Graphic Conversion Tool (gfx2gf)

[Garrett]

I created a bash script that does the same thing on OS X. It should also, in theory, work on Linux.

If you find any bugs, please let me know via my GitHub repo.

Jeremy, I also added your batch file to the repo as a point of reference. I hope that is okay.

[Jeremy Williams]

This is incredible, Garrett! THANK YOU. I’ll link to your script in the original post.

[PylonSquelch]

Well done, worked great for me.

[PylonSquelch]

Well done, worked great for me.

[Garrett]

I added two new options to the bash script: force and verbose.

Previously, the script printed an error if an output directory already existed. Now, -f will tell the script to overwrite any existing output directories. This makes it easier to redo conversions when needed.

Previously, the script always printed out what it was doing plus any error messages. Now, it will only print error messages unless you provide the -v option.

[glongman]

very cool Garrett. I was working on a script also but I think I’ll just use yours.

(I’m not a shell whiz by any stretch and I’m actually a day away from my GF for real testing)

I dropped it here in case anyone is interested.

Geoff

[Alan]

I’ve noticed on my movie/tv conversions that the Game Frame was cutting off playing within a filmstrip and jumping to the next one, then cutting off prematurely again and jumping to the next. It happens seamlessly so I didn’t notice it was a problem for awhile. I’m not clear on whether it was due to the length of the strip, or the length of the animation. Either way, I was able to get around the issue by increasing the number of filmstrips and decreasing the frames in each by chunking in 4000 rather than 32000, changing this line:

convert -crop 16x32000x0x0 “%FOLDER%.bmp” “%FOLDER%\%%01d.bmp”

to this line:

convert -crop 16x4000x0x0 “%FOLDER%.bmp” “%FOLDER%\%%01d.bmp”

Also, I didn’t want to have to mess around with aspect ratio outside of ffmpeg, so instead of -s 16×16 I’ve been using this flag to “center crop” the middle of the video (ffmpeg call in the batch):

-vf “scale=-1:16,crop=16:16”

Note that this only works when the width is greater than the height, so if you’ve a narrow video this will probably break.

Also, people may want to play with the scaler algorithm to get different rendering looks. For instance, this switch on the ffmpeg call:

-sws_flags neighbor

Uses the nearest neighbor algorithm which makes for an incredibly noisy rendition but also one that has small pixel details (about as much as you can in 16×16).

[Jeremy Williams]

Alan,

Is it possible your timer was set to something less than the length of the filmstrips? I have not seen the Game Frame jump between segments. Maybe try setting the timer to infinite? The problem with using 4000 frames rather than 32000 is you will get more subfolders, and the system only supports up to 98. Beyond that will create a singularity. Would not recommend.

Jeremy

[Alan]

Jeremy,

I AM BEYOND THE EVENT HORIZON. Seriously though, I do have one conversion with 289 subfolders and it seems ok to me. Although I can’t be 100% there’s not some issue, I do get to the end credits of the episode.

The original problem may have definitely been the timer, as I think mine was set to 30 seconds, so I’ll try to reconvert back again.

Thanks!

[ben1]

For Mac, you can use the built-in App “Automator” to do most of the work for you. http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_batch_convert_images_your_mac_without_photoshop

[justinsblack]

@jeremy I tried to use your batch to convert Finding Nemo but it was a .mkv file.
I’m assuming it wasn’t recognized.
Here’s the error, can you confirm?

”
Must specify a file system
‘identify’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
‘identify’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Converting “Finding Nemo (2003).mkv” to Game Frame format…
—–
‘ffmpeg’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
—–
0 16×16 frame(s) created.
Creating filmstrip…
‘montage’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Filmstrip conversion finished!
‘identify’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
CONFIG.INI Written!
Generating preview…
Invalid Parameter – box
Done!
Process finished!
Press any key to continue . . .
“

[Garrett]

@justinsblack Your Windows environment isn’t able to find the programs needed to convert the video file (i.e., identify, ffmpeg, montage). Did you install ImageMagick and FFmpeg before you ran the batch file?

[justinsblack]

Thanks @Garrett, not sure how I missed those extra downloads. (They weren’t mentioned in Jeremy’s first post)
Installed ImageMagick
Downloaded FFmpeg but how/where do I install it?
Thanks for your help! It is appreciated.

[Garrett]

@justinsblack If you read the first paragraph of Jeremy’s post, it says, “[The Windows Batch file] requires ImageMagick, so make sure you have that first.” Then there’s a link.

I don’t use Windows, so I can’t help you with the FFmpeg install. But here’s a link that might help you.

[Jeremy Williams]

Thanks, Garrett. FFMPEG is installed as part of ImageMagick.

[Author]

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