Simple video editor for simple task

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JnLlnd
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Simple video editor for simple task

#1 Post by JnLlnd »

Hi,

I'm looking for the simplest solution to produce a video from an audio file and an image. The goal is to put a fix image on an audio content and to upload the video file to a streaming platform like YouTube. Doing this simple task with Adobe Premiere requires much work and I wonder if a simpler solution exists? Freeware and, ideally, portable.

Thanks for any advise.

Jean

JnLlnd
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#2 Post by JnLlnd »

After posting this message, I gave a try to Microsoft Movie Maker. Not a bad solution for this simple task.

1) You import the the image
2) Then import the audio file and copy its duration to the clipboard
3) Return to the image to set its duration to the audio's duration

I saved the result using low-fi video (426x240 px, 1.19 MBits/sec rate and best possible audio format) and got a one hour MP4 file of 135 MB.

If you know a better solution, suggestions would of course be appreciated. But Movie Maker is a quite simple solution.

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joby_toss
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#3 Post by joby_toss »

Some time ago I was using Picasa for this. I know it's not supported anymore, but the installer can still be found on the net. And there is a JPE launcher for it: http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... php?t=4925
Freemake Video Converter can also do this very easy (and there is a "questionable" portable launcher available also).
There are also many online slideshow creators, if you want to try.

And in the database there is PhotoFilmStrip.

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webfork
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#4 Post by webfork »

Joby already beat me to my recommendation on this: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=1524 The output formats it offers are probably a little out of date so I might try to save with very high quality settings and then convert to something a little more recent. If your destination is Youtube, their interface will handle that process for you.

Also, OpenShot can also handle this (again, based on demos I’ve seen).
Last edited by webfork on Sun Jul 10, 2016 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: (edit to add a note about joby's rec)

JnLlnd
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#5 Post by JnLlnd »

Thank you Joby and Webfork. Let me take a look at these solutions and I'll get back with my feedback.

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SYSTEM
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#6 Post by SYSTEM »

Let me start by asking: are you sure you want a static image?

One reason why I started the Keppi music visualizer project was that I was a bit bored that music tracks in YouTube are almost always accompanied with a boring static image. I figured that one reason that video uploaders don't upload visualizations (which would be a perfect fit for a video site) is that there aren't enough visualizers.

In fact, I thought about making the program in a way that you would simply select a music file, and the program would spit out the visualization in a video file. However, in the end I figured that simply showing the visualization realtime is more useful. After all, one can always use a video recording program to obtain a video.

You see where I'm going with this? ;)

One way to create a video out of a music file is with Keppi and a video recording program intended for games. The reason to use a game recording program is that it's going to record nothing other than the Direct2D surface that Keppi uses to draw the visualization.

Bandicam is such a video recording program (it leaves a watermark unless it's registered, though). With that program the procedure to capture video is as follows:
  1. Launch Keppi and Bandicam.
  2. Put your finger on the F12 key, ready to press it.
  3. Open the music file with Keppi.
  4. Immediately after that, click the visualization area and press F12. The recording has now started.
  5. Let the track play to the end.
  6. Finally, exit Keppi (if you do it right after the track ends, you won't need to cut the end of the video afterwards).
I tried this method myself as an experiment. Here's the result.

My YouTube channel | Release date of my 13th playlist: August 24, 2020

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Midas
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#7 Post by Midas »

Nice tutorial, SYSTEM. Thanks. 8)

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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#8 Post by JnLlnd »

I tried...

PhotoFilmStripv2.1.0: interesting but the video formats choice is limited and resolution size cannot be customized. Also, export time is very long (I have one-hour content to render).

Freemaker Video Converter: junkware pushed with installer (strike one), branding at beginning and end of video until paid (strike two), cannot extend the duration of a slide to the duration of audio content (strike three, out).

OpenShot: at first sight, a complete video editing solution; not the simple solution I'm looking for.

@SYSTEM: The Keppi and Bandicam solution is interesting but more appropriate for short content. My content is more "radio style" content, not to be "looked" at. In this case, video animation is not a plus and creating a one-hour content would require one hour for capture, plus rendering, etc. Not what I'm looking for. Thanks anyway for taking this nice solution to our attention.

Up-to-now, Movie Maker is still my best option. Rendering in low quality video is quick and takes little space (about same size as the MP3 audio-only file).

Thanks all for your input on this. Still open for other suggestions.

3K3
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#9 Post by 3K3 »

You could try SUPER.

Image

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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#10 Post by JnLlnd »

The SUPER setup installer is FULL of very agressive junkware. *Not* recommended...

shnbwmn
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#11 Post by shnbwmn »

JnLlnd wrote:The SUPER setup installer is FULL of very agressive junkware ...
The installer can be extracted with UniExtract, thus avoiding any and all junkware. It saves its settings to super.ini in the program directory (hidden after first run). This still applies to the latest SUPER version.

JnLlnd
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#12 Post by JnLlnd »

shnbwmn wrote:The installer can be extracted with UniExtract, thus avoiding any and all junkware. It saves its settings to super.ini in the program directory (hidden after first run). This still applies to the latest SUPER version.
Thanks for the tip. Just to be sure, what file is the installer? SUPER.exe?

Code: Select all

C:\Users\Jean\Downloads\Super-Extract>dir /b
1.avi
Additional files
DXdump.exe
ffmpeg.exe
Licenses
mencoder
Mp_root
Profiles
s2m5.exe
spk
SUPER.exe
super.ini
x264.exe
{syswow64}

Specular
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#13 Post by Specular »

I'd use ffmpeg. It's one line, does the job, and many times what other programs are using behind the scenes anyway.

Code: Select all

ffmpeg -loop 1 -i image.jpg -i audio.mp3 -c:v libx264 -tune stillimage -vf scale=1920:-1 -c:a aac -b:a 320k -pix_fmt yuv420p -shortest output.mp4
image.jpg = filename of your image.
audio.mp3 = filename of your audio.
scale=1920 = the output width you'd like. I've set it to 1920px wide, the height is auto-calculated.
output.mp4 = name of the output video.

Steps:

1. Download the 'static' ffmpeg build from here for either 32-bit or 64-bit.
2. Unzip and in the bin (for 'binary') folder you'll find ffmpeg.exe, place it in the same folder as your image and audio.
3. Rename your image and audio file to match the code above. If the image is a PNG change the code/filename. Likewise if your audio is FLAC/M4A/etc change the code/file.
4. Shift+Right-click in the folder where ffmpeg.exe and your audio and image files are and select 'Open command window here'. This opens a command prompt at that location.
5. Copy the code line then right-click in the command prompt window and select Paste. Hit Enter to run the code. It will take a minute or so to encode.

Seems like a few steps at first but it's actually pretty simple. I place ffmpeg in a folder where the system can see it (in my PATH variables) so I can use ffmpeg from any folder, not just the one it's located in.

Here's an example output video using these options. Link will be up for 24 hours.

shnbwmn
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#14 Post by shnbwmn »

@JnLlnd

No, SUPER.exe is clean and merely runs the main SUPER interface. I think the adware/junkware components were under {tmp}.

Code: Select all

SUPERsetup\{tmp}\itdnl32.dll
SUPERsetup\{tmp}\itdownload.dll
When I said "it saves its settings," I was referring to SUPER, not the junkware installer.

JnLlnd
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Re: Simple video editor for simple task

#15 Post by JnLlnd »

@shnbwmn: Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try.

@Specular: I like the command line approach. Easy to automate. For those interested, the ffmpeg doc is here: https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html

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