From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Mon Jul 21 2008 - 10:31:28 CDT

I think I've reproduced the problem you encountered, try doing this
and see if you get different behavior:

Run the command line script as before, and verify that you get
the 1 frame movie, as before.

Then, after having done this, try opening the GUI for the movie
maker, through the Extensions->Visualization->Movie Maker menu.
Once the window is opened, try running the script at the command
line again. Let me know if it works correctly for you the second
time. I believe that the issue here is an internal state variable
that's only being properly initialized when the GUI has been opened.
It will be easy to workaround/fix with one or two extra lines of
scripting if that's all that's causing your problem.

Cheers,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 07:57:59AM -0500, Samir Unni wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Sorry I'm so late in getting back to you. Anyway, that code doesn't work on
> the Mac either. It just briefly opens the video (for one frame, I think) and
> then closes. I'm using the 1.8.6 version of VMD?is that the one you're
> using?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Samir
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 10:19 PM, Samir Unni <srunni_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I tried that, but it didn't work for me. When I attempted to play the video
> > file with MPlayer, the window appeared for a second and then disappeared,
> > just like before. I think only one frame is being recorded.
> >
> > Right now I'm trying this on my Linux machine at home, but I'll try it
> > again on the Mac at work tomorrow morning and see if it works there.
> > However, this was the exact same problem I was previously having on the Mac,
> > so I don't think it will. If it's working for you, it might have something
> > to do with the state file I'm using, which I created by importing the DX
> > output file from APBS into VMD.
> >
> > I had meant to attached the modified version of vmdmovie.tcl to the last
> > email; it's attached now, if you want to take a look.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Samir
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 9:56 PM, John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >> I'm not sure how you changed your copy of the vmdmovie.tcl file,
> >> but I'd ask that before we delve any further, that you first try the
> >> original vmdmovie plugin and the command I emailed earlier. If that
> >> works for you, then we can proceed with debugging whatever has been
> >> changed in your modified version. Starting with your modified version
> >> is likely to add more confusion so I'd rather leave that for a second
> >> step. Please try the example sequence I sent earlier and let me know
> >> if that works with the unmodified script on your system, or not.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> John Stone
> >> vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >>
> >> On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 09:18:24PM -0500, Samir Unni wrote:
> >> > Hi,
> >> >
> >> > That character resulted from an issue with the email formatting; it was
> >> not
> >> > actually part of the command that I used. The command I used was:
> >> >
> >> > ::MovieMaker::makemovie /Users/srunni/dev/vmd_tests/1fas 1fas ppmtompeg
> >> > snapshot 10
> >> >
> >> > Also, I sent an update a few hours after my initial email, but it seems
> >> not
> >> > to have made it onto the mailing list. I will repost it here:
> >> >
> >> > --------------------
> >> > I've got a small update. I slightly changed vmdmovie.tcl, so that the
> >> > framerate can be passed to the 'makemovie' method. When I did this,
> >> defined
> >> > 'framerate' as the extra variable being passed now, and defined
> >> 'numframes'
> >> > as the product of the framerate and the duration, a working movie was
> >> > created. Though it would seem that only 2 of these 3 variables need to
> >> be
> >> > defined for the program to be able to determine the 3rd, when I
> >> eliminated
> >> > any one of them, the movie was not generated correctly. I have attached
> >> the
> >> > working version of vmdmovie.tcl, if anyone wants to look at it.
> >> >
> >> > I would still like to know if there is a way to generate a movie from
> >> the
> >> > command line without modifying any files that are a part of VMD, if
> >> > possible.
> >> > --------------------
> >> >
> >> > I still have not found a workaround for this issue. The command I am
> >> using
> >> > now is:
> >> >
> >> > ::MovieMaker::makemovie /Users/srunni/dev/vmd_tests/1fas 1fas ppmtompeg
> >> > tachyon 5 40
> >> >
> >> > Thanks,
> >> >
> >> > Samir Unni
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 5:02 PM, John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > >
> >> > > Hi,
> >> > > The ">" character you have in your example below shouldn't be there,
> >> > > that would cause some trouble for sure.
> >> > >
> >> > > Here's a proper example command sequence to make a movie from text
> >> mode:
> >> > > package require vmdmovie
> >> > > mkdir /tmp/mytmpdir
> >> > > ::MovieMaker::makemovie /tmp/mytmpdir example ppmtompeg snapshot 10
> >> > >
> >> > > This worked fine for me.
> >> > >
> >> > > Try that and let me know how it goes.
> >> > >
> >> > > Cheers,
> >> > > John Stone
> >> > > vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >> > >
> >> > > On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 09:32:37AM -0500, Samir Unni wrote:
> >> > > > Hi,
> >> > > >
> >> > > > I'm trying to create a Tcl script that will use output from APBS to
> >> > > create a
> >> > > > video file, with no user interaction. So far, I have managed to
> >> manually
> >> > > > create a state file, to which I can then add a few lines of code for
> >> the
> >> > > > Movie Plugin, to automatically generate the video file and then exit
> >> VMD.
> >> > > > However, I can't seem to get VMD to properly generate the video file
> >> when
> >> > > I
> >> > > > use the script. It creates a file, but it doesn't seem to contain
> >> any
> >> > > actual
> >> > > > data (it's only about 20 KB), and doesn't play correctly when I open
> >> it
> >> > > with
> >> > > > MPlayer. This is the line of code that seems to be the problem:
> >> > > >
> >> > > > ::MovieMaker::makemovie /Users/srunni/dev/vmd_tests/1fas 1fas
> >> ppmtompeg
> >> > > > > snapshot 10
> >> > > >
> >> > > >
> >> > > > When I load this exact same state file, but with that line removed,
> >> and
> >> > > > manually use the Movie Plugin, there are no problems. I figured out
> >> the
> >> > > > syntax for the above code by taking a look at vmdmovie.tcl, and
> >> imitating
> >> > > > the calls made when the Movie Plugin is launched from the GUI. As
> >> far as
> >> > > I
> >> > > > can tell, I have made no mistakes in the syntax. Does anyone know
> >> why
> >> > > this
> >> > > > isn't working correctly?
> >> > > >
> >> > > > Thanks,
> >> > > >
> >> > > > Samir Unni
> >> > >
> >> > > --
> >> > > NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> >> > > Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> >> > > University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> >> > > Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu Phone: 217-244-3349
> >> > > WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/><
> >>
http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/%7Ejohns/>
> >> > > Fax: 217-244-6078
> >> > >
> >>
> >> --
> >> NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> >> Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> >> University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> >> Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu Phone: 217-244-3349
> >> WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ <http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/%7Ejohns/>
> >> Fax: 217-244-6078
> >>
> >
> >

-- 
NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu                 Phone: 217-244-3349
  WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/      Fax: 217-244-6078