I've
got two scripts here. VirtualDub.vbs
and VirtualDub.wsf.
Both scripts create VirtualDub "jobs" files to help automate repetitive
tasks. Both scripts can use pre-existing VCF files (saved VirtualDub
settings) to build the "jobs" file. The VBS script is used to apply
identical video processing settings to all video files in a directory.
The WSF script is used to split all video files in a directory into
image file sequences. To download both scripts, click the "Download
Now!" icon near the
top-right of this page. If my scripts aren't enough for you,
you may want to check out DubMan
from Jeff Myers.
VirtualDub.vbs
This VBScript for VirtualDub allows you
to automate the creation of a
VirtualDub "Job Control" (.jobs) file. The created job file will apply
the same video and audio processing to groups of files -- in fact, it
will apply your filter rules to every video file in a target directory.
The starting point for determing what filtering and processing is to be
applied is a saved VirtualDub "Configuration" (.vcf) file.
See
a demo of how to save VirtualDub configurations into a VCF file.
See
a demo of the script creating a JOBS file for a folder full of videos
from one VCF file.
After you have some saved settings, you can start the script in any of
a number of ways. You can specify everything on the command line, but
nobody does that! It means typing. I hate typing. You can just run the
script by double-clicking it. YUK!
That's almost as bad as typing! Don't do that. It will ask you to
browse to find what VCF file you want
to use. Save yourself that step and drop your desired VCF file on the
script. Or save yourself even more work and
set
up a right-click association so
you can start the job creation
process with a simple click.
Once the sript really starts running, it tries to make some guesses to
minimize your
work. Or really, to minimize my work, since I wrote it for myself.
First, it asks for a list of file types to process. I only work with
AVI files, but I always click OK on the entire list because as long as
I don't have any MPG files in that directory, it doesn't hurt anything.
Next, the script asks what folder the source videos are in. It assumes
the source videos will be in the same directory as the VCF file. Pretty
reasonable if you keep all your project files together. If so, you can
just hit the "Cancel" button on the folder browsing dialog to accept
the default. If you aren't like me, your punishment is having
to
browse for your source folder.
Next, the script asks where to put the processed videos. Since the
output video files will have the same name as the input files, they
can't go in the same directory. The script will try to guess your
destination folder to save you from having to browse for it. If there
are subdirectories below your source folder, it will guess the most
recently created folder is the destination. Since I usually
create a
sub-folder called "Compressed" or "Filtered", that works for me. If
there are no subdirectories, it will assume the parent directory is the
destination. If you don't like the guess the script makes,
well,
you
get to browse for your destination folder.
Next, the script creates a JOBS file. Instead of asking you where to
create the file, it just does it. The created JOBS file will have the
exact same name and location as the script (except for the file
extension, which will be .jobs). Which
means you should put the
script in the same directory as your VirtualDub executable. Unless you
want the bother of moving the jobs file every time. Masochist!
VirtualDub only looks at JOBS files when it first starts, so you may
need to restart VirtualDub if it was already running. From there,
start "Job Control" from the "File" menu. Press the "Start" button and
go get a snack.
VirtualDub.wsf
You know the verbose description above? Well, just imagine the same
thing
here except that this script helps generate image sequences from all
your videos. If you have some processing you'd like to apply as you're
generating your images, you can use a stored VCF file. If you think
your video frames are just fine the way they are, you can just cancel
out when the script asks you for a
VCF file. Like the above VBS script, this WSF script
also makes bad guesses about where your files are at. To make it
easy on myself, I don't let you pick names for your image sequence. For
example, if you start with "test.avi", then your images are going to
start with the word "test", followed by sequential numbers, then a file
extension. No, I know what you're thinking. But it won't work. Trying
to use a common name for your images just makes VirtualDub overwrite
your images for each video it processes.
