WebM9 (VP9) to WebM8 (VP8) with alpha channel intact

[AngelMuerte]

So it's been a bit of a challenge to find a solution for the WebM9 to WebM8 conversion, while keeping the alpha channel intact so that you have a transparent background. This obviously causes tokens to have a black box border which just doesn't look right. Fortunately, I stumbled across a solution buried deep in a Reddit post.

https://www.shutterencoder.com/en/

Choose which OS version you use and download the program. You can choose to donate to the dev as this is open source but I'm sure he'd appreciate the donation.

This program works great and also has the ability to process batches. Basically, input the file path for the WebM9 image files you want to process (or drag n drop the file), select VP8 as the function, go to Advanced Features (right side column), and check the button for "Enable alpha channel", and finally hit "Start Function". Out pops the VP8 WebM file...confirmed works with Fantasy Grounds for animated tokens and I assume for animated maps.

Happy Hunting!

[mattekure]

This is a great find! I've just tested with tokens from Devin Night and JB2A that were VP9 and it worked perfectly to convert them to VP8 with the tokens transparancy preserved. super easy to use and can batch process as well.

[Gawain the Great]

So it's been a bit of a challenge to find a solution for the WebM9 to WebM8 conversion, while keeping the alpha channel intact so that you have a transparent background. This obviously causes tokens to have a black box border which just doesn't look right. Fortunately, I stumbled across a solution buried deep in a Reddit post.

https://www.shutterencoder.com/en/

Choose which OS version you use and download the program. You can choose to donate to the dev as this is open source but I'm sure he'd appreciate the donation.

This program works great and also has the ability to process batches. Basically, input the file path for the WebM9 image files you want to process (or drag n drop the file), select VP8 as the function, go to Advanced Features (right side column), and check the button for "Enable alpha channel", and finally hit "Start Function". Out pops the VP8 WebM file...confirmed works with Fantasy Grounds for animated tokens and I assume for animated maps.

Happy Hunting!

Solved the issues with all the files that weren't working. Thanks so much for the post!

[Egheal]

and you can change the color of your tokens on the fly: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?78175-Converting-VP9-To-VP8-WebM-Tokens-with-Shutter-Encoder&p=689980&viewfull=1#post689980

[AngelMuerte]

Awesome! You already found this gem and I missed your post. Hopefully with enough of us posting on it, the word will spread.


*Smiteworks Team*
Might be worth having Bryce mention on the Friday stream if he's covering related content.

[Laerun]

So it's been a bit of a challenge to find a solution for the WebM9 to WebM8 conversion, while keeping the alpha channel intact so that you have a transparent background. This obviously causes tokens to have a black box border which just doesn't look right. Fortunately, I stumbled across a solution buried deep in a Reddit post.

https://www.shutterencoder.com/en/

Choose which OS version you use and download the program. You can choose to donate to the dev as this is open source but I'm sure he'd appreciate the donation.

This program works great and also has the ability to process batches. Basically, input the file path for the WebM9 image files you want to process (or drag n drop the file), select VP8 as the function, go to Advanced Features (right side column), and check the button for "Enable alpha channel", and finally hit "Start Function". Out pops the VP8 WebM file...confirmed works with Fantasy Grounds for animated tokens and I assume for animated maps. Also, try to process smaller batch groups of files at a time with the batch convert, or it can tie up your machine for an hour or more, depending on your batch size.

Happy Hunting!

Also, if you are editing animated content from another third party sources, such as an animated maps and similar file sources, be sure to disable or delete the audio channels if any.
Some 3rd party animated maps include audio, the audio channels, will or have caused issues with FGU. The output file will have "VP8" in the title for final rendered version, which really helps out when batch converting.

[Kumajuhl]

Thank you so much for this pointer, I got tokens from Crosshead Studios and converted with different software but the background remained black so I was worried I had wasted my money, but this almost solved it! :) I was able to get it converted with a transparent background, but now it seems that the images are jittering after they go through some of the animation. Any suggestions? :confused: I should mention some do it and others don't

[AngelMuerte]

if you've already checked your framerates and made sure they match, etc, you could check to see if there's something wonky about the animation itself. You can convert the animation into individual jpg images to inspect each frame to see if there's something off. If so, you can eliminate those frames, and convert it back to Web.

[Kumajuhl]

The pack does come with the individual frames included, but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to this stuff :( How would I check to see if the frame rate matches? When I open the file outside of FGU it seems to be normal. The issue is when I open them in FGU some of them are fine and others jitter in intervals. I don't know if that helps.

Edit: So I chose 2-pass and put 1MB for the file size and that solved the issue. I don't know why it works so...

[mattekure]

These are the settings I've used and all of the output files have worked great. Its a little slow, but I just let it run overnight for a big batch.

https://i.imgur.com/lOxAPdo.png

[Kumajuhl]

These are the settings I've used and all of the output files have worked great. Its a little slow, but I just let it run overnight for a big batch.

https://i.imgur.com/lOxAPdo.png

Thank you for the input!