Hello,

Wondering if it's possible to make animoto.com like effects in kdenlive either using combinations of current effects or with a new effect / plugin / whatever.

I was thinking if I pre-made certain background images, I could maybe get them to scroll in the background ( like title clips ) and put other images on top. Haven't tried it yet, will whenever I get a chance, but thought I would see if anyone else is attempting or has input on how to do this.

I'm not sure how to get things to switch and flip around like Animoto.. and am guessing that it might not be possible... or would be a difficult mix of effects and pre-made images?

Gotta run, but will post back as I experiment and learn more.

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edit - changed title to a question so people dont think I figured it out.

OK, so after playing with a bunch of effects and transitions i think the fast-pace "rock-style" feel is possible.. not sure the transitions and effects though. I also realized that the time requirements and technical skills are almost not worth the effort.

So I started to look if Kdenlive was scriptable... after all.. if you notice most Animoto-like videos are repetitions of the same effects.

I found these posts.. which I will be following closely.

http://www.kdenlive.org/forum/photo-slider-random-effects-script

http://www.cli-apps.org/content/show.php?content=102619

I had to change some things to get it to work for me.. but it was so fast and easy to generate the .kdenlive file... i think if I ( and hopefully some others ) can basically start building sets of preset transitions it just might work. Here's what I had to do.


I had to create "automaticslide" and "slidelumafolder" folders in my home directory

I had to copy the lumas from "/usr/share/kde4/apps/kdenlive/lumas" to "slidelumafolder"

copy "akw" script into "/usr/bin" folder and make sure owner:group:other can execute

in terminal " for file in $PWD/*.jpg ; do echo $file >>/home/"$USER"/listoffilekdenliveautomatic.txt ;done "

( this is different than the website explains.. they use /tmp but the script looks for home dir )

in terminal "akw T1 T2 PAL aspectratio" where ...

T1 = seconds for pictures
T2 = time for transition
PAL (NTSC)
aspectratio = 1 (recomended)

example :

"akw 4 1 PAL 1"

I also notice when I opened it in Kdenlive Version 0.7.7 on Ubuntu 9.10 it mentioned it automatically converted .kdenlive file to an updated version. So I guess the new .kdenlive "wesley" file has changed since the script. I'll look into that too.
Gonna take a while.. but I'll keep posting whenever I get a chance to work on it.

Long time.. been busy and haven't had time to do much of anything.
I made these 2 simple effects... which I think could be easily scripted.
I think I also notice a pattern ( if it even matters in the end )
I used the background image of the first effect as the focus image of the second.
In the timeline it looked like the sideways "L" tetris shape.
I think scripting it would be fairly easy, as once the effects are made...
the script will just read the folder for images and randomly slap them into given location.
Whatever image is given as the background will just be passed to the foreground location for the next effect.

Honestly, I probably won't have time to look into this until my next vacation.. a few weeks away.

Here is the YouTube link of the short clip.

3pics_silent.flv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE7PApQnEvg

Looks really promising.
However until MLT gets a Ken Burns effect it will look a bit shaky.