Choosing when an image sequence changes pictures?

Support Basics & Interface
#1

I have a plane with a texture image sequence. Is it possible to…

  • Control the speed of the image sequence playback? (It seems like a waste to take a 10 image sequence that you want to stretch out to 100 frames and make 100 images to import so there is one image for every frame.)
  • Play an image sequence out of order? In other words, you can pick out which images should play on specific frames?

I’m aware of the technique where you can have a large texture and show a different part of the texture by swapping coordinates. However, I would like to work with large image sets where making an enormous texture like this wouldn’t be practical.

Thanks!

#2

If I understand your question properly it all comes down to keyframes. In the timeline, go to frame 1. In your texture, set Image / Offset to 1. Right-click that number and select “Insert Keyframe”.

Now left-click in the timeline to some other frame number where you want to switch to a different frame. Set Image / Offset to some other number, and again right-click it and select “Insert Keyframe”.

Do that however many times you like. When you animate the scene, the frame numbers from the texture’s input image set will show up at the particular times you chose from the timeline.

I think when the frame number in your texture is jumping by more than 1, you might have to insert two keyframes, one timeline-frame apart – one at the old value and one at the new one. Alternatively, in the dope sheet you can resize each keyframe so it spans a period of time.

To stretch 10 input frames out to 100 output frames, you’d just have to set two keyframes: one at texture 1 / timeline 1 and one at texture 10 / timeline 100. When you animate, it will spread them out so each input frame lasts for 10 output frames.

#3

Thanks for the info, sgibertson – this is good to know. Still, it’s a really awkward solution to bring in an image sequence of hundreds of pictures and set certain things to happen on certain frames.

Since I originally posted this, I went ahead with designing a better method for image sequences – or at least a better method for my workflow and for my intended use of Blender. My perspective is coming from the world of Anime Studio, where you can easily swap out an image with another. (That said, I also wrote a bunch of utilities to import image sequences and streamline things in Anime Studio.)

I wrote an app called BISE – Blender Image Sequence Editor: https://www.facebook.com/TheSimpleCarnival/photos/pb.147491852830.-2207520000.1398031048./10152009634592831/?type=3&theater This app allows me to pull in an image sequence and arrange it however I need it to be arranged. Then I can export the result as a new sequence that goes directly into the Blender session.

I also wrote a plug-in for Blender called “Import Image Sequence as Plane”, which gets rid of most of the manual hassle of setting up an image sequence with transparency in the Cycles engine: https://www.facebook.com/TheSimpleCarnival/photos/pb.147491852830.-2207520000.1398031048./10152023393052831/?type=3&theater

Neither of these are available for public download – I need to put them through their paces on a real production (which I’m just about to start) and iron out any annoyances.

#4

Hi,

I know this post is from 2014, but I feel that this problem still exists.
Do you still use your own plugins? Are they available online (the links you put up don’t work anymore)?
Or have you found any better alternate method?

Thanks,
Shaheen

#5

Sorry – just saw your question. I left Facebook some time ago, so those links no longer work.

When I need these features, I use my own software for it. It’s been a while since I’ve needed these features, though, and I have no idea if the “Import Image Sequence as Plane” works with the latest version of Blender. (I suspect that it will not.) BISE should work OK in Windows 10, but, again, I haven’t used it in a long time…probably when I was running Windows 7. These were made just for my own use – if they work for you, great…but I can’t guarantee they will work, nor will I be able to provide support if they don’t. Use at your own risk. Anyway, good luck!

BISE.zip (521.1 KB)

simple_carnival_io_import_imageseq_as_plane.py (24.3 KB)