ClipCompare

Submitted by Roger Hyde on Fri, 2006-10-20 20:45
6 votes
Version: 
0.3
Date Updated: 
01/28/2004

Perhaps you've used the RAM player and thought 'jeez - I wish I could see all of both video clips!' Or maybe you've simply been wondering what two video clips look like playing side by side. Either way - this is the script you've been looking for!

Additional Info: 

Not long ago - a colleague of mine sent me two animation clips - and wanted me to critique them for hime - tell him which one had better timing. I played each one in turn - again and again - but they were so similar it made it difficult to really tell the difference*. 'Wouldn't it be useful if I had a video player that would let me view these at the same time - side-by-side?' I thought to myself. I tried Max's RAM Player - but it wasn't quite what I had in mind. A quick search on Google didn't turn up any such tools - so I figured - what the heck - I'll make my own! A few hundred lines of Visual Basic code - some MAXScript UI magic - and several strong cups of coffee later - ClipCompare was born.

View Interface Screenshot

The idea is pretty basic - you can load different clips into the left and right side and play them back in sync with each other. You can use the position slider to scrub through - adjust the Play rate slider to control playback speed - and set whether the clips will loop continuously or just play once. Buttons are provided to load the most recently rendered preview (assuming you haven't renamed it) and to remove a clip from the player. Easy peasy! So here's a brief little rundown of how I imagined ClipCompare being used:

  • Render a preview - and open up ClipCompare

  • Using the left 'P' button - load the preview into ClipCompare's left panel

  • Close ClipCompare (or leave it open if you wish)

  • Tweak your animation and render another preview

  • Open ClipCompare back up and load the preview - this time into the right panel

  • Play the clips and compare to see how well your changes are working

  • Repeat the process until you're done animating your scene!

    • ClipCompare - like many of my other scripts - is very easy to install. Just drag ClipCompare.mzp onto one of Max's viewports - and it'll bring up an install dialog. Hit the Install button - and there you go! Adding ClipCompare to your user interface is something you'll have to take care of yourself - though. Just open up Customize User Interface and find ClipCompare in the 'RHTools' category. It's up to you where you want to put the command - but I find it convenient to put it on the Animation menu just under 'Make Preview...'

    NOTE: ClipCompare only works with AVI files - and is not tested with all possible codecs!

    Version Requirement: 
    6; 5
    Video URL: 
    Links
    Homepage URL: 
    http://www.scriptspot.com/rhyde/clipcompare.html
    Download URL: 
    http://www.scriptspot.com/rhyde/maxscript/RHTools-ClipCompare.mzp