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- AVISynthesizer - A tool to make Avisynth usable by mere mortals :)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- Intro
- ~~~~~
- Avisynth is a powerful video processing tool by Ben Rudiak-Gould.
- AVISynthesizer lets you build Avisynth scripts based on predefined
- templates. If you aren't the sort that is willing or able to learn
- a computer scripting language, AVISynthesizer makes Avisynth's power
- accessible to you.
-
- If you already know the Avisynth scripting language, AVISynthesizer
- helps you with repetitive scripting chores. If you have a suitable
- template defined, AVISynthesizer can build complete scripts
- for you. At the very least, you can use the simple AVISource or
- DirectShowSource templates to generate the repetitive parts that
- begin nearly all one-off scripts.
-
-
- Installation
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~
- If you downloaded and ran the AVISynthesizer self-installing package,
- it set AVISynthesizer up for you.
-
- If you have built AVISynthesizer from source and now want to install
- it manually, run asynther.exe with the -i command line switch. If you
- are not using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you will also need to run
- the shfolder.exe program that came with the package. This installs
- a compatibility DLL that lets my program use a certain Windows 2000
- function on older OSes.
-
- If for some unfortunate reason you want to manually uninstall the
- package, run asynther.exe with the -u switch. You can also use
- Windows' Add/Remove Programs function to automatically remove the
- program, of course.
-
-
- Usage
- ~~~~~
- Right-click on a media file in Explorer, and say "Send to |
- AVISynthesizer". A small window will pop up listing the available
- Avisynth script templates by description. Pick one, and hit the
- Generate Script button. AVISynthesizer will spit out a script named
- after the first file name on the command line and the file name of
- the template you selected. If there is already a file by that name,
- a number will be appended.
-
- For example, if you pass foo.avi to AVISynthesizer and select the
- svcd.avst template ("Resize and remove noise for SVCD"), the generated
- script will be named foo--svcd.avs. If you did the same thing again,
- the next generated script would be named foo--svcd2.avs.
-
- If you send more than one file to AVISynthesizer, another list
- appears to the right of the template list containing the file
- names you selected. The arrow buttons to the right of that list
- let you reorder the file list, thus affecting the order they're
- named in the generated Avisynth script. This feature is necessary
- because, in certain situations, Explorer passes the selected files to
- AVISynthesizer in an odd order. Rather than force users to Ctrl-Click
- each file individually to set the order, I added this feature.
-
-
- Template Syntax
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- AVISynthesizer comes with several sample templates, all of which are
- useful, to various degrees. If you want to make your own templates,
- you need to know Avisynth's scripting language and the AVISynthesizer
- template rules:
-
- 0. The script must contain a specially-formatted comment. See
- the exmple below for details.
-
- 1. The first instance of the string "%f" (without the quotes) is
- replaced with the file name given on the asynther.exe command
- line.
-
- 2. If you put a section of the script in [square brackets],
- that section will be repeated once for each file name
- passed on the command line. Within that repeating section,
- the %f is replaced with a file name from the command
- line, and a plus sign is placed between each repeated
- script section.
-
- 3. The template must be placed in a subdirectory called
- template underneath the directory where you put
- asynther.exe. Each template file must end in .avst.
-
- The effect of these rules is clearer with an example. Consider
- this simple AVISynthesizer template:
-
- #ASYNTHER Just a simple template
- [AVISource("%f")]
-
- If you run asynther.exe with "1" as the command line argument,
- it will generate a file called 1.avs:
-
- #ASYNTHER Just a simple template
- AVISource("1")
-
- If you run asynther.exe with "1 2" as the command line arguments,
- it will generate a file called 1.avs:
-
- #ASYNTHER Just a simple template
- AVISource("1") + AVISource("2")
-
- Notice that AVISynthesizer names the output script after the
- first input file name.
-
- The "Just a simple template" on the ASYNTHER comment line is used by
- AVISynthesizer to build the list box you see on startup, letting you
- pick a template by description.
-
-
- Limitations
- ~~~~~~~~~~~
- o If you set up a repeating section in a script template, there
- must be a "%f" somewhere within that repeating section.
- AVISynthesizer will yell at you if you violate this rule. If you
- have a good reason to violate this rule, email me about it. If
- you come up with useful behavior for this situation, I'll probably
- implement it.
-
- o The program only understands one repeating section per line, and
- it does not understand nested repeating sections. If there
- is more than one set of brackets on a line, it will use the
- outside-most pair.
-
- o The closing bracket for a repeating section must be on the same
- line as the opening bracket.
-
-
- Addresses
- ~~~~~~~~~
- Author's email: Warren Young <wdyoung@acm.org>
- AVISynthesizer home: http://www.cyberport.com/~tangent/video/asynther.html
- Avisynth home: http://www.math.berkeley.edu/~benrg/avisynth.html
-
-