I finally got around to finishing a pen-based movie player project:


https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/81383294/

It contains two demo movies (one is the Pokemon intro that MartinBraendli and Finlay_Cool both used in their pen players, the other is a Dr Who intro).

Movie snippets available so far in this topic:

• Me playing InterXeptor 3D - part 1, part 2, part3, part 4, part 5, part 6

To load a movie snippet you need to quote the post (click the ‘Quote’ link), then cut (ctrl-X or cmd-X) the whole thing from the reply box, click the “Load video” button in the project, and paste into the Ask box that appears.

• Special edition Star Wars Ep.VII trailer here (with sound!): https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/83967960/

A post can only contain 200000 characters, so I will split a movie into a handful of posts - if you load them in sequence then the project will add each set of frames onto those that already exist (so you can build up a longer movie from a few posts). [If you don't load them in the correct sequence then it still adds the frames in the order you paste them - you will just get odd jumps because you've got the chunks of frames in the wrong order!]

The project contains a python script (in a comment) that can be used to encode a sequence of PNG images into a movie - how you turn your movie into those PNG images is up to you (there are plenty of tools that can do such a thing - I used ffmpeg). The script encodes the frames and outputs to standard out (stdout, i.e. the terminal), so you have to redirect to whatever file you want to save it into.

There is also a python script that can split an encoded file into chunks of frames with size less than 200000 characters, so they can be posted in the forums. But I'd suggest not posting too many at once, otherwise it might be considered spam!

This is a short snippet of me playing InterXeptor 3D on Scratch - if you haven't played InterXeptor yet, go do it now!

Instructions to load movie:
1) Click the ‘Quote’ link for this post, so all the raw data appears in the text box at the bottom of the web page;
2) Select everything in that text box using ‘select all’ (is that ctrl-A on windows? -it's cmd-A on Mac) - yes you can even include this text;
3) Cut everything (ctrl-X, or cmd-X on Mac);
4) Click “Load video” on the player project's controller;
5) Paste into the Ask box and press enter;
6) Enjoy!
I will post follow-ons for this in a bit…

FRAMES: 68+
C:5,200
F:1,0K
F:2,1K
F:3,2K
F:4,2K
F:5,2K
C:4,200
F:6,3K
F:7,3K
F:8,3K
F:9,3K
C:4,200
F:10,3K
F:11,3K
F:12,3K
F:13,3K
C:4,200
F:14,3K
F:15,3K
F:16,3K
F:17,3K
C:4,200
F:18,3K
F:19,3K
F:20,3K
F:21,3K
C:4,200
F:22,3K
F:23,3K
F:24,3K
F:25,3K
C:4,200
F:26,3K
F:27,3K
F:28,3K
F:29,3K
C:4,200
F:30,3K
F:31,3K
F:32,3K
F:33,3K
C:4,200
F:34,3K
F:35,3K
F:36,3K
F:37,3K
C:4,200
F:38,3K
F:39,3K
F:40,3K
F:41,3K
C:4,200
F:42,3K
F:43,3K
F:44,3K
F:45,3K
C:4,200
F:46,3K
F:47,3K
F:48,3K
F:49,3K
C:4,200
F:50,3K
F:51,3K
F:52,3K
F:53,3K
C:4,200
F:54,3K
F:55,3K
F:56,3K
F:57,3K
C:4,200
F:58,3K
F:59,3K
F:60,3K
F:61,3K
C:4,200
F:62,3K
F:63,3K
F:64,3K
F:65,3K
C:4,200
F:66,3K
F:67,3K
F:68,3K

Holy wow that is a lot of text. Made Chrome scrolling slow! So, how fast is the movie player or is it just better to re-convert the frame data back into something more appropriate?

DigiTechs wrote:

Holy wow that is a lot of text. Made Chrome scrolling slow!

You shouldn't need to scroll once you've clicked ‘Quote’, I think?
You can just click in the text box, then choose ‘select all’ (ctrl-A? - cmd-A on Mac), then ‘Cut’ (ctrl-X, or cmd-X).

So, how fast is the movie player or is it just better to re-convert the frame data back into something more appropriate?

The encoded text needs extracting into lists, since it's much quicker to access the data that way when trying to also ‘blit’ the frames to screen.

It could be put straight into a list using a list's ‘import’ menu item, but that (usually) means clicking ‘See inside’, which I wanted to avoid. Also, it's very unreliable to save a project which contains lots of list data, so it's better to have the data inside a var (or two), and then extract it. (See the explanation in the project itself when it extracts the first video.)

Part 2 of me playing InterXeptor 3D on Scratch. See instructions in previous post.

FRAMES: +68+
F:69,3K
C:4,200
F:70,3K
F:71,3K
F:72,3K
F:73,2K
C:4,200
F:74,2K
F:75,3K
F:76,3K
F:77,3K
C:4,200
F:78,3K
F:79,3K
F:80,3K
F:81,3K
C:4,200
F:82,3K
F:83,3K
F:84,3K
F:85,3K
C:4,200
F:86,3K
F:87,3K
F:88,3K
F:89,3K
C:4,200
F:90,3K
F:91,2K
F:92,3K
F:93,3K
C:4,200
F:94,3K
F:95,3K
F:96,3K
F:97,3K
C:4,200
F:98,3K
F:99,3K
F:100,3K
F:101,3K
C:4,200
F:102,3K
F:103,3K
F:104,3K
F:105,3K
C:4,200
F:106,3K
F:107,3K
F:108,3K
F:109,3K
C:4,200
F:110,3K
F:111,3K
F:112,3K
F:113,3K
C:4,200
F:114,3K
F:115,3K
F:116,3K
F:117,3K
C:4,200
F:118,3K
F:119,2K
F:120,3K
F:121,3K
C:4,200
F:122,3K
F:123,3K
F:124,3K
F:125,3K
C:4,200
F:126,3K
F:127,3K
F:128,3K
F:129,3K
C:4,200
F:130,3K
F:131,3K
F:132,3K
F:133,3K
C:4,200
F:134,3K
F:135,3K
F:136,3K

Part 3 of me playing InterXeptor 3D on Scratch. See instructions at top of part 1.

FRAMES: +65+
F:137,3K
C:4,200
F:138,3K
F:139,3K
F:140,3K
F:141,3K
C:4,200
F:142,3K
F:143,3K
F:144,3K
F:145,3K
C:4,200
F:146,3K
F:147,3K
F:148,3K
F:149,4K
C:4,200
F:150,3K
F:151,3K
F:152,3K
F:153,3K
C:4,200
F:154,3K
F:155,3K
F:156,3K
F:157,3K
C:4,200
F:158,3K
F:159,3K
F:160,3K
F:161,3K
C:4,200
F:162,3K
F:163,3K
F:164,3K
F:165,3K
C:4,200
F:166,3K
F:167,3K
F:168,3K
F:169,3K
C:4,200
F:170,3K
F:171,3K
F:172,3K
F:173,3K
C:4,200
F:174,3K
F:175,3K
F:176,3K
F:177,3K
C:4,200
F:178,3K
F:179,3K
F:180,3K
F:181,3K
C:4,200
F:182,3K
F:183,3K
F:184,3K
F:185,3K
C:4,200
F:186,3K
F:187,3K
F:188,3K
F:189,3K
C:4,200
F:190,3K
F:191,3K
F:192,3K
F:193,3K
C:4,200
F:194,3K
F:195,3K
F:196,3K
F:197,3K
C:4,200
F:198,3K
F:199,3K
F:200,3K
F:201,3K

1 Word : Amazing

Part 4 of InterXeptor video. As usual, see instructions in part1…

FRAMES: +67+
C:4,200
F:202,3K
F:203,3K
F:204,3K
F:205,3K
C:4,200
F:206,3K
F:207,3K
F:208,3K
F:209,3K
C:4,200
F:210,3K
F:211,3K
F:212,3K
F:213,3K
C:4,200
F:214,3K
F:215,3K
F:216,3K
F:217,3K
C:4,200
F:218,3K
F:219,3K
F:220,3K
F:221,3K
C:4,200
F:222,3K
F:223,3K
F:224,3K
F:225,3K
C:4,200
F:226,3K
F:227,3K
F:228,3K
F:229,3K
C:4,200
F:230,3K
F:231,3K
F:232,3K
F:233,3K
C:4,200
F:234,3K
F:235,3K
F:236,3K
F:237,3K
C:4,200
F:238,3K
F:239,3K
F:240,3K
F:241,3K
C:4,200
F:242,3K
F:243,3K
F:244,3K
F:245,3K
C:4,200
F:246,3K
F:247,3K
F:248,3K
F:249,3K
C:4,200
F:250,3K
F:251,3K
F:252,3K
F:253,3K
C:4,200
F:254,3K
F:255,3K
F:256,3K
F:257,3K
C:4,200
F:258,3K
F:259,3K
F:260,3K
F:261,3K
C:4,200
F:262,3K
F:263,3K
F:264,3K
F:265,3K
C:4,200
F:266,3K
F:267,3K
F:268,3K

I really hope the Scratch team doesn't mind the massive stress 200,000-character posts causes on the database server…

Going to /discuss/post/{post_id}/source/ shows source without pressing quote

Can you include the [quote=TheLogFather] and the [/quote]?

Jonathan50 wrote:

Going to /discuss/post/{post_id}/source/ shows source without pressing quote

Woah, I never knew that! Unfortunately, though, it doesn't do it as unicode, so it doesn't work…

Jonathan50 wrote:

Can you include the [quote=TheLogFather] and the [/quote]?

Yes, you can just ‘select all’ in the text box, then just cut'n'paste - tried to make it as easy as possible.

You can include any junk before the "FRAMES: number" string - that's what it looks for to start decoding.

comp09 wrote:

I really hope the Scratch team doesn't mind the massive stress 200,000-character posts causes on the database server…

As long as there's not too many of them, a few 200Ks isn't really all that much - a single project can easily take up several times as much.

But, yes, it is why I've only posted four parts of the InterXeptor vid - I'll post another couple tomorrow to finish it off, and then I'll take a look around for another relatively short snippet of something to encode and post over the following few days.

I guess it could get out of hand if people started posting loads of video snippets, but I'm hoping that won't happen (and I only intend to post maybe one or two more over the next couple of weeks)…

I wonder if you could watch Homestar Runner cartoons in this movie player…

meowflash wrote:

I wonder if you could watch Homestar Runner cartoons in this movie player…

You could watch any TV show or movie you want, as long as you somehow get the raw data and also split it up to several parts so you don't crash your flash player.

Part 5 of me playing InterXeptor. (Yeah, I know you're all just dying to know how it ends… -promise I'll find something more interesting for the next demo…)
BTW, I should note that you can't just start with these later parts - this needs to have the previous one (and that needs its previous one, etc.) in order to get the colour table correct for its first frame.

FRAMES: +71+
F:269,3K
C:4,200
F:270,3K
F:271,3K
F:272,2K
F:273,3K
C:4,200
F:274,3K
F:275,2K
F:276,2K
F:277,2K
C:4,200
F:278,2K
F:279,2K
F:280,2K
F:281,3K
C:4,200
F:282,3K
F:283,3K
F:284,3K
F:285,3K
C:4,200
F:286,3K
F:287,3K
F:288,3K
F:289,3K
C:4,200
F:290,3K
F:291,3K
F:292,3K
F:293,3K
C:4,200
F:294,3K
F:295,3K
F:296,3K
F:297,3K
C:4,200
F:298,3K
F:299,3K
F:300,3K
F:301,2K
C:4,200
F:302,2K
F:303,2K
F:304,2K
F:305,2K
C:4,200
F:306,2K
F:307,2K
F:308,3K
F:309,3K
C:4,200
F:310,3K
F:311,3K
F:312,3K
F:313,3K
C:4,200
F:314,3K
F:315,3K
F:316,3K
F:317,3K
C:4,200
F:318,3K
F:319,3K
F:320,3K
F:321,3K
C:4,200
F:322,3K
F:323,3K
F:324,3K
F:325,3K
C:4,200
F:326,3K
F:327,2K
F:328,3K
F:329,3K
C:4,200
F:330,3K
F:331,3K
F:332,3K
F:333,2K
C:4,200
F:334,2K
F:335,2K
F:336,2K
F:337,2K
C:4,200
F:338,2K
F:339,2K

I'm gonna try that soon!

Final part of video snippet of me playing InterXeptor 3D on Scratch (-yes, I eventually got the red ship!)

FRAMES: +55
F:340,2K
F:341,2K
C:4,200
F:342,2K
F:343,2K
F:344,2K
F:345,2K
C:4,200
F:346,3K
F:347,2K
F:348,3K
F:349,3K
C:4,200
F:350,3K
F:351,3K
F:352,3K
F:353,3K
C:4,200
F:354,3K
F:355,3K
F:356,3K
F:357,3K
C:4,200
F:358,3K
F:359,3K
F:360,3K
F:361,3K
C:4,200
F:362,3K
F:363,3K
F:364,3K
F:365,3K
C:4,200
F:366,3K
F:367,2K
F:368,2K
F:369,2K
C:4,200
F:370,2K
F:371,2K
F:372,2K
F:373,2K
C:4,200
F:374,2K
F:375,2K
F:376,2K
F:377,2K
C:4,200
F:378,2K
F:379,2K
F:380,2K
F:381,2K
C:13,200
F:382,2K
F:383,2K
F:384,2K
F:385,2K
F:386,2K
F:387,2K
F:388,2K
F:389,2K
F:390,1K
F:391,1K
F:392,1K
F:393,0K
F:394,0K

THE END (at last!)

Hey, TheLogFather, could you do a web-series exclusive to the movie player?

meowflash wrote:

Hey, TheLogFather, could you do a web-series exclusive to the movie player?

You mean post videos of some series I make myself…? Ummm… can't say I'd have the kind of time needed to make some sort of series (if I did, I'd spend it improving/fixing/rewriting my 3d framework and 3d terrain projects - and probably working on rewriting InterXeptor to use my newer 3d framework, which I've been wanting to do for well over a year…) [Actually, I have a couple of other fairly major projects that I started writing over a year ago, but haven't had time to get properly ready to share - in fact, I've barely touched them over the last few months, which is a real pity, since I reckon they could be really decent projects…]

Also, you can only get about 4 seconds of video (maybe 5, at a push, if very highly compressed) for a post in the forums (since there's a 200K max. characters), so I guess each episode would have to be released as a new project. That would still mean a limit of about 2 mins of video in each (since that pretty much fills up to the max allowed project size) - actually, probably a bit less, since you'd likely want to include sound in there, too.

The alternative would be to do it via long cloud variables - in fact, it'd even be possible to *stream* video in that way (though it would be pretty low frame-rate and/or resolution for many people who have slower machines that take quite a while to extract the info for each frame).

It would be very hard to add sound to such a stream, though. And, most importantly, I reckon the Scratch Team would not be at all happy about spamming the cloud servers in this way (so don't do it!)

But if someone else wants to make a Scratch-based series, sharing a project for each episode of a couple of mins of soundless video, then all the tools are there in my project to do that (i.e. the python-based encoder) once you have created your video and extracted it as PNG images (e.g. using ffmpeg), and assuming you have something worth sharing, and the time to make the episodes…