Concatenate animations

Post processing utility for Elmer
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mzenker
Posts: 1999
Joined: 07 Dec 2009, 11:49
Location: Germany

Concatenate animations

Post by mzenker »

Hi,

I want to make an animation from a simulation consisting of several runs (using the restart functionality). Now I have one .ep file for each run, and I want to generate a single animation. How do I concatenate several animations (or .ep files)?

Thanks,

Matthias
raback
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Re: Concatenate animations

Post by raback »

Hi

There is some info on making animation in Wiki:
http://www.elmerfem.org/wiki/index.php/ ... Animations

To concatenate you need to first see the [min,max] interval and set it manually in the Color Mesh window with Keep crossed. Then I think that the Append should do the work for you in the mpg plugin.

If you save manually each window using the the "xwd" command then just add an offset to the $t using an auxiliary variable, for example $s=t+100;....

There is, by the way, a really neat auxialiary program: ElmerClips in the bin directory of the Windows installer. When you have created a directory holding individual frames just drag it on the active software, or on command line give the directory as a parameter. As a result you'll get the same animation in four different resolutions. Ideally the initial resolution is very high, for example full HD (1920x1080). The program was motivated by some problems in making animations with Paraview where you can make nicely the individual files but the standard version does not come with any proper codec (I think motion jpg is the only option). To view mpg files, the VLC Media Player understands most formats.

-Peter
mzenker
Posts: 1999
Joined: 07 Dec 2009, 11:49
Location: Germany

Re: Concatenate animations

Post by mzenker »

Hi Peter,

I had seen the information in the Wiki, but it did not answer my question - your hint made me find the solution:
I have my data in different ep files, since at every solver restart a new one is generated containing just the newly calculated data. I start making an animation out of the first ep file. Now when I load the next ep file in the same ElmerPost session without issuing the savempg stop command, I can continue with the animation using append, and savempg stop only after the last ep file has bee appended. It seems not to possible to append to an already existing mpg file.
Is ElmerClips supposed to be in the Elmer bin directory when I have a normal Windows installation? Well, it isn't, and it is nowhere else in the Elmer directory (I have Rev. 5043 - maybe I should update anyway?).
EDIT: Sorry, I just have found ElmerClips, I don't know where I had my thoughts earlier... :oops:
For the question of mpg formats, I have opened another thread. For the time being, Quicktime is the only Windoze tool understanding all my animations...
EDIT: vlc does also (so far), but is not satisfactory, see viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1565

Thank you,

Matthias
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