ffmpeg, convert (imagemagick) exiftool, vips and MeshLab crib sheet

Assembled by Paul Bourke
Started June 2018, ongoing ...

A small collection of helpful command lines for ffmpeg and convert (imagemagick). Certainly not trying to be comprehensive but a note to myself for things I seem to need to do regularly. Collated here to save myself digging around on-line and/or through the respective manuals. Hopefully others may find them useful also. If you think the following are incomplete, can be improved, or if you would like to add your own please drop me an email.

ffmpeg

Convert mp4 to mov.

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -acodec copy -vcodec copy -f mov outputmoviename

Convert frames to movie using Apple animation codec

   ffmpeg -framerate 30 -i inputframes%04d.png -vcodec qtrle outputmoviename

Convert from mov to mp4

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -vcodec copy -acodec copy outputmoviename

Convert from mov to mp4 using h265 compression, default preset is medium, default crf is 28

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -c:v libx265 -preset slow -crf 25 -acodec copy outputmoviename

Add audio to existing movie, transcoding the audio

   ffmpeg -i inputvideo.mp4 -i inputaudio.wav -c:v copy -c:a aac output.mp4

Used for making mp4 for Gear VR, this was 2015, may have changed now.

   ffmpeg -framerate 30 -i inputframename%04d.png -c:v libx264 -profile:v high 
      -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv420p outputmoviename

Extract frames

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -q:v 1 -qmin 1 directoryname/outputframename%04d.tga

Extract a single frame from a particular position

   ffmpeg -ss 00:01:00 -i inputmoviename -vframes 1 -q:v 1 -qmin 1 outputimagename

Extract every N'th frame between two times

   ffmpeg -i inputmovie.mp4 -ss 00:03:00 -to 00:03:20 -vf "select='not(mod(n\,10))'" -vsync vfr -q:v 1 -qmin 1 outdirectory/%04d.jpg

Extract a time range from a movie, start and duration, or start and stop position

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -ss 00:00:30 -t 00:00:50 -codec copy outputmoviename
   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -ss 00:00:30 -t0 00:01:20 -codec copy outputmoviename

Extract 16 bit from greater than 8 bit movies, eg: GH5

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -vf "format=pix_fmts=rgb48" directoryname/outputframename%04d.png

Extract frames and scale

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -vf scale=2048:1080 -q:v 1 -qmin 1 directoryname/outputframename%04d.tga

Extract frames and rotate by multiples of 90 degrees (see transpose options)

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -vf transpose=2 -q:v 1 -qmin 1 directoryname/outputframename%04d.tga

Build mp4 movie from frames

   ffmpeg -r 30 -start_number N -i scene%04d.tga -c:v libx265 -crf 20 outputmoviename

Build mp4 movie from frames for system that don't fully support yuv444p

   ffmpeg -r 30 -i scene%04d.jpg -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -pix_fmt yuv420p outputmoviename
   ffmpeg -r 30 -i scene%04d.png -c:v libx265 -crf 26 -tag:v hvc1 -pix_fmt yuv420p outputmoviename

Build mp4 movie from frames with all i-frames, no B or P frames

   ffmpeg -r 60 -i frames/%05d.tga -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -pix_fmt yuv420p -intra outputmoviename

Build mp4 from frames and audio

   ffmpeg -r 30 -i dirname/frame_%d.jpg -i audio.mp4 -c:a copy -c:v libx265 outputmovie.mp4
   ffmpeg -r 30 -i dirname/frame_%d.jpg -i audio.mp4 -c:a copy -c:v libx265 -crf 24 outputmovie.mp4
   ffmpeg -r 30 -i dirname/frame_%d.jpg -i audio.mp4 -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -crf 18 outputmovie.mp4

Extract audio channels

   ffmpeg -i video13.mp4 -vn -acodec copy video13.mp3

Convert and apply remap filter

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -i 0001_x.pgm -i 0001_y.pgm -lavfi remap outputmoviename

For missing values the chroma key colour is used, to change from green to black

    ffmpeg -i inputmovie -i x.pgm -i y.pgm -lavfi remap=fill=black outputmovie

Convert and apply cropping

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -filter:v "crop=out_w:out_h:x:y" outputmoviename

Movie encoding from frames, proposed for fulldome video using Watchout

   ffmpeg -threads auto -r 30 -i "inputframedirectory/inputframename%04d.png" -f vob 
      -vcodec mpeg2video -b:v 30000k -minrate 30000k -maxrate 30000k -g 15 -bf 2 -an 
      -trellis 2 "outputmoviename.m2v"

Movie encoding from frames with HAP codec, proposed for Vioso Wings fulldome playback. Ensure ffmpeg is installed "with-snappy".

   ffmpeg -r 30 -i "inputframedirectory/inputframename%04d.tga" -vcodec hap 
      -format hap -r 30 outputmoviename

Movie information.

   ffmpeg -i moviename

Scale a movie.

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -filter:v scale=640:480 -c:a copy outputmoviename

QuickTime movie to animated gif. (Contributed by Jordi Vallverdú Alcover)

   ffmpeg -ss 00:00:00.000 -i input.mov -pix_fmt rgb24 -r 10 
      -s 320x240 -t 00:00:10.000 output.gif
   convert -layers Optimize output.gif output_optimized.gif

Record from webcam (Mac OSX)

   ffmpeg -f avfoundation -list_devices true -i ""
   ffmpeg -f avfoundation -framerate 30 -video_size 1280x720 
      -pixel_format rgb24 -i "0:0" out.mov
   ffmpeg -f avfoundation -framerate 30 -video_size 1280x720 -i "0:0" 
      -c:v libx264 -crf 22 out.mp4

Append two movies side by side

   ffmpeg -i inputmovie1 -i inputmovie2 
      -filter_complex "[0:v:0]pad=iw*2:ih[bg]; [bg][1:v:0]overlay=w" 
      -c:v libx264 outputmoviename

Append two movies side by side or top and bottom

   ffmpeg -i inputmovie1 -i inputmovie2 -filter_complex vstack outputmoviename
   ffmpeg -i inputmovie1 -i inputmovie2 -filter_complex hstack outputmoviename

Turn a single image into a movie of a specified length

   ffmpeg -loop 1 -i inputimagename -c:v libx264 -t 10 -pix_fmt yuv420p outputmoviename

Combine separate 5.1 channels into a single wav file

ffmpeg \
   -i Leftchannelfilename.wav \
   -i Rightchannelfilename.wav \
   -i Centerchannelfilename \
   -i LFEchannelfilename.wav \
   -i Leftsurroundchannelfilename.wav \
   -i Rghtsurroundchannelfilename.wav \
   -filter_complex \
      "[0:a][1:a][2:a][3:a][4:a][5:a]join=inputs=6:channel_layout=5.1:map=0.0-FL|1.0-FR|2.0-FC|3.0-LFE|4.0-BL|5.0-BR[a]" \
   -map "[a]" outputfilename.wav

Convert cube map YouTube videos

ffmpeg -i inputmoviename.mp4
   -vf "v360=c3x2:e:cubic:in_forder='lfrdbu':in_frot='000313',scale=3840:1920,setsar=1:1" 
   -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:v libx264 -crf 17 -c:a copy 
   outputmoviename.mp4

Unpack a downloaded 360 YouTube video and encode for Oculus

ffmpeg -y -i "virtualnature.mp4" \
   -vf "v360=c3x2:e:cubic:in_forder='lfrdbu':in_frot='000313',scale=5760x2880,setsar=1:1" \
   -ss 00:00:20 -t 00:00:40 \
   -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 18 -x264-params "mvrange=511" -maxrate 120M \
   -bufsize 150M -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a aac -b:a 192k -movflags faststart \
   virtualnature_four_oculus.mp4

Add an audio file to an image so it can be uploaded to FaceBook

   ffmpeg -loop 1 -i an_image.jpg -i the_autio_filename -shortest theoutputname.mp4

Pipe ffmpeg to ffplay, for example for remap filters which ffplay doesn't support

   ffmpeg -i amovie.mp4 -i x.pgm -i y.pgm -r 30 -lavfi remap -f matroska - | ffplay -fs -r 30 -

Remove audio track

   ffmpeg -i inputmoviename -c copy -an outputmoviename

exiftool

Extract and assign colour profile

   exiftool -icc_profile -b imagefilename.jpg > theprofile.icc
   exiftool "-icc_profile<=theprofile.icc" newimagefilename.jpg

Tag as equirectangular, eg: for FaceBook

   exiftool -ProjectionType="equirectangular" imagefilename.jpg

Tag as cylindrcial panorama, eg: for faceBook

   exiftool -FullPanoWidthPixels=8192 -FullPanoHeightPixels=4096 
            -CroppedAreaLeftPixels=0 -CroppedAreaTopPixels=1195 
            -CroppedAreaImageWidthPixels=8192 -CroppedAreaImageHeightPixels=1707 
            -ProjectionType=cylindrical imagefilename.jpg

Where verical FOV = 2 atan(H pi / W), where H is the height of the panorama in pixels and W is the width. The spreadsheet for calculating the exiftool command line is provided here.

imagemagick

Resize proportionately

   convert inputfilename -resize 4096x2048 outputfilename.jpg

Rotate

   convert sourceimage -rotate 90 destinationimage

Split image into 4 pieces horizontally

   convert inputfilename -crop 4@x1 +repage output filenamemask

Resize forced

   convert inputfilename -resize 4096x2048\! outputfilename.jpg

Crop, supply size and origin

   convert -crop 256x256+1024+0 inputfilename.exr outputfilename.jpg

Concatenate N images horizontally

   convert inputfilename1.jpg inputfilename2.jpg ... inputfilenameN.jpg +append outputfilename.jpg

Concatenate N images vertically

   convert inputfilename1.jpg inputfilename2.jpg ... inputfilenameN.jpg -append outputfilename.jpg

Specify jpeg compression quality

    convert -quality 90 -verbose inputfilename.tga outputfilename.jpg

Create pyramidal tiff

   convert inputimagename.tif -define tiff:tile-geometry=256x256 -compress jpeg 'ptif:outputfilename.ptif'

Translate PSB to BigTiff

   convert inputimagename.psb tiff64:outputimagename.tif

Dice an image up into parts

   convert -crop 25%x25% inputimage.jpg split%2d.jpg
   convert -crop 8192x8192 inputimage.jpg split%2d.jpg

Create an animated gif.

   convert -delay 120 -loop 0 inputframesequence*.png outputfilename.gif

Convert a raw RGB file to tiff.

   convert -size WIDTHxHEIGHT -depth 16 inputfilename.rgb outputfilename.tiff

Convert a series of png files to tiff

   mogrify -format tiff *.png

Copy alpha channel from one image to another

   convert sourceimage.jpg BWmaskimage.jpg -compose copy-opacity -composite output.png

Determine (estimate) the compression used in an existing jpeg image

   identify -verbose jpegfilename
   identify -verbose jpegfilename | grep Quality

MeshLab

While most people engage with MashLab through the graphical interface, it is possible to script operations on the command line. This is accomplished through the meshlabserver. Details on different platforms may differ, for example in the location of the server, but on the Mac it might be invoked as follows:

/Applications/meshlab.app/Contents/MacOS/meshlabserver -i $1.obj -o $1_cleaned.obj -m wt -s clean.mlx

The .mlx file describes the operations to be performed, in this case clean.mlx might be

<!DOCTYPE FilterScript>
<FilterScript>
 <filter name="Remove Unreferenced Vertices"/>
 <filter name="Remove Zero Area Faces"/>
 <filter name="Remove Duplicate Vertices"/>
 <filter name="Remove Duplicate Faces"/>
 <filter name="Merge Close Vertices">
 <Param type="RichAbsPerc" description="Merging distance" 
   min="0" max="0.012423" tooltip="All the vertices that closer 
   than this threshold are merged together. Use very small values, 
   default values is 1/10000 of bounding box diagonal. " 
   name="Threshold" value="0.00012423" isxmlparam="0"/>
 </filter>
</FilterScript>

Remove unreferenced vertices

<!DOCTYPE FilterScript >
<FilterScript>
 <filter name="Remove Unreferenced Vertices"/>
</FilterScript>

Decimate a mesh

CTYPE FilterScript>
<FilterScript>
 <filter name="Simplification: Quadric Edge Collapse Decimation (with texture)">
  <Param value="1000000" name="TargetFaceNum" description="Target number of faces" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichInt"/>
  <Param value="0" name="TargetPerc" description="Percentage reduction (0..1)" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichFloat"/>
  <Param value="0.3" name="QualityThr" description="Quality threshold" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichFloat"/>
  <Param value="1" name="Extratcoordw" description="Texture Weight" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichFloat"/>
  <Param value="false" name="PreserveBoundary" description="Preserve Boundary of the mesh" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichBool"/>
  <Param value="1" name="BoundaryWeight" description="Boundary Preserving Weight" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichFloat"/>
  <Param value="true" name="OptimalPlacement" description="Optimal position of simplified vertices" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichBool"/v
  <Param value="true" name="PreserveNormal" description="Preserve Normal" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichBool"/>
  <Param value="true" name="PlanarQuadric" description="Planar Simplification" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichBool"/>
  <Param value="false" name="Selected" description="Simplify only selected faces" 
     isxmlparam="0" tooltip="" type="RichBool"/>
 </filter>
</FilterScript>

Remove zero area faces

<!DOCTYPE FilterScript>
<FilterScript>
 <filter name="Remove Zero Area Faces"/>
</FilterScript>

Brief note on smoothing meshes in Meshlab

krpano

Split a file into chunks with a maximum specified pixel size.

   krpanotools maketiles 420000.tif %h_%v.psb 100000

Resize a large image

   krpanotools maketiles 420000.tif resized.psb -resize=300000x100000 -keepaspect

vips

Change from 16 to 8 bit

   vips colourspace sourceimage destinationimage srgb

Join two image together

   vips join sourceimage1 sourceimage2 destinationimage horizontal
   vips join sourceimage1 sourceimage2 destinationimage vertical

Resize an image by a scale factor, say 1/10

   vips resize soureimage destinationimage 0.1

Crop an image given top left position and width and height

   vips crop soureimage destinationimage 100 200 1000 1000
   vips extract_area sourceimage destinationimage 100 200 1000 1000

Show all header values, or specific values

   vips -a imagename
   vips -f width imagename
   vips -f height imagename

Save from tif to vips format and back again

   vips vipssave sourceimage.tif destinationimage.v
   vips tiffsave sourceimage.v destinationimage.tif
or
   vips copy sourceimage.tif destinationimage.v

Extract a region, copy it back to the same place

   vips extract_area sourceimage extractedimage 100 200 1000 1000
   ... do something to the extractedimage ...
   vips insert extractedimage destinationimage 100 200

To show progress and/or memory usage add the following to any vips command

   --vips-progress --vips-leak

Image statistics

   vips stats imagename .csv