Playblast / ANIM Capture tool

Wrote this Playblast tool using Python in Maya for animators to capture/ create playblasts with a ton of customization options.

The tool is designed with a focus on user-friendly features, allowing for easy customization and seamless integration into existing pipelines. One notable aspect is that, the user can customize the settings for the playblast (Ambient Occlusion, Lighting, Object visibility, Grid visibility, etc.) without actually changing the main viewport settings.

The transparency of settings adjustment, which can be tailored at both user and project levels, enhances usability. Moreover, the potential for a core module for remote playblasts highlights the tool's adaptability and scalability within different workflows.

Overview:

• Set up UI module according to JSON file. JSON file contains all the viewport settings names and data.

• User modifies options on UI. Send playblast details to Core (like file path, settings, fps, format, etc.).

• Core creates model editor and window, updates it with UI settings, and passes all settings to Playblast command.

• Optionally, save UI data for future initialization with saved values. (WIP)

Stitch Videos USING FFMPEG

Used ffmpeg library to create a feature for the playblast tool above to stitch various camera views together.

Overview:

• Passed all the video paths to the ffmepg stitch function.

• Organize these videos into a stack of 1 x 1, 2x2, 3x3, etc depending on total number.

• Ffmpeg uses a complex filter called xStack filter to put these together.

• Create the command string.

• Use subprocess to run the ffmpeg command.

This feature can be super helpful when doing animation review.