Adding a sequence of pictures to a video track

Sequences of pictures, e.g. the individual pictures of a 3D animation or of an HD/4K film can be added on a video track and edited just like a video. Also recordings in fast motion produced with a digital camera can be incorporated in a show this way.

1. All pictures of a sequence must be the same size and contained in one folder. The individual picture files must have a uniform name followed by a consecutive number, e.g. Animation0001.tga, Animation0002.tga ...to Animation0375.tga. This sequence with 375 individual pictures, for example, would be 12.5 seconds long at 30 frames per second.

2. In the Media Pool click on category Video. Right-click the empty field on the right and select Add picture sequence... Navigate to the folder containing the pictures of the sequence. Double-click one picture of the picture sequence, e.g. Animation0001.tga, following which a Properties Dialog will pop up.

If you want to add several image sequences in one go you just highlight the corresponding folder accommodating the images sequence and, while holding down the Ctrl key, drag it into Media Pool category Video or a subfolder thereof. In this case, the dialog for specifying the properties will only appear once. For that reason the properties with regard to frame rate and possible intermediate video data are identical for all image sequences. If necessary you can cancel the whole process by clicking Cancel.

3. The dialog will show you the first and the last picture of the sequence which you may still change. The frame rate is preset to 60 f/s but you can still change this, e.g. to 30 f/s in order to extend the length. The frame rate is preset to 60 f/s but you can still change this, e.g. to 30 f/s in order to extend the length. If the dialog does not pop up...

   ... alternatively you can right-click a video track and select Add sequence of pictures....

4. Click OK following which the Properties Dialog will appear unless the sequence of images has already been used and Intermediate Data are already available. In the Properties Dialog place a checkmark next to Create/use intermediate video data. With very high-resolution picture sequences, e.g. from DSLRs you should adjust the picture size for the intermediate video data to allow the picture sequence to be played in real time. Instead of Original size enter the presentation output size, e.g. a width of 1400 pixels for a data projector with a resolution of 1400 x 1050 pixels and click OK.

• If the properties dialog is not displayed automatically when adding the picture sequence, right-click the picture sequence in the Media Pool and select Properties.

• Intermediate video data are not suitable for 4K resolutions as their performance demand is higher than for WMV or H.264 videos. If the presentation is to be in 4K you just output the picture sequence as WMV or H.264 video and use it in your show. Or you can also use our Wings Engine RAW which is able to play back uncompressed 4K picture sequences.

5. You can now drag the picture sequence from the Media Pool and drop it into the video track. The frame rate is set to 60 frames per second by default. This value can be changed in the Picture Sequence Properties in the Media Pool, see Picture Sequence Properties, or in the Video Object Properties in the Timeline, see Video Object Properties.

After Wings Vioso RX has finished rendering the display data, the sequence of pictures appears as a video object. Now you can dissolve or edit the sequence of pictures just like a video. See also Editing objects and Editing videos.

• If the default picture sequence of 60 f/s is not suitable for your project you can change the default setting in the Options. This way you save yourself any subsequent changes during the import. See Global Options - Objects - Video.

• When you click some empty space in the right section of the Media Pool category Video and select Add picture sequence folder... you can add the entire folder, i.e.. both the picture sequence and the folder are imported to the Media Pool.

• When adding picture sequences to the Pool the alpha channel is now enabled automatically if a color depth of 32 or 64 bits is detected.

• Display data for picture sequences are limited in size to 640 pixels (normal) or 1280 pixels in width (if higher quality for HD videos is enabled) to avoid overtaxing the computer with high-resolution images from DSLRs.

• Picture sequences are not considered for some variants of the functions Project backup! A corresponding message will be displayed when producing a backup copy. See also Backup of project files.