Creating Videos

EDEM can export videos as AVI, WMV (Windows Media Video), MP4, MKV, WebM or EnSight Video files. You can specify encoding quality, frame rates and which compressor (codec) to use. A video can contain multiple display modes (for example, change the camera angle and particle representation halfway through the video) and even contain different simulations in the same video.

Record a Video

Use the animation controls to select a start point. The video will be exported from this point onward.
If necessary, set the step factor in the Viewer controls pane.
1. Use the controls in the Tools menu to set display of the axis key, boundary box and time stamp. Increase the particle detail to improve the appearance of particles.
2. Click the record animation button in the viewer. The Export Images/Video dialog is displayed:

On selecting OK any time step changes in the Analyst are recorded as a video, when recording the record video button turns red .
Use the animation controls to play or step through the simulation. While recording, you can change whatever is displayed in the viewer. Any changes are recorded in the video. For example, you can:
1. Change the camera or move, rotate and zoom the display.
2. Change the display mode, opacity, and particle representation.
3. Modify attribute coloring and legends.
4. Add different labels at different time steps.
5. Load a completely different simulation.
When finished, click the record animation button again to stop recording.
You can also use the Scheduler to load views or stop the simulation automatically. For more details see the Scheduling Views subsection.

Use a media player (such as Windows Media Player or VLC media player) to view the saved video.

Video Configuration

Export Format
Set the export format to either EnSight Video, AVI, WMV, MP4, MKV or WebM.
1. Select EnSight Video to save the video as a .evo file. The video can then be viewed using CEI’s EnVideo, or edited using EnVe.
2. Select AVI Video to save the video as a .avi file. Save your video as an AVI when you want to use a particular codec (compressor) or when you need a high degree of video configuration. You can use any codec installed on your system (for example, Cinepak, DivX, Xvid, or H.264). Videos created in AVI1.0 format have a 2 Gb size limit.
3. Select Windows Media Video (WMV) to use Microsoft’s video codecs. A WMV file is better suited for sharing, since it should play on any Windows PC without the need to install video codecs. You can also set a constant bitrate, useful for streaming the video from a website.
4. Matroska (MKV) format is an open source format popular for supporting addition of high quality video and audio.
5. MP4 format with H.264 encoded video is recommended for YouTube uploads. Is supported by most modern phones.
6. WebM is an open media file format designed for the web.
Select Compressor
Select the codec to use or select uncompressed to not use any video compression. The list of codecs available depends on those installed on your system and on which operating system you are running EDEM. Be sure the system on which you intend to playback the video also has the same codec installed.
1. For AVI Video, select a codec then (if available).
2. For EnSight Video, select Motion-RLE for lossless video files or select Motion-JPEG for compressed video.
  Note: The EDEM team does not provide support for external codecs developed by third parties. Refer to the codec’s documentation or developer’s website for assistance.
Video Options
Set the frame options and encoding quality as necessary.
1. Frame Width. Set the width of the video. For example, 640 pixels.
2. Frame Height. Set the height of the video. For example, 480 pixels.
3. Set to Screen Size. Click the screen grab button to set the width and height to match the screen size. The video exported will be the same dimensions as the Viewer.
4. Compression Quality. Use the slider to set the encoding quality (where available). The higher the quality, the larger the size of the video.
5. Use Target Data Rate. Tick this checkbox to specify a Constant Bitrate (CBR). You would typically use this when you want to stream the video from a website.
6. Force Keyframes. Tick this checkbox then set how often to write a keyframe to the video. Because video compression only stores incremental changes between frames, forcing keyframes can result in a video that is easier to fast-forward or rewind.