If a movie is being developed as a series of .AVI clips, is there any way to tell a move-showing program a list of filenames of .AVI clips and it will show them in that order as one movie? It wouid save me having to physically string all the clips together into one long file to see the total effect every time I change one of the component .AVI clips.

well you could have them in a playlist in WIndows Media Player or similar. Whenever you play the content of that list (in order, not randomly), it would go from the first to the second to the third etc.... If a clip had been replaced by a newer version, you'd see that.

Not what you had in mind?

-Philip

thebest3d.com

How do I arrange a playlist file and what suffix should be at the end of its name?

If you use VLC, you have a playlist window and then you can save playlist to a file.  The people watching of course have to have VLC (VideoLan Client which is free).

I don't know that it needed to be shared with others at this stage. BEsides, you'd also have to make sure they have the codec(s) that are used. Avi is not a good format for sharing. But for local viewing while developing the various pieces, why not.

If you have Window Movie Player, just create a new Playlist, and drag and drop the pieces into it, arrange their order, and play.

You can use VLC or other tools, with playlist capability.

Even Irfanview

Quote - How do I arrange a playlist file and what suffix should be at the end of its name?

when i render my AVI scenes i save them in a file tree like this: 

File(Name of movie)

   >sub Folder- saved models scenes.

  > Sub Folder - Saved AVI scene

  > Sub folder -  Sound files

  >Sub Folder > Movie editer file.

Then in my Saved avi sub folder I save the AVI movies and name them like this

" Scene 01 -  3 seconds"

"Scene 02 - 12 seconds"

"Scene 03 - 5 seconds"

I save them and name them like this because of a couple of reasons . first  is when i drop my video file into Adobe Premiere which is what i use  my video eidtor it automaticly saves the avi files in order becauase I already named them in order starting with the name of the sceen #

 Also adding the time leanth to the name of your Avi allow you to find it easier in the time line and lets you know what youe time frame your working with. So if you need to go back and edit or remake that animation over it will be easier to work around ,

also when you start putting your movie together its much easier if you have them all named in the series you'll need them. So if you name them with the sceen # first you will know where you are at in the movie timeline when your edting your flim

I hope that helps good luck

Thats a good idea.. I will remember that myself