[RESOLVED] PinballX 3.76 - Loading Gifs

[scutters]

Just ran a quick test on using the new playfield video snapshot and gif overlay function to try it out. My quick knock up gif appeared approx a third of the way down the playfield image, but only approx 50% of it was visible (the rest was off screen to the left). The gif i used was 1080 width (270h) on a 4k screen, so maybe that's the cause?

I tried but failed to get a screenshot to show what i mean so hopefully this makes sense (the gif being overlayed but not centred on the screen horizontally so not fully visible [i'm not too worried by it's vertical location])

Are there any guidelines on gifs for loading overlays using the new functionality?

Thanks

gif zipped and attached

output.zip

PinballX.ini log.txt

[Mike_da_Spike]

I have the same. Tried to rotate them . Used a 1920x1080 gif on ultra hd screen.

It also took some time (black screen) to take the screenimage and the gif took another couple of seconds.

[scutters]

40 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

It also took some time (black screen) to take the screenimage and the gif took another couple of seconds.

Also noticed the black screen with a bit of delay, i assume it is the snapshot of the 4k playfield video that takes time. 

@Tom Speirs I still have 4k playfield images in the the table images folder (a hangover from when i used them as a base for loading images). Could pinballx use those (if present) instead of taking a snapshot of the table video? (if that's what takes the time). Thanks.

[Tom Speirs]

The sizing is fixed for the next release. As for the delay its because the gif frames are extracted not the video. Yeah, don't use 4k gifs

[Mike_da_Spike]

So in the next release,  we create small giffs and pbx will resize it ? 

Thanks Tom

[Tom Speirs]

Its out now. All working. Please try.

[scutters]

Cheers Tom, all seems to be working now in V3.78. Think i've been spoilt by loading videos which have a lot less black screen transitioning time, but maybe i just need smaller gifs with less frames for the playfield image option in pinballx!

[bushav]

Are the playfield images coming up randomly for you guys using the new option?  I tried it yesterday and today and for example when launching spiderman I might get a playfield image of KISS table.  For the time being I am back to using the derandomizer plug in and table image folder option.

[scutters]

7 minutes ago, bushav said:

Are the playfield images coming up randomly for you guys using the new option?  I tried it yesterday and today and for example when launching spiderman I might get a playfield image of KISS table.  For the time being I am back to using the derandomizer plug in and table image folder option.

I didn't notice that behaviour in v3.78. I did have some old loading images still in the loading images folder but either the default spinning wheel gif was overlayed on an image of the playfield video or my own gif if i added it to the folder. The old loading images weren't overlayed (which may be what you're seeing? [guessing]). 

[Mike_da_Spike]

2 hours ago, bushav said:

Are the playfield images coming up randomly for you guys using the new option?  I tried it yesterday and today and for example when launching spiderman I might get a playfield image of KISS table.  For the time being I am back to using the derandomizer plug in and table image folder option.

It takes a snapshot for the playfield I selected and put a random gif on it (or that is how it looks like).
Good work Tom ! 

[Tom Speirs]

I just released another version. I had the GIF animation timing wrong and I hopefully improved things.

Please let me know what you think.

[Mike_da_Spike]

4 hours ago, Tom Speirs said:

I just released another version. I had the GIF animation timing wrong and I hopefully improved things.

Please let me know what you think.

Need to wait till tonight for me Tom to test. Will try to create some animated gifs too in the weekend for testing

[scutters]

8 hours ago, Tom Speirs said:

I just released another version. I had the GIF animation timing wrong and I hopefully improved things.

Please let me know what you think.

Just tried 3.83 with the original test loading gif (1st post) - the animation timing looks a lot better now, thanks Tom.

Still had ~4sec of black screen before the snaphot table image became visible though, so i also tried a simple 2 frame gif 540*71 (attached) and that still seemed to take 3-4secs of black playfield screen, compared to loading video transition of  <1sec on my system. Could you keep showing the playfield video until the snapshot & gif are ready to display somehow to minimise the blackscreen? don't know how it works behind the scenes so sorry if that's an idiots suggestion!

 

testload.zip

[Mike_da_Spike]

I tested 3.83 too. The Gif is indeed load must faster, but the image takes indeed just that too much time that it feels like nothing is happening. 

 

Edit :
I tested with fullhd (1920x1080) video and those loads indeed very fast and also with animated gif of 3 mb
But using a UHD (3840x2160) there is a significant extra delay when showing the screenshot

 

[Tom Speirs]

Could you see if it is any faster with 3.87 please?

Thanks.

[Mike_da_Spike]

2 hours ago, Tom Speirs said:

Could you see if it is any faster with 3.87 please?

Thanks.

hey Tom. Just installed 3.88. and the loading time decreased enormous . Not as fast as a HD movie, but the UHD now loads in 2 sec including the animated gif (so 2 sec of black screen, instead of 5) .
For me this isn't a point that it is annoying anymore ! 
Is there a way (for you)  to implement the location of the animated gifs ? 
Right now it is in the middle of the screen, maybe some people want to have it on the top and I prefer them on the bottom  
Again mate, Good work ! 

[Tom Speirs]

Thank you.

Maybe further improved with 3.89.

As for position, no offence but its a little like feature creep to me.

You could adjust the position by modifying the gif though.

[Mike_da_Spike]

I can modify the gif, but that make it really large. Now I can make it 4-5mb and loads fast.

Maybe if you have some time left next year, you can think about this feature.

I will try 3.89 a bit later today

[Tom Speirs]

Okay. Thanks.

[scutters]

Hey Tom, just gave 3.89 a go.. the image & gif does indeed load a lot faster than before, good work!, still not quite as fast as a loading video, but the main issue for me with it now is that the playfield image is quite low quality/res and looks pretty bad after a 4k playfield video.

Also had an issue when i first ran it, log attached which does show an error, fish tales rom / vpinmame position/size settings got reset (virtual dmd position). I reset it manually and haven't been able to reproduce since, so maybe just a one off thing. Thought i'd mention it though.

log.txt

[Mike_da_Spike]

Checked 3.90 (man you go fast with the releases). Looks a bit the same as 3.87, but I say it is fine (Indeed slower than 1920x1080 videos)

Attached a video that launched a 4k table

[scutters]

The video shows what i mean about the lower res image, or was it always that way and i was too busy watching the gif to notice??

becomes (notice the ring?)

[Mike_da_Spike]

Youre right @scutters. Didn't noticed that before.

I think Tom lowered the resolution for speeding it up, but thats just a lucky guess from my side

[Tom Speirs]

Yes, it is downscaled but the ringing is an issue. Its fixed in 3.91. Available in a minute.

[Mike_da_Spike]

3.91 looks much better. I didn't notice the quality drop in the previous version as well.
But glad that Scutters has good eyes and my 4k phone did the trick.
@scutters, is this looks better for you ?