Why can't I render to ffmpeg?

Support Synfig related help
1

I use synfig 63 from this site under Windows XP.

I made a simple test animation and tried to render it, Sequence of pngs does work.
But if I choose ffmpeg as render target it won’t work. It doesn’t output a video file. Just a very small png file, which isn’t a png file (it is unreadable for me). What am I doing wrong?

That’s what the log windows says:
FFmpeg version SVN-r23008, Copyright © 2000-2010 the FFmpeg developers
built on May 2 2010 06:07:24 with gcc 4.4.2
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --cc=ccache
-i686-mingw32-gcc --arch=i686 --target-os=mingw32 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --e
nable-avisynth --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --e
nable-libfaad --enable-pthreads --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-l
ibspeex --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libxvid --enable-libsc
hroedinger --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libopencore_amrn
b
libavutil 50.15. 0 / 50.15. 0
libavcodec 52.66. 0 / 52.66. 0
libavformat 52.62. 0 / 52.62. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libswscale 0.10. 0 / 0.10. 0
[image2pipe @ 0199d5d0]MAX_READ_SIZE:5000000 reached
[image2pipe @ 0199d5d0]Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Input #0, image2pipe, from ‘pipe:’:
Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
Stream #0.0: Video: ppm, rgb24, 480x272, 24 fps, 24 tbr, 24 tbn, 24 tbc
Output #0, image2, to ‘C:\Download\ADV\Synfig Animation 1.png’:
Metadata:
title : Synfig Animation 1
encoder : Lavf52.62.0
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 480x272, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn,
24 tbc
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
[image2 @ 01a88070]Could not get frame filename from pattern
av_interleaved_write_frame(): Error number -5 occurred
FFmpeg version SVN-r23008, Copyright © 2000-2010 the FFmpeg developers
built on May 2 2010 06:07:24 with gcc 4.4.2
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --cc=ccache
-i686-mingw32-gcc --arch=i686 --target-os=mingw32 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --e
nable-avisynth --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --e
nable-libfaad --enable-pthreads --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-l
ibspeex --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libxvid --enable-libsc
hroedinger --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libopencore_amrn
b
libavutil 50.15. 0 / 50.15. 0
libavcodec 52.66. 0 / 52.66. 0
libavformat 52.62. 0 / 52.62. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libswscale 0.10. 0 / 0.10. 0
[image2pipe @ 0199d5d0]MAX_READ_SIZE:5000000 reached
[image2pipe @ 0199d5d0]Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Input #0, image2pipe, from ‘pipe:’:
Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
Stream #0.0: Video: ppm, rgb24, 480x272, 24 fps, 24 tbr, 24 tbn, 24 tbc
Output #0, image2, to ‘C:\Download\ADV\Synfig Animation 1.png’:
Metadata:
title : Synfig Animation 1
encoder : Lavf52.62.0
Stream #0.0: Video: libtheora, yuv420p, 480x272, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn,
24 tbc
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
[image2 @ 01a88070]Could not get frame filename from pattern
av_interleaved_write_frame(): Error number -5 occurred

2

You have to choose a compatible ffmpeg file extension for movie type (avi, mov, mpg, mp4) and not a image file extension format (png)
-G

3

OK, thanks. It works now. I changed the file format and installed ffmpeg seperately + extended my path var in the system settings. Now it works.

4

lol… I’ve rendering as jpg and compiling in LSmaker like I saw in a tutorial on youtube.

So the question is then, what format and resolution is likely to give me the best results if I am going to be uploading cartoons to youtube? I’m playing with .mpg in different resolutions now, so far things don’t look that “crisp”. Why would that be?

5

First the original movie material should be exported to a loseless format (png sequence my preferred). Last, follow the youtube guidelines to create the movie file using your video editor or directly from Synfig Studio ffmpeg target and its format preferences.
-G

6

Thanks. I’ve posted many other videos on youtube. The problem I’m having is when I render from synfig, nothing looks nearly as good as it does on the screen before the rendering. A number of the ffmpeg “formats?” “codecs?” don’t run after they are made. I know that the “raw mpeg video 1” or whatever it is, runs fine, but even at 1024x600 they still look like awfully blocky. That’s at max quality. Would other formats look better? I’m running off the same now as jpgs that I’ll put through LSmaker into an AVI, but I’d much rather render straight from synfig. I don’t even know if they will look better.

Why would the quality be so low?

7

Did you try to change “Video Bit Rate” in render settings window? for example 8000 instead of the default one 200

8

Thanks mate. Did a lot to fix the problem. Sorry for the all the remedial questions, but please forgive on more about this. Would a smaller picture size at the same bitrate produce a better picture still? Same amount of info spread over a smaller area = more detail, no?

9

Hi, you can refer to wikipedia, hope it helps :slight_smile:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_rate#Video