some xfade transitions fail with `Undefined constant or missing '(' in ...`

[Alexandr]

I am trying to make xfade transitions for a list of input videos.

All transition types are working fine except these five:

• hblur
• wipetl
• wipebl
• wipetr
• wipebr

I'm on:

• ffmpeg version: 4.3.1
• OS: OSX 10.15.6

It looks like the same is happening on Alpine Linux 3.12

Here is the command:

ffmpeg -y \
-i 1.mp4 \
-i 2.mp4 \
-i 3.mp4 \
-filter_complex "[0][1]xfade=transition=hblur:duration=0.5:offset=4.066[V1];\
[V1][2]xfade=transition=hblur:duration=0.5:offset=12.142,format=yuv420p[video];\
[0:a][1:a]acrossfade=d=0.5:c1=tri:c2=tri[A1];\
[A1][2:a]acrossfade=d=0.5:c1=tri:c2=tri[audio]" \
-map "[video]" -map "[audio]" video.mp4

Here is the output:

ffmpeg version 4.3.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2020 the FFmpeg developers
  built with Apple clang version 11.0.3 (clang-1103.0.32.62)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/4.3.1 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-version3 --enable-avresample --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-ffplay --enable-gnutls --enable-gpl --enable-libaom --enable-libbluray --enable-libdav1d --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-librav1e --enable-librubberband --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsrt --enable-libtesseract --enable-libtheora --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-lzma --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-frei0r --enable-libass --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-librtmp --enable-libspeex --enable-libsoxr --enable-videotoolbox --disable-libjack --disable-indev=jack
  libavutil      56. 51.100 / 56. 51.100
  libavcodec     58. 91.100 / 58. 91.100
  libavformat    58. 45.100 / 58. 45.100
  libavdevice    58. 10.100 / 58. 10.100
  libavfilter     7. 85.100 /  7. 85.100
  libavresample   4.  0.  0 /  4.  0.  0
  libswscale      5.  7.100 /  5.  7.100
  libswresample   3.  7.100 /  3.  7.100
  libpostproc    55.  7.100 / 55.  7.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '1.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    encoder         : Lavf58.29.100
  Duration: 00:00:10.71, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1229 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, mono, fltp, 66 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SoundHandler
    Stream #0:1(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 1280x720, 1152 kb/s, 60 fps, 60 tbr, 15360 tbn, 120 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
Input #1, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '2.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    encoder         : Lavf58.29.100
  Duration: 00:00:09.54, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 609 kb/s
    Stream #1:0(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, mono, fltp, 52 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SoundHandler
    Stream #1:1(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 1280x720, 545 kb/s, 60 fps, 60 tbr, 15360 tbn, 120 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
Input #2, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '3.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    encoder         : Lavf58.29.100
  Duration: 00:00:11.80, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 484 kb/s
    Stream #2:0(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, mono, fltp, 66 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SoundHandler
    Stream #2:1(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 1280x720, 405 kb/s, 60 fps, 60 tbr, 15360 tbn, 120 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
[xfade @ 0x7f82b3608fc0] [Eval @ 0x7ffeee71fb40] Undefined constant or missing '(' in 'hblur'
[xfade @ 0x7f82b3608fc0] Unable to parse option value "hblur"
[xfade @ 0x7f82b3608fc0] [Eval @ 0x7ffeee71fb90] Undefined constant or missing '(' in 'hblur'
[xfade @ 0x7f82b3608fc0] Unable to parse option value "hblur"
[xfade @ 0x7f82b3608fc0] Error setting option transition to value hblur.
[Parsed_xfade_0 @ 0x7f82b3608f00] Error applying options to the filter.
[AVFilterGraph @ 0x7f82b3610b80] Error initializing filter 'xfade' with args 'transition=hblur:duration=0.5:offset=4.066'
Error initializing complex filters.
Invalid argument

See also the related fluent-ffmpeg bug report I've posted:
​https://github.com/fluent-ffmpeg/node-fluent-ffmpeg/issues/1072

[Elon Musk]

Only git ffmpeg version is supported here.
Also your ffmpeg version is too old.