....import a QT movie that (so far) says it isn't there?

rookwings · Post by **rookwings** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:57 am

Last year, when I found I had Jasc Animation, I started two small projects that I would like to continue in AS Pro. I've tried to "load one of them in" in every way I can think of. The closest I get to success is a single frame imported.
I have got about 4 or 5 copies of it now, all of which play with every player I have, yet none of them are available when I try to import them. QT, AVI; a random selection of both types, haha.
There will be something I'm forgetting, or simply not aware of, for which I apologise, but I can't believe it's something so simple and I can't do it!
Don't you dare mention the "T" word!

All I can glean from any tutorial is that I CAN do it, but not HOW.
Searching the forum gives me about 146 pages to dig through and get distracted by a load of other cool stuff, albeit unrelated, which is fun, but it doesn't help my problem!
(I hereby set a personal challenge to heyvern to solve THIS problem using bones!!!

)

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:50 pm

You may need to share an example of the problem movie file (or at least one that has the same problem).

rookwings · Post by **rookwings** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:18 pm

Yowch! That's another thing I haven't learned how to do yet...

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:22 pm

If you go somewhere like mediafire.com, you can upload it to them. Once done they will give you a url to copy and paste here. Just use the url button above the message window to enclose that address in to make it a clickable link to the download.

rookwings · Post by **rookwings** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:35 pm

(post deleted)

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:11 pm

But all you've posted is your work so far, right? No example of your problem importing the QT file.

So... I'm guessing you finally solved that, correct? No need for any (more) of us to download this to try and help you.

rookwings · Post by **rookwings** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:33 pm

mkelly, thank you for giving my query some attention, but I fear you haven't borne in mind what my query actually is, perhaps.
I have merely followed synthsin's instruction and posting one of the files that is giving me a problem. I only have two that I'm interested in, and I can't import either of them.
They are simply not available to me in any folder when I open the "import" option. Blank. Zilch. Nada. Not before I posted it, or since.

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:56 pm

Well, then I'm even more confused.

I created a new file in AS and then went to File/Import/Movie and chose that ballet.avi file you uploaded and it came into AS perfectly. I can scrub along the timeline and see the entire movie (as long as I have the timeline set to a long enough length) so I don't understand what your problem is.

I'm on a PC, running Windows XP. AS version 5.6. I really don't understand why this wouldn't work for you.

rookwings · Post by **rookwings** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 5:10 pm

Well at least that means it's do-able. That is encouraging, and it gives me the will to keep trying.
You and I both know the issue is with me, here, and I have a lot to learn. I'm painfully aware of that.
I may unzip that same file and try that one. There's something I'm doing wrong. I'll work through it.
It was quite a wrench posting my rubbish on here, mkelly. It wasn't ever intended for general release. I know you are all professional animators and I was just stuck. Please, if you aren't interested in helping me, don't answer my posts, and certainly don't download my tat.
Is there a way I can remove the post, anyone, please?

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 5:42 pm

I wasn't berating you, just confused as to what you were posting. But there's nothing wrong with that file, and it sounds like you understand the general procedure (using File/Import/Movie and then choosing that file).

So tell us what it is that happens at that point? Do you not see your file to select it? Try putting the .AVI into your My Documents directory, at the root, just to eliminate all potential path issues. Now, assuming you DO see it, what does happen when you select that (as a Movie -- not as a still or other image)?

Now, you *should* be able to simply drag that file into AS and have it properly display that way. In order to do this you need to make sure you have a file open in AS (IOW, you can't simply drag a movie into AS unless there is an open file of some kind -- try New to make a new one). What happens when you try this?

rookwings · Post by **rookwings** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 6:11 pm

Thank you. At last! the link actually worked for me!
I unzipped it from "downloads" to a new folder in "my documents" and it has finally imported!
Erm.... will I be able to set the individual frames up properly, because I had forgotten the AVI format had messed it all up? The timing is completely all over the place.
I've got to import it frame by frame, as images after all, haven't I?

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 6:26 pm

I'm not sure what you mean by "the AVI format messed it up". If you are saying that in converting it to AVI the timing slipped (for example, you can go from 29.97 drop frame NTSC to 30 frame progressive or some other format) then it's up to you how you want to handle this. AFAIK AS will correctly handle drop frame NTSC (and usually drop frame only results in sync slowly drifting off by 1 or 2 seconds in 10 or 20 minutes, not a huge deal unless you're doing lip sync).

As long as your AS project is set to the right number of frames (30fps for this kind of video should work fine) then the AVI should play properly. You might want to check the project settings to be sure (File/Project Settings).

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:12 pm

AS will treat any video file only as a whole. It will read every frame which is in it and display it at the project's frame rate. AS will not do anything with the frames inside the video, it just can't. Also AS will start to play the video on frame #1, and if the project is longer than the video, it will simply loop it.

If you need to edit the video, use a video editor.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:51 pm

Small correction. AS will start the movie on the first visible frame for that image layer.

rookwings · Post by **rookwings** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:17 am

I guess that's a resounding "NO" then >.<
Thanks for your help anyway, guys.
In case you were wondering, the programs I started it in were Jasc Paint Shop Pro and Jasc Animation. The latter is a very simple "frame assembler", with which one types in a time for each frame, which can be as low as 100th of a second. Some I had put at this minimum speed and others at several seconds long. Converting to AVI format removed this timing completely and saved every frame at the 24 per second rate that I had to opt for. As a GIF file, it runs perfectly.
So I will have to start from square one (frame zero? haha) or abandon A S Pro for the two I have started in the Jasc programs. 604 frames, imported one by one? I don't think I can face that yet, hahaha.