Software to create a movie from lots of still frames

[thomasp]

Hi,

I have about 2,000 still frames, all PNG files, that I wish to compile into a movie. They are a bit of a weird size (1049x870px) so iStopMotion doesn't work.

iMovie 8 is beyond useless for this since it downsizes them, works in a different frame rate (25fps as opposed to the 15fps that I need the final movie in), there seems to be no clear way to set the number of frames each still should last (unlike in iMovie 5), and above all, it cannot seem to import them in the correct order, and I don't have the time to manually import 2,400 files in order.

Does anyone have any software recommendations, ideally freeware/demo/cheap shareware?


Cheers

 

[anonova]

mencoder or ffmpeg will do the job for you.

 

[kolax]

Final Cut Express, not worth the $200 if you are interested in movie making and plan to use it frequently.

iPhoto can make slideshow movies IIRC.

 

[jackerin]

Final Cut Express, not worth the $200 if you are interested in movie making and plan to use it frequently.

Is it worth it for infrequent use..?

Also, Quicktime Pro, open image sequence.

 

[kolax]

Is it worth it for infrequent use..?

It's decent software. If you are into movie editing and would treat it as a hobby, it really depends on if you have $200 to splash out on.

 

[thomasp]

Thanks for the suggestions, as I'm only doing this once, FCP is a little expensive!

Am having another go in iMovie 8 at the moment, is there any way I can set how long a still image should last in frames, rather than seconds? I know you could do this in iMovie 5, but can't seem to figure out how to do it in iMovie 8.

 

[ftaok]

Thanks for the suggestions, as I'm only doing this once, FCP is a little expensive!

Am having another go in iMovie 8 at the moment, is there any way I can set how long a still image should last in frames, rather than seconds? I know you could do this in iMovie 5, but can't seem to figure out how to do it in iMovie 8.

Well, if you can't set the duration in frames, you could divide your desired frame duration by 25. A little cumbersome, but it'll work ... unless iMovie prevents fractional durations.

ft

 

[Yvan256]

Another vote for Quicktime Pro.

 

[Cinematographer]

Just did a little test. QuickTimePro does a very good job combining pictures to a movie.

 

[thomasp]

Well, if you can't set the duration in frames, you could divide your desired frame duration by 25. A little cumbersome, but it'll work ... unless iMovie prevents fractional durations.

ft

It would seem to. Every time I enter the time (say 0.067s) it comes out as some totally random and weird time.

Another vote for Quicktime Pro.

Just did a little test. QuickTimePro does a very good job combining pictures to a movie.

As I said earlier, I'm only doing this once so don't really want to spend money. And it needs doing before snow leopard's released!

 

[jackerin]

It's decent software. If you are into movie editing and would treat it as a hobby, it really depends on if you have $200 to splash out on.

It was more intended to be a joke based on your statement that it wasn't worth it for frequent use...

 

[ftaok]

It would seem to. Every time I enter the time (say 0.067s) it comes out as some totally random and weird time.

OK, how about doing it this way?

Just substitute seconds for frames, then speed up the movie at 25x when you export it. I think iMovie can do that, right?

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

I've used Quicktime Pro > Open Image Sequence > Export.