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Free Video Software For The Volcanocam Team?
nogreenthumbnerd writes "The guys who run the website of the VolcanoCam on Mount St. Helens are having to resort to using Windows Movie Maker to make the movies of the eruptions. Their requirement is that the software be free and easy to use and takes still images and turns them into movies. And I'm sure Windows is their software platform. Can we help these guys out or not, Slashdotters?" (Read on for more.)
nogreenthumbnerd continues "Here is what they say on the website:
'The VolcanoCam recorded its first-ever images of Mount St. Helen erupting. We have five sets of images as well as VolcanoCam movies of these eruptions available for downloading. All images are in the .jpg file format. The movies are in the .wmv file format. We offer the movie in two download versions:Check here for the vidz in WMV format."
- A self-extracting .exe file (containing the .wmv movie) that runs only on Windows O/S systems.
- A zipped file (containing the .wmv movie).
We would like to offer the VolcanoCam movies in other file formats. However, we have no funding for the VolcanoCam, and we have been unsuccessful at locating any freeware software that will create movies from our still images. We apologize for the inconvenience.'
In fact, I've been trying to contact those who run the volcano cam about it. I automagically create the movies each day and throw them up on my website (I don't have enough bandwidth to actually give a link.) Unfortunately, I have yet to hear from them.
I will let you in on part of the secret though, Image Magick.
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Unix is very user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are.
You just have to run Linux or maybe have cygwin
mplayerhq.hu
Virtualdub supports targa and windows bitmaps (tga and bmp), virtualdubmod adds pcx, jpg, png and gif support.
Both are free, and are hosted on sf
To produce normal "divx" movies, just add in xvid and lame - also both free.
Spook seems to be what they are looking for. It takes input from a Firewire camera or Video4Linux source, and converts it into MPEG4 or JPEG streams.
It's under active developement.
the basic command was be something like:
Not all of those switches are necessary and ive left out other that might be needed. but thats what man pages and experimentation are for. Mjpegtools, though not particularly easy to use, is capable of making finely tuned and broadly portable video.
Either transcode or mencoder might be easier or better for you; look at them too.
If they don't shy away from writing a very simple script with a text editor once, AviSynth can do the job.
MakeAVI (free, source available) is a GUI only tool for making ... AVIs. Quick and simple to use.
Please don't tell me that they're watching Mount St. Helens with a webcam that puts out 55k JPGs. If they're not, someone tell them that making movies out of highly compressed JPGs is not a good idea because you end up recompressing JPG artifacts. Use the higher quality source images and you'll get much smaller movies.
Remebered I had access to another server, so here's the movies I've made.
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Unix is very user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are.
ImageMagick has source and executables for Windows on their site.
As said earlier in this thread, VirtualDub is an ideal solution for the problem at hand.
Fact is
the Windows tools are available, and working... Why kludge around with a second OS?
Well, I'm the web guy who is responsible for the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam. Thanks to the support of a number of Mac users, and a nice donation from a company, I now have the tools required to create VolcanoCam movies in other file formats. I'm posting this from home and creating those movie versions right now in the two following file formats: .avi and .mov. I should have them up on the web site sometime tomorrow (or if you are following the Slashdot time, later today).
.jpg snapshot and FTPs that image to the agency's national web server. Those are the images I have to work with in creating the movies. We use a NTSC camera and not a straight digital/FTP camera because we have to support a video monitor inside the Johnston Ridge Observatory. This is not a compromise point, but instead, meets accessibility issues we are required to follow by law.
For those who offered constructive comments, thank you. But please allow me to offer some insight in working for a federal agency (and some background info as well):
1) It is not my decision that Windows is our O/S. I have no say in that. It is an agency, if not Department decision, out of Washington, DC. I must work with what I have.
2) The VolcanoCam is an NTSC camera producing a live image 24/7. Every five minutes the web server up at Johnston Ridge takes a
3) We use the equipment that we can afford. Only the camera and video card are new. Everything else in the food chain is surplus government equipment. Yup, hand-me-down toys.
4) The VolcanoCam has no funding. Period. If Mount St. Helens were to toss a pumice chip our way and knock out the VolcanoCam, we're dead in the water. Unless we have a donation (cash and/or equipment), we cannot replace it. The volcano's happy dance is a real boon for the VolcanoCam, but this should not be considered an automatic response rate from folks willing to donate cash and/or additional cameras (I have a wish list!).
5) If you sent me an email and I have yet to respond, bear with me. I'm averaging several hundred emails a day just about the VolcanoCam. I have lots of ordinary work to do, as well as the VolcanoCam, and I'm kinda busy. Unless your email is about aliens, that damn mutant fly (or the new spider), or sacrificing virgins, you should get a response from me.
6) Our VolcanoCam viewers are a tough, but supportive lot, and they don't miss a beat. I get hit every time there's a typo in an update. But they are also an extra sets of eyes and we think we scored a VolcanoCam coup. Several emailed me about a weird glow in the night images of late. I took their concerns/theory to a USGS geologist, along with a number of images, and the professional opinion is the glow is either the incadescent reflection of new lava bouncing off the steam cloud above the new dome, or the new dome itself. When I asked for a response from viewers today to send me an email stating the first time they saw the glow, I received 500+ emails in less than four hours! Once we have the data we need, we'll turn it over to the USGS. That will help them in defining when the magma burst through to the surface and is now called lava. It's not much, but score one for the VolcanoCam and its web visitors!
Gotta go. If you have a question or two, you know where you can find me (I don't surf here much).
In reality, it simply gets an image from any web-enabled camera, does robust error correction for 24x7x365 operation, and creates a daily movie of the resulting images.
It's open source, and they can easily modify it any way they need to (or ask me to incorporate the changes they need).
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.