images2mpg1

Usage

Requirements

This script use this packages :

ImageMagick version >= 5.4.8 [ http://www.imagemagick.org/ ]
MjpegTools version >= 1.6.0 [ http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/ ]

With this packages, 'images2mpg' use this externals binary programs :

- 'montage' from ImageMagick for resize the images for the TV screen size.
- 'composite' from ImageMagick for make the transition between images.
- 'convert' from ImageMagick for convert the images before MPEG encoding.
- 'identify' from ImageMagick for check the background image file size.
- 'ppmtoy4m' from MjpegTools for create a video stream from the image.
- 'yuvscaler' from MjpegTools for adapt the video stream size before MPEG encoding.
- 'mpeg2enc' from MjpegTools for encode the video stream in MPEG file.
- 'mp2enc' from MjpegTools for encode on a MP2 file a WAV sound file if necessary.
- 'mplex' from MjpegTools for multiplex the MPEG file and the MP2 sound and convert the final MPEG file to a DVD/XVCD/SVCD/VCD format compatible with vcdimager program.

Overview

The 'images2mpg' bash script convert some images on MPEG sequences with a specific duration and merge all images on an single MPEG file. It use the MjpegTools and ImageMagick packages.

Between the images, you can insert a basic transition. You can also add an audio track on the images sequence with a MP2 or WAV file.

All images will be automatically scaling to the good size for the video format. Also a specific background color or a image file could be used.

You can use this for to build some DVD/XVCD/SVCD/VCD portfolios for your home DVD player. Use 'vcdimager' for create this...

The video types and formats supported by this script are :

VCD :

Resolution : 352x288 (PAL/SECAM) / 352x240 (NTSC).
Frames / s : 25 (PAL/SECAM) / 30 (NTSC).
MPEG type : MPEG-1.
Video CDR duration (650Mb) : 74 minutes.
Video bitrate : 1,150 kbit/s.
Sound format : MP2.
Audio bitrate : 224 kbit/s.
DVD player compatibility : medium.
Image restitution : medium.

SVCD :

Resolution : 576x480 (PAL/SECAM) / 480x480 (NTSC).
Frames / s : 25 (PAL/SECAM) / 30 (NTSC).
MPEG type : MPEG-2.
Video CDR duration (650Mb): 60 minutes.
Video bitrate : 2,500 kbit/s.
Sound format : MP2.
Audio bitrate : 224 kbit/s.
DVD player compatibility : good.
Image restitution : good.

XVCD :

Resolution : 720x576 (PAL/SECAM) / 720x480 (NTSC).
Frames / s : 25 (PAL/SECAM) / 30 (NTSC).
MPEG type : MPEG-2.
Video CDR duration (650Mb) : 50 minutes.
Video bitrate : 2,500 kbit/s.
Sound format : MP2.
Audio bitrate : 224 kbit/s.
DVD player compatibility : medium.
Image restitution : excelent.

DVD :

Resolution : 720x576 (PAL/SECAM) / 720x480 (NTSC).
Frames / s : 25 (PAL/SECAM) / 30 (NTSC).
MPEG type : MPEG-2.
Video CDR duration (650Mb) : 15 minutes.
Video bitrate : 8,000 kbit/s.
Sound format : MP2.
Audio bitrate : 224 kbit/s.
DVD player compatibility : excelent.
Image restitution : excelent.

Note : The XVCD resolution is the same of DVD !

Options

-v <num> : verbose level on the console. The possible values are '0' for none (default), '1' for informations and warnings, or '2' for debug messages.

--with-gui : running with the 'Digikam' KDE GUI frontend. Specifics messages will be showing on the console. For more informations about Digikam, see this URL : http://digikam.sourceforge.net

-t <num> : enable transition between images with a specific speed. The possible speed values are '1' for slow, '2', '4', '5', '10', or '20' for fast. When you enable this option, the script make with ImageMagick package a beautiful merging transition between images. Warning : it's a long calculating process.

The transitions durations are :

Speed '1' : PAL/SECAM (25 f/s) = 4000 ms | NTSC (30 f/s) = 3333 ms.
Speed '2' : PAL/SECAM (25 f/s) = 2000 ms | NTSC (30 f/s) = 1666 ms.
Speed '4' : PAL/SECAM (25 f/s) = 1000 ms | NTSC (30 f/s) = 0833 ms.
Speed '5' : PAL/SECAM (25 f/s) = 0800 ms | NTSC (30 f/s) = 0666 ms.
Speed '10' : PAL/SECAM (25 f/s) = 0400 ms | NTSC (30 f/s) = 0333 ms.
Speed '20' : PAL/SECAM (25 f/s) = 0200 ms | NTSC (30 f/s) = 0166 ms.

-T <Temporary folder> : use a specific folder for create the temporary files ('/tmp' for example). If you don't use this option, all temporary files will be created in the current active folder.

-f <Video format> : MPEG video format. The possible values are 'DVD', 'XVCD' (default), 'SVCD', or 'VCD'. See the DESCRIPTION section for more details.

-n <Video type> : video type for your TV screen. The possible values are 'PAL' (default), 'NTSC', or 'SECAM'.

-b <background file> : specify the 768x576 pixels background image file name. If you don't use this option, a default temporary black image file will be used.

-c <RGB color> : if you don't use the background image file, you can change the default background color (black = default). Use an hexadecimal RGB color value (example : AA001F).

-d <num> : duration for each image in MPEG file. The default value is 10 secondes. The minimal value is 1 secondes.

-a <MPEG audio file> : MP2 audio file to merge with the video sequence.

-w <wav audio file> : WAV audio file will be converted in MP2 file and merging with the video sequence.

-o <output MPEG file> : the ouput MPEG file name. If you don't use this option, a temporary file will be created.

-i <input images files> : images files name to merge in MPEG.

-I <ImageMagick bin folder> : folder for ImageMagick binary programs.

-M <Mjpegtools bin folder> : folder for MjpegTools binary programs.

-h | --help : output help information and exit.

Notes :

- The -i option must be the last option in the command line.
- If you use some whitespaces in the path folders/files, use '"' around the complete path string.

Return values

0 -> Process finish succefuly.
1 -> Error.

Examples

# images2mpg -f SVCD -d 15 -w Music.wav -o MyPortfolio.mpg -i 01.jpg 02.jpg 03.jpg 04.jpg

Build PAL (default) SVCD MPEG file with the 'Music.wav' sound file and this image files sequence :

01.jpg 02.jpg 03.jpg 04.jpg

For each image on the portfolio, the screen show duration is 15 seconds. The output file is 'MyPortfolio.mpg'. There isn't transition between images.

# images2mpg -n NTSC -t 2 -o MyPortfolio.mpg -i *.png

Build XVCD (default) NTSC MPEG file with a transition between images (speed 2) with all local PNG image files. The image files sequence use the local filesystem sort.