I have large number of numbered .tif files and I'd like to convert them to a .mov/Quicktime video file for further editing in Final Cur Pro X. Therefore no artefacts should be added in the process.
Is there a good way to do this conversion. I'd prefer using a command line tool.
You can use wonderful ffmpeg for your desired workflow. There is a guide here on this page but once you have the ffmpeg installed, you can simply cd into your folder with sequence, and type in your terminal:
ffmpeg -f image2 -pattern_type glob -i '*.png' -vcodec qtrle -r 25 -s 1920x1080 test.mov
To understand the options, you can check the documentation but here is the explanation:
When importing an image sequence, -i also supports expanding shell-like
wildcard patterns (globbing) internally, by selecting the image2-specific
-pattern_type glob option.
In this specific command, -r is for framerate, and -s is our image size. -vcodec qtrle tells ffmpeg to use QuickTime Animation. For ProRes, you can use:
-vcodec prores -profile 2
Here -profile refers to ProRes Profiles (0, 1, 2, 3), 0 being Proxy, and 3 being High Quality (source).
Besides these, if you are going to use ffmpeg, there are lots of detailed bits of commands online, or we can figure out specific commands for your workflow here.
-r as an input option. The output will then inherit the input frame rate. Otherwise, if you choose an output frame rate other than 25, ffmpeg will convert from 25 (input default) to your output frame rate and drop or duplicate frames to compensate.
I'm using tlassemble which is easier for me comparing to ffmpeg. Highly recommended.
My common command line options are:
tlassemble DirectoryWithJpgs output.mov -fps 24 -height 1080 -codec h264 -quality high
tlassemble is a simple utility the serves the same purpose as Time Lapse Assembler, but can be run from the command line.
If you are using ffmpeg, you need to supply some additional parameters to maintain the color, I would recommend:
ffmpeg -r 24 -start_number 1 -i inputfile.%04d.png -sws_flags area+accurate_rnd+full_chroma_int -pix_fmt yuv420p \
-vf "scale=in_color_matrix=bt709:out_color_matrix=bt709" \
-frames:v 100 -c:v libx264 -preset slower \
-color_range tv -colorspace bt709 -color_primaries bt709 -color_trc iec61966-2-1 \
outputfile.mp4
See ORI Encoding Guidelines for more details.
