Hi Gunther,
I want to create a batch script to extract the thumbnails from the RAW files with dcraw (command -e) and feed them into x264 to create a quick preview for ages.
Since x264 is totally commandline driven it should be possible to feed the preview images while loading to x264 at the same time, or do that later if needed.
The only necessary options for the preview would be --RF and --preset and resolution (480p, 720p, 1080p for the sake of simplicity...).
With a decent rig, creating those previews would take 2 minutes.
With that feature one could generate those previews for each folder quickly after the shot which would come in handy when browsing through the image sequences later.
I know there is the play button, but it would be nice to have a preview mp.4 file in each folder when browsing through the files.
What do you think about that idea?
If you have questions regarding x264 feel free to ask!
David
Thank you for your ideas!
My concerns are: the previews you would extract with dcraw wouldn't be a big improvement over the previews I currently extract. In contrary - they would represent a proprietary way how dcraw "sees" the Raw files without taking care of the xmp files and would only have little to do with the adobe world.
I don't see the big advantage in creating a movie from the unedited sequence as well.
If I would implement a preview like that I would like to render a preview of the developed and processed video, maybe I have some Ideas of doing that but it is going to take some time...
(2012-06-07, 10:26)gwegner Wrote: [ -> ]In contrary - they would represent a proprietary way how dcraw "sees" the Raw files...
"-e" does nothing else that extracting the embedded JPEG file shot with the settings you chose on your camera- like LRT does aswell.
For me this would be abig advantage since you could get a preview video that you could store in the same folder as the images. When browsing through your timelapse sequences you could just watch the preview video and get an idea if you want to make the effort to process it.
About getting a small preview with ACR image processing:
You can choose to open images in ACR with a smaller resolution in ACR (on the bottom where you can change bit depth and colour space). This works for PS but not for AE (they are opened in full size no matter what you entered).
I am not really sure what they do, but it seems like some sort of line skipping because if you render those files to TIFF or JPEG direclty out of Bridge rendering is significantly faster (tried that once for panoramas), Adobe does the same with the high quality thumbnails in Bridge. They are obviously generated from RAW information but it is blazingly fast.
If you could find a way to script the lower res files it could work to generate a ACR processed preview within a couple of minutes.
David
Quote:"-e" does nothing else that extracting the embedded JPEG file shot with the settings you chose on your camera- like LRT does aswell.
Okay, but where is the advantage over what I'm currently doing natively or via exiftool either...
Quote:For me this would be abig advantage since you could get a preview video that you could store in the same folder as the images. When browsing through your timelapse sequences you could just watch the preview video and get an idea if you want to make the effort to process it.
Understood. If I find time can have a look at x264...
Quote:If you could find a way to script the lower res files it could work to generate a ACR processed preview within a couple of minutes.
maybe I have another idea...
(2012-06-07, 11:43)gwegner Wrote: [ -> ]Okay, but where is the advantage over what I'm currently doing natively or via exiftool either...
...
Understood. If I find time can have a look at x264...
Touché. My bad, of course you could feed the exiftools JPEGs to x264 too. :-P
As I said, just send me an email if you questions regarding x264. It is pretty simple to use once you understood it.