How can I turn a folder of JPG or RAW photos into a good-looking video animation?
Asked 9/11/2019
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2 answers
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I have a series of still images and want to turn them into a movie file. I tried ImageJ, MakeAVI, and VirtualDub, but the results were unusable: one output was black, another unreadable, and VirtualDub produced very pixelated video. The source files are JPGs or Sony Alpha 77 RAW files. What workflow or software should I use to make a working video that looks good?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
1
I am worried here. Especially with the pixelated one. A program like Virtual dub takes your image sequence and just assemble it. If you have some sort of pixelation is not because of the program but of the settings you are giving.
Prepare the files.
Let's start from step 1.
I. Not every program will read a raw file, first convert it to something more useful. JPG to be specific.
Irfanview does a pretty good job batch "converting" RAW images from Nikon and Canon into JPG. I ignore if the Sony ones work as well.
II. Resample all images into a specific dimension before stitching them into a video. Crop and resample the images to the desired output. Video files some times need some specific dimensions.
You can even sharpen them a bit, and rename them to a numbered sequence... do not add too much compression on the JPG files, be careful there.
III. Now use these new files as source files for the program to stitch into a video.
IV. Now take VirtualDub2 and pull the image sequence, assign the correct frame rate and codec and export a video. Export as mp4 h264. Done. VirtualDub has not been updated since ages, but VirtualDub2 has.
If it still does not work as desired... (I do not see how), take Davinci Resolve, which needs a bit more resources, on the disk and on the system, but it is a free state of the art program and just pull the first frame of the image sequence.
V. If you need stabilization, prepare the images with more resolution than needed and then you can even stabilize it on Davinci Resolve.
Reading this sometime later I am wondering if the images have a nonstandard size for a particular video format. Some video formats need the video to be, let's say a multiple of 4.
Originally by user37321. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user37321
6y ago
0
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Yes—this is possible, but the key is preparing the files correctly before assembling them into video. The main issue is likely your export/settings rather than the concept itself.
Recommended workflow:
- Convert RAW files first. Many video tools won’t read camera RAW reliably, so batch-convert them to JPG before making the animation.
- Resize/crop all images to the exact same dimensions. Video encoders often expect consistent frame sizes, and odd dimensions can cause problems.
- Rename them as a numbered sequence so the software imports them in the correct order.
- Then assemble the image sequence into a video.
If VirtualDub looked pixelated, that usually points to output size, resampling, or compression settings—not necessarily a flaw in the software itself.
A batch tool such as IrfanView can help with converting RAW-to-JPG (if it supports your files), resizing, sharpening, and renaming before you import the sequence into your video program.
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