Open Image Sequence – Jeremy Richard

Quicktime Pro 7 has the ability to make a video out of a series of images named with sequential numbers.

What follows is the essential of the process (more precision later on):

open Quicktime Pro, go to File and select Open Image Sequence… (Shift + cmd + O);
pops up a Finder window where we have to select one (and only one) file from our series of images is, then press Open;
in the next Image Sequence Settings dialog box we have to choose one of the frame rate listed (that goes from 1 to 60 frames per second) then we apply it by pressing OK;
A list from 1 to 60 frames per second is given when applying the framerate to our image sequence
nothing shows it but, at this stage, Quicktime Pro puts our images one after another to create a video. So after a short while (depending on how many frames we have) a new Quicktime window appears with the video;
All we have to do now it is to save that video as a video file. Are offered to us two options:
- the saving option: we keep the codec of the original images, making it a un-compressed video file. We access it going to File and then selecting Save (cmd + S);
- the exporting option: choosing what video codec we want and eventually compressing the video. To do so we need to go to File, then select Export… (cmd + E) and choosing our codec by pressing Options…
If Media Composer is installed on our system, the DNxHD codec will be in Quicktime Pro’s codec list.
Whatever the option we go for, to finally create the video, we press Save.

For the following explanation we assume that we have a series of images called tunnel_0001.tif, tunnel_0002.tif, tunnel_0003.tif and so on.

the sequential numbers do not necessarily need leading zeros in order for Quicktime Pro to recognize them as sequence. Both sequences such as: 1, 2, 3 or 001, 002, 003 will be interpreted the same way by Quicktime Pro, even if our operating system, when listing the files, does something like this: tunnel_2, tunnel_20, tunnel_21, tunnel_3, tunnel_4.1
If the sequence is broken in its sequential numbers (tunnel_0002.tif, tunnel_0014, tunnel_0015, etc) Quicktime Pro 7 will carry on putting the images one after another, as long as the base of the file name (tunnel_ in this example) is the same. The file tunnel_0014.tif will still be put just after tunnel_0002.tif despite the break; it will not stop the process after tunnel_0002.tif.

When selecting the image (step 2): it does not matter which image we select as, if the naming convention is respected (if the files have the same base in their name), Quicktime knows which images are part of the same sequence and where to start it and end it. If we select tunnel_0098.tif, Quicktime goes for the first image, having the same name, inside the same folder. So the sequence won’t start from the tunnel_0098.tif but from tunnel_0001.tif.
If we do want to start from tunnel_0098.tif we are better off: creating a new folder, putting tunnel_0098.tif and the ones that follow inside, so tunnel_0098.tif will be considered the first image of a new sequence.

When selecting the frame rate (step 3): on a personal note, it is maybe good to select the frame rate used when filming the sequence and let the editing software handle the change of frame rate (if there is a difference of frame rate between the video and the editing project), as the editing software may offer more control than Quicktime Pro 7 over framerate parameters.

When saving the sequence as a video file (step 5) we can choose to save it as a reference movie or a self contained video:
- a reference movie is a file used as in index to find the location of the orignal files that composed the video and to play them all together. It does not take much place, but if we move the original images (put these in another folder for example) the path of the frames would changed and the refeence movie would not be playable;
- self contained movie simply makes a new file out of the original images put together, thus we do not need the original frames to play the self contained video. It also allows us not to have to carry our original files always with us.

When exporting the sequence as a Quicktime Movie (step 5) we can pick a codec (call compression type) amongst the ones installed on our system. So we will have access to the DNxHD Codecs, ProRes and so on, depending on what editing software are installed on the computer.

The End