Animay

While you’re waiting for the gallery to upgrade/update I thought I would post a little information on how I screencap and the time it takes roughly for me to screencap these series.

Beginning the process:

A raw file is downloaded for an anime episode. Usually its a matter of choosing the best raw available. In some instances there may be only one raw-provider releasing one specific series, in another, there could be up to 10 raw-providers releasing the same episode. Usually these multiple releases can be of the same raw, but sometimes an anime series may be broadcast across different networks, and so sometimes you can get differing quality pending which network it aired on. I usually grab .mp4 files as they work easier for me, but will sometimes grab .mkv if I have to. I don’t use .avi raw files.

Once the episode is downloaded, I rename it (getting rid of all the data that raw providers throw into the title) and run the raw through a batch-screengrab program. Unfortunately this program runs better on XP than it does on Vista so I have to do this on another machine. This part of the process can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes per episode to screencap.

Culling the files:

I like to put up only the images that people will look at or download. No point in using a bunch of images where all you see is an ear, or half a face or you have about 20 screencaps of the same person in the same position (usually comes from when the focus is on one character who is speaking and all that moves is the character’s mouth). So after the episode has been screencapped I like to go through all the grabbed screens and delete, or cull, out the ones that don’t make the grade. Each episode I screencap will generate anywhere from 1400-6000+ images. These get culled down to anywhere between 300-700+ images. That’s a lot of images to cull! The double-eps take the longest as they generate the most images (close to 6000 or just over), movies will also take a fair amount considering they’re longer than a double-ep.

Single episodes can take between 45minutes to 1hr to cull. If I get distracted (sometimes I do these at work) they take longer. Double episodes can take between 1hr – 2+ hours to cull. Movies can take between 1.5 – 3hours.

The quickest part:

Bulk renaming! Its the quickest part of the process. I have a utility program that renames files in bulk and I get it to regenerate the image number at the end of the file so that its not all over the place. This process takes 5 seconds!!

The Final Run:

The final part can take just as long as the rest of the process, sometimes even longer. This is where I upload the screencaps to the gallery. Again, I tend to upload at least two or three episodes worth if possible on a regular update (hah what are those?!!) or 5+ on a big update. Pending how the net is running, the uploading of the files can take between 5 – 15 minutes per episode.

After this, I go into the gallery and pull it offline just to make it easy for me to update. I create a new album and label it, then start the batch add process (this may be different with the newer version of cpg). The batch add process can take roughly about 10+ minutes to complete per episode, again depending on how the net is functioning at the time I’m doing the update. I then hit the ‘edit’ button and do a copy/paste of the title into each image page. Unfortunately I’m limited to the number of images per page to update so it takes a bit longer. Again, depending on how the net is at the time I’m doing the update, this can take anywhere between 10-30 minutes per episode.

And then that’s it!

So in total, for one episode to be screencapped, culled, uploaded and updated on the gallery it takes me approximately 1hour & 20 minutes minimum to 2 hours 25 minutes maximum. And that’s just one episode!! As you know, I don’t often update just one episode! And it also doesn’t include posting the update here on the main website lol.

So now you have a bit of an idea of how long it takes for lil ol’ me to get these screencaps up on the site. Yes, I know it is my way of making an excuse for being so far behind but you can get an understanding of why it can be off-putting some time. On top of the time involved, I still need time to sleep, eat and go to work as well as updating other websites and having some down time to myself! Don’t worry, I’m not after sympathy, just a little understanding!!

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