Thanks, but so previewing a video file would be easier? Is it done in PHP, correct?
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How do I get an image of a file?
I am thinking about working on a new project, but before I start how would I get a picture of a file?
For instance, Youtube has a way of getting a picture of what the video looks like, and Google SketchUp warehouse gets what the 3d models look like.
How would I do something like this? (basic explanation please)
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Answers
It's not necessarily "easier" just because it's a video file. There are many, MANY types of video files, and previewing one might be easy while another one could be difficult. There are probably some scripts out there that will interact with some different file formats - you can probably look at their code to see how it is done.
Right now, your question is a little like asking, "Is doing a math problem easy?" It really depends - your math problem could be 2+2 or it could be some extremely-complex equation. Video files are often compressed using special code called "codecs" that change the way the data is stored. So one codec might store an image in an easy spot, while another codec doesn't store one at all (but you could do some fancy tricks to get an image).
Yes, it can usually be done in PHP, but again, it depends on the file format. There are SOME file formats that are just too difficult to work with if you don't use their components as part of the process. If PHP cannot "talk" to these components, then you would find it very difficult, if not almost impossible, to work with the video.
I apologize for being vague, but you're asking a pretty generic question. If you have a specific goal in mind, you might want to provide details.
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by: gr8gonzoPosted on 2009-10-24 at 03:11:00ID: 25651493
It's not quite as simple as just taking a photo of anything, unfortunately,
Each file has a different format. For example, video files usually have a bunch of key frames in them that are each a "photo" of that part of the video. YouTube can simply find one of these key frames (often the first one) and use that as its picture of what the video looks like (because the image IS from the video).
There are a bunch of different 3D model formats. Sometimes the file formats support the ability for a program to create a small thumbnail version of the full thing, and then put that thumbnail inside the file (so the file contains a thumbnail plus the instructions on rendering the full-sized thing). I'm not too familiar with Google Sketchup (I've used it twice in my life), but I'm guessing it's probably something similar.
Generally, most formats today try to give you some way of previewing the file so you're not sucking up a ton of CPU while waiting for a full 3D render to finish, or so you have to sit through a video clip. It's sort of up to you to figure out what formats you want to "preview" and then to learn that file format and what it's capable of. There are usually lengthy descriptions of major / popular file formats and how they work so you can write code to read the data.