Graphics ConversionTool¶
待完善事项¶
Add function of video conversion to self-developed eZip compression encoding format
Improve picture editing and video editing functions
Open more professional parameter interfaces and provide detailed descriptions
Optimize the tool UI interface based on everyone’s opinions
Tool简介¶
In the development of HMI applications, a large number of image and video materials will be used. On the Sifli chip platform, there are several aspects in processing image materials：
Basic processing of images, including format conversion, compression, resolution transformation
Convert images to the dedicated format (eZip) required by the chip
Burn the final material into the platform memory (FLASH or SD card, etc.)
The purpose of this tool is to bring these processes together for the convenience of users’ development and improve efficiency。Tool主要实现如下几点功能：
Conversion of common image formats (PNG/JPEG/WebP/AVIF, etc.), size adjustment, compression function
Conversion of common video formats (MP4/AVI/MJPEG, etc.), basic parameter adjustment, sequence frame extraction and other functions
Convert images in GIF/PNG/APNG formats into Sifli chip-specific formats, namely eZip (still image) or eZip - A (animation)
Provide individual image and video processing, as well as batch image and video processing functions
Tool下载¶
Click to download GraphicsTool toolkit
Tool及Platform方案要求¶
The main purpose of this tool design is to provide convenience for resource conversion of the Sifli development platform. There are the following requirements for the combined use of the platform solution and the tool：
The chip software system and basic resources are placed in NOR FLASH, which can be directly run after being downloaded through the Sifli download tool
Customers’ newly added resources are placed in the SD card to solve the space limitation of NOR FLASH
SD卡上有Fix名称的目录结构，包括：
ebook: E - book folder
music: Music MP3 folder
dynamic_app: Installable dynamic application folder
dynamic_wf: Installable dynamic dial folder
ota: System firmware upgrade folder, multiple files can be placed to choose one for upgrade
photo: Photo folder
video: Video folder
startuplogo: Customizable on - off animation folder
These basic directory structures can be created through the tool. After users put the resources into the corresponding path and convert them through the tool, the output files are copied to the corresponding directory on the SD card for use。
The ota upgrade package is automatically generated when the system code is compiled using the Sifli compilation tool, and can be used by putting it into the ota folder
ToolUseMode¶
Important
This tool provides dedicated mode and normal mode to provide convenience for different users。
Dedicated mode: For the daily use of downstream customers (who may be non - professional users), based on the released chip platform, only a limited configuration that has been fully optimized and tested is provided to avoid unexpected problems caused by unfamiliar incorrect configuration, reducing the complexity of subsequent support。In this mode, the suffixes of video files compressed in MP4, MJPEG, eZip and other ways will be unified as xxx.mp4。
Normal mode: This mode opens up common parameters for image/video processing, with more configuration flexibility and information。The developer mode is mainly used internally by Sifli, and downstream customers who are familiar with image/video processing can also use it at their discretion。For the convenience of daily development, there will be some special format constraints in this mode. For example, MJPEG files will appear in the form of xxx.240x320.mjpeg.mp4 to reflect the specific information of file configuration, but it cannot guarantee that all generated files can be effectively decoded。
图片转换¶
基本功能¶
This tool provides mutual conversion between common image formats, including PNG/JPG/WebP/AVIF, etc., and can adjust image size and image quality parameters。On the Sifli platform, the general process is to convert images of other formats into PNG format according to the required resolution, and then further convert from PNG into eZip format through the tool for the chip to use。
PNG/GIF/APNG–>eZip¶
eZip is a lossless compression format independently developed by Sifli Technology. It can be used for graphic format compression (the compression function is similar to PNG, supporting transparency, with a slightly higher compression ratio than PNG), and can also be used for general file compression。This tool supports converting graphic files in PNG/GIF/APNG formats into eZip format used by the Sifli platform。
视频转换¶
基本功能¶
This tool provides mutual conversion between common video formats and has the following configurable parameters：
Container format selection (MP4/AVI/MJPEG/sequence frames, etc.)
Video encoding format (H.264/H.265/EZIP/VP8/VP9/AV1/MJPEG, etc.)
Audio encoding format (MP3/AAC, etc.)
视频分辨率选择/设置(缩放/区域截取)
视频帧率选择/设置
音频参数设置(消音、单声道或立体声，码率，采样Frequency等)
视频内容截取(截取指定时间段内的视频)
在思澈Platform上常用的视频转换Scenario有：MP4/AVI–>MP4、MP4/AVI–>eZip-A、 MP4/AVI–>MJPEG。
Note
The configuration items for the above MP4 output must be completely consistent with the settings of the internal decoding mechanism of the specific chip, which is determined by the design of the specific chip. The tool needs to provide various configurations accordingly to support debugging and development, but the externally released tool should have several fixed configurations and not offer too much freedom to customers.
序列帧抽取¶
In some scenarios, it is necessary to extract the sequence frames of the video for playing silent animations.The frame rate for extracting sequence frames should not exceed 30 frames. If the original video frame rate is less than 30 frames, the original video frame rate will be used. After extraction, the frame sequence is saved as a PNG image for further eZip conversion.
ToolUse方法¶
The tool interface is shown in the figure below, mainly divided into five areas.For the method of using the tool, you can refer to the “GraphicsTool.pdf” document in the GraphicsTool toolkit. Here, we briefly introduce the operation processes and precautions for several common scenarios.
如何将转换File放入列表中¶
方法1：Use功能控制区的“源选择”按钮选择资源路径
方法2：File选择区右键菜单“更新路径”选择资源路径
方法3: 将File或者路径拖入到列表中
Important
It should be noted that in the file list box, only folders and format files that match the current processing function will be displayed. For details, please refer to the [IMG_FILTER] and [VIDEO_FILTER] configurations in the GraphicsTool.ini file under the tool directory.
如何将转换生成的File放入SD卡中¶
Insert the SD card into the computer (or insert the SD card into the development board and connect the Type-C USB cable to the computer), successfully enumerate the drive letter of the SD card on the computer, and copy the generated files to the corresponding directory location of the SD card drive letter.
推荐UseMethod及步骤¶
Although this tool provides separate image conversion and video conversion functions, there are many parameters that need to be set, and it is generally used when there are special requirements.For the SiFli platform solution, it is recommended to directly use the dedicated mode, without setting too many parameters, just place the resources in the corresponding path and convert with one click.
When opening the tool for the first time, the dedicated mode is selected by default, and a SiFli_Module folder will be created under the tool path, which contains the directory structure set by the solution. When using, you can also create a new directory structure according to your needs. Click the “Directory Creation” button in the toolbar, select the path in the pop-up edit box, and add the project name to the directory for marking. Then you can create the directory structure and choose to use this directory structure.
After creating the directory structure and using this path as the resource path, you can copy the resources to the corresponding directory. In the tool’s conversion file selection area, the refresh list in the right-click menu can display newly added resources. Note that only image/video/GIF and other files will be displayed. Check the files that need to be converted, or check all of them.
Parameters that need to be set in the dedicated mode: select screen resolution, select video processing format (refer to the description of “Video Processing” in section 3.1 of the GraphicsTool.pdf document), and select the resizing method (refer to the description of “Resizing” in section 3.1).
Click the “Convert” button to start the resource conversion. The description and progress bar in the status bar at the bottom of the tool show the conversion progress. After the conversion is completed, click the “Target Path” button to enter the save path after the conversion, and you can copy the entire folder to the SD card and insert it into the hardware board for use.
附录：SD卡的基本知识¶
For systems with an SD card, considering user convenience, specific performance and format requirements for the SD card often cannot be too demanding.
Generally speaking, since the SiFli chip SDK uses the FatFS file system, which supports FAT16 and FAT32, modern SD cards often have large capacities. Therefore, the only requirement is that the file system of the SD card should also be FAT32, supporting up to 32GB capacity. In this case, the SD card can be formatted as FAT32 through the file explorer of the Windows operating system, and there are no other requirements.
For specific scenarios (such as video playback or storage), there may be situations where customer products are required to be paired with a dedicated SD card. In this case, the requirements for the read and write speed of the SD card can be further increased, such as typical mainstream specifications:
SDHC，最多32GB
Class 10 (C10), UHS-I (U1), Video 10MB/s (V10), supporting 10MB/s read and write
SD卡的容量等级¶
SD卡按照容量可以分为：
SD 或 SDSC（安全数码标准容量卡）：最大Storage容量为2GB
SDHC（安全数码高容量卡）：超过2至32GB的Storage容量
SDXC（安全数码Expansion容量）：超过32GB至2TB的Storage容量
SDUC（安全数码超大容量）：超过2TB至128TB的Storage容量
SD卡的Speed等级¶
SD卡按照Speed可以分为：
SD卡的Interface与RateMode¶
The interface of the SD card is divided into two types: SDIO and SPI. Depending on the chip platform and application scenarios, both interfaces may be used。
SDIO：According to the rate mode of the interface, SD cards can be divided into the following seven types:
Default Speed Mode: 3.3V power supply, frequency up to 25MHz, speed up to 12.5MB/s
High Speed Mode: 3.3V power supply, frequency up to 50MHz, speed up to 25MB/s
SDR12: UHS-I card, 1.8V power supply, frequency up to 25MHz, speed up to 12.5MB/s
SDR25: UHS-I card, 1.8V power supply, frequency up to 50MHz, speed up to 25MB/s
SDR50: UHS-I card, 1.8V power supply, frequency up to 100MHz, speed up to 50MB/s
SDR104: UHS-I card, 1.8V power supply, frequency up to 208MHz, speed up to 104MB/s
DDR50: UHS-I card, 1.8V power supply, frequency up to 50MHz, speed up to 50MB/s
SPI：
In the SPI rate mode of the SD card, the frequency limit is 25MHz and the speed limit is 3.125MB/s
Note
When the external storage capacity of the chip on the module or PCBA is insufficient, it is possible to use the onboard SD card to further expand the storage at a lower cost，At this time, the partition and file system of the SD card need to be fixed according to the usage scenario，Then, dedicated tools are required to partition and flash the SD card，At the same time, the performance of the SD card can also be fixed。
In this case, the SD card should be placed in a protected state（Seal the SD card or embed the card slot so that it is not exposed）；如果User自行取出SD卡并在ComputerFileBrowser（而非Dedicated tool）上Formatting或改变Partition，则非常有Possible会损害整个System，导致System无法恢复正常Work。In this case, the only way is to guide the customer to repartition and format using dedicated tools。Due to the complexity of after-sales service, this method of end-user self-operation should be avoided as much as possible。