Extracting high resolution image stills

Summary

This work flow is intended for faculty and students who need to extract specific still shots for class presentations and course assignments.

Environment

Windows, Mac, VLC

VLC Media Player is recommended

  • The VLC program can be used when a patron has obtained a licensed copy of film media from the publisher and would like assistance extracting high resolution frames or image stills from the film.  

  • This also helps break the film into frames so that an exact moment can be captured.

  • The method described here works ideally when working with a clip, since a full length film will create an enormous number of images and use up local storage.

  • If you stop the video in VLC, the extractions will also stop.

Directions

  • Note: it is helpful to begin by creating a folder where the images can be saved.

  • Open VLC Media Player.

  • Go to Tools > Preferences

  • In the bottom-left corner, in the Show Settings box, click All.

  • Scroll down in the list that appears.

  • Under Video, click the Filters drop-down, then choose Scene filter.

The png image format is usually perfect to work with, though you may change it if needed.

  • Leave the width and height as default. Filename prefix" will help with the finding the images. Choose any appropriate identifier.

  • In the Directory Path Prefix field, enter the path of the folder where you would like the images to be saved.

    • You may copy the path of the folder you created initially, and include the folder name in the path.

The Recording Ratio mostly depends on the frame rate of the video.

The smaller the number, the more images will be saved. Usually, 10 is sufficient.

  • In the left-side menu, scroll up the filter list and click on Filters.

  • Click on the check-box for "Scene video filter" then click Save.

  • Start playing the video - the images will save automatically, and catch up to wherever you press Stop.

  • Once finished, open Tools> Preferences> Show Settings set to All > under Video, click Filters > remove the check-mark for "Scene video filter" and click Save.

  • This will keep it from running every time the patron uses VLC.

  • Look in the folder you specified earlier and delete any images that won't be needed.

 

For Assistance Call 734-615-0100 [Prompt 1]

Print Article