Firstly, what command line args do I need to use if I want to
send a sequence to mplay from a file-manager?
Or better yet, can mplay be configured to load a sequence
if I open only 1 image from it (like framecycler).

Also why did the wacom stop working after switching double-buffer
on then off whilst playing a sequence (toolbars were flickering)?

And finally I get the console message below when testing with exr,
(half-float, 1920x1080, rgba) can anyone confirm?

thanks,
-cpb




COMPILE FRAGMENT C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(4) warning C7506 OpenGL does not define the global type sampler2DRect
C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(14) warning C7506 OpenGL does not define the global function texture2DRect

LINK Fragment info
————-
C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(4) warning C7506 OpenGL does not define the global type sampler2DRect
C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(14) warning C7506 OpenGL does not define the global function texture2DRect

COMPILE FRAGMENT C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(4) warning C7506 OpenGL does not define the global type sampler2DRect
C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(14) warning C7506 OpenGL does not define the global function texture2DRect
C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(41) warning C7011 implicit cast from “int” to “float”

LINK Fragment info
————-
C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(4) warning C7506 OpenGL does not define the global type sampler2DRect
C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(14) warning C7506 OpenGL does not define the global function texture2DRect
C/PROGRA~2/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.410/houdini/ogl2/ogl2_imagecc_basic.frag(41) warning C7011 implicit cast from “int” to “float”

cpb
Firstly, what command line args do I need to use if I want to
send a sequence to mplay from a file-manager?

If you open mplay and hit the help icon there'll be a list of command line options.

-flipbook -g -C -r 24 -U -Z 4
will load the 1st file, then blank frames.

also
Opening an image withe command-line args will set the
file-open-dialog path to
C/Program Files/Side Effects Software/Houdini 8.1.655/bin
and not the path of the loaded sequence.

The wacom killing effect can happen while resizing mplay.

The presence of tooltips (like over the taskbar) causes
the ui to flicker.

system specs
dual core opteron 280.
xinxp 64 sp1.
pci x16 quadro fx 4500. video bios version 5.70.02.15.02. forceware version 81.67.

I think you need to specify the start and end frame options with -f arg
eg:

mplay -f 1 100 1 (START END STEP)

I think that's why you only get one frame.

As for the other stuff I can't help you.

Pretty sure your other messages are from your card/driver not having OpenGL 2.0 to perform the fast colour-corrections. You can modify the Video Settings in the Display Options to not use this type of acceleration.

I've got a very very very basic mplay wrapper for XP here. Just drop a single file on the icon and mplay will open showing the full sequence.
It only works on frames formatted like this: name.#.ext
and you need to put mplay in your path. (Add “C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 8.1.746\bin\mplay.exe” to PATH in XP)

Don't have time to update it so that you can feed it differently formatted frames but I'll upload source .py too so feel free to change it to your liking.

I'm not a core programmer at all, just thought to upload it for people who want to use it right away.

here is the python source script
I used “py2exe” to compile it to python independant executable.

MPlay runs in single buffer mode by default, to improve FPS. You can startup in double buffer mode with the command line option -b d. Double buffering is automatically enabled if you're using a BG image.

The fragment shader warnings are caused by the fact that nVidia supports texture rectangles in GLSL, but it's not an official OpenGL statement (NV only). I believe in the 8x.xx series drivers, they added this warning, and Houdini was quickly changed to not print out these warnings if the shader compile succeeded (sometime early Dec 2005). Do you have an earlier build?

Finally, if you can substitute $F for your frame number (may need to backslash that for the shell), you can load the entire sequence from one file. But otherwise, MPlay respects the filenames you send it, and doesn't attempt to load more.

I don't know why the Wacom tablet doesn't work when buffering is switched between single & double. Does the same thing happen in Houdini? (Settings->Main Prefs->General UI, Enable Double Buffering).

Hey DriesD! Great idea, nice tool!!! But 3.5 MB for one script… he, he… I know, I know, its py2exe… But in the meantime, before you posted the script source, I wrote mine. Thanks for a nice idea!

It's almost the same as yours (you're a little better coder) but it doesn't presume a name like name.###.ext. It counts the digits from back to front and makes name$F<count>.ext from that. So can work with 1,2,3… dots in name. I also used *.bat file instead of *.exe. Help in txt.

And it has 1.22 KB

cheers,
Sy.

EDIT: modified to work with spaces in path to file.
EDIT: modified loop code for the sake of appearances…
PS why there is no -fcur in commandline (we got it in mplay texport)

Hey thass cool Symek,

Didn't realise the $F trick was working on the command line for mplay.

I just knocked this together because I usually run on a linux box and got frustrated about mplay on windows. Just makes it super clear to me again that XP is total crap for scripting and I can't believe an OS can still so explicitly in your face without this fundamental functionality. (I'm an os X fan too)

I know, I can just install python on every machine here, but administrator is not keen. (?) And writing a batch file for launching? ugly ugly ugly

py2exe makes big files, but I can use the script on every machine over the network and even associate file extensions with it. Double click launching…

So, I'll use my .exe file for now, but I'll slip in your isdigit() loop as well if you dont' mind.

And since I'm bitching about XP after a couple of linux years: why is there still a difference in “exploring” a folder and “openening” a folder? UNBELIEVABLE

DriesD
And writing a batch file for launching? ugly ugly ugly

and compiling exec to launch another file…?

…but I'll slip in your isdigit() loop as well if you dont' mind.

Sure! My pleasure!

cheers,
Sy.

and compiling exec to launch another file…? Wink

Oh I know, I know,

I wasn't on to you Symek, I was on to XP and slipping in OS X as a personal promo tour wherever I can :-)

DriesD
I wasn't on to you Symek(…)

Of course not !

Here is my update of script! Still there ara some issues but now its really funny .

Now you can drop a folder on drag'm'drop. Script will try to send to mplay all seqences found inside. Very convenient. You can also view series of pictures or textures. See *.txt for details.

9 seqences in mplay. One click!



Gosh! There are two strategies. One is better for viewing series of pictures/texture/images (with “-g” option) and second better for frame seqences (without “-g”). For mplay more important is the second one but I really miss the first one. Nevertheless I'm updating the script to work in second scheme

Does anybody know if “-g” and “-u” options for mplay are per its instance
or I can specify it for every seqence?( mplay -g mypic.$F4.pic -u mypic2.$F4.tiff etc)


cheers!,
Sy.

-g and -u affect all sequences on the command line. So, you only need to specify them once. Once you are in mplay, and loading images via script commands or the UI, these have no meaning (the various command flags & UI options take over).

However, you can mix the effects of -g / no -g by doing the following:

mplay sortedimages\$F.jpg unsortedimages*.jpg anothersorted\$F.jpg

If you specify $F instead of letting the command line expand *, it realizes that you mean to load a sequence. Otherwise, without -g, it just assumes you want to load a lot of images into one sequence. What mplay sees, when you enter the above, is:

mplay sortedimages$F.jpg unsortedimages1.jpg unsortedimages2.jpg unsortedimages1_3.jpg unsortedimages10.jpg sortedimages$F.jpg

after shell expansion (assuming those unsorted images exist in the dir). So, each $F file is assigned its own seq, and the remaining files are lumped into another.

thanks twod for explanation but I think I meant something else. The usage of -g and -u option is quite clear but the point is that my script sends to mplay mixed stuff. If it sends, let's say, 4 padded seqences, there is no problem. It does it like expected: image.$F4.pic image2.$F2.tiff mytexture.rat etc.
But when you drop a folder with image01_ver2.$F4.pic image01_ver3.$F4.pic with -g option mplay do this: image$F2_ver$F.$F3.pic, what is wrong…
So I need to turn off -g. But then, if there are some standalone pictures (not part of seqences) inside folder, mplay mess up again. These pictures are not loaded in separete window - what I intened. So I'm turning on -g, but then… you already know, mplay tries to be smart… So I was wondering if I can write a loop: for every file in list, if it is a seq don't group it, else group it… texture01_ver2.rat -g image.$F4.pic…

Never mind. I think I was tring to do something with no bigger purpose. Just for fun. In this stage, script works fine for folders with properly padded seqences.
If you uncommend one line, it works better on folder with arbitrary list of pics.

Thats all! Thanks!

SY.

PS Can I send to mplay *.cmd file with scripting commands just after images path…? hmm I will try

Ok, how clever I'm ops: , I already know I can pipe in to mplay *.cmd file instead of sending it list of >200 arguments… So my script could generate on the fly *.cmd with series of commands, which hopefuly will deal with number of issues…

well:
all these mplay commands:

loadseq e$JOB/shot1/final/cropped_$F3.tiff
loadseq e$JOB/shot1/final/cropped_\$F3.tiff
loadseq e$JOB/shot1/final/cropped_\$F.tiff
loadseq e$JOB/shot1/final/cropped_*.tiff
loadseq -f 1 200 e$JOB/shot1/final/cropped_$F3.tiff

finised with single frame loaded into mplay…? Why?

Houdini 8.1.730

Sy.