app.encoder.encodeSequence Sets wrongs In Point

[billgarv]

Hello,

I wrote a quick script that reads a marker's Start and End and sets an In Point and Out Point on the activeSequence.  Then it sends that In and Out Point to Media Encoder to render.  Some of the rendered files have a Start point that is off by 1 frame(early).  I've tried forcing Marker start time to use Ticks or seconds but it doesn't matter I still get some renders that are a frame too early.  I attached a video to show the problem. 

function sendMarkersToAME (activeSeq, outputPath, presetPath){

    if(activeSeq){
            var markers = activeSeq.markers
                if (markers){
                    markerCount = markers.numMarkers
                    if (markerCount){
                        seqName = activeSeq.name
                        extName = "_Pr_v01.mov"
                        
                        for (var thisMarker = markers.getFirstMarker(); thisMarker !== undefined; thisMarker = markers.getNextMarker(thisMarker)) {
                            //alert (thisMarker.name + "  " + thisMarker.start.seconds + "    " + thisMarker.end.seconds)
                                if(thisMarker.getColorByIndex() == 3){
                                    inPoint = thisMarker.start.seconds
                                    inPointTicks = thisMarker.start.ticks           
                                    activeSeq.setPlayerPosition(inPointTicks)
                                    inPointInTimecode = playerPositionToTimecode (activeSeq.getPlayerPosition().seconds)
                                    tcString = inPointInTimecode.replace(/;/g, '')
                                    alert (tcString)
                                    outputFileName = tcString + seqName + thisMarker.name + extName
                                    alert(outputFileName)
                                    completeOutputPath = outputPath.fsName + getSep() + outputFileName
                                    //alert (completeOutputPath)
                                    outPoint = thisMarker.end.seconds
                                    activeSeq.setInPoint(inPoint)
                                    activeSeq.setOutPoint(outPoint)
                                    app.encoder.encodeSequence(activeSeq, completeOutputPath, presetPath.fsName, 1, 0)
                                }
                        }
                         }else{
                             alert ("No Marker Count")
                        }
                }else{
                    alert ("No Markers")
                }
     }else{
         alert ("No Active Sequence")
        }
    app.encoder.startBatch ()
}

[Bruce Bullis]

What's in playerPositionToTimecode() ? 

I can imagine that, when moving from seconds to ticks, enough rounding error could be introduced that frames would be off by one...

[billgarv]

Bruce thanks for the quick reply...I'm not moving from ticks to seconds, I tried passing ticks or seconds to the inPoint

inPoint = thisMarker.start.seconds

or

inPoint = thisMarker.start.ticks

or

inPoint = thisMarker.start

then...

activeSeq.setInPoint(inPoint)

activeSeq.setOutPoint(outPoint)

app.encoder.encodeSequence(activeSeq, completeOutputPath, presetPath.fsName, 1, 0)

Still some of the renders that are off by 1 frame.  What should I pass to activeSeq.setInPoint() to get the right in point on my render in Media encoder?

I use playerPositionToTimecode() to get the actual timecode of the player position so I can use TC In of the marker in the file name.  I tried using .CTI.timecode but its relative to the start of the sequence, so if I change the start time to 01:00:00:00 and I have a marker start at 01:05:00:00 CTI.timecode returns 00:05:00:00.  Its probably a round about way to do it but I couldn't think of anything else.  Here is the whole script...note I only render orange markers. 

//Start Media Encoder
startAME ()

seq = app.project.activeSequence
//alert (playerPositionToTimecode (seq.getPlayerPosition().seconds))

outputPath = Folder.selectDialog("Select Destination for rendered clip?")

if(outputPath){

    fileType = '*.epr'
    outputPresetPath = File.openDialog ('Select Export Preset', fileType , false);

    if(outputPresetPath){
        sendMarkersToAME (seq, outputPath, outputPresetPath)
    }else{
        alert ("No export preset selected")
    }
}else{
        alert ("No Destination Selected please try again")
    }


function getSep () {
        //Functiont to get OS, return the correct slash
		if (Folder.fs === 'Macintosh') {
			return '/';
		} else {
			return '\\';
		}
	}
function startAME (){
    //Function to Start Media Encoder if its not running
    var ameStatus = BridgeTalk.getStatus("ame")
            
        if (ameStatus == "ISNOTRUNNING"){
                app.encoder.launchEncoder();
       }
}

function sendMarkersToAME (activeSeq, outputPath, presetPath){

    if(activeSeq){
            var markers = activeSeq.markers
                if (markers){
                    markerCount = markers.numMarkers
                    if (markerCount){
                        seqName = activeSeq.name
                        extName = "_Pr_v01.mov"
                        
                        for (var thisMarker = markers.getFirstMarker(); thisMarker !== undefined; thisMarker = markers.getNextMarker(thisMarker)) {
                            //alert (thisMarker.name + "  " + thisMarker.start.seconds + "    " + thisMarker.end.seconds)
                                if(thisMarker.getColorByIndex() == 3){
                                    inPoint = thisMarker.start.seconds
                                    inPointTicks = thisMarker.start.ticks           
                                    activeSeq.setPlayerPosition(inPointTicks)
                                    inPointInTimecode = playerPositionToTimecode (activeSeq.getPlayerPosition().seconds)
                                    tcString = inPointInTimecode.replace(/;/g, '')
                                    alert (tcString)
                                    outputFileName = tcString + seqName + thisMarker.name + extName
                                    alert(outputFileName)
                                    completeOutputPath = outputPath.fsName + getSep() + outputFileName
                                    //alert (completeOutputPath)
                                    outPoint = thisMarker.end.seconds
                                    activeSeq.setInPoint(inPoint)
                                    activeSeq.setOutPoint(outPoint)
                                    app.encoder.encodeSequence(activeSeq, completeOutputPath, presetPath.fsName, 1, 0)
                                }
                        }
                         }else{
                             alert ("No Marker Count")
                        }
                }else{
                    alert ("No Markers")
                }
     }else{
         alert ("No Active Sequence")
        }
    app.encoder.startBatch ()
}

function playerPositionToTimecode (playerPosition){
    actSeq = app.project.activeSequence
    currentSeqSettings = actSeq.getSettings()
    zeroPoint = actSeq.zeroPoint
    zeroPointInSeconds = zeroPoint / 254016000000
    playerPositionSeconds = new Time ()
    playerPositionSeconds.seconds = playerPosition + zeroPointInSeconds
    playerPositionTimecode = playerPositionSeconds.getFormatted(currentSeqSettings.videoFrameRate, actSeq.videoDisplayFormat)
    return playerPositionTimecode
}