Nina, I deleted that post.

It wasn't right to me either.

Tweak the xml - yeah, so can you or anyone else. You have to work it out of course, just like I would have to.

Thanks all for trying to solve my problem, this is a nice community. I've done some more experimentation. EmitInterval is just weird. If it's equal to or less than the Life value, EmitInterval is the amount of time the particle is "off" between lives. But if EmitInterval is more than the Life value, it's the amount of time between emissions. So if Life=1000, and EmitInterval=500, it will be "on" for 1000 and off for 500. But if Life=1000 and EmitInterval=1500, you'll get the same result: It will be on for 1000 of its 1500 millisecond emission, which means it's on for 1000 and off for 500.

Also, if both particles' Life values are 1000 and EmitIntervals are 1000, but the second particle's BeginTime is 1000, then the particles will alternate: On for 1000, off for 1000, with the second particle acting 1000 milliseconds later than the first. But they will still eventually fall in sync. Yet if both particles' Life values are 1000 and EmitIntervals are 2000 (supposedly creating the same result of on 1000 and off 1000), and the second particle's BeginTime is 1000, then they will immediately be in sync, not alternating, with the second particle starting 2000 milliseconds after the first, despite the BeginTime of 1000. I can't figure this out at all.

And finally, the time increments appear to be milliseconds, but in actuality, they're a little bit longer. A value of 60000 should equal one minute, but it actually lasts about 60.5 seconds.

I don't know what exactly to do with all this information. It doesn't solve my problem, but maybe it will help someone.

Mitch,
I'm not real sure why you would do this either, but if it is just 2 images that you want to alternate on a web page, have you considered the easy way out and going with a .gif file instead of video? If both images are still shots as you said then a.gif will run as long as you want it to. This is set to one second duration as you mentioned, but the rate is easily edited.

Cheers!
Kevin R.





Saving the world, one goofy video and meme at a time.

The lights were just a quick example. Any pictures can be used as long as they are sized alike.

Kevin R. Saving the world, one goofy video and meme at a time.

Unfortunately, the animated graphics will be incorporated into, and on top of, live video. I've tried to put an animated GIF in the video where I would otherwise put a PNG, but that crashes the program because it can't read it. And I'm not able to use HTML to place a GIF on top of a Flash video player because this video will be on a live video site that I can't edit. Likewise, I can't edit the Flash video player to include Flash animation, because it's not my player and not my choice of which player to use. Those are all the workarounds I could think of.

[Nevermind. I thought I figured it out. I didn't.]

I often use a GIF to AVI converter. To play my gif's in PD. you just need to chroma key out the background.

But I can't play AVIs in YouCam, and even in PowerDirector (which can't stream live video), the AVIs can't play on an infinite loop.

When you say infinite, i assume you mean for a certain amount of time. What you could do is create a gif. like Kevin's stoplight and have it stop on the same, or right before the image it starts on. That way you just insert it again and again one after another for how ever long you want it and it will look looped. You could even do this then produce it if you don't want to clog up your time line.
For YouCam you can produce the above mentioned scenario as something that YouCam will play.

YouCam won't play animated GIFs, nor either of the two fairly obscure animated PNG formats. And the live video will be a 24-hour webcam, so it really will need to be without a set end time (though animated GIFs can be set to loop infinitely).

I've followed the thread with interest but I'm not sure of the logic of the approach. Both video and animated GIFs rely not on their intrinsic "content structure" (so to speak) but on the ability of a player to display the content.

I'm not 100% sure, but animated GIFs can play as a fixed sequence or (more often) as an apparent loop - but I think this is a function of the player - typically a web browser - rather than a property of the GIF.

A video, almost by definition, has to have a finite (although it may be very long) duration. It is the player than "loops" the video whether it be 1min long or 1000 years.

Hence in this case, if I understand correctly, a looping "animation" of 2 images needs to be incorporated/overlaid on another (potentially endless) live video stream - perhaps it needs something like this ?
http://www.medialooks.com/products/directshow_filters/chargen.html

Whilst PD could produce the alternating images, it has to do so as a video of fixed duration and therefore the "player/transmitter/streamer" has to be able to loop it to produce the desired affect.

I'm not sure of the answer to be honest.

Cheers
Adrian

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

This really is a 24-hour, 365-day, multi-year live webcam. As in, you turn it on and leave it on, and people visit it, chat with other people watching it, leave, others arrive, regulars return, etc, all watching live video. [Here's an example] of a popular live webcam that's been running for over a year. It has thousands of views a day. Others have had millions of views, even hundreds of millions.

The number of repetitions for an animated GIF is set by the creator of the GIF. But they are not usable in this situation.

Mitch hi,

you know, right now I'm feeling very old....
Your description reminds me of...was it something called "Big Brother"?
A camera set to ON all the time. OK- so the 2 alternate images will be
sort of "standing in the way" for everyone/anyone to have a look in to
your daily life? Or are the images to be switched to display when you're
not home, perhaps.
Yes....feeling old...
Just something.
https://www.petitpoisvideo.com

This really is a 24-hour, 365-day, multi-year live webcam.

I think that was my point really

The number of repetitions for an animated GIF is set by the creator of the GIF. But they are not usable in this situation.

As above

It has thousands of views a day. Others have had millions of views, even hundreds of millions.

?

Cheers
Adrian
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

The 24-hour webcam certainly won't be of me. Who wants that? And I was saying the stream I linked to gets thousands of visits a day.

Reverting to your second post :-

I can put the image images on the timeline, but I need the images to alternate endlessly, because this is for a 24-hour live stream via YouCam. But I don't see how to make the timeline go on an infinite loop. Is there a way to do that?

I don't believe so. Hence my initial comment on the "logic" inherent in the subsequent discussion as I was trying to indicate the importance/capability of the "player/streamer" function in displaying a fixed duration video as part of a mixed video stream.
I'm still unsure as to what the number of views has to offer in the resolution of your issue?

Cheers
Adrian

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

OK, I'm lost. I have no idea what you are trying to achieve. You've stated several different goals that seem to change depending on the info you get. If you can supply a link to a sight that has something like your intended goal so we can see exactly what you want, then maybe we can help.

Good Luck
Kevin R. Saving the world, one goofy video and meme at a time.

Come following this topic, but like you, I am puzzled what it says Mitch and creepy all the answers. I think that we all are complicating our life with this. If it were simply a matter of switching an image, it would be solved. But neither knows what he wants. I think its not a PD issue.

What I don't understand is, if it's live streaming, why the need for PD? Starting to sound like a web hosting issue. Is this for some type of porno page? Saving the world, one goofy video and meme at a time.

You've got your mind on red lights again, Kevin!!!
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There no need for me to jump in here. But if I understand all this correctly…

Mitch stated that he wanted to broadcast a live 24 hour video stream, using “YouCam”. I don’t think too many folks completely picked up on the YouCam part.

Now I may be way wrong here, but what I envision Mitch wanting to do, is have a web cam fixed on “something”, perhaps a box full of newborn puppies. Then people can tune in to this streaming feed of the new puppies, 24 hours a day, to see what the puppies are up to at any given moment.
But perhaps let’s say that Mitch is also a puppy breeder, and also has an online pet supply store. So Mitch would like his two company logos to alternately display in the bottom left corner of this live 24 hr streaming video.

I don’t use YouCam, but I am aware that it supports Particles. Using YouCam, you can for instance be on Skype, and have a Particle effect of stars or hearts swirling around the screen as you are chating with someone.
There are also particles that will appear as if you are wearing a cartoon hat, and as you move your head, this layered cartoon hat Particle, will follow the top of your head.
So perhaps Mitch is thinking that if he could adapt or modify or replace these swirling stars, or cartoon hats, with his two logos that remain in a static position, and, alternate on and off, then… mission accomplished.

How does PowerDirector figure into all this?

Well, because PD9 is where the Particle Designer is. And where you can modify and create your own custom Particles
These Particles are .dzp files, which are supported by YouCam (GIF files are not), just like all the other available .dzp Particles available for download on the DirectorZone, that are supported by YouCam.
So, if Mitch can modify a Particle effect into being his two logos instead of two cartoon hats (as he described above), he will now have a live webcam feed, running 24 hrs a day, with two alternating images (particles), also displaying 24 hrs a day. And it will all be self contained within his YouCam upload stream.

But it’s modifying the particles to behave in Mitch’s intended manner, that is the sticking point.
I’ve played with trying to modify a particle to Mitch’s specifications, and am getting close. But I am not able to get it exactly to what he’s described, because of a fade in/out issue.
As Mitch mentioned, there are some seemingly inconsistent behaviors found, when modifying in Particle Designer using the adjustment tools. And this became apparent during beta testing a year ago.

If I am way off in my perception of what you are trying to accomplish Mitch, and this is not at all along the lines of what you have in mind, then please let me know and I’ll delete my drivel here.

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