AVISynthesizer - A tool to make Avisynth usable by mere mortals :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Intro
~~~~~
Avisynth is a powerful video processing tool by Ben Rudiak-Gould.
AVISynthesizer lets you build Avisynth scripts based on predefined
templates. If you aren't the sort that is willing or able to learn
a computer scripting language, AVISynthesizer makes Avisynth's power
accessible to you.
If you already know the Avisynth scripting language, AVISynthesizer
helps you with repetitive scripting chores. If you have a suitable
template defined, AVISynthesizer can build complete scripts
for you. At the very least, you can use the simple AVISource or
DirectShowSource templates to generate the repetitive parts that
begin nearly all one-off scripts.

Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you downloaded and ran the AVISynthesizer self-installing package,
it set AVISynthesizer up for you.
If you have built AVISynthesizer from source and now want to install
it manually, run asynther.exe with the -i command line switch. If you
are not using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you will also need to run
the shfolder.exe program that came with the package. This installs
a compatibility DLL that lets my program use a certain Windows 2000
function on older OSes.
If for some unfortunate reason you want to manually uninstall the
package, run asynther.exe with the -u switch. You can also use
Windows' Add/Remove Programs function to automatically remove the
program, of course.

Usage
~~~~~
Right-click on a media file in Explorer, and say "Send to |
AVISynthesizer". A small window will pop up listing the available
Avisynth script templates by description. Pick one, and hit the
Generate Script button. AVISynthesizer will spit out a script named
after the first file name on the command line and the file name of
the template you selected. If there is already a file by that name,
a number will be appended.
For example, if you pass foo.avi to AVISynthesizer and select the
svcd.avst template ("Resize and remove noise for SVCD"), the generated
script will be named foo--svcd.avs. If you did the same thing again,
the next generated script would be named foo--svcd2.avs.
If you send more than one file to AVISynthesizer, another list
appears to the right of the template list containing the file
names you selected. The arrow buttons to the right of that list
let you reorder the file list, thus affecting the order they're
named in the generated Avisynth script. This feature is necessary
because, in certain situations, Explorer passes the selected files to
AVISynthesizer in an odd order. Rather than force users to Ctrl-Click
each file individually to set the order, I added this feature.
Template Syntax
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AVISynthesizer comes with several sample templates, all of which are
useful, to various degrees. If you want to make your own templates,
you need to know Avisynth's scripting language and the AVISynthesizer
template rules:
0. The script must contain a specially-formatted comment. See
the exmple below for details.
1. The first instance of the string "%f" (without the quotes) is
replaced with the file name given on the asynther.exe command
line.
2. If you put a section of the script in [square brackets],
that section will be repeated once for each file name
passed on the command line. Within that repeating section,
the %f is replaced with a file name from the command
line, and a plus sign is placed between each repeated
script section.
3. The template must be placed in a subdirectory called
template underneath the directory where you put
asynther.exe. Each template file must end in .avst.
The effect of these rules is clearer with an example. Consider
this simple AVISynthesizer template:
#ASYNTHER Just a simple template
[AVISource("%f")]
If you run asynther.exe with "1" as the command line argument,
it will generate a file called 1.avs:
#ASYNTHER Just a simple template
AVISource("1")
If you run asynther.exe with "1 2" as the command line arguments,
it will generate a file called 1.avs:
#ASYNTHER Just a simple template
AVISource("1") + AVISource("2")
Notice that AVISynthesizer names the output script after the
first input file name.
The "Just a simple template" on the ASYNTHER comment line is used by
AVISynthesizer to build the list box you see on startup, letting you
pick a template by description.

Limitations
~~~~~~~~~~~
o If you set up a repeating section in a script template, there
must be a "%f" somewhere within that repeating section.
AVISynthesizer will yell at you if you violate this rule. If you
have a good reason to violate this rule, email me about it. If
you come up with useful behavior for this situation, I'll probably
 implement it.
o The program only understands one repeating section per line, and
it does not understand nested repeating sections. If there
is more than one set of brackets on a line, it will use the
outside-most pair.
o The closing bracket for a repeating section must be on the same
line as the opening bracket.

Addresses
~~~~~~~~~
Author's email: Warren Young <wdyoung@acm.org>
AVISynthesizer home: http://www.cyberport.com/~tangent/video/asynther.html
Avisynth home: http://www.math.berkeley.edu/~benrg/avisynth.html