Import PNGs - "Compile error 6: FreeImage failed to decode the image."

[Vân Ca]

I have the same problem as this thread but still couldn't figure out how to fix after read that: https://steamcommunity.com/app/431960/discussions/2/348292787748666255/

I have ~600 PNGs (1920x1080, ~1.5 Mb each), they all work fine if I import each batch of 100~150 files so it's not a file corrupt situation. But when I import all 600 PNGs it give me
"Compile error 6: FreeImage failed to decode the image."

Please save me (TヘTo)

[butcho]

Most likely a memory issue. 600 MB in FullHD is way too much for the image compiler to handle. I walked the compiler error road many miles in the last years.

From my personal experience I can recommend to never go above 1024 px in width or height for large image sequences. Doing so will get you a high chance that it's not going to work. I used reduced images and scaled them up in the editor after the import. Lacks a bit of quality of course, but it was working back then.

That was before the introduction of video textures. Today I would recommend importing the sequence as a video texture to have full control over the image quality and less impact on vram. You can key out the background of a video texture with an internal effect in WPE if you need transparency. ^^

[Vân Ca]

Thanks for your answer.

Quality is my big concern so I may not scale down those images unless there's no other way.

I tried making them into a video but the output quality is terrible. Can you suggest me some ways to convert those images to video that can keep its quality?

[butcho]

Don't know what tools you use but almost every compositing software like Davinci Resolve or After Effects can convert a sequence of images into a video without quality loss. It all depends on your export settings for the video file.

I prefer exporting the video in a lossless output format like uncompressed avi or h.264 with the lossless or best preset and then convert it with Handbrake into a video that WPE can use.

[butcho]

Here's an example for the excellent quality of video textures:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2889327492

I made heavy use of video textures in this wallpaper of mine. The lights on the left and right side for example. This would've not been possible with image textures in 4k without totally blowing peoples video ram. It's an awesome feature in WPE which I use all the time. Well worth the trial and error hassle until you find the right workflow. ^^

[Capt.Luke]

yeah turn your images into a video file and use video texture

the image sequencer has limitation at that resulution you can only use maybe 60 image

[Vân Ca]

@butcho @Capt.Luke Thank you, I'll try After Effects. I did try DuME (GUI) and experiment alot with FFmpeg (command line) but only lossy encode work, whenever I put setting to Lossless, the output video can only be played in MPC-HC, both win10's Media Player nor WPE can't play it (K-lite codec installed).

[Capt.Luke]

Originally posted by Vân Ca:

@butcho @Capt.Luke Thank you, I'll try After Effects. I did try DuME (GUI) and experiment alot with FFmpeg (command line) but only lossy encode work, whenever I put setting to Lossless, the output video can only be played in MPC-HC, both win10's Media Player nor WPE can't play it (K-lite codec installed).

I have some loose time I can do it for you if you share me your pic like with google or idk mega....

[butcho]

Originally posted by Vân Ca:

@butcho @Capt.Luke Thank you, I'll try After Effects. I did try DuME (GUI) and experiment alot with FFmpeg (command line) but only lossy encode work, whenever I put setting to Lossless, the output video can only be played in MPC-HC, both win10's Media Player nor WPE can't play it (K-lite codec installed).

FFMPEG can be a bit of a challenge, depending on your knowledge about video codecs and what to setup to encode a video properly.

I can highly recommend Handbrake to convert videos for WPE (or any other use case). I'll use it for like 10 years+ coming from FFMPEG and avidemux and Handbrake is just plain easy to setup and use. No need to know a lot of in-depth stuff about video codecs. The GUI is designed to reduce the settings to the main functions so people can convert videos easily without messing with a ton of options that they've never heard of. Great program and with the implementation of the SVT AV1 codec, it's even better now. ^^

[Vân Ca]

Originally posted by Capt.Luke:

I have some loose time I can do it for you if you share me your pic like with google or idk mega....

Thank you for your offer. I can't always rely on others so I tried AE and the render output is great.

One thing that I've learned from AE's note is

 Quanlity: 100 / 99 - Lossless encoding in 4:4:4 / 4:4:2 (not compatible with Quicktime player and old devices !)

So that's why my past's videos didn't work. Things work fine when choose format YUV4:2:0 and quality 98.

[butcho]

Glad to hear it finally worked. Now go and be creative.

[Vân Ca]

Originally posted by butcho:

FFMPEG can be a bit of a challenge, depending on your knowledge about video codecs and what to setup to encode a video properly.

I can highly recommend Handbrake to convert videos for WPE (or any other use case). I'll use it for like 10 years+ coming from FFMPEG and avidemux and Handbrake is just plain easy to setup and use. No need to know a lot of in-depth stuff about video codecs. The GUI is designed to reduce the settings to the main functions so people can convert videos easily without messing with a ton of options that they've never heard of. Great program and with the implementation of the SVT AV1 codec, it's even better now. ^^

Yeah, Handbrake is great, sometime I use it to convert my video or burn in subtitle.
But I don't think Handbrake can create video from image sequence, or am I wrong?

[butcho]

Nope, it cannot do that. That's the job of a compositing- or video editing software but Handbrake has no problem converting huge, lossless footage so you'll have a nice, small video file that you can import into WPE.

For WPE I would stick at the h.264 codec for compatibility reasons. H.265 is also an option but could lead to problems for users who use the WPE video framework Media Foundation. For h.265 you have to install and switch to DirectShow LAV or buy the plugin Microsoft offers, so a standard Windows installation can play h.265 content with the Windows Media Player.

If you want to be sure every WPE user, that has at least Windows 10, could see your video textures out of the box then just stick to h.264.

[Vân Ca]

I got it, thank you for all the help & suggest