Command line arguments


The EZ Squeeze compressor MovieToEZQ is an MPW tool with UNIX-style command line arguments, listed in the following table:

Note: Clicking the mouse button while MovieToEZQ is running will abort the compression

Table 1:  EZ Squeeze command line arguments.
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Argument /             |Function                                 
Default                |                                         
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- a                    |Uses alpha channel as transparency mask. 
                       |Requires an image with an alpha channel  
                       |(depth = 32 or depth = 16).  If a value  
                       |in the alpha channel is zero, then the   
                       |corresponding pixel will be forced to be 
                       |transparent (0,0,0).  Otherwise,         
                       |transparent pixels (0,0,0) will be forced
                       |to be opaque (0,0,1).                    
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-b<NUMBER> 65536       |Sets the block size for the output       
                       |stream. Compressed frames will not be    
                       |broken over a block boundary, so it is   
                       |optimal to have this value close to a    
                       |multiple of the average compressed frame 
                       |size.  The value must be a multiple of   
                       |2048 in order for the Weaver to work     
                       |correctly.                               
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-c<NUMBER>0            |Sets the output channel number for the   
                       |compressed movie.  This option sets the  
                       |value stored in the film and/or frame    
                       |headers.                                 
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-d<STRING>nil          |Sets the directory for the output stream.
                       |If none is specified, the output is      
                       |written to the current working directory.
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-e<mm:ss.ms>           |Sets the elapsed time of the output      
                       |video. Indicates  minutes (mm), seconds  
                       |(ss) and milliseconds (ms). The          
                       |milliseconds argument is optional, but if
                       |omitted, the  preceding decimal point    
                       |should also be omitted.  If the elapsed  
                       |time value is not specified, the duration
                       |of the input movie is assumed. (See also,
                       |-k and -t.)                              
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-f<NUMBER>             |Sets the frames per second for the output
                       |stream. Normally, the frame rate of the  
                       |output stream is set to be the same as   
                       |that used by the first video track in the
                       |QuickTime movie.  <NUMBER>               
                       |specifies the output frame rate in frames
                       |per second. If  -k is also specified, the
                       |frame rate is achieved by skipping or    
                       |doubling frames in the QuickTime movie at
                       |appropriate times. Otherwise, there is a 
                       |1:1 correspondence between frames in the 
                       |input and output streams, and the        
                       |timestamp of each frame is adjusted to   
                       |achieve the desired frame rate.          
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-kOff                  |Sets the Kill Frames flag. Allows the    
                       |duplication or omission of frames in     
                       |order to achieve a desired frame rate or 
                       |movie duration (see also, -e, -f, and -t 
                       |options).                                
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-l                     |Not used.                                
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-m<NUMBER>             |Not used.                                
                       |                                         
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-n                     |Normalizes RGB color plane values. Inputs
                       |three decimal numbers that will be used  
                       |as multipliers for each pixel in the     
                       |three (R, G, B) color planes             
                       |respectively.  This provides rudimentary 
                       |color processing capability, which is    
                       |useful in certain images with            
                       |particularly strange characteristics;    
                       |e.g., saturated NTSC colors.             
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-p<NUMBER>0            |Sets pixel threshold; i.e., the maximum  
                       |error that will be tolerated when        
                       |calculating runs for compression. The    
                       |error value corresponds to the absolute  
                       |value of the sum of the signed           
                       |differences of the separate R, G and B   
                       |values of the two pixels. Practical      
                       |ranges for this argument seem to be from 
                       |0 through 3. Setting it to -1 will       
                       |inhibit run-length encoding.             
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-q <filename&g t;      |Not used.                                
                       |                                         
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-r<NUMBER>252          |Defines the "run-literal threshold." Runs
                       |longer than this value, in terms of      
                       |pixels, will always be set to the        
                       |original pixel value of the first pixel  
                       |in the run. This number can be modified  
                       |to eliminate subtle horizontal streaks   
                       |that sometimes result from run-length    
                       |coding. In general, set this number as   
                       |high as possible (maximum 252) without   
                       |producing adverse results. MovieToEZQ    
                       |only allows this to be set to multiples  
                       |of 4 pixels, but never set it to just 4,
                       |as this will increase the size of your   
                       |image instead of compressing it.         
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-s<Decimal#>0.0        |Sets the start time for the output       
                       |stream, specifying the value in seconds  
                       |and fractions of seconds. When this value
                       |is specified, the first frame copied to  
                       |the output will be the one set at this   
                       |time in the input QuickTime movie. This  
                       |lets you skip over frames at the front of
                       |a movie and tweak parameter settings on  
                       |difficult frames.                        
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-t<Decimal#>           |Sets the duration of the output movie and
                       |specifies the value in seconds and       
                       |fractions of seconds. Identical in       
                       |function to  -e, except that it lets you 
                       |set the duration. (See also -k.)         
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-uOn                   |Sets flag to turn off tables for each    
                       |frame.  Lets you turn off the feature    
                       |that calculates a new table to be sent   
                       |with each frame.                         
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-vOff                  |Sets the verbose flag, which cause such  
                       |information as the compressed size of    
                       |each individual frame to be printed      
                       |during compression.                      
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-w / Off               |Displays image as it is being compressed.
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-x<NUMBER>             |Specifies the maximum number of frames to
                       |process. This value is set to the entire 
                       |input movie by default. If -t or  -e  is 
                       |specified, the frame rate is adjusted so 
                       |that the output movie is exactly the     
                       |duration specified by -t and contains    
                       |exactly the number of frames specified by
                       |-x.                                      
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-z<NUMBER&g            |Specifies the maximum uncorrected error  
t; / 3,3,3             |for RGB during compression and sets the  
                       |values of the R, G, and B planes         
                       |respectively. This value may have a      
                       |significant effect on the quality of the 
                       |compressed image and will have a smaller,
                       |but noticeable, effect on the compressed 
                       |image size as well. Smaller values yield 
                       |better quality and worse compression.    
                       |Useful values lie between 1 and 8.       
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