LlamaEnc2 and Llamamatic Public Software Beta Test!
I'm in the middle of writing some awesome new tools to help Vividcon. Some of you may wish to use these tools in the future so I'd appreciate beta testers!
What is LlamaEnc2?
LlamaEnc, for those who don't know, is a Windows program to help vidders encode .m2v and .wav files for submitting to Vividcon. It was written years ago, by me, but the source code was tragically lost in a hard drive crash many years ago. Since then, it has had various compatibility problems with modern versions of Windows.
LlamaEnc2 is a new version of this program (which is really just a GUI designed to operate with other programs). It's still a Windows program (though it is possible to run it via Wine on Linux and OSX) but as it's been rewritten I'm hoping I can work out any bugs people find and have a nicely operating tool for vidders to encode their vids with.
What is Llamamatic?
Llamamatic is what we use to make the DVDs for vividcon. What LlamaEnc is to m2vs, Llamamatic is to DVDs. Previously, the tool was written entirely for use by the staff here at VVC but in the latest version of the tool, vidders will be able to - effectively - make their own dvds. The reason for making this public is quite simple - if vidders have access to the program that we use to make the con dvds, they can use it for their vids to see if they work! It's also possible for vidders to make their own dvds for distribution but, and I must emphasise this, this program is very vvc-centric and is not an all-purpose dvd authoring tool. While I could develop this into a more general authoring tool, I do not want to add features that would deviate from what Vividcon needs from the program.
What is a Beta Test?
This is a beta test! It's where you can download, install and try these programs. However, being a beta, there is no guarantee that these programs will work. In fact, finding out whether they work for anyone other than me is part of the exercise. By participating in the Beta you are agreeing to tell me what happens - whether it be "OMG it just works!" to "so I can't even get this to install..". All of this feedback is useful in being able to finalise the software.
What machine do I need?
This software *should* run on Windows XP, Vista, Vist 64bit, Windows 7 and Windows 7 64bit. It should, with work, also run on Linux via Wine (see below) and could, in theory, also run on OSX via wine but I've no experience of wine on OSX (you may want to google Winebottler). The only limitation I can think of is that I don't know if/how this will operate alongside a 64bit Avisynth (if you happen to be running that).
Downloads:
LlamaEnc2 version 0.94 (note that this will not uninstall the old LlamaEnc, so you can use them interchangeably - hence being called LlamaEnc2!)
Llamamatic version 1.96
Beta Test Instructions
There are several ways to test these tools. 1) Download them without guidance and see if you can work out what they do and report back anything you think isn't doing what you'd expect. 2) Follow a testing script, making notes at each stage what happened. 3) Try and get the programs working on something that isn't a standard Windows machine.
Any of these is fine, as is a combination. The test scripts are the bare-minimum functionality so toying around beyond the basics is encouraged.
If you have *any questions at all* please ask them below and I'll try my best to help. This includes things that you can probably eventually work out yourself as it will give me an idea about how I can improve the user experience or what things need particular attention in the as-yet-unwritten documentation.
Basic Operating Test Script 1) LlamaEnc
1) Download LlamaEnc
2) Run the installer. If you are not an admin, you should be prompted for a password to complete installation.
3) Upon completion of the installer you will either:
a) Get just a finish page
b) Be asked if you want to install 32bit Avisynth 2.5.8. This should only appear if you do not have avisynth installed already. If you are running a 64bit version of avisynth then I do not know what will happen.
4) Run LlamaEnc either from the Start Menu or from the folder you installed it to. You should see a Llama test card.
5) Pick a video file you would like to convert and open it as a video source.
a) If the source did not have audio, it might tell you this. If the source video box does not get filled in with the file you chose, you will have to pick the "Use external audio" option and the retry opening a video.
b) If the source is not an avi, you may be presented with a progress bar stating "Indexing Source". Hopefully this will progress and complete.
6) If all is good you should now see your vid in the preview window. You should also be able to use the slider to view different frames.
7) Choose the Interlacing and Aspect Ratio options appropriate for your vid. The first option in the list is the one that people will most commonly use.
8) Pick a base file name and a folder to export to.
9) Click encode.
a) You should see a progress bar as the wav file is generated
b) You should then see a new window as HC_enc start encoding the m2v file. There should be a live preview of the footage. The encode happens in two passes, so it will appear to complete and then start over.
10) When HC_enc is finished, you should be asked if you want to browse to the files you made. Saying yes should bring up an explorer window with the .m2v file selected.
If you got this far, then in the most basic sense this works! Well done! There are other things that can be tested such as different file types, trying different interlacing and aspect ratio modes and using the cropping tools, if you feel like it.
11) Close and then Uninstall LlamaEnc - verifying that it has in fact removed itself from Program Files and from the Start Menu.
12) Now you have a m2v/wav pair, why not try them out in Llamamatic!
Basic Operating Test Script 2) Llamamatic
1) Download Llamamatic
2) Run the installer. If you are not an admin, you should be prompted for a password to complete installation.
3) Run Llamamatic. Unlike LlamaEnc, you will get two windows - a main GUI and a console window used which will display all kinds of funky debug messages that may or may not be useful if things don't work.
4) Add files to llamamatic. The file browser will look for .m2v files but will automatically add a .wav file with the same base filename. When files are loaded, Llamamatic tries to determine information from the filename. If your files are formatted "Vidder Name_Vid Name.m2v" or "Vidshow Name_Vidder Name_Vid Name" then llamamatic should come up with reasonable things for the dvd menu.
5) You can add as many files as you like
a) you can re-order them with drag and drop.
b) Up to 20 vids can be put on one page and up to 60 vids in total but it's unlikely that 60 vids will fit on a dvd (but you wont know that they wont fit until the dvd is made).
c) Files added to a dvd must live in the same folder.
d) Llamamatic will create subfolders for divx and dvd compilation. These folders are "avi", "DVD_TEMP" and "DVD_FILES". If you happen to have any folders with these names already, you may want to be careful as llamamatic could delete them without warning! If you are worried about this, copy the files you want to make into a DVD into a new folder and start a new Project in the Project menu. [Did I mention that this is a tool for staff?]
6) Click Check Files.
a) If the files are all ok, you will get two new options: "Make divx" and "Make DVD"
b) If there are errors, you should be shown the error tab. It will tell you things like 'missing wav file', 'wrong file type', 'wrong frame size' etc.
7) Click Make DVD. You can test Make divx as well but it's slow and not really the purpose of the program (it's there so that we can make files to send to people who need to see the new vids to VJ things like the premieres show).
8) Make DVD will go through a number of different steps and each should have a progress bar of some kind. Some progress bars will jump up in big steps, others will be smooth.
9) If everything works you should get a message that says it made a .iso file. This is an image file that you can use with a dvd burning program (such as ImgBurn) to create a physical dvd. You can also play these directly in VLC. Several other files were made and will still exist when llamamatic is finished. This is for staff to check that the individual parts that make the dvd are ok. In future versions I may delete these files, I'm not sure yet.
That's it! Burn the .iso to disc or play it in VLC and you should see your vid(s) as if it's your own special Vividcon.
There are a number of other options that you can play with for Llamamatic, such as the settings which will allow you to change the appearance of the dvd menus. These tools are quite rudimentary but if you want to try them feel free. The instructions for the settings have not yet been written, however.
10) Close and Uninstall Llamamatic - verifying that it has in fact removed itself from Program Files and from the Start Menu.
Forseeable Problems:
1) The programs do not run at all either because of an error that displays or for no discernible reason.
This is probably due to me either a) not shipping all the libraries that the program(s) needs to run or b) additional (microsoft-shaped) libraries needing to be installed c) some incompatibility with the current set of libraries d) something I've not thought of. Let me know what the error is (you can ctrl+c an error window and it will copy the text of the error to the clipboard)
2) The program 'opens' but the interface just hangs.
This probably means I've screwed up the threading code. I hope this doesn't happen anymore.
3) There's an avisynth error upon opening.
This shouldn't happen as the installer should detect if avisynth is installed but I can't be sure there wont be some unforeseen error.
4) There's a persistent avisynth error opening a file.
This will really depend on the file, tbh.
5) The program hangs or crashes during a particular stage of encoding.
This, again, will depend on the source but will be the most revealing kind of bug.
Of course, the problems I'm most likely to get are the ones I've not yet thought of...
Tips for folks trying this on Wine:
I'm going to write a fuller guide for this but I've been able to get things working by installing Wine 1.3 and winetricks then via winetricks installing the Windows libraries vcrun6, vcrunsp6 and vcrun2008. Earlier versions of Wine may also work but I've not tried them. You will definitely need the microsoft dlls though, particularly for LlamaEnc as avisynth needs them.
Thank you all for your help! If you have any feature requests, feel free to let me know :)
(Crossposted to the DW community
What is LlamaEnc2?
LlamaEnc, for those who don't know, is a Windows program to help vidders encode .m2v and .wav files for submitting to Vividcon. It was written years ago, by me, but the source code was tragically lost in a hard drive crash many years ago. Since then, it has had various compatibility problems with modern versions of Windows.
LlamaEnc2 is a new version of this program (which is really just a GUI designed to operate with other programs). It's still a Windows program (though it is possible to run it via Wine on Linux and OSX) but as it's been rewritten I'm hoping I can work out any bugs people find and have a nicely operating tool for vidders to encode their vids with.
What is Llamamatic?
Llamamatic is what we use to make the DVDs for vividcon. What LlamaEnc is to m2vs, Llamamatic is to DVDs. Previously, the tool was written entirely for use by the staff here at VVC but in the latest version of the tool, vidders will be able to - effectively - make their own dvds. The reason for making this public is quite simple - if vidders have access to the program that we use to make the con dvds, they can use it for their vids to see if they work! It's also possible for vidders to make their own dvds for distribution but, and I must emphasise this, this program is very vvc-centric and is not an all-purpose dvd authoring tool. While I could develop this into a more general authoring tool, I do not want to add features that would deviate from what Vividcon needs from the program.
What is a Beta Test?
This is a beta test! It's where you can download, install and try these programs. However, being a beta, there is no guarantee that these programs will work. In fact, finding out whether they work for anyone other than me is part of the exercise. By participating in the Beta you are agreeing to tell me what happens - whether it be "OMG it just works!" to "so I can't even get this to install..". All of this feedback is useful in being able to finalise the software.
What machine do I need?
This software *should* run on Windows XP, Vista, Vist 64bit, Windows 7 and Windows 7 64bit. It should, with work, also run on Linux via Wine (see below) and could, in theory, also run on OSX via wine but I've no experience of wine on OSX (you may want to google Winebottler). The only limitation I can think of is that I don't know if/how this will operate alongside a 64bit Avisynth (if you happen to be running that).
Downloads:
LlamaEnc2 version 0.94 (note that this will not uninstall the old LlamaEnc, so you can use them interchangeably - hence being called LlamaEnc2!)
Llamamatic version 1.96
Beta Test Instructions
There are several ways to test these tools. 1) Download them without guidance and see if you can work out what they do and report back anything you think isn't doing what you'd expect. 2) Follow a testing script, making notes at each stage what happened. 3) Try and get the programs working on something that isn't a standard Windows machine.
Any of these is fine, as is a combination. The test scripts are the bare-minimum functionality so toying around beyond the basics is encouraged.
If you have *any questions at all* please ask them below and I'll try my best to help. This includes things that you can probably eventually work out yourself as it will give me an idea about how I can improve the user experience or what things need particular attention in the as-yet-unwritten documentation.
Basic Operating Test Script 1) LlamaEnc
1) Download LlamaEnc
2) Run the installer. If you are not an admin, you should be prompted for a password to complete installation.
3) Upon completion of the installer you will either:
a) Get just a finish page
b) Be asked if you want to install 32bit Avisynth 2.5.8. This should only appear if you do not have avisynth installed already. If you are running a 64bit version of avisynth then I do not know what will happen.
4) Run LlamaEnc either from the Start Menu or from the folder you installed it to. You should see a Llama test card.
5) Pick a video file you would like to convert and open it as a video source.
a) If the source did not have audio, it might tell you this. If the source video box does not get filled in with the file you chose, you will have to pick the "Use external audio" option and the retry opening a video.
b) If the source is not an avi, you may be presented with a progress bar stating "Indexing Source". Hopefully this will progress and complete.
6) If all is good you should now see your vid in the preview window. You should also be able to use the slider to view different frames.
7) Choose the Interlacing and Aspect Ratio options appropriate for your vid. The first option in the list is the one that people will most commonly use.
8) Pick a base file name and a folder to export to.
9) Click encode.
a) You should see a progress bar as the wav file is generated
b) You should then see a new window as HC_enc start encoding the m2v file. There should be a live preview of the footage. The encode happens in two passes, so it will appear to complete and then start over.
10) When HC_enc is finished, you should be asked if you want to browse to the files you made. Saying yes should bring up an explorer window with the .m2v file selected.
If you got this far, then in the most basic sense this works! Well done! There are other things that can be tested such as different file types, trying different interlacing and aspect ratio modes and using the cropping tools, if you feel like it.
11) Close and then Uninstall LlamaEnc - verifying that it has in fact removed itself from Program Files and from the Start Menu.
12) Now you have a m2v/wav pair, why not try them out in Llamamatic!
Basic Operating Test Script 2) Llamamatic
1) Download Llamamatic
2) Run the installer. If you are not an admin, you should be prompted for a password to complete installation.
3) Run Llamamatic. Unlike LlamaEnc, you will get two windows - a main GUI and a console window used which will display all kinds of funky debug messages that may or may not be useful if things don't work.
4) Add files to llamamatic. The file browser will look for .m2v files but will automatically add a .wav file with the same base filename. When files are loaded, Llamamatic tries to determine information from the filename. If your files are formatted "Vidder Name_Vid Name.m2v" or "Vidshow Name_Vidder Name_Vid Name" then llamamatic should come up with reasonable things for the dvd menu.
5) You can add as many files as you like
a) you can re-order them with drag and drop.
b) Up to 20 vids can be put on one page and up to 60 vids in total but it's unlikely that 60 vids will fit on a dvd (but you wont know that they wont fit until the dvd is made).
c) Files added to a dvd must live in the same folder.
d) Llamamatic will create subfolders for divx and dvd compilation. These folders are "avi", "DVD_TEMP" and "DVD_FILES". If you happen to have any folders with these names already, you may want to be careful as llamamatic could delete them without warning! If you are worried about this, copy the files you want to make into a DVD into a new folder and start a new Project in the Project menu. [Did I mention that this is a tool for staff?]
6) Click Check Files.
a) If the files are all ok, you will get two new options: "Make divx" and "Make DVD"
b) If there are errors, you should be shown the error tab. It will tell you things like 'missing wav file', 'wrong file type', 'wrong frame size' etc.
7) Click Make DVD. You can test Make divx as well but it's slow and not really the purpose of the program (it's there so that we can make files to send to people who need to see the new vids to VJ things like the premieres show).
8) Make DVD will go through a number of different steps and each should have a progress bar of some kind. Some progress bars will jump up in big steps, others will be smooth.
9) If everything works you should get a message that says it made a .iso file. This is an image file that you can use with a dvd burning program (such as ImgBurn) to create a physical dvd. You can also play these directly in VLC. Several other files were made and will still exist when llamamatic is finished. This is for staff to check that the individual parts that make the dvd are ok. In future versions I may delete these files, I'm not sure yet.
That's it! Burn the .iso to disc or play it in VLC and you should see your vid(s) as if it's your own special Vividcon.
There are a number of other options that you can play with for Llamamatic, such as the settings which will allow you to change the appearance of the dvd menus. These tools are quite rudimentary but if you want to try them feel free. The instructions for the settings have not yet been written, however.
10) Close and Uninstall Llamamatic - verifying that it has in fact removed itself from Program Files and from the Start Menu.
Forseeable Problems:
1) The programs do not run at all either because of an error that displays or for no discernible reason.
This is probably due to me either a) not shipping all the libraries that the program(s) needs to run or b) additional (microsoft-shaped) libraries needing to be installed c) some incompatibility with the current set of libraries d) something I've not thought of. Let me know what the error is (you can ctrl+c an error window and it will copy the text of the error to the clipboard)
2) The program 'opens' but the interface just hangs.
This probably means I've screwed up the threading code. I hope this doesn't happen anymore.
3) There's an avisynth error upon opening.
This shouldn't happen as the installer should detect if avisynth is installed but I can't be sure there wont be some unforeseen error.
4) There's a persistent avisynth error opening a file.
This will really depend on the file, tbh.
5) The program hangs or crashes during a particular stage of encoding.
This, again, will depend on the source but will be the most revealing kind of bug.
Of course, the problems I'm most likely to get are the ones I've not yet thought of...
Tips for folks trying this on Wine:
I'm going to write a fuller guide for this but I've been able to get things working by installing Wine 1.3 and winetricks then via winetricks installing the Windows libraries vcrun6, vcrunsp6 and vcrun2008. Earlier versions of Wine may also work but I've not tried them. You will definitely need the microsoft dlls though, particularly for LlamaEnc as avisynth needs them.
Thank you all for your help! If you have any feature requests, feel free to let me know :)
(Crossposted to the DW community