Scene Splitter

[Shinigam1]

Does anyone know of a freeware utility or script that will automatically split a file into clips based on scene changes. I know Windows Movie Maker has this feature but it converts all footage to wmv. I have looked all over but I have only found shareware and pay utilities.

[Kalium]

Well, you can do it yourself in VirtualDub. WMM does it based on timecode, not scene change. You're talking about some highly nontrivial software here, and the only place I've seen the like is as a part of Magix.

[Willen]

You can get Magix for pretty cheap if you look hard enough (or wait long enough). It's $50 retail, and you sometimes can get it as low as $10 after some rebates. (I got Magix MEP11 for $30 from Best Buy, but I didn't send in the $20 mail-in rebate.) The older, US version 10 can be had for $30 at CompUSA. It is a poorer (but cheaper) version of the recommended UK Magix MEP10 Plus.

Although I use Magix, I never use it's scene recognition cutting ability. I'd rather do it myself in VirtualDubMod. I've only used it once to verify that it does make clips from any type of video file by scenes and not by timecodes.

[Kionon]

Rather than start a new thread, I'm going to go ahead and ask this here:

Since I generally storyboard before starting a video, I have no need to just gather lots and lots of clips beforehand. I don't really get how this is useful for an AMV process. You'd end up deleting the majority of the clips you made by using such a feature. Furthermore, many times beats require me to uses much less than the original scene, so why would I wish to have a file that would end up bigger than what I need? Or am I way off base here, because it's entirely internal to Magix and therefore does not really create files, but just adds start/stop markers inside the project file?

This subject has come up bot here and on #amv numerous times, and I really just don't get the hype about "scene selection." Can someone explain its virtues to me?

Not to hijack Shinigam1's thread, but I think this is relevant.

[Jayn_Newell]

Kionon, since you storyboard before-hand maybe this wouldnt' be helpful to you. Me, I don't--I have an idea of what I want to do, but I don't have all my clips picked out. With way WMM seperates things into clips, I can literally look at my screen and see just what's avaliable, and it also makes it easier to find a clip I want when I'm not sure which episode it's in--I suppose in a way it's a storyboard for the anime, making it easier to find the clips you want, especially if you're not sure which clip you want to put next. And while the clips may be longer or shorter than you'd want, you can easily join and cut clips to make them the length you need (unless of course, it's too short to begin with, which always sucks). BTW, WMM doens't create new files--it just chops up the ones you import into numerous smaller clips (I'll post a screenie of what it looks like later, if you wish).

The only real downside to it is that you have to cut your clip to exactly the length you want, and if you miss, especially on the starting point, you have to re-join or re-clip to get the length you want, and it can be difficult to get your starting point right. I prefer Vegas, with the trimmer feature and the ability to extend the length of a clip simply through a click-and-drag. Vegas is also much better for controlling the speed of your clips (WMM is either double or half, though you can stack speed changes to make it even faster or slower--I really wouldn't suggest more than two slow effects on a clip though, and even that is pushing what still looks decent.)

[BasharOfTheAges]

For clipping, i always assume i'm going to use the clips for multiple videos, so i grab what seems to me to be the most interesting clips for the genre i'm going for. Action / character profile quite easy - and i've grabbed over 400 clips from 5 DVDs in the last few days i've had off (on pace for 900 to 1000). It may be overkill, but i'll back these clips up to use them again if an idea strikes me as good. They're already a clip pool for 2 videos so...

As for how many i'm going to use, i'm planing on having as many as 5 concurant streams running at the same time in parts of one of the projects i'm planning. Much of what I do for "story boarding" isn't so much spicific clip choice but timing, transitions, effects, and (most importantly) the mood of the clip I want and the character(s) involved. Tunnel vision for clip choice hurts sometimes and doesn't allow for constant creativity to flow as you're actually putting the thing together. I don't now about you, but i'm rather slow when i'm making a vid, so I need all the creative juices to be flowing to keep me from becoming dejected, agrivated, and tired of working on a project. Keeping my options open in terms of clip selection helps a bit with that.

I've never understood how someone could have the entire video done in their head and just put it together. As slow as I am with putting things up here, i still don't have more than a framework established before I start.

Back to the first topic (somewhat): The scene change clipping seems like it makes things needlessly simple - yet somewhat pointless. Yes, all your clips are done very quickly and without any need to work on your part, but the majority of them are (if you're actually making a coherent video) not of the mood you're most likely to be needing.

[Jayn_Newell]

I should note--I've never dropped a clip onto my timeline without any alterations. If nothing else, that's a good way to introduce stray frames into your video, at least with WMM. I used the feature mainly as a way of quickly scanning the file to figure out what I want or to find what I'm looking for. And there's been times when I've dragged a random clip onto the timeline to find that it was just what I wanted. I'd still cut it to fit, and often shear of the first fraction of a second off the clip to avoid stray frames. But it's basically just an easy way to see what's avaliable, for me at least.

I won't be using that feature anymore since I'm switching editors, and I have a couple videos planned where I won't be able to have the full source avaliable anyways (lots of source, my harddrive is big but still not enough). But it was nice.

[Kionon]

I've never understood how someone could have the entire video done in their head and just put it together. As slow as I am with putting things up here, i still don't have more than a framework established before I start.

It's not a logical process. Not one that can be easily explained. It just happens. I'll be driving down the road listening to a song, and scenes from the anime will start appearing, and as I listen to the song again, it gets clearer and clearer until I know which scenes I want for every part of the song. My mind just works like that naturally.

Now, sometimes I accidentally "create" scenes in my mind that were never in the actual source! In that circumstance, I have to hunt for a scene by scrubbing that fits as closely as possible to what's in my head. I didn't have to do this at ALL for Some Other Beginning's End. That video is a pure example of a song I heard and knew from the get go each and every scene I wanted to use. The storyboard appeared in my head done (and I kept it in my head for over two years before I actually got around to editing it). Part of that is probably that's mostly just the movie, which is very small compared to the rest of the series as a whole, so I essentially have each scene already memorized in my head.

[DeinReich]

To go back to the original question, do a Google search for HandySaw. It will create clips in serveral different formats. Hope that helps!

[Melanchthon]

Furthermore, many times beats require me to uses much less than the original scene, so why would I wish to have a file that would end up bigger than what I need? Or am I way off base here, because it's entirely internal to Magix and therefore does not really create files, but just adds start/stop markers inside the project file?

The help file suggests that the scene selection (like all of Magix's editing) creates no new audio or video and that the files created in the process are small like the .avd files, but, uh, I can't find the option anywhere to check.

I suppose you could use the scene-cutting and then activate some kind of scene overview, if you had trouble remembering what order scenes came in (I had this problem with End of Evangelion), but the timeline views on most NLEs are sufficient for finding the right chunk of footage. The only other reason I can think of is quick elimination of scenes that definitely won't be useful, which might be helpful if you don't have much storage space.

Handysaw looks interesting, but the demo version returns only the first 15 clips found. Another possibility:

STOIK Video Converter 1.1, 2.0.