Using FFmpeg with Tahoma2D

What is FFmpeg?

To render your animation as an mp4 or webm, or also as a gif on Mac, Tahoma2D requires the FFmpeg multimedia framework to be installed on your machine.
For more information, please visit this page: About FFmpeg

Tahoma2D ships with a version of FFmpeg that is licensed under the LGPL license. This version can export .mp4 videos, but may not deliver as high quality videos as the GPL version of FFmpeg. You may want to change the version of FFmpeg that is used in Tahoma. To do so, follow the instructions below.

Installing FFmpeg for Windows

Downloading

To download FFmpeg, first visit this page: Download FFmpeg

get_the_packages

Select the Windows icon and then select the Windows builds link:

packages_windows

You will be taken to an FFmpeg Builds page with some options for the version of FFmpeg that you want to download:

ffmpeg_builds_windows

In the majority of cases, the default choices are fine.
Click on the blue Download Build button, this will begin downloading a zip archive containing FFmpeg.

Installing

Once you have downloaded the FFmpeg zip archive, open it and double-click on the first folder.
Within the bin folder are the executable files that you will need.
  • Create a new folder on your computer, the recommended location is C:\.

  • Name the new folder FFmpeg.

  • Drag the contents of the bin folder from the archive into the newly created folder.

ffmpeg_extracted_windows

  • Next, start Tahoma2D and open the Preferences window with File → Preferences…

  • Navigate to the Import/Export category; at the top you will see a box with the text FFmpeg path.

  • Insert the path to your FFmpeg folder that you created earlier, if you have used the recommended path, this will be C:\FFmpeg\:

ffmpeg_path_windows

  • Restart Tahoma.

  • Open the Output Settings window with Render → Output Settings…

In the File Settings subsection, you should now see mp4 and webm.

output_settings_windows

Installing FFmpeg for Mac

Downloading

To download FFmpeg, first visit this page: Download FFmpeg

get_the_packages

Select the Apple icon and select the Static and Shared builds link.

packages_mac

You will be taken to an FFmpeg Builds page with some options for the version of FFmpeg that you want to download:
Make sure macOS 64-bit is selected under the Architecture column.

ffmpeg_builds_mac

Click on the blue Download Build button, this will begin downloading a zip archive containing FFmpeg.

Installing

Once you have downloaded the FFmpeg zip archive, open it and double-click on the first folder.
Within the bin folder are the executable files that you will need.
  • Open Finder and create a new folder, the Applications/Tahoma folder is the recommended location.

ffmpeg_finder

  • Name the new folder FFmpeg

  • Drag the contents of the bin folder from the archive into the newly created folder.

ffmpeg_extracted_mac

Tip

For macOS 10.15 and later, each executable within the FFmpeg folder needs to be opened before using Tahoma2D (this only needs to be done one time, due to security features). In Finder, right-click on each executable (ffmpeg, ffprobe, and etc.) and select Open With Terminal. Once the Terminal windows have launched successfully, Terminal can be closed.

  • Next, start Tahoma2D and open the Preferences window with File → Preferences…

  • Navigate to the Import/Export category; at the top you will see a box with the text FFmpeg path.

  • Insert the path to your FFmpeg folder that you created earlier, if you have used the recommended path, this will be /Applications/Tahoma/FFmpeg:

ffmpeg_path_mac

  • Restart Tahoma.

  • Open the Output Settings window with Render → Output Settings…

In the File Settings subsection, you should now see mp4, webm and gif.

output_settings_mac

Installing FFmpeg for Linux

To install FFmpeg, enter the following command in the shell depending on your distribution.

Arch Linux: # pacman -S extra/ffmpeg

Debian GNU/Linux: # apt install ffmpeg

Gentoo Linux: # emerge media-video/ffmpeg

Solus: # eopkg install ffmpeg

If you are using a other Linux distribution please refer to its documentation or visit the FFmpeg website.

Tip

To make it possible to export files in mp4, webm or gif formats, you need to specify the path to FFmpeg installed on your system, usually it is /usr/bin/ffmpeg. Enter command which ffmpeg in the shell to find out.

  • Start Tahoma2D and open the Preferences window with File → Preferences…

  • Navigate to the Import/Export category; at the top you will see a box with the text FFmpeg path.

  • Insert the path /usr/bin.

ffmpeg_path_linux

  • Restart Tahoma.

  • Open the Output Settings window with Render → Output Settings…

In the File Settings subsection, you should now see mp4, webm and gif.

output_settings_linux