123]

See: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/opentoonz_en/ybAcvElewUw/T-IdX06DAwAJ

Not sure if this is still the case (whether only two audio formats are still supported?)

TOonz supports TWO formats:

1. non-compressed WAV (Microsoft) signed files at 8 and 16bit integer PCM
   
2. non-compressed AIFF (Apple) signed files at 8 and 16bit.

I have tested this, and WAV files saved as 32-bit float PCM load up as a single frame in TOonz. Not only that, but I noticed that TOonz WILL crash when you attempt to import 32-bit WAV files - after importing a 32bit WAV file, TOonz becomes confused, and no longer plays sounds when scrubbing the Xsheet. When I tried to drag a 16bit column past a 32bit single frame WAV column, TOonz crashes without exception.

In short, if you notice that your WAV files are loading up as a single frame in the Xsheet, it means it is a 32bit WAV file. Quite TOonz, and convert your 32bit WAV file to a 16bit version before proceeding.

To convert your 32bit WAV files to 16bit, any sound editor will suffice.

Here are the steps with Audacity:

1) download Audacity at http://www.audacityteam.org/ Either the full installation, or the zipped version which works straight out of its folder.

2) Start Audacity, and load up the offending WAV file.

3) Choose FILE-->EXPORT AUDIO

4) in the SAVE AS TYPE dropdown, select either WAV (Microsoft) signed 16-bit PCM or AIFF(Apple) signed 16-bit PCM.

5) save the file in your TOonz project. I have an audio subfolder where I put these things.

[TurtleTooth]

Thanks @herbert123.  OpenToonz can also import mp3 if ffmpeg is configured in preferences. (Which just converts it to a wav behind the scenes)

[Rodney]

@TurtleTooth is (of course!) correct. (Because he programmed the FFMPEG support)

I knew that MP3 was added but couldn't get it to work.

Come to find out... I had reinstalled OpenToonz to get a fresh copy and in the process moved my toonz/stuff folder to make sure I got a fresh configuration.

That resetting of the configuration removed the shortcut to FFMPEG so... no access to MP3.

That explains why I lost the MP3 functionality.

Once the path to FFMPEG was restored... bam... MP3 audio imported.  :)