Suggestion for Dream makers to avoid jerky loop

the start / stop part

from WinCustomize Forums
Some of the really nice Dreams posted here are either hampered by a hard jerky restart or too low a resolution for large monitors.  It occurred to me that a way to more smoothly transition some of the more active ones such as the volcano and some others would be to simply both quickly fade in and then out and the same speed.  There really isn't any other way to avoid the startup jerk unless it is something like water ripples or similar even sort of motion.  Anyway just a suggestion.
3,196 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well, I have a nice 1024x768 high quality AVI that is 25MB encoded with xvid.

I have been unable to recode it as mpeg-2 with a resolution bigger than 720x480. That seems to be the maximum for regular mpeg-2. And even when I recode it to 40MB it still is crappy compared to my original avi. Mostly because the resolution is much less.

And I've not had good results with WMV format either. Can you suggest a way to encode it in wmv or mpeg-2 (preferably) and still preserve the 1024x768 resolution?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Unfortunately smaller, less robust vid editors don't allow for the proper blending fade in/out at the beginning or end of the loop. They either fade in/out to black or white; so you will get a momentary lapse. The better editors will allow for smooth blending the last frame into the first.
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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What are these "better" editors for reference?
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I found a free one called Wax 2.0 by DebugMode which allows for all sorts of effects. I made a dream that loops nicely by:

1. Use VirtualDub (free) to export a snapshot of the first frame of video.
2. Use Wax 2.0 to "dissolve" the last second of video into the snapshot. Basically during the last second, the video would become transparent with the snapshot sitting behind it.

Resulting video loops nicely and it appears that the end of the video fades into the beginning.

btw, both of these tools work with AVI files. I don't think they can help you if you are starting with a WMV unless you convert it to AVI first.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
OK - I am assuming everyone out here is actually using Vista as well as making Dreams for it - and it comes with Windows Movie Maker... which supports both fading (tip: cut 3 seconds off the beginning of the clip, drag it to the end, and then drag it OVER the end of your clip - this will produce a clean fade from the end of the clip to the point at which the clip now starts) AND High-Def... meaning you can create your WMVs in as high of a resolution as your source material supports. (I've created 1080P WMVs with it.)

AND... it's free.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
A Tip for better Video Looping : when video is put into the time line , fully stretch it out ( the time line )to its full width so your ending loop marker is placed exactly where it should be - will make for a smoother transition ( when you place video in a time line to the naked eye you think you see the proper ending point - but when fully stretched out you see you are way off 'causing the jerky loop ) try it and see what i mean .