ConditionalReader

ConditionalReader(clip clip, string filename, string variablename [, bool show ] )

clip  clip =

Source clip. Not touched, unless you specify show=true.

string  filename =

Path to the file with the per-frame values you want to set. See File format below.

string  variablename =

Name of the variable you want the filename values assigned to.

bool  show = false

If true, show the variablename value at the current frame (as determined by the file values) as a text overlay.

• The file is plain text. It is not case sensitive. Each line stands alone. There are several different line types, as explained below.

• The file may begin with one or more optional comment lines:

#this line is a comment
;so is this line
     %and this one too.

• The first non-comment line should be a type line, which sets the value type for all following lines. There are four valid type lines:

TYPE int

Tells ConditionalReader to expect decimal integer values.

(digits 0-9, optionally preceded with a '+' or '-' sign)

TYPE float

Tells ConditionalReader to expect floating-point values.

(decimal number with '.' decimal point, and optionally followed by an 'E' character and decimal exponent)

TYPE bool

Tells ConditionalReader to expect boolean values.

('true' or 'false', 'T' or 'F', 'yes' or 'no', '1' or '0')

TYPE string (from v2.60)

(any sequence of characters, including quote, backslash etc; a line break ends the string)

The type line defines the data type to be parsed from this file and assigned to the variable variablename. You must have one, and only one, type line per file, and it must come before any other lines, except for optional comments.

• A default line should come next. It is optional but strongly suggested:

DEFAULT <value>

This specifies the value to be used if there is no applicable data line for a given frame.

If you do not define a default, be sure to specify a value for all frames; otherwise your script variable could be be undefined or take a random value.

• An optional offset line may appear:

OFFSET <integer-value> (from v2.60)

When specified, this will add an offset adjustment to all frame numbers in the data lines below.

• Next come the data line(s), which set the per-frame value(s) to be assigned to the script variable. There are three styles:

Single-frame style:

<framenumber> <value>

Set value for frame framenumber only.

Range style:

R <startframe> <endframe> <value>

Apply value to a range of frames.

Note that both startframe and endframe are included in the range.

Interpolated style:

I <startframe> <endframe> <start-value> <stop-value>

Interpolate between start-value and stop-value over a range of frames. This only works on int and float types.

Note that both startframe and endframe are included in the range.

Later data lines in the file overrule earlier ones. Styles may be mixed-and-matched; see the examples below.

All data and default values must be valid for the defined type, as defined above, or an error will be raised.

Basic usage

File Basic.txt:

Type float
Default 3.45567

R 45 300 76.5654
2 -671.454
72 -671.454

The file above will return values of type float. It will return 3.45567 by default, but at frames 45-300 it will return 76.5654, and at frames 2 and 72 it will return -671.454.

Later data lines in the file overrule earlier ones. This is illustrated by the '72' line: even though frame 72 is inside the range of 45-300, frame 72 will use the value -671.454, not 76.5654. If the 'R' line had been placed after the '72' line, the range value would have had priority.

A script to invoke this file could be:

ColorBars(512,512)
Trim(0,500)
ScriptClip("Subtitle(String(myvar))")
ConditionalReader("Basic.txt", "myvar", false)

This will put the values into the variable called myvar, which is displayed with Subtitle. Subtitle must be invoked by ScriptClip to display the runtime value.

Note the ConditionalReader line comes after any use of myvar in the script.

String values

File Strings.txt:

Type string
Default 
# (default=empty string)

R  45  99 this is a string
R 100 199 "quoted string"
R 200 299 w:\xyz.txt

Try the above Subtitle script with Strings.txt. You will see the strings displayed verbatim.

Adjusting Overlay

Script:

ColorBars(512,256)
a1 = Trim(0,600)
a2 = MessageClip("Text clip")
Overlay(a1,a2, y = 100, x = 110, mode="subtract", opacity=0, pc_range=true)
ConditionalReader("opacity.txt", "ol_opacity_offset", false)
ConditionalReader("xoffset.txt", "ol_x_offset", false)

File xoffset.txt:

Type int
Default -50

I 25 50 -50 100
R 50 250 100
I 250 275 100 250

File opacity.txt:

Type float
Default 0.0

I 25 50 0.0 1.0
R 50 250 1.0
I 250 275 1.0 0.0

It is easier to watch the clip above than completely describe what it does. Basically, this example defines keyframes for an Overlay x-offset and opacity. For frames 25-50 the opacity is scaled from 0.0 to 1.0, while the text is moving from left to right. The text is then kept steady from frame 50-250, and thereafter it moves further to the right, while fading out.

ApplyRange replacement

Using a large number of ApplyRange calls in a script can lead to resource issues. ConditionalReader together with ConditionalFilter can be used instead, leading to an efficient solution:

File File.txt:

Type Bool
Default False

2 True
R 45 60 True
72 True
R 200 220 True
210 False
315 True

By default, the script value will be False. However for frames 2, 45-60, 72, 200-220 and 315, except for 210, it will be True. Later data lines in the file overrule earlier ones. This is illustrated by frame '210': even though it is inside the range of 200-220, the later value, False, will be used.

A script to make use of this file could be:

ColorBars(512,512)
Trim(0,500)
A = Last
FlipHorizontal # Add a complex filter chain
B = Last
ConditionalFilter(A, B, "myvar", "==", "False", false)
ConditionalReader("File.txt", "myvar", false)

This will read the file values into the variable myvar, which is used by ConditionalFilter to select between the unprocessed and flipped version of the source.

Strings values in v2.58

ConditionalReader cannot return strings prior to v2.60, but one solution is to create a list of variables with corresponding string assignments, and Eval the indexed solution. For example:

Import("strings.txt")
ScriptClip("""subtitle(Eval("n"+string(mystringindex)))""")
ConditionalReader("range_string.txt", "mystringindex")

File strings.txt

n0=""
n1="Intro"
n2="Main"
n3="Credits"

File range_string.txt

Type int
Default 0

R 10 1000 1
R 1005 3000 2
R 3200 3800 3

Obviously strings.txt does not need to be a separate file, but this solution is sometimes appropriate in e.g., multilingual applications:

language="spanish" 
Import(language + "_strings.txt")