ffmpegGUI discussion

[BlueSky]

@humdinger

He’ll correct me if I misrepresented his opinions.

No, that’s exactly how I feel about this topic

[x68k]

Perhaps a name like “Simple Video Converter” would fit the project better. A name like ffmpegGUI will make people think that it can do what ffmpeg can do.

[Starcrasher]

In linux world, it’s indeed more or less the rule to provide all options of the command line tool in GUIs and one GUI for each desktop environment. That’s because there, GUI is built over command line and people are opposing both. On one hand, you have people that are so in love with command line that you’re wondering why they’re installing a X server, they also are great fans of keyboard shortcuts; while on the other hand, you have people, usually more comfortable with mouse navigation, thinking that command line should disappear. For them it’s a barbaric tool of torture inherited from dark ages. Of, course, I’m exaggerating but in that world, communities tend to divide as soon as a new thing is appearing.
On Haiku, this is totally different because the graphic server is integrated, there are no desktop environment, and Terminal is only a tool among others. There is also a philosophy, that software must be simple to use, easy to learn. Instead of a single over-complicated graphic app containing each and every options of the command line tool, there will be several simple apps focusing each on the different tasks. In short, here, we prefer to divide software than community.

[BlueSky]

@x68k

Perhaps a name like “Simple Video Converter” would fit the project better. A name like ffmpegGUI will make people think that it can do what ffmpeg can do.

I´ve already explained why we don´t want to expose every ffmpeg feature through the GUI. ffmpegGUI might not be the most creative name choice but it describes pretty accurately what the app does, and makes it clear that ffmpeg is used to do the hard work. Also it is the name picked by the original author.

[lelldorin]

@BlueSky

Sorry for having to contradict you again, but that is decidedly not the goal for ffmpegGUI. If we make every option in ffmpeg available the gui becomes so cluttered that it’s almost as complicated as using ffmpeg on the commandline. A good example of what we don’t want is https://github.com/cdgriffith/FastFlix/raw/master/docs/gui_preview.png .

That’s why I wrote “should contain all the useful functions that are possible”. Means all functions that are useful. As o especially those that are helpful for the normal user. So you don’t have to disagree

[lelldorin]

@x68k

Perhaps a name like “Simple Video Converter” would fit the project better. A name like ffmpegGUI will make people think that it can do what ffmpeg can do.

I see it a bit differently, because a project has to start first. I have the same with my Imagemagick GUI and Ghostscript GUI. First you build in everything you know about the possibilities and over the years the program is then constantly expanded/improved. Not everyone knows everything and I’d rather build in fewer functions sensibly than integrate everything half-heartedly.

Every project also becomes much more interesting as soon as others get involved. Could learn a lot when dealing with ImageMagick. Unfortunately, that didn’t work with the GhostScript GUI. That’s how it is sometimes. One project is expanded, another freezes. But then it is still a GUI of the respective command

[lelldorin]

@x68k

Perhaps a name like “Simple Video Converter” would fit the project better. A name like ffmpegGUI will make people think that it can do what ffmpeg can do.

But ffmpeg is not a video editor and would restrict the project, because then you would always think, is this function that I would like to add now compatible with the program name?

But I also know this way from the Linux world. Luckily we are not linux

[BlueSky]

@lelldorin

Every project also becomes much more interesting as soon as others get involved. Could learn a lot when dealing with ImageMagick.

Definitely true. I´ve learned so much about ffmpeg while working on ffmpegGUI that I now use it on the commandline for my own needs most of the time, instead of using the GUI.

@lelldorin

That’s why I wrote “should contain all the useful functions that are possible”. Means all functions that are useful. As o especially those that are helpful for the normal user. So you don’t have to disagree

That´s also true of course. It all comes down the word “useful” that´s where the opinions start to differ.

[lelldorin]

@BlueSky

I don’t want to rule it out completely but most likely not. We have an unwritten rule we go by, which is that we don’t want ffmpegGUI to become a video editor (mainly because we already have a native video editor with Medo). Of course it’s not always clear where the line is to be drawn.

And I have the same problem with my “Mass Picture Converter”, it uses imagemagick and to create a video from the imported images I would have to use ffmpeg. That would actually be too many dependencies for a small tool. Therefore, I hope that this function will flow into you.

[lelldorin]

@SCollins

i was referring specifically to the watermarking, that is a truly obnoxious feature, and all it does i irritate everyone, it doesn’t in anyway prevent piracy.

Ah okay, that wasn’t clear. Yes, watermarks are debatable. But I can understand if someone wants to protect his picture.

[lelldorin]

Something different, wasn’t there an ffmpeg program called ffmpegGUI back then? I was like that, at least in Zeta times.

[BlueSky]

@lelldorin

Therefore, I hope that this function will flow into you.

As I said it´s probably not going to be added right now. But please make a feature request on the github page. We will keep it open, maybe someone has an idea of how to integrate it into our GUI.

[humdinger]

@BlueSky

We will keep it open, maybe someone has an idea of how to integrate it into our GUI.

I already did, see above ffmpegGUI discussion - #8 by humdinger.
And there’s FFmpeg making video from images placed in different folders - Stack Overflow , describing how to read those image paths from a text file. So, we could have the user select their images and create a text file in /tmp that we’ll feed to ffmpeg with the set framerate.

@SCollins

and whoever is hiding posts or reporting posts or being the moderator super hero, cut it out, you’re behaving like a child.

Your one-liner was reproduced in full as quote in lelldorin’s comment when I spliced into this new topic. Thanks for your kind words for the people trying to keep this forum a friendly place btw.

[SCollins]

exactly what the average user needs, a simple tool to accomplish a fundamentally simple task, convert file formats, perfect the way it is. there is NLE software now, so that need is met elsewhere. not every app needs to be a bloated swiss army knife.

[x68k]

@BlueSky

I´ve already explained why we don´t want to expose every ffmpeg feature through the GUI.

Yes, and I don’t disagree with your vision. I’m just saying that the name is misleading.

@lelldorin

I see it a bit differently, because a project has to start first.

The goal is to keep it “simple”. It’s not a matter of it being a work in progress.

@lelldorin

But ffmpeg is not a video editor

I didn’t say it is.

[BlueSky]

@humdinger

So, we could have the user select their images and create a text file in /tmp that we’ll feed to ffmpeg with the set framerate.

I’m not convinced this will lead to good usability…but maybe I’ll change my mind when it’s implemented

@SCollins : I’m not sure this will do any good but I’ll try anyway. I don’t know you personally of course, so I have no idea what prompts you to always react like you do. But while you regularly complain about others being offended, it seems to me that it’s you that always thinks somebody is after you or wants to harm you in any way. Come on, you can do better. I don’t think anybody in this community has any negative agenda or something like that. We all come together because we love Haiku and open source software and computing in general. We do this for fun in our free time. I don’t want to tell you what to do but maybe the next time you think somebody is trying to attack or censor you, you can take a minute or 2 and think if there could be another way to interpret it. Like, an error, or the language barrier (not all of us have English as our first language, mine is German btw.) Also written text, even with emojis, leaves a lot of room for interpretation (or misinterpretations).

Well, you might take my advice, or not, that’s up to you. Let’s get back to having fun with Haiku

[BlueSky]

@lelldorin

Something different, wasn’t there an ffmpeg program called ffmpegGUI back then? I was like that, at least in Zeta times.

I don’t know but it could easily be the same program. Zeta was in the mid 2000’s right? ffmpegGUI in its original form dates back to 2003.

[cian]

Last version (1.5) of Zeta was released in 2007.

By the time of 1.5 it was actually a fairly nice system, with reasonable (for the period) hardware support and so on but the Giant Question Mark over its legality was still there and, well, turned out to be true.

[nintendo1889]

Speaking of which, I’m looking for a zeta 1.5 CD or USB boot image. I will upload it to archive.org if someone provides it. I know I’m just supposed to install 1.2 and then upgrade to 1.5, but it’s a catch-22 since I don’t have hardware that boots 1.2.

[ronald-scheckelhoff]

@lelldorin;

Now that Blender is somewhat working in Haiku, you can use it to create video from images. It’s real slick the way it workks. Just drop an image onto the timeline, and drag the right or left edge of the image as far as you need it to be in the timeline.