MotionPhotoMuxerGUI

Note I've switched back to Android for the time being. I do have access to an iPhone for testing, but likely won't be focusing on developing this much further.

Convert Apple Live Photos into Google Motion Photos commonly found on Android phones.

Installation

As of right now, this script only has one dependency, py3exiv2. Unfortunately this requires building a C++ library to install, so you need to install a C++ toolchain.

GUI

Written by ChatGPT 3.5 March 23 2023. Guided AND Debugged by ME(i don't know anything about py coding) for HOURS

For GUI you also need: a Windows PC that supports python 3. And you need to run this "requirement installer" .bat to use it properly.

You need the MotionPhotoMuxerGUI.pyw and MotionPhotoMuxer.py in the same directory or folder.

You need to use .JPG images and .MOV(h.264) videos to use this!!!! It's not gonna work with ".heic" images and (H.265)".MOV" video files!! To transfer the correct formatted files make sure that you use on your iPhone go to:

-Settings.

-Photos.

At the bottom of the page you'll see "Transfer to Mac or PC" section select AUTOMATIC not the OTHER option

Than you transfer the Live Photos that you wanna convert.(i dont recommend transferring REGULAR VIDEOS like this. Only "Live Photos")

HOW TO USE THE GUI:

First you need to install C++ toolchain https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/features/cplusplus/ WITHOUT IT it's NOT gonna work

Than you need to install python https://www.python.org/downloads/

Than you need to download and run req.bat

Than you need to download both of the ORG AND GUI ORG GUI

Than you need to PUT THEM in the same folder

Than double click to run the GUI

Than you need to Select the folder that your Live Photos are in

Than you need to Select the folder that you want the GENERETED GOOGLE MOTION PHOTOS to be in.

Than you click the RUN button. This is it you've MUXED them!!" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Using Ubuntu as an example:

sudo apt-get install build-essential python-all-dev libexiv2-dev libboost-python-dev python3 python3-pip python3-venv
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Installing on a Pixel/Android Phone

• Install Termux from the F-Droid App store
• Install the following packages within Termux in order to satisfy the dependencies for pyexiv2:

'pkg install python3'
'pkg install git'
'pkg install build-essential'
'pkg install exiv2'
'pkg install boost-headers'
git clone https://github.com/mihir-io/MotionPhotoMuxer.git
python3 -m pip install -r MotionPhotoMuxer/requirements.txt

This should leave you with a working copy of MotionPhotoMuxer directly on your Pixel/other Android phone. You may want to make sure Termux has the "Storage" permission granted from within the system settings, if you plan on writing the output files to the /sdcard/ partition.

Usage

usage: MotionPhotoMuxer.py [-h] [--verbose] [--dir DIR] [--recurse] [--photo PHOTO] [--video VIDEO] [--output OUTPUT]

Merges a photo and video into a Microvideo-formatted Google Motion Photo

optional arguments:
  -h, --help       show this help message and exit
  --verbose        Show logging messages.
  --dir DIR        Process a directory for photos/videos. Takes precedence over --photo/--video
  --recurse        Recursively process a directory. Only applies if --dir is also provided
  --photo PHOTO    Path to the JPEG photo to add.
  --video VIDEO    Path to the MOV video to add.
  --output OUTPUT  Path to where files should be written out to.

A JPEG photo and MOV or MP4 video must be provided. The code only does simple error checking to see if the file extensions are .jpg|.jpeg and .mov|.mp4 respectively, so if the actual photo/video encoding is something funky, things may not work right.

Note The output motion photo tends to work more reliably in my experience if the input video is H.264 rather than HEVC.

This has been tested successfully on a couple photos taken on an iPhone 12 and uploaded to Google Photos through a Pixel XL, but there hasn't been any extensive testing done yet, so use at your own risk!

Credit

This wouldn't have been possible without the excellent writeup on the process of working with Motion Photos here.

The GUI script is Written by ChatGPT 3.5 March 24 2023. Guideded AND Debugged by gototheskinny