Xvid's GUI

[Splashdriver]

Hi,

I recently was checking some info on the DivX forum (Haven't been there for quite a while since I'm proudly:D using Xvid) and the thing that always pleased me about DivXNetworks is that they are really taking care of the the look of their codec's interface. Ofcourse I know that functionality weighs much more when it comes to en/decoding, but wouldn't it be nice idea to upgrade Xvid's GUI a bit, making this wonderful thing also look attractive from the outside as it already is from the inside;) ??? I know that this might be a little bit of a silly question, but I guess asking couldn't hurt, right?

Greetings,
Splashdriver

[Emp3r0r]

Asking never hurt anyone. Screenshots, prototypes, concrete suggestions would make a good start. Got any of those? I'd like to see some drawings or photoshop'd screenshots.

[Splashdriver]

Sorry to dissappoint, haven't got any of these...actually I was hoping someone on this forum maybe had some nice ideas (and time) to actuallly work on a new GUI, if that's possible. If I had such creativity I would do it my self...rather yesterday then today. I strongly believe in development so that's why I was asking. never mind.

[Sharktooth]

Uhm... maybe i could make some drafts...

[Splashdriver]

Originally posted by Sharktooth
Uhm... maybe i could make some drafts...

Well, that would be nice...I mean....seriously, Haven't you seen the DivX interface? I'm thinking Xvid should definitely deserve a new cool look, since the codec is cool too:D ....

[communist]

Imho the DivX GUI just plain bad - to say it 'softly' ;)
Its way too bloated / overloaded and big for simple setup of a codec + I dont think there is more to configure in DivX than in XviD.
I prefer XviDs simple / pure approach way over DivX's way too big GUI.

http://www.stud.uni-goettingen.de/~s304280/pics/DivX52.jpg
That banner - what for? Not sure if its there if you buy DivX Pro - but its in the trial. The profiles thingy is something that I highly dislike - they just created their own 'standards'... hmm where have we seen this approach?!

http://www.stud.uni-goettingen.de/~s304280/pics/XviD101.jpg
Just compare how much space each takes and how much settings you can do.
I'm not sure if such big texts are supposed to placed at such locations but IMHO tool tips should give a short explanation and the rest should be in the manual (especially since DivX has a manual).

If there are things that could be added to XviD's GUI its supposedly the much wanted feature "saving and loading settings to / from files".

[Splashdriver]

I guess that's just a matter of taste. I wouldn't mind seeing some more colors in Xvid's GUI, it wouldn't have to be like DivX, but still....

[CruNcher]

colors are un1337 ;)
unless it serves a purpose ofcourse
wich those banner above the DivX Gui surely doesn't :P
btw in those area web code can be loaded also could become a security problem soon who knows ;)

[communist]

IMHO its just like with audio and video hardware ;)
Colorful = consumer
Grey = pro

[virus]

look, you even set the bitrate to 1337 :)

IMHO the devs with specific knowledge of the MPEG-4 standard should concentrate on the coding of the core features and don't waste time on GUI stuff. That kind of work (additional options, new GUI, external tools) should be contributed by external coders which don't have enough experience about the guts of the codec, following the "Want it? Code it!" rule ;)

just my 2 cents
virus

[Teegedeck]

:D

I'd like to see separate dialogues again.
The first one would be just filesize/first pass/second pass.
If you would keep the same settings for all encodes you wouldn't see much more of the config than just this.

The second one would pop-up if you hit a 'settings'-button and would look something like this:
http://img52.photobucket.com/albums/v158/Teegedeck/XviD_GUI2.gif

One slider for features; starting with harmless/necessary stuff and going upwards to the cpu-power-hogs.

One combined slider for ME precision/VHQ.

All the rest, including zones and the option to override the sliders would hide under the 'geek stuff' hyperlink.

I would hope sliders like that would enable most newbies to reach their own compromise between speed and quality by intuition.

[nanga parbat]

maybe somthing like after installing it asks you if you'd like it to show in 'guided mode' or 'advanced mode' (which should be just like it's now imo). and if so, 'never ask me again' should definately be added ;) .

seriousely, i can understand why some people need something more simple. when i first started encoding with xvid (which was way back with the old gui) i too was a little bit swamped with all the things you could tick on or off or otherwise tamper with.
however, now i just like it the way it is, you think like you still can change someting (for the better)...

personally i would've enjoyed if xvid never got a serious version number, but that's a little besides the piont.

as for colours, well i won't tell you what i think about that. it could be insulting and i won't let that happen.

nanga

[Splashdriver]

Never mind. It was just a question to find out if there was anyone interested in creating some nice artful design. Obviously nobody likes the idea of seeing such a (graphical) change for a future xvid version.

as for colours, well i won't tell you what i think about that. it could be insulting and i won't let that happen.
Ooh...Thanks for that kind of information, nice man

[SeeMoreDigital]

I would not mind seeing a different GUI...

I would quite like to see separate 'Simple Profile' and 'Advanced Simple Profile' settings...

...but hey that's me ;)

[Soulhunter]

@ Teegedeck

Ok, its done... ;)

http://img9.exs.cx/img9/2744/XviD_for_N00bs_v1_by_Soulhunter.png


And here is the ultra n00b version... :D

http://img9.exs.cx/img9/6070/XviD_for_N00bs_v2_by_Soulhunter.png


Bye

[unmei]

I agree a reorganising of the GUI would probably not hurt. Even tho i get along well with the current layout i do think some boxes are somehow in strange places, or opening like 3 popups to check everything is as you want it is probably a bit more annoying than if it were 3 additional tabs. Whatever..

But i don't like Teegedecks features slider!
It could be good for beginners yes, but how do i GMC without Adaptive Quantisation for instance?
What i like about the checkboxes is they don't imply a more-even more-best order. If someone doesn't like a features s/he doesn't have to use it but still can use all (hmm most?) of the other features.

And also, please no fancy bloat stuff ..

@ soulhunter: i'm sorry but your noob GUI has already been patented by microsoft :p

[BITS]

as i mentioned in a nother thread, i would like to see the "Encoding Type:" pulldown turned into a radial button config. i find it irretating sometimes to have to pull that thing down, and sometimes i didnt do it right and i have to do it again. radial's would cut that aggrevation.

also as i mentioned in another thread, in "Traget Bitrate:" selecting 0,-3 characters by default. i never change the last 3 zeros to anything ever since they only represnt KB's. this way user could just type right into it without having to position and delete.

also if there could be a "Show/Hide" button placed on the side of the form that would show/hide ALL available options would be nice.

that is my 2 cents :-).

[superdump]

I designed an alternative GUI (using paint) a while ago but no-one got round to coding it. Someone hosted the pictures for me but they've disappeared from the #xvid irc channel iirc so they may have been lost into the aether. I'll see if I can dig them out for you guys to have a look.

[CruNcher]

http://www.nollapiste.com/xvid/untitled1.2.html -> superdumps gui idea :)
its allready worked on in tab mode tough but development stoped as Medic is working on his Sprite RPG Engine @ the moment and me is still researching on the Extra_Detail Profile :P but i'll post some screens of it so that you can say what you think about it :)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Blimey, superdump has been a busy boy :)


Cheers

[superdump]

Heh heh. Thanks CruNcher. :)

SeeMoreDigital: I did that ages ago but no-one ever got round to it. I was thinking of something along the lines of the ffvfw layout but tailored for a specific codec.

[CruNcher]

Here as promised the pics :)

Profiles Tab
http://cruncher.mufflastig.com/XviD/phagain/profiles.png
Quality Tab
http://cruncher.mufflastig.com/XviD/phagain/quality.png
Rate Control Tab
http://cruncher.mufflastig.com/XviD/phagain/rc2pass.png
Debug Tab
http://cruncher.mufflastig.com/XviD/phagain/debug.png

Zones wasn't finished back then :(
and Aspect Ratio not implemented sorry
everything is win32api no MFC involved here ;)

[unmei]

that looks like something practical.
I like the idea with the mode / target always visible on top. Then there are tabs ..niice :) Maybe there is stuff on the other tabs that would move into the zones tab, right?

On the other website there was the B-VOP sensitivity in the box with the other B-VOP stuff which i think is a good idea ..
(ATM i don't quite see why the sensitivity should be changeable in zones but not the max. consequtive) ..but this last one is not actually important to me, just a thought..

[Splashdriver]

yes, I really like this. What about Turbo with B-frames? and maybe a help-Tab? Still, this GUI looks very practical indeed.

Greetings,
Splashdriver

[SeeMoreDigital]

Does anybody actually use the bitrate slider?

I can honestly say... I never have!


Cheers

[jk888]

Just getting all the tool-tips to work in the existing GUI would go a long way. It will be helpful to answer all those newbie questions.

[BITS]

am i all alone in thinking radial buttons are a good idea? i must of missed my design class on that day. (i cant stand pulldowns :-)

[Teegedeck]

Here's another newbie-friendly, ultra-accessible dream-GUI for XviD. ;-)

I'd like a GUI intuitive enough that first-timers don't have to ask in order to get what they want out of the codec (and especially it would be nice if they could make use of custom-quantizers, too, though I don't actually believe that what I have in mind for that is possible). Also I'd like to have the most important settings in one clean dialogue; and also having complete controll over the other settings not too far from one's fingertips would be great.

That's only possible IMHO by 1) meaningful simplifications (a unified quality-slider) and 2) presets. At least for the second one I do have my doubts whether it is possible. But hey, we're just dreaming away here, aren't we?

Number 1) could be done by generalizing 'most people who use vhq won't use anything below ME precision 6; so we might as well combine that into one slider and start with VHQ levels after ME precision=6. Also, most of XviD's features should always be used or at least hurt little if used. I'd propose that only the lowest slider setting ('0', meaning ME precision=1) would mean not using advanced-simple-profile features. Starting with '1', all of them except for GMC would be used. All that would change when moving the slider between '1' and '9' would be ME precision and, starting with '6', VHQ. '10' would mean also activating GMC, the biggest CPU-strain.

Now you will, say, you don't want that oversimplified crap - or want to use for example GMC with VHQ=1. OK, but you could still just open the 'geek stuff' dialogue and deactivate/activate anything you don't want to use or just override the sliders completely. This thing would just be there for people who like it simple.

Then you could say, Quarter Pixel and AQ have shown to produce bad results on some movies, we should not let unsuspecting beginners use that stuff. OK, as this is hard to generalize and sometimes impossible to know before you actually have encoded, my suggestion would be, if a user isn't content with the results, he should have the option to try it a different way in the 2nd go!
Now for this I'd like a 'panic button' which deactivates all features at once that are reported to be benevolent most of the time, but bad in some cases. The 'panic button' would also deactivate cartoon mode, for example. That way newbies wouldn't have to analyze their stuff or learn what quarter pixel or adaptive quantization do but have a good chance of finding and deactivating the culprit(s) with little strain. How about naming this thing 'try this if your first attempt came out awkward'? (It should better not be called 'safe mode' because in that case newbies would activate it all the time.)

Also, wouldn't it be nice if just anyone could use the right combination of custom matrices and features for the content he/she wants to encode? This would be 'number 2) from above.
How about presets (edit: 'optimize for...') that consist of a matrix (of course also user-definable ones) and an override for some settings. Handy presets might include matrices for transparent to low-qual encodings (the latter one decativating Quarter Pixel also). Even better would be an anime-preset consisting of either the CG/cartoon-matrix or H.263 and cartoon mode. The good old greyscale and the 'interlace' mode could also deserve a place in the frontmost layer of the GUI.

What else would be needed in the main setup-dialogue?
The option to enter the beginning of the credits, I think. The most common use for zones is only that one. And a fixed, high quantizer is the most reliable way of dealing with credits. (The original zone tabs would still be there, though.)

I guess a link to the usual decoder settings and one to the expert settings ('geek stuff').

http://img52.photobucket.com/albums/v158/Teegedeck/XviD_GUI_main.gif

The 'geek stuff' could consist of three tabs; the debug and zones-tabs as we know them and one tab where the main changes would consist in the option to define quantizer-matrices for the presets as well as defining at what quantizer the first pass should be performed (necessary for high-bitrate matrices). I know that would make my encoding-life a whole lot easier.

Also the standard quantizer for credits-treatment could be defined here. And of course the option to configure XviD completely without the slider if you want.

http://img52.photobucket.com/albums/v158/Teegedeck/XviD_GUI_geek.gif

Ah, that would be my dream-GUI at the moment...

Excuse the crappy drawings (Yes, that is OOo's spelling correction you see there...)as well as the fact that I can talk a lot but cannot programm a single line... Talk is cheap.

Edit: Hehe; forgot the two-pass tab, aspect and the 'Load Defaults'-button among other things... Use your imagination and add two more tabs... BTW, how about a more catchy name for that button? 'Restore Recommended Settings' for example? :D

[unmei]

I assume the "optimise for" picks one of the "quantisation" matrix presets?

I for one could easily live with opening that one geek dialog, it is imo still much more convienent than the 3 (or were it 4) dialogs with access buttons scattered over the main window.
Also this design presents all the tweakies i usually want to see in one single tab, which is nice. My only fear here is this thing would become quite big, but then again you don't need to see 'behind' this window and the amount of users this would pose problems due to their screen resolution is small nowadays (i guess).
The two checkboxes per switch might be a bit strange at the beginning.. it could be better to have a single checkbox per switch (like now) and one global one for override ..like this
[X] Override Sliders!
and when the user moves a slider, the global override would get disabled and all the switch checkboxes below set to what this slider position represents and they become grayed out until the user checks [X] Override Sliders! again. This way you would know what a particular slider position stands for and you can start off tweaking from there.

Other than that, not presenting the tweakies is probably a good idea for the sake of this (and other) forum.
We all know how tempting it is to try all the settings that look l33t or misterious ..and a user easily loses overview with 3 (or 4?) dialogs and the same goes for tabs if you don't know if you have something important enabled in the 'back tabs' ..therefore teegs design is good in that you can simply move the slider a bit and be sure you only have the settings that correspond to what is set on the main window.

[Sharktooth]

@Teegedeck

All that stuff may be already possible... a little gui hack with "User profiles" would do the trick.

[gnr]

Originally posted by Splashdriver
Never mind. It was just a question to find out if there was anyone interested in creating some nice artful design. Obviously nobody likes the idea of seeing such a (graphical) change for a future xvid version.

[i]
Ooh...Thanks for that kind of information, nice man

as xvid is related to graphics and multimedia it surely needs a fancy picture like divx. dont u think? the picture wont help anything but it will look better and when it will look better ppl will like it more.....it will create a impression whenever anyone will use it for the first time.

[CruNcher]

@gnr doesn't we get allready enough manipulated nowdays in our society ?
but to make ya a pleasure and everyone who wants something fancy as a XviD fan :)

XviD QPS Wallpaper 1024
http://cruncher.mufflastig.com/XviD/XviD-1024-final.png

XviD QPS Wallpaper 1600
http://cruncher.mufflastig.com/XviD/XviD-1600-final.jpg

QPS = Quality, Precision, Speed
everything that DivX lacks ;)

[r0cket]

:) that 'smarter than your eyes' thing is kinda fun ;)

[gnr]

Originally posted by CruNcher
@gnr doesn't we get allready enough manipulated nowdays in our society ?
but to make ya a pleasure and everyone who wants something fancy as a XviD fan :)

XviD QPS Wallpaper 1024
http://cruncher.mufflastig.com/XviD/XviD-1024-final.png

XviD QPS Wallpaper 1600
http://cruncher.mufflastig.com/XviD/XviD-1600-final.jpg

QPS = Quality, Precision, Speed
everything that DivX lacks ;)

its nice .... it can be use as a gui's header....need to crop it though

[Splashdriver]

Just for fun I REcreated a previous posted GUI.

@Cruncher(I hope you don't mind I leant one of your wallpapers and GUI just for fun;) )

http://img45.exs.cx/img45/5585/profiles_new_example1a.png

Ofcourse it's not finished at all, but I think it's quite fun to look at, don't you think?.

Greetings,
Splashdriver:D

[SeeMoreDigital]

Well OK then... here's my suggestion: -

http://img23.exs.cx/img23/3198/SMD_Proposed_XviD_GUI.gif

The general idea is to keep the 'Simple Profile' settings totally separate from the 'Advanced Simple Profile' settings


Cheers

[Koepi]

Cool, H264 quantisation! Who coded that and didn't tell anyone? ;)

[Splashdriver]

@SeeMoreDigital

yes, I think it's a good idea to keep Simple Profile separate from Advanced Simple Profile as (I think) it seems a bit more clearly to the interface. Under ASP Settings I see you made an extra box to select the type of B-frames. Adaptive b-frames, isn't that the same method that's now been introduced by the (currently) new DivX 5.2 codec?? Does this mean Xvid will (even more) intelligently apply b-frames which should be bound to enhance compression even more? I think I would be pleased to see such a nice (working;)) MPEG4-feature in any future Xvid-build soon (Or am I completely missing the point and does Xvid already know such method of applying b-frames??). I also see a Information Window...what's the idea behind that?

Greetings,
Splashdriver

[bond]

Originally posted by Splashdriver
I see you made an extra box to select the type of B-frames. Adaptive b-frames, isn't that the same method that's now been introduced by the (currently) new DivX 5.2 codec??lol, i didnt know that divx is responsible for "introducing" mpeg-4 features ;)

[nanga parbat]

That looks really good, SeeMoreDigital! I like that. No confusion, plain and simple.

Is that 'Advanced Options' meant to be a button? Sure it must be, somewhere we need to set MSP, VHQ and all that stuff.
Erm and 'Bitrate Speed'? I am not native English, so what sorta expression is that? I mean I know what field that is and what it's for, just that i've never heard of speed in that context.

Do I understand correct, if one would select 'Simple Profile' that the ASP stuff would be greyed out?

well, but really nice suggestion.

nanga

[niamh]

SeeMore, I think you're onto something ;)
I kinda like that GUI...Maybe the bottom panel could be retractable? ( to make it smaller by default)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hey, thanks for the encouragement you guys :)

Originally posted by Koepi
Cool, H264 quantisation! Who coded that and didn't tell anyone? ;) Yea, I thought you XviD guys might be able to knock something together, in between having a life and visiting the Doom9 forum :D

Originally posted by Splashdriver
I see you made an extra box to select the type of B-frames. Yes well, I think most people know of my "issues" regarding B-VOP. So if it's possible to have different implementations, why not make allowances for it... me thinks!

Originally posted by nanga parbat
...Is that 'Advanced Options' meant to be a button? Yep, there's one of these buttons already in the existing GUI

Originally posted by nanga parbat
Do I understand correct, if one would select 'Simple Profile' that the ASP stuff would be greyed out? Yes, that was my line of thinking :cool:

Originally posted by niamh
I kinda like that GUI...Maybe the bottom panel could be retractable? (to make it smaller by default) Yea, good idea...

I'm just happy some of you liked the general idea and could see the logic behind it... I just wish I had the brains to make stuff like this work in the real world...

Thanks again... Cheers

[SeeMoreDigital]

Tweaked... for your pleasure...

http://img57.exs.cx/img57/4666/SMD_Proposed_XviD_GUI_3.gif


Cheers

[Koepi]

Hm, now you start to mix up things :-/

Interlaced encoding has nothing to do with I-VOPs per se (I-VOPs are Intra-frames [keyframes]).

Reduced Resolution is a feature which isn't compliant to any profile we're usually dealing with here (simple/advanced simple), it's for streaming only, in cases where the bandwidth doesn't suffice for the "whole" resolution. It's not implemented as such feature yet and will most likely get thrown out again soon.

And still it's h.263 quantisation matrix... ;)

What's supposed to appear in the information box?

Regards
Koepi

[communist]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Tweaked... for your pleasure...

Of course there would be boxes to check for GMC / QPEL etc and not radio buttons ;)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Okay, for this latest incarnation, I've switched things around a bit.

The 'Zones' panel is over on the 'Left' plain - So it looks more like the original GUI and the confusing H.264 and I-VOP tags have been replaced...

http://img54.exs.cx/img54/3725/SMD_Proposed_XviD_GUI_6.gif

With regard to the 'Information Window' I thought it might be useful to put details about what some of the functions do. Maybe you could implement this by right clicking over the required function!

And when it's not in use, we could have a cool XviD logo in there... or maybe even a 'crop screen' :)

I've also included some images of the function you get with Recode2. Does anybody know what some of them do. And if they would be useful to us XviD users?

Recode2 - Quality/Speed Settings
http://img69.exs.cx/img69/616/SMDRecode2GUIQualitySpeedSettings.gif

Recode2 - Advanced Settings
http://img55.exs.cx/img55/9776/SMDRecode2GUIAdvanced.gif


Cheers

[Soulhunter]

Inspired by CruNcher's cool slogan... my new HTPC wallpaper !!! (http://img63.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img63&image=Smart_X_1024_Wide_01_by_Soulhunter.png)

EDIT: Think I should note that I use a Matrix theme... ;)


Bye

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by Soulhunter
Inspired by CruNcher's cool slogan... my new HTPC wallpaper !!! (http://img69.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img69&image=Smart_X_1024_Wide_01_by_Soulhunter.png) Yep,

I think I can live with this :D

http://img61.exs.cx/img61/2746/SMD_Proposed_XviD_GUI_7.gif


Cheers

[Soulhunter]

Offtopic, but...

I know that there are tons of wallpapers n' logos for DivX, but where are some nice ones for XviD ???

Maybe its worthy to start a thread to collect some... :confused:


Bye

[opsis81]

Well done SeeMoreDigital!
Your latest GUI is excellent!!!