# Importing Video for Animation? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2020, 2:07am UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390 "2020-03-18T02:07:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scruffy\_Hawk](https://krita-artists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@Scruffy\_Hawk](https://krita-artists.org/u/Scruffy_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 2:07am UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/1 "2020-03-18T02:07:30Z")
I have checked around a little, but I may have missed it either in the forums or Krita itself. I know that users can import animation frames into a project, but what about video? I use iPad Procreate’s animation for portability to start projects, and I’d like to be able to bring those over to Krita, since it has more tools for finishing something. Procreate can export a couple types of files for any animation rendered, but I want to know if Krita supports anything video-wise, apart from just frames. ---
**Author:** ![AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/ahabgreybeard/32/2969_2.png) [@AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/u/AhabGreybeard)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 8:01am UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/2 "2020-03-18T08:01:27Z")
Hello and welcome to the forum 🙂 There’s a plugin called Animator Video Reference which will import the frames of an .mp4 file. This was developed by Scott Petrovic - @scottyp and can be downloaded from [GitHub - scottpetrovic/animator-video-reference: A Python plugin for Krita 4.2 that allows you to load a video for reference and import frames to your document](https://github.com/scottpetrovic/animator-video-reference) Instructions/explanations and a url to a YouTube video are included in the download. ---
**Author:** ![Scruffy\_Hawk](https://krita-artists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@Scruffy\_Hawk](https://krita-artists.org/u/Scruffy_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/3 "2020-03-18T15:53:07Z")
That’s exactly what I was looking for. I’ll be sure to give him my thanks once I’ve installed it. Thank you to you, as well! ---
**Author:** ![Iron\_Moose](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/iron_moose/32/20140_2.png) [@Iron\_Moose](https://krita-artists.org/u/Iron_Moose)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/4 "2021-02-01T22:38:09Z")
Thank you so much for this information; I was looking for it as well. However I ran into issues running the program; it couldn’t find ffmpeg; despite ffmpeg being installed and working fine to render animations. Do you have any idea how to fix that issue? Thanks again! ---
**Author:** ![AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/ahabgreybeard/32/2969_2.png) [@AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/u/AhabGreybeard)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 6:46am UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/5 "2021-02-02T06:46:45Z")
This would need advice from @scottyp, but some information would be useful: Which operating system are you using? Which version of krita and which package are you using? Where did you get ffmpeg from? Did you fully extract/unpack the downloaded ffmpeg package file and are you pointing to the ffmpeg executable in krita’s render animation window options? ---
**Author:** ![scottyp](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/scottyp/32/26_2.png) [@scottyp](https://krita-artists.org/u/scottyp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/6 "2021-02-02T16:26:46Z")
If you are on Windows, you will need to add ffmpeg to your environment variables currently. If you don’t know how to do that you can see this video… [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKJFKHT6bzA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKJFKHT6bzA) I need to update the script to look at the krita config ffmpeg location…but that hasn’t been done yet. I also updated the readme on my github page that points to the video. Hooking ffmpeg up right is the trickiest part of the whole thing right now. ---
**Author:** ![yuania](https://krita-artists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/4da419/32.png) [@yuania](https://krita-artists.org/u/yuania)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/7 "2021-04-14T19:45:44Z")
It didn’t work for importing the video, I have tried it several times, there are still no changes, but, for rendering there are no problems _Under Tools \>\> Script \>\> There is no video animator_ ---
**Author:** ![AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/ahabgreybeard/32/2969_2.png) [@AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/u/AhabGreybeard)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/8 "2021-04-14T20:56:18Z")
Hello and welcome to the forum 🙂 > [@yuania](#): > > It didn’t work for importing the video, I have tried it several times, > [@yuania](#): > > Under Tools \>\> Script \>\> There is no video animator If it’s not available in Tools → Scripts then how can you have tried it several times? If you’re rendering .mp4 videos out then ffmpeg must be ok. I’ve just run version 4.4.3 with a fresh resources folder and then used Tools → Scripts → Import Python Plugin on the downloaded animator\_video\_refererence\_master.zip. Under Tools → Scripts, I then had ‘AnimatorVideo Reference’ It worked fine and after a restart I imported a short .mp4 file and got an animated layer with no problems. Have you added the ffmpeg .exe to the Windows environment variables (assuming you’re using Windows, you don’t say)? Please explain in more detail what you have and what you’ve downloaded and what you’ve done. ---
**Author:** ![RoberG](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/roberg/32/43540_2.png) [@RoberG](https://krita-artists.org/u/RoberG)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 10:29am UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/9 "2022-03-26T10:29:22Z")
Is this still working for people in Krita 5.0.2? I did add the path to the ffmeg bin but get the following warning when I go to tools/scripts/Animator Video Reference. This is on Windows. Many thanks, Robert ---
**Author:** ![AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/ahabgreybeard/32/2969_2.png) [@AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/u/AhabGreybeard)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 10:34am UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/10 "2022-03-26T10:34:06Z")
Hello and welcome to the forum 🙂 In 5.x, importing video has been incorporated and does not need a plugin. Do File → Import Video Animation. Where did you get ffmpeg from? ---
**Author:** ![RoberG](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/roberg/32/43540_2.png) [@RoberG](https://krita-artists.org/u/RoberG)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 11:40am UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/11 "2022-03-26T11:40:22Z")
Many thanks, dear Ahab for helping 🙂 I deactivated the plugin, but it’s still giving me troubles. Do I still need FFMpeg? I completely uninstalled and then Installed Krita again, but Krita is asking me for FFMpeg. Don’t remember where I got FFMpeg from, probably through a link on YouTube, maybe have an outdated one. EDIT: I downloaded FFMpeg 5, refered to it and get a warning that FFMpeg does not support that video format, its an mp4, I also tried mov with the same outcome. ---
**Author:** ![AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/ahabgreybeard/32/2969_2.png) [@AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/u/AhabGreybeard)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 12:20pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/12 "2022-03-26T12:20:02Z")
You do need ffmpeg. Ffmpeg is used by krita for rendering video files as output and also for obtaining video frames from .mp4 files when you Import Video Animation. If you don’t use the plugin then it shouldn’t cause any problems. Note that uninstalling then reinstalling krita will have no effect on its behaviour because that is controlled and determined by various configuration files that are independent of the installed application. That is why you can update krita to a new version and it still has all your personal changes etc. that you’ve made to its configuration (and resources). What is the warning that you get? Please show a screenshot of this. FFmpeg definitely supports .mp4 files and many others. Assuming that you’re using Windows, I’d recommend that you download and use this version and package of ffmpeg: [https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/packages/ffmpeg-4.4.1-essentials\_build.zip](https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/packages/ffmpeg-4.4.1-essentials_build.zip) Make a small and simple animation and try to Render it out as an .mp4 video to make sure everything works. Then try to Import Video Animation. ---
**Author:** ![RoberG](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/roberg/32/43540_2.png) [@RoberG](https://krita-artists.org/u/RoberG)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/13 "2022-03-26T13:25:42Z")
I used the version you suggested. I can import an mp4 created by FFMpeg itself. But not when rendered out from DaviciResolve. Will need some experimenting… ![FFMpeg](https://krita-artists.org/uploads/default/original/3X/d/0/d0eca2e130c55cb3ccf74397f756c9b7fe1844f5.jpeg) EDIT: Good new AVI is working 🙂 Don’t know why mp4 does not. Thanks for helping… ---
**Author:** ![AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/ahabgreybeard/32/2969_2.png) [@AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/u/AhabGreybeard)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/14 "2022-03-26T13:51:41Z")
This is interesting and also worrying. There is a question mark over the gyan v5.0 ffmpeg as a result of a user experience a few weeks ago and that is why I recommended the 4.4.1 version. Is it the case that when you switched to using ffmepeg 4.4.1 that things immediately started working? Also, did your ffmpeg 5.0 come from gyan? When you create an .mp4 file, via fmpeg, there is a choice of which codec to use and also some other parameters. It may be that DavinciResolve has rendering settings that are not compatible with some assumptions that krita makes when using ffmpeg to import .mp4 files. I’ll ask for advice from @scottyp and @KnowZero about this subject. I don’t have DavinciResolve. Can you use a link to a file sharing service or website to make that ‘bad’ .mp4 file available? ---
**Author:** ![KnowZero](https://krita-artists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@KnowZero](https://krita-artists.org/u/KnowZero)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 2:44pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/15 "2022-03-26T14:44:33Z")
Can you provide a sample mp4? Also, try under advanced, disabled ffprobe. (even if it works, please provide a sample mp4 so we can figure out what the problem is) ---
**Author:** ![RoberG](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/roberg/32/43540_2.png) [@RoberG](https://krita-artists.org/u/RoberG)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 3:22pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/16 "2022-03-26T15:22:18Z")
Don’t know if ffmpeg 5 would work because I used the same mp4 file from Davinci. Never had problems with incompatibility with files from Davinci before, but yeah everything is possible ofcourse. Here is a link to a (for me) not working mp4 from Davinci: [Mp4Clip](https://visualconduct-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/robert_visualconduct_onmicrosoft_com/EYUNRA3W7khPvpmKD9j82D8Bm-tw2uSowgqBYE9WN1MORw?e=BtBh3M) ---
**Author:** ![AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/ahabgreybeard/32/2969_2.png) [@AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/u/AhabGreybeard)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/17 "2022-03-26T15:38:47Z")
On Linux with ffmpeg 4.4.1 and 5.0 I also get that error message. ---
**Author:** ![KnowZero](https://krita-artists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@KnowZero](https://krita-artists.org/u/KnowZero)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/18 "2022-03-26T15:39:43Z")
Okay, I see the problem. There is a data stream in there which it can’t recognize the codec for. I will fix it. For the time being, just disable ffprobe in advanced. ---
**Author:** ![AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/user_avatar/krita-artists.org/ahabgreybeard/32/2969_2.png) [@AhabGreybeard](https://krita-artists.org/u/AhabGreybeard)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/19 "2022-03-26T15:43:20Z")
> [@KnowZero](#): > > For the time being, just disable ffprobe in advanced. I tried that and the ‘OK’ button was not active and nothing happened after that. ---
**Author:** ![KnowZero](https://krita-artists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@KnowZero](https://krita-artists.org/u/KnowZero)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 3:45pm UTC](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390/20 "2022-03-26T15:45:59Z")
reimport it a 2nd time after you disable. [Next page](https://krita-artists.org/t/importing-video-for-animation/4390.md?page=2)