I've been using AvsPmod for a few weeks and thought it was pretty good, but there were a few things I thought were odd. Well, I read the instructions and WOW there's a lot more to it than I thought. I know, I'm a man and I could lose my Man Card for reading the instructions, but it's worth it.
What I thought was a strange way to handle tabs was just the fact I didn't set up the options. There are many ways to have AvsPmod open, close, save tabs, save sessions, etc. I now have it where it doesn't ask me if I want to save the script or session file even though I had just saved what I wanted when I close the program. There are many, many other operations you can set up to work the way you want.
I had figured out how to use preview on my own--at least the basics. To me, preview is very valuable. There is so much more to it than what I knew that simplifies choosing and seeing the effect of different changes. I had been adding functions to the script and then one by one typing in the values I wanted and then clicking on the preview window to see what changed and then repeating the process--very tedious. To be able to see the effect of multiple changes at once, I setup separate tabs with essentially the same script but different variable settings. I could switch between tabs to see the change. Then I would have to enter new values and check the effect--still tedious.
Turns out that the items I had been seeing to the right of the preview window, and had been ignoring, were more than just a list of functions in the script. Click on a listed function and up pops a list of all the variables with slider bars you can move between the min and max values. Move a slider and instantly see the effect on the image in the preview window. It's even better when you have a histogram showing with the video image. Great stuff for a newbie like me. If a function does not have sliders set up, you can build your own. There was even an example on how to cycle through and pick the histogram you want. This had been a pain for me because I wanted to choose between different histograms and turn them off completely before I had
VirtualDub create an avi. I would have to have multiple histograms set up in my script with all but one commented out. Then for use by VD I would have to see that all histogram lines were commented out. The pain is gone now.
This is just a small sampling of what can be done. To get started, choose the Text Features under the Help menu. From that page you can go to the Overview page to start learning what AviP/AviPmod can do (not sure why the Help menu didn't have a link to the beginning of the information.)
The instructions are for AviP. Some of the options have changed, but all the capability is still there and more. For example, the AviSynth Function Definition under the Options menu has changed. Now, you just double click on the filter, plugin, or whatever you want to look at. I picked the ColorYUV filter I had been using and the pop-up window shows all of the arguments that show while you are setting up ColorYUV in your script. Clicking on Define Sliders pulls up another window that shows the set up for all of the sliders associated with the filter. Have an item that doesn't have any description info or sliders set up, build your own or change the current settings that might be present.
There have been some comments I've read that the program is unstable. So far, I've never had a problem. It did take a while to figure out some functions. For example on Autocomplete in Program Settings under the Options menu I couldn't figure out why I would get all of the variables listed when I hit return. In most cases I just wanted the pair of parentheses to show up and I would enter my own limited set of variables. The thing I had to change was the Preset Activation Key. It was set for Return. I changed it to trigger on Tab and now hitting return just pulls up the parentheses (which I had set in the Autoparentheses Level option). I can now hit Tab if I want all of the variables to pop up.
Much, much more available. I haven't even looked at macros. Macros let you create additional functionality. So far, I'm satisfied with what's there already.
To me, this is a great addition to AviSynth for newbies. I'm not sure about how oldbies view it.
Cheers,
Steve
