LeClair Lab Fluorender Protocol 2014
Fluorender Movies
1. When you record a movie with Fluorender and save it, the movie will save as a series of TIFF files. In order to convert the series of TIFFs into a movie, you will have to use Photoshop and VirtualDub. 2. Make sure your TIFFs are all saved in one folder and that they have identical names with sequential numbering. For example, your files should all look like this: Myfluorendermovie_00 3. Open Photoshop and use it to open the first file in your sequence. Then go to File > Automate > Batch.
4. Select Batch and a window will pop up that looks like this. LeClair Lab Fluorender Protocol 2014
5. Under Play, select Default Actions form the dropdown menu. In the second dropdown menu, select File Format. This will convert your TIFF files to JPEG files. If you would like another file format, you can make your own action fairly easily. a. To make your own action, go back to the editing window and press Alt + F9. The actions window will pop up. In the dropdown action menu, select new action. This will begin “recording” your actions, so after this point it is important that you do not click anything other than what you want to make into an action.
LeClair Lab Fluorender Protocol 2014
b. Now, perform the task that you would like to be completed in each image. For example, if you want to perform a file conversion go to File > Save As and select the Format in which you would like your file to be saved. Hit save. Then, in the Actions window, hit the tiny stop button at the bottom of the window. Then you can name your new action and it will be saved on Photoshop each time you open the program.
6. Once you select the desired action, choose your source folder for your images. This should be the same folder from which your first image was opened. Then select a destination folder, ideally a different folder, and select “Override Save As Commands”. 7. Now, make sure the two boxes under the File Naming area say Document Name in the first box and extension in the second box (as pictured above). Now hit OK. Photoshop is going to quickly open and close every one of your files, so the editing window will display all of your images very rapidly. Once this is done, you should have a folder with your format converted images. 8. The next step is to open VirtualDub, which is an open source movie editing software. Open this program and select File > Open video file. Find your converted files and select the first file ONLY. Then, under the Files of type: drown down menu, select Image sequence. Finally, check the box that says “Automatically load linked segments”. Your window should look similar to the one below. LeClair Lab Fluorender Protocol 2014
9. VirtualDub should have loaded all of your images and compressed them into a video file. You can play and view your movie by using the controls on the bottom of the screen.
10. The next step is to modify the frame rate. VirtualDub likes to use a default frame rate of 10.000 fps, which looks too fast. 5.000 fps seems ideal for Fluorender movies, but you can go lower to get an even slower rotation. In order to modify the frame rate select Video > Frame rate. Change the setting from No change to Change frame rate to: and type your desired fps. LeClair Lab Fluorender Protocol 2014
11. This video editing software is not very sophisticated, so any further edits should likely be made in iMovie instead. After modifying the frame rate, go to File > Save as AVI and save your movie. Now you have a working movie saved that can be opened with Quicktime or Windows Media Player. 12. Additionally, if you wish you embed your video, you can export the movie as a gif by selecting File > Export > Animated gif. This allows you to generate a gif file that loops infinitely, which may be ideal for web pages or poster sessions. 13. Finally, if you wish to reduce the size of your movie files significantly you can use the decimate feature. In order to do this, select Video>Frame rate.
LeClair Lab Fluorender Protocol 2014
14. Select an appropriate decimation level. The higher the decimation, the more drastically the file size will be reduced. WARNING: This will reduce the overall quality of the video. Test out the smallest decimation possible and determine if it is enough before proceeding to higher levels. 15. Once you select the desired decimation, hit OK and your video file will have been decimated. This is useful for making video files easier to transfer or send.