What is the definitively correct way to add audio to my animation?

[p nelson]

I'm a noob learning OpenToonz (1.2.1) and now I want to add audio.   Looking on the web I see lots of discussions on this but they all seem inconclusive.   There are tutorials on YouTube where some people say you can only use .WAV files and others saying you can only use .AIF files, and other that say you can use 8 bit .Wav files but that 16 bit .WAV's will crash IT.  I've also seen some people, e.g., http://lalala-leah.tumblr.com/post/142292154018/how-to-add-audio-in-opentoonz  say that you can import WAVs but the audio quality is terrible.

But the documentation says that you can use 8 or 16 bit AIF and WAV files.   It's also a little unclear on the actual step-by-step mechanics of doing the import:

Audio clips can be loaded and edited in order to create a soundtrack for the scene; supported file formats are noncompressed
WAV and AIFF files at 8 and 16 bit. There is no limit to the number of audio clips that can be loaded in a
scene.
To load an audio clip you can use the browser room; if an audio clip is imported, it is saved in the +extras folder (see
Using the File Browser ). Loaded audio clips are also stored in the Audio folder of the scene cast.
Each loaded audio clip is exposed in a different xsheet column as a series of visible sound waves to make the editing
job easier; the number of frames it occupies depends on the length of the audio file and the frame rate set for the
current scene. For example an audio clip 3 seconds long, imported into a scene whose frame rate is 12, will occupy 36
frames; if imported in a scene whose frame rate is 24 will occupy 72 frames (see Setting the Frame Rate ).

I have a short .WAV file that I converted from MP3 in Adobe Audition but when I tried to load it using Load Levels it put it into just one frame.  I don't want to experiment with a bunch of different things to figure out what actually works -  I just want the canonically correct method to add good quality audio to my scenes.   What's the current scoop on this?

Thanks in advance.

[Jane Eyre]

Mp3, aiff, and wav files all load into OpenToonz. I think that mp3 and aiff files are actually converted into a wav format? I’ve experimented with a lot of encodings & have found that 16bit files play with the least distortion (at least on a Mac).

To add audio, you can actually just drag and drop or use the “load level” dialog. Of course the Browser is an option too.

[p nelson]

I tried the Load Level dialog (with a .WAV file) but it just put it in the first frame.

[Jane Eyre]

That happens for me with 32bit audio files.

[p nelson]

So I just tried an MP3 and it seemed to work properly.  (Thanks, Jane!)    But the documentations says nothing about MP3.  

This is a good example, (Rodney) of why the documentation needs to be brought up to date.  I spent hours watching tutorials, reading blogs, converting my MP3 sound effects to WAV, and trying different things to get Adobe Audition to produce a 16-bit WAV file, when I could have just used my MP3s all along if I had only known.  

[Rodney]

I believe MP3 is one of the many gains we got via FFMPEG.

Perhaps some intrepid person can dive in and tackle that documentation.

As far as I know the OpenToonz documentation doesn't say anything about ffmpeg.

[p nelson]

I believe MP3 is one of the many gains we got via FFMPEG.

Perhaps some intrepid person can dive in and tackle that documentation.

As far as I know the OpenToonz documentation doesn't say anything about ffmpeg.

You're right -  nothing there about ffmpeg, either.

[openanim]

I think it's because it's a feature that came in a later version of Harlequin. In any case, In the 7.4 version, the manual speaks about it.

Rendering in Mpeg4 and webm Formats

FFmpeg is a free software project that produces libraries and programs
for handling multimedia data. If installed allows to render in mp4 and
webm formats. Mp4 and webm will be listed in Output Settings>File
Format. To enable this feature it is necessary to install Ffmpeg on the
computer and set its path in Prefernces>Ffmpeg Import/Export.
Ffmpeg can be downloaded from:
https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html
To enable the rendering in Mpeg4 and Webm:
1. Go to https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html and install Ffmpeg.
2. Go to the File>Preferences>Ffmpeg Import/Export page.
3. Write the Ffmepeg installation path in the text field (e.g. C:\ffmpeg\
bin) .
4. Go in File>Output Settings and choose mp4 or webm from the File
Format list.

[Rodney]

Credit where credit due, the FFMPEG addition was added by our highly esteemed @turtletooth (Jeremy Bullock) this side of the OpenToonz release..

REF:  https://github.com/opentoonz/opentoonz/pull/624

Jeremy then later added MP3 support through FFMPEG as well:

REF:  https://github.com/opentoonz/opentoonz/pull/749

How's that for documentation.  ;)

[openanim]

Nicely done ! Jeremy is one of opentoonz's dad.