Home

SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual

1. 219 CROSSFADE 225 CROSSFADE 226 CROSSFADE 227 CROSSFADE 228 SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE 229 SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE 232 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 233 CROSSFADE 234 CROSSFADE 235 CROSSFADE 236 CROSSFADE 237 CROSSFADE 238 CROSSFADE 239 CROSSFADE 240 CROSSFADE 241 CROSSFADE 242 CROSSFADE 243 CROSSFADE 244 CROSSFADE 245 SNAP BEFORE FADE 246 247 248 249 250 SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE ooo 255 255 255 128 128 128 128 128 128 128 64 64 64 64 64 64 00000 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 43 of 53 Object 2 CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE ooo 255 255 255 128 128 128 128 128 128 128 64 64 64 64 64 00000 Elat
2. CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 120 CROSSFADE 101 CROSSFADE 102 CROSSFADE 103 CROSSFADE 104 CROSSFADE 105 CROSSFADE 106 CROSSFADE 107 CROSSFADE 108 CROSSFADE 109 CROSSFADE 110 CROSSFADE 111 CROSSFADE 112 CROSSFADE 113 CROSSFADE 114 CROSSFADE 115 CROSSFADE 116 CROSSFADE 117 CROSSFADE 118 CROSSFADE 119 CROSSFADE Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 38 of 53 Live Camera 1 121 CROSSFADE 122 SNAP BEFORE FADE 123 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 124 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 125 CROSSFADE 126 CROSSFADE 127 CROSSFADE 128 CROSSFADE 129 CROSSFADE 130 CROSSFADE 131 CROSSFADE 132 CROSSFADE 133 CROSSFADE 134 CROSSFADE 135 CROSSFADE 136 CROSSFADE 137 CROSSFADE 138 CROSSFADE 139 CROSSFADE 140 CROSSFADE 141 CROSSFADE 142 CROSSFADE 143 CROSSFADE 144 CROSSFADE OOOONO 255 255 255 128 128 128 128 32 32 32 32 00000 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 39 of 53 Live Camera 2 Future Development 145 CROSSFADE 146 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 147 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 148 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 149 CROSSFADE 150 CROSSFADE 151 CROSSFADE 152 CROSSFADE 153 CROSSFADE 154 CROSSFADE 155 CROSSFADE 156 CROSSFADE 157 CROSSFADE 158 CROSSFADE 159 CROSSFADE 160 CROSSFADE 161 CROSSFADE 162 CROSSFADE 1
3. Copyright 2006 Elation Professional Inc and Brash Live Systems Inc The Brash logo is a trademark of Brash Live Systems Inc The Elation Logo is the trademark of Elation Professional Inc Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 3 of 53 Introduction to SD3D Media Generator The SD3D Media Generator is a software package designed to allow generation and manipulation of video effects in a real time environment It can be used in several areas of application where real time generation of video effects is required which does not typically lend itself to traditional linear based methods In complex live show environments events can be very spontaneous The visualist needs to react very quickly to changing events The right tools are required to create seemingly unique and complex visual effects at a moments notice The SD3D Media Generator addresses these needs by providing a system that allows the visualist to access a full complement of media attributes using the Elation Professional Series of DMX consoles Unlike other traditional VJ software or media software packages SD3D exposes every parameter via a DMX channel so users can take advantage of the DMX program features of the Elation Professional Show Designer series of control desks and apply them to their compositions Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 4 of 53 System Overview The SD3D Media Generator System is comprised of the following compo
4. Profile button in the Profile Mngmt area Populate each layer with minimum media content Let s say 4 items per layer So do 7 layers Video 1 Video 2 Particle 1 Object 1 Object 2 Object 3 and Mask And apply 4 textures to Textl and 4 textures to Text2 for each of the 3 Object layers Promote the profile so the SD3D system can use your custom profile 10 At this time you can close your Elation AM software if you want You can also minimize it and come back to it to add more medias assets later on 11 Open the main SD3D software by double clicking on Elation SD3D The boot up time can take up to one minute 12 It is a wise move to set the startup render mode as the first Preset by going to SAVE as button and saving this as default sef 13 If you have an Elation Show Designer DMX console configure it to match the channel attributes of the SD3D system Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 31 of 53 14 Check to see if the SD3D is receiving DMX data from the console by playing with channels 6 7 and 8 of the Master Layer Sliding channel 8 for Master Layer of the Elation Show Designer to 255 should change the Render Screen red If it does not make sure all the connections between the console and computer are secure Ensure the DMX console is programmed according to the DMX assignment as described in Appendix 1 If the connections are correct the faders on the Virtual Console sh
5. SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Version Draft 0 20 Table of Contents SD3D Media Generator SOL Worcester regional rodea 1 US BENI A A AA A AO 1 Table OF COMES laica 2 Document Revision USO A A A A E 3 Introduction to SD3D Media Generator miicoinsocossionanionaninnac cian amina caben cren scndeceessbecsoeatanee 4 A A A A PRN PR 5 Installation Requirements cos ii A iia 6 is AAA A A A A 7 Window NES A a UE ld 8 Mule Monitor Sula sara a a E En arar e A A A nin ua Runa 9 Digital Media Assets and Elation AM Asset Manager 11 Prod cton Work lo Want DA O EE 16 AIN A Sayan ES TOTO qa Sd aa 17 SD3D Main Program a asas is aaa E EA NEE E Cu E Con a 18 Creatina Presets im SDS nit Sa E a e eSEE a aE ti 30 Testsetup and Tutorial 3 203 AA ia R 31 Sa nadas CA Han bato tot beatadencase sudden Gobstuntahinolunsttel RERET 33 Troubleshooting a A A E A A a 34 APPendi ARA NORA DAR PRENDA DR PRE RD UA DO E AR NPR PD RR 35 Glossa A A T E E ARES 50 AATE CE OEE aaa E E 50 Digit l Video Formats soere ete aeaa Eaa ERAO AEEA PASARE Ees RSE 50 Digital Still Image Formats ii 52 Digital Data Rates A a A A AEAEE AA apa 52 dEr ss cass taketh asia CADU Sa a tas A AEE a cay ee EA AA ad 53 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 2 of 53 Document Revision History Revision Date Author Description mm dd yy 0 10 11 26 2006 Brash Initial document 0 20 12 29 2006 Elation Copy Edit amp Additions
6. momentarily Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 22 of 53 DOCK and FLOATING WINDOWS Most of the windows in the system are floating or docked but can be floated windows Sometimes this can be a problem when your screen real estate is small and the floating windows end up behind each other The system has been designed to work with many screen options which can span from one to up to three screens There are many combinations of screen configurations that the user can set the system to operate under Unfortunately this means it is easy to get some windows behind other windows They basically disappear and unless you know the Windows XP system well it may be difficult to get back to a point where you have full access to all the operating windows within your screen real estate If you ever get into a situation where you have a full screen render window covering the whole of your single screen it may appear that the computer has crashed Try pressing Alt F4 on your keyboard This will close the render window You can then re arrange or move your main GUI to another location or change the size of the render window to accommodate your screen real estate You can recall your render screen by pressing the icon VIRTUAL CONSOLE The Virtual Console which is invoked by pressing the icon on the tool bar The Virtual Console allows the user to interact with SD3D via virtual faders or to monitor DMX activity in the chann
7. 353 CROSSFADE 354 CROSSFADE 355 CROSSFADE 358 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 359 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 360 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 361 CROSSFADE 362 CROSSFADE 363 CROSSFADE 364 CROSSFADE 365 CROSSFADE 366 CROSSFADE 367 CROSSFADE 368 CROSSFADE 369 CROSSFADE 370 CROSSFADE 371 CROSSFADE 372 CROSSFADE 373 SNAP BEFORE FADE 374 SNAP BEFORE FADE 375 SNAP BEFORE FADE 376 SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE 379 CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SONDA ADN 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 1 SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE 2 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 46 of 53 381 382 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 383 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 384 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 385 CROSSFADE 386 CROSSFADE 387 CROSSFADE 388 SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE 389 SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE 390 391 CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE FADE 406 SNAP BEFORE FADE 407 SNAP BEFORE FADE 408 SNAP BEFORE FADE 409 SNAP BEFORE FADE 410 SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CR
8. DEFAUL FIXTURE T 255 255 255 255 255 255 128 128 128 128 128 128 128 128 128 a M Oo000000000 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 35 of 53 Video 1 CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE 000000 6 R oooo 255 255 255 128 128 128 128 32 32 32 32 00000 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 36 of53 Video 2 CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE 000000 6 R oooo 255 255 255 128 128 128 128 32 32 32 32 00000 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 37 of 53 Video 3 Future Development
9. The center is defined by values of 128 in each of these channels please note that these channels are 16bit DMX channels which means that the combination of channel 17 and 18 actually produce the position X while 19 and 20 produce position Y so this allows the user to have 65536 units of positioning in every axis 21 22 23 and 24 SCALE X and SCALE Y These channels control the size of the video They work in a similar way as the positioning with consequently coarse and fine channels which means 16bit DMX 25 26 27 28 29 and 30 ROTATION X Y and Z These channels control the rotation in every access of the video plane allowing changes on the perspective Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 25 of 53 Live Layer This applies to Layer 3 which is the Live layer The 24 attributes or called parameters of the Live Layer fixture behave in the following way 1 INTENSITY Controls the Intensity of the Live layer 0 100 transparent invisible 255 100 Solid fully visible please note that Intensity doesn t start or load the video video can be running even if the intensity is at full or cannot be running even if the intensity is at 255 or 100 2 INPUT SELECTOR Selects camera to stream 3 FX1 This channel creates 4 different effects on the Live Video they are selected by reaching range values as 0 to 25 26 to 50 51 to 75 76 to 100 4 FX2 Corresponds to Mosaic effect where the image multiplies
10. User Manual Page 19 of 53 SCREEN AREAS The SD3D software is divided into 4 main areas The SD3D Toolbar located across the top allows users to access the secondary functions available on the system These functions include the following e Video Configuration DMX Configuration Virtual DMX Console Selecting Operating Graphics Mode Attribute Description Viewer Asset Sync Windows Position Save Refresh Render Window CHANNEL A OUTPUT The upper right area is the Channel A Output area This area encloses several options that are related to the Channel A video output The main feature of this area is the Media Asset Palette The thumbnail content of the palette represents the current media assets available for use in the selected layer The contents of the palette changes according to the current operating layer selected To select or change the current operating layer use the drop down combo box located above palette window Changing the current operating layer in the drop down box on the Virtual Console screen also affects the Media Asset Palette The Blackout ON Off button toggles between Video ON and Video OFF The SAVE as button saves the current Visual Effect as a Preset A file dialog will appear on the screen You can enter any file name you want with a sef file extension The Visual Effect Preset represented as a thumbnail will appear in the Effects Preset screen area The 3DText button opens a
11. for example this means that easier sequences that is with no motion can compress to very small sizes whereas hard sequences with lots of motion and scene cuts can compress to much larger sizes VBR compression can take better advantage of the overall available bandwidth of a video transmission or DVD player by allocating the available bits intelligently to the difficult parts of a sequence See also CBR Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 51 of 53 Digital Still Image Formats BMP The standard Windows bitmap still image file format Bitmap files are not compressed and are therefore significantly larger than the same image stored in formats such as GIF and JPEG GIF Acronym for Graphics Interchange Format A still image file format commonly used on web pages for simple illustrations and animations Use the JPEG format for photographic images JPEG A still image file format developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group that can compress photographic images into much smaller file sizes while sacrificing only a little image quality Commonly used for photographs on web pages and in e mail See also GIF PICT The standard Apple Macintosh still image Picture file format TIFF A lossless image file format designed for photographic images that compresses the image size while preserving all the image quality The resulting files are therefore larger than those with JPEG compression which sacrifices so
12. it is optimal for show use However they are great for offsite programming Some laptops can be configured in a way that they can be used for live show performances We will be test a range of laptops and qualify them for use in live show applications We will release documentation as we proceed with the qualification process Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 10 of 53 Digital Media Assets and Elation AM Asset Manager Media files and clips are the foundation for your work in the SD3D Media Generator System Media files are the raw materials you use to create your final real time rendered visual effects Media files on your hard drive are not automatically useable by the SD3D system They need to be imported to the layer that you want to have them available in the Main Program This is accomplished using the Elation AM Asset Manager ASSET MANAGER amp Elation Digital Asset Management 1 0 1 Fil lelp Test Objl Textl Profile Promote Retreive Video Asset Search Video Asset NANJE GREENE PROFILES Typically you create a profile for each show you plan to work on A profile is like a project it defines the media assets for each of the layers you plan to use for the show The file for the default profile is asset_assign ini The Elation AM program always defaults to this when it starts up Your shows should be based on the default profile To create a new profile go to Prof
13. monitor assigned to the desktop The software is designed to follow this convention The Elation SD3D software is optimized for NVIDIA Graphics Cards with built in 3D acceleration If you have an ATI graphics card some of the features of the Elation SD3D will not work properly namely the videos lt NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 GeForce Go 7600 VEW nview Display Settings ETE AVIDI A Performance amp Quality Settings niew allows you to connect separate displays to a single graphics card Color Correction Video Overlay Settings p i Full Screen Video niew Display Mode Dualview Tools Primary display Laptop Display p PowerMizer Secondary display 2 Bend FP557s N Rotate Screen Resolutions amp Refresh Rates Desktop Management Menu Editing Detect Displays Device Settings gt gt In the above example the laptop display is the primary monitor which means that the render window should reside within the laptop display area for maximum performance The Main GUI window should reside on the Secondary monitor Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 9 of 53 In a show situation this is not a practical setup because the primary monitor should be the external monitor and it should also be the monitor located on the left side so that it can be connected to the external projector The laptop display should be the secondary display Unfortunately many laptops cannot be configured in a way that
14. or cannot be running even if the intensity is at 255 or 100 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 26 of 53 2 and 3 FILE COARSE AND FINE Controls the file location correspondent to the location assign in the Digital Asset Manager The combination of these 2 DMX channels generates the position i e File 586 would be in File Coarse 3 File Fine 74 File 30 would be in File Coarse 0 File Fine 30 4 PARTICLE MODE Determine what type of particle generation will be used There are 4 types of particle modes and they are separated every 25 in the value of this channel 5 PARTICLE SPEED Speed of the particle 6 ANGULAR SPEED Speed of rotation of the particle in its own axis 7 PARTICLE LIFE TIME Determine the life of the particle It the particle is a video clip it also affects the speed of the video clip The short is the life time the faster the video would play Video format accepted is avi cinepack codec 8 PARTICLE GRAVITY Affects gravity on the particle making it float or drop Value at 50 Gravity is at O which means will just stay weightless 9 SCALE INITIAL Sets the initial size of the particle sprite when it s generated 10 SCALE END Sets the end size of the particle when it dies 11 12 and 13 RED GREEN AND BLUE INITIAL Sets the initial color of the particle sprite when it s generated 14 15 16 RED GREEN AND BLUE END Sets the end color of the particle when it dies 17 18 19 POS
15. purposes make sure that in any cue that you are not using Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 24 of 53 the video layer your File Go channel is below 50 or at 0 Remember that even if the Intensity is at 0 video can still be playing on the background 5 AUDIO GAIN This channel controls the gain of the audio in the video file if the Video file has audio associated with it 6 and 7 VIDEO IN OUT Controls the position of the video for start and end Values O to 255 will control the starting and end point and will loop the video between those two positions 8 VIDEO SPEED The values 0 to 255 controls the speed of the video where 64 or 25 correspond as the native speed of the video clip played and 255 corresponds 4 times the native speed of the video clip while value 0 pause the video 9 FX1 This channel creates 4 different effects on the video They are selected by reaching range values as 0 to 25 26 to 50 51 to 75 76 to 100 10 FX2 Corresponds to Mosaic effect where the image multiplies on the screen 11 12 and 13 CHROMA DELT HUE AND LUMINANCE These channels control the amount of Chroma key applied to the video layer and if applied will overwrite the FX1 channel 14 15 and 16 RED GREEN AND BLUE This 3 channels change the Tint of the video layer with RGB parameters 17 18 19 and 20 POSITION X and POSITION Y These channels control the position of the video layer in the scene
16. 63 CROSSFADE 164 CROSSFADE 165 CROSSFADE 166 CROSSFADE 167 CROSSFADE 168 CROSSFADE Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 40 of 53 Particle 1 169 PARTICLE 1 INTENSITY CROSSFADE 170 PARTICLE 1 TEXTURE SELECTOR 173 P CROSSFADE 174 PARTICLE 1 ANGULAR SPEED CROSSFADE 175 PARTICLE 1 LIFE TIME CROSSFADE 176 PARTICLE 1 GRAVITY CROSSFADE 177 PARTICLE 1 SCALE INITIAL CROSSFADE 178 PARTICLE 1 SCALE ENDING CROSSFADE 179 P CROSSFADE 180 CROSSFADE 181 CROSSFADE 182 CROSSFADE 183 PARTICLE 1 G END BA CROSSFADE 184 PARTICLE 1 B END CROSSFADE 185 CROSSFADE 186 CROSSFADE 187 CROSSFADE 188 CROSSFADE 189 CROSSFADE 190 CROSSFADE 191 CROSSFADE 192 CROSSFADE 193 CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 0 25 50 75 100 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 41 of 53 Particle 2 Future Development 194 CROSSFADE 195 196 197 0 25 50 75 100 198 CROSSFADE 199 CROSSFADE 200 CROSSFADE 201 CROSSFADE 202 CROSSFADE 203 CROSSFADE 204 CROSSFADE 205 CROSSFADE 206 CROSSFADE 207 CROSSFADE 208 CROSSFADE 209 CROSSFADE 210 CROSSFADE 211 CROSSFADE 212 CROSSFADE 213 CROSSFADE 214 CROSSFADE 215 CROSSFADE 216 CROSSFADE 217 CROSSFADE 218 CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 42 of 53 Object 1
17. Channel address 62 LIVE VIDEO DMX Channel address 122 PARTICLE 1 DMX Channel address 170 3D OBJECT 1 DMX Channel address 220 3D OBJECT 2 DMX Channel address 252 3D OBJECT 3 DMX Channel address 284 OVERLAY MASK DMX Channel address 412 3D LIVE TEXT DMX Channel address 430 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 49 of 53 Glossary Video analog media Audio sources such as audio cassettes and microphones and video sources such as VHS and 8mm VCRs and camcorders that must be digitized and converted into digital format for processing by a computer Newer digital formats such as DV and DVD have higher resolution and quality than older consumer formats like VHS and also do not degrade in quality when they are copied from one generation to the next See also component video composite video digital media digital media Audio and video sources such as audio CD DV miniDV Digital8 camcorders and DVD that store the audio and video in digital format As a result the data can be imported and processed directly by a computer and copied without any loss from one generation to the next See also analog media DV composite video A video signal that combines the brightness luminance or luma and the color chrominance or chroma video information into one signal Because the signal is not modulated composite video provides higher quality than RF video Requires a separate audio signal and connector Also called Ba
18. DMX Triggers Graphics Screen Mode OneSerm 300240Rend rebar A ok nici inoue OneScrn 512 lt 384Rend OneScrn 640480R end OneScrn 1024x766R end TwoScrns 800600Rend 12801024Cont TwoScrns 1024x768R end 1280 1024Cont TwoScms 1280 720Rend 1280 1024Cont Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 17 of 53 These settings refer to the screen size and resolution and multiple screen setup DMX hardware used as DMX interface and the configuration for triggering internal scenes with DMX channels You must run this application before running SD3D for the first time SD3D Main Program The Elation SD3D Media Generator is the main operating software for manipulating and rendering visual effects in real time This program is started by double clicking the Elation SD3D Icon on the desktop When started two windows will appear on the screen as follows eo Effec Video Output The main GUI screen is the control screen Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 18 of 53 Visual effects are generated to the Render Window The default Render Window size and the placement of windows in general are determined when you first configured the SD3D System using the Elation SD3D Initialization utility UNDERSTANDING THE INTERFACE BlackOut On Oif Video 1 OVE TEXT E Elation SD3D Media Generator Software
19. ITION X Y and Z Positions the particle generator in 3D space 20 21 22 SCALE X Y and Z Scales the Particle generator in 3D space 23 24 25 ROTATE X Y and Z Rotates the particle generator in 3D space 3D Object Layer This applies to layers Object 1 Object 2 and Object 3 The 32 attributes or called parameters of the Object Layer fixture behave in the following way 1 INTENSITY Controls the level of transparency of the 3D object If you have a transparency layer in your textures depending on your levels of intensity these transparency properties will become more noticeable 2 3D Entity Selector Browses through the 3D files that you may have loaded in the Asset Manager These files could be 3DS X or NMO 3 4 5 and 6 TEXTURE 1 and TEXTURE 2 Coarse and Fine These are the two layers of textures that the 3D entity has While the first texture layer applies skin to the object the second layer applies bump mapping and transparency 7 8 and 9 RED GREEN AND BLUE Controls the tint on the 3D shape And the tint of the texture mapped around it 10 ANIMATION STEP If the 3D object has a morph animation this channel allows you to go through the steps of the animation and select a particular stage of that animation Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 27 of 53 11 ANIMATION SPEED If the 3D Object has a morph animation this channel allows the user to control the speed the animation 0 paused 255 400 s
20. OSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 47 of 53 Mask 411 CROSSFADE 412 SNAP BEFORE FADE 413 SNAP BEFORE FADE 414 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 415 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 416 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 417 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 418 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 419 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 420 CROSSFADE 0 421 SNAP BEFORE FADE 0 422 SNAP BEFORE FADE 0 423 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 424 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 425 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 426 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 427 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 428 SNAP BEFORE FADE 128 Live Text 429 CROSSFADE 0 430 CROSSFADE 0 431 CROSSFADE 0 432 CROSSFADE 255 433 CROSSFADE 255 434 CROSSFADE 255 435 CROSSFADE 128 436 CROSSFADE 128 437 CROSSFADE 128 438 CROSSFADE 0 439 CROSSFADE 0 440 CROSSFADE 0 The Chart above explains the default values for all 10 fixtures that comprehend the SD3D media generator There are 7 types of fixtures each one behaves quite similar to a moving light GLOBAL Fixture 1 VIDEO Fixture 2 LIVE VIDEO 1 PARTICLE Fixture 1 3D OBJECT Fixture 3 Overlay Mask Fixture 1 3D Live Text 1 TOTAL Fixtures 10 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 48 of 53 The NULL channels represented in grey color are for future development Please note the DMX address for every fixture as GLOBAL DMX Channel address 2 VIDEO 1 DMX Channel address 32 VIDEO 2 DMX
21. RGB that affects the 3D Scene and the tint of the 3D lighting on the 3D objects 6 7 and 8 RED GREEN and BLUE in the BACKGROUND These channels control the tint on the background environment 9 and 10 LIGHTS These are 3D lights that affect the 3D environment You can see the effect that these produce on the 3D entities such as 3D objects 11 and 12 Field of View FOV This works as a zoom in or zoom out camera action but it changes the optical lens that the virtual camera is using in the scene Video Layer This applies to both Video 1 and Video 2 layers The 30 attributes or called parameters of the Video Layer fixture behave in the following way 1 INTENSITY Controls the Intensity of the video layer 0 100 transparent invisible 255 100 Solid fully visible please note that Intensity doesn t start or load the video video can be running even if the intensity is at full or cannot be running even if the intensity is at 255 or 100 2 and 3 FILE COARSE AND FINE Controls the file location correspondent to the location assign in the Digital Asset Manager The combination of these 2 DMX channels generates the position i e File 586 would be in File Coarse 3 File Fine 74 File 30 would be in File Coarse 0 File Fine 30 4 FILE GO This channel controls the play or stop of the video clip When is beyond 50 it plays the file that has been selected when is below 50 it stops the playback of the video NOTE for efficiency
22. appropriate media assets for that layer using the Elation AM In review SD3D Media Generator has 9 layers of media This means that you can display at any given time 9 different elements layered one on top of each other or one side by side of each other The 9 layers of media are categorized as follows 2 layers of Video playback 1 layer of Live input video 1 layer of Particle system generation 3 layers of 3D geometrical object shapes 1 layer of Overlay Mask 1 Layer of 3D live Text The Render priority of these 9 layers is illustrated in the following diagram Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 16 of 53 THE FIXTURE PATCH Every layer in SD3D behaves as a moving light fixture There are 7 types of fixtures on SD3D GLOBAL FIXTURE 8 DMX Channels 1 Fixture VIDEO FIXTURE 30 DMX Channels 2 Fixtures LIVE FIXTURE 24 DMX Channels 1 Fixture PARTICLE FIXTURE 25 DMX Channels 1 Fixture e 3D OBJECT FIXTURE 32 DMX Channels 3 Fixtures e OVERLAY MASK FIXTURE 9 DMX Channels 1 Fixture e LIVE3D TEXT 12 DMX Channels 1 Fixture A total of 10 fixtures have to be patched in your DMX board please see Channel mapping and behavior chart in Appendix for more details SD3D Initialization The SD3D Initialization utility allows the user to select some pre execution settings before starting the application for the first time gt Elation SD3D Init Config Graphics Mode DMX Hardware
23. ct your DMX interface into a different USB port you won t require the Installation CD Copy all the Content Library files and folders from the CD into one of the drives in your computer These are the media files that are included with the software You may add your personal files as well We recommend you organize and categorize the media into separate folders This makes it easier in the future to search for media content in a show environment Connect the Elation Professional Show Designer Intelligent DMX Console to the DMX USB interface using a 3 pin DMX Cable not included Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 7 of 53 Once the installation has been finalized you will find two new icons on your desktop ELATION SD3D and ELATION AM To test the setup we recommend you start by adding a minimum number of media assets to the system using the Elation AM software Window Names There are two primary floating windows in the Elation AM system The Main window is the window that displays the various layers in a tab dialog format The Preview window is a Windows Media Player that is used to preview video clips and some digital stills There are several floating windows in the Elation SD3D Media Generator Main Program system The Render window is the output window that displays the final video output of the generated visual effects This is the window that is generally connec
24. dialog that allows the user to enter text Use the Text1 to output to Channel A Video Channel Text2 is for future use to Channel B IMAGE VIEWER Located on the upper left area of the main SD3D GUI is the Image Viewer area This is basically a magnified view of the selected thumbnail in the Media Asset Palette Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 20 of 53 EFFECTS PRESETS Located on the lower area of the main SD3D GUI is the Effects Presets area This area shows through thumbnails the user defined Video Presets The View button executes the selected Preset To select click the thumbnail you want to execute You can also double click the thumbnail to execute the preset The Delete button deletes the Preset from the Preset palette THE ICONS IN THE TOP TOOLBAR Virtual Console Allows the user to interact with SD3D via virtual faders or to monitor DMX activity in the channels Layer Description Shows every layer and its attributes per channel DMX configuration Allows the user to set up the DMX map channels and customize it DO NOT change the dmx mapping unless you are qualified to do so In the future there will be a published document on how to re map the DMX channel assignment to allow for customized virtual and physical consoles A Render Screen Recall If the render screen window has been closed this button recalls the screen Screen Configu
25. els The Virtual Console is designed to reflect the fader functionality of the attached Elation Show Designer Intelligent DMX Console If you are using the software on a laptop away from the Elation Console you can use the system and program presets using the Virtual Console The drop down combo box located on the top of the Virtual Console window allows you to change the current working media asset layer The fader functionality and or their DMX channel views will change according to the layer selected For layers with media asset content the Media Asset Palette Window and Media Asset Viewer will change accordingly to reflect the layer you are currently operating on As you scroll through the media content of the working layer the Media Asset Viewer will reflect the asset selection Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 23 of 53 CREATING VISUAL EFFECTS Creating complex visual effects is achieved through manipulating each of the nine 9 media asset layers The best way to learn how to create effects is to play with the attributes of each layer as they are applied to the media assets and observe the outcome Through experience you will be able to create the desired effect quickly and cued to the show performance you are at LAYER CONTROL Master Global Layer The 12 Channels of Master layer 1 and 2 MAPPED TO NULL These two channels are for further development 3 4 and 5 RED GREEN and BLUE These are the master
26. entium 4 3 Ghz or better OR Intel Duo Core or Dual Core 2 at 2 0 Ghz 1 GHz system bus with 2000MT s Hyper Transport link Dual channel DDR 400 333 2 DIMM slots 1 to 2GB NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI recommended 1GHz 2000MT s HyperTransport enhanced System Bus 2 x1 PCI E slot or compatible NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or later model Stereo output Serial ATA 150 minimum storage recommended 100 Gb You MUST have Windows XP or XP derivatives Home or Media Center or better to run the Elation SD3D System Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 6 of 53 Setup and Installation PACKAGE CONTENTS 1 1 Installation Content Library CD 2 1 USB Security Dongle 3 1 DMX USB Interface 4 1 USB Cable 5 1 User Manual INSTALLATION PROCEDURE 1 Insert the Installation CD in your CD drive To install the SD3D Software go to the CD drive and double click the file Installation CD Follow the steps on the installation process DO NOT change the default installation directory to anything other then C Elation Insert your USB security dongle into one of your USB ports When Windows XP ask for drivers select the drivers from the location C Elation ElationSecurity XP_2K_9X Connect the DMX USB Interface using the USB cable and when prompted for drivers find the drivers in the installation CD folder DMX INTERFACE DRIVER TIP Copy this folder into your computer so whenever you conne
27. files associated per layer are VIDEO LAYER avi mpeg mpg mov and wmv LIVE LAYER N A PARTICLE LAYER png tga jpg bmp pcx avi cinepack codec only 3D OBJECT 3DS X and NMO TEXTURES png tga jpg bmp pcx avi cinepack codec only OVERLAY MASK png tga jpg bmp pcx Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 14 of 53 PREVIEWING IMPORTED ASSETS You can play or view the imported assets by selecting the thumbnail and hitting the view button Or you can double click the thumbnail INSERTING AND DELETING IMPORTED ASSETS You can insert new assets into an existing asset palette by selecting the thumbnail previous to the insertion point If you wish to append new assets to the end select the last thumbnail Selecting the thumbnail is just a matter of left clicking the mouse over the thumbnail You can also delete a single asset by selecting the thumbnail of asset and hitting the Delete button If you wish to delete more than one asset use the Windows convention for selection multiple assets CTRL left mouse click or SHIFT left mouse click and then press the Delete button Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 15 of 53 Production Workflow Begin with organizing your media assets on your hard drive There are four main categories of media assets videos clips particles files 3D object files and mask files Next populate the system with the
28. g DVD disc capacity however the number of GB is actually used to specify a different value a billion decimal See also byte KB MB Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 52 of 53 Index 3D Object Layer 27 Appendix 1 35 CHANNEL A OUTPUT 20 CREATING MEDIA ASSETS 13 Creating Presets in SD3D 30 CREATING VISUAL EFFECTS 23 DMX USB Interface 7 DOCK and FLOATING WINDOWS 23 EFFECTS PRESETS 20 FIXTURE PATCH 16 IMAGE VIEWER 20 IMPORTING ASSETS INTO SYSTEM 13 INSERTING AND DELETING IMPORTED ASSETS 15 INSTALLATION PROCEDURE 7 LAYER CONTROL 24 Live Layer 25 Mask Layer 28 Master Global Layer 24 PACKAGE CONTENTS 7 Particle Layer 26 PREVIEWING IMPORTED ASSETS 15 Production Workflow 16 PROFILES 11 SCREEN AREAS 19 SD3D Initialization 17 Search Video Asset 14 SETTING UP CAMERA FOR LIVE VIDEO 29 Specifications 33 Test Setup and Tutorial 31 Text Layer 28 TOOLBAR 21 Troubleshooting 34 UNDERSTANDING THE INTERFACE 19 Video Layer 24 VIRTUAL CONSOLE 23 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 53 of 53
29. ile in Profile Mngmt on the upper left quadrant of the Elation AM screen Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 11 of 53 You can also save different profiles with different asset configurations for different shows for doing this follow the procedure Click on Profile button Click once on asset_assign ini and then right click on it and copy it Rename the Copy of asset_assign ini to any name you want Select this new profile and start modifying it and repopulate it PRA i g File Help Look in Custom O Cd asset_assign ini Recent A tasset_assign ini 4 wpres_asset_assign ini Desktop My Documents My Computer My Network Places File name Files of type all files ini You may have as many profiles as you want just remember to promote the profile once finalized with population of all your assets Once you have populate the Elation Digital AM click on the button called Promote you will get a message saying Promotion Successful this means that all your asset files have been promote it as active profile to be used in the SD3D software Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 12 of 53 Text Objl Textl Objl Text2 Obj2 T ext Retreive Particle Asset Search Particle Asset CREATING MEDIA ASSETS Media assets are created from different sources The SD3D System relies mostly on other Media creation software o
30. ile Coarse 0 File Fine 30 4 5 6 and 7 POSITION X and Y COARSE AND FINE Positions the Overlay Mask in 2D space These are 16 bit DMX channels 8 SCROLLING Controls the speed of the scrolling and sense 9 VERTICAL OR HORIZONTAL Determines if the scrolling is vertical or horizontal Text Layer This applies to the Text Layer The 30 attributes or called parameters of the Video Layer fixture behave in the following way 1 INTENSITY Controls the Intensity of the video layer 0 100 transparent invisible 255 100 Solid fully visible please note that Intensity doesn t start or load the video video can be running even if the intensity is at full or cannot be running even if the intensity is at 255 or 100 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 28 of 53 2 and 3 FILE COARSE AND FINE Controls the file location correspondent to the location assign in the Digital Asset Manager The combination of these 2 DMX channels generates the position i e File 586 would be in File Coarse 3 File Fine 74 File 30 would be in File Coarse 0 File Fine 30 4 5 and 6 RED GREN AND BLUE Controls the tint on the 3D shape And the tint of the texture mapped around it 7 8 and 9 Scale X Y and Z Scales the text in these 3 axis Please note that these channels are 8 bit DMX resolution 10 11 and 12 AUTO ROTATE This function allows the user to put an autorotation into the 3D text It can rotate in both senses and any ax
31. ion SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 44 of53 Object 3 283 CROSSFADE 289 CROSSFADE 290 CROSSFADE 291 CROSSFADE 292 SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE 293 SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE 296 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 297 CROSSFADE 298 CROSSFADE 299 CROSSFADE 300 CROSSFADE 301 CROSSFADE 302 CROSSFADE 303 CROSSFADE 304 CROSSFADE 305 CROSSFADE 306 CROSSFADE 307 CROSSFADE 308 CROSSFADE 309 SNAP BEFORE FADE 310 311 312 313 3144 SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE ooo 255 255 255 128 128 128 128 128 128 128 64 64 64 64 64 00000 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 45 of 53 Objects 4 5 amp 6 Future Development 315 CROSSFADE 321 CROSSFADE 322 CROSSFADE 323 CROSSFADE 324 SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE 325 SNAP AFTER CROSSFADE 326 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 327 SNAP BEFORE CROSSFADE 329 CROSSFADE 330 CROSSFADE 331 CROSSFADE 332 CROSSFADE 333 CROSSFADE 334 CROSSFADE 335 CROSSFADE 336 CROSSFADE 337 CROSSFADE 338 CROSSFADE 339 CROSSFADE 340 CROSSFADE SNAP BEFORE FADE SNAP BEFORE FADE 343 SNAP BEFORE FADE 344 SNAP BEFORE FADE 345 SNAP BEFORE FADE 346 SNAP BEFORE FADE 347 CROSSFADE
32. is SETTING UP CAMERA FOR LIVE VIDEO You may have up to 8 cameras connected to your equipment This could be through a capture device or USB cameras or fire wire Please make sure that the device is being recognized by windows system first When using with SD3D no other software or programs can be using the cameras or the capture devices To select the camera you want to use use camera selector channel The selection is made by percentages Each camera is located in threshold of 12 5 each Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 29 of 53 Creating Presets in SD3D 1 Make sure you have populated and promoted your assets in all different layers in your Digital Asset Manager 2 Once you have put all your assets in the Digital Asset Manager open the SD3D software it will take some time to load so please wait until you get the message on screen that says System Ready 3 Once the software is fully running please click on Virtual Console Icon 4 If you are not using a DMX controller you may use the virtual console that SD3D has The software loads with the defaults values 5 Select Video 1 Layer then select the desired video that you want to play by moving the File Coarse and Fine channels The Coarse and Fine channels work as a combination of both channels to allocate a maximum of 65536 files or 256 virtual locations of 256 sub locations each i e to select video file 1 File Coarse 0 File Fine 0 or to
33. me detail in order to significantly reduce the image size Digital Data Rates data rate The speed at which data is transferred as in bytes per second Also called bit rate For example the speed to download or stream a video file over the Internet or the speed at which the file must play from a hard disk When you create a video or audio file you can specify the target bit rate at which the file will be played Also called bit rate bitstream A collection of data as in video or audio data compressed to a file or transmitted between devices bit A binary digit The fundamental element of computer logic and numbers Represents one of two values zero or one off or on false or true See also byte byte A data element containing eight bits or 256 distinct values Commonly used to store a single text character Computer data transfer rates are traditionally measured in bits as in Mb for Megabits millions of bits with a lower case b whereas computer data storage is traditionally measured in bytes as in MB for megabytes millions of bytes with an upper case B See also bit GB KB MB MB Megabytes millions of bytes In computer use a megabyte actually represents the closest binary power of 2 to a million or 1024 squared See also byte GB KB GB Gigabytes billions of bytes In computer use a gigabyte actually represents the closest binary power of 2 to a billion or 1024 cubed In general use in advertisin
34. nents e Suite of software programs which includes the Digital Asset Manager the SD3D Media Generator Main Program and the Configuration Utility e A Library of Digital content which includes videos 3D objects Particles and Masks e A DMX USB Hardware Adapter that interfaces an Elation Show Designer DMX console to the computer and a USB Cable e A USB Dongle Key which allows users to use the System on multiple machines at any one time The SD3D Media Generator Main Program is the run time software that allows the user to manipulate and generate video effects under the control of the Elation Professional Show Designer series of DMX Controller Consoles Before using the Main Program the digital media assets need to be assigned organized and managed using the Digital Asset Manager before they are available for use by the Main Program The Configuration Utility is used to set up the initial operating state of the system before first use Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 5 of 53 Installation Requirements MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS For SD3D to run properly your computer must meet the following specifications OPERATING SYSTEM PROCESSOR MEMORY MOTHERBOARD GRAPHICS AUDIO STORAGE Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition or Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939 Processors 3 0 Ghz or better OR optional AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor OR Intel P
35. on the screen 5 6 and 7 CHROMA DELT HUE AND LUMINANCE These channels control the amount of Chroma key applied to the video layer and if applied will overwrite the FX1 channel 8 9 and 10 RED GREEN AND BLUE This 3 channels change the Tint of the video layer with RGB parameters 11 12 13 and 24 POSITION X and POSITION Y These channels control the position of the video layer in the scene The center is defined by values of 128 in each of these channels please note that these channels are 16bit DMX channels which means that the combination of channel 17 and 18 actually produce the position X while 19 and 20 produce position Y so this allows the user to have 65536 units of positioning in every axis 15 16 17 and 18 SCALE X and SCALE Y These channels control the size of the video They work in a similar way as the positioning with consequently coarse and fine channels which means 16bit DMX 19 20 21 22 23 and 24 ROTATION X Y and Z These channels control the rotation in every access of the video plane allowing changes on the perspective Particle Layer This applies to Particle Layer 1 The 30 attributes or called parameters of the Particle Layer fixture behave in the following way 1 INTENSITY Controls the Intensity of the video layer 0 100 transparent invisible 255 100 Solid fully visible please note that Intensity doesn t start or load the video video can be running even if the intensity is at full
36. ould move in unison with the faders you are moving on the Elation Show Designer 15 The Video Output Media Asset Palette should have the 4 thumbnails you defined in the Elation AM If they do not appear perhaps you forgot to promote the media assets 16 Go to either the Virtual Console or Elation Show Designer Console and navigate to Video 1 Layer Move channel 1 intensity to value 255 Move channel 4 file go to value 255 Move channel 3 file fine select to value 1 You should be able to see video asset 1 on the render window Move channel 1 intensity back to 0 17 Go through all the other 7 layers Video 2 Live Camera only if connected Particle 1 Object 1 Object 2 Object 3 Mask and Text The layers other than Video only require the intensity to be increased to make them visible Experiment with the other parameters to see how they affect the video output 18 Try to save some visual effects as Presets And recalling them 19 Have Fun Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 32 of 53 Specifications Supported Operating System Windows XP Windows XP Media Edition or Windows XP Home Number of Media Asset Layers 9 Media Layers 2 Video 1 Live 1 Particle 3 3D Object 1 Mask and 1 Text Graphical File Formats Supported png tga jpg and bmp Video Formats Supported avi mpegl mpeg2 mpeg4 mov and wmv 3D Object File Formats 3DS X and NMO Video Effects Luminance Chromakey RGB X Y Z
37. peed 12 13 and 14 AUTO ROTATE This function allows the user to put an autorotation into the 3D object It can rotate in both senses and any axis 15 16 17 18 19 20 POSITION X Y AND Z COARSE AND FINE Positions the 3D Object in the 3D space Center is exactly at 50 of the channels values Please note these are 16bit DMX channels 21 22 23 24 25 26 SCALE X Y AND Z COARSE AND FINE Scale the 3D Object in the 3D space Natural Size is exactly at 25 of the channels values Please note these are 16bit DMX channels 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 ROTATE X Y and Z COARSE AND FINE Set the orientation of the 3D Object in the 3D space Native Orientation is exactly at 0 of the channels values Please note these are 16bit DMX channels Mask Layer This applies to Mask Layer The 30 attributes or called parameters of the Mask Layer fixture behave in the following way 1 INTENSITY Controls the Intensity of the video layer 0 100 transparent invisible 255 100 Solid fully visible please note that Intensity doesn t start or load the video video can be running even if the intensity is at full or cannot be running even if the intensity is at 255 or 100 2 and 3 FILE COARSE AND FINE Controls the file location correspondent to the location assign in the Digital Asset Manager The combination of these 2 DMX channels generates the position i e File 586 would be in File Coarse 3 File Fine 74 File 30 would be in F
38. per second data rate The new USB 2 standard supports up to 480Mbps data rate See also FireWire AVI Acronym for Audio Video Interleave The old multimedia file format used under Windows for interleaved video and audio streams See also Video for Windows Windows Media Video for Windows The media file format used with Microsoft Windows AVI Supports many different video and audio compression formats codecs See also Windows Media Windows Media The multimedia platform built into Microsoft Windows and a series of formats for storing and transmitting video and audio Uses ASF WMA and WMF file types See also Video for Windows Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video Windows Media Video WMV The Microsoft Windows Media format for compressed video and audio files on CD and DVD discs See also Windows Media Audio QuickTime Multiplatform multimedia Movie file format from Apple Computers MOV MPEG A family of popular multimedia file formats and associated compression schemes defined by the Moving Pictures Expert Group MPEG 1 video was designed for use on CD ROMs and provides picture quality somewhat comparable to VHS MPEG 2 video was designed for consumer video and is used on DVD and can provide high quality full screen full rate video with smaller file sizes MPEG 4 video is designed for a broad range of multimedia applications and is used for web and wireless streaming video MP3 is a commonly used audio comp
39. r capture devices to provide the raw media assets Graphical files png tga jpg bmp and pcx can be created using a good graphics editor like Adobe Photoshop Paintshop Pro or Microsoft Paint 3D objects can be created using 3D Studio Max Lightwave 3D or TrueSpace Video files are created using a variety of video capture devices such as video cameras Libraries of videos can be purchased through publishers of custom video content The Elation SD3D System can import a variety of industry standard media asset formats IMPORTING ASSETS INTO SYSTEM Every tab in the top represents every layer and the correspondent type of files associated with it In the first tab you have Video which is the first layer By clicking on Retrieve Video Asset button you can browse your computer and find any video files that you may want SD3D to playback You can also click on Search Video Asset to find specific files containing part of the filename There is also an optional search for text within files for those files with embedded text descriptions Some video files have text descriptions embedded in files Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 13 of 53 ayes 2 Choose Video File s for Layer 1 amec The supported file formats for video are avi mpeg mpg mov and wmv You may add as many files as you want per layer to a theoretical maximum of 65536 files per layer The types of
40. ration Allows the user to select the screen configuration and render output resolution Save GUI configuration Allows the user to save the current window configuration and window positioning on the screen Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 21 of 53 Re synchronize assets Allows the user to update the database of assets that has been added and promoted in the Digital Asset Manager If both the Elation AM and SD3D software are running simultaneously it is possible to modify the media assets of each layer and have them updated in SD3D by pressing this button If media assets have been updated to replace other assets the Presets or the scrolling position of the assets within the layer may change 1 e if asset 5 has changed scrolling to position value 5 will no longer display replaced asset 5 Objects DO NOT get updated using re synchronize assets they will be synchronized the next time you run the application Screen output configuration Future Development 3D TEXT BUTTON allows the user to access the dialogue box to broadcast a 3D text message on the screen Please note that Intensity on Fixture Live Text has to be full on for this to work SAVE AS BUTTON Allows the user to save internally presets effects that can be recall by simply double click on their thumbnail or click once and then click on view button BLACK OUT BUTTON Allows the user to black out the scene and stop output
41. ression format especially for web downloads and portable music players MPEG 1 An older digital video compression format developed in the early 1990s by the Moving Picture Experts Group MPEG 1 video was designed for lower resolution video played from CD ROM and provides picture quality somewhat comparable to VHS typically 352x240 resolution Used for Video CD discs MPEG 2 A TV quality digital video compression format developed in the mid 1990s by the Moving Picture Experts Group MPEG 2 video provides high quality full screen fullrate video 720x480 resolution for NTSC with smaller file sizes than MPEG 1 Used for DVD discs and also scales to high definition resolution and bitrates MPEG 4 A digital multimedia compression format developed in the late 1990s by the Moving Picture Experts Group that includes video audio and interactivity MPEG 4 video is designed for interactive multimedia across networks and works well for web and wireless streaming video CBR Acronym for Constant Bit Rate A compression scheme in which each unit of input material is always compressed to the same output size For MPEG 2 video for example this means that the compressed data always has the same data rate that is bytes per second even when the input material is very easy to encode See also VBR VBR Acronym for Variable Bit Rate A compression scheme in which each unit of input material can be compressed to different sizes For MPEG 2 video
42. s are typically described in terms of the resolution of the individual frames and the frame rate at which they are played See also frame rate field frame rate Playback speed as determined in frames per second fps See also sample rate frame or 3 and then 2 Both terms are often used interchangeably to describe the effect Digital Video Formats FireWire A digital data interface standard that provides a high speed Plug and Play interface for personal computers Used for connecting DV camcorders to computers as well as to hard disk drives and DVD drives Supports up to 480 Mbps data rate Also known as IEEE 1394 and Sony iLink See also USB Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 50 of 53 FireWire connector A roughly rectangular hot pluggable connector used for FireWire IEEE 1394 digital connections especially digital video signals such as from DV camcorders The connectors can vary in size full size 6 pin for connecting to a computer or hub and smaller 4 pin for connecting to equipment such as DV camcorders See also BNC connector DV F connector RCA connector S Video connector USB Universal Serial Bus A digital data interface standard providing a Plug and Play interface for personal computers Typically used for lower speed peripherals such as mice keyboards printers and scanners Also used for interfacing to digital cameras The existing USB 1 standard provides up to 12Mbps million bits
43. seband video See also component video DV RF video S Video component video A video signal that separates the video signal into three separate signals and three separate wires to avoid any quality loss from mixing signals The components can be RGB red green and blue luma Y and two chroma signals such as Y Y R Y B or other formats including YUV YCbCr or Y Pr Pb Requires a separate audio signal and connector See also composite video DV RF video S Video luminance The intensity or brightness of a video signal usually represented by the letter Y Video signals are split into separate luma and chroma color components for higher quality and more efficient transmission and encoding In YUV color format for example the color information stored in U and V the color difference signals chrominance The color of a video signal Video signals are split into separate luma and chroma color components for higher quality and more efficient transmission and encoding The chroma signal is typically split into two components or color difference signals such as YUV format See also luminance RGB Acronym for Red Green Blue Full color video signal format consisting of three elements See also YUV YUV Full color video signal format consisting of three elements Y luminance and U and V chrominance See also RGB frames The individual video images that make up a moving sequence Video formats and individual clip
44. select video file 257 File Coarse 1 File Fine 0 and so on 6 Once selected the video that you want to play please move File Go channel beyond 50 this will automatically make the video layer playback that file 7 You may add more layers or effects just by selecting them and going through the procedure of adjust the parameters Once you have created your look click on the button SAVE AS and save your preset A thumbnail will be generated and a message saying that Preset has been saved will pop up on the screen 8 You can save as unlimited presets as possible and recall them by either double click or click once and then the view button Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 30 of 53 Test Setup and Tutorial Just to get better acquainted with and at the same time test the functionality of the system we will walk through the process of installing software importing media assets into the system and then rendering video effects in real time 1 2 9 Install System by executing SD3DInstall from the CD Installation Disk Install Library Of Media Content Connect DMX console to DMX USB adapter Connect DMX USB adapter to computer Install drivers as requested by Windows XP Plug in USB Key Install drivers as requested by Windows XP Directory of drivers is in c Elation ElationSecurity Start Elation AM Digital Asset Manager Create a custom profile from the default profile by using
45. ted to the external projection system during a show performance The Control window or main GUlis the main control interface It is the user interface from which to control the behavior of the SD3D The Virtual Console window is the virtual DMX console window It is a window that is activated by pressing the Ea icon This window can be moved around anywhere on the desktop The Operating Graphical Modes window is used to set the window sizes and positions of the windows for different monitor and operating modes The Watch Parameters window is used to provide the descriptions for the DMX Virtual Console channels for each individual layer Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 8 of 53 Multi Monitor Setup The Elation SD3D Media Generator was designed for a minimum two monitor setup Although the software runs in a single monitor mode it is somewhat cumbersome to use due to the number of windows that fill up the screen The single monitor mode was really designed for offline programming of scenes using a laptop where there are fewer options for adding a secondary monitor In a two monitor configuration it is important to assign the proper monitor to be the primary monitor The reason for this is that the 3D acceleration built in to most graphics cards are designed to provide accelerated features on the primary monitor As a general convention the render window output video will be the left most
46. translation XYZ Rotation Mosaic Supported DMX Consoles Elation Show Designerl 2CF and 3 Number of DMX Channels 0 to 450 Number of DMX Universes needed 1 Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 33 of 53 Troubleshooting DMX INIT ERROR Drivers for DMX USB adapter not installed NOT RECEIVING DMX DATA Check cable between Elation Show Designer DMX console and the DMX USB adapter Check cable between DMX USB adapter and computer PREVIEWING IMPORTED ASSET DOES NOT WORK System does not support file format if some assets can be previewed whist others can t If none can be previewed be sure you have Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 for Windows XP ALL LAYERS HAVE SAME BEHAVIOR This is caused by the application NOT installed into the default directory 3D OBJECTS MASKS AND PARTICLES APPEAR ON RENDER WINDOW BUT VIDEOS DO NOT Make sure you have an NVIDIA graphics card Elation SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual Page 34 of 53 Appendix 1 DMX Assignment and Behavior Table Global DESCRIPTION BEHAVIOR IN A CONTROL DESK NULL CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE CROSSFADE ONOoahWN O MAPPED TO NOTHING DMX CHANNEL

SD3D Media Generator Software User Manual

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents