How to assemble animation from frames

CubeAce wrote on 10/24/2021, 5:15 PM

Hi Mathew and welcome to the user to user forums.

First go to File Program settings and open the Video / Audio tab and alter the jpeg length as follows or to however many frames you want the jpeg to cover..

Click an image to enlarge and click to the side of an image to collapse back to this page.

Then find the folder your images reside in and left click the images to wish to import while holding down the Ctrl key to select more than one image. How many you will be able to select may depend on how much ram can be used. I can select at least 40 x 20MB images in one go.

Drag into position on the timeline and when you release the mouse button you will be given the choice to copy or just import them into the project.

If you have expanded the timeline view enough you should see them imported in the order you selected them.

(Look at track 3)

Repeat as necessary.

If you can't drag the images precisely enough, make sure you have the magnetic symbol highlighted (The 'U' laying on its side.) which will help snap the images alongside each other and that you are using the single track mouse mode. (the one next to the right of the arrow in a blue box). That ensures when you drag the next column of images towards the last set of images, all images to the right of the one being dragged will follow.

Ray.

Matthew-Gayton wrote on 10/24/2021, 5:18 PM

Thank you so much! Your explanation was easy to understand and follow.

Much appreciated.

-M

CubeAce wrote on 10/24/2021, 5:24 PM

@Matthew-Gayton

Hi Mathew.

Glad to help.

I'm afraid I don't know if there is a way to select all the images at once or if there is indeed a way to do it.

If there is I'm sure another member will chip in with further information at some point.

This should at least get you started at a pace somewhat faster than having to do each image individually.

Ray.

browj2 wrote on 10/24/2021, 5:51 PM

@Matthew-Gayton

Hi,

Just don't forget to change the parameter back to the duration that you want for a normal image, like 4 seconds.

John CB

AAProds wrote on 10/24/2021, 7:53 PM

@Matthew-Gayton @CubeAce

I'm afraid I don't know if there is a way to select all the images at once or if there is indeed a way to do it.

There's always a way with MEP!

Put your images on track 1.

Right click on the first image and choose "Change Photo Length".

Set the length you require and click "Apply to all".

If your images aren't on track 1, you can "lasso" them to select the ones you want change (or use the Windows' standard CTRL or SHIFT click), then go through the same process. MEP will ask if you want to change all selected.

CubeAce wrote on 10/25/2021, 1:14 AM

@AAProds

Hi Al.

I was referring to importing all the image at once, not selecting them once on a track.

Also think of the ram requirements selecting thousands of jpeg images for an animation track.😉

Ray.

johnebaker wrote on 10/25/2021, 7:12 AM

@Matthew-Gayton, @CubeAce, @AAProds

Hi

To select more than one object in the Media Pool there are several options:

for all objects ensure the Media pool has the focus - click it to ensure this - then use Ctrl + A
for a sequence select the first, then while holding down the Shift key, select the last object in the sequence
for multiple objects not in a sequence, select the first, then while holding down the Ctrl key, select the other objects

In all cases to add them to the timeline - drag onto, or click the curly arrow when you hover the mouse over a selected object, to import them.

Tip: put all the still images of the timeline into their own folder(s) - this make importing easier and keeps them separate from other images.

HTH

John EB

Matthew-Gayton wrote on 10/25/2021, 3:01 PM

Thank you all for your excellent solutions! Thankfully I have 64GB of RAM and each 'shot' will end up as its own clip, reducing the number of consecutive frames to be assembled.

@browj2: Good idea, I think I'll take a screenshot so I can always see where the default parameters were.

Scenestealer wrote on 10/26/2021, 5:59 PM

@Matthew-Gayton

Tip: put all the still images of the timeline into their own folder(s) - this make importing easier and keeps them separate from other images.

In addition to @johnebaker 's tip - You should also be able to drag the created Folder to the timeline and have the individual images appear at the 1 frame you set following @CubeAce suggestion.

Tip: Some animators make each frame 2 Frames long to extend the clip and make it slightly smoother.

Peter