Converting video file to list of images to analyze pixels of each frame

I am trying to recreate the following physics experiment to analyze chaotic motion:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275890532_Tracking_the_Motion_of_a_Double_Pendulum_Using_Mathematica

I have written my program to import a video and use mathematica to create a list of the frames of the video which I will then use to analyze the pixels of each frame as they did in the experiment.

This is my code thus far:

(* First set the directory to the location of the video clip *)
SetDirectory["/Users/user/Desktop"];

(* Select the video clip you would like to analyze *)
videoName = "IMG_4777.mov";
video = Import[videoName]
(* Out: {1, 2, 3, ..., 1308, 1309, 1310} *)

(* Note the value of the last frame, set lastFrame to that value *)
firstFrame = 1;
lastFrame = 1310;
step = 1;

(* Import the video again this time as an ImageList with the correct range *)
(* Please be aware this step can take a long time, you can up the 'step' value to speed it
up but you will loose frames. *)
video = Import[videoName, {"ImageList", Range[firstFrame, lastFrame, step]}];

(* Please be aware this step can also take a long time. *)
(* Here we are creating a table of images from the imported video *)
tableStep = 1;
images = Table[ImageData[video[[i]]], {i, 1, Length[video], tableStep}];

image = images[1]; (<- This is where I am having a problem)


As you can see on line 15 I am attempting to get the first frame so I can analyze its pixels.

Please note that the video clip I am using is about 30 seconds in length (1 trial of the experiment).

My problem: I am having trouble accessing the images 'table' (assuming I have set it up correctly)

I want to be able to iterate through each frame and analyze the pixels and export the resulting positions to an excel sheet.

I am not sure what syntax I should be using or how best to manipulate 'ImageData'

• I think you want images[[1]]. – Carl Lange Apr 2 '19 at 21:30
• @CarlLange image = images[[1]] gives me an error: Part specification images[[1]] is longer than depth of object – happyhippie924 Apr 2 '19 at 21:41
• Are your variables turning blue after you run the final line of image = images[[1]]? Your code (with the improvement made by Carl Lange) should be correct. When I try a similar procedure on only 6 frames of a video, I'm finding that Mathematica crashes and all the variables are created. I get the same error message and in my case it is because images is cleared so you can't take part 1 of it. – MassDefect Apr 2 '19 at 22:21
• Have you tried looking at the Dimensions of images? That error is a clue that the data has a dimension that you don't expect. – Carl Lange Apr 2 '19 at 22:43
• Try importing the image frames one at a time, operate on the one, and then get the next. Something like frames = Import[videoName, {"ImageList", i}] and then increment i to get the next frame. – bill s Apr 3 '19 at 0:34