Hello everybody,

I recently searched for a movie maker to convert a sequence of jpegs generated by my Cinema4D into an animation (by some reason, C4D cant write avi files under Linux;) Tried some free software and found it extremely tiresome ("just" drag and drop each of the 700 images on the right place on the timeline by hand). I know Blender has some movie maker functionality, but couldnt find any relevant tutorial for that. Do you know if B can do that (in a more or less automated manner;), i.e. produce an avi from a sequence of numbered jpegs? And very important, do you know any reasonable tute for this?

Would be glad to see some answers, I`m now stuck with a bunch of stills and want to finally proceed a little with my anim:P 

Yes, Blender can compile a sequence of images. To add them, switch to "sequence" mode, in the "video sequence editor" window, there should be a menu for "add" select "images" from that menu, then select your images [shift and right click is your friend here, you can hold shift and drag the mouse along beside the file name to select multiple files]. Once you've got them all selected click the "Select images" button, and you'll be given a 'block' in the video sequence window that you can drag to frame 1. From there its just a matter of setting your render options per your need, and rendering it out how you want.

Wish I could be more complete, but I've only really used the sequencer once or twice, hope this enough to at least get you going in the right direction.

I think virtualdub can do that.

Thanks. Did what you suggested, set the fps rate, etc., but what command would do the job?:0 Tried "anim" button, but it just anims the contents of the scene, not the image sequence I loaded.

Regarding VirtualDub, it comes in a Windows version only.

Ah, sorry I guess I missed that. There's a "do sequence" button under the "anim" button on the render tool box, if you enable that, it should render whatever is in the image sequencer rather than the scene itself.

Try avidemux too, I think it can be used in other OS

Quote - Ah, sorry I guess I missed that. There's a "do sequence" button under the "anim" button on the render tool box, if you enable that, it should render whatever is in the image sequencer rather than the scene itself.

Thanks... It worked, finally... but I can`t now find out how to choose a codec... the tutes say there is an "AVI codec" option on the format list, but I have only AVI Jpeg and AVI RAW! This is what I love in Blender:< 

This is paraphrased from The Essential Guide to Learning Blender 2.6."

On the Output Panel, ignore AVI jpeg and AVI Raw. Choose FFMpeg, which is really a workhorse that covers most of the options you'll need, then open the Encoding Panel directly beneath it. If you want AVI, then choose AVI. If you choose AVI or Quicktime, then you'll have to choose a codec from the control to its right. The author recommends H.264 or MPEG2, although he prefers H.264 because it's more modern and compressed. For the bitrate, the standard setting of 6000 is perfectly adequate for most things, but if the size of the file is too large, then reduce the bitrate. If there are artifacts, increase the bitrate.

Thats curious, my install of blender has an "AVI Codec" format in addition to the AVI Jpeg and AVI Raw formats. I guess you'll have to try the FFMpeg option, hopefully that'll work for you.

As a side note, I guess you've got not LW installed anymore, since it doesn't come in a Linux build?

Quote - Thats curious, my install of blender has an "AVI Codec" format in addition to the AVI Jpeg and AVI Raw formats. I guess you'll have to try the FFMpeg option, hopefully that'll work for you.

As a side note, I guess you've got not LW installed anymore, since it doesn't come in a Linux build?

Wow, thanks for remembering:) I now dont have LW installed, though Im thinking of it. If C4D works (almost completely), maybe LW also will... At the moment I import LW projects via Blender.

What version of Blender are you using? For import and other stuff requiring *any *level of reliability, I stick to the old 2.49b.

I'm currently bound by WindowsAncient...errr...WinME to Blender 2.45, that's the last build that works on my OS. So...reliable? Ya, pretty much. Up to date? Not in the least.

As far as LW on Linux goes, words been kicking around about CORE supporting Linux, I've not seen any confirmation in the form of anyone using it on Linux, but some stuff in NewTek tech documents about CORE make mention that they intend [?] to or that it does/will [?] work on Linux. It'd be really nice to see that come thru. Give Google a poke and see what comes up, make sure you include "CORE" in your search.

Finally, works! Thanks, folks:) My layout of video / codec panel is totally different, seems the guys finally put these things in B 2.5...2.6 upside down, as I dreamed. Hope the material editor will get even more work. It was still the old good mess when I was trying 2.5alpha..

Quote - I'm currently bound by WindowsAncient...errr...WinME to Blender 2.45, that's the last build that works on my OS.

Hmmm... Yur machine looks almost identical to mine, expt. better graphics card and disk. Haven`t you considered moving to e.g. Ubuntu? My machine runs ver 10 more or less reasonably, and handles C4D rel. 11 (on Wine) renders, etc. Or are you also using LW?;) 

Ya, I've considered the move, many, many times, but, while I've been using Blender for client work, I still use LW for all my own work. Prior to the last couple months, I'd only used Blender to load/UV/render a few obj files, I've done a little modeling with it now, but I'm still a long way from being to do even half of what I can in LW.

The other problem is, 9 years ago, my computer didn't come with a Windows install disc, and at the time, I didn't know enough to ask for it, so moving to Linux would likely be a one way street, and if something goes wrong or I can't get LW to run well on the other side, I'm pretty much hung. LW is the only piece of closed source software I use, but its still probably the most important to me, so I can't take the risk. :-/

Quote - moving to Linux would likely be a one way street

Heh... It was exactly the same for me. I forgot taking my Win CD and when it finally crashed I had no way to recover but to move to Linux - whic h I did. Now I`m thinking of re-installing LW (over Wine) to explore the structure of some obscure fragments of my ongoing animation proj (I used Blender to convert to C4D thus far).

Returning to the sequence problem: Bledner did not enclose audio in the projcet, despite choosing AAC... When tried Multiplex Audio (its description suggests it`s the option to choose) Blender disappears on render. Tried in 2.53, but the options are completely different (I think even from the descr you cited for 2.6 :0) When I re-loaded the 2.49b proj into 2.53 and set audio to aac (there was no coding set despite I chose AAC MP4 in 2.49) Blender 2.53 just spit a message that there is an "Error initializing Audio stream".

... Any suggestions? 

...and when I changed audio encoding to mp3, the result is a film that can be seen by moving the time slider, but  not via "play" button in Totem video player. What`s the problem?! 

Hmm, 'fraid I'm running out of ideas....fast.

What format is the audio that you're importing? The only time I put audio to a frame sequence in Blender I used a WAV file. Maybe try different source audio, its possible Blender may have trouble with the internal conversion, and that's leading to encoding problems.

you could consider jahshaka or wax  rather then doing this in blender...

Attached Link: http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/19-ffmpeg-commands-for-all-needs

I compile png-files to mpeg2 (dvd)-format often. Jpg and avi should be supported AFAIK.